[intake]

im looking to build my own computer but i dont know whats compatible. im mostly looking to use the computer for movies and a couple of games.

can anyone help me with what parts i should get for a fast computer?

thanks in advance

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im looking to build my own computer but i dont know whats compatible. im mostly looking to use the computer for movies and a couple of games.

can anyone help me with what parts i should get for a fast computer?

thanks in advance

Your budget depends on everything.. What is your budget??

[jrm20]

im looking to build my own computer but i dont know whats compatible. im mostly looking to use the computer for movies and a couple of games.

can anyone help me with what parts i should get for a fast computer?

thanks in advance

Your budget depends on everything.. What is your budget??

[kidnova]

First, you need to make a couple of decisions:

1. What is your target price range? A $600 build is going to be dramatically different than a $1000 build or a $2000 build.

2. What is the purpose of the system? You said movies and a couple of games. Watching movies or editing movies? What type of games? Building a system that will play the newest, most complex games is different than building a system that plays 2 or 3 year old games.

3. After that, you need to decide if you want to go with Intel or AMD. Both have distinct advantages/disadvantages depending on your budget and purpose.

4. Then it's just a matter of finding the best components you can that fit your purpose and budget. Read the descriptions of the components and it will tell you what they are compatible with. For instance if you purchase an AMD Athlon 4200+ socket AM2, then you need an AM2 compatable motherboard.

5. Once you have an initial list of components. Post it here and we will give you advice as how to optimize your system to maximize your budget.

Edited by kidnova, 27 August 2006 - 09:15 PM.

[intake]

im looking to spend about $600 without a monitor. im really looking for a new motherboard, processor, ram and maybe a video card. the harddrive and sound card i have now should be good enough.

[jrm20]

im looking to spend about $600 without a monitor. im really looking for a new motherboard, processor, ram and maybe a video card. the harddrive and sound card i have now should be good enough.

With a $600 budget you wont be able to get the new generation hardware and stuff.

You can get the last generation hardware and cpu's for good deals right now because all the new cpu's have just came out and the last generation is lowering prices and has great value.

Edited by jrm20, 27 August 2006 - 09:22 PM.

[intake]

what would you guys recommend?

AMD or Intel?

this is my first time building my own computer

[jrm20]

I could come up with something but it all depends what you have now.

What is your current video card? What type of interface is it pci express or agp?? Do you really need a new video card?? If you want to get a good mid end video card its gonna be atleast $200. DO you have a win xp cd? What kind of harddrive do you have ide or sata? How many? How many cd roms or dvd burners do you have?

Just list what you have now and what you are wanting to reuse so I can figure it out for you. I need to know alittle more info..

[kidnova]

With your limited budget, I would definitely recommend AMD. Any Intel chip other than a Core 2 doesn't compare with an AMD in the same price range.

[intake]

i actually dont really know what i have in my computer. a couple of my friends gave me they're old parts and built it for me.

i do know i have a geforce 4 mx4000 or something like that. i have 1 harddrive and it should be a ide. i also have 1 cd-r and a win xp cd.

[jrm20]

i actually dont really know what i have in my computer. a couple of my friends gave me they're old parts and built it for me.

i do know i have a geforce 4 mx4000 or something like that. i have 1 harddrive and it should be a ide. i also have 1 cd-r and a win xp cd.

Yeah thats what I was afraid of.. That video needs to be upgraded for shure and that ide harddrive would be Okay but sata is much faster. What kind of games will you be playing?? That video card is gonna be agp so thats older interface.. All the newer boards have pci express, I have seen one or 2 with agp and pci express on the same board and you can use either slot for a video card. That mobo was for amd though.

If you look into the socket 939 motherboards they have good prices right now and you can find some with agp slots still but that is dying out like I said.. Its all pci express now. With your price range your gonna almost have to stay with the older socket amd boards and cpu's. Socket 939 is the socket type and remember its last generation socket, the new cpu's have been out for alittle bit.

[intake]

would these be compatiable?

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) System Memory Model F2-4200PHU2-2GBLA - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

ASUS EN7600GS SILENT/HTD/512M Geforce 7600GS 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

also, do i need a cooling fan or anything else besides a soundcard?

[jrm20]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1066MHz FSB LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - $193.00
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115005

Gigabyte GA-945GM-S2 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $95.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128016

This motherboard above is a Micro Atx which isnt bad but its smaller and if you install a pci express video card sometimes it will take up the top REGULAR pci slot and you will only have the Bottom one left to put your sound card in if you want to use your pci sound card that is.. Anyway this gigabyte is like $5 more than another model but this one has integrated graphics you can use temporarily if you decide not to get the Video card I listed below. Or you can get a cheaper video card its all up to you. I pretty much stayed at $600 total.



CORSAIR VALUE SELECT 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) System Memory Model VS1GBKIT667D2 - Retail $92.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145568

XFX PV-T73G-UDD3 Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $159.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814150140


For a powersupply you will need a good one as it should be one of the top priorities. Dont get a cheap psu or you will regret it and run into problems..

Pick one of these power supplies..


Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-480 BLUE ATX12V 480W Power Supply - Retail $79.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817103930


OR

COOLER MASTER Real Power RS-450-ACLX ATX12V 450W Power Supply - Retail $59.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817171005


I stayed at $600 as good as I could I think its right at it but anyway you will have to decide what to do from here on out. You still need a case but you can use your old one if its in okay shape. Beware of cheapo cases with cheapo power supplies, you do not want one of those cases with the cheapo power supplies.


You can reuse your older ide harddrive for now and save up for a sata harddrive later on.. They are pretty cheap now on newegg I saw a 160Gb sata for $70-$75..

You can reuse your cd rom drive aswell.

This mobo aswell as alot of the conroe supported motherboards only have 1 ide hookup for up to 2 devices. This means you can hook up 1 ide cd rom drive and 1 ide harddrive and thats it... If you want more harddrives down the road get a serial ata drive. You have 4 sata ports.

You can use your win xp operating system too for now.


The video card I suggested will do you fine, its a good mid end card that will play alot of the newer games on high settings but without the antialiasing and anisotropic filtering set to the max. It will play most on 2x for antialiasing and anisotropic filtering.

Edited by jrm20, 27 August 2006 - 10:59 PM.

[intake]

thanks for taking the time to build me a computer. i really apperciate it.

as for the pci slots....would i be able to fit my video card, sound card, and my ethernet card?

Edited by intake, 27 August 2006 - 11:13 PM.

[jrm20]

thanks for taking the time to build me a computer. i really apperciate it.

as for the pci slots....would i be able to fit my video card, sound card, and my ethernet card?

the motherboard has a built in LAN/ ethernet card. You dont need a pci version of a ethernet card... All new mobos have integrated lan.

The mobo even has integrated audio..

Edited by jrm20, 27 August 2006 - 11:39 PM.