wondering how much it would probably cost me to build a real nice pc like a p4 3.4 ghz 1gb ram real good video card with wondows xp. i have the disk drives and tower and i have never built a pc before
cost of building computer
- Thread starter raiderfan24
- Start date
RealBlackStuff
Posts: 6,450 +3
hi,
it would cost you around $600
good luck!
it would cost you around $600
good luck!
If you have the tower and drives you should be able to build that pc for $500 or less. That does not inlude the cost of Windows. Check out pricewatch.com and newegg.com. Good luck.
Bobcat1132
Posts: 68 +0
for graphics card your looking at radeon 9800 pro 128 mb at 140-150 cheap brand for a 256 mb card your looking at $220 and around the same for a geforce 6600 graphics card for a ge force 6800 your looking at $250-400 for ram your looking at 140 ish depending for the motherboard anywhere from 75-150 for the processor 150-200 for the hard drive 80-300 so your looking at 600-700 low end good computer that would run anygame out there right now. however that doesnt include hyperthreading if you want that which acts like dual processors. however if you were going to spend that mone i would go with an athlon 64 bit processor which would kick the crap out of your intel. it would double the intel speed for you however then you have to buy windows 64 edition which is expensive. but it would be a sweet machine, good luck and good buying look around and if you wait a while prices also drop so hey never know
When I said you could build it for $500 I was thinking you would go with a $90 Adaptec or something (pretty decent card). If you want a SUPER good card for $250 I ammend my estimate to $650 cost.
Charles Hammond
Posts: 57 +0
I have seen some people go out and purchase a Video card for over $400.00. But you can buy a nice video card for around $200-$400 depending what you want. This is key when building any computer you want to use for game playing first decide on the video card or type and price of video card and go from there.
There are lots of guides for building computers on the Internet. A nice place to investigate this is at:
www.anandtech.com Look for the guides!
They have some guides that are constantly being updated, and they also have some tools for price guides as well.
Another good site I came accross is www.pcmech.com
They have a CD they sell that is like an on-line guide to building a PC and a lot of good people, some of which build computers as a business, hang out there.
Another good source for information is www.newegg.com
There are other good stores on the Internet but newegg has a lot of pictures of their items and they also have user feedback which I think is an added plus. You can make a list of items you might need and see what it would take to purchase those items to get an idea of prices. I have purchased items from different places like www.zipzoomfly.com and even from www.amazon.com.
One thing that I do know about building computers is the video card is more important than the speed of the processor; Both are important, but the video card is a little more important. Some people recommend that the Processor and the Video Card should be of the same quality or near the same price. It may not make sense to buy a $250 Processor and a $40.00 low end video card like you see on most computers sold today.
One important thing is the Case. Computers lately tend to heat up pretty quickly and it is important to have a case that can be cooled and is also quiet. I like the newer cases with 120mm Fans. Smaller fans have to spin at higher rpm's and they make more noise and more vibration. There is something to be said for peace and quiet. So if you use a used case make sure it is cool enough some of these newer P4's and even the older ones have a tendency to run a little hotter.
Then there is the AMD VS INTEL war . . . .
Put together a parts list or copy someone elses price list
CASE:
POWER SUPPLY:
MB:
CPU:
CDROM/CDRW:
DVDROM/DVDRW:
HARD DRIVE/S:
FLOPPY:
SOUND CARD:
VIDEO CARD:
ETHERNET:
MODEM:
SPEAKERS:
MONITOR:
OPERATING SYSTEM:
PRINTER:
SCANNER:
MOUSE:
KEYBOARD:
FLASH DRIVE:
Keep in mind that the Processor has a certain socket type and the motherboard has to have the same socket type! It also has to be rated at the same FSB Speed.
I recommend sticking to the most common brands and not buying Cheap. For motherboard I like Asus. But for Intel an Intel Motherboard would be fine. So would a motherboard from Abit. Everyone has their favorite hardware. I wouldnt buy anything like PC CHIPS, or some of the other low-end hardware manufacturers. That is why I suggest you run the finished list past the forum members with your prices.
Feel free to go to DELL and print out their list of components and try to determine if you are getting a better deal. I encourage you to go to a few custom computer sites also. Take a look at
www.adamant.com Average Reviews
www.falcon-nw.com Premium Venor with Good Reviews
www.alienware.com Premium Vendor with Good Reviews
Look out for shipping charges at Internet stores.
Not all sites have good return policies.
