Building a Desktop

[jimmy_da_hnd]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Low end games and a workstation

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
500 to 600 US$

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
China

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
None

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
None, not even a case
*

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Default speeds

8. What resolution will you be using?
Not sure, average i s good

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.
ASAP
*

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
Windows, i will purchase the suggested one

First i am not chinese, I am from manchester england and unfortunatley live here. Having been here for some six years i have purchased packaged computers and they have been total crap and vert pricey, China sell the worst in this country. In the end i have been purchasing laptops from over seas and had them shipped here. This has proved an issue as i use them a lot so the internal batteries and fans give up and the graphics cards can not deal with anything:'(. So one laptop a year is burnt through. I do not play high end games simple basic low end games and I do a lot of typing and general work on the computers. I am not looking at space age stuff, just something average that will work and be reliable. I can spend more but would rather not because i know little about tech and I fear me messing this up. All help is welcomed, Save me please:wub: .

Thanks to all

 

[fralexandr]

i don't know much about prices in china, but you'll probably be looking at an amd llano build, or a core i3 build.
newegg.cn is a probably a good place to start looking, though i can't read chinese that well
in case other people wish to help, as per google: 1 Chinese yuan = 0.1584 US dollars

does the $600 need to include monitor, keyboard, mouse, windows, and speakers or headphones?
if so, i'd suggest the llano route, as you won't be able to get any decent gpus in that budget


the following is a build assuming you want a complete system for $600 (and assuming prices in the US, i might adjust this later for newegg.cn):
========== ==========
cpu: amd a8 ~$130
mobo: a55 ~$70
ram: ddr3 1866 1.5v ~$50
hdd: depends on your usage
psu: 300-450w corsair, seasonic, xfx, antec ~$40
the corsair builder cx430 is often on sale
otherwise the antec basiq 350w is usually a good price
case: depends on your aesthetics ~$50
antec 300 tends to be on sale, and is pretty decent
rosewill makes a lot of pretty good well priced cases
optical drive: dvd-rom/rw ~$30
(you might be able to find some decent cases w/ psu for cheap like the thermaltake v2 or v3, though this is on a case by case basis. these PSUs are generally mediocre at best, dangerous at worst)

total for computer: ~$360

----------
monitor: some suggestions based on what i've seen in the US
there are quite a few 20" 1600x900 monitors for ~$100
otherwise i'd recommend moving no higher than 23" since prices increase drastically past that
keyboard + mouse: whatever's cheapish, has a standard layout, and does what you need it to ~$30
audio: speakers or headphones?
if speakers- probably logitech 2.0 or 2.1, as they're one of the best low end ~$20-$50
if headphones- do you prefer in-ear headphones? over ear? around ear?
(prices here may vary more as these parts are much more variable)

OS: windows 7 home premium 64-bit ~$100
(if you're a student, or your work participates in microsoft msdnaa you can probably get this (or professional/ultimate for significantly cheaper)

total for everything: ~$610-$640

note: this value when totaled is pretty loose; you might be able to find deals on some parts to drop the total into the $600 budget range
you might be able to get some things cheaper as part of a bundle
you might still want to shave some money off one of the portions of the build
i'd recommend keeping the ram ddr3 1600-1866 (i'm not sure if llano is ok with voltages above 1.5v i can't find any information on this, but anandtech uses 1.65v in several of its tests)
the a8 has a better gpu than the a6, but you can save some money going with the a6. i'd recommend getting the cheapest a8 possible if you're considering saving on the cpu though

 

[jimmy_da_hnd]

That budget was just for the desktop itself.

monitor keyboard, etc. I have already gone ahead and got.

So if you have the time for a revised build using all of the 600$ just on the desktop itself. Either way I am over then moon with what you already put, such a wonderful forum.

Also what part of that was the graphics card?

thanks again.:wub:

 

[DSF]

That budget was just for the desktop itself.

monitor keyboard, etc. I have already gone ahead and got.

So if you have the time for a revised build using all of the 600$ just on the desktop itself. Either way I am over then moon with what you already put, such a wonderful forum.

