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I'm building a new PC. Should I start with a Bare Bones system or from scratch?

A

anthonysw1

Junior Member
I'm planning on taking the monitor, keyboard, mouse, DVD drive, sound card and CD-RW drive out of my current computer and adding them to the new components.

The new things I need are the processor, mobo, fan, power supply, case, memory, video card and hard drive.

For the first five things on that list I am leaning towards a "Bare Bones" which has just those things already assembled. The main reason I favor that route is to save money- I'm hoping to spend $600 and no more than $800 for the new components (utilizing Pricewatch to get the best deal).

So what would you do? Go with the barebones system for simplicity's sake, or do you think the choice of the mobo is too important?

In a few weeks I'm going to make the purchase. My current prospective lineup is as follows (prices are from Pricewatch and include shipping):


-Bare Bones Athlon XP 1800+ with ECS K7S5A (also incl. 462-7 Volcano II Socket A Fan,
Generic ATX Deluxe Mid-Tower case with 300W PS) [$245]

-ATI Radeon 8500LE [$180]

-256MB of Micron PC2100 DDR SDRAM [$69]

-60GB IBM Deskstar 60GXP Hard Drive (OEM) [$115]


So, what's your opinion of that lineup?
 
on my first sys i went barebones so i think you'll be fine. you got some good parts there IMO. i would kick it up to half a gig of RAM personally. There are better power supplies, cpu fans, cases, but the stuff there is not bad at all. You won't be at a loss if you go barebones. later you may not want to go barebones b/c you will want more control over everything, but you'll be fine either way. (u may be able to snag a nice warrenty on the barebones parts from a good dealer) there are some parts i would get differently (i probably wouldn't get an IBM drive b/c i've had bad luck with them) but all that equipment will do nicely. my one advice is don't always go for the cheapest dealer, go for someone that you know is trustworthy and helpful, esp the first time around, even if it costs you a few bucks extra.
 



Have you priced the bare bones components seperately?

I have been hearing bad things about the IBM haddrives. The ones I heard that had problems were the 7X series. You might want to try the Maxtors or Western digitals. If you can, get the ones with 7200rpm.

With the Radeon card- make sure you do not get the OEM. I don't know about that particular card, but there was someone posting about an OEM radeon 7500 and it not taking anything but official drivers. I do think that ATI makes some good cards. I just got a AIW 7500 and am happy with it. Also I noticed that those cards at pricewatch won't be available until the end of FEB. If that is the case then when the GF4 comes out maybe the prices will drop some.

I have used Pricewatch before and have not had any problerms with it. Since you are buying a bunch of stuff you might check out www.newegg.com I have heard that they have a good return policey. but never used them myself.

It seems like you should have a good well rounded system.

Good luck with it.

Will
 
There are good reasons to use components only and good reasons to use a barebones. But in the end, they're essentially the same thing.

If you buy the parts and assemble it yourself, you get the experience of things like installing memory and processor and the heatsink/fan. Most people don't NEED that experience, but it's always good to learn things. Plus I always like to be able to say that if something's broken, it's probably due to failed equipment and not because some gunky put it together wrong, since I know I do it right.

Buying barebones of course saves you the time of assembly, and depending on the place, they may test the parts together to make sure it works before they send it (of course shipping could cause failure anyway).

Most of the time you have quite a choice in your barebones components. If one place only has barebones systems laid out already that don't have the parts you want, you can probably email them and they'll make a special one for you of either higher or lower price depending on what you change and assuming they have that part in stock, or you can just go elsewhere. For places like local shops, they create a barebones systems list, but it's basically them choosing out of their normal stock and giving you a price so you don't have to sit and price out components and figure out if you can put it together, you just look and see the total price and decide if it's good. (They don't have those barebones systems sitting in the back room waiting for people to buy them. When you ask for one, they say "come back in an hour" and go get the parts and put one together for you.)

The price on the barebones system seems pretty good for what you're getting. An XP 1800+ is 202 dollars by itself on pricewatch, a decent case is 35 to 45, the heatsink is 15 to 20, and the motherboard is about 50.

Dunno about the memory. If you use the link to the Crucial/Anandtech discount, Crucial brand memory is only 71.39 with free second day shipping. While the stuff you're getting is probably decent, it's up to you whether you want to go with the Crucial brand so that you have the quality module.

