Should I fear building my own pc?

4 gigabytes of Kingston HyperX (2 x 2 gigabyte) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 - $50.
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R motherboard - $115
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 95 Watt - $268.50
Total equals $433.50

3 gigabytes of Patriot Viper (3 x 1 gigabyte) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 - $90.
MSI X58 Platinum LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - $220
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 130 Watt- $300
Total equals $610

The extra $176 for a little bit more processing power of the i7 is not worth it.
 
This is what you need...

monitor ~ 200
mouse ~ 30
keyboard ~ 20
speakers ~ 50
computer case ~ 50
case fans ~ 10
power supply ~ 40
motherboard ~ 120
cpu / cpu heatsink / cpu fan ~ 150
memory ~ 75
video card (or video built into motherboard) ~ 150
sound card (or sound built into motherboard) ~ n/a
network card (or network capability built into motherboard) ~ n/a
hard drive ~ 75
dvd / cd / or other optical drive(s) ~ 30
operating system (windows or linux etc) ~ 150

Anything else is optional.

about $1,100 to build a decent system from scratch give or take $100 or so.
 
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Here's my shopping list (I liked the bare bones kit as well). Let me know if I left something off, if there's a particular one to get, max out, avoid, etc.

ATX case
psu
motherboard
cpu
hard drive
dvd burner - SATA or IDE?
graphics card
cpu cooler - comes with the paste?
case fan

I plan on using my existing Dell old school LCD 17" monitor. Bad idea with the upgrades I'm getting?

(Sorry Konsole, I was typing this when you posted)
 
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Nums said:
What is your budget?
Click to expand...

You don't have to go that fancy.. a DUO Core processor with more than 2 GHz speed is fine. 2 GB of memory for Windows XP. some of these stuff come bundled up, so they are cheaper.

the more expensive item should be the Operating system. the whole thing should not cost more than 600 dollars.

I build PCs all the time.
 
KaBone said:
Here's my shopping list (I liked the bare bones kit as well). Let me know if I left something off, if there's a particular one to get, max out, avoid, etc.

ATX case
psu
motherboard
cpu
hard drive
dvd burner - SATA or IDE?
graphics card
cpu cooler - comes with the paste?
case fan

I plan on using my existing Dell old school LCD 17" monitor. Bad idea with the upgrades I'm getting?

(Sorry Konsole, I was typing this when you posted)
Click to expand...

The monitor you use doesnt matter. I'm still using a 17" crt monitor I got with my Dell 8 years ago. Monitors basically never get outdated, they may get a bit nicer but old monitors work just fine. Plus they arent cheap. If the motherboard and power supply are SATA capable get the SATA. It's basically the same as IDE just a much smaller cable and a bit faster speed. I would assume that all retail processors come with thermal paste on their heatsink. Some things you should have from another computer should cut down the final price. Things like...

monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, hard drive, optical drive, operating system

If you minus those then your looking at more like ~ 600
 
Your monitor should be ok. Here's a pretty nice setup.

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard - $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 CPU - $270
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) RAM - $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

Saphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB GPU - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

500GB Hard Drive - $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 CPU cooler - $27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

DVD Drive - $25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136153

Nice Case $50

Operating System - $100

Grand Total - $900

I threw in a good video card, if the price is a bit steep you could replace it with a cheaper one.
 
It looks like it's all coming together. For the OS, will my existing XP Home transfer? If so should I stay with it? Are the Vista complaints valid? Should I go Vista Home, Premium, Business, or Ultimate?
 
Here's why I know I came to the right place. Other than the excellent advice, when you give prices you don't a) 95 me (e.g. $19.95) and b) give me after MIR prices. For the latter I assume it's because we all agree that MIRs are basically scams.

I believe I have the XP home CD. Would I be wasting all that power and speed by continuing to use XP? One thing I forgot to ask about was cables. How do I know if and which I need?
 
KaBone said:
Here's why I know I came to the right place. Other than the excellent advice, when you give prices you don't a) 95 me (e.g. $19.95) and b) give me after MIR prices. For the latter I assume it's because we all agree that MIRs are basically scams.

I believe I have the XP home CD. Would I be wasting all that power and speed by continuing to use XP? One thing I forgot to ask about was cables. How do I know if and which I need?
Click to expand...

no XP would run fine, it would be illegal to install that xp on another PC without another license.
 
It is only illegal if you install the XP operating system on his new machine without removing it from his previous system.

Also know that Windows XP will only utilize 3.25 to 3.5 gigabytes of random access memory which is fine. 3.25 gigabytes is plenty of memory for the Windows XP operating system (or for Windows Vista).

When you buy a new motherboard it generally comes with all the cables you need.
 
Big mahalos - From here on out I'm going to post questions in the component specific categories. I'll come back once I have the complete list for a final qc.
 
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