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Building your own computer

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us Offline Pacu

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Building your own computer
on: February 05, 2010, 07:04:15 PM
I've decided to replace my aging p4 HP (6 years old) with a home built quad core or dual core. I work construction for a major electronics store so i decided to put the discount to proper use. :D

So far i have the case (Antec 300) power supply (BFG 1000w)  a hydro cooler for the CPU (Corsair H50)  OS (Windows 7 Ultimate) and some Antec LED cooling fans (120mm)

as for storage i'm thinking a Western Digital Raptor or a SSD if the price is right.

Haven't decided on motherboard-cpu config just yet...cost versus performance (and how much the wife will let me spend) will be the deciding factor there. Tigerdirect and Newegg seem to have good deals these days.

I don't really play games on the 'puter..got an xbox for that plus i suck at videogames. I want it to really crank while handling photoshop, my home theater needs, surfing MTO.org, pRon >:D jk, and whatever else i decide to throw at it.


any suggestions on my build?


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fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #1 on: February 05, 2010, 08:42:31 PM
when I got this machine, I originally thought about building it myself, but I couldn't get even close to the same spec machine for the price of this HP. I did however upgrade the video card, power supply and a bunch of the harddrives I already had.
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spam Offline Zack

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #2 on: February 05, 2010, 08:49:48 PM
Used to be a lot cheaper to build your own, thats not the case anymore.  I would buy the most unit your money can buy, and then save up a little more to upgrade the major components like Whoey. 

gb Offline nuphoria

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #3 on: February 05, 2010, 08:50:43 PM
I considered building my own too a couple of years ago but ending up getting it done for me at about the same price of the components, so I skipped the potential hassle! I am certainly no expert, I have to add  :-\

Something I would add to a build now now however, is a video card which allows direct output to the TV, being able to play avi files without having to burn them all the time etc. Built in connectivity like bluetooth and wifi might be useful too :)
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gb Offline Neil

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #4 on: February 05, 2010, 08:59:28 PM
I built my current machine just over a year ago.  Price wise I would have been as well off just getting a pre-built system from one of the big names but I wanted it to my specification :)

I have the same case by the way.  Its a good case :tu:  I run the top (big fan) at 7V and a rear 120mm at 5V.  I don't have a side fan so as that's a passive intake I've fitted a dust filter there.  Most air is pulled through the filters at the front (again no fans there).  The CPU is passively cooled with a really big heatsink and the flow through the case provided by the two big fans keeps it pretty cool even under continuous high load.  If I was running a power hungry video card I'd want another fan in there (probably on the side) but as I don't play games I don't find the need.
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us Offline Sazabi

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #5 on: February 05, 2010, 09:00:29 PM
Nuph, you can get USB bluetooth dongles (that are very small) inexpensively online.  I purchased one in Walmart for $20, so they should be cheaper on the net. ^^;

fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #6 on: February 05, 2010, 09:10:06 PM
All my previous machines have been built by me, this time I opted to save a little money, and I'm very happy with my quad core HP... even if the first thing I did was install Ubuntu.
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us Offline WhichDawg

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #7 on: February 05, 2010, 09:12:45 PM
sounds great Pacu! :tu: how about some "before/during/after" shots!

I like the video card idea nuphoria :salute:

I like the filter idea's too Neil ;)

ohh the things you could put in there! but like you said, expensive!
hopefully you have enough space for add-ons/upgrades later :)
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fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #8 on: February 05, 2010, 09:32:05 PM
in an ideal world a PC should be sealed, and the only thing allowed out of it should be heat... if only it were that easy...
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us Offline WhichDawg

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #9 on: February 05, 2010, 09:43:20 PM
I like going in there and modifying, cleaning, not that it's good for it! :ahhh

like recently I have fan problems, noise. I've replaced my case fans but now
my video card fan is bad, I'm thinking of replacing it with a thicker one but
then i need longer screws! gotta find them too.

40x40x7mm 12v 2pin with a 40x40x10mm! fun :P
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fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #10 on: February 05, 2010, 09:56:16 PM
on one of my old cards when the stock fan started to die I bought a fanless heatpipe replacement... money well spent!
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us Offline Pacu

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #11 on: February 05, 2010, 10:14:30 PM
With my discount you wouldn't believe the savings. :D  Most components are more than half off regular retail price. It's the manufactured systems i get nothing off as the margin is razor thin.
With me building my own i know exactly what's inside and how it works with top notch components..plus i love to tinker with stuff. Hopefully i wont fall into the upgrading money pit like when i was building up my Spooky with full XTR (sorry but cyclists know the lure of titanium shiny stuff)

and pics







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ca Offline Chako

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #12 on: February 06, 2010, 12:00:28 AM
I always build my own.

