anyone know about building computers?..........

[Darwoth]

i want to score a new comp, but i do not want to buy another premade one where i pay for a bunch of crap that i dont even want etc.

so i need to know what are all the parts etc that are needed to build up a computer, would hate to order my shit then be missing stuff......

also......

how do you know what case to get?

do all the necessary wires and connectors and shit come with the parts they are needed for?

how do you know what is compatible/what is not with diff manufacturers?

any particular tools i need?




anything else added in the way of pointers advice would be helpful.

[Ksanth]

I build my comps, buying em pre-built is such a waste~

www.pricewatch.com is a great site for getting comp parts, www.mwave.com seems decent too, I got that one from Daero~

First you need a motherboard, get one depending on what speed processor you want, probably one that supports up to like 1.7ghz, assuming thats around the speed processor you want which you do~ You're also going to have to make sure it has enough PCI slots. (these are used for standard cards like sound card, network card, etc.) And you want an AGP slot too, AGP = best video cards. The same card as a PCI just won't be as good~ Make sure it has like 2+ USB ports too. Get Abit or Intel for motherboard, these seem to be reliable.

If you want to save money, get an amd or whatever, but I like pentiums. I'd get around 1.5ghz p4. So that part is simple, you might even buy a motherboard combo with a CPU.

You need RAM too. Check your motherboard again for this. Motherboards cannot support more than one type of RAM, some just SDRAM, some RDRAM or whatever. RDRAM is better, so if you get SD, you'll need more.

Sound card, whatever, doesn't matter unless you're going to DJ or some crazy shit, then you want full duplex~

Get whatever hard drive, I forget what brands are good.

Case, you'll need a power supply in it, which hooks up to like cd drives and the motherboard and shit. don't spend more than like $50 since it's just a case unless you really care about that. Oh yeah, make sure you get 1-2 fans too and mount em in there, and the bigger the case, the less heat problems you'll have~

Get a Geforce 3 I guess, again, AGP if your motherboard has an AGP slot, which you definitely want.

256mb or so rdram, or i guess 512 sdram, sdram is fuckin cheap now. Its like 20-30 bucks for 128 megs.

Then you need just whatever, a mouse, keyboard, monitor (Sylvania 17 inch been working perfectly for 3 or so years), networking card, 56k modem for dialup connections, and of course cable or DSL~

Oh yeah theres DDR RAM too, thats inbetween SDRAM and RDRAM. Confusing as hell. For SDRAM and DDR RAM, PCI tells you the speed of it, so the higher the better. For RDRAM, I'm not sure~

Oh yeah and I'm a n00b at Linux but it seems to be good so far other than me having a kind of DSL only the fuckin biggest linux nerds can set up. Partitioning 60gb or so hard drive for linux and windows xp would be nice~

For tool, screwdriver~ And maybe something to ground yourself if you're paranoid and clumsy

And for the most part, you don't have to worry about hardware being incompatible, as long as you have right kind of RAM and CPU for your motherboard. Most hardware also comes with instruction booklets in multiple languages, and all cords and ribbons (used to connect hard/floppy/cd drives to motherboard, if they're IDE which they usually are I guess) tend to come with the piece of hardware. Manual might be missing in OEM (white box) but you can always find help installing on internet, as well as drivers which usually come with the product anyway~

[Lovaelihn]

Here's my pointers:

Get an AMD= you will be getting more performance for less money.

Do NOT buy a motherboard/cpu combo... they will give you a second rate motherboard with on-board sound or video. Those onboard things suck bad and they are hard to disable completely.

You'll find some good opinions here http://forums.darkenbane.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=718

RDram and DDRram are for different chips. RD is for Pentium and DDR is for AMD ( I think... haven't messed with RD- too many bad reports ).

So, this is how I would do it

MB-KT7A Socket A Via KT133A Chipset No CPU ( $ 88 )
RAM- 512 DDR ram *Make sure you get MICRON © Ram* ( $ 50 )
CHIP-Athlon XP 1700 Palomino 1.47GHz 3D NOW! (Socket-A) 266FSB Processor ( $ 100 )
CASE- Any ATX case full sized. Just make sure you don't get a mid or smaller. ( $ 30-70 )
VIDEO- Plenty of options... full force? Go for the Geforce4 TI4600 128MB DDR DVI TV Out. ( $ 379 ), or go for a GEFORCE3 TI200 64MB DDR W/TV-OUT ( $130 ).
SOUND- This depends on what you want to do..If games and just normal funciotns then go cheap= SB live value is 20 bucks now and is just fine... If not check for ASIO cards.. audigy works, but costs about 60.
HARD DRIVE- Get 2 for RAID if you can. Best Value out there right now is the IMB Deskstar 60gb. Fastest seek and transfer time of any HD that I've seen. Get 2 of these running RAID and you will be very happy. Besides- that will give you 120 GB of storage for about 200$.


