Building Own PC

[chromios_infinitum]

I am biting the bullet and going to actually get a PeeCee (I'm a Mac guy at heart) mostly cause i need a new comp and theyre cheaper and much better gaming machines (damn BF1942 addiction). Do you guys have any advice for me? I already have a cheap case that a friend gave me but he doesnt know much about computers. I know a lot about macs ;). What processor should i buy? what mobo should i buy? i have a little over a grand to work with. ive already got a geforce titanium lined up. what ram should i buy? Anyway, thanks guys.

[Roland]

All depends on your budget, and what you're looking for.

Start here:
http://www.pricewatch.com/ - Best site ever for finding products, and CHEAP.

http://www.newegg.com/ - A good quality store for your PC needs.

http://www.crucial.com/ - Never buy memory ANYWHERE else.

Processor? I'd go with a Pentium 4, no less than 1.6 GHz. You can always overclock it, but it all depends on your budget.

RAM? Try to get a motherboard that supports DDR RAM, NOT RDRAM. DDR SDRAM is about the same cost as traditional SDRAM, but ALOT faster (like SDRAM, comes in varying flavors of speed). Find out what your motherboard supports, and try to find a motherboard that has at least 3+ DDR RAM slots.

Motherboard? I like Asus, but Gigabyte also make great boards. Check out their sites, and check out their prices.

http://www.asus.com/ - ASUSTek
http://tw.giga-byte.com/ - Gigabyte

My personal favorite motherboards:
http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/...-e/overview.htm
http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/...8x/overview.htm
Cheap, and powerful.

Graphics card you said you had lined up. Personally, I run a GeForce4 Ti 4200 64 MB. The 128 just ain't worth the extra dough. If you're gonna spend that much on the 128 4200, you're better off buying the 4400. My card suits me plenty fine for all my gaming needs, but if you want more power, go for it. Again, you can always overclock your video card.

http://www.tomshardware.com/ - Good hardware review site.
http://www.overclockersonline.com/ - Teaches you how to overclock, and what you need to do it.

Overclocking is a tricky business, but it's a cinch to do when you know how, and when you have what you need. The two biggest things to remember about overclocking: 1) BABY STEPS. Increment your increases as small as possible, i.e. between 1 - 5 MHz. 2) COOLING. Overclocking creates more heat. If you don't have proper cooling, and/or your computer doesn't have proper airflow, you'll kill it in no time.

One more thing: Get enough power. You can NEVER have too big of a power supply. 450 Watts is usually sufficient for even a monster PC, but I wouldn't go ANY less than 350. That's a bare minimum. 400 - 450 is a good range, although more can always help. The more power you have, the more stuff you can put in there. Otherwise, you'll blow the unit trying to cram too much stuff onto a little power supply.

Oh yeah! ALOT of online stores sell "OEM" OSes with the purchase of a piece of hardware. DIRT CHEAP. A $40 hard drive can get you Windows 2000 Professional for ~$90. Not a bad deal, eh? The catch? No box, no manual. :P That's what OEM means. It's just the CD. But, who ever needs the box or the manual? :P Point is, try to pick up an OEM OS with your purchases. It'll save you a ton, and your PC is worthless without an OS. ;) Hell, you could probably get Windows 2000 / XP Professional AND Windows 98 with two seperate purchases for under $150, if you wanted.

And that brings in the final piece of the puzzle: The OS. Windows 98 is supposedly THE gaming OS. Not the most stable of OSes, but good, nonetheless. XP is a bit of a distant second, with 2000 right by it. I, personally, use Windows 2000. But, it all depends on what you're going to be playing. Alot of games, even some older ones, WILL run under Windows 2000. Alot won't, however. There are tools to get them to (apcompat.exe, found on the Windows 2000 CD), as well as built-in compatability mode (like in XP, except you have to manually enable it). I personally hate XP, but alot of people seem to like it. Windows 98 will do what you want it to, but not much else. ;) Choose what you want, and get the opinions of others. I'd go with 2000 or 98, myself, but if you feel comfortable with XP, or aren't bothered by it, go for it. Choose what you think will be best.

