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Build Help

M

manny1222

Gawd
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
732
Hi guys,

I'm a noobie to this forum and this is my first post.
Not sure this is the right place to ask this, but i didn't find another section that relates to builds.

I have had my limit with my first and current desktop (Dell Dimension 2350) which i got in 2003. I bet that would be considered old school today. I have been looking up computers for the better part of the past 6 months and from the observation, it'll be better for me to just build one. This is where i need your help.

Firstly, is it easy to put together? I figure i'll be able to save some money building it myself, but since it is something i've never done before, I don't want to spend that money and mess things up. I mean if it is all plug and play, i think i'll be good. I've never done anything with soldering before. On my desktop, i done stuff myself like change the processor, add ram, add a video card, a 1394 card and install lightscribe dvd drive. So it's not like i've never seen the inside of a computer before.

Or, is it a better idea to have a local store build it? I got an estimate from a local place with the following...

MSi Z68MA-G45 Motherboard $140
Intel i3 2100 3.10GHZ $140
4 GIG DDR3 1333MHZ $40
Case with 500W Power $75
DVD Burner $30
1.0TB SATA 64MB Cache $150
Windows 7 64BIT $140
Labor and 1 yr warranty Included

Is this a good deal, or should i try to buy all that stuff and but it together myself? I use the computer primarily for web surfing and media stuff (Netflix, DishNetwork via slingbox, Youtube, Pandora). I dabble into gaming occasionally, with games like live for speed, RFS, flight simulator, and age of empires. (I'm more of a console player). The estimate comes to 760 bucks with tax and i was only intending to spend 600 bucks. I figure if i need more speed or graphics in the future, i can always upgrade stuff.

So what do you think?
 
Seems a bit on the expensive side for what you're getting.

You need a GPU on top of that.
 
Straight forward.

Do it yourself.

At newegg the motherboard is 97 dollars with rebate......youre getting charged $40 for what?

As the other guy said, you still need a GPU.
With the money you "save" on doing this yourself, you could upgrade the CPU or buy a really good GPU.

Also consider buying a cheap case and a good quality psu. Don't cheap out on the PSU. It's probably the most important component of all. :D
 
If you play at a high native resolution I'd try upping your CPU a bit to better one. The games you listed are CPU intensive.

Just a thought
 
Looking thru some posts on other threads i found out that Microcenter is about 60 miles away from me. I prized everything, but upgraded to intel i5 2400 and a different motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard and it came to 680, but they charge 85 bucks for building it for me.

I think i can put it together as far as i don't have to mess with lead. Would the cpu upgrade be okay or should i buy a graphics card instead? It'll really be above my budget. Should i consider a less expensive motherboard?
 
Yes it's easy to put together and there is no soldering involved.

One thing here, that mobo will not work with that CPU. Thats a G45 chipset board which is lga 775, and a sandy bridge cpu which is lga 1155.

The CPU in that list inst bad, but I would suggest going to the i3 2130, its 3.4 Ghz instead of 3.1, and not much more expensive. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115092

You need a lga 1155 board (P65 or Z68 chipset) The Asus P8Z68-V LX is a great starter board.

I would go for 8GB of DDR3 1600, might as well get more/faster ram as it'/s really cheap. N82E16820231546 is a decent choice.

You need a case and PSU. You can shop around for the case you like, make sure it fits a standard ATX board. I'd suggest a ATX Mid Tower of some sort.

As for PSU, you don't want to go super cheap but you dont need to go super spendy either. I like the corsair builder series for stuff like this.

DVD-RW, can be found on newegg for ~$22-25

For storage I would actually suggest an SSD as well as a hard drive for storage. A 64GB Crucial M4 + a 1TB western digital green would be great choices here. (Use the SSD for C: and the 1TB drive for D: that way your windows and apps can be on the speedy SSD, while s

Grab yourself a windows license, I'd suggest Win 7 64bit home premium OR Professional, if you'd like.

And as for labor and warranty, you'd be on your own, but remember all the parts have warranty through the manufacturer anyways, so if something breaks you arent exactly SOL.


Now, as has been mentioned, you may want to get a video card, but with the setup above you do not NEED one to get going. The cpu includes a basic gpu. If you go to the i3 2125 instead, it is 3.3ghz (vs 3.4) but has twice as fast of a gpu built in. That being said, even the 2125 has a slow gpu compared to other stuff you can buy. If you want to get a dedicated GPU, I'd suggest something along the lines of a Radeon 7750 or 7770. They are ~$109, and $149 respectively.
 
I would suggest sticking with the cheaper i3 2130 right now, and getting a 7750 if your budget is tight. You can always put a faster cpu in there later if you want.

