[Stelth2k1]

High my name is Peter, and i have about a 5 year old pc and i want a new one. But none of the ones on the market now really catch my attention so i would like to build my own. I have never built one for myself, so can some1 please help me.

I want to spend around $800, can u please send me links to were i should buy the parts.

I have a decent video card so i dont need a new 1, and im not a huge gamer but i like to play games, i got a new game Half Life 2, and my pc now can barely run it. So can some1 please help me build a new one.

Thanks
~Peter

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You might read this before attempting to build a computer.

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

Also make sure your graphics card is compatable with the new motherboard before buying. Probably the easist way to build a new computer is to start with a prebuilt barebones kit Here are a couple that are good starts.

http://www.tigerdire.....u=C460-1022 T

The two shortcomings in this barebone kit is the Nforce 2 chipset, which is already slightly dated, and that it has very few USB ports. The sempron processor is like a intel celeron, but that can be changed to a Athlon XP for a price. It supports up to a athlon 3000 processor. It also is limited to 8X AGP, but until SLI graphics cards start coming down in price, i really don't think this is a bad thing.

If you like Intel processors this one is pretty good.

http://www.tigerdire...3&Sku=TC3J-2032

You are going to spend some more money for the graphics card(s) but overall this is a good start. I do like the USB ports at the top of the case.

If you would rather buy the parts and assemble the puter heres some sites i use and have had no problems with.

http://www.directron.com/index.html
http://www.newegg.com/Index.asp?page=1
http://www.acortech....3...er New Pull

If you really want to check for best prices and also see reviews of companys so you can seehow well they are doing i would use pricewatch.

http://www.pricewatch.com/

I would not deal with any company that is not 80% or better there. Even some of the better rated companys can be a bit slow shipping items you have paid for. Newegg is the class champ on fast shipping and they are the best on returning damaged items.

SRX660

[SRX660]

You might read this before attempting to build a computer.

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

Also make sure your graphics card is compatable with the new motherboard before buying. Probably the easist way to build a new computer is to start with a prebuilt barebones kit Here are a couple that are good starts.

http://www.tigerdire.....u=C460-1022 T

The two shortcomings in this barebone kit is the Nforce 2 chipset, which is already slightly dated, and that it has very few USB ports. The sempron processor is like a intel celeron, but that can be changed to a Athlon XP for a price. It supports up to a athlon 3000 processor. It also is limited to 8X AGP, but until SLI graphics cards start coming down in price, i really don't think this is a bad thing.

If you like Intel processors this one is pretty good.

http://www.tigerdire...3&Sku=TC3J-2032

You are going to spend some more money for the graphics card(s) but overall this is a good start. I do like the USB ports at the top of the case.

If you would rather buy the parts and assemble the puter heres some sites i use and have had no problems with.

http://www.directron.com/index.html
http://www.newegg.com/Index.asp?page=1
http://www.acortech....3...er New Pull

If you really want to check for best prices and also see reviews of companys so you can seehow well they are doing i would use pricewatch.

http://www.pricewatch.com/

I would not deal with any company that is not 80% or better there. Even some of the better rated companys can be a bit slow shipping items you have paid for. Newegg is the class champ on fast shipping and they are the best on returning damaged items.

SRX660

[warriorscot]

You really dont want to spend all that money on an old outdated system like that barebones from tigerdirect especially when you can put together a good one for less that $800 with all the newer hardware.

There is a coupld of guides we have you should check, one has a link to a still quite upto date building guide(all the prices are wrong but the method is correct).

Im sure JRM will pop along and give you a lovely shopping list from newegg.

[jrm20]

I would be happy to help and pick out parts for you but the thing that will mess the whole new system up is that you said you wanted to keep your old video card. Your old video card is probably a agp.

If you get a new system now you need to get a pci express motherboard. Agp is really almost dead now they still make some but not many video cards for that port anymore.

Pci express is the new technology.