And BTW - Welcome to the Light Side of computing. ;) Once you switch, you'll never go back. The Dark Side is not worth it. ;) Cause MACS SUCK! :P

[loonygloss]

People are going to need a bit more information than that, I'm afraid. What do you want to use your computer for? Games? Graphic work?
How long do you want the computer/mobo to last before an upgrade? Do you want AMD or Intel? The last particularly is a matter of price and taste. Do you intend to overclock your processor? (I would assume not)

With that in mind, here would be my recommendations.

These are what I would buy in your situation. This does not meant that they are the best choice for you.

Mobo: Any decent Nforce2-based motherboard. Preferably the one without the onboard video, but with the 5.1 surround sound (MCP-T) The Epox 8RDA+ is a good example of what I'm talking about.

Processor: Whatever Athlon XP you can afford. Around a 2200+ is good, more if you can afford it. Think about getting a decent heatsink - the stock one can be a bit dodgy. For goodness sake, get someone experienced to help you install the heatsink! It is too easy to crash the core a ruin a CPU if you don't know what you're doing. This would be a reason to buy a P IV if you can't get help.

RAM: 2 sticks of DDR400 256MB RAM from a decent manufacturer. Corsair is the best. Double the amount if you want, and can afford it.

HDD: Seagate, 7200RPM+ 80GB+ More if you want it. Look at pricelists, and determine the point where the price starts ramping steeply.

CD-ROM: Decide if you want a DVD/CD-RW drive, or seperate DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives. Look at some review sites to see which are best for you. If you don't want to, Lite-On is generally good.

Monitor: Go out and see want you like. You'll be staring at this thing for a long time, and it will probably outlast everything in your computer thrice over and more.

Mouse: I like the Logitech Dual Optical, or the Wireless, but anything will do. Opticals are nicer.

Think about a decent power supply. Never trust a powersupply to actually deliver its rated wattage - if you are running things that close to the edge, there will be voltage dips, and you can damage your PC.

And, finally, there will almost certainly be people who know better than me, and will disagree with me. Remember that there is no 'best' computer other than that which fills your needs.

[Dozer]

Two ESSENTIAL Sites:
http://www.hardocp.com/ - good articles, constant updates, and a good forum for questions.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/ - Better than pricewatch :)

And i have ordered quite a few things from newegg, they have yet to dissapoint. Plus they have the cheapest prices most of the time,anyway.(And they are like #3 overall on resellerratings.com !!)

[Nystul]

Building your own PC is only worth it if you are willing to put in the research time. Roland gave some good links to start with, but don't just rely on Tom's Hardware for reviews. Find about 3 or 4 review sites and weigh your options. I could give good reccomendations a year ago, but everything changes so fast that I am as obsolete as my computer :) My only major advice was going to be: don't get THE top of the line processor, and don't get THE top of the line graphics card. They carry a large premium on cost for usually a marginal increase in performance. But at the price range you are looking for, those wouldn't be likely options anyway. For what it's worth, I've had very good service buying from Newegg. IIRC, http://resellerratings.com can help to check on the service records of the online vendors.

[AtomicKitKat]

Amazing coincidence! I just finished building a new PC a couple weeks ago! :D Total price about 600-700 USD. 17" flatscreen monitor, keyboard, optical scroll mouse(all 3 by BenQ), AMD 1800, ABIT MOBO running ATA133, CD-ROM and CD-RW from Sony, 256 Kingston RAM, Tornado GeForce 4 MX, Sound by Creative, and a Prolink Network card. Oh yes, the above price included a router(since I have another PC and a cable connection), so you can probably deduct a bit from that. The casing was dirt-cheap(but does the job well) Most motherboards are relatively idiot-proof, what with having labels on the casing and the motherboard's manual listing which jumper to plug where. As for OS, my dad usually passes me the installation CD from his workplace computers(since I guess the company probably upgraded their systems some years back.) I'm currently UNDER-clocking my 1800 to run at 1700(I had let it run at 1500 previously), in the hopes that this might allow me JUST that little longer running time(before I need to shut it off for longer cooling)

[Elric of Grans]

Hail Chromios,

I recently built myself a new PC...well, mostly. I still have a few of the old components in the new box, but most things have been replaced already. Anywho, as such I have recently been going over what you are looking at now.