Bah... don't remember what I missed. there's a starter.

* And I don't mean to presume that other's opinions on computers are wrong= we all have our own way of doin things :P *

[Ksanth]

Yeah it's Micron RAM, Micron kicks ass~ I need to get a Geforce 3, new motherboard + CPU within next few months for WC3, its choppy as hell with a 16MB video card and p2 400mhz~

Whats RAID ;p

[PureKovak]

Originally posted by darwoth
i want to score a new comp, but i do not want to buy another premade one where i pay for a bunch of crap that i dont even want etc.

so i need to know what are all the parts etc that are needed to build up a computer, would hate to order my shit then be missing stuff......

also......

how do you know what case to get?

do all the necessary wires and connectors and shit come with the parts they are needed for?

how do you know what is compatible/what is not with diff manufacturers?

any particular tools i need?

anything else added in the way of pointers advice would be helpful.

you can't go wrong with this guide on sharkyextreme.com:

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MVGSBG/article.php/963091

i have that exact case they recommend there and its really nice.

all the power cables you need come with the case and the rest of the cables you need come with the mb. only tool you need is a phillips screwdriver. i recommend buying all the parts locally, having to return a doa mb sucks, and i've had to do it twice. factor in the cost of shipping and it ends up costing the same as it would at a local shop. couple points-- make sure you seat the cpu and ram properly, sometimes you really have to force that shit in the mb. if your cpu won't boot up this is probably the first place you should look. also, i don't have a good guide bookmarked on how to edit your bios but you should definitely look for one, because you will most likely have to change the cpu settings to get it to boot up properly.

btw, don't listen to lovalihn. anyone that spends $379 on a video card is a fucking idiot. that same card will be selling for half that in 3-4 months and isn't even much faster than the previous generation cards. instead spend that money on more ram (get 512) or the fastest hd you can afford (check www.storagereview.com) both of those items will speed up your computer (loading time) more than any overpriced video card.

[Darwoth]

thanks for the responses, will help me considerably when i order my crap.

[Lovaelihn]

Originally posted by Ksanth

Whats RAID ;p

I forget what RAID stands for, but it basically means having two hard drives running at the same time.

Basically, makes you load everything twice as fast.

Kovak- I didn't say to spend 370 on a video card, I said that was an option... me personally- I would choose either a GeForce2 GTS ( around 50 bucks ), or maybe a ti500 GeForce3 ( prolly 100 bucks ).

Hard drive speed does not increase your framerate. (although a really shitty hard drive will slow you down to the point where you're getting 2 fps. :P )

[Noelm]

Keep in mind the AMDs will probably be cheaper and get you more bang for your buck in a lotta ways (in some cases a 1.5 gig amd can outpreform a 2 gig pentium 4). But on the other hand, the P4 will have a 400mhz bus speed which unless things have changed very recently the AMD will not even come close to. Personally I'm not sure whether I'll build an AMD or pent system next, cuz the bus speed can be very important, and intels making some big strides in cutting down AMDS advantages in floating point math, which is where a lot of their advantages come from.

as to ram, DDR I believe is the newest and performs very well on both pentium and AMD systems. It might be cheaper than RD ram and I do not believe there is any big difference in performance.

I cannot recommend mwave.com HIGHLY ENOUGH. Every friend who has asked me for help building a new box I have sent there and the mwave staff either built them their own custom box for liek an 80$ fee or gave them practically step by step help on doing it themselves;p

and if ya wanna put linux on there too, I wouldnt bother with a single hardrive with multiple partitions, I'd just get 2 seperate drives and make one a devoted linux drive and the other a devoted windows drive

[Darwoth]

i dont have l33t skills enough for linux =/
what are the advantages to linux over windows though other than all the cheat programs for most games seem to be ran off of it lol?





im going to go check out that website.

[Daero]

I got my comp from mwave about 2 months ago. I bought a barebone system (comes w/ mobo, cd-rom, case, fans) and I bought video card, sound card, modem and CD-RW from them. For about 600 bucks I got:

1600+ AMD Athlon XP
Asus Motherboard
30 Gig HD
Sony 50X CD-ROM
Samsung CD-RW
256 MBs of DDRam (I shoulda got 512)
VisionTek Geforce 2 Ti 64 Meg DDR
Soundblaster Audigy Gamer
Cheap0 modem

I think I made out pretty well. Just use yer old windows disc or buy it/borrow it and you're set as long as you don't mind installing the HD, video, soundcard etc. yourself. Was easy, it was out of the box up and running in less than an hour. Used money from selling my EQ accts for it too =)

Daerox

[Arakan]

