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How to Build a Computer When You Don't Make Enough Money to Buy One Outright! [tut]
#1
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The first computer I ever built was built on the bonuses I got from my job at the time. I would perform well and they would give me gift certificates to CompUSA. In other words, I built my first computer for free but it took like 3 months. I used this method long after because I rarely had enough money to buy all the parts at once. This tutorial doesn't cover exotic form factors such as nlx, shuttle or even mini itx and if you just want a cheap prebuilt non-special computer, go on over to techforless.com and pick up one of their $300 jobbies[you could do this and pop in a nice video card and have a decent computer- if it has an open slot]. Of course you will spend more on the item that carry the most priority in your mind- such as buying a $200 case because of the lights. If you want your case to look cool, that's where most of your money will go. I guess I will call this tutorial:

Gradual Computer Building for the Poor... Tutorial

1. Ask yourself what you are building the computer for. Do you want something decent for $400? Do you want the case to look cool? Or just be the quietest box on the planet. What is the primary motivating factor behind your build? My last computer was built specifically so I could play Supreme Commander so I built it with that in mind. I think it wanted at least a geforce 6200 so I got a 6800 and started from that- this also determined the motherboard because the card I bought was agp.

2. What do you have to start with? Most computer parts can be reused in new builds. For instance, why buy a new dvdrw drive if you have one laying around or in a dead computer other than color consideration? If the hard drive you are wanting to reuse is PATA then you better have a place to plug it into on your motherboard.

3. Choose between AMD and Intel and which socket you are going to use. I always choose AMD because you get more for your buck and I like the underdog. In this example, we will use the AM2+

4. Choose between ATI and Nvidea and which form factor. AMD and ATI have merged but I still prefer Nvidea because I see less weird artifacting in normal use. PCI-e is the most popular flavor these days so in the examble we will go with that- oddly PCI-e cards are cheaper than the older AGP ones.

5. Now you have enough information to buy your first part- the motherboard. Why the motherboard? It is the foundation on which everything else is built. The price won't fluctuate very much so you are safe locking in at around $50. We head on over to www.pricewatch.com and pick the cheapest motherboard in the AM2+ section with reputable name- in this case, we find a nice Asus for $49.99. Wee! And we buy that.


Technical Details

* Hardware Platform: PC
* Processor Socket: Socket AM2+
* Processor Maximum: 1
* Compatible Processors: Sempron, Phenom II X3, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon X2, Phenom X4, Phenom X3, Phenom II X4, Athlon 64
* System Bus Speed: 1000
* Chipset Type: NVIDIA GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a
* Ram Memory Maximum Size: 4 GB
* Video Output: Graphics adapter
* Networking Feature: Network adapter
* Width: 9.6 inches
* Depth: 8.2 inches



6. When we get the motherboard on the mail or ups or whatever, the manual will tell us the board wants DDR2 memory witha maximum of 4gigs. You see 2 slots so you want 2gig sticks. We keep that in mind as we are watching memory prices on Pricewatch.com. The next thing you should buy, when you get paid, is the video card- you spend most of your time looking at the screen that the card is feeding. That card is arguably the most important piece of your computer. It helps take the pressure off of the CPU when rendering graphics. This is why the north bridge of the chipset has a fan on it- CPU, Video card, and memory have to talk to each other a lot on a thick pipe. South bridge handles other peripherals such as network and usb. Now I have not done my homework on this card, but I am picking this GT120 I found on Pricewatch.com because I only want to spend $50 this time. You really want to read a bunch of reviews and check some game system requirement to make a more informed decision- also $50 is probably not enough to spend your graphics card. I bought my last one on ebay used and never had a problem with it.

General Features:

* NVIDIA GeForce GT120 GPU
* 1 GB DDR2 memory
* PCI Express interface
* Graphics clock: 500 MHz
* Processor clock: 1400 MHz
* Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec): 8.8
* 2-Way NVIDIA SLI-ready
* HD NVIDIA PureVideo Technology
* NVIDIA PhysX-ready
* Microsoft DirectX 10 support
* OpenGL 3.0 support
* Certified for Windows Vista



7. Now that we have the video card, we can get the power supply. The manual should tell you how beefy the PS should be- I am going to guess this pretty black one will fit the bill. Weighing in at a hefty $58 seems a bit much, but you are better off have more power capability than not enough.

