BoxBuilder is open for registration!

T

TIWizard

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
420
Some of you may have seen my other thread about BoxBuilder, which I have now opened for registration...

BoxBuilder will allow you to build a computer parts list, much like how computer boutique websites allow you to. In addition, BoxBuilder will generate forum code which you can paste here to share with everyone...

With registration, you will be able to save and load builds, as well as share them in the future...

If you find anything wrong with the parts, compatibility checker, or the saving/loading, please PM me or post in this thread :)

Ideas, suggestions, criticism, etc is welcomed and appreciated :D

An example of a list generated by BoxBuilder:

Computer Parts List
------------------------------------------------
$109.99 - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$129.99 - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI/CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$249.99 - ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
$564.99 - Intel Core i7 940 Nehalem 2.93GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
$0 - Stock cooler included with my CPU
$420.99 - OCZ Gold 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333 Desktop Memory
$474.99 - ASUS EAH4870X2/HTDI/2G/A Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 x16
$229.99 - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$25.99 - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD 2MB Cache SATA Burner
$99.99 - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit


Total Cost from NewEgg: $2306.91 USD


OR if you get an error with your compatibility:

CPU type AM2 not supported by motherboard!


Computer Parts List
------------------------------------------------
$109.99 - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$129.99 - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI/CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$249.99 - ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
$72.99 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 3.1GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor
$0 - Stock cooler included with my CPU
$420.99 - OCZ Gold 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333 Desktop Memory
$474.99 - ASUS EAH4870X2/HTDI/2G/A Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 x16
$229.99 - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$25.99 - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD 2MB Cache SATA Burner
$99.99 - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit


Total Cost from NewEgg: $1814.91 USD



Hope you like it :)


FEATURES:
Multi-retailer parts list
Saving and loading (requires free registration, passwords are MD5ed and salted)

COMING SOON:
Deleting builds
Sharing builds
Popular parts
 
Interesting.

Does it only pull prices from Newegg? Sorry, I haven't even looked at the site yet, so I'm probably asking an FAQ question.
 
That's actually a very good question: Are you relying solely on NewEgg?

Quite a few build requests here also come from other countries.
 
Like others said, if it gathers prices from diff websites and or updates lower prices, you might have something here. :cool:
 
As an International buyer it would be interesting for me to see an option for me to change buyers. like a pop down menu or something.
 
With so many requests, I will add multiple different websites to pull from... :)

Just need to get the management page done, then I will go and add in more online retailers. Any in particular that you would like?
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Perfect, thanks :)

The system is in place, so I will add in the products and store now :)
 
TIWiz... Me likey! Question, is there a way were you could make it so we can choose from a number of diff retailers, for instance on the mobo drop box, can you show us prices from directron, mwave and microcenter?

good luck
 
I could add in an option to do that.. I will add the option for multiple retailers or a single retailer to keep the list less cluttered for those who prefer to buy from one place..
 
Bump!

Because my computer died, I haven't been on recently... Don't worry, I don't keep website source files on my hard drive :D

I added in the mutli-retailer option, as well as some new products... Any other suggestions?
 
- Remove the HEC, Thermaltake Purepower, and Coolmax PSUs. Those PSUs are over-rated and crappy PSUs. Stick to PSUs made by known quality manufacturers like Corsair, PC P&C, BFG (only the MX, ES and LS lines), Antec (not the Basiq line), Thermaltake (only the Toughpower and Purepower RX), Silverstone, Seasonic, etc. Try to stick with PSUs that have been reviewed and recommended by the following two sites due to their significantly better PSU testing methodology:
www.jonnyguru.com
www.hardocp.com

- Remove the 2GB G.Skill and Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 sets since both have poor price to performance/amount of RAM ratios. Try to find 2GB DDR2 800 RAM sets for around $20. They should not cost that much more.

- Add the E7400 and E5300 CPUS to your list since A) the $75 E5200 outperforms the X2 6000+ and B) the E7400 outperforms the X3 Phenoms.

- Remove the Apevia, Rosewill and Raidmax cases since they all come with shitty PSUs not worth paying for. Or at the very least, have a warning saying that PSUs included in those cases should not be used by a smart person.

- Check for HSF compatibility. None of the HSF listed on the site are compatible with the LGA1366 motherboards.
 
Thanks for your input!

Removing those items now... I will add in another message warning about the bad PSUs in cases...

CPUs will be added now.

The HSFs should be checked for compatibility, and all of the HSFs should be listed as incompatible with the i7s/MBs with LGA 1366 sockets
 
TIWizard said:
Removing those items now... I will add in another message warning about the bad PSUs in cases...
Click to expand...