Also what part of that was the graphics card?

thanks again.:wub:

It's using an onboard gpu, not a discrete one. That would be fine for most uses, but maybe you can elaborate a little bit on what you mean by low-end games.

 

[MrTeal]

How about something like this? It should do fine for low end gaming, and it is within your budget if I did the conversion right.

i3-2120
MSI H61 motherboard
G.Skill 8GB 1600 DDR3
500GB HDD 7200RPM
450W Antec PSU
ATI HD6770 GPU
Silverstone Case
Windows 7 Home Premium

 

[fralexandr]

yep go for a core i3 build then, since you'll be able to afford a decent dedicated gpu
mr teal's seems good, the 6770 should be able to play most games at 1920x1080 on medium, some 1-2 year old ones at medium or high

 

[jimmy_da_hnd]

Sounds great and could i have the link to the website you used Teal please?
Thank so much to you all for this.

I noticed that there was not dvd drive. i am guessing i do not need one. If i do just say so and i will add one to the list.

As per games .... i am ashamed to say, Wurms online is the only game i really play. Sometimes i have been known to play world of tanks. That is the entire list. Please do not judge me lol.

 

[fralexandr]

it'd probably be easier to install windows 7 with a dvd drive

 

[Arachnotronic]

I'd go with an NVIDIA card like a GTS 450 or a GT 440.

 

[richaron]

Is there some taboo against posting links from the 'Dark Side'?

Tomshardware $650 gaming pc from 2 days ago:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-gaming-pc-overclock,3159.html

Edit: does not include OS ~100.

 

[jimmy_da_hnd]

OK i am in the process of ordering it all, last but not least questions.

Is there any tips on putting it together, I guess i am looking at the do nots and must does. If it is simple and black and white I am as good as gold. I am not a total fool, i know my way around my toolbox ;p and can do foundations to roofs and anything in between, but computers are a new thing for me.

Thanks again to all.

PS i did get a cheapo cd drive as all i need it for is installing windows i guess. Everything else i do is online.

 

[lehtv]

Watch this video and you should be good to go. Of course, remember to handle the parts with care, not to force parts or connectors in place, and make sure everything's connected before you power up.

Tidy cable management is sort of an optional thing to do, but I recommend trying your best with that as well. When all you see from open side are the connectors, and you know how each cable is routed, it makes maintenance, swapping parts, or trouble shooting a lot simpler.

 

[Charlie98]

OK i am in the process of ordering it all, last but not least questions.

Is there any tips on putting it together, I guess i am looking at the do nots and must does. If it is simple and black and white I am as good as gold. I am not a total fool, i know my way around my toolbox ;p and can do foundations to roofs and anything in between, but computers are a new thing for me.

I built my first computer in December... the hardware is easy (if, as you say, you know your way around a toolbox... ) for me the challenge was software and getting the new to me Win7 setup like I wanted.

Good luck and ask questions!

 

[MrTeal]

Oh, it's all from Newegg China.

I totally forgot the DVD drive, I never buy the things anymore. Add one in just for ease of use, they aren't really expensive. About $20 will buy you a burner.

 

[mfenn]

MrTeal's build looks good. If you can't be bothered with an optical drive (don't blame you), Microsoft has a tool for creating a bootable USB drive.

 

[DSF]

OK i am in the process of ordering it all, last but not least questions.

Is there any tips on putting it together, I guess i am looking at the do nots and must does. If it is simple and black and white I am as good as gold. I am not a total fool, i know my way around my toolbox ;p and can do foundations to roofs and anything in between, but computers are a new thing for me.

I didn't watch lehtv's video because I'm at work and it's 43 mins long, so it's possible that this was already covered.

I strongly recommend bench-testing the CPU, motherboard and RAM outside the case before you get everything screwed in. It's an easy step to skip, because 4 times out of 5 everything will go fine.

