Anyone here build their own desktop?
 

I'm going to start building one, used predominantly for design. I'm going to want a shitload of RAM (1GIG+) and an 80gig hard drive.

Anyone whose built their own pc's have any suggestions for a novice? I can install new hardware (CD-ROM drive, HD, RAM, graphics cards, etc.) but other than that my experience is limited to software.

You may be able to buy something like what you are looking for. Take a look at DELL and HP online. You never know.

I looked at DELL and one of their Dimension desktops is like $500 before shipping, which certainly isn't bad, but I thought it'd be fun (and it probably won't be..) to build my own, and hell who knows maybe even learn something along the way.

i don't build them but i have somebody who puts them together for me. I order all my shit from NewEgg.com

i bought a laptop but i would never buy a brand desktop.

thanks, will check that site out :) I only knew of pricewatch.com for factory priced hardware

the 2 best links to build your own pc have already been mentioned (newegg & pricewatch), also, heres a step-by-tutorial on HOW to build it:
http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

thanx :)

i build em all the time at work. Not that hard at all. Just read the book if your not sure.

ive built many, but only 80 gigs???

i use 420gb here and often have to delete 40gb here and there to make room.

i build all my servers , its fun.

www.pricewatch.com

Great tool for finding pieces cheaply

And you will have fun building it, def way better than buying a box.

I have a Dell just about on death's door. Overall, can't complain (4+ years old) and they do have good support - but upgrading parts isn't easy with their proprietary case. (I know exactly squat about building PCs so that doesn't help much, either)

Just got done talking with Arnette and compiling a list of my parts, let me know what you think.

MOTHERBOARD-- $114 Abit ag8

RAM-- $66 DDR, 2x 512MB

CPU-- $210 Intel P4 3.2ghz 540

VIDEO CARD-- $61 Sapphire Radeon X300SE

ETHERNET-- Included on motherboard

HARD DRIVE-- $68 Serial ATA 120GB

CD-ROM DRIVE-- $55 DVD+RW

SOUND CARD-- 6-channel audio included on motherboard

Ifits yer first time I reccomend ya have a friend with ya the first couple times that has done it before. There is just minute shit ya need to know or ya can really fuck up.


Most importantpart being aware of what hardware is compatible with what your building. INTEL or AMD both have very unique and subtle hardware prefernces.

See Radeon Card and Intel pretty risky...

If ya go Intel go with an Nvidea card.

If ya gettin a new motherboarfd get one wit SATA and skip ATA.
Thus get Maxtor's SATA's.

Ya really should consider getting 2 or 3 drives for alot of storage.
3.2 is alot of fire power.

SO set one as IDE since ya will have no choice and the other two on the SATA's.

No, but my boyfriend built mine recently and it is the FASTEST pc I have EVER owned. Much better than the Compaq and Gateway I used to own. It was the best thing anyone ever could have done for me!!

The motherboard is a DFI Lanparty
1 gig of Corsair memory (i might add in 1 more gig)
Hard drive is small only 70 something gigs but it's a WD Raptor at 10,000 rpm
and I'm going to put in a big external HD for data storage
Case is Super-Flower
Power supply is Ultra X-Connect 500W
Samsung 19" LCD
Processor is 3.0 p4

I don't rremember what type of video card I have or some of the specs of other parts exactly, all I know is that it's FAST....

Its way more fun to build your own computer. I've done all mine that way.

that's exactly the model i'm buying, guess I don't know how to phrase it properly ;)

AlienQ: no prob with intel and radeon, i have that cpu, board and card with no problem whatsoever, it works perfectly.

I am adding a nvidia to my setup as soon as it gets here though :)

Also that board has support for 4 SATA connectors, he is getting SATA

I am a mad Nvidea card user:)
I lovethe things.

GForce cards are really good.
I think they got one now with 1 gig onboard. INSANE!

I also never been a fan of the Radeon Cards they tend to freak out on Intel's. I have tried a few times and after a while the Radeon just kinda malfunctions or fails with an INTEL. But maybe its just me. After 2 failures with radeons I am not willing to give em a shot.

ASUS and ABIT mother boards I highly reccomend also.

ASUS for Intel
ABIT for AMD.

But just a note my best Machine is on a ABIT with an INTEL so its not a total bad thing:)

sounds like a good setup! it's 5AM and I can't do math this late..so how much is all that together?

I've never owned a PC that wasn't built by one of my friends and i love them that way cause you get what you want..

I buy some stuff from ebay or pricewatch.. My last dell laptop I bought new off ebay even.

Good luck and hope it works out for you cause I'd love for you to have a killer machine for the next killer design you make for me :thumbsup

Buy more ram. It's cheap.
If you have 4 ram spots in the motherboard, buy 4 512mb sticks.

I just built a new one two days ago after Old Faithful died (1ghz AMD Duron)...It was a sad day. I picked up a barebones system on ebay, threw my DVD-rom drive, ram and HDD in it now I am kicking once again.

Here is a tip, if you are using a Western Digital drive, take all the jumpers out of the drive because that indicates it is a primary master (the jumper in the "master" position indicates it is a secondary master). This fucked me up for a good long while a couple of years back.

If you need any help once you get going my ICQ is 41687856

i built my last one... i experienced many hardware conflicts :(

Cool idea.

How many people will think that refers to time instead of small?

i build all my systems. much better getting stuff at wholesale.

Just get a dell, i got a really good deal on mine and it came with a monitor

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...7353 464&rd=1