checklist

[NeWbiE :-)]

im building my first pc and am just horrified of spending all this money and doing it completely wrong i got about 4-500 and expecting about another 150 before the local computer show this weekend where i plan to buy most of my parts...so this entire week will be filled with craming as if i were nearing a college final...lol so please tell me if theres anything i seem to be forgetting, if u dont feel like reading alot...click next thread...lol

ok starting with the case im sticking with the advise i was given and taking ATX with a 400-500w psu im getting full tower so i dont have to cram i think i got that covered...

next i take the motherboard, as of about 3 weeks ago i thought u could slap any cpu on any mobo and plug and play so bear with me a bit...im lookin to go intel based hopefully p4 if the budget lets me i plan on deciding by friday the way i see it im trying to build a gaming pc so should cheap out 50 bucks and just get the best...so im hoping to find some kind of bundle pack or just look on intel.com to see wat goes with wat...i have no clue if im accurate on that and i could be forgeting several things please remind me....i plan on keeping away from PCIe only because i dont plan on having the pc that long so unless i hear a good argument (considering u all know more then me) ill be forced to change my mind

then the cpu itself im simply going for intel p4 not sure about the whole ht thing is it worth it? is there a differance i dunno? im hoping atleast 2ghz+...please explain or give me link to explain exactly what Front side bus is because i dunno if its important or what :confused: i have a good understanding of the cache thing

hard drives :mad: honestly is 120gb nessacary i do plan on having some games on it and the reason im building my pc is because of how crappy Sims2 ran on mine & my g/fs pc (both dells) but im hoping that a good v-card and processor will help that out...so im hoping for about 80gb depending on what you all have to say...then also 7200rpm and maybe more sums it up i guess

video card :D i wanna have sick video i want my video card to be the most expensive part to my computer but...being realistic cuz ive seen some pretty crazy stuff...now i could be totally wrong but im guessing a mix between v-card and monitor is what controlls frames per second and honestly i want alot im running on about 60-70 now maxing at about 110 so im hoping with the right equipment i could turn out about 200??? :confused: ....also im looking to get the radeon A.I.W thing for the video input and output just because that seems deathly cool and thats wat im aiming for on the first time around

sound card :( this could be a PC techie crime but...i dont care about sound card the way i see it is sound is sound bare minimum works for me please talk me into changing my mind and not being so cheap...lol

umm drives im planning on getting a dvd dual layer rw but not immediately but ill be sure to leave a slot open ill prolly start off with just a basic cd-rw untill i can get enough cash (is a floppy drive NEEDED???)

i plan on progressivly growing my ram unless i find a real nice deal...some nice round cables like i said i want a cool computer this time around so apperance means alot and rounded cables are important but for some reason i get the feeling to stick with solid colors and none of these lit-up cables

fans and stuff- i hate to spend all my money and literally burn it so i plan on investing on a few highpower fans and coolers but as of right now i have no idea how to use a fan controller but should i put some money into one and learn how to use it eventually?


finally my biggest nightmare...im making pretty close to minimum wage at few hours so its relatively hard to raise some money so i will wait till im desperate be4 i buy a $200 monitor...im dying for LCD because like i said i want nice picture so if you could tell me either i dont need an LCD monitor for nice picture or...u kno somehwere i can get a nice small LCD for under 100 bucks youll be my hero :p


so heres my list i have till this weekend please help me... if im totally clueless also..please just tell me straight and ill just keep reading...lol but please lemme know the little things im missing like slots and wires or just random things i dunno about thank you for reading this you guys are amazingly helpful and special thanks to pcguid forums for giving me chance to realize how much of a newbie i am :p

[NeWbiE :-)]

i apologize to the admin for being totally blind and not seeing the no help questions and feel free to delete this and ill repost in diff. category, sorry for inconveinence :(