Or you can go faster cpu now, and no gpu, then add one later. If you do this you might want to stick to one with the Intel HD3000 graphics (i3 2105, i3 2125, i5 2405S, i5 2500K, i7 2600K, i7 2700K) (Note, these are the cpu's where the last digit is 5 or the letter is K)
 
You CAN build this computer easily, by yourself.

Just go slow and follow the basic steps.

If you need help, we can help you out. There is no soldering involved. CPU fits in socket, heatsink gets allpied.
Ram goes in.
GPU goes in.
PSU leads connected.
Power up.
If the computer POSTs correctly, attach optical drive and C: drive and load Windows.

Best to do all that outside the case on the box the MB came in top make sure everything works.
Once Windows is loaded and running, assemble into case.
 
So This is what i decided to go with. You can give me your feed back on the brands or prices on each one. These prices are from the local Microcenter, that i'll be visiting once i get paid on thursday.

Intel Core i5 2500K $180
ASUS P8Z68-M PRO LGA 1155 Motherboard $75 (after $50 off if purchased with intel processor)
Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid ATX Tower $58
Cooler Master eXtreme 500W power supply $50
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm SATA $120
Corsair 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 $50
LG 24X DVD Burner with lightscribe $26
Bytecc 6 slot memory card reader $14

Bringing my total (add $80 already spent on windows 7) to $690. I'll hold off on the graphics card and SSD for now and upgrade in the future, when it starts to bug me. So what do you guys think?
 
Quartz-1 said:
Don't forget to get some SATA cables.
Click to expand...

Any cables needed for use will come included in the retail Motherboard box.

These include any cable that can be plugged into the MB, excepting power and sound.

I'd still consider a GPU. Unless this computer is for internet and email only, you will quickly be disappointed in what you can display.

What monitor do you use?

Do you have a keyboard and mouse? Speakers?
 
I have Samsung 26 inch Monitor/HDTV LS26TDSUV and cheap logitech speakers, mouse and speakers. I can't afford a GPU right now
 
manny1222 said:
I have Samsung 26 inch Monitor/HDTV LS26TDSUV and cheap logitech speakers, mouse and speakers. I can't afford a GPU right now
Click to expand...

You should look through the ForSale forum here, there are always good deals on used GPUs of all shapes and sizes.......I just bought two really nice GTX 470s last week for my backup computer.......very reasonable, in excellent condition, and really nice people who wont screw you.:D
 
That power supply is crap. Don't get it. Get this instead.

Are you going to be storing a lot of data on your computer? If not, I would say get an SSD now, and hard drive later. The reason is that hard drives are extremely expensive right now, while SSDs have been dropping in price.

Get this RAM.

DVD burner: click this.

Edit:

This card reader is better.

The bytecc is only $10 here.

Word of advice: The only things you should ever be buying from Microcenter are the motherboard/CPU combos and the occasional, rare deal.
 
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Exactly as Tsumi said, you're generally much better off getting only the CPU and motherboard from Microcenter and the rest somewhere else (especially after you take tax into consideration). MC however does have cheaper ram and dvd burner than what you originally listed. There is some Kingston 1333 1.5v here.
and they usually always have a dvd burner on sale for under $20.

Edit: "i found out that Microcenter is about 60 miles"
Taking this into consideration (plus tax) you may be better off getting everything from NewEgg/Amazon providing you don't live somewhere they charge tax.
 
Tsumi said:
That power supply is crap. Don't get it. Get this instead.

Are you going to be storing a lot of data on your computer? If not, I would say get an SSD now, and hard drive later. The reason is that hard drives are extremely expensive right now, while SSDs have been dropping in price.

Get this RAM.

DVD burner: click this.

Edit:

This card reader is better.

The bytecc is only $10 here.

Word of advice: The only things you should ever be buying from Microcenter are the motherboard/CPU combos and the occasional, rare deal.
Click to expand...

This is awesome. This is why I love forums. Thanks for the information and links guys. I'll make adjustmensts. Is it possible to connect IDE drive to SATA, with a converter perhaps? I have a 160GB IDE drive in my current PC that i could recycle if i could, then it'll be easier to get a reasonable size SSD.

K1tty said:
Exactly as Tsumi said, you're generally much better off getting only the CPU and motherboard from Microcenter and the rest somewhere else (especially after you take tax into consideration). MC however does have cheaper ram and dvd burner than what you originally listed. There is some Kingston 1333 1.5v here.
and they usually always have a dvd burner on sale for under $20.

Edit: "i found out that Microcenter is about 60 miles"
Taking this into consideration (plus tax) you may be better off getting everything from NewEgg/Amazon providing you don't live somewhere they charge tax.
Click to expand...