In reality you don't really have to get new hardrives if you just want to transfer your old ones over... your just gonna have to format em most likely cause you'll get fucked over if u boot your computer up cause all the info on your old HD is for your old motherboard.... if u use your old hardrives and get a new motherboard and cpu... don't let it boot up heh.. get into the command prompt for whatever Os your using... i suggest 2000 or XP.. im using xp with an Athlon Xp 2000+, 512 meg of DDR-2800, 2 60gb Maxtor 7200 rpm's (IDE RAID),... for video card and sound card u can do whatever you want.. but the Sb Live is fine for good normal gaming sound.. i would at least get a Geforce 3 since the prices are going down... if you got DSL/Cable.. dont even buy a modem.. but get a Linksys 10/100 Ethernet Adapter... like 15-20 bucks.. basically any will do... but Linksys always has good stuff.. with XP make sure your CD-RW and CR-ROM are new and say their compatible with XP... thats one of the problems I had... had to get a new CD-ROM because XP wouldnt read it or find my CD-ROM cause it wasn't compatible with XP.. and yes anywhere you go.. their selling cheap or nice CD-ROMS that clearly state they are compatible with XP/2000..... If your using XP.. do the windows update thing and download the critical updates it advises you to download right away.. which will fix some bugs with XP... XP seems to install its own drivers for all your stuff which is usually okay ... cept for like Video Card, and sound card... just get the most updated drivers for your card... if geforce... just goto www.nvidia.com. The Radeon 8500 is alright.. but your gonna have to deal with crappy support for drivers and shit from their website... and some Overflow error patches for certain games Ex. Counter-Strike .. You might say Pentium is coming up with some stuff to even out with the XP, but AMD is now working on something even better than the XP hehe... so when the intel p4 evens out with the AMD XP, a new AMD chip will be out thats even better... check the AMD articles and see whats comin up.. Case.. doesnt really matter just get a good sized one for what your gonna put in it,,, with like 300W...

[Wipoleen]

Actually depending on where you live a case is very important, if you are in an area that has consistant high tempatures you should make sure your case will have enough fans, espiecially if you are running AMD, they produce more heat then pentiums due to the fact they are overclocked. A good place to check out is here.... http://www.3dcool.com/

As well make sure you put more then 300w of power into it, with a high end chip, vid card and numerous fans, you will be sucking down a lot of power and a 300w supply prolly wont be enough. Spend the extra 20 bucks and go for a 450w box just to make sure you wont have a problem.

[Arakan]

Not really.. 300W is all you really need... Im running mine on a 250W power supply and it has plenty of power... (2HD's, 1 CD-RW, 1 CDrom, floppy drive.. video card, the works..) I don't suggest getting a 450W power supply unless your using your computer for a server heh.. i got one and it was a total waste... too many power cords running everywhere, and it was very annoying to move around because it was huge..... 250-300W is enough.. doesnt matter really what kind of case u have ,,, but u need the right cooling... specially for an AMD.. were not talking about living in the Sahara Desert of the North Pole Wipo :P ... and btw the chip is not gonna suck the power heh

[Noelm]

just to clarify about the intel vs. amd thing... The intel processors are generally more expensive and rated at higher speeds (up to 2.2 ghz or so now?)

It isnt at all accurate to really say either is better at this point, overall the intel processor is faster, with the higher bus speed (which is very important in many situations). The AMD chips, which are not as fast (1.6-1.7 now?) only have a 233 mhz bus speed (I believe, as opposed to 400 on the intel) but can still perform on a level with the intel chips, since their chips have a notable advantage in programs that use a lotta floating point math. Games fall under this category a lot, so when actually doing benchmarks a 1.4 gig amd system can match a higher rated intel system. When one adds in the lower expense of the AMD processor most gamers will recommend the AMD system.

I dunno which I'd do if I was building a system now in all honesty. And as to linux, unless u have a specific purpose in mind its probably not worth it, unless you just wanna use it for the sake of not using windows, or just the sake of knowing it =P The linux GUI's Ive seen really arent that different looking than windows.

[Arakan]

Proven fact that an AMD XP 1800+ beats a Pentium 4 2.0ghz
(with the SAME EVERYTHING... hard drives.. video card.. etc)

and....

AMD XP 2000+ beats the Pentium 4 2.2ghz

So basically no, heh, AMD is still beating P4... while their trying to catch up.. and AMD is working on a New Chip

Check it in any magazine because a lot of them benchmark it with different programs and on different systems.... XP 1800+ performed 11 percent better than the Pentium 4 2.2ghz

Was checked with many games and different tests and applications.

Plus running Windows XP is said to "enhance" the performance and speed of the XP chip in. Windows XP was designed for the AMD XP chip.

[Adept]

RAID == Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disk(s)

RAID levels:

0 -- Striping (or concatenation, 2x2G drives gives you 1 4G virt)
1 -- Mirroring (2x2G drives gives you 1 2G virt with redundancy)
2 -- not commonly used
3 -- not commonly used
4 -- not commonly used
5 -- Parity (5X2G drives gives you 1 8G virt with redundancy and horrible write performance)
0+1 -- striped mirrors, very common for applications that need performance and redundancy.

[Ksanth]

Adept is a nerd~