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First time building a PC

J

joepa99

Member
This is my first post here, and I'm sure everyone has heard these questions before, but I thank everyone in advance for responding.

I have decided to build a new PC. I will primarily use the PC for Internet Surfing (cable modem) and MS Office work. The computer I currently have is too old to play the new games, so I will probably start doing that as well. I will also probably get into some home movie editing as well.

I will probably have a budget of $2000 to build this computer. I know that you can get a good deal on already-built computers, but I want the flexibility and expandability of building my own.

Any suggestions would be great. My main questions would be:

1) What items should I not skimp on and what items would be ok to use with lower-end models?

2) If it took a few months to build the computer, what items could I purchase now that would have the same value in a couple of months, and what items could I purchase towards the end that would be substantially cheaper than now?

Thanks again!
 
Dont skimp on RAM, get at least 512mb of it. DDR2700 perfered. Abit and the new N-Force based mobo's are great for overclocking. Get a AMD XP 2800+. Get a nice Antec case. a 120gb WD HDD w a 8mb cache will be blazing, look for ATA133. CD-RW and a DVD-ROM drive are also nice to have. Look for TDK or Lite-On drives. Get a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 w the LiveDrive. You love the front mini jack ports. An ATI Radeon 9700pro would be sweet!!!! Get a Intellimouse Optical 3.0, a keyboard a NICE 21" Monitor by Nokia or Sony and some 5.1 speakers by Kiplch and you're set!!!!!!!! Win XP PRO recommended for choice of OS.
 
**Ram - 512 or 1Gig. Get fast stuff pc2700 or higher
**Mobo - Asus or Nforce would be good. Intel chipsets seem to work better with most video editing programs
**Video - GeForce 4 Ti4200 is a good card now. Get 128mb DDR Ram
**Processor - for video editing, most programs seem to have less conflict with Intel than AMD but it's not a steadfast rule.
**WD new drives with 8mb cache are good
**Artic Silver CPU heatsink compound
**Liteon CDRW

Figure out what video editing programs you might want to use and see what potential hardware conflicts might arise with certain chipsets and cpus, video/audio cards. With some programs there are some definite 'don't's'.

I've got a EPOX 4G4A+ mobo w/P4 2.5G 533 and 1 G DDR PC2700 ram, GF4 Ti4200 w/128 mb ram. It used to take a couple hours to render video on my old 500 mhz computer. My new one did the same thing in about 15 minutes! Really pleased! I like AMD too. You can make a cheaper system with one of those. But do match your mobo's chipset to a video editing program. Most companies have active newsgroups that you can get good help from. Pinnacle-system's Studio 8 is a good program for starting out. They have a nice and helpful newsgroup. Check them out....
 
That's quite a sizeable budget. You'll be able to build a really nice system. As computer technology is very volatile I would wait to purchase all of my parts if I were you. Every time a newer component comes out the price of current components drop. Unless you absolutely need the latest and greatest (most of us don't) you can save a bunch of money by buying the second best. Just my bit of advice.
 
I haven't added it all up, but I agree with nokiadude. The MB however I would recommend a KT400 chipset, and make sure the PC2700 is cas2. With that budget, I think you can get everything here we suggested. If not, get a 19" monitor, and skimp on the sound card (price wise), unless you live for MP3's.
 
Unless you are going to be gaming, you really don't need to spend that much money. You can get something complete for about 400 for what you want it for.
 
With your budget you can build a very nice system. If you had all the components right now you would be up and running in one day. Waiting will save you some money but at some point you need to make some decisions, order the parts, and put it together.

Hang around the forums and learn all you can. There are no stupid questions, so ignore those that respond rudely. I could make some specific recommendations about AMD vs Intel, etc., but this is your computer so start doing your homework.

Have fun,

Super6
 
Thanks for all the input so far. One thing I forgot to mention is that this computer may be used as the main computer in a home wireless network.

Does anyone have an input on the Asylum Graphics Cards? Best Buy as their Ti 4200 128MB model on sale for $99 on Friday and I thought about getting it to begin my equipment purchasing.

As far as the case goes, what would be a good one for my uses? Would it be worth it to go ahead and invest in one of the aluminum varieties?

As far as monitors go, do you think a 19" flat screen monitor would be ok, or should I try for a 17" LCD if it is in my budget?

Thanks again
 
joepa99:
with your budget get a better/faster graphics card like the ATI 9700 Pro. It'll handle today's games and next year's also.

Quality aluminum cases are expensive so if you're not moving it around a lot why bother. Check newegg.com for a mid- or full tower case with at least a 350w power supply.

LCD's are lousey for gaming as they have a fixed 60MHz refresh rate which results in smearing when things move quickly across the screen. You'll be better served by a flat screen 19" like the one I'm using right now.

Check out the nForce2 motherboard comparison this coming week here at Anand Tech, pick the best one and buy an AMD processor to go with it. Add a WD hard drive (8Mb cache), a burner, a DVD, and a floppy. Buy quality memory such as Crucial, Corsair, or Samsung.

You're 90% there and still well within budget. Go with WinXP Pro not the home edition.

Super6
 
Originally posted by: joepa99
1) What items should I not skimp on and what items would be ok to use with lower-end models?
Click to expand...

Optimistic's Skimping Guide

2) If it took a few months to build the computer, what items could I purchase now that would have the same value in a couple of months, and what items could I purchase towards the end that would be substantially cheaper than now?
Click to expand...

Good, intelligent question! You can purchase anytime without risk of sudden price drop- case, dvd-rom, floppy, network card, and even maybe sound card (if going for the lower-end models).

1 month before build date, you can buy hard drive, CDRW drive, video card, and ram*
*Depends though, if RAM prices are high, wait till last minute. If low, buy now incase ram prices go up. Right now they are "medium to high."

1 week before build date, you can buy your motherboard & cpu.
 
Since not many people covered what to skimp, here's what I would skimp on.

1) If all you care about is what's on your screen, almost any el-cheapo case will suffice. No need to spend 50 plus, just look for cases with good circulation and decent build.

2) If noise doesn't concern you, any fans will work.

3) If you are not an overclocker, the stock hsf will do fine.

4) Since you didn't mention how much of an audiophile you are, standard sub $100 should satisfy you. Going with that, if you don't have really great speakers, then there is no need to get expensive sound cards, in fact on board audio probably will suffice.

5) I never could tell any difference between different brands of network cards and modems as a general user, so get whatever that is cheaper.

6) Except for the stories circulating along the internet, I have never had a problem with burning cds with my old el cheapo CD-RW compared to better Lite-on drives. So yeah, skimp on that.

7) If you feel lucky, get a generic PSU. Most people, like me, never had a single problem with their generic PSU. However, there are horror stories too. So, YMMV.

8) Finally, there isn't really any difference between the major HD manufactors Maxtor, WD, and Seagate. Seagate is awesome for their silent Barracuda IVs and ultrafast Cheetahs. Apparently many people here love WD for their 8meg cache HDs, but I have had bad experience with their RMAs (Sorry, we can't send out an replacement HD for another couple of weeks because we just relocated our warehouse .... but my HD is dying now!). Maxtor makes the cheapest HDs, if you find any HD on sale it's probably Maxtor. Maxtor also has a very good RMA process too. So just buy whatever is the cheapest HD per gig, there is no HUGE difference in performance (even the 8 meg WD's)
 
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