I found a PC. Not sure.

[Tacoeaterguy]

I am looking to buy a new PC, and the thread that is stickey'd was alot of help. I was thinking about buying this cheap, 400$ desktop, that has a geforce 9200.... I am not sure if I should do this, or save up for an even better one. I have soooooo many un-used PC games that I am DIEING to play but cant. So can someone help me out? Thanks. Sorry if anyone gets mad at me for making this a new thread.

 

[Ennui]

absolutely no, don't do it. 9200 is a piece of shit and that computer is also a massive piece of shit.

you'll need about $1000 to buy a good PC, maybe less if you don't need a monitor or keyboard/mouse/speakers. and don't get a packaged desktop, thats a one way trip to eat shit and die ville. build it yourself. trust me. this is exactly what everyone else is going to say.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Oh... thanks for the heads up. I already have a monitor I could use. Probably a mouse and keyboard too. We have 3 computers in my house, and 2 out of the three suck. My brother tryed to put in a graphics card into a perfectly fine computer and screwed it up. 1000$? Really? hmm... what IS a good graphics card then. Better yet, what is a good Computer that is in the.... 800$-1000$ region. Without monitor, mouse, or keyboard.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

absolutely no, don't do it. 9200 is a piece of shit and that computer is also a massive piece of shit.

you'll need about $1000 to buy a good PC, maybe less if you don't need a monitor or keyboard/mouse/speakers. and don't get a packaged desktop, thats a one way trip to eat shit and die ville. build it yourself. trust me. this is exactly what everyone else is going to say.

wait... i didnt read the part about "building it yourself" before I posted last.... How do I go about doing this? I have no idea about anything except doing things on a working PC, not putting stuff into a PC.

 

[Sedako]

Processor and Motherboard = $130
Video Card = $90
RAM = $34
Power Supply = $50
Case = $60

And whatever you want to spend on a hard drive/CD drive, and you'll hit around $400 for a far superior PC than the one you found. MUCH better to build one.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Processor and Motherboard = $130
Video Card = $90
RAM = $34
Power Supply = $50
Case = $60

And whatever you want to spend on a hard drive/CD drive, and you'll hit around $400 for a far superior PC than the one you found. MUCH better to build one.

oh jesus... thank you so much. But.. can I have them hook all this stuff up for me?

 

[ajski752]

Building PCs nowadays is pretty easy...
you buy a motherboard. then buy a tower that fits that mother board size. when you are buying a tower, make sure you get a power supply that will be enough to support everything that you plan on adding to the pc. its a good idea to make a spreadsheet of some kind, do make sure everything is compatible, and things like having enough power dose not become an issue when you go to build it.
then (if its for gaming, which i presume it is) buy a good graphics card. but make sure the card type is supported by the motherboard.
then you'll need to buy hard disks, one big one, or two smaller ones, cause they are getting really cheep nowadays
especially if your running demanding games, your going to want a good amount of ram, 4gb is somewhat standard in most good PCs so aim for that. you will have to make sure that your mother board has at least two, preferably four ram slots... the more ram the better...
don't forget about processor... i believe you can buy most motherboards with a processor for a slightly cheaper price than buying them separate.
HEAT SINK and or fans... you'll need good ones if your playing demanding games... and its a modest investment to protect your valuable technology
you may want to buy an Ethernet card, if the motherboard's Ethernet port is slow.
also, extra firewire or USB 2.0 ports are never really a bad thing, so at least make sure there is an open slot on the mother board to accommodate this...

i can't think of anything else that you would need for a gaming computer... except OS, but thats obvious.

edit...: opps a cd/dvd drive too!!! thats an important part... maybe go blue ray if your feeling special

