Starting from the ground up.

[weeblewobblez]

Hello
This is my first post here at TechIMO. So please bear with me and excuse any mistakes I may make posting. I've got some questions I'd like to see if you folks could help me with. I found this forum just a month ago and enjoy it very much. Almost like I've found my long lost bretheren. My wife just doesnt get it though, but She has just given me the go ahead to get a new comp and I'd like some advice.
I've decided to either buy a Dell and settle for something cheap ($300-$600) and not get exactly what want or start form the ground up and make it something just for us. If I do the latter, I want to start with a mobo+processor combo, so what is the best combo $200 can buy. I'm thinking about an AMD processor at about 2400 or 2500. Am I dreaming or is there hope for fools like me. Id pay a little more for dual channel memory capability and on Newegg I saw a mobo Model# A7N8X Deluxe Retail. It sounds like a good place to start. I plan to get a seperate sound/video cards so onboard sound/video is not an issue but if the mobo comes with a decent video chipset, great.
So there it is folks, hope to hear back from you soon. And I promise my next post won't be so long. Thanks in advance
Weebs

[DallasDon]

Welcome to the forum, WW. I recently "graduated to this forum myself, after building a couple of systems.

You will definately enjoy building your own system, and it can be done on a budget. The advantage of building one is the upgrade capabilities, which are limited on a Dell or other proprietary system.

Couple of random thoughts:

Do you live in the city, with several outlets to shop from, or you gonna mail order everything?

The Asus A7N8 deluxe is a good board, might find it bundled with a processor if you shop around.

One stick of 512 DDR ram is sufficient, buying more will not noticably increase perfomance.

Choosing a case is a matter of personal preference, but the Power supply is extremely important. Bundled power supplys will "max out" if you plan on adding several drives, or high powered vid cards, etc.

IMO The best all around price/perforamnce ratio for cpu/ram would be the AMD 2500+, and PC 2700 DDR.

If you are ordering online, check the DOCS DEALS thread for specials on components. Very Helpful.

I also like to read the pruchaser reviews at Newegg of a part I am considering. Tells you the real deal from people who actually bought it.

Hope this helps..



Just one more thing

Be careful, or you might end up with this

[Toddly]

Building your own computer is definately better than buying. You will have a much easier upgrade path in the future. Everyone has a favorite board maker but the ASUS boards have a good reputation for speed and quality. I have always used ABIT boards and have not been dissapointed. You might check Mwave for motherboard bundles. They always had many, will pre-test if you want and they have a solid reputation.
Get the hard drive, CD Burner from some of the rebate promotions that are common at the office supply stores. I am glad to hear your wife gave you the go ahead.

[weeblewobblez]

Hey there fellas
DallasDon Im afraid it's too late. I wanna know how you got that picture of me in my living room...white socks and all. And Toddly yes in the interest of keeping peace and a place to sleep on my side of the bed, we submit some..but not all..projects for approval before we start construction.
Ok so I'm looking for a a board that will support an AMD 2500 chip and as far as memory is concerned, is dual channel capability important? I won't be designing rocketships, but I will do a ton of audio processing. I am definetly going to take advantage of rebate offers for drives and video cards for "the Beast" ..i guess im building it huh....and i do live in a large city where we have both chain stores like CompUSA, as well as a few wholesale/retail electronics parts houses.
I'm gonna shop around here and get prices and post what I find and maybe you guys could tell me if I could do better some where online.
Well I gotta get bed. Everyone else beat me to it. So I have to some catching up to do but I'll post my findings this weekend.
P.S. As far as a power supply is concerned, I have heard for certain AMD chips, that you have to have a power supply that meets thier specs to keep the warranty valid? Am I right? Is a 400 watt p/s the biggest you can get?
night all..

[DallasDon]

Two things to start the list off:

Buy the mobo,cpu, (maybe bundled) and ram last, as they usually have only a 14 day return in most cases before they must be RMA to the manufacturer.

A quality bundled case/psu will probably be adequate for the first phase of construction. If you buy the psu dual fans and 400W or better are worth considering for the long haul.

[Slowhand]

I am about to start my second build for myself. The first one went to my son. Since time was not a factor when building a system, first I looked around for the best price(After rebate) for items like CDRW, Hard Drive, Sound Card, Video Card, Case, et.c, once they were all set to go then I went to MWave and selected a motherboard bundle that was pretested. I have heard nothing but good things about MWave. As soon as the motherboard arrived I had my weekend project. For Online purchases I would use Newegg, Googlegear, Directron and MWave. For B&M , Circuit City, Staples, Officemax. I do use Compusa, Best Buy and Office Depot but I usualy I face a salesperson with no knowledge but plenty of attitude.