custom built desktops

[icebreaker]

I have been searching for a good company and so far I found www.primepconline.com and www.magicmicro.com and www.storepc.com and www.unitedmicro.com I am close to building my own desktop but I prefer to have someone else build it. What is the best company where you can basically customize everything but not spend several K. Im looking at the $900-1100 range. Also anyone have any experience with any of the above places. Ive looked at Dell and HP etc.. but I seem to get more bang for the buck at the places listed above.

 

[Durelen]

I bet ya there is someone at your church who builds computers. And if not, I bet someone at your church knows someone locally that can build one for you. Well yes it’s good to give the business to a capable person at your church, but the best reason is that if something goes wrong or you need more service, they are right there for you. You are not just an invoice number but a real person that they will try to help as best they can. And they know that if they can show good service that you may return for more business as well as be recommended to others by you.

 

[PennylessZ28]

You can build it yourself it is not complicated.

Screw motherboard into case, plug hard drive in, plug in cd-roms, snap in memory, snap in any cards. Close case, turn on, insert windows xp install disk. follow on screen insructions, your done. Wow.

I build them for friends and family regulary.

 

[icebreaker]

anouther question. What are the basic essentials to building a desktop.
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
HD
VIDEO card
CASEw powersupply or buy case + powersuppy
CDROM
FLOPPY
Case fans?
HD fan?
OS
CPU fan?
I just thought about what you said and found I could get alot of good stuff at newegg.com and just need to find someone who can create it.
I think thats all. Is there any mandotory cables etc.. that are required as well that would not normally come with the items listed above

 

[icebreaker]

hmm that doesnt sound bad maybe I could

 

[PennylessZ28]

Motherboard
Memory
Cpu (usually comes with a heatsink/fan)

The above things all need to be matched up to work together.

Hard Drive
APG Video Card
Network Card or Modem Card

OPTIONAL ITEMS

CD-Rom or DVD-Rom CD-RW etc..
Sound Card (Many new mother baords have built in audio and you won't need a sound card if you chose to use the on baord audio card)
Floppy Drive
Zip drive

 

[PennylessZ28]

Go to newegg.com or price watch and shop some prices.

I likee Aopen and Asus mother boards.

You can build either a P4 or AMD based system.

AMD tends to be cheaper than going P4.

First find your board, then read which CPU's it recommends using with it. Then read what memory it recommends using and get that kind of memory.

It's simple

 

[Durelen]

There are also other things to take into consideration. 1. Are the parts you buy compatible into a system and 2. Are you familiar with your startup bios to configure the system correctly? Many things to consider for sure. This subject is something I would not even consider teaching over a forum, at least not without 30 pages of posts. Here is a great link to get you going in that direction. You should at least study computer architecture for some time before attempting your own build.
http://www.pcmech.com/build.htm

 

[PennylessZ28]

There are also other things to take into consideration. 1. Are the parts you buy compatible into a system and 2. Are you familiar with your startup bios to configure the system correctly? Many things to consider for sure. This subject is something I would not even consider teaching over a forum, at least not without 30 pages of posts. Here is a great link to get you going in that direction. You should at least study computer architecture for some time before attempting your own build.
http://www.pcmech.com/build.htm

You don't have to study computer architecture. That's excessive.

 

[PennylessZ28]

There are also other things to take into consideration. 1. Are the parts you buy compatible into a system and 2. Are you familiar with your startup bios to configure the system correctly? Many things to consider for sure. This subject is something I would not even consider teaching over a forum, at least not without 30 pages of posts. Here is a great link to get you going in that direction. You should at least study computer architecture for some time before attempting your own build.
http://www.pcmech.com/build.htm

A lot of the bios settings on newer boards wont' even need to be touched if you are not over clocking.

All mother boards come with quick install guides that will guide you through what you need to do to get that PC up and running.

If I can teach my sister and mother, than you can figure it out too.

The key is reading, and following directions and understanding those directions.

