flipflopsnowman
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 155
Welcome to all people who wish to build their own computer. Many of us [H]ard members have done this for years and years and you are here to obtain the mystical knowledge of the [H].
Back in the day, I was much like you, build a Newegg wishlist, post, wait for suggestions, reply, and purchase. I have learned, and I hope you can learn from my experiences.
Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for: flipflopsnowman's guide to piecing together a PC.
Edit: If you are lazy or ADHD, http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1031395801&postcount=16 is the shortened version of this how to guide.
1) Figure out the two most important things: budget and what you want to use it for. Is this going to be an elite gaming rig? A high bang for the buck gamer? A media center to replace your living room? A dev box for college or work? Or simply a great PC for general purpose use? Generally speaking, a ground up build will cost ~$1000 for a good gaming machine, $2000 for close to top of the line, $3000 for top of the line. Serious upgrades begin at $300 and go up to as much as you want to spend. My best advice for someone wanting to build a rig on the cheap is to get a deal online, upgrade it yourself, and frankenstein your way along.
2) Figure out the parts that you are going to recycle/reuse. Do you have a 24" LCD, 7.1 surround sound speakers, mouse, keyboard, optical drives and a case and just need a new motherboard, processor and graphics card? Or is this a ground up build?
3) Once you combine these two lists you should come up with something like this:
I love to play WoW but my system doesn't cut it with my new 24" LCD. I'm going to reuse all of my optical drives, case, sound etc I just need the basics. I have an old motherboard, but it does have PCI-express, so I may not need a new one. I would like to allow the game to play at 1600x1220 or higher and have a budget of $800.
4) Do some research on your own. If you consider yourself knowledgeable, you may skip this step, if not, go read [H]ard reviews, system builds of other [H]ard members, the signatures of the members (where many post their current setup), build logs, etc. Some links are posted below for [Power Supplies], [Part Reviews], and [General Build].
5) Once you feel you have a handle on current prices and speeds, build a wishlist at Newegg. You don't have to buy everything at Newegg, it's just one of the best sites for wishlists. This is where most people post their wishlist and let [H]ard do the rest. DO NOT BE LIKE MOST PEOPLE. Continue with the rest of the steps.
6) Read and join discussions on the parts that you feel are correct for you in the appropriate forum. Does the Abit IP35 Pro look like a good motherboard? Go check out the motherboard forum. For every part you are purchasing you should have a good grasp of the comments in each of the other areas of the forum. Knowledge there is much more specific and it is great to give you a good grasp on parts. Also read any online documentation on the parts that you want to purchase. Google and Wikipedia are your friend.
7) Sit on your wish list for as long as possible. Odds are you will ammend the list many many times as you read reviews, other people's experiences, and become immersed in the [H]ard community.
8) A week before your purchases, if you still feel you need advice, begin by starting threads in specific forums. This is mainly if you feel that documentation is not enough to give you a good feel for a part. For example, eginurd, one of the members here started a thread in the Cooling section when he was looking at purchasing a CPU cooler and wanted to know if the mounting process was difficult or if users purchased after market mounting brackets.
9) After all of your specific questions have been answered, if you are not confident in your knowledge (which you should be after 8 steps) search for threads in a forum with your question. This will mainly be compatability problems ie "I have read mixed reviews about overclocking 4gb of RAM with a 680i board, any experiences?" If you do not find a thread, feel free to post a new one in the appropriate forum. The above question could go in motherboards or overclocking.
10) Finally, if after all of this, you need a pat on the butt that says "Good job" post your build in the General Hardware forum. Note that this is a last resort and used only by people embarking on their first build or people who have no confidence in their own intelligence. When you do post, please bear in mind that you are asking for help and counting on the mercy and intelligence of others. The more information the better. Posting a link to a wishlist is bad, links to parts are bad, posting part names, descriptions, prices, needs, budget etc is best. If you post specific parts, it should look like this:
Motherboard: Gigabyte DS3R - $129.99 <link> I like this because....
If you do not have time to complete the above steps (it should take you about a week if you don't work, a month if you do), then you are not ready to embark upon a build. If you truly must build within the next two days and it cannot wait, read the signatures of [H]ard members (mine in particular ) to see what they have done and pick the one that seems to be in your price range.
Hope this helps all perspective buyers to make good decisions when building a PC. Note that these are best practices that I have developed over the past 3 months and are not for lazy members who just want [H]ard to build them a computer.
If you want someone to build you a computer, go to http://www.dell.com and pick a computer in your price range. If you have questions, ask them, that's what they are paid for. This may or may not be good advice, so it pays to do your homework.