 
I don't know if there is a different version of the volcano II heatsink but I have one and its not approved for the XP1800. you may want to go for a better mobo i.e KT266A but I don't blame you if you dont want to go with VIA. I normally go for separate parts because barebones are not normally as customizable as I would like (normally a crap power supply and cheap mobo) but if you find the right combo then go for it. Go for 512 megs of Ram especially if you are gonna use windowsXP.
 
256MB is still perfectly functional even with XP with all the gooey stuff turned on. 512MB would be better, but it's not essential to a good system (yet). No need to double the cost of the memory being bought when it's not going to make a HUGE difference.
 
i would also look at the 1.6 -1.8 Ghz Northwood + Abit TH7 II setup

you can get one helluva mean O/C with that setup with the retail heatsink/fan
 
spanner and Lord Evermore bring up interesting points- thanks for replying!

I've decided to go with Lord Evermore's suggestion and buy the RAM from Crucial since they have a decent price and are a well regarded manufacturer. As for the amount of RAM to buy, I think it would be best for me to buy just 256 MB of PC2100 DDR RAM now. If I decide later that the system is chugging a little (since yes, I am using Windows XP), I can one of the spare slots to add another 256 MB.
 
You should do a little research here on the K7S5A. It is written in many threads that this board is very picky about power supplies and ram. Obviously your ok by getting Crucial ram but with a generic power supply you might be setting yourself up for some potential problems.
Now, with that being said i am currently running an ECS K7S5A on a generic 300w power supply with 256 pc133 ram for 3 days with no problems at all. I also helped my brother inlaw build a system with this board and he used his old 300 watt generic power supply with no problems. Just a fair warning.
You should also save yourself some potential headaches by checking www.resellerrating.com on any of these pricewatch vendors, Often times the ones with the lowest prices also have very poor ratings and could be hell to deal with if you run into any problems.

Since your new here I'll tell you Newegg is probably the favorite vendor of any here on Anantech. I always buy from them, they have a great reputation. Check out the hard drive section, they have some good deals there.
 
I just completed a similar project myself BUT it took over a year to complete - buying each thing as I could.
BUT - to add my 2 cents worth:
1st - I'd highly recommend the 1st thing I bought - the ANTEC SX830 300W ATX Case
I have seen it on sale lately for between $70-80, I paid about $87 - well worth it - coes with two extra fans and places for more if needed BUT so far don't think so - running real nice and cool. AMD XP 1600+
The other thing I REALLY love about this case - now I don't hate to even think about getting inside the case - the side has a nice LATCH - pull it and WALA, it's off, your IN.

2nd - - - I'd consider a new NForce Board on your budget, solves 3 of your needs right off the top - unless you got the new 415D - then you'd have to add a Video Card right off. I am real pleased with my MSI K7N420 Pro - using all integrated right now - the sound is MUCH better than my old SB Live card, and the graphics BEAT m old Voodoo 2 card for sure. I am now going to upgrade to alittle better Graphics card BUT didn't really need to - got impulsive.
I am running Medal of Honor with everything on HIGH - NO Problems.
Then you could get 2 sticks of 256MB 2100 DDR Ram and really speed things up.

Good Luck Michael
 
He's obviously looking for decent graphics if he's getting a Radeon 8500LE. Sub-GF2MX graphics probably won't cut it. Given that an nForce board on Newegg costs 90 dollars more than a K7S5A, I'd say his setup is a better idea. The K7S5A has sound on board which is supposedly decent. The only thing the nForce has over it is on-board video, and to me that's not worth an extra 90 dollars.
 
I would price it both ways witch ever comes out cheaper I would go with, alot of times the barebones you get very low quality case.
 
Thanks everybody for your imput

The whole reseller rating thing was an eye opener for me. I read some of those ratings on www.resellerrating.com and I was stunned. Of course, you gotta wonder whether a significant number of satisfied customers take the time to post a comment on their chosen dealer.

Newegg does sound good, but unfortunately they don't have a good variety of barebones systems. But I'll be sure to get the other stuff from them.

For the hard drive, I've changed my choice to the Seagate Barracuda IV 60GB (model ST360021A) ($114 at newegg.com) based on Willoughbyva's suggestion and also based on the HDD reviews at storagereview.com.
 
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