cyron Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 I am designing my own custom computer, but i really don't know what to get to ensure it will be capable of doing what i want, so I was wondering if i could get any advice or if you have part suggestions or suggestions on where to buy the parts. In general from my computer i want it to 1. run windows xp preferable 7 2. lots of storage space in the hard drive like at least 30 gb 3.be suitable for gaming 4.be function for fe gba hacking 5.be relatively durable 6.not super expensive, I dont want to spend more than $2000 and i would prefer it to be les Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Welcome to the world of building computers. With any luck at all, you will not regret your decision to take the plunge. At the very least you should be able to put together something that fills all of your specifications for half your budget. Personally, though, I would spring for something nicer if I was already planning to spend most of the money on it. I just built my a desktop for the first time this August and was very happy with the results. I could go into the tangible and intangible benefits of building your own machine for a couple paragraphs here, but seeing as you already posted this topic you probably have already heard it all. So without further ado, I'll pass on the link that my cousin gave me when I asked for advice this summer. Tom's Hardware is a great site for researching parts as well as scouting out successful builds that others have used. There's still a significant chunk of research involved, but if your experience is like mine this site will make the process a lot faster and more intuitive. In the end, all but five of the computer parts I bought corresponded to one of their recommended builds. Just remember, the most important thing to confirm is that everything you are buying is compatible with everything else! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanarkin Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 (edited) http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png That should help you with some of the parts although I'm not entirely sure how up to date it is. NVM saw the picture says 10th november 2012. They probably update it from time to time considering i saw that picture quite a while a go (august). That or its not reliable Edited November 18, 2012 by SlayerX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excellen Browning Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 K. not sure if troll but here I go regardless. 1. You shouldn't cheap out on a processor, but spending more than ~$150 on one is excessive in my opinion. Over the last couple of years processors have been getting gradually more powerful, but there hasn't been an increase in computing power needed so you can pay $150 and get the same user experience that a $300 processor would give you. If you do not intend to overclock, you will not need a special aftermarket cooler. 2. The amount of RAM you run depends on what your mother board can handle, dual channel or triple channel. I recommend you never go lower than 2x2Gb RAM sticks in dual channel, or 3x2gb RAM sticks in triple channel. You can increase the amount you have quite cheaply, and that will give you lowered start up times and more smooth performance when doing things like editing huge image files or film material 3. The choice of what graphics card you get will probably be the most difficult to make, and what choice you make depends on various factors. First factor is what games you wanna play. If you wanna emulate GBA FE, just play some starcraft 2 and/or CoD or a game like BF3. Second factor is what kind of resolution your monitor is or will be. I'm a stickler for playing on native resolution, so your graphics card should be able to perform at that resolution. The last factor is how much of a stickler for graphics you are. Do you want to play your games at maxed out graphical settings or no? 4. Other components. The motherboard should be chosen primarily by what features you need of it and is one of the components you can cheap out on. You should not expect to need more than 500 watts from your power supply unless you're gonna do silly things like run a dual GPU setup, so as a general rule of thumb, don't go looking for ones that deliver more. A power supply is however a longer term investment so I feel going for one with life time warranty and high efficiency is important. AS for the hard drive, up to 1500Gb drives are available. Whatever you need. In case of any SSD's: they offer a good speec increase if you put your operating system and oft-used programs on it, but it's an expensive add on if you want to build cheaply. What kind of case you want to get is entirely your call and depends on your tastes. If you're getting a really expensive and thus big GPU, you have to make sure the case will fit it. The case is also an investment you can expect to be used for multiple computers, so I recommend not cutting corners. What kind of money you want to put into your screen is also entirely up to you. Idem dito for mouse and keyboard, if you're buying those, but I'll also remark there are low priced, great performing mice and keyboards. In case you want to invest in sound, you should prioritize as follows: Speakers > amplifier(if present) > sound card > everything else And in case you want to invest about $100 or more, I really recommend picking up some second hand passive speakers and a nice