Velociraptors.  :pok: :pok:

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us Offline Pacu

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #13 on: February 07, 2010, 05:38:56 AM
so i just plugged in my power supply to test out my LED fans and nothing. No power. Back to the store in the a.m. :P
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gb Offline nuphoria

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #14 on: February 07, 2010, 01:24:46 PM
Quote from: Sazabi on February 05, 2010, 09:00:29 PM
Nuph, you can get USB bluetooth dongles (that are very small) inexpensively online.  I purchased one in Walmart for $20, so they should be cheaper on the net. ^^;

Yeah I know - got one from DX for about $2 which works fine ;)

Just like the idea of not hogging all the USB ports. I find when there are too many hubs down the line, they decide they're not connected sometimes  >:( PITA.
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no Offline Medic82

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #15 on: February 07, 2010, 01:55:42 PM
I have built 2 computers and going to upgrade the one that I currently have. It’s fun building your own computer.
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fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #16 on: February 09, 2010, 11:50:21 AM
I think because I've been building systems for a long time I stopped seeing the fun in it. Plus with inlaws and family friends constantly after me to help them build/setup a new machine I've gotten to the point where I point at the big box systems and tell them it's the best option. Saves me a lot of work, and lets me get on with my own stuff. Just because I buy a box system (to start) doesn't mean I don't upgrade, in fact, I still add loads of stuff. There's currently more hard-drives than bays in my HP Tower, and I'm only using about half the connections on the mainboard...
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us Offline Pacu

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #17 on: February 12, 2010, 10:49:38 PM
Today i bought the processor and motherboard for my build. Also an aftermarket cpu cooler.

Lets see...got this
AMD Phenom X4 9750 Quad Core Processor - 2.40GHz, 2MB L3 Cache, 3600 MT/s FSB, Quad-Core, Socket AM2+, OEM Processor

and

Biostar TA790GX 128M Motherboard - AMD 790GX, AM2+ 128MB DDR2 Side-Port, ATI Hybrid, CrossFire, PCIe 2.0, Gigabit, USB2.0, RAID, HDMI/DVI


i got the quad core and the motherboard for cheap :D

Now all i need is a dvd drive, hard drive and some ram. Those will come in the following weeks as i just burned serious cash on the above (with wife's approval :tu:)
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us Offline Pacu

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #18 on: February 21, 2010, 06:07:08 PM
So i got a few more pieces for my build



motherboard...i went with biostar as it got excellent reviews



an HP cd/dvd dual layer burner



still in the antistatic bag until i build




i went with a rebranded coolermaster tx3 for a cpu heatsink





and the phenom quad core processor
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us Offline Pacu

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #19 on: February 21, 2010, 06:10:20 PM
now all i need is a hard drive (sata) and a decent video card (pci-e) :D
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gb Offline Neil

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #20 on: February 21, 2010, 08:52:00 PM
I've got to open mine up again next week.  I'm down to around 20GB free so time for a new hard drive.  I hate buying new drives, if I'm buying new computer kit I want it to "do something" and be vaguely exciting.  Fitting an extra drive is the computer equivalent of buying a ream of paper
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ca Offline Chako

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #21 on: February 21, 2010, 08:59:14 PM
How about a brace of WD 300GB VelociRaptors.  :pok: :pok:

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gb Offline Neil

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #22 on: February 21, 2010, 09:10:18 PM
I've presently got a couple of seagate something or other 250GB drives in there.  By modern standards that's tiny but as I don't do the whole "video downloading" thing that's actually quite a bit of space for OS, programs and data.

The reason I need to increase this is I want to backup and sort out my box of miniDV tapes.  MiniDV is a pretty reliable format and quite well suited for long term archiving of video but I'd still be much happier if it was backed up.  Also having all that video on a drive would make it much easier to actually use.

As such I've ordered a 1TB seagate something or other.  I'm going to pull one of the 250GB drives out and use that as offsite storage for my flac files, leave the other 250GB running the OS and have the new drive for data.
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us Offline Pacu

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #23 on: February 21, 2010, 09:10:57 PM
im thinking about putting windows on a 10000 rpm drive then a different drive for storage.
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gb Offline Neil

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #24 on: February 21, 2010, 09:12:45 PM
I always recommend keeping data on a separate drive.  It makes recovery so much easier and can have performance benefits as well.
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fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #25 on: February 21, 2010, 10:06:09 PM
2x 10k drives in striped raid for speed is even nicer :)
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gb Offline Roadie

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #26 on: February 21, 2010, 10:14:09 PM
Quote from: Whoey on February 21, 2010, 10:06:09 PM
2x 10k drives in striped raid for speed is even nicer :)

Meh, rather have raided SSDs :D :D
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us Offline Pacu

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #27 on: February 21, 2010, 10:36:06 PM
Quote from: Roadie on February 21, 2010, 10:14:09 PM
Quote from: Whoey on February 21, 2010, 10:06:09 PM
2x 10k drives in striped raid for speed is even nicer :)

Meh, rather have raided SSDs :D :D


pricey but nice  $$$$
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fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #28 on: February 22, 2010, 07:30:50 PM
Quote from: Roadie on February 21, 2010, 10:14:09 PM
Quote from: Whoey on February 21, 2010, 10:06:09 PM
2x 10k drives in striped raid for speed is even nicer :)

Meh, rather have raided SSDs :D :D
So would I but I can't afford them.

wouldn't need big ones for the main system anyways... and then some colossal storage array with 4x 2TB in mirrored raid :D
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gb Offline Roadie

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Re: Building your own computer
Reply #29 on: February 23, 2010, 12:38:05 AM
Quote from: Whoey on February 22, 2010, 07:30:50 PM
Quote from: Roadie on February 21, 2010, 10:14:09 PM
Quote from: Whoey on February 21, 2010, 10:06:09 PM
2x 10k drives in striped raid for speed is even nicer :)

Meh, rather have raided SSDs :D :D
So would I but I can't afford them.

wouldn't need big ones for the main system anyways... and then some colossal storage array with 4x 2TB in mirrored raid :D

Sounds good to me!!
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