posted
Hi Hatrackers, I'm building my own PC and I was wondering what kind of hardware you think I should buy, Besides the obvious, keyboard, mouse, I want a flatscreen monitor, atleast 17 inch. I was also thinking about gettin atleast these: 1) Intel Pentium 4 processor 2)512mb ram 3)ATI all-in-wonder Radeon 9800 PRO 8X 128MB DDR w/ TV-Out & DVI 4) any directX 8.1 compatible sound card 5)60gig hard disk 6) wireless network card (G)
I have pretty much everything else I need. Does anyone think I might need to get some better stuff? Keeping in mind I haven't quite gotten my money tree to grow yet, so I don't have an infinite supply of cash.
posted
Make sure you have a computer savvy friend you can at least call if not supervise you doing this. I mean, you spelled monitor wrong... jk
Seriously though, you have to buy all the cables, set your CMOS BIOS settings just right (which is hard for somebody who doesn't really know what they're doing), and you have to be able to hook all of your stuff up properly. I was about to build my own computer, but decided I wanted a car stereo instead. Serious, if you don't know what you're doing, there is good chance you're going to be making a lot of returns to whatever electronics store you buy all your components from. Read up a bit.
You will also have to have somewhat of a good power supply. Very important since you're running such a high performance AGP chipset.
[ April 23, 2004, 10:36 PM: Message edited by: Nick ]
Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Yes well I did mean Gig and I know how to spell monitor, my typing skills aren't perfect. Sue me (it's even worse when I am rushing or doing something else) anyway, I do have atleast 2 friends, who can build computers with their eyes closed, who're going to help me. Not that anyone should doubt my skills, just because I once stared blankly at a blue screen of death for 30 minutes, thinking "well now what do I do?" Posts: 73 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
"Does anyone think I might need to get some better stuff?"
The only thing I can think of, frankly, is that you might consider a larger hard drive and a full gig of quality RAM. Otherwise, your list is actually top of the line. For someone who doesn't have much money, you aren't skimping on components; Pentium 4s, Radeon 9800s, and flat-panel displays are the expensive options.
If you're genuinely interested in saving money, consider going with an AMD processor, a Radeon 9600, and a CRT.
(Edit to add: don't skimp on the power supply, either.)
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P4's are nice chips. For the love of God make sure your motherboard doesn't use old SDR. Prices are probably cheap enough to go straight to the highest FSB available, actually; if you do memory-intensive stuff like me it's worth shaving a few MHz off if necessary. HT is worth trying, I wish I had some to play with.
Normally I'd say buy only for your immediate needs and wait for prices to drop, but according to the Taiwanese current RAM shortages aren't going away for at least a year. If you can afford it 1GB will make things like compilers run faster.
The monitor is what you spend a zillion hours a day looking at, so don't skimp. Unless your left hand is faster than mine, screen real estate is directly related to productivity. I'm not sure where prices are right now, but it may be more cost-effective to get (say) 2x19" than a single big one. The same principle applies to mouse and keyboard. Go feel the peripherals yourself to find a good ergonomic fit, then get as many buttons as possible. Optical isn't strictly necessary if you keep a clean desk, but it's cheap these days so why not. Wireless is laggy and terrible, avoid unless this is an HTPC.
The biggest contributor to how fast your computer feels will be the disk. WD's drives with desktop-optimized caches are ubiquitous by now, just look for a model number ending in -JB.
Wireless networking is pointless and slow for a desktop.
Posts: 1839 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I agree with everything Berg said except the wireless. Unless you transfer a whole heck of a lot of large files between computers on your own home network, you will never see a difference in speed. In other words, if all you share is the internet, even the slowest wireless network card is going to be at least three times as fast as your internet can download anyway (and that's if you have the absolute fastest download rate available commercially). The only thing you want to be careful about is setting it up securely. All you have to do is ask, and there are plenty of people who can help you gain a reasonable amount of security to keep your computer relatively safe.
What Nick said is smart, too: have a savvy friend to ask questions and get some physical advice. Other than that, you should be just fine. Good luck!
