1st Time Building

[arnold023]

I have made my mind up to 'do it myself' and since i have never even seen a computer being built I was feeling unsure of myself and if I should actually build it or have a friend do it.
I know most people here have built their own computers so i was wondering if it was very difficult for you guys the first time you built a comp.

 

[diabloII]

um wellthe comp in my sig is built by myself and it's really easy if you read the manuals, etc.

how much can you spend on a computer and what do you plan on doing on it

 

[majistic]

There is only so many places that you can plug cables..etc in..it is very easy to connect the hardware, just be careful when you handle your products. It is all very easy. Settin the jumpers etc, and BIOS should come configured..so really all you have to do is install the OS and drivers. You might want to read up on it a little.

 

[Hacp]

It's pretty easy to build it yourself as long as you read the manual (as d2 said). Also, one suggestion I would have is to try to find some online video of someone building a computer. Actually seeing someone build a computer defenetly helps you when you build yours.

 

[arnold023]

ok i'll make sure to do that thanx

um wellthe comp in my sig is built by myself and it's really easy if you read the manuals, etc.

how much can you spend on a computer and what do you plan on doing on it

i plan on not exceeding $1600:
SAMSUNG 990DF-Black 19" CRT Monitor 0.20mm Dot Pitch D-Sub- $190 (new egg)

NZXT NEMESIS Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W Power Supply - $109 (xoxide)

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A ATX12V 500W Power Supply 115/230 V - Retail - $91 (new egg)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3200826AS 200GB 7200 RPM 8M Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM - $114 (new egg)

DFI LP UT nF4 SLI-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $174
(new egg)

OCZ Premier Value 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - $190 (new egg)

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939 Retail - $273 (ZZF)

eVGA 256-P2-N376-AX Geforce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - $350(ZZF)

TOTAL= $1568.81

I plan on OCing it but not as soon as i get it. I'll wait a few years or so before that but i just wanted to keep my options open. I mean i have almost no knowledge about OCing and im too lazy to research it so maybe i'll get someone who knows how to do it for me. Or maybe not, i just figured i might as well spend the money and then hope for the best as to whether or not i can get it OCed in the future. But until then i plan on using it solely for gaming and maybe internet research projects and dvd burning.

 

[m3trj]

The best advice I can give is that you find an old computer and take it apart.

 

[JDGreen92086]

Everything looks okay, except I dont know about the ram, I've heard that value ram isn't good for overclocking. You don't need 2 gb anyway, one will suffice. Why get an eVGA when you could get a LeadTek with a better fan and equal performance?
Get a GB of G.skill, OCZ Rev. 2, or some other memory people have recommended on the board.

Edit: Oh, I think... just maybe, somebody would suggest a 3200 venice, they are cheaper and... :sigh: again, I've heard that they are about the same but 3200 better at overclocking. Anyway. I hope i'm right, but if not, . I'm sure somebody will correct me and maybe rip me a new one. lol.

Edit 2: Aren't you missing the drives? Maybe you're just taking them from your current PC, which is a good idea; reuse whatever is compatible and reliable. Thought I'd mention it atleast.

 

[Elbatrop1]

Everything looks okay, except I dont know about the ram, I've heard that value ram isn't good for overclocking.

Thats true.

GB of G.skill, OCZ Rev. 2,

Right again. Those are some good OCing RAM.
Also, like JDGreen said, 2GB is kinda excessive. Save some money and just get 1GB.

Also, consider the 3200. It is $80 cheaper than the 3500, and there isnt a big performance difference between the two.

 

[Hacp]

Ocz value can get to 240MHZ at 2226 timings with the lan party.

 

[Wayniac]

wow... that is good for value RAM.

Anyway, before you build, there are some blatently obvious things that you need to know that people sometimes just don't mention because they think they're understood. I will tell them to you JUST because you've never built one before, but I am NOT calling you stupid. I was just reading some computer stupidities at a site and realized that sometimes people just don't understand the simple things sometimes.

1) NOT EVERY WIRE NEEDS TO BE PLUGGED IN. I read about one guy who thought there was something wrong with his computer, so he took it apart and saw that many wires were not plugged in. He figured that they should be, so he plugged EVERY WIRE IN somewhere in the computer. Yeah, needless to say, he fried everything, sparks flew, and his computer was destroyed.

2) THE PROCESSOR SHOULD GO IN EASY. There was a thread here before that I remember reading where a guy couldn't get his processor to go in easy, so he hit it with a hammer. Unfortunately it bent every pin when he did this, so he tried to straighten them out with vice grips. After he did so, every pin fell out giving him a pinless CPU. It all could have been avoided if he only knew that the processor should slide in EASY.

3) DON'T MESS AROUND WITH THE COMPUTER WHILE IT IS ON. Yes, another obvious thing, that somebody happened to screw up. There was a guy that was messing around with his power supply and ended up frying everything because he was doing it while his computer was on... hopefully he is only one in a billion though.

4) This isn't as obvious sometimes, but make sure that there are (some people call them spacers, other people call them risers) between your motherboard and case. Otherwise, it could fry eveyrthing and you'll need a new board. That's no good.

These things seem pretty simple, or so I thought, but I still read about people screwing it up. Just make sure that everything will fit with everything (ATX case and ATX motherboard, etc.) and don't force the CPU into place please. I read about too many people forcing the CPU into place and ruining everything. Remember, building a computer may take some technical smarts, but it also takes common sense, so don't forget to use either.

Anyway, good luck with your build man! I think you'll have fun figuring everything out.