Computer Help! (Building my own)

[cowsgoquack101]

Quit finding barebones kits. Just put a bunch of parts together and do it that way. Much cheaper, faster, you get to choose exactly what's in your price range. Go with intel if you can. Otherwise, AMD is pretty good too, just not as good for games.

[HotDog-Cart]

....It was more expensive to buy the exact same parts seperately. Like, $60+ more, and thats excluding Windows 7. (The kit came with win 7.)

So, I went kept searching, and I bought the 2nd barebone that I listed as it had the most bang for my buck.

[vskid]

That one does look like a pretty good deal. Make sure you get a CPU heatsink/fan.

Go with intel if you can. Otherwise, AMD is pretty good too, just not as good for games.

AMD seems to be better for cheaper systems ~$600 or less, but Intel is the better route if you can spare ~$700-800+. That's just from what I've seen from pricing systems on Newegg, and it may have changed a bit since I last tried it.

[Jaruff]

Intel processors are nice but expensive. I've been using AMD chips for the past several years and have been very satisfied. They've really improved since their Athlon XP days.

Good luck with the barebones kit. Make sure to purchase quality thermal paste with that heatsink, Arctic Silver being my recommended brand (if it keeps my PC and my PS3 cool, it will keep your new PC cool).

[HotDog-Cart]

The heatsink comes with a thermal pad, which I will use until I can buy some thermal paste. (I totally forgot to include some thermal paste in my order. And, my dad wont let me use the credit card again.)

[palmertech]

It may be more expensive to buy THOSE parts on their own, but that is why they are able to swing a combo deal. If you look for stuff on sale, two item combos, and open box items, you can get much better parts for the same price.


How much money do you have to spend? I could throw together a rig real fast.

EDIT: nvm, too late.

[HotDog-Cart]

I do appreciate the help guys. I am happy with the support from you guys, and am happy with my choice of product. If anything happens, you'll know.

Edit: Ooh, the AMD Phenom II X4, broke two world records. It can run at 4 degrees higher than absolute zero, and can do 6.5ghz on liquid helium (colder than liquid nitrogen), and geta 3D Mark of 45,474

Mmm.

[cowsgoquack101]

I'm really happy with my Phenom X3 8750 (IIRC). I had a core 2 duo E6300 and it isn't quite as fast for the same price.
The point I was making is that barebone kits usually have extreme bottlenecks or pieces of crap motherboards but the kit you have is pretty decent. I don't know how frugal you are but look around for parts. Ebay, local, and forums usually have great deals on things. Good luck with it though.

[HotDog-Cart]

Thanks man. Yea, when I get money, I'm definitly gonna grab some upgrades when the time comes. New motherboards arent too expensive.

All in good time.

With this laptop (broken screen), I could make a mame arcade machine.

[HotDog-Cart]

Heres a bump:

So noone is confused (Obviously some were earlier in the thread.):

Every Windows 7 CD (excl. Windows 7 Home Basic), comes with Win 7 32bit AND Win 7 64bit. Meaning, the 32bit disc that came with my quadcore, should have 64bit on it. (According to Microsoft).

[HotDog-Cart]

BUMP:

PC turned off for no reason, and will not show video or sound when I turn it back on. (Monitor says no input.). Beep code in effect. (1 POST beep, and then 2 quick beeps.). RAM OK, HDD OK, PSU OK, VIDCARD OK, CPU OK, MOTHERBOARD BAD.

(Called ASUS, the rep walked me through step by step testing and told me that the board is faulty.)

Tigerdirect is exchanging it for another board and is reinbursing my shipping fees.

Ugh, in other words: I had some problems, but I'm lucky that I have a 30 day warranty. (Plus manufacturer warranty.)

[palmertech]

[HotDog-Cart]

No, you didn't.

Whenever, I turn the PC on: I get 1 beep, than about 3-5 seconds later I get 2 short/quick beeps. (I believe the first beep is the POST beep.)

The guy on asus tech support says its the motherboard. (He made me reseat ram and clear CMOS.)

Tigerdirect is reinbursing my shipping, and sending me another board. Hopefully this fixes the issue. If not, I'll test and see if its the videocard.

It could be any of these issues:
1) Parity circuit failure
2) Indicates a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information
3)Video (Mono/CGA Display Circuitry) issue.

I tested onboard video and video through the card. Same problem. The guy on the asus tech told me not to take out the videocard while testing.

Even though I tested both onboard and external/videocard video, could it still be a video problem, since I didnt remove the videocard while testing onboard??

Either way, the package is out the door .