[NeWbiE :-)]

im building my first pc and am just horrified of spending all this money and doing it completely wrong i got about 4-500 and expecting about another 150 before the local computer show this weekend where i plan to buy most of my parts...so this entire week will be filled with craming as if i were nearing a college final...lol so please tell me if theres anything i seem to be forgetting, if u dont feel like reading alot...click next thread...lol

ok starting with the case im sticking with the advise i was given and taking ATX with a 400-500w psu im getting full tower so i dont have to cram i think i got that covered...

next i take the motherboard, as of about 3 weeks ago i thought u could slap any cpu on any mobo and plug and play so bear with me a bit...im lookin to go intel based hopefully p4 if the budget lets me i plan on deciding by friday the way i see it im trying to build a gaming pc so should cheap out 50 bucks and just get the best...so im hoping to find some kind of bundle pack or just look on intel.com to see wat goes with wat...i have no clue if im accurate on that and i could be forgeting several things please remind me....i plan on keeping away from PCIe only because i dont plan on having the pc that long so unless i hear a good argument (considering u all know more then me) ill be forced to change my mind

then the cpu itself im simply going for intel p4 not sure about the whole ht thing is it worth it? is there a differance i dunno? im hoping atleast 2ghz+...please explain or give me link to explain exactly what Front side bus is because i dunno if its important or what i have a good understanding of the cache thing

hard drives honestly is 120gb nessacary i do plan on having some games on it and the reason im building my pc is because of how crappy Sims2 ran on mine & my g/fs pc (both dells) but im hoping that a good v-card and processor will help that out...so im hoping for about 80gb depending on what you all have to say...then also 7200rpm and maybe more sums it up i guess

video card i wanna have sick video i want my video card to be the most expensive part to my computer but...being realistic cuz ive seen some pretty crazy stuff...now i could be totally wrong but im guessing a mix between v-card and monitor is what controlls frames per second and honestly i want alot im running on about 60-70 now maxing at about 110 so im hoping with the right equipment i could turn out about 200??? ....also im looking to get the radeon A.I.W thing for the video input and output just because that seems deathly cool and thats wat im aiming for on the first time around

sound card this could be a PC techie crime but...i dont care about sound card the way i see it is sound is sound bare minimum works for me please talk me into changing my mind and not being so cheap...lol

umm drives im planning on getting a dvd dual layer rw but not immediately but ill be sure to leave a slot open ill prolly start off with just a basic cd-rw untill i can get enough cash (is a floppy drive NEEDED???)

i plan on progressivly growing my ram unless i find a real nice deal...some nice round cables like i said i want a cool computer this time around so apperance means alot and rounded cables are important but for some reason i get the feeling to stick with solid colors and none of these lit-up cables

fans and stuff- i hate to spend all my money and literally burn it so i plan on investing on a few highpower fans and coolers but as of right now i have no idea how to use a fan controller but should i put some money into one and learn how to use it eventually?


finally my biggest nightmare...im making pretty close to minimum wage at few hours so its relatively hard to raise some money so i will wait till im desperate be4 i buy a $200 monitor...im dying for LCD because like i said i want nice picture so if you could tell me either i dont need an LCD monitor for nice picture or...u kno somehwere i can get a nice small LCD for under 100 bucks youll be my hero


so heres my list i have till this weekend please help me... if im totally clueless also..please just tell me straight and ill just keep reading...lol but please lemme know the little things im missing like slots and wires or just random things i dunno about thank you for reading this you guys are amazingly helpful and special thanks to pcguid forums for giving me chance to realize how much of a newbie i am

[saphalline]

Holy $#&^%!! (expletives deleted)

Ok, let me get this straight. You have about $600-650 to spend, you are a newbie, and you're planning on buying your parts this weekend!? You're not under any pressure then, right? :eek: :D Oh boy...

