Computer Help! (Building my own)

[HotDog-Cart]

Hey guys. I had a little incident with my laptop. My mom dropped it and now the screens smashed. Shes going to be paying for a new computer for me. Either a desktop or a laptop. (Since its gona cost $500 for a new screen.)

What I'm planning is, buying a quadcore desktop. Check this one out:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... &CatId=332" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Comes with 450W PSU, Built in Nvidia 7-series GPU, 2gb DDR2 RAM)

I'll be picking up a SATA 500GB Western Digital HDD from the site for $60 also. This board has SATA connectors.

I'll also be getting this: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=3669" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Which is a 1GB Nvidia 9600 GT videocard.

Now just a few questions.

1) This is a 450W PSU, will it handle the 300W* videocard? (The videocard say it uses a max of 50W. Tigerdirects tests say it works with a 300W config on intel setup.)
2) Do barebone PC's come with all the required hook ups?
3) Do SATA HDD's come with a SATA cable?
4) Other than a: CD Rom, Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, speakers, Windows XP (I have a CD and a bunch of keys): What else would I need?

Thanks guys. I appreciate this. Times are rough after xmas, one of the worst times for a PC problem.

[bicostp]

1. As long as the wattage on the power supply exceeds the minimum recommended wattage the GPU manufacturer lists, then it should work. However, you need to look at the amperage on the 12v rail for the bigger video cards that don't solely rely on motherboard bus power.

2. "Barebone PCs" are just bundles of parts the retailer selected because they have to sell a bunch of them. It depends on what the bundled parts ship with.

3. Depends on if it's an OEM or Retail hard drive. OEM drives are just the bare drive in some packing material, retail drives come in a retail box with a bunch of extra stuff. Your motherboard should come with a couple SATA cables, anyway.

4. Between the parts you selected and the ones you already have, you should be set. (That is, as long as your drive is a DVD drive. Nobody should be stuck with CD-only.)

A few words of advice:

1. Cheap power supplies suck. Every other component in your computer relies on it, so get one from a well known name (not CompuTekPower or some other no-name rubbish.) I've seen no-name Chinese crap PSUs fry out of the blue, taking the motherboard, memory, and CPU with them.

2. Get a beefier power supply than you need. This gives you plenty of breathing room in case you want to add more hard drives or a better video card down the road.

3. The 9600 is getting old. You might want to at least look at a GTX 9800+ or GTS 250, especially if you plan on getting cutting-edge games. (It would be a shame to get a decent CPU and have the video card be a bottleneck.)

4. That motherboard is junk. Maximum 4 gigs DDR2? Only 2 SATA ports? Bleh. Here's a better one for a little more:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... No=5235299" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

5. The RAM in that bundle is junk. DDR2 667? Ick. At least get DDR2 800.

What games do you want to play and at what resolution?

[HotDog-Cart]

Well, bic. I'm used to playing games in low graphics. I usually play everything windowed and everything on low graphics so I can multi task.

I dont have a lot of money to spend on this, so this 9600 will do perfectly fine for now.

I might as well use the ram that comes with it until I can buy better ones.

I dont have a lot of money to spend. Could you do me a favor bic, and see if theres an alternative quad core AMD pc, with better specs for about the same price? (Like, it may even be cheaper because it'd be all seperate. Not in a barebone package like this one. Like, that mother board, the processor, etc.)

[vskid]

(Since its gona cost $500 for a new screen.)

BS

What is your budget, and what do you already have? It is almost always cheaper to buy the best to start than to upgrade everything a few months down the road. You might be better off using your laptop with an external monitor for now and save up to build a solid rig.

[HotDog-Cart]

I'm currently using my laptop like this, its just... Ive wanted a new rig for a while. And my moms gonna pay half.

[hailrazer]

(Since its gona cost $500 for a new screen.)

BS

What is your budget, and what do you already have? It is almost always cheaper to buy the best to start than to upgrade everything a few months down the road. You might be better off using your laptop with an external monitor for now and save up to build a solid rig.

I think he meant a new screen installed in the laptop would cost $500.

[HotDog-Cart]

My two options are: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... &CatId=332" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (With the aforementioned items.)

OR

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... u=B69-0143" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Which comes with a 1GB ATI Videocard, 4GB DDR2 800MHZ ram, DVD Drive, 650W PSU, Win 7, 750GB HDD).

WHich one is better? I dont know which Quad Core PSU is better.

The one from the first link, or the one from the 2nd link....

