im intrested in building a basic pc for myself and have a couple of questions. now just to get it strait im not trying to be a dumb ass and waste every ones time but i am limited on the time i have to spend on my pc because im at work. so i dont have the time to browse through all the forums. i want to either buy or build a basic system for myself.... i will be mainly using it for..... - Browsing the internet/ checking e-mail - listening to internet radio, orgnising my ipod, listening to music stored on my pc - i am not intrested in using this pc for any of the hi graphic games or anything like that, but maby some simple free games like downloaded ones or something like that i am wondering if it would be cheaper to just build one myself or go and buy one from Dell, HP, Gateway, Ect.
well if your looking for something thats not to price and will support you for all that you could just buy a regular dell dimension desktop which are usually cheap (around $400-$600) and it shouldnt give you any trouble for what you want to use it for. I personally dont like dell and would probably get an HP but thats just me.
Spyder22 If time is such an issue then I too would suggest you purchase a store bought PC from Dell or Gateway.
Yeah, go through Dell or Office Depot to get something super base/basic. It's possible to got through newegg.com to build something very cheap, but you're better off buying a package computer since you aren't looking to h4x0r t3h G1b50n!
if you want to build one yourself a computer you should go for something with specs like this AMD sempron 2500 socket 754 512MB DDR 400 754 Motherboard (get one with onboard sound and graphics) 40 / 80 Gig hard drive depending on how much stuff ya wanna save on there DVD R/W drive (you could just get a cd drive but DVD R/Ws do everything in one) Standard case and PSU (youll find that if you buy cheap cases they come supplied with there own PSUs) Monitor of your choice and thats about it. you could get the whole pc (excluding the monitor) for under £200 easily and a system like that would do everything that youve stated you require it for with no trouble. and ofcourse theres the added bonus of it not being a dell
@ SypherTek so are you saying that it would be smarter to build one my self because i could build a good system for a cheaper price compared to purchasing one from a company.
Exactly, The specs that Syphertek gave you are excellent for a midrange PC and alot cheaper then Dell's basic systems.In general, you can get more bang for your buck building your own PC. In many cases, you will find equally priced and comparable PCs, where one is pre-built and one would be homebuilt. You can buy PCs cheaper than you can build them, but when you consider the hardware choices within, the price is offset in favor of homebuilt. One thing to consider here is the value of your time. If you are a very busy person where time is money, then you most likely want to buy a pre-built PC. If you don't mind taking the time, though, you can do better doing it yourself. Just remember that Available support is a key concern for do-it-yourselfers, I've gone through countless amounts of coffee, smoke breaks, and gray hairs just to try and solve problems with my PC. I have no tech support.. just a good ole google search and Forums like this one to help me out.. Good Luck
it would work out cheaper definately as this way you only get what you want from the system and not a load of other crap the companies convince you you need. if your in the uk i can direct you to some cheap pc component sites c... well a cheap pc comonent site lol
Hey Sypher, while were on the subject of building your own pc and not having any tech support, I just did a dual boot with Windows XP Pro Retestrak(Snipers Redemption Network) on 1 hard drive and Windows Vista 64 on the 2nd hard drive. Maybe you could help me out here?? With windows Vista, in the device manager I have a yellow question mark on other devices??? I did a drivers check and I have 93% percent of my drivers installed correctly except for this standard dual channel pci controller?? I have no clue what this is in windows vista?? I don't have the same question mark with regular XP Pro in the device manager. Thanks
from the reviews that i have read states that the 64 bit windows has poor driver support for older and more generic hardware what devices are highlighted with yellow marks
Spyder22 One item that was left out of the package is called OS. Windows XP edition for around $100. Just make sure you add ALL costs for you build before you pull the trigger. Dell has systems for under $300
Other Devices?? Standard dual channel pci controller on pci bus?? My system runs stable with this driver issue. I have 93 percent of my drivers installed correctly with Vista 64, not bad except for this one driver. My usb, hdd, graphics card, soundcard, printer....etc..etc are working fine so I'm really not worried about it considering I have a dual boot going with my primary OS intact on the 1st hard drive.
I see no way(In USA) a pc: complete with monitor, OS, some software, DVD RW drive, keyboard and mouse, can be built for $200 and have any quality parts in it. Dell makes a good PC. I have one but it wasn't a cheap one.
thank you for all your help and info. it was very usefull i think i am going to build one similar to the one SypherTek has laid out the specs for. instead of buying one from dell (i did some reasearch and im not to crazy about what im getting for my money)