You might want to plan some time to spend in the new PC Guide chat program this week, because I don't know if a single thread can cover all that in just a few days! Unless you just want us to choose the parts for you and tell you what to buy and about how much it should cost. Seriously, that's about all you have time for. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but most people come to us for help and are buying their parts at least a week later, often times more. In the mean time, I'll at least give you some direction for now.

How many parts can you salvage from your Dell? Or do you plan on keeping your Dell alive? If not, grab the mouse, keyboard, and monitor from it! Or else your $650 budget is going to be gone before you know it!

Stick to a slower speed P4 or even a Celeron D, 512MB of RAM (even 256MB if you want to cut your budget), 80GB is fine but twice as much space is only 50% more money, onboard video is a no-no but a GF FX 5200 may be all you can afford, get a case with at least 3 80mm (or larger) fans spots, you don't need a fan controller unless you're an overclocker (and it saves money not to get one), onboard sound is perfectly fine (it's what I use). That should get you started.

[Erik]

Wow, that is a lot of ground to cover in a real short time. I would start be recommending that you hold off until you get a clearer idea of what you need, how it all works together and how to put things together right. Nothing would suck more than going out and spending $600 that you saved up in months, and seeing it go up in smoke because you made some mistake in putting things together.

On to the question at hand. That isn't really all that much money for a top notch gaming system. I would say to get the most from your money you might want to consider going the AMD Atholon XP route. One thing to keep in mind when buying ANY procesor is that you will also need a heat sink, fan, and some thermal grease. Without those things you will fry the processor in short order. An OEM processor doesn't have them, but I believe most retail packages do come with everything you will need. It is a few bucks well spent I think to get the retail pack. Especially if you are new at this and unsure of which fan, heatsink and thermal paste to buy. This way the manufacturer will have supplied you with what they want you to use. As long as you don't overclock it will be just fine.

Onboard sound is just fine, and will save a bit of money. Onboard NIC is also a fine way to shave a few dollars off the bottom line. Onboard video is a defenite no no. It robs system RAM to use as its own. I would say that even the cheapest vid card is way better here. Then it will also make it much easier to upgrade when funds permit.

An 80 gig HD is plenty for most uses. They only fill up really fast when doing video, music and graphic work. Something to keep in mind though is that, as was mentioned, a 120 gig drive is only a few dollars more and holds much more data. A CD-RW now would be just fine, you might even decide you never need a DVD writer. Just remember that it is better to be able to burn CD's than watch DVD's. Meaning don't go for your only optical drive as a DVD ROM just because you can find a deal on one for the same money as a CD-RW drive.

Do you really need a floppy? Well it depends. Most every currentoperating system can be installed from CD only. The exceptions are Windows ME, and Windows 98. So if you want to install one of those OS's you will NEED a floppy to get it done. Aside form that, I always put a floppy drive in systems I build. They are really cheap and you never know when they might come in handy. For example at the moment I am working on a PC with a bad HD, which I will need to replcae. The floppy is also shot, and it is an old computer that was running Windows 95. So in order to get it up and running I will NEED a floppy drive, or upgrade to a newer OS.

[FastLearner]

2 really quick responses, and I'll let the others take it from there.

First, you asked if it was necessary to have a 120 GB hard drive.

No. Up until last week, when my 80 GB hdd took the highway to hell, I had been saving many, many files, documents, programs, etc. every day since Dec, 2001, and my drive was still not even close to being 3/4 full. You're better off with a smaller hdd (but not too small) and using the money you save toward as much RAM as your mobo will support--especially since you're into gaming.

Second, you asked if a floppy drive is necessary.

It depends on who you ask, but I would not want to be without one myself--although there are many new builds being sold as we speak that don't have one. There are all sorts of useful things you can do with a floppy drive, like boot your computer before it has any cd rom support or Operating System; or maybe used to launch your emergency boot disk when Windows takes a dive and you can't boot into safe mode or normal mode, just to name a couple good uses. Bottom line--get a floppy drive. Decent ones cost around $10 new and you'll someday be mad at yourself if you don't.