[bicostp]

You need to throw in a CPU heatsink if you're going to get the second bundle.

Other than that the second one is marginally better.

Get the individual parts from that second bundle, minus the video card (that one isn't very good) and swap out the bundled Win7 32 bit for Win7 64 bit.

[HotDog-Cart]

The 2nd one doesnt come with a heatsink?

Dang. Its an AM2+. Will a regular AM2 heatsink fit on it? isnt the + just for "Hyperthreading"?

This is all sort of over my head. I just wish I could just grab one and go. Without having to like, swap parts and such. I do appreciate all the help guys. (I do usually do well with this stuff, but tis been a stressful day.)

I'll probably just keep win 7 32 on it, until I can afford win 7 64. I'm not made of money. (Car repairs are a hassle too.)

Thanks for being helpful guys. <3

[vskid]

This is all sort of over my head. I just wish I could just grab one and go. Without having to like, swap parts and such. I do appreciate all the help guys. (I do usually do well with this stuff, but tis been a stressful day.)

If thats what you want, why not get something like this? Its actually a pretty good deal, only weak point you might have is the GPU, but it should do for now.

[snowpenguin]

When I was choosing parts for my pc build I thought about getting a barebones kit, but the problem was the parts in the kits were usually crap, with $5 power supplies, and there always seemed to be a bottleneck among the components be it the GPU, the CPU, or only coming with like 1 GB of RAM.

Your best bet is to simply choose some quality parts and put it all together.

Here's the stuff I got:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130237
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817171031
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103687 (At this point it's $40 cheaper, probably better to go with something better for around $100.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146784 (4 GB may have been a better choice but budget was an issue at the time, I may upgrade that in the future)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186134 (Haven't gotten this yet as stock cooling seems to be doing good, but I may decide to OC and if I do I'll get this first.

No GPU as I got an EVGA 8800GT card for free from my brother in law.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129042 (Actually, this may be spam/advertisement/whatever, but I recently bought a storm scout on sale for $60, so if someone wants to buy my 2 month old Antec 300 I'd be much obliged.)

[Metallica Man X]

For a power supply I suggest going with a one made by PC Power & Cooling. I've had a great track record with them, and they're beefy adn very reliable for their price.

[bicostp]

The 2nd one doesnt come with a heatsink?

Nope!

Its an AM2+. Will a regular AM2 heatsink fit on it? isnt the + just for "Hyperthreading"?

I'm not sure if they're the same size or not, but the heatsink product pages should say "AM2/AM2+".

I just wish I could just grab one and go. Without having to like, swap parts and such.

Well, you could so that, but barebone kits are usually made out of the sucky parts they need to clear out of the warehouse.

I'll probably just keep win 7 32 on it, until I can afford win 7 64.

They're the same price... Besides, buying one version now then buying another one in a couple months is a waste of $100.

I think you might be better off if you get a better motherboard, CPU, and power supply now, put up with integrated video for a while, then get a decent video card later on when you've got the scratch for one.

[HotDog-Cart]

Vskid: Thats out of my price range.

Bicostp: I know Win7 64 is the same price as 32bit, but that barebone kit comes with a copy of 32bit included in it. Later today, I'll seperate each part in the bundle and check the price then. (Swap out some parts for better ones.)

Also: The net says that AM2 and AM2+ processors are physically identical. A CPU fan for an AM2+ will fit an AM2 and vice versa.

EDIT: Its $589 + tax and Shipping if I purchase all the same parts seperately. (and thats EXCLUDING Windows 7). If I buy it in a kit which INCLUDES Windows 7, its $540 after tax and shipping. (Plus $5 for a case fan, and $15 for a CPU fan.) Much better to buy the kit.

[HotDog-Cart]

I don't mean to bump this/double post but do you guys think this would be a "good" setup?

Its more expensive to buy the kit without win7 32bit, and such. (As I said in my last post.)

So, for now I am going with this:


1) Barebone kit: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... No=5406477" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2) CPU Fan: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... No=4557678" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (People say this fan will fit and work well with this barebone.)

3) Case Fan: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... dpNo=38043" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Its a "front" case fan. Will it work as a rear case fan? It says it has an HDD connector as well as a regular connector. [3pin and 4pin]. Do I hook both up?)

Thanks guys!

(Its gonna cost me $670 after tax and shipping for all of this. The first kit I listed has free shipping.)

Bic: Is this barebones PC, better than the first one that I listed, in my first post? You said marginally, doesnt that mean "negligable"?