Motherboard: I personally prefer the Gigabytes. I've been told there is a new one out by some other brand that spits on the GB for gaming, but I forget it now (sorry).

HDD: Seagate, no question. I have a 40 (FAT32) and an 8 (ext2) which serve me well enough; if you plan to have a lot on though, you may want to look at more. I know someone who used most of his 250GB, but he's an extreme case really.

Video: Totally agree with Roland here. However, if you are not looking at high-end graphics games, then perhaps look at a cheaper GeForce2 (I did: after all, I play Nethack most of the time, and HATE these new fancy graphics, no substance games).

RAM: Get at least 512MB DDR - doubling that if you have the money ;)

CPU: I personally prefer Intel, as they are very reliable. Most of my mates prefer AMDs, but all of them have had issues with them. I have a P4 2.4. Just pick up based on whole GHz though: the difference between a 2.4 and a 2.6 is marginal, but the difference between a 1.6 and a 2.6 is quite noticeable. Try for something in the 2.x range that is within your buget.

CD/DVD: Get separate CD-RW and DVD-R. The combo drives take a serious hit in performance, and are not worth it. Lite On is the best brand I have used, though a mate once told me there is a new brand out made by the same company that is a tad cheaper (sorry, forget the name again).

Building the PC is pretty easy really, but if you are unsure, get someone with experience: there's nothing worse than making a mistake. Also, ask around your mates: if you know someone who can get you parts at a warehouse prices, you'll make a killer saving (I've not payed retail since before I was working in sales :P). For OS, I would say Win98 for gaming. I've heard that GNU/Linux is better for gaming, but you need to do a lot of messing with WineX (a program I cannot seem to get my hands on to test) before it'll run with most games. Apparently the framerates are higher though, and the OS is far more stable. Anywho, I'd suggest you laugh insanely at anyone who suggests ME, and I personally hate everything about XP; I've not used a lot of 2000, but I've heard it's not quite as good as 98 for gaming. I know someone who uses `Win95 w/ USB' for gaming...but he's quite mad ;)

Oh, and Roland's right about leaving Macs: I have not used one in about 10 years or so. Well, I saw one for the first time in ages a week ago: they look so wierd now compared to what I remember. Macs got colour? :huh: :lol:

[bschultz]

being that you are a mac user have you considered going SFF (small form factor)? shuttle makes some cool barebones systems that you can pop a gf4 into and have a pretty damn nice gaming rig. they arnt for everyone but if you like the idea of a small powerful pc you shout check it out. plus there is a huge community behind it! http://forums.sudhian.com/categories.cfm?catid=43 and http://www.sfftech.com

check this out http://us.shuttle.com/specs2.asp?pro_id=163 thats the shuttle SN41G2 which uses the NForce 2. which if you dont know is made by nvidia and is one of the better motherboards out there.
and this one is a pentium based bare bones system. http://us.shuttle.com/specs2.asp?pro_id=85 it also can be upgraded with a better video card.

anyways if you want something thats cool and a little different, look into it. I had never built my own computer either until about 4 months ago and I went with a SFF from shuttle I love it, Its also perfect for lan partys if your into that kinda thing because its soo small! and it wasnt nearly as hard to put together as I thought it would be to do! good luck!
oh btw you can get all of these at newegg.com they are great!

[Roland]

http://www.geekgeek.com/index2.php

You could, alternatively, have someone like them ^ build a computer for you.

Aside from that, some basic tips:
- Get your power supply with the case.
- Get the processor with the motherboard.
- Check the reviews on a vendor BEFORE buying.
- Shop around. The cheapest place may not have the cheapest shipping, and something that costs a little bit more may be much more guaranteed to satisfy you. Some stores are better than others.

If I think of anything more to add, I'll let you know.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Good advice in both posts. Just one small thing to add.

The cheapest place may not have the cheapest shipping

Also, splitting your order up can sometimes save you money. But if the companies you buy from have a minimum shipping cost, it can end up costing you more to split the order up.

Otherwise, I think you pretty well covered it. Since I haven't built a computer in about 2 years, I'm pretty ignorant right now. So I don't have anything else to add.