Thanks for your time and good luck with your builds.
[Hard Stickys]
Video Card - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=965852
OverClock - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647
Air Cool - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=929824
Water Cool - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759705
Benchmark - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=962154
Case Modding - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=758609
ESD (Electro Static Discharge) - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=812518
Electronics - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1187377
Memory - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=760374
Purchasing Memory - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=952359
Small Form Factor - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1145292
Home Theater PC - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759011
Power Supply - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=768641
Purchasing Power Supply - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1045259
UPS (Uninteruptible Power Supply) - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1052508
HDD (Hard Disk Drive) - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=754424
Purchasing HDD - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1016962
Optical Drives - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=683435
Purchasing Optical - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=755644
LCD (TFT) - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1039222
ForSale/Trade - http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17
[General Build]
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/pc_building_guide_faq_part_1
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/pc_building_guide_faq_part_2
http://www.tigerdirect.com/static/html/pcbuildingtips.html <== Kind of old, but still good
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/index.html
http://corsair.com/systembuild/report.aspx?report_id=12472
[Part Reviews]
www.hardocp.com
www.anandtech.com
www.bit-tech.net
www.dailytech.com <== Look for their "Daily Hardware Reviews"
www.extremetech.com
www.jonnyguru.net
www.legionhardware.com
www.techgage.com
http://www.techreport.com/
www.xbitlabs.com/
www.3dgameman.com
http://www.bjorn3d.com/
http://www.madshrimps.be/
http://silentpcreview.com/
[Power Supply]
http://www.jonnyguru.net/forums/showthread.php?t=103
http://www.jonnyguru.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1460
[Places to Buy - General]
www.mwave.com
www.newegg.com
www.clubit.com
www.tigerdirect.com
www.buy.com
www.directron.com
www.microcenter.com
www.zipzoomfly.com
[Places to Buy - Fans and Cooling]
www.frozencpu.com
www.jab-tech.com
www.petratechshop.com
www.thermalfx.com
www.ncixus.com
www.sidewindercomputers.com
[Places to Buy - Media Center]
www.pcalchemy.com
[Bargain Hunting]
www.slickdeals.net
www.techbargains.com
www.fatwallet.com
www.pricewatch.com
www.pricegrabber.com
[Links]
Motherboard Manufacturers:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=247431
Back in the day, I was much like you, build a Newegg wishlist, post, wait for suggestions, reply, and purchase. I have learned, and I hope you can learn from my experiences.
Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for: flipflopsnowman's guide to piecing together a PC.
Edit: If you are lazy or ADHD, http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1031395801&postcount=16 is the shortened version of this how to guide.
1) Figure out the two most important things: budget and what you want to use it for. Is this going to be an elite gaming rig? A high bang for the buck gamer? A media center to replace your living room? A dev box for college or work? Or simply a great PC for general purpose use? Generally speaking, a ground up build will cost ~$1000 for a good gaming machine, $2000 for close to top of the line, $3000 for top of the line. Serious upgrades begin at $300 and go up to as much as you want to spend. My best advice for someone wanting to build a rig on the cheap is to get a deal online, upgrade it yourself, and frankenstein your way along.
2) Figure out the parts that you are going to recycle/reuse. Do you have a 24" LCD, 7.1 surround sound speakers, mouse, keyboard, optical drives and a case and just need a new motherboard, processor and graphics card? Or is this a ground up build?
3) Once you combine these two lists you should come up with something like this:
I love to play WoW but my system doesn't cut it with my new 24" LCD. I'm going to reuse all of my optical drives, case, sound etc I just need the basics. I have an old motherboard, but it does have PCI-express, so I may not need a new one. I would like to allow the game to play at 1600x1220 or higher and have a budget of $800.
4) Do some research on your own. If you consider yourself knowledgeable, you may skip this step, if not, go read [H]ard reviews, system builds of other [H]ard members, the signatures of the members (where many post their current setup), build logs, etc. Some links are posted below for [Power Supplies], [Part Reviews], and [General Build].
5) Once you feel you have a handle on current prices and speeds, build a wishlist at Newegg. You don't have to buy everything at Newegg, it's just one of the best sites for wishlists. This is where most people post their wishlist and let [H]ard do the rest. DO NOT BE LIKE MOST PEOPLE. Continue with the rest of the steps.