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Building PCs nowadays is pretty easy...
you buy a motherboard. then buy a tower that fits that mother board size. when you are buying a tower, make sure you get a power supply that will be enough to support everything that you plan on adding to the pc. its a good idea to make a spreadsheet of some kind, do make sure everything is compatible, and things like having enough power dose not become an issue when you go to build it.
then (if its for gaming, which i presume it is) buy a good graphics card. but make sure the card type is supported by the motherboard.
then you'll need to buy hard disks, one big one, or two smaller ones, cause they are getting really cheep nowadays
especially if your running demanding games, your going to want a good amount of ram, 4gb is somewhat standard in most good PCs so aim for that. you will have to make sure that your mother board has at least two, preferably four ram slots... the more ram the better...
don't forget about processor... i believe you can buy most motherboards with a processor for a slightly cheaper price than buying them separate.
HEAT SINK and or fans... you'll need good ones if your playing demanding games... and its a modest investment to protect your valuable technology
you may want to buy an Ethernet card, if the motherboard's Ethernet port is slow.
also, extra firewire or USB 2.0 ports are never really a bad thing, so at least make sure there is an open slot on the mother board to accommodate this...

i can't think of anything else that you would need for a gaming computer... except OS, but thats obvious.

edit...: opps a cd/dvd drive too!!! thats an important part... maybe go blue ray if your feeling special

thats actually pretty time consuming. How do I check if everything is compatable?

 

[Rico]

It isn't as complicated as it sounds. If your money is valuable to you, I suggest you take the time and read up on how to put together your own computer as it will save you a TON of money.

Also, just go to newegg.com and put together a wish list of the components you are thinking of buying for your computer. You can then post the wishlist here if you have any doubts or if you want it reviewed by other forum members.

Components you will need (and some suggestions)

1) Motherboard: Intel is probably best right now, though its sligtly more expensive than AMD. I went with the Asus EP35-PS3L. It's socket LGA 775, which means that your CPU must also be socket LGA 775.

2) CPU: I used an intel e7200 C2D for mine because it was a good bang for the buck when I bought it. You can show around for your CPU, you can generally find a decent CPU at around the ~$100 price range. Just make sure its LGA 775 if you decide to use the motherboard I suggested.

3) RAM: Get at least 2GB DDR2. If you have a bit of money to spare, buy 4GB.

4) Video Card: 8800GT is a great card, last time I saw one it was selling for ~100 bucks or even less. Alternatively, get a 9800GT which is basically the same card, and will play any current game at high settings and acceptable performance (unless you game at super-high resolutions, which I don't)

5) Hard Drive: Pick a SATA hard drive. Most drives out today have a standard speed of 7200 RPM. That's fine for a budget system, and will not hinder your gaming enough to make it worth it to upgrade to something faster (unless you have money to spare)

6) PSU:500 Watts is enough to run my setup. Make sure you have enough Amps on the +12V rail (you may have to dig on the product info to find this). I forget exactly how many amps I needed for my setup, but an EarthWatts 500W PSU should be good (and save you some cash on your energy bill maybehaps, it's high efficiency)

7) Ummm, Operating system? Maybe, your choice there, not a whole lot you can do to shop around there. For gaming at least.

I bought everything I listed for my last build (about 2 years old now) nd it cost me around 500 bucks for all the hardware, maybe less.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

It isn't as complicated as it sounds. If your money is valuable to you, I suggest you take the time and read up on how to put together your own computer as it will save you a TON of money.

Also, just go to newegg.com and put together a wish list of the components you are thinking of buying for your computer. You can then post the wishlist here if you have any doubts or if you want it reviewed by other forum members.

Components you will need (and some suggestions)

1) Motherboard: Intel is probably best right now, though its sligtly more expensive than AMD. I went with the Asus EP35-PS3L. It's socket LGA 775, which means that your CPU must also be socket LGA 775.

2) CPU: I used an intel e7200 C2D for mine because it was a good bang for the buck when I bought it. You can show around for your CPU, you can generally find a decent CPU at around the ~$100 price range. Just make sure its LGA 775 if you decide to use the motherboard I suggested.

3) RAM: Get at least 2GB DDR2. If you have a bit of money to spare, buy 4GB.