--Pete

[The Luminaire]

Ah, another [H]ard reader :). Imo one of the better PC reveiw sites out there, since they tend to cover every aspect of a given piece of hardware/software.

Now, as to the topic of this thread...

Im with Roland on this, I think a P4 is really your best bet, especially if you're a beginner. They components are cheaper right now, a little easier to work with, and they've also been around longer than the Nforce2 platform has.

Asus is really a great bet for Mobo's, as well as Gigabyte. If you've got some cash to throw around, get and MSI board, Ive had great luck with them, and they're decked out with everything you'd ever want/need. Definately go with DDR SDRAM for now. RDRAM has about the same memory bandwidth as high end DDR, but its more expensive, and the cost on motherboards rises substantially.

Corsair, and Kingston are the two big memory makers that'd Id go with. Either one is fine, though if you plan on overclocking at all, Id go with Kingston.

Video cards are really in the eye of the beholder. I still use my Radeon 32DDR from two years ago, and it runs everything great. But more power is always fun. :) Im a die hard ATI fanboy, but NVidia has got some great cards out right now, and at good prices. Whatever you do, *dont* get any NVidia "MX" card. They tend to be cheap, older chipsets clocked higher for more oopmh, but cant match the reliability and power of the actual GF3/4 chipsets. On the ATI side of the house, Id look at the older 8500 card. You can gt a 128 meg version of it for about 100-130 USD. Absolutely great card for the price, easliy runnning anything you want it to.

Hard drives are pretty basic, space and speed are crucial, brand isnt as much. Seagate, Western Digital are two good ones I can think of off hand, but there are plenty other comperable makers.

If you wanna use a P4, try and get a case with at least a 300W power supply. Other than that, whatever looks cool to you is your bag :)

Overall, if I were you, Id wait to build this computer for a little while. In the next few months, Intel is going to be releasing its 800Mhz FSB proscessors, meaning that the majority of the P4 line is going to get a big price drop. As well, the big vid card makers are bringing new products to the table in april and may, so the lower end cards will probably get a price drop as well.

And if you want to go the AMD route, I think a good few months would do good to mature the NForce 2 platform, to get some more solid equipment in the market, and at lower prices.

*Edit*: continuing with Roland, to make it easy on yourself, you could have people make a computer for you; alot of places do it cheaply, and with great work. Geekgeek has a pretty good reputation, from what I hear, but another one to look at would be Alienware. You can get a baseline P4 DDR system for around 1400 USD, and an AMD system even less. They are some of the best computers out there, expecially for gaming. You will pay the price for the name though, so be warned. The workmanship and quality of the components are worth the price however. ;)

[Dani]

AMD 1800, ABIT MOBO running ATA133
GeForce 4 MX
Sound by Creative

Well considering the asker is a PC-newbie, advising them to get AMD chip and a Via Motherboard is not very nice. ;)

*AMD chips are pretty ok, and cheaper than Intel.
*Via mobos are great for people who like to tune their computers, but they are absolutely horrible for those who don't wish any hassles. Because Via guarantees you'll be in maintenance quite frequently. (4in1 and incompatibilities...I used to have a Via mobo)
*Creative is no longer the most reliable sound card. AT least SB Live has many documented problems with various games. (I have live, it's headache)
*Finally, never ever buy a GF 4 MX. It's a hoax. It's based on GF2, not 4, technology.

My recommendations:
Intel P4 chip
Asus mobo (have had three, and no troubles with any of them...3 because they are in two computers, and one was on the computer I phased out last year). If you make sure you get the right board, you won't have to change it in couple years when you decide your processor is too slow.
For graphics. If you're aiming just for games, get a GF4 ti 4xxx card, preferably with 128mb. If you watch DVDs on your computer, get a Radeon 8500 128mb if you still can find it somewhere.
The Radeon 8500 was a great card, published just little over a year ago, that's already been pushed out of the markets, because it was a bit too expensive to be a budget card like the 9000 and 9000pro, and little too good to justify people getting a 9700. All in all, it's the best card I've seen for the bang/utility/buck equasion in a very long time.
The best video card in the market currently is Radeon 9700...if you wait a month or two, their price might drop dramatically, as the new GF/x cards saturate the market...and you really don't want the GF/x...it makes more noise than a lawnmover. :P (not to mention that it's not quite that great)

