Thinking about building a computer.

C

Campus Loop(y)

Guest
Several of you have built your own in the past so I defer to you. I don't want to get a Dell. My monitor is fine for now so that cost is not to be added. Can I build a good and fast computer for about 400 bucks sans monitor? I assume it would be at least as fast if not faster than the bottom or mid line Dells since you are paying for their name and commercials when you buy from them. Oh, and the overseas customer service.

I would probably keep my older computer for Word documents and word processing. It does the job just fine and maybe would free up drive space for the new one. I would probably be adding music software to the new one as well so all the space I could save the better.

I am currently using a P1, go ahead and laugh. I have a fast broadband connection and not using it all the way w/ what I have. It works, but i want a bit more.

Speed and space is what I want. But I won't need some of the cumbersome "standard" programs or items. I also already have a printer so that is not a cost to incur either.

Am I looking at scouring the papers for specials from discounters or Fry's. Maybe there is somewhere online.
 
most definately you can build one for 400 bucks. What are you looking to build? Go to newegg.com and look at the pc parts, that way you can give yourself an outline of what you need to pick up and a starting price to hit or miss your $400 range.

Here you go:

Case: (any brand) w/ a 350 W powersuppy will run you about
~ $24 - $40, higher if you care about looks, more fans etc...

Motherboard: Basic Intel 478 motherboard w/ onboard snd ~ $92
Processor: P4 2.4 GHZ ~135
RAM: 512 MB RAM ~ $90
Video Card: If you don't play games: ~$32 for a 64meg If you play games but still want to be on a budget: ~$50 - $100
Hard Drive: 40GB ~$50
CDRW: ~34 DVDRW ~ 85-90

Things I lef out: floppy, cables (lets say you'll only need $20 bucks worth anyway), software.

Although to be honest, sometimes for a budget pc....sometimes you may just want to keep your eye out on good deals (like free shipping or free DVDRW upgrade) from Dell, Gateway, HP etc.
 
Thanks for the link. I am really ignorant when it comes to what is what. i know Pentium 4 is the new thing and prob. the fastest, or is Celeron, or something else? See?

I know what I want it to do but not what to get it done.
 
You will need:

CPU
Motherboard (builtin network+sound+USB)
RAM
Hard Drive
CD-RW
Video Card
Keyboard+Mouse
Case w/ Power Supply

Some motherboards have onbaord video cards, some lack onboard network. If you're on a dial-up you'll need to get a modem.

I like to look on pricewatch or pricegrabber to get a good feel for what is a fair low price at different levels of performance/size/etc. You'll figure out where your best value is quickly. It's amazing now but you can get by with about $40-$60 per component that I listed above.

Most sites will have a barebones system that you can buy. They will show you several base combinations of Case+MB+CPU+RAM and then you specify additional components (or buy separately elsewhere).

Operating System plus software will kill you if you don't already have copies or can obtain them cheap.
 
I would strongly recommend against building your own computer if you only want to spend $400.

(I've built every machine I've ever owned myself, including maybe a dozen or so for friends and family)

By building a machine yourself, you can save a lot of money and get a very customized and powerful machine, but not at the low end. The margins on the entry level dells, compacts and emachines are extraordinarily low. There won't be much of a difference in cost between components in a ready to work, out of the box eMachine and the cost of the components you get separately. Sometimes, you can find entry level computers at a lower cost than you can built it yourself with new parts. Low margins on these computers are why all the local shops that used to make computers dried up in the last 5 years.

The higher up you go, the bigger your savings will be. A machine roughly equal (better in some areas, not so in others) to a $2,500 Dell can be built for around $1,500 if you buy the componets separately and build it yourself.

You also have to consider the time it takes to build a machine. Piecing the hardware together won't take long, but loading up and configuring all the software will take a while. If it's your first time it will take longer.

It's not worth it, at all, to build your own $400 machine. Buy an entry level eMachine or Dell, or buy a used computer from the classifieds.
 
Don't even think about it unless you plan on usinig a lot of your current peripherals. Hard Drive-DVDRW-CDRW-Video Card-CD Drive. Sound like your system is at least 6 years old so you either have replaced a lot of the peripherals already or you are in complete need of a new system.

If you are just looking to increase speed for high bandwidth internet surfing you might get away with a slight upgrade. Find your motherboard maker's web site and find out what your motherboard will support. If it was a high end computer when purchased you might be able to increase processing speed substantially with maybe a PIII processor and more memory. But don't get your hopes up, I had a 6 yr old highend computer that I was going to upgrade and found out that the motherboard only supported 64mbs of DRAM and 11Gigabytes on the HDD. Just had to buy another computer.
 
I built one but got everything from Altex. It works swell.

Of course, i like my Dell inspiron laptop better
smile.gif
smokin.gif
 
I agree with Dustin. I recently went through the building/buying comparison for a 2nd desktop and found I got a better value in a remanufactured PC versus building one. For about $400 you can get a AMD 2600, 80gig, 256mb, cdrw/dvd recertified emachine at tigerdirect.com. I think you get more bang for your buck in that class with an AMD Athlon over an Intel Celeron. There may be cheaper/better sources than tiger direct, but my neighbor recommended them to me years ago and I have been pleased.
The Link
 
Say what you want about Dell's offshore support, but if you buy a $400 system from Dell and it fucks up you can call them and they'll fix it. If you build your own system and it fucks up, then you get to figure out what went wrong, take it apart, wrestle with the vendor of the bad part about whether they really are at fault and whether they'll replace it, and then put it back together again.

Just watch Dell's various sales for good deals and do it the easy way.
 
dusitn hit the nail on the head. only build your own if you're going for something high end. A buddy of mine wanted one for graphics work and I saved him about a grand by building it myself, but for lower end machines, there aren't much savings, if any.
 
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