Building a Computer

OmniDyne

OmniDyne

Active Member
A $180 processor seems like overkill.

There are better options than the 1600 or 2400G for much cheaper.

The Intel i3-8100 is below $120 and would make more sense than a $180 Ryzen 5 1600, especially considering they perform similar and the OP won't take advantage of the extra threads.

The onboard Intel graphics would also be more than adequate, technically.
 
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Freerunner

Member
OK, thanks for your help, but I went ahead and ordered the previous. At this point my concern is that all of the hardware will work together and that it will all fit into my mid-tower. Here is what I ordered:

Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit

AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor

Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard

ADATA - XPG GAMMIX D10 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory

SeaSonic - EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

XFX Radeon R5 230 R5-230A-CLF2 2GB 128-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 Video Card


Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Asus - PCE-AC55BT B1 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter

Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
 
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Margrave Brandenburg

New Member
Given your needs I'd go with this for $610.
https://deals.dell.com/productdetail/11i6

Add an SSD if you like and you're still inside your $700 limit.

And you get a warranty.
And you won't have to build, debug, or troubleshoot. Simple.

The days of build-your-own (especially in low-end or midrange desktops) are long gone.
Unless your needs are high-end, or in some way special and outside the mass-market, build-your-own just doesn't make economic sense anymore.

If you were looking for a high-end box ... that would be a different story. But at $700, nope.
 
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Freerunner

Member
Margrave, thanks for the advice, but I prefer to build my own. 9 years ago, the folks on this site helped me build 2 different desktops that up until a year ago, were running great. There are several members on this site that are just fantastic at helping someone who is willing to put forth the effort themselves (agree that it's not for everyone). But for me, there is the satisfaction of building one and knowing how and where to fix something. I will never be an expert, but I know I can get very reliable advice on this site.
 
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Freerunner

Member
JohnB, Cisco, after doing more reading in updated guide for building a computer, I began thinking about whether or not I should also get a new case (the one I was going to use is the original at 9 years old). Money isn't the issue, it's whether there is value. If you think it would be better to get a new case, please recommend a few choices. Thanks.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
If your case is 9 years old then yes, get a new case. You'll have the option of getting usb 3.0 in the front and something that has better cooling. Hard to recommend a case when we don't know what you like. I'm picky with cases so I'm the last one that should help you with that.
 
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Freerunner

Member
OK, I thanks. Can you give me some guidance at least on what to look for? Maybe the size? I can look at the different types myself. My fear is that I might end up with a case that is too small.
 
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Freerunner

Member
I forgot to ask a question about one of the pieces of hardware below. I understand the need for the WD, but what is the purpose of the 860 Evo?




Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Freerunner said:
I forgot to ask a question about one of the pieces of hardware below. I understand the need for the WD, but what is the purpose of the 860 Evo?




Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Click to expand...
SSD's with windows installed on them will make the OS boot up a heck of a lot quicker, basically in a few seconds compared to maybe 20 or more.
 
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Freerunner

Member
OK, this leads to several questions: How do I post an image of disk management? This is an OEM version of Windows, so can I just load it on the SSD while it is also on the WD drive? If I have to take it off of the WD drive, how?
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
All you need to do is just reinstall to SSD, there will be no need to enter an activation key when it asks as it will automatically activate once its at the desktop since you already had it installed once. Once windows is installed to SSD then just totally delete HDD.

Open disk management full screen, press alt-prtscr buttons together then open mspaint and click on ctrl-v together it will paste the image into paint. Then save the file and upload as attachment to your post. It will look like this.

diskmanagement.jpg
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, you installed windows to the regular HDD instead of the SDD. What I would do is disconnect the hdd temporarily, then install windows to the SDD. Then reconnect HDD and then delete existing partitions on the HDD using disk management. When using a an SDD and HDD you always want to disconnect the HDD as sometimes windows will put the bootfiles on the HDD. As you can see there is a system reserved partition on the SSD currently. When you restart the install, select that partition and delete it. Then go ahead and install.
 
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Freerunner

Member
OK, your instructions seem easy enough to follow. But I do have a couple of more. I'm assuming when all is done, I should have the HDD re-connected. If I do, what is its purpose? And should I do anything in the BIOS as far as order of reading the drives? Will I need to reload the drivers for the various hardware (ie mb, graphics, etc.)?
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, reconnect the HDD. You'll be using it as a storage drive for pictures, documents, music, whatever you like. You can check the boot order in the bios once the hdd is reconnected and change it if necessary but it should boot to the SDD. And yes you'll need to reload all drivers that windows 10 doesn't install automatically. Once you attach the hdd back then go into your user folder and redirect the pictures, music, documents, downloads and videos folder if you so desire to the HDD. Right click on each of those and click on properties, then click on the location tab and change the drive to the hdd instead of SDD. I can show you screenshots of this if you need them.
 
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