So, I am currently in the midst of researching the specifics on building a custom computer. It has been about 10 years since I have built one, so I am far from up-to-date.
What websites are good for reading up (forums?) ?
Where is the best place to get parts? Local/internet ect…
I see a lot of the motherboards and chipsets come with built in graphics cards. I don’t think any of them meet my needs though. I am trying to built an awesome gaming machine so I will need the most powerful graphics card to be added on…is there anything I need to be aware of when looking for a motherboard/power supply?
Is quad core a necessity? any thing I should be looking at as far as minimum processor recommendations? AMD/Intel?
Is purchasing a barebones system (case, MB, processor, ram) a better way to go?
Does anyone on here have any parts they want to get rid of that isn’t junk?
Any obvious input or precautions would be greatly appriciated.
You can build a budget gaming rig for pretty cheap(sub 500) and even cheaper if you are recycling parts.
post a price range and I can dig up what some of higher end gaming cards are(ive been helping some friends look at video cards for months now)
you missed the part where he said gaming. YOu can build a better rig then buying a mac any day of the week. That and you would have to run d0ze in boot camp bc like 10 games support Macosx
Thats not too bad but for the money…you could have a lot more for that much. The only plus to cookie cutters is support.
The last ‘custom’ pc I helped to build…the components were mostly garbage. The main board wouldn’t post off the bat. Their support site was crap. Ended up having to send it back for a replacement. The twin pci-x graphics card config looked to be pretty popular tho. Beefy power supply, sata raid, heat sinked ddr2. Neoonzzzzz. The works. Not much of the name brand stuff, last I checked. All tigerdirect parts. I’d say more of a impulse buy/gaming pc than anything else.
22" is amateur. Go at least 24-26" wide Samsung from Best Buy.
Best case scenario, get a good deal on the XPS, worst case, buy bare bones, pump up the ramz and pick a nice vid card.
if your talking about the deal alex sent around, that was crap for a discount when I checked it. Im guessing hes holding onto the real discount codes that get real discounts.
I still prefer to build, that way if something dies you replace it, cut out the indian on the other side of the phone.
I’d go with the barebones kits you can find on Tigerdirect. Matched up with a decent case and power supply you can build something nice for $800. I built a decent computer about 2.5 years ago with a barebones, leftover HDD from my old PC and some other ****. I had ~400 into a case/PSU/mobo/cpu/memory. All that was left was graphics card and hard drive/optical drives.
If you have any questions feel free to PM me as well.
I must say, the last 3 years I have ran a Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop. It has been a hell of a machine. It ran everything perfectly up unil GTA IV came out for PC. It runs but at about 5 fps.
Anyways, Dell’s Warranty covered the hard drive once, and battery charger twice. All 3 times I called in the evening and the parts were at my door by the NEXT DAY! I couldn’t even understand how they basically had same day service; it was delivered by DHL. Now this is the business warranty (extended I think), so it might not be the same for home purchasers.
I just got my new rig ordered. It is as follows:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200
Biostar M7 motherboard
Thermaltake Mid-tower Gamer Case w/ side viewing window.
Zumax 650 watt powersupply with PCI-E 2.0 capability.
$422 shipped. custom built from portatech.com
I am going to do 4GB 800mhz dual channel
160GB 10,000 RPM Raptor drive for OS and programs
And still up in the air for some SICK graphics card. GTX series.
looks nice man, check out hardocp forums for info on that sort of thing.
I used to be extremely heavy into overclocking and that sorta thing, recently just been too busy to care. I had a watercooled PC for several years also
