Hey, I am planning on building my computer (PC), this is the first time I will be building my own, I want to create it for two reasons, price and to say "I did it"(lol). So, I was wondering, has anyone else built their own computer? I currently have a laptop now, but adobe software and what not is kind of sluggish with my laptop, this is the main reason I am wanting to build my own PC. I am looking to put 4 GB ram in it, and at least 2.4 GHZ (Intel Core 2 Quad). It is going to cost me around $1,600 for just the PC (no monitor, etc.) There are a lot of tutorials out there in case I get into trouble, and I know everything has to be compatible. So, have any of you guys built your own PC? Do you recommend it? Have you ever wanted to?
Because OEM's like Dell, HP, etc. would cost $2,000 or more for the same specs. One of the main reasons for building the computer yourself is to save money.
I would recommend it. Building is a lot cheaper. Although what you mentioned you could get for 4-500 bucks. I would suggest purchasing your stuff on Tigerdirect.com . There isn't a cheaper place to purchase computer parts. I am a pc tech so if you need any tips please ask.
Well, I am buying most of the stuff on newegg, mainly because I have gift certificates from there, but I plan on buying the barebone tower from tigerdirect. I don't see what you guys mean that cheap? I am buying everything (and quality too), Case, Motherboard, Processor, Video Card, Power supply, Memory, Hard drive, CPU cooler, Optical Drive. The memory alone cost $90, it has 4-4-4-12 memory clocks.. I am buying the cheapest QUALITY I can get, just not cheap/discounted stuff.
To bad your certificate is for Newegg. Nothing against them except there prices. Most of there items are about 30% more in price. We went off the price of what you mentioned in your first post. If you purchased everything from tiger you would probably get it 2-400$ cheaper.
I built my own PC. I never buy a branded one even for my first computer. If you know how to assemble PC by your own, just go with it. It really does save your money a lot. Pay less money but have a great computer system.
Well, I compared prices with tigerdirect, but I personally think that newegg has better quality things for sale, so of course tigerdirect is cheaper. One of my dad's friends owns a computer shop and he prefers newegg because of quality, and he said that people need products more frequently because of not great quality with tigerdirect. Well I don't know exactly how to do it, well I know where stuff goes but I would be able to figure it out, the internet is out there with TONS of tutorials if need be . And yeah, price is the main reason I want to build it!
Yes, my son does for me. We just assembled one with a transparent case. And although it needs cleaning a bit more often, I like that. It means it will be cleaned more often the way a computer should be. Went with a 1000 Gig hard drive, used my old 160 Gig drive for a 2nd drive. Has 4 megs of Corsair RAM, and a fairly high-end NVIDEA graphics card. There are 3 x five inch cooling fans, aside from the fan on the graphics, card, power supply, and large CPU cooling fan. Went with an Intel Core 2. Makes for a great night light too My son is a "PC guy" but said MAC has his respect too. I almost got a MAC, but we saw that for less cost, we could build a PC that would run circles around a MAC in the same price range. At minimum, I'd have no less than a transparent side panel. HAVE NO IDEA WHY THE THUMBNAIL DOES NOT ENLARGE >> 1000 Pixel Image stored here too: http://imageevent.com/mdvaden/tools?p=0&b=-1&m=12&c=1&w=4&s=1&n=1&l=0&z=9
Wow, very awesome mdvaden!!! I also want to get some sort of clear case so I can see inside, like you said for dirt and dust and what not, and I like that you have a lot of fans, that is one of the best (cheaper) parts that you can put in and customize... Also it being large to circulate helps. Could you upload your picture to tinypic.com or an image host? Because I can't open the attachment to enlarge it... If you could upload the pic, that would be awesome! Thanks for your post!!
I have no idea why the thumbnail does not work, unless a "Mod" needs to approve images first. But I put it on my own album: http://imageevent.com/mdvaden/tools?p=0&b=-1&m=12&c=1&w=4&s=1&n=1&l=0&z=9 The case was not excruciatingly expensive. Most decent large cases were at least $130. This case was only $200 - just 70 more. It did take a while to assemble. It's not the case for everyone. This case can easily house 4 internal hard drive, 2 DISC drives, and an even larger CPU cooling fan, or adapt to a liquid cooling system. We bought this at Fry's Electronics in Wilsonville, Oregon. www.outpost.com But we like to shop in-person. My last PC our son assembled 5 years ago, was an AMD processor. But Intel seems to be the way to go right now for my needs.
Thanks for uploading the pic, yeah I don't think any attachments work on the forum anymore. Very cool case, I think I may get a clear one but not as clear.. Do the fans make a lot of noise? I would have the computer in same room I am sleeping so just wondering... Also, with that case, is it hard to fix something if you need to take it apart and get at something? Yeah I am going with Intel, but probably in a few years or less AMD will be going better than Intel, haha. !Unreal, that's cool, yeah after about 1 1/2 - 2 years after I build this once I will probably build another...(better not get too ahead of myself )
You can definitely hear the fans, but doubful they would interfere with sleeping at all. A small room fan is probably louder on medium setting. So I don't think that they are "loud" - I'd call the fans "mellow". If you watch TV in the room, you will need to raise the volume by about 5 numbers on a volume scale of 1 to 40. To ease cleaning access, a person can just leave off 4 of the small bolt / screws from one side panel instead of using all 8 screws. That leaves access to almost everything one would need to tinker with or clean. Including swapping-out cards, RAM, etc.. In my image, that would be the panel on the right against the External Drive and phone handset. So it may take 20 seconds more to get into than a standard case. But removing that one panel allows removal of almost anything from power supply, to CPU, to hard drives, to cables. Only removing the mother board might require the top panel to be removed. I reversed and left a small acrylic piece on it to use as a handle. By the way, the fan screws were not long enough, but hardware stores had them longer for about $3 for stainless steel. This case is called the "Danger Den". There is an opening on the back (side?) that you can't see for the second Disc drive. The left panel out of sight in the image is where all the cords hook up at. My computer contains virtually everything you mentioned in your original post - plus some. The cost was $1300 / about $1200 after rebates. Just the box - not the monitor.
Wow, thanks for the information mdvaden! I believe I will go with a simpler case because it will not really be seen anyways, it will just be on the floor at the bottom right, my main concern is airflow. Thanks for your post man, much appreciation !!
There isn't any difference in products. The parts are ordered from the same company. Its just Tiger gets 5 x more sells a day. So they can offer things cheaper. Example : Intel Pentium 4 on tiger direct is the same thing as Intel Pentium 4 on NewEgg no difference at all except price. There are a few cheap things on Newegg. But I would have to say about 70 percent of tiger direct is cheaper. Now If you live in the UK i would go with Newegg I believe there stationed there and shipping would be cheaper.
A simpler case will certainly do the airflow job. My last one was a simple white medium size tower. No see-through, just a normal looking case. But it had room for 5 or 6 three inch fans. So you can stuff a lot of air flow into an $80 metal and plastic case.