 

[Durelen]

So you don't need to know that you cant just shove any CPU into any Motherboard at will? Don't need to know anything about setting up ROM's? I've hardly ever seen a home built set up right in fact. I’ve never seen documentation from China give coherent instructions. Most people don't even know what shadow ROM is. And All BIOS are different. Sure if you are talking about just the CPU settings then you are fine with a CPU auto detect system. But there is far more to setting up BIOS than just switching on the power switch.
I'm not going to debate this with you. I'm not interested in discussing anything with you after previous threads. I think I’ve said enough on this topic.

 

[SirKenin]

Your local independent Value Added Reseller is probably your best bet. Make sure you demand that s/he uses only brand name non-integrated components. Pay the extra money to ensure that you get the best. If you would like some suggestions, I can give them to you.

You may very well get away with building your own system. It might even work However, there are two key factors that you may be overlooking when you approach the problem in that fashion.

1) Warranty service
2) Tech support

These two things are very important, particularly for the novice system builder. They also tend to pose a problem when you purchase a system over the internet. Dell is a great example. Good systems if you pay the extra money, but heaven help you if something goes down.

 

[MsDe]

There are also other things to take into consideration. 1. Are the parts you buy compatible into a system and 2. Are you familiar with your startup bios to configure the system correctly? Many things to consider for sure. This subject is something I would not even consider teaching over a forum, at least not without 30 pages of posts. Here is a great link to get you going in that direction. You should at least study computer architecture for some time before attempting your own build.
[url]http://www.pcmech.com/build.htm [/url]

I'm with you on that one, Durelen. I've replaced most of the components in my puter and it can be frustrating to say the least. It can also go well if one takes the time to study and learn how things work, what goes where, how much pressure to put on cards & memory, etc.

My suggestion: find someone in your church, or get a recommendation from someone, to help you buy the components and build your machine. Try to be there when they put your machine together and ask them to show you how to do things like: removing and installing memory, removing and inserting cards, removing and attaching the cpu fan, how to install a hard drive, etc. because then if you need to upgrade or replace something you've got that knowledge under your belt.

And definitely browse through the Build your Own PC link that Durelen posted, it's full of helpful information. In my opinion, of course.

 

[wgjones3]

I've been thinking about buying a cheap Dell. I've seen them fluctuating in price on techbargains.com, slickdeals.net, and digitaldeals.net for anywhere from $299 for a P4 2.4 gig 533 mhz fsb 40gig hd system to $430 for a 2.6 800 mhz system (I think it had 256 megs of ram b/c of a free upgrade option). Would it be cheaper for me to buy the parts and build a system like that?

Where's the best place to buy a case and power supply? Seems like all the case and power supply combos I look at are $100, the mobos are cose to $100, the processor is over $100, and then the HD is around $80. Figure $50 for Ram and I'll keep my GeForce 4 for a while, and that runs close to what a Dell would cost, and the Dell comes with an extra optical drive, modem, network adapter, etc... If you can point me to where I'm going wrong on my pricing, I'm all ears. The mobo I've been most interested in is the Soyo Dragon with 6 channel onboard sound for P4 systems. I haven't even checked the prices since August; maybe things are a lot cheaper now.

My g/f wanted a computer for Christmas and I saw some really cheap systems on pricewatch, but I have no idea what's a good system. I don't know what venders are good, either. Basically, I want to build my own computer, but I'm clueless as to where to get the parts from because I don't want to be scammed and I don't want a hasstle if the parts don't work. I figure everything now is pretty much plug and play so putting it together shouldn't be hard, just getting the stuff is my fear.

 

[MsDe]

Basically, I want to build my own computer, but I'm clueless as to where to get the parts from because I don't want to be scammed and I don't want a hasstle if the parts don't work. I figure everything now is pretty much plug and play so putting it together shouldn't be hard, just getting the stuff is my fear. (emphasis added)

In my opinion, that's one of the best reasons to buy locally. If you have a defective part, you can usually take it back for an exchange or refund with little to no problems. When you purchase a component from an online company, returns/exchanges can be a nightmare, not to mention the computer down-time while waiting for the replacement component by mail/fed ex/whatever. Another good reason to buy locally is you usually can talk computers with the techs, which can be a great help.

