The Official PC building thread!

Yes, both computers are hanging before the post I think. (no beeps or drive spin, just fans and such) I also acquired a P4 Compaq from a buddy of mine (not as computer literate as I am) that crashed on him. Milwaukee PC told him he needed a new hd which would be $150ish. He opted to get a new computer w/out asking me first. I got the old one, replaced the NTLDR file and it now works fine. I took my new WD 80 gig (from my old system) and put it in the Comcrap along with the original 74 gig that came with it. Machine is for backing up dvd's. The old computer (800 athlon) has a WD 20 gig original to the build and a Seagate 10 gig from a different crashed Comcrap which had mobo issues.
The interesting part is that when I hook up the P4 with either of the two systems on the kvm, the compaq starts up just fine while the others always hang. I'm slightly stumped, none the less. Oh, and I suppose that I could take a hd out of one of the three to play with but why would that change anything?
Thanks again.

 

OK. It's gonna have to wait till morning. I'm at work now. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks.

 

Hey

when i get a job im goin 2 build a pc. I was wondering if ne1 could list the things i need(case,fans,motherb,etc) and the sites you found them at with the price. But the only thing is it needs to be an aussie site. I know what to get just need help on what you think is good quality for a good price.

 

Well here goes, I built mine about a month ago. See my sig for list of components. I got almost everything off of Newegg.com. Seems that they have pretty good prices and I didn't feel like shopping around too much. The Australia thing I'm not too sure about but you could look into it. All prices are in USD.
Case = 95.00
Mem = 85.00
Mobo = 166.00
CPU = 146.00
NEC = 49.00
LITEON = 24.00
HD = 131.00
Video = 170.00 (Circuit City)
Floppy = 9.00
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse = 26.00

All about $1000.00 with shipping which was free on a few of the items. Depends on what you need it for. Mine is oc'd to 2.25 GHz with stock cooling and no memory or voltage tweeks. Think it will go up to about 2.5ish. At 1.8 it beats the P4 3.2 Extreme Edition in many of the benchmarks that I've seen. So again, what do you want to do with it. The other thing with AMD's is the CPU multiplier. They are locked so the only way to oc is to increase the fsb thus speeding up the whole system. My mobo has a pci lock so that doesn't speed up. The multiplier on the 3000+ is 9. On the 3200+ is 10. The 3400+ is 11, etc. More room for improvement but more money...

Good luck...
Joe

 

One more thing. For the fans, my case has 4 plus the 2 on the psu and one on the cpu of course. Stays pretty cool, around 38 oc'd with stock cooling. Also, the case has a fan controller to quiet it down if you want. The LITEON reader is the loudest component in my system.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Any body know if this would be a good comp and if its a good value?
The complete ultimate package
http://images10.newegg.com/UploadFilesForNewegg/promo/DIY/index.html

thanks

 

Would sum 1 be able to give me a site that has pics with step by step tutorial on hor to put it all together?

 

Putting it together isn't really that hard. Especially if you have an old cpu to open for a reference. Go to google and type in "pc building guide" or something along those lines. Biggest pain in the ass will be tucking all the wires away neatly. Use plenty of zip ties or twisties. Better you do with that the better cooling.

As far as the "ultimate system", it sounds pretty good. I prefer the Aspire X-Navigator cause it has a good psu and looks similar. It also has more fans with a controller built in and snap in drive trays. Very pleasant to work with. To each their own though, and the look might not be right for you. Looks like you'll have plenty of oc'ing ability...have fun.

Joe

 

I wish I would've found this forum a lot sooner. I hate being labled as a Newbie...

 

Thanks for all the help. Also i have an old comp that runs really slow. I was wondering what i should upgrade on it to make it run faster. here is a summary from EVEREST Home Edition:

CPU type: intel IIIE, 733 MHz (5.5 x 133)
System memory: 64 MB
motherboard name: MSI MS-6309
and it's a 10 gig hard drive.

If u need ne more info tell me what it is n i will try find it. Thanks

 

Just need some feed back on this proposed system I'm thinking of putting together. Mainly for analog to digital conversion and record off the TV or satalite for the wife.

Pentium 4 2.4ghz 533fsb 1mb
Asus P4C800 E-deluxe
DDR PC3200 1 gb
WD 120gb hd x2
WINTV 150 or 250
SAPPHIRE ATLANTIS RADEON 9600XT 256MB 128-bit AGP 4X/8X or
GIGABYTE GV-R96P128DE 128MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X
Pioneer A107 burner

of course the case and pwr supply and other misc to finish it off - I chose the P4C800 for expandability later on when the 3.0ghz cpu's come down in price. Good Basic ides?? tia

 

Alien 13,
Keep your hard drive and x the rest if you only want 1 PC. I have an old AMD 800 that is for going online and printing stuff, a P4 1.8 gig for backing up movies, hooked together with a kvm switch. My new PC is in the living room on the big screen for gaming and such. Figured why throw away the old if it is still usefull. The kvm switch was only 25 dollars. Anyway you might want to clean up the old one and use it for certain things, plus it probably still has stuff on it that you use. I also threw an 80 gig hard drive into my oldest one to give it more room. The P4 was a gift that someone crashed, and I recovered it after they bought a new PC.

Datageek,
I have always been partial to AMD. They seem to run cooler so you can oc them more. The 3000+ I built beats the P4 3.2 Extreme Edition in most of the benchmarks that I've seen. And that's at 1.8 gigs. Mine is oc't to 2.25 with only 5 degree heat increase. This thing screams and it was fairly cheap. Look up to when Alien 13 asked for a list and pricing. Maybe an Intel enthusiast will post some input?

Later,
Joe

 

Though I should add this:

AMD's, while rated at a lower GHz, make more computations per clock cycle than Intel's do, making them faster CPU's...
And the AMD 64 sends and receives info at the same time...
And they have a memory controller on the chip...
1000 MHz fsb downscalable for overclocking...

Later

 

Merlin you think this be a good build for gaming (first ever)

Abit AX8 Barebone Kit / AMD Athlon 64 3500+ / 512MB DDR / CPU Fan / ATX Mid-Tower Case with 500 Watt PS / Keyboard / Mouse
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1422661&CatId=1683

SAPPHIRE 100600L-Red Radeon X800PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retai
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102466

Western Digital / 120GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 / EIDE Hard Drive
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=291932

Toshiba / 16x4x16x DVD+RW / 12x4x16xDVD-RW / 5x DVD+R DL / 48x24x48x CD-RW / OEM Black DVD Burner
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1419116&CatId=482

an extra Ultra 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory CL2.5
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=586829

and 2 MASSCOOL FD08025S1M4 80mm Sleeve Cooling Fan - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835150007
pls i need info i dont think its missing anyhting. ty. oh and im going to hook it up to my 27 inch panasonic tv. or my 6 year old monitor i dont know which yet.

 

if there is equal but cheaper stuff pls tell me the less expensive the better.