Oh generally, the only case included PSUs worth using are the ones made by Antec and some higher end Coolermaster models.
 
this is a great idea with a lot of potential, but will require a lot of work ^ ^ so thanks for doing the heavy lifting.

when possible please look into adding CA retailers/ Etailers like www.infonec.ca

again thank you for contributing, this could prove to be a priceless tool in making and recommending builds
 
Right, Canada :D

I will add that retailer right now, along with some parts...

EDIT:
Ugh... Why don't you use US Dollars XD

I will add in a currency converter before adding in parts from Canadian retailers :D
 
Hm... line breaks still don't show up for me... I wonder if I'm blocking something needed, lol.

CPU type LGA 775 not supported by motherboard! CPU heatsink/fan not supported by the CPU! Computer Parts List ------------------------------------------------ $99.95 - Antec NSK6580 Black/ Silver 0.8mm cold-rolled steel construction ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $69.99 - Antec Earthwatts EA430 430W ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply $249.99 - ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard $269.99 - Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor $29.99 - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $420.99 - OCZ Gold 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333 Desktop Memory $84.99 - SAPPHIRE 100249L Radeon HD 3850 1GB 256-bit GDDR2 PCI E 2.0 $59.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJB 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive $25.99 - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD 2MB Cache SATA Burner $139.99 - Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 Total Cost: $1451.86 USD

Hm... no low end vidcards, like the HD4350, HD4550, HD4670, 8500GT, 9500GT, etc?

No Blu-Ray burners or HD Combo drives?
 
Requirements for the builder:
Javascript
(Modern browser, tested in IE7 and FF3 on WinVista and Win7)
Cookies enabled for logging in

I assume you are not running Windows... Are the line breaks appearing the the text box, or just vanishing when you paste the code? What OS? Browser?

Thanks for helping me debug this... The lines are just the "\n" token in PHP.

Low end video cards will be coming, as well as HDDs and CD drives... Been lazy and didn't want to enter all of the speeds/formats accepted by the drives :p
 
That is really sweet. I wish I had the willingness to work on my PHP projects that you seem to have!

I would throw in some modular power supplies (e.g. the HX series from Corsair).

On the processors drop-down menu, with my laptop's resolution (1280 x 800), the box runs off the screen to the right when I pull it down. Firefox 3, Windows Vista SP1.

Not sure how familiar you are with jQuery but you can put some pretty sweet animations in the page and use expand/contract controls with eyeball select checkboxes instead of a drop-down menu for selecting parts if that makes sense? However if I were on my normal desktop with a regular resolution, I'm guessing I would have no problem with it.
 
JQuery is the only javascript I know well (and is what I use for the builder)

Expanding and contracting are a good idea, and I might do that in categories (DDR type, memory size, HDD space, etc, all sorted by price from least to greatest) because the lists are overflowing...

On "my" temporary laptop while I am getting me computer repaired (not actually mine. I stole it from my mom :D) the select box does overflow as well... Those processors have a long name...

Should I convert to radio buttons/sliding panes and include screenshots of the products? It seems a easier to see the cases that way :)
 
thumbnails would be cool. the whole radio buttons/expanding panels reminds me of dell's site. either way, I suggest adding a field to the table named nickname, which you'd display instead of those extra long names that are currently listed. As for populating the field, you could simply truncate the whole name by default, until some privileged individual edits it.

I think i recommended a system for adding parts earlier in your other thread, whereby people nominate parts and a panel approves them. As for who's on the panel, I'd invite several forum members. ;)

heh, i actually am using windows right now, ff3, but i have many things turned off (like js). w/ js turned on, it works fine... with js turned off, it opens a new page with the code in a text field, but no linebreaks.


------ERRORS FOUND------
-----------------------------------
Memory type DDR2 800 not supported by motherboard!
CPU type AM2+ not supported by motherboard!
CPU heatsink/fan not supported by the CPU!


Computer Parts List
------------------------------------------------
$54.99 - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB Black /Blue Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$99.99 - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI/CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$134.99 - GIGABYTE GA-EP45C-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX
$149.99 - AMD Phenom 9750 2.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W 65nm Quad-Core Processor
$36.99 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
$31.99 - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 800 Dual Channel Desktop Memory
$59.99 - ASUS Radeon HD 4550 512MB 64-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile
$129.99 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$25.99 - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD 2MB Cache SATA Burner
$139.99 - Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1 32-bit


Total Cost: $864.9 USD
 
The panel thing would really help me with the number of parts I am adding... I will do that now...

As for the panel, one person will be able to pass the part, or reject it and open it up for a vote. Majority will win after a certain time period or something...

Anyone will be able to nominate parts, but the prices will have to be in USD for now... Euros and Canadian dollars seem to be the second most popular currencies, so i plan to add in a converter or something to approximate prices.

I know a few people who would make great panel members... Anyone is welcome to PM me a request :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top