4) Video Card: 8800GT is a great card, last time I saw one it was selling for ~100 bucks or even less. Alternatively, get a 9800GT which is basically the same card, and will play any current game at high settings and acceptable performance (unless you game at super-high resolutions, which I don't)

5) Hard Drive: Pick a SATA hard drive. Most drives out today have a standard speed of 7200 RPM. That's fine for a budget system, and will not hinder your gaming enough to make it worth it to upgrade to something faster (unless you have money to spare)

6) PSU:500 Watts is enough to run my setup. Make sure you have enough Amps on the +12V rail (you may have to dig on the product info to find this). I forget exactly how many amps I needed for my setup, but an EarthWatts 500W PSU should be good (and save you some cash on your energy bill maybehaps, it's high efficiency)

7) Ummm, Operating system? Maybe, your choice there, not a whole lot you can do to shop around there. For gaming at least.

I bought everything I listed for my last build (about 2 years old now) nd it cost me around 500 bucks for all the hardware, maybe less.

thanks for the help! I am defidently gonna try to go into the 400-500$ price range, rather then 800$+. First I'm going to make the money. Then I will visit this thread, if not deleted, and make my decision. My mom wont let me sell my Xbox 360, I could probably sell it for around 500 bucks because of all my games and accesories. I will find a way.

 

[DreamThrall]

Honestly guys, I don't understand how you're saying you'll save a "ton" of money... building something comparable on Dell comes out right about the same, and it comes with a monitor and their "technical support". Say what you will about them, but they do cross-ship if you ever need to replace a part, which new-egg notably does *not*.

Don't get me wrong, I'd personally prefer to build my own system if I was the one paying money for it - but for someone who has never done it before, and doesn't have someone knowledgeable to do it with them, it's a very daunting process. Plus, if for whatever reason something breaks, doesn't work quite right, or isn't configured quite right, it will be nearly impossible for someone with no experience with this stuff to troubleshoot.

Anyways, the trick with Dell is to just be patient and keep on eye on their website for when they do a good promo for free upgrades or shipping or whatnot.

 

[Rico]

I'm not sure about prices on Dell nowadays, but the last time I checked was when I built a system for one of my friends about a year ago. For 800 dollars I built him a PC that cost close to $1200 or something ridiculous had he bought it from Dell or any of the big PC assemblers.

Low end PCs, sure, maybe you can go Dell if all you want to do is office work. For gaming, nothing beats building your own when it comes to bang for your buck.

 

[ajski752]

Yeah. i agree with Rico. the time you spend is worth it and so much more.

i see you forgot about a cd/dvd drive too
they are super cheap anyways...

about compatibility, it just really means that your ram ports support the type of ram your buying and all that jazz...

I emphasize the importance of a secondary cooling unit, on top of any that come with the parts...
a friend had his chip in a graphics card melt or something like that... it sucked very much...
it left him without gaming capability for almost a month i think... but it was a good incentive to buy a kick ass GC... he got the 9800GT i think... such a sweet card

edit: another buddy has a dell and uses it for gaming. he got it max 2 years ago... its a piece of s***!
although you are right about the trouble shooting/tech support thing

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Then again... I am only 14. It will take me all summer to get this money, and it will take me one month to probably get it all together.

 

[Qonfused]

I built my first PC when I was 13. Anyone can do it with a little bit of research.

 

[Rico]

I started building PCs when I was young, age has nothing to do with it! :-P

Just research, print out guides, and follow advice. The first time might be a bit nerve-wracking since you're worried you'll break stuff, but once you get past it and see how easy it all is, you'll have no problems in the future.

The internet is a valuable resource for all of this. Forums, websites, guides, you can find it all there. The build I gave you gave me absolutely no problems at all, and it was very easy to put together. This was the easiest system to build for me, honestly.

Oh and crud, I forgot the case! Um, I believe I got my friend an Antec case for his? I've never been big on PC cases, as I usually just use whatever I have laying around my house. Others here may be able to give better suggestions in that regard.