On the other hand, for my first build I spent a couple hours putting it together, hit the power button and...nothing. Then I had to go take everything back apart to get back to the bare bones outside the case. Plug in just the RAM and CPU (and the heatsink of course) and make all the necessary power connections. If you need a video card, plug that in as well. Set the motherboard on a nonconductive surface such as the box it came in. Then try powering it up, either by connecting the power switch from the case, or by shorting the power pins with a screw driver.

If you get a POST and everything looks fine, you've saved yourself a lot of headaches later. Whatever goes wrong later (hopefully nothing does) you know it wasn't any of the core parts.

For me, turns out there was a screw that somehow ended up behind the motherboard and was shorting everything out. And of course, the build's in an Antec SOLO, which is not the world's most fun case for putting everything in, then taking it right back out, then putting it right back in again.

 

[lehtv]

@DSF

I agree that that's a good idea, but it's not the end of the world to skip that step. In case something goes wrong, you can still troubleshoot without having to remove everything from the case. Especially when using the compact stock CPU cooler, removing and installing RAM modules is not particularly difficult

 

[DSF]

@DSF

I agree that that's a good idea, but it's not the end of the world to skip that step. In case something goes wrong, you can still troubleshoot without having to remove everything from the case. Especially when using the compact stock CPU cooler, removing and installing RAM modules is not particularly difficult

Except that I never would've gotten the computer to start without removing the motherboard, because the issue was the screw shorting it to the backplate.

 

[lehtv]

Oh. That's still a rare thing to happen though; most issues could be fixed without a bench test

 

[DSF]

Oh. That's still a rare thing to happen though; most issues could be fixed without a bench test

Yeah I agree.

I actually teach summer camps every year at a community college showing middle school students how to put computers together. I don't make them test the motherboard outside the case unless there's an issue.

I still do it on my own builds a lot of the time though.

 

[donfm]

OK i am in the process of ordering it all, last but not least questions.

Is there any tips on putting it together, I guess i am looking at the do nots and must does. If it is simple and black and white I am as good as gold. I am not a total fool, i know my way around my toolbox ;p and can do foundations to roofs and anything in between, but computers are a new thing for me.

Thanks again to all.

PS i did get a cheapo cd drive as all i need it for is installing windows i guess. Everything else i do is online.

Congratulations on entering the world of the home built computer. When I did my first I didn't know anything but I read everything I could get my hands on. You will find putting the hardware together and the cabling is the easy part. As long as you don't have to deal with any obscure DIP switches or jumpers on your motherboard or clear the memory if it locks up or something you will be fine. Then you hold your breath for that moment when you power it up and hope it posts the first time without any troubleshooting.....Enjoy your new toy and good luck!! Oh by the way the MoBo manual will be your best friend. I know it was for me.

 

[mfenn]

Congratulations on entering the world of the home built computer. When I did my first I didn't know anything but I read everything I could get my hands on. You will find putting the hardware together and the cabling is the easy part. As long as you don't have to deal with any obscure DIP switches or jumpers on your motherboard or clear the memory if it locks up or something you will be fine. Then you hold your breath for that moment when you power it up and hope it posts the first time without any troubleshooting.....Enjoy your new toy and good luck!! Oh by the way the MoBo manual will be your best friend. I know it was for me.

:thumbsup: to that!

 

[jimmy_da_hnd]

I was not sure what to get with the DDR 3 as the one you suggested was not available, i had two choices and went with

Kingston 金士顿 HyperX 8G(4Gx2&#26465 DDR3 1600 台式机内存 KHX1600C9D3LK2/8GX

I hope this will still work ok.

If not let me know asap.

Ran into another huge snag the windows version you found was in a chinese version and i can not speak nor read chinese. I have looked in new egg and could not find a version of windows 7 in english. I went to the Microsoft website and could not figure out if it was downloadable or not. Not sure how i would do this that and it was twice the price.

Any ideas?

thanks

 

[lehtv]

Is it 1.5V or 1.65V? Should be 1.5V

 

[T_Yamamoto]

When you install windows, it asks you what language you want it in.
there is no "Chinese" or "English" version
there is only 32 bit version and 64 bit version