[chromios_infinitum]

Thanks for all the advice guys! Some more info: Ive hardly ever used PCs and dont know much about them. This machine will be used nearly exclusively for gaming...and a lot of BF1942 will be played on it ;) (Im going to keep my old mac around b/c i can use it quickly and efficiently to actually get work done when i need to;) ) I plan on doing lots of research and waiting until the beginning of June to buy. (When i bought my car i took 4 months to look for the "perfect deal" ended up getting a 2d 94 ford escort 75000 miles, perfect condition (the guy that drove it was an upper level memebr of the Dept. of Defense) for $1500 :D i have 100,000miles on it now and still runs great). also is putting the parts together self explainatory? or is there an internet guide of some kind that can help me? thanks again guys! one last thing, i also want to be able to record tv onto my comp...should i get an allinwonder card or an exteral tuner and which one? my friend got an allinwonder ati of some kind and hes happy with it, tho he doesnt get as much gaming performance out of it...is this tradeoff always true?

-Jordan

Edit: i would like to find out more about those sff comps but that website that some1 posted wasnt a lot of help...do they use the same ram and cpus? is the only difference the case and the mobo? thx again

[Roland]

I'm a die-hard Western Digital fan. I'll never choose anything else. I've never had problems with a Sea Gate, per se (only owned one), but I've found that over time it's become quite noisy. Whatever you do, though, stay the hell away from Maxtor. Just... ugh. One thing to remember: ALWAYS go with 7200+ RPMs. Anything less, and you'll be strangling yourself. Personally, I run a 45 Gig and a 120 Gig in one box, and a 40 Gig in the other. I wouldn't go with ANYTHING less than 80 in a single drive, and preferably 120, but that's up to you. I do alot of "archival" of programs, etc., and tend to have a LOT of games installed at any given time (i.e. 30+ Gigs), so I'm a space hog. And, a 120+ Gig drive won't go "obsolete" for another few years, as more and more applications start utilizing that space. 20 Gig was the standard not too long ago, but it may be up to 40 Gig, hence why you'd want at LEAST 80 Gig now, and preferably 120 Gig, to stay on top of the curve.

For video cards, I'm an nVIDIA nut. If you're gonna nab one, there's ALOT of different cards to buy, so shop around and read the reviews. I went with a PNY Verto card. They're supposed to be good; nothing major, but nothing shoddy, either. Chaintech's are good, as well. And, like Lum said, stay away from MX anything. ALWAYS go mainstream, regular cards. The cheaper cost of the lower-end cards is NOT worth it, and more often than not you can get a better low-end mainstream card for the same price as a mid/high-end cheap card.

As for the power supply, 350 Watts is the bare recommended minimum for a P4. And that's straight from Intel. You COULD do alright with 300, but you'd be pushing it. A HD, CD/DVD-ROM drive, and a good graphics card will eat that power up in no time. And if you're going dual-HD or dual-CD/DVD-ROMs, 300 ain't gonna cut it. 350 is the bare minimum I'd recommend, but 400 - 450 won't cost you much more, will give you room to grow, and always keep you on the safe side of things.

[Roland]

Let me be blunt: go for the biggest damn case you can get. The bigger, the better. Why? Easy.

1) Room for expansion. New video cards take up more and more space. Likewise for sound cards. The more space you got, the more you can throw in there. Think of it like buying a mini-van when you're a newly-wed with a baby in the oven, rather than waiting till you've got two kids and are still putzing around in that 2-door.
2) Cooling. More open space leaves not only more room for more, better fans, but also for alternative cooling sources (like water cooling). Not only that, but if there's not enough space, the air can't flow, and you'll cook your whole box. Not a pretty site. This goes DOUBLY so for AMDs, as they overheat like you wouldn't believe. It'd take longer to cook one on a stove than by simply removing the heatsink. Not so with a P4.
3) When it comes time to fix something, change something, etc., the bigger case will give you MUCH more room to work in. Small cases are a PITA to work with when it comes to maintenance / repair, and upgrades. You do NOT want to be stuck with a small case when stuff starts crapping out on you.
4) The only reasons you could POSSIBLY want a small form factor case for are a) portability (buy a laptop), or B) style. Gaming machines are NOT "stylish" by nature, and you can buy some of the most exotic large cases around. No small form factor case is gonna allow you to throw in a temperature guage, neon tubing, and plexi-glass windows, now are they? :P