Specification ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V
Maximum Power 850W
Fans 1 x 120mm Fan
PFC Active
Main Connector 20+4Pin with 4-Pin/8-Pin EPS12V
PCI-Express 2 cables with one 6+2-Pin connector
SATA Power 2 cables with 3 SATA connectors each
Four-Pin Power 2 cables with 3 four-pin Molex and one floppy power connector each
SLI & CrossFire Ready
Over Voltage Protection Yes
Input Voltage 115 - 230 V
Input Frequency Range 50/60 Hz
MTBF >100,000 Hours
Dimensions 5.9" x 3.4" x 6.3"



8. I am going to pretend you have a hard drive from before and an optical drive. If not, then your build will be more expensive- find that stuff at pricewatch.com. The next thing to buy is the CPU. Once again, pricewatch.com leads us here. $52 this time.

Specifications
o Mfr Part Number: AD785ZWCJ2BGH
o Process Type: AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core Processor 7850, Black Edition
o Frequency: 2.8 GHz
o System Bus: 3600 MHz
o L2 Cache: 2x 512KB
o L3 Cache: 2MB
o Process: 65nm SOI
o Socket: Socket AM2+
o Power Consumption: 95 W
o Voltages: 1.05-1.325V
o Package: OEM
o Virtualization: Yes
o Black Edition: Yes



9. You need a CPU fan and this sexy thing is a mere $21. On to the memory- this part can be tricky due to compatibility issues. If your motherboard manual says it wants only low density modules, then you are going to pay the price. 1stchoicememory.com has an app in it that says our motherboard would like this memory. We can buy this other stick next pay period if we so choose. I always buy my memory last in the hopes it may go down in price by the time I can afford it.



10. A reoccurring theme in this tutorial is you guessed it- pricewatch.com. I have bought parts from them for 10 years now- they have hundreds of vendors that you can sort through to find what you need. If you don't have a case yet, here is one for $37.



11. I put the separating lines there as dividers between weekly pay periods- it took 5 weeks and we spent $318. You need a OS. I will let you handle that as well as assembly as those are pretty straight forward.


This is a recycled thread from hf
Having long hair is great until you have to pull a footlong out of the dog's butt. flatank.blogspot.com
I. AM. LATCH.
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#2
Quote:oddly PCI-e cards are cheaper than the older AGP ones.

This is due to supply and demand, AGP cards are a thing of the past now. PCI-E is the future proof route, you can also expect better performance from a PCI-E card.


A few links seem to be broken, producing 404s.
On the power supply, go with a decent brand. You do not want to buy a cheap PSU, if the PSU goes the chance is half of your components will go as well.

Good informative thread. :thumbs
  Reply
#3
(19-11-2010, 07:20 PM)Mark Wrote:
Quote:oddly PCI-e cards are cheaper than the older AGP ones.

This is due to supply and demand, AGP cards are a thing of the past now. PCI-E is the future proof route, you can also expect better performance from a PCI-E card.


A few links seem to be broken, producing 404s.
On the power supply, go with a decent brand. You do not want to buy a cheap PSU, if the PSU goes the chance is half of your components will go as well.

Good informative thread. :thumbs

Right- I should have worded it like this- Oddly you get more performance for less money on the one hand, but you still need to buy a mobo that matches. So if you already have a good mobo with agp, it doesn't make sense to shelve it if you are watching your money.

This thread was written a few months ago and internet inventory is in constant flux- will find suitable replacements at a later time.

I have heard that about PSes but I have been buy cheap PSs for YEARS and the only one that has failed me catastrophically was one I took the fan out because I couldn't stand the noise. I think all that quality PS vs cheap PS buzz is hype meant to create a fake market. Indecently, the one that failed- I only lost the CPU in the failure, not half my components. mobo, memory, hard drives, all pci cards, the agp card, dvd roms, etc survived.
Having long hair is great until you have to pull a footlong out of the dog's butt. flatank.blogspot.com
I. AM. LATCH.
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