You might look for Reseller ratings for online stores.
There are lots of guides for building computers on the Internet. A nice place to investigate this is at:
www.anandtech.com Look for the guides!
They have some guides that are constantly being updated, and they also have some tools for price guides as well.
Another good site I came accross is www.pcmech.com
They have a CD they sell that is like an on-line guide to building a PC and a lot of good people, some of which build computers as a business, hang out there.
Another good source for information is www.newegg.com
There are other good stores on the Internet but newegg has a lot of pictures of their items and they also have user feedback which I think is an added plus. You can make a list of items you might need and see what it would take to purchase those items to get an idea of prices. I have purchased items from different places like www.zipzoomfly.com and even from www.amazon.com.
One thing that I do know about building computers is the video card is more important than the speed of the processor; Both are important, but the video card is a little more important. Some people recommend that the Processor and the Video Card should be of the same quality or near the same price. It may not make sense to buy a $250 Processor and a $40.00 low end video card like you see on most computers sold today.
One important thing is the Case. Computers lately tend to heat up pretty quickly and it is important to have a case that can be cooled and is also quiet. I like the newer cases with 120mm Fans. Smaller fans have to spin at higher rpm's and they make more noise and more vibration. There is something to be said for peace and quiet. So if you use a used case make sure it is cool enough some of these newer P4's and even the older ones have a tendency to run a little hotter.
Then there is the AMD VS INTEL war . . . .
Put together a parts list or copy someone elses price list
CASE:
POWER SUPPLY:
MB:
CPU:
CDROM/CDRW:
DVDROM/DVDRW:
HARD DRIVE/S:
FLOPPY:
SOUND CARD:
VIDEO CARD:
ETHERNET:
MODEM:
SPEAKERS:
MONITOR:
OPERATING SYSTEM:
PRINTER:
SCANNER:
MOUSE:
KEYBOARD:
FLASH DRIVE:
Keep in mind that the Processor has a certain socket type and the motherboard has to have the same socket type! It also has to be rated at the same FSB Speed.
I recommend sticking to the most common brands and not buying Cheap. For motherboard I like Asus. But for Intel an Intel Motherboard would be fine. So would a motherboard from Abit. Everyone has their favorite hardware. I wouldnt buy anything like PC CHIPS, or some of the other low-end hardware manufacturers. That is why I suggest you run the finished list past the forum members with your prices.
Feel free to go to DELL and print out their list of components and try to determine if you are getting a better deal. I encourage you to go to a few custom computer sites also. Take a look at
www.adamant.com Average Reviews
www.falcon-nw.com Premium Venor with Good Reviews
www.alienware.com Premium Vendor with Good Reviews
Look out for shipping charges at Internet stores.
Not all sites have good return policies.
You might look for Reseller ratings for online stores.
SNGX1275
Posts: 10,615 +467
Buy not based on a spending limit, but on what you can realistically afford. Closely related, but not the same, don't limit yourself to a hard number. You'll want to get quality components like charles said even if it sacrifices a few mhz (you could make that up with overclocking).
Bobcat1132
Posts: 68 +0
finchy is right about the psu get a good one. with psu's what you pay is what you get if you pay 50 for a case and psu you can almost bet it will fry your motherboard or something else. ask comp usa who said i was lying when i took back a 350w psu because my computer wouldnt turn on and they threw it in thier demo computer and it fried it right in front of thier eyes. and maxtor makes good hdd's
Finchy
Posts: 350 +1
I agree, I've got a Maxtor hard drive, and it never gave me any problems, at least problems that it had caused. If your happy with a model of case but it's only £50 and comes with a crap PSU, just rip it out and replace it with a good Enermax one, or find one without a PSU. I don't knw about other brands, apparantly Antec do some good ones but I think Enermax do the best commercial ones (there are better but their more centralised and very expensive).
Charles Hammond
Posts: 57 +0
I have seen some people complain saying Maxtor hard drives make too much noise, but I have not seen this myself. I have used WD and Maxtor hard drives and both seem just fine to me. I have not tried some of the newer SATA drives so I do not know what they are comparing. An older drive to a newer drive comparison might make it look like one brand is noisier. But most of the newer drives I have tried in the last 2 years from Maxtor and Western Digital have been rather quiet. I dont build a lot of computers so it is hard to make a comparison of what I have not needed to replace. I do have 2 drive I have purchased a WD and a Maxtor and both are still running quietly and are both over 12 months old.
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