Bottom line: Don't get an SFF, unless you can justify it. DO get the biggest case you can. DON'T get a mid-size chassis. DO get a full-size chassis. You'll thank me.

And one more thing on chassis:
Aluminum is costly, but it's LIGHT. If you can afford it, I HIGHLY recommend getting an aluminum case. Not only are they stylish and popular, but when it comes to moving them around, you'll REALLY notice the difference in weight, especially when it's fully loaded. Take it from a PC tech who moves his boxes around (and changes hardware configurations) several times daily. The weight can be brutal, especially if you're stuffing it in tight quarters.

Edit (Additions):
Monitors - 19" - 21" if you can afford it and fit it, 17" if you can't. Anything less, and you'll be straining your eyes. I know. ;) ALWAYS go with a flat-screen CRT. NEVER go with a flat panel unless you really want the space savings. Flat panel LCDs have graphical distortion similar to that seen on laptops. As such, they make horrible monitors for gaming. Fast movements leave "trailing", meaning the images can sorta blur. Big no-no for fast-paced, high action games (ala BF1942). Personally, I love NEC. They're cheap, and they're GOOD. I've heard that ViewSonics are also very good, but I wouldn't know. Whatever you do, stay away from eMachines and Proview, and typically also Sony (IMHO). eMachines and Proview are just horrible.
http://www.nec.com/
http://www.viewsonic.com/

Power Supplies - Enermax are good. Just stay away from anything that sounds cheap. A cheap power supply will crap out on you within the first 6 months, guaranteed. And you don't need that kind of hassle.

Cases - Thermaltake has some very stylish cases. Cooler Master / Enermax have your basic case, and your more styled case. Lian-Li cases are some of the best on the market. HIGHLY recommended.
http://www.maxpoint.com/pccases.htm
http://www.coolermaster.com/case/
http://www.thermaltake.com/products/caseMenu.htm
http://www.thermaltake.com/products/Xaser3Menu.htm
http://www.lian-li.com/

Cooling - If you can afford it, and you feel up to the challenge, go with water cooling. Expensive, and alot of assembly, but WELL worth it. Exceptional cooling power, and any PC tech's wet dream. ;) If you go with fans, I recommend Thermaltake. Again, stay away from anything cheap. A cheap fan will die fast, and take alot of stuff with you. Proper cooling is ESSENTIAL to any PC, as over-heating can cook your CPU, your vid card, and your board very quickly. A $5 fan could cost you $500 in damages, so don't be stingy. But, you don't have to go with a $40 fan, either. Use your head, and you'll be fine. Good brands are Thermaltake and Cooler Master.

CD/DVD-ROM - Cheap drives aren't worth the savings. Get something decent. Mitsumi, Samsung, Pioneer, etc. are all good brands. Just don't get anything "Generic" or cheap, and you'll be fine.

Floppy - What's to say? Get what there is. Mitsumi is fine. They're so cheap, and hardly anyone makes them, so don't expect to spend alot of time on this one.

Keyboard / Mouse - Rule #1: NOTHING WIRELESS. There's nothing worse than having your mouse die in the middle of a game, and they eat batteries. Rule #2: OPTICAL MOUSE. Anything less, and I'll strangle you with your mouse cord. Rule #3: Expensive keyboards are usually a waste, unless they boast some features that you want (style, comfort, etc.). For the most part, a $5 keyboard is gonna be just as good as a $30 one. All personal preference.

Video Cards - If you're going nVIDIA, I'd recommend PNY, Chaintek, MSI, or Gainward. PNY / MSI are very good, but Chaintek and Gainward aren't bad. Other than that, I'd steer clear, and READ THE REVIEWS. I cannot stress this enough. A single card type can vary WIDELY in performance depending on who makes it (NOT the chip, but the card itself!). Research, research, research, or you'll be sorry.