Posts: 779 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I realise the performance issues with wireless networks, especially since I was stuck with a wireless B card for a month, however running a wired network would require me to drill holes in the floor, and the wireless card that I am using now, will run fast enough so that my connection speed isn't overly impared. I still need to find out which idiot on my street is messing up my bandwith though
posted
It might be worth your while to consider the ViewSonic VP171b. That's the monitor I bought to go with my new Mac earlier this year. For starters, it has both DVI and VGA inputs (your Radeon will have DVI out). It also has a higher contrast ratio (500:1) and slightly higher brightness (230 cd/m^2). The response time is the same (16ms). The viewing angle is nice and wide, too. I've been very impressed with it.
Additionally, it's a joy to adjust – height, tilt, and rotation can all be adjusted with one hand quite easily. From an ergonomics perspective it's very well designed.
Worth looking into, since I don't think it'll run you too much more and the digital input is nice.
posted
My best friend and I built my computer for under $800, and it is extremely slick and delicious. I dunno what you're looking for in a comp exactly, but mine rox0rs, and I didnt have to spend that much money.
Pentium 4 processor, Asus P4P800 motherboard w/built-in sound card, 512MB DDR RAM, 60 gig hard drive, GeForce FX 5200 Ultra AGP 8X graphics card, 17 inch flatscreen monitor, CD/DVD-ROM/CD burner, a nifty-looking case and a nice mouse.
Mine is excellent for gaming and...pretty much everything else I want to do with it. Mail-in rebates saved me a lot of money, as did internet shopping.
I dont know all that much about computers, but I'm extremely pleased with how mine turned out and how it works, and for nearly half the cost of what you're planning on spending.
Posts: 1225 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Newegg is having a sale on 9800Pro Vid cards. If I were you, though, I'd hold off for a week or so. The new ATI cards will be coming out, and the prices on the 9800 series cards should start dropping.
Edit: newegg now has it for $210 (free shipping), but ATACOM has it for $199. newegg ATACOM
I'd still purchase from newegg due to their quick shipping (I routinely get packages a day or so before it's scheduled to arrive), prices and customer service.
It sounds like you're going for performance here, so if you're gonna get a gig a RAM, buy 2 512 meg sticks and use those instead of a single stick. You'll see a definite amount of improvement there.
When you buy your case, make sure that it's got a power supply that can handle all of the devices that you'll be putting in there (HD's and the newer video cards take alot of juice), and that it has an acceptable amount of fan points (unless you'll be using water cooling).
My case is full of hard drives, a 2600+ chip and a Ti4600, yet my case doesn't get above 107* when running folding@home.
Speaking of hard drives - why such a small HD? I've got multiple 160 gig drives running around the house, and feel like I'm always in a need for more space.
Have you considered a DVD burner? If you do your homework, you should be able to find drives that can be upgraded to either 8x or dual layer burning by firmware upgrades rather than buying a new drive (just remember to make sure to buy a +/- drive).
Finally, if you're gonna go wireless (though if it's a desktop you might want to consider wired for cost and security) make sure to again research the brands. I'm fighting with a netgear router right now that looks great, but hates my cable modem. The wireless card that I have is more than wonderful, as I have a very strong signal no matter where in the house I go. For the record, I've got the WGT624 and WG511T.
If you want any help, feel free to IM me on aim (phnemonkey).
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On the note of harddrives, if you're paying more than 50 cents a gig, you're spending too much money. For instance at the moment Circuit City has this WD 160g for 109.99 after $70 in rebates, plus if you have a Fry's Electronics nearby you can pricematch and get it down to $45. That's ~$0.28 a gig. As a note, Circuit City is pretty good on giving out it's rebates, and so is Western Digital.
I'm also more than willing to help find parts AIM: BernardLUE42 Satyagraha
posted
I don't see any optical. That could get...interesting.
Wow, $500+ is a lot for 17 inches. There were deals to get the 2001FP (best 20" on the market) for $750 last week. I don't know who advertises their TFT as "multisync," BTW, but you definitely don't want to run at a non-native resolution...and I would never buy a Viewsonic...
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Serious, if you don't know what you're doing, there is good chance you're going to be making a lot of returns to whatever electronics store you buy all your components from. Read up a bit. ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
