Open call for help- Building a PC

[CptHawkeye]

Hey all, first post here, great forums I've been reading for a while.

Anyways, I just got a parttime job, so now I have (limited) money, I'm eagerly anticipating HL2 as I'm a huge fan, but my comps not gonna be able to take it well:

P4 1.4 gigz
512mb RDram
Geforce 3 64mb


As you can see, I desperately need updates, but I just cant afford to have alienware or any of those companies make me a PC, so I'm looking into building my own.

The problem is I have no idea, and I mean NO idea how to do it. So basically, I was wandering if there was somebody nice enough to hold me hand through the entire process, first step, second step, etc. IF anybody out there could help me, please contact me on AIM at DanceMasta16 if you have it. Thanks in advance.



Nervous HL Fan

 

[TheRook]

search google for building a pc

that will help you loads...

and it doesnt help reading...

reading is your friend

dont rush into buying your parts look around for better deals...


therook

gl making your beast and im sure u'll have fun doing it!

 

[Rock Lee]

List of what you need.

1. Motherboard: Asus, GB, Abit, Intel or MSI. 865 or 875P chipset if you are going with Intel, KT400/600/800 or Nforce2 for AMD.

2. Harddrive: WD or Maxtor. WD Caviar (80 or larger) Special Edition, for great performance and value.

3. RAM: 2x256 or 2x512 of PC3200 (DDR 400) or faster. Twinomos, Corsair, Geil, Adata, OCZ or Kingston are good brands. Don't get stuck on the Dualchanel kits, you can buy two sticks of the normaly marked ram and it will work just fine.

4. Graphiccard: ATI 9500, 9600, 9700 or 9800. Prefebly PRO. No need to buy the 256 mb ram version, 128 is enough. 9500 best value, hard to find though.

5. Case: Antec Sonata Silent is highly recommended, good PSU bundled and cost less than most others.

6. Corded MS inteli mouse.

7. A dvd/cd-rom/cd-R-RW combo or whatever you want, no floppy needed.

Unpack all stuff. Put the CPU in the motherboard (exactly how is shown in your motherboard manual, buy retail!) Put the RAM in your motherboard. Put the HDD and cd rom stuff in your case. Put the motherboard holder screws in your case, lay the motherboard on them, screw it secure. Put in the PSU. Install the CPU HSF, manual comes with it. Use as little thermal compound as possible and use a razorblade to make it extremly evenly applied. Don't overtighten the eventual screws, may break the core if so. Put the gcard in the agp slot (can't miss it) and insert all cabels (also coverd in your motherboard manual). Turn it on and see your hardearned money go up in flames.

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

Originally posted by Rock Lee
Install the CPU HSF, manual comes with it.

NEVER install the HSF when the mobo is mounted!!! Not unless it has a design like the zalman 7000-Cu where you just screw it in. All the pressure you put on the HSF when its on the risers can crack the mobo or something else.

 

[Maskirovka]

doing your first upgrade is always a rough deal...you're gonna mess something up unless you have someone there in person to help you...and then you'll still probably mess something up. that doesn't mean you'll burn out your cpu or anything, but there's always the chance of fires

i'm sure you wouldn't be posting here if you had a good friend to help you out, but you should seriously try to find someone to help you. as has already been shown, not everyone's advice is sound.

i remember when i did my first mobo upgrade (486DX33 ---> AMD K5 133 OOO YEAH) i put my sound card in (the gigantic 16bit soundblaster...man those things were like a foot long.) and i forgot to screw it down. i tipped my case up with it running (stupid as hell) and the sound card bounced down and touched the metal at the bottom of the case...

it caught on fire....but it still worked!!! ahahah....that card still works today!

i guess i'm just saying be careful

 

[Guest]

Ok heres what i would do. Put your cpu, ram , ti and mobo, for sale at ebay right now Ii saw a TI 300 going for 90 Pound uk last time i was on with more time left, its really important how you set your ebay page up, i have it down to a fine art, so if you need help just ask.

You should get about $200 - 300 for those 4 things, if you do it right.

If you dont have a credit card then you could maybe ask your mom to set up an ebay account ?

Then, do you need a new monitor, hard drive, keyboard and mouse, speakers, case ?

Second what your budget ?

After that you basically order the parts and put them together and thats it.


Abit nforce 2 (Rev 2.0) Motherboard (This has a excellent onboard sound card)
Barton 2500 + CPU
2 x 256Mb PC2700 DDR RAM
ATi 9800pro

$612 - Money you make from ebay.

Could be about $400 system.4

 

[Stiler]

www.newegg.com
good for parts.

 

[Guest]

for example heres a ti 500 selling for 18 pounds uk thats $288 so far.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2753372644&category=27387

 

[Maskirovka]

wow that's quite a bit of money for an old gfx card...i should sell my gf4 ti4200 on ebay...i'd feel like i was stealing if i got that much money for it...lol

 

[Rock Lee]

Originally posted by Sgt.Igneri
NEVER install the HSF when the mobo is mounted!!! Not unless it has a design like the zalman 7000-Cu where you just screw it in. All the pressure you put on the HSF when its on the risers can crack the mobo or something else.

Na, I have done it countless times with no problems. Once I sliped with the screw driver while puching a amd hs in place, ruined one of the copper bridges. Maybe if you only have like four five risers.

 

[Rock Lee]

Originally posted by Maskirovka
doing your first upgrade is always a rough deal...you're gonna mess something up unless you have someone there in person to help you...and then you'll still probably mess something up. that doesn't mean you'll burn out your cpu or anything, but there's always the chance of fires

i'm sure you wouldn't be posting here if you had a good friend to help you out, but you should seriously try to find someone to help you. as has already been shown, not everyone's advice is sound.

i remember when i did my first mobo upgrade (486DX33 ---> AMD K5 133 OOO YEAH) i put my sound card in (the gigantic 16bit soundblaster...man those things were like a foot long.) and i forgot to screw it down. i tipped my case up with it running (stupid as hell) and the sound card bounced down and touched the metal at the bottom of the case...

it caught on fire....but it still worked!!! ahahah....that card still works today!

i guess i'm just saying be careful

Not everyone is such a screwup as you, nothing went wrong with my first comp i buildt and i did put on the hs (puchdown) while in the box. Just because it is possible does not mean that the risk is so great that you need to keep it in mind.

 

[CptHawkeye]

OK

Ok thanks I'm learning little by little, but to save as much money as possible I want to move EVERYTHING I CAN from my old PC to my new one, meaning CR-RW drive and DVD drive, floppy drive, sound card, everything. I'm just a little nervous about whether or not its all gonna come together.

Btw, I went to ABS tech and put together a configuration for a mobo, and a P4 3ghz chip and a case and it comes to around 700, a little less. Would cables and stuff from my old PC be usable in the new one, or am I gonna need new stuff like that too?

 

[Washuu]

maxtor and western digital have issues with there harddrives, just get a new seagate serial ata harddrive, they run really good, he is building a new computer, with a new motherboard, that should have SATA on it, so w00t to him, i have a SATA motherboard now, but i started with an IDE ata hdd, so my os is on my lesser hdd