6) Read and join discussions on the parts that you feel are correct for you in the appropriate forum. Does the Abit IP35 Pro look like a good motherboard? Go check out the motherboard forum. For every part you are purchasing you should have a good grasp of the comments in each of the other areas of the forum. Knowledge there is much more specific and it is great to give you a good grasp on parts. Also read any online documentation on the parts that you want to purchase. Google and Wikipedia are your friend.
7) Sit on your wish list for as long as possible. Odds are you will ammend the list many many times as you read reviews, other people's experiences, and become immersed in the [H]ard community.
8) A week before your purchases, if you still feel you need advice, begin by starting threads in specific forums. This is mainly if you feel that documentation is not enough to give you a good feel for a part. For example, eginurd, one of the members here started a thread in the Cooling section when he was looking at purchasing a CPU cooler and wanted to know if the mounting process was difficult or if users purchased after market mounting brackets.
9) After all of your specific questions have been answered, if you are not confident in your knowledge (which you should be after 8 steps) search for threads in a forum with your question. This will mainly be compatability problems ie "I have read mixed reviews about overclocking 4gb of RAM with a 680i board, any experiences?" If you do not find a thread, feel free to post a new one in the appropriate forum. The above question could go in motherboards or overclocking.
10) Finally, if after all of this, you need a pat on the butt that says "Good job" post your build in the General Hardware forum. Note that this is a last resort and used only by people embarking on their first build or people who have no confidence in their own intelligence. When you do post, please bear in mind that you are asking for help and counting on the mercy and intelligence of others. The more information the better. Posting a link to a wishlist is bad, links to parts are bad, posting part names, descriptions, prices, needs, budget etc is best. If you post specific parts, it should look like this:
Motherboard: Gigabyte DS3R - $129.99 <link> I like this because....
If you do not have time to complete the above steps (it should take you about a week if you don't work, a month if you do), then you are not ready to embark upon a build. If you truly must build within the next two days and it cannot wait, read the signatures of [H]ard members (mine in particular ) to see what they have done and pick the one that seems to be in your price range.
Hope this helps all perspective buyers to make good decisions when building a PC. Note that these are best practices that I have developed over the past 3 months and are not for lazy members who just want [H]ard to build them a computer.
If you want someone to build you a computer, go to http://www.dell.com and pick a computer in your price range. If you have questions, ask them, that's what they are paid for. This may or may not be good advice, so it pays to do your homework.
Thanks for your time and good luck with your builds.
[Hard Stickys]
Video Card - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=965852
OverClock - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647
Air Cool - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=929824
Water Cool - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759705
Benchmark - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=962154
Case Modding - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=758609
ESD (Electro Static Discharge) - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=812518
Electronics - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1187377
Memory - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=760374
Purchasing Memory - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=952359
Small Form Factor - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1145292
Home Theater PC - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759011
Power Supply - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=768641
Purchasing Power Supply - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1045259
UPS (Uninteruptible Power Supply) - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1052508
HDD (Hard Disk Drive) - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=754424
Purchasing HDD - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1016962
Optical Drives - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=683435
Purchasing Optical - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=755644
LCD (TFT) - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1039222
ForSale/Trade - http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17
[General Build]
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/pc_building_guide_faq_part_1
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/pc_building_guide_faq_part_2
http://www.tigerdirect.com/static/html/pcbuildingtips.html <== Kind of old, but still good
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/index.html
http://corsair.com/systembuild/report.aspx?report_id=12472
[Part Reviews]
www.hardocp.com
www.anandtech.com
www.bit-tech.net
www.dailytech.com <== Look for their "Daily Hardware Reviews"
www.extremetech.com
www.jonnyguru.net
www.legionhardware.com
www.techgage.com
http://www.techreport.com/
www.xbitlabs.com/
www.3dgameman.com
http://www.bjorn3d.com/
http://www.madshrimps.be/
http://silentpcreview.com/
[Power Supply]
http://www.jonnyguru.net/forums/showthread.php?t=103
http://www.jonnyguru.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1460
[Places to Buy - General]
www.mwave.com
www.newegg.com
www.clubit.com
www.tigerdirect.com
www.buy.com
www.directron.com
www.microcenter.com
www.zipzoomfly.com
[Places to Buy - Fans and Cooling]
www.frozencpu.com
www.jab-tech.com
www.petratechshop.com
www.thermalfx.com
www.ncixus.com
www.sidewindercomputers.com
[Places to Buy - Media Center]
www.pcalchemy.com
[Bargain Hunting]
www.slickdeals.net
www.techbargains.com
www.fatwallet.com
www.pricewatch.com
www.pricegrabber.com
[Links]
Motherboard Manufacturers:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=247431