Operating System - Windows 98, possibly dual-booting with Windows 2000. If you've never used Windows before, TRY Windows XP before you get sucked into buying it. Alot of places, particularly computer building sites, only sell XP. Also, if you get XP, do NOT get Home Edition, at all costs. Get Professional, or get nothing. It's as simple as that. And, READ UP on OSes. XP has alot of features, and may be better for gaming than 2000 (I run 2000 with almost no problems, save for legacy games that only run on 95 / DOS, and there are ways around that; I also have Windows 98, so I can run them if I want; it's just not installed), but it has ALOT of annoyances, too. Some small, some absolutely monstrous. Try it before you buy it, and get other people's opinions. My vote goes for Windows 98 for gaming, Windows 2000 for general usage, and Windows XP as a last resort. If you really want, get 98 and 2000, and dual boot. 98 is good for gaming, but stability isn't great. Windows 2000 is VERY stable, but lacks the backwards-compatability for gaming that Windows 98 has. Your choice.

General tips - Watch the prices. See what goes up, what goes down. See WHY it does that (i.e. new hardware comes out, simple passing of time, etc.). Compare the different items and costs. Compare bang / buck, and always research the PRODUCT and the VENDOR. Always, always, always.

Good luck with your hunting. It's good that you're setting time aside to do this. If you need any help whatsoever, feel free to ask me. I graduated from Clark University's PC Service & Support class, as well as their Windows 2000 Microsoft Certified Professional class (basically, I'm an uncertified A+/Net+/MCSE who's working on getting his certs), so I know a fair bit about computers. And, I've been taking computers apart and rebuilding them for several years, often multiple times in a single day. I can strip and rebuild a PC from completely in about an hour, and I know the ins and outs of all the hardware, so I can give you pointers on how to put it all together. Also, on occasion I do research into building PCs as a hobby, planning out the products, compiling price lists, etc. Just to stay on top of things, and because I love the industry. If you need any pointers in that area, feel free to ask.

Building a PC is easy, provided you know how. It CAN look daunting, but PCs today are DESIGNED to be easy to put together, unlike years ago. Most hardware has PLENTY of instructions, and more people are knowledgeable about how to build / maintain them now than ever before. Ask your friends, ask your family, ask your coworkers. No matter what, SOMEONE will have the answer.

[Elric of Grans]

Hail Roland,

"This goes DOUBLY so for AMDs, as they overheat like you wouldn't believe."

Reminds me of a video on the network here. It shows someone running Unreal (I think - I've not played FPSs since Quake) and an open case. In the first instance, they remove the fan from their P4: thermometer soon reaches 40C and the application slows. Next, same deal for a P3: soon reaches 50C and the application stops. AMD (the top one - forget the notation for them): instantly reaches 400C and melts; application crashes. Finally, the AMD that came before the top one (don't ask me! :P): Instantly exceeds 500C and cooks everything; scren blanks out :blink:

Oh, and I probably should add, if you (not you, Roland: you in a general sense :D) are a person who plans to never do anything with their system again (except perhaps upgrade in a couple of years time), most of the suggestions people have been giving are not really something you need to concern yourself with. Water cooling? Holy heck, only if you tweak your system a heck of a lot :huh: For the average user, a few fans in a standard case are enough. Me? I'm thinking about getting some coloured lights for the inside of my case, to make it look pretty :wub: Already got the window you (yeah, back to you now Roland :P) mention; thinking of installing the necessary libraries to get a thermometer running on my screen...but I've never gone over 55C, so it's not urgent. Oh, and I've hardly filled any room in my case so far...don't expect I shall anytime soon either ;)

[Roland]

...in my PC Service and Support class. I got a kick out of watching the AMD smoke before the guy's hand was even out of the way as he took the heatsink off. Thing cooked in under a second, but man did it ever keep burning for the next 5 seconds or so. What a site! :D The P4 didn't even give off a wisp! They had the heatsink off for a good 30 seconds, put the thing back on, and the game that was running IMMEDIATELY went from choppy to smooth.