Now I'll leave the rest to my colleagues...:)

[NeWbiE :-)]

well i called to find that theres another show early next month so my plan is to go this weekend get what i KNOW i want like ATX form case the A.I.W graphics card and maybe some cables then from now untill next show ill be on here about 3 times a day for about 2 hours at a time searching old threads and asking new questions...u guys been great so far thanks alot

[saphalline]

Another show next month? Sounds good! You should be able to soak up enough info before then! Some things to consider for this weekend's show...

Only buy the non-price sensitive items, like ATX case, power supply, fans, mouse, keyboard, CD burner, and monitor. Other things like graphics card, CPU, RAM, and mobo are highly price-sensitive! And if you buy them now without using them, you'll be wasting money.

Be sure to browse Newegg's website (www.newegg.com) for prices, so that you know the price range that certain parts should cost. For example, good power supplies are usually about $55-80, so if you see a no-name power supply for $150, stay away!! ;)

Whatever you do, for your first build, buy retail parts. And look for any signs of retail parts that have been resealed. Retail parts will give you so many less headaches as they come with everything you need right then and there to build a good computer. Hard drives are one thing that are good to buy just alone, but if you aren't comfortable with that, go ahead and buy a retail hard drive, too. Better to be safe than sorry!

Also inquire about any kind of return policy. This is especially important for these computer shows, because many vendors drive in from far away and leave just as quickly! If you have no way to return defective items and get your money back, why should you buy from them? Defective parts are rare, but the moment you let your guard down is when they attack!! :p

Well, good luck out there this weekend, and happy shopping! And we'll try to answer and explain as much as we can before the next show.

[NeWbiE :-)]

oh boy what a headache...my hp came with a 17inch lcd and my dell with 15 crt now TO ME they look the same but ive never played the same games on both and im trying to build a gaming pc will i hurt my self by saving the money to buy a crt monitor or is it crucial to go for the lcd??

[saphalline]

Try to keep all your questions in one thread. These are all different topics, yes, but your original thread was so broad that it would be better in this case to just keep it all together. That way you'll get better advice, too, since we'll all know your whole story. ;)

[saphalline]

Ok, TV tuner question from other thread:

While the ATI All-in-Wonder cards are nice, I've talked to many people who have tried both solutions (AiW and separate TV tuner card). They've all told me the same thing - while the All-in-Wonders are handy, a separate TV tuner card will give you a better quality video capture. Not to mention upgrading is infinitely easier. If you buy an AiW 9600 XT now and decide later that you want a more powerful graphics card, you'll have to buy a newer AiW with another built-in TV tuner. That doesn't make much sense to me because you'd be buying two TV tuners when the first one was just fine! It makes more sense to keep your graphics card and TV tuner separate because then you can upgrade them individually and keep your costs down. Image quality is another area where AiW's aren't great. The built-in TV tuner is very convenient but the quality is about the same as a cheap $20 PCI TV tuner card. This is certainly acceptable, but if you ever want a TV tuner with better quality and/or more functionality, the AiW's just can't do it. For the absolute best in quality and functionality, Canopus and Dazzle come to mind, and while they aren't cheap they are well worth the money.

Monitor question from the other thread:

A 17" LCD is way better than a 15" CRT in terms of resolution and screen size. However, with your limited budget, I strongly suggest using that old 15" monitor for now. This will let you spend more money on your system parts, which is necessary because your budget isn't that big to start with! Later after you've saved more money, you can upgrade your monitor, but right now it's just not going to happen. Not if you want a decent modern system.

[Paul Komski]

I've merged all three threads here and hope that's acceptable to all. My first bit of "moderation". ;)

NeWbiE I'm sure you have probably already grasped the concept of keeping threads going with any related issues and responses, to not post in inappropriate forums (bad) and to not post duplicates (very bad - or at best very irritating). You are new here so welcome and enjoy.