I want to build a bare bones system that will basicly just stream DVDs off of another computer through my wired network. I've never built one so just a few questions. Don't I just need a motherboard, hard drive, video and sound card, CPU, and power supply. How cheap should I go? I want it quiet as possible on a budget...
We cant say much of anything with out knowing what your budget is, and bare bones are cheap for a reason, cheap parts.
I can't imagine spending over around $350. I already have the hard drive, operating system, DVD rom, and a power supply
When you say you have the operating system and hard drive, do you mean you have the CD and the drive, or is it already installed to the drive? Remember, once you install windows to a drive it is only meant to boot that system. If you move the drive to another PC and expect that version of windows to work, it's unlikely, as the installs are mapped to the hardware configuration of the PC they were installed on. While it's possible to try and work around this, it's a very complex procedure and it is thoroughly recommended to reinstall windows on the drive (or better yet, start from scratch with a clean one). As for the power supply, what brand is it? $350 for a system minus the PSU and drives is definitely doable, but if you have a cheap tacky PSU, you could be endangering both the system and yourself by using it.
I have an operating system disc that's never been installed. As for the power supply not sure of the brand I'm not sure. It's 350 watts I know. Cases seem to be almost a hundred dollars by themselves. Is there anyway to make my own cheap case (I know I'm getting very cheap) but i may want to make multiple systems for all rooms of my house
You needn't spend $100 on a case, but I do recommend people spend a reasonable amount of money on a case rather than buying the cheapest they can find, as the superior cooling performance and build quality will make the PC much nicer to use overall. Cases like the Antec Three Hundred and NZXT Beta aren't excessively expensive, but are nice cases to use for anything but top-end systems. As for the PSU, I advise you check the brand. It is likely that it should be replaced.
and not just that, when you overload the quality 300W unit it wil just shut down. When you overload the cheap 700W unit, not only will it probably break, it could also catch fire or destroy some of your PC parts.
Not sounding too promising to be honest, I'd recommend including a better quality unit in the budget, it's still doable for $350 with basic stuff.
So what should I go shopping for first. Do some motherboards only fit is certain cases? Or will most anything work. I want the system to stream blu ray iso's so it has to put out hd. Can I go cheap on the motherboard and cpu and get a good video card? Is there any parts that I need that I'm leaving out?
All my computers I build as cheap as possible, most use the cpu/motherboard combos, I rarely spend more than 100.00 for the cpu/motherboard). You can get good deals on some of the low-end dual cores. Every motherboard already has built-in audio no need to buy an audio card. For video card get a radeon hd4350 (cost 40.00), very good quiet video card (I have 2 of these). They can output video to 1920x1080, and will also output 7.1 audio through the HDMI cable. Also this card is specially design for HTPC computers and has a large heatsink (no fan). A generic case cost only 30.00, no need to buy anything fancy for a non-gaming computer.
I'm thinking this motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=motherboards_intel-_-13-500-018-_-Product It says on board video. Will this cover my video needs or should I still get the video card? and this for the cpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103295 Will these jive together?
the motherboard and cpu will not fit together. The motherboard is for an intel cpu like a e2140,e2160,e6300 etc. I have an intel motherboard with a intel e2140 on my mediapc. The cpu you have is AMD which requires a different motherboard. This cpu is approaching midrange power for a barebones computer. But would let you do some video editing etc. If you want to output HD video, you will need a video card. Some motherboards do have built-in HDMI output but are more expensive, in the end even the radeon hd4350 will work alot better than any built-in video since it doesn't share memory with the motherboard. You just need to decide what CPU you want AMD or intel and buy the appropriate motherboard. My preference is AMD because the cpu fan is easier to install. AMD cpu fan has one lever, Intel cpu fan has 4 screws you need to tightend down. Another difference is intel cpu's run cooler than AMD. There's pro and cons between AMD and intel but at the lowend side to me they are the same except for some minor price differences and the cpu fan installation. http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/XviD-1.2.1,1383.html
Ok I've been thinking about this. I'm just gonna build something for around $1,000 Anyone got any suggestions Is there anything pre built that is a good value at this price range or should I still go the do it myself route
I know it's a jump. I'm just scared that lowered end stuff will be noisy and not do what I want. All I want is blu Ray streaming pretty much. I so confused on what to do
Right well, I'll ask again. What components do you need to buy? I'll spec you out a system for that budget, or if you should spend less, I'll say so.
Ok the only parts I do not need are... operating system hard drive I guess I will just trust your judgement on how to build and what parts to use. I might want to spend a little more on making it pretty quiet since it will only be used to watch movies in my bedroom. Thanks for any advice!!
Having built a couple of systems designed to be near-silent from the outset I know what stuff to buy to make a PC quiet. Core i5 750 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215 Gigabyte P55-UD3L: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128406 4GB Corsair XMS3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260 XFX Radeon HD5770: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447 Nexus Value 430W: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817610002 Intel X25-V SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167025 WD10EARS 1TB HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136490 NZXT Beta case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146055 LG GH22NS50 DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136167 Scythe Fan Controller: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998065 Noctua CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608016 Scythe SFF21E Case fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185005 This lot comes to $1039, but I have included both a Solid-State hard drive and a low-noise 1TB drive for storage. The reason for this is that hard disks make up a substantial part of the noise of a system, and your old one may make the PC quite noisy. With the components selected here, as long as you hook up the fans to the fan controller I put in, you should barely be able to hear this system at all. It's worth noting that this is a powerful system I have chosen due to the $1000 budget stated. If you aren't going to need any of this, you could spend a fair bit less. This is a good system that will last a substantial amount of time, however.