What a fun video. That was done by Tom's Hardware, IIRC. Might be able to find it on their site, although I'm not positive. And that was with STOCK heatsinks. That's one thing Intel has going for them: their stock heatsink that comes with the processor is MORE than adequate for the chip. AMD, on the other hand, typically needs an UPGRADE just to survive normal usage. So sad. ADM used to be the king of gamer's chips because they were cheaper, but not anymore. Intel has just blown by them, and I don't see AMD catching up anytime soon. Their old strengths just aren't enough anymore.

Oh, and you HAVE to give us some pics of your comp once you get the lights in. :D If you don't, I'll come to your house. ;) And thanks for the trip down memory lane. ;) That was a FUNNY movie. :D

[Dani]

This machine will be used nearly exclusively for gaming...
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i also want to be able to record tv onto my comp...should i get an allinwonder card or an exteral tuner and which one? my friend got an allinwonder ati of some kind and hes happy with it, tho he doesnt get as much gaming performance out of it...is this tradeoff always true?
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If you want it exclusively for gaming a NVidia GF 4 ti 4xxx card will be just fine for at least couple years, especially if you get a 128mb one.

But if you really want to record tv, have a good tv out, etc. then you should spend a bit more and get an ati Radeon 9700 all-in-wonder. And this card is great at everything. It easily beats even the best GeForce 4 cards, and is only slightly edged by the lawnmover sounding GeForce FX.

So Radeon 9700 is pretty much the best card you can get for a PC at the moment for multipurpose and gaming use. But they're still quite pricey...though it'll probably drop in the coming months.

Ati cards until the Radeon 8500 used to be a bit lacking in the gaming department, but that's a thing of the past. Also, ati's drivers had problems with some games, but that also is a thing of the past since last summer.
(Drivers are nowdays more of an issue for GeForce cards...might need different drivers for different games, or at least that's how it sounds from all the detonator juggling in game forums.)

[pakman]

On a related topic, I'm in the market for a 3D card (damn my BF1942 and Quake 3 addiction on my friend's computer). I was looking at a GeForce 4MX or a Radeon. I don't intend to overclock it and burn out my vertex shaders, like my friend. I have AMD Thunderbird 1.3 GHz processor, so I'm able to handle basically anything.

[Whiggles]

Okay, this will probably just degenerate into a post where I list my hardware, but I'm pretty happy with what I have, so here goes:

Motherboard: ASUS make really good motherboards, in my opinion. Very stable, good for overclocking, and with good documentation. Mine is the P4B266SE, although I expect newer and flashier models are now available.

CPU: Intel all the way. I know AMD has a great reputation, but my experiences with them were less than cheery. They run far too hot and require excessive cooling, whereas my Pentium 4 runs fine with just the stock heatsink that came with it and no additional case fans. Mine is a 1.8 GHz, which is great for most things, although not quite enough for some of the very intensive games like Unreal II (which isn't a particularly good game anyway!).

RAM: DDR-RAM, definitely. 512 MB should do you fine, although if you can get more for a reasonably good price, by all means go for it.

Video card: If you're buying primarily for gaming, this really is one area where you should go the whole hog. ATI Radeon 9700 Pro all the way! If it's for gaming only, don't bother with the All-in-wonder. A lot of people swear by Nvidia, but again I prefer ATI. The "bad drivers" legend is in the past now, and as Dani says, nowadays it seems to be Nvidia cards that are a liability with drivers.

Sound card: There are loads of decent sound cards. I have an Audigy Gamer, which is more than adequate. With the Audigy 2 out now, you could probably find the original Audigy for a pretty reasonable price. Some people dislike Creative, but in my experience I've only ever had problems with them on motherboards with a VIA chipset.

DVD-ROM drive: Pioneer. Mine is the DVD-117, region-free, but really you can't go wrong with any recent Pioneer model.

Hard drive: Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate, etc. 40 GB is adequate, 80 GB is better ;) Many people swear by IBM, but personally I've avoided them after one model (can't remember which one) a couple of years ago had an inordinately high fail rate.

PS. Do yourself a favor, and make sure you get an optical mouse.