NOTICE - PC builders, when asking for input on YOUR projects Please Tell us...

[hey there]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. Web surfing, writing emails/letters, keeping records.

2. What YOUR budget is. Pennies.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. Ebay (global)

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US... Yep!

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. No preference just want the best. I'm a mac fanboy, dad wants a PC, that's why I need help. I have spare macs, he doesn't want them!!!

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. Currently have all peripherals

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

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using? No idea of resolution, I think it's a 19 or 20 inch flat screen.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? April-May 2016

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software? NO

I have a MOBO, it's as old as hell, but a big improvement on what he's currently running.
MOBO is an Asrock 939 socket Dual VSTA.
He needs a 3.5 floppy, I have that.
He's getting a DVD re-writer, which I had laying around.
I have a box full of older, mostly 8x AGP graphics cards, plus a couple of PCIe x16 cards.
PSU, I have a choice of 2. Either an FSP Group, 250W Noise Killer - this has the correct 20 pin power plug.
Or a Dell 375w - this has a 24 pin power plug. I could get an adapter.

What I really want to know just now is, what power button should I use, and where do I get it?
Or do I solder in a button across the green and black wires on the PSU?

I also want to use this machine to test all these graphics cards to see what are worth keeping/ebaying, and which ones are now paperweights.

 

[Papa]

Hello all - Hopefully you can help me.

It's my son's 16th in a couple of weeks & we want to put together a system as kind of a b-day present. I went over to NewEgg to buy the parts, but I was pretty much lost for what I needed ... probably due to the fact that I haven't built a system in over a decade. To add perspective on how long it;s been, my last build included a floppy drive.

Let's see if I can remember the questions from the first post...

- I'm in MI
- my budget is ~$1000
- my son is a typical teenager ... that means A LOT of games
- I don't do any overclocking ... don't see the need
- No brand preference (except I was told to go with Intel, not AMD)
- I think he uses Windows 10 at his moms house, so I'd like to go with that

I've been told (not sure if it's true) that these days you can buy a system for far cheaper than you can build the same one. That's really not the point here ... the b-day present isn't the computer, it's the putting it together.

I'm really open to any advice here - be it links to tutorials, parts lists, or anything.

Thanks guys,
Mike <---formally (as in more than a decade ago) a P&N regular