 

[Ennui]

building a PC is a bit daunting the first time like dreamthrall said but there are guides all over the internet to help you and it's really not difficult at all, mostly just following instructions and plugging stuff in to its color-coded spots. if you really, really aren't man enough to build your own, you can go with an assembler like ibuypower.com and they will build it for you but still give you a huge selection of different things (if you go to that site you can customize a new PC from a drop down list), but building your own pc is always going to be more bang for your buck.

if you go the building route, you'll need the following things:
- motherboard
- processor
- hard drive(s)
- cd/dvd drive
- case
- power supply (some cases come with these)
- video card
- RAM

 

[ajski752]

if you go the building route, you'll need the following things:
- motherboard
- processor
- hard drive(s)
- cd/dvd drive
- case
- power supply (some cases come with these)
- video card
- RAM

If your a music snob like me, you may also want to think about a sound card... but clearly not essential

if you do want to use this for other things, i dont know like make a video for school or something like that. its always useful to have a firewire port.

 

[Operational]

Building your own PC is the more difficult route with a lot more work but it's also very rewarding. I was 15 when I put my first PC together, took me ages to get the money but it was so very worth it. So if your up for the challenge go for it - it's a skill that will serve you well.

Do the research and ask questions, don't do something you aren't completely sure of. Building a PC is easier than you think but there is also heaps of little ways you can screw up. As a beginner your biggest concern right now is making sure all the parts you get are compatible with each other - something easily addressed with research and questions.

If you know someone who has built their own PC before it's worth asking them to help you out on the day you put everything together. It's not a necessity but it can make things go smoother.

 

[Raziaar]

Honestly guys, I don't understand how you're saying you'll save a "ton" of money... building something comparable on Dell comes out right about the same, and it comes with a monitor and their "technical support". Say what you will about them, but they do cross-ship if you ever need to replace a part, which new-egg notably does *not*.

Don't get me wrong, I'd personally prefer to build my own system if I was the one paying money for it - but for someone who has never done it before, and doesn't have someone knowledgeable to do it with them, it's a very daunting process. Plus, if for whatever reason something breaks, doesn't work quite right, or isn't configured quite right, it will be nearly impossible for someone with no experience with this stuff to troubleshoot.

Anyways, the trick with Dell is to just be patient and keep on eye on their website for when they do a good promo for free upgrades or shipping or whatnot.

You also have to remember though, that Dell "technical support' forbids you to open the case to do anything to it unless you want to void the warranty.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

actually.. my brothers friend from school is a real computer geek... he talks about going to LAN parties and stuff. I could ask him for help when I'm actually building it.

 

[Ennui]

If your a music snob like me, you may also want to think about a sound card... but clearly not essential

if you do want to use this for other things, i dont know like make a video for school or something like that. its always useful to have a firewire port.

sound card is a good but unnecessary addition (particularly working with a tiny budget like taco is) unless you're an audiophile of some sort. i agree about firewire, its nice to have something a lot faster than USB, i always get mobos that have built in firewire

 

[Krynn72]

sound card is a good but unnecessary addition (particularly working with a tiny budget like taco is) unless you're an audiophile of some sort. i agree about firewire, its nice to have something a lot faster than USB, i always get mobos that have built in firewire

I've never used firewire. The only things I have ever seen in firewire is external hard drives, which I wouldnt use because I use my externals to move files from one pc to another, and a lot of pcs dont have it.

Also, USB 3.0 is coming soon, and it destroys firewire.

 

[Saturos]

I've only seen firewire used with earlier digital camera models and even a few printers, but even cameras these days are starting to use USB more.

Firewire's old tech tbh.

 

[Dinnesch]

Why would you bother spending money on Firewire/USB3 for external drives if there already is e-SATA?
it allows you to plug your external hard drive directly to your SATA controller, meaning it can operate at the same speed as a internal drive.

 

[DreamThrall]

I've only seen firewire used with earlier digital camera models and even a few printers, but even cameras these days are starting to use USB more.