second hand amplifier. Store-bought speaker sets at that price point simply do not compare to the level of sound quality a second hand system offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 4. Other components. The motherboard should be chosen primarily by what features you need of it and is one of the components you can cheap out on. You should not expect to need more than 500 watts from your power supply unless you're gonna do silly things like run a dual GPU setup, so as a general rule of thumb, don't go looking for ones that deliver more. A power supply is however a longer term investment so I feel going for one with life time warranty and high efficiency is important. AS for the hard drive, up to 1500Gb drives are available. Whatever you need. In case of any SSD's: they offer a good speec increase if you put your operating system and oft-used programs on it, but it's an expensive add on if you want to build cheaply. Skimp on the motherboard? That sends up red flags in my mind. I would buy a cheap, small HDD and forget any dreams of SDDs or flashy cases and peripherals before I skimped on the motherboard. After all, it's what governs your options for future upgrades. Also, lower-end motherboards might not be as reliable as their full-featured counterparts. I was in the position of having motherboard troubles once as a teenager, and I would never want to go back there. When your mobo fails spectacularly, it can bring a lot of things down with it. Nice power supplies might seem expensive, but I think investing in a reliable, energy-efficient option like the Antec EarthWatts series is probably a good idea in the long run if you plan to keep the computer turned on most of the time over the next few years. There's a good chance you'll even see savings through your power bills, depending on what else you might have gone for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyron Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 thank you for your advice it helped clear things up for me alot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excellen Browning Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Skimp on the motherboard? That sends up red flags in my mind. I would buy a cheap, small HDD and forget any dreams of SDDs or flashy cases and peripherals before I skimped on the motherboard. After all, it's what governs your options for future upgrades. Also, lower-end motherboards might not be as reliable as their full-featured counterparts. I was in the position of having motherboard troubles once as a teenager, and I would never want to go back there. When your mobo fails spectacularly, it can bring a lot of things down with it. Nice power supplies might seem expensive, but I think investing in a reliable, energy-efficient option like the Antec EarthWatts series is probably a good idea in the long run if you plan to keep the computer turned on most of the time over the next few years. There's a good chance you'll even see savings through your power bills, depending on what else you might have gone for. Considering the speed at which CPU platforms have been going and seem to still be going, with a life expectancy of 3 years in mind chances are you'll have to switch to another CPU platform and assorted motherboards. The only reason to not ever cheap out on mother boards is that there is none. (That being said, it is advisable to buy from companies that offer life time warranty or do not have a reputation of being unreliable(which none of even the budget manufacturers are)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 The computer you outlined sounds like mine. . .the one that my mom bought for me seven years ago, and it was well under $1,000. When building your computer, keep in mind the following things: - You're probably going to be stuck with Windows 7. Support for Windows XP ends in about a year and a half. The OS isn't cheap (~$300, IIRC). - If you want to play super-detailed Skyrim, the graphics card will be a huge money sink. Research which games you want to play, and the graphical requirements for them. Whether you stick to the absolute minimum is up to you. - Make sure that your PSU can handle all your components! If you plan on upgrading your graphics card, take that into account, too! - I'll assume you know some of the basics of computer assembly; if not, now's the time to learn. RAM may be cheap, but waiting for more 'cause you blew it out isn't fun. - External hard drives exist, so I wouldn't lose a ton of sleep over the size of the internal one; I'd recommend at least 250 GB, 'cause my old compy was getting pretty full at 30 GB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inactive Account Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 From a quick search, it looks like you can get 7 for something on the order of $100-150 now, depending on version. Used to be that if you were a student you could get it on the cheap from Microsoft (like 40 bucks) but as far as a cursory poke at their site tells me they're only selling 8 now. They did still have Windows XP and it was in the same price range, but really I'd say go for 7 anyway, it's a decent OS. I dunno, just some reference I guess. Other than that, basically everything else clipse said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyron Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 thank you all for your advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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