There's another thread here in this forum that might help you; click here to view it.

 

[Kokopelli]

IMHO, it's a lot funner to build your own rig opposed to buying a name-brand machine. A lot of the benefits of it are that you get to dictate what does and does not go into that machine. Name-brand machines a lot of times come with stuff you really don't need. (At least the one I purchased many years back)

Building your own rig also provides you the opportunity to upgrade it easily in the future. You can do what I do, and gradually upgrade your hardware every year. e.g. add more RAM, bigger drive, better vid card, etc. I've always tried to buy stuff that will run my current hardware, that way I can simply cannibalize the parts that are still decent enough to run today's applications.

Whatever you choose to do though, one thing you should determine is what you'll use the computer for. That way you can price equipment accordingly and buy system that will fit your needs.

 

[Fungal Growth]

honestly you dont NEED to study architecture to build a PC, i built my first computer from scratch with only ever really using a packard bell p133, i picked my CPU then matched it with a MB, got some RAM, a HDD, a vid card and network card, i had never taken a comp class before, not even keyboarding, the only hard part is making sure everything is compatible, i used that computer for 3 yrs, never had any probs save windows corrupted once, now ive built 2 other computers on my own, ive now taken the first two and made them into one, and have both comps running 24/7 with no probs, its easy, just take the time to read a feew web pages about compatibility and heat issues, make sure you get good ventilation and good fans, heat will kill your system in no time

 

[Durelen]

I'm with you on that one, Durelen. I've replaced most of the components in my puter and it can be frustrating to say the least. It can also go well if one takes the time to study and learn how things work, what goes where, how much pressure to put on cards & memory, etc.

My suggestion: find someone in your church, or get a recommendation from someone, to help you buy the components and build your machine. Try to be there when they put your machine together and ask them to show you how to do things like: removing and installing memory, removing and inserting cards, removing and attaching the cpu fan, how to install a hard drive, etc. because then if you need to upgrade or replace something you've got that knowledge under your belt.

And definitely browse through the Build your Own PC link that Durelen posted, it's full of helpful information. In my opinion, of course.

Yes that is an excellent idea. As for building the system or learning how to build one, I fully agree with having someone build it with you. It can be frustrating and not only that it is honestly very easy to destroy components when building. I have destroyed components. Ask any Pro, they have burnt up stuff, its part of the risk of building. You can almost short stuff out by just looking at it! $300 a look! Goooone....

I also agree with Drfeelgood, if you really are concerned with saving money, buying a system is how it’s really done these days for that amount of money at least. Don’t get an intergraded system so then you can do your own upgrades on it. Get great tech support, and I always felt local support is best so you can take the system to them and not ship it all 500 miles away. Even if you have someone at Church build it, get some warranty. I give limited warranties. Blows up, I exchange the parts back and rebuild it for them at no labor charge. That will pretty much work hand in hand with any manufacturing warranties. If I find pieces of kelp in the box I would raise an eyebrow though hehe.

 

[Durelen]

My g/f wanted a computer for Christmas and I saw some really cheap systems on pricewatch, but I have no idea what's a good system.

Actually the only good system is a system that fits your needs. One could build many types of systems for many different purposes. That’s the best thing about custom computers compared to buying a generically build system off a shelf; it can be designed to fit your needs. Whether you are into photography, gaming or making studio quality music, if the system is incompatible to your needs than it is worthless at best. My first question is always, what do you do with the computer you have or what types of hobbies or professions are you involved in. Anyone can slap together a generic computer for you.

 

[wgjones3]

Actually the only good system is a system that fits your needs.

Acutally, I'd have been more accurate to say a quality system. Any new system will do more than she needs, and she's probably going to get my 4 year old computer when I finally upgrade. All she needs is something that will check email and play solitare, but I was afraid of buying one of those $140 specials and have parts start burning up within the first few months (something that happened with my eMachines after the initial warranty was up) and end up spending a lot more on fixing it than it would have cost to buy a quality system to begin with.