Firewire's old tech tbh.

It's still faster than USB 2.0, which is why it's used for external HDDs used for audio recording and various other professional devices. It's not old tech, it's just less prolific than USB.

You also have to remember though, that Dell "technical support' forbids you to open the case to do anything to it unless you want to void the warranty.

Yeah, but when you're calling in, you don't have to tell them you've opened the case to do anything with it

 

[DreamThrall]

Oops, doublepost!

 

[Rico]

It's still faster than USB 2.0, which is why it's used for external HDDs used for audio recording and various other professional devices. It's not old tech, it's just less prolific than USB.



Yeah, but when you're calling in, you don't have to tell them you've opened the case to do anything with it

Yeah but if they have to send a tech, they can see that you've opened it because the seal they put on it is broken.

Dells suck. Do not buy a Dell desktop PC, specially for gaming. You'll be wasting a lot of money.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Damn my friends and their utter retardedness. The second I mention getting a PC instead of a PS3, they flipped the F*** out. I'm going for a suprise attack. Saving all my cash, pretending to buy a PS3 very soon when I get ALL the cash, and then quicky buy all the stuff for my PC.

Also, my brother says that if I want to have them put all the stuff together, it might cost another 100$. I'de say doing it myself would be cheaper. Ands he also keeps talking to my dad about it, like he's trying to make this not happen. Ah well. If you knew what my dad went through with my brothers computer. Jesus christ.

 

[Krynn72]

Newegg doesnt put your components together though. So keep that in mind. If you go to a computer shop, it will probably cost you more than 100 bucks too.

 

[MRG]

Ahhh.. Building your first PC. A true rite of passage. If more people that used PC's ever took the time to build an actual computer from the motherboard up, a great many Techs would be out of a job. There are many, many different guides out on the web that will walk you through all the steps to build your own PC. Many video guides as well.

I'll post links to a couple basic "How-To" video tutorials you may want to watch below. 5 minutes of searching online will link you to hundreds of "How-To" videos you can choose from. Don't worry if you don't understand a thing that the videos show. Just watch with an open mind & you'll be amazed at how much you'll pick up. As you learn the "lingo" you'll quickly be able to associate the different parts. Rather exciting in my opinion.

http://www.homepcbuilder.com/
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/10463-how-to-build-a-computer
http://howto.helpero.com/howto/Build-A-Computer-From-Scratch-Video-Tutorials_117.html

Of course it's important to realize that the second you buy/build a PC, it'll be outdated. That's just the nature of PC's. So in light of this, before you begin buying parts, ask yourself what the PC's primary function will be. Gaming? Homework? General Basic Use? Once you narrow down what the PC's main use will be, you can then set yourself a budget & begin picking out parts.

One of my clients came in & asked me if I could build his daughter a new PC for school, as theirs had just died, but the catch was that I had a budget of no more than $200. No problem!

I built him a new PC with the following parts:

AMD Athlon x2 7750 Black Edition @ 2.7GHz
Asus M2N68-AM SE2 Motherboard
2GB DDR2-800 RAM
Standard Black Tower Case w/side fan ports
Standard 450w Power Supply
nVidia 8600GT Video Card

$197.00 shipped. Not the best or fastest parts, but cheap & worked perfectly for what he needed. If you have $400 to spend, you'll be more than able to build yourself a nice PC.

Remember...

"There is never a dumb question. Only Knowledge"

-MRG

 

[Operational]

My brother tryed to put in a graphics card into a perfectly fine computer and screwed it up.

Ands he also keeps talking to my dad about it, like he's trying to make this not happen.

Sounds like he's against it because he couldn't do it himself. You've got plenty of time between now and when you get the money to learn how to do things right.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

Yeah... He hates when I get better things then him. He does it with everything, even food. Hate that about him. But the thing is, he did his research. He found all the things he needed to make it compatable, and it still didn't work. -$3000. That was his christmas present.