[jrm20]

I did the best I could with all quality hardware and parts. I picked out everything but the case and it came around $805. I always let the customer pick out there case because they will be looking at it alot and they should get one and pick it out themselves. I added a video card also it is fast enough for any game right now on high settings. This is a super deal with all of what your getting, im sorry but it will be slightly over $800 then you will have shipping. The cpu and the video card have a combo deal and you save $20. I chose that powersupply because it has plenty of power and isnt a cheapo that will burn out or let you down. You could save some money if you bought a case with a powersupply already in it but the thing is they put cheap powersupplies with those kinds of cases. Totally up to you on that part. Just pick yourself out a case, you can find decent ones for $50-75. Look at aspire cases or thermaltake. I did pretty good for free advice. Cya





ABIT KN8 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813127222


AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103535


PNY Geforce 6800GS

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814133159


SONY White IDE DVD Burner (comes with black bezel if you want to change the color)

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827131261


Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822144154


CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145505


Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-480 480W Power Supply

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817103929

[warriorscot]

Good system there you could shave more money off it if you wanted to go with some cheaper parts but i would get that setup, you might try a maxtor drive you can usually save a bit with them over other brands.

[jrm20]

Yep, you shure can save some money if you wanted to get a cheaper motherboard but then the quality starts to degrade. Totally up to you. You can save more also if you didnt get the dvd burner I picked out and just used your old cdrom or whatever you have now.

[warriorscot]

Yeah little bis and pieces you dont always have to cut quality for a cheaper part it really all depends what you can get at the time.

[Stelth2k1]

thanks a lot guys for helping me out choosing new parts ill take a look at everything then choose out what to buy, soryr it took me a qhile to respond i was away for a few days on vacation. ima take a look at everything and post what i think.

THanks again
~pete

[Stelth2k1]

everything looks good yea my video card is agp its a 256mb 9250 Ati Radeon video card. Wheres a good site i can get a case from, i found this one is it good??? and there is a power supply i can buy from there that is prety cheap should i go with that or a different 1? http://3btech.net/desicocaw2fr.html and btw i heard that these ram cards are pretty good which are better? http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820144310 these or the ones u showed me?

[Doby]

Hi,

Do your self a favor and don't use any of the power supplies they offer with the case get a good one like jrm20 recomended.

I would also stay with the ram jrm20 recomended.

instead of cutting cost I would stay with what was recomended you won't be sorry

[mrdrphil007]

everything looks good yea my video card is agp its a 256mb 9250 Ati Radeon video card. Wheres a good site i can get a case from, i found this one is it good??? and there is a power supply i can buy from there that is prety cheap should i go with that or a different 1? http://3btech.net/desicocaw2fr.html and btw i heard that these ram cards are pretty good which are better? http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820144310 these or the ones u showed me?

Wow I dont think i've ever seen PC3200 with timings that high. thats almost DDR2 timings. You want ram with timings low. good ram will generally be 2-3-3-6, and great ram will be 2-2-2-5 or lower. That ram is kinda pretty though...

jrm- I would suggest a different motherboard. Im not sure about the KN8, but the AN8's and a few of the other K8 motherboards have been having issues with pci slots. If he wont be using any add-in cards, I guess hes okay.

6800GS is great. relatively equal performance to a 6800GT.

A good power supply is very important. I blew mine four hours after I built my computer and it took another week to get a new one. Lesson learned: dont trust generic psu's
good luck

[jrm20]

Wow I dont think i've ever seen PC3200 with timings that high. thats almost DDR2 timings. You want ram with timings low. good ram will generally be 2-3-3-6, and great ram will be 2-2-2-5 or lower. That ram is kinda pretty though...

jrm- I would suggest a different motherboard. Im not sure about the KN8, but the AN8's and a few of the other K8 motherboards have been having issues with pci slots. If he wont be using any add-in cards, I guess hes okay.

6800GS is great. relatively equal performance to a 6800GT.

A good power supply is very important. I blew mine four hours after I built my computer and it took another week to get a new one. Lesson learned: dont trust generic psu's
good luck

The thing is he has a budget to work around and I choose stuff that is high quality and that memory is fine. Now if he had more money to put on a budget I would recommend the corsair xms series ram.

That system will be fine, I have helped alot of people build pc's from scratch. I have helped many on this site. He is fine with what I picked. Nice thoughts though.


I never posted the geil ram..... Dont make me look bad lol..


I posted this all along..

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145505

Edited by jrm20, 02 January 2006 - 01:07 PM.

[Stelth2k1]

what is the xms series ram if it is worth it i can go over my budget a little i can go over. The thing is i want this pc to last a few years i dont want it to be a P.O.S and just last 1 - 2 years. Btw what do u think of my video card i should get a new 1 right??

[Stelth2k1]

btw what do u think of the case i showed u??? and also what is the difference between the GS and GT, im still going with the GS but i would just like to know. And is the GS the best video card i can get for the price????

Thanks
~Pete

Edited by Stelth2k1, 02 January 2006 - 11:17 AM.