I'd still probably want to get the Mobo/CPU at microcenter. I live in michigan (6% sales tax) and I don't mind going out there to get stuff. I like to be able to take the big stuff back to the store if I have any problems with them, instead of shipping it somewhere and waiting. That was the main reason i was considering having a local store build it. I had selected that dvd burner because it has lightscribe which is something i use occasionally, but i guess it's not neccessary. A permanent marker would do too.

magoo said:
You should look through the ForSale forum here, there are always good deals on used GPUs of all shapes and sizes.......I just bought two really nice GTX 470s last week for my backup computer.......very reasonable, in excellent condition, and really nice people who wont screw you.:D
Click to expand...

Going to check out the for sale section right now. Thanx
 
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For the right price the 6850 and 6870 are good cards. I recently sold a 6870 for $175 to give you an idea.
 
6850 is a still decent GPU for the money especially for multimedia use and light gaming. If I were building today I wouldn't buy Win 7, especially not at full price. I would use the Win 8 Consumer Preview for the rest of the year and throw the savings into a better GPU if you game or a better monitor if you don't. You can wait on buying Win 7 until late this year and they will be bundling free Win 8 upgrade with the purchase.
 
Guys,
I'm already over my budget (ramen noodles and pop tarts for the next week). There's no way i can afford a gpu and a SSD (thinking at least a 120GB). Which should i get right now?
 
Well, you won't be able to play any games on the built in graphics. So, unless you're willing to hold off on gaming you'll need to wait on the ssd. Unfortunately, that means once you get one you will have to re install Windows on the ssd.
 
Dude, you don't need to go over budget to get this thing running games decently. An I3 will do you just fine. A GTX550Ti will do fine at 720p resolution. You can get a nice 500w Corsair PSU for half of that OCZ. You don't need an SSD. A cheap case will do you fine, I wouldn't spend more then 40 bucks.

I could build a perfectly capable 720p gamer well within 600 bucks. Its not that difficult.
 
Thoughts:

Keep the 2500K/Asus combo.

If I remember right a couple weeks ago I was finding $30 DDR3 1600 deals... $50 for DDR3 1333 seems steep to me.

I would pay $10 more and get a 2TB drive. Or if you just need speed get a cheap 120GB SSD (I did an OCZ 120GB for $90 A/R and with latest firmware its fine) ... I just hate paying the post-flood prices for HDDs (glad I picked up a couple WD 2TB Ext for $55 Staples deal right before that hit!)

You will need a GPU for games.

Not sure on what CoolerMaster reviews look like for power supplies. I stick with Seasonic and classically designed PC Power and Cooling these days. Although I do have an old Ultra 500W that just won't die in one system so I shouldn't be one to poo-poo all cheap ones...
 
For the games this guys playing wouldn't it have been better to go with a 99 dollar 2100 i3? Plus he's on a tight budget and no need for extra coin on a aftermarket heatsink+cooler right?

And would MC have an i3 2100+1155 Mobo-combo or do they not do CPU+Mobo combos with that CPU?

I guess he's already picked up a 2500k but shouldn't he have went with the 2100 and cheaper mobo (he only needs 1 decent GPU IMHO it would max his games easily, so any cheap mobo would work for this guy)

All so he could have not went over-budget and had a solid GPU from the start? Isn't the 2500k overkill for him without an SSD and especially no SLI/CFX for his games needed to max them out? Just wondering...
 
Sadly there are no bundle deals for the 2100 and motherboard at MC now, so it puts the 2500k just slightly higher (and he wanted to buy from MC).
 
I would never build a desktop with an i3, the only reason to go i3 is for power saving, which means they belong in small laptops where runtime is more important than power. Nowhere else.
 
silent-circuit said:
I would never build a desktop with an i3, the only reason to go i3 is for power saving, which means they belong in small laptops where runtime is more important than power. Nowhere else.
Click to expand...

I just built a desktop for a couple that do very light PC use like email, Microsoft Office work, digital camera hookup etc with an Athlon II x2 240e. I also accidentally got an IDE HDD, but you know what? When I had the whole thing put together it ran flawlessly, was stable and was more than fast enough for what they need it for. Point being, there is definitely a reason to use power saving cpu's not just for power saving. They will get decent computing done a very tight budget. And that was with a low power low computer processing power Athlon II... Not a LGA 1155 i3.

I agree with teletran, he should have started with the i3, and later on upgraded as he had the money. Skip the SSD. I just got one and got it installed and while the complete reinstall was a bitch because of everything I had on mine before the payoff has been amazing. But I also know a SSD is not necessary. A 6850 is about as low as I'd go price wise for a GPU, and I know yesterday Newegg had a HIS 6850 on sale for 129.99 with MIR (+shipping of about 8 dollars).

Also, isn't 8GB is RAM a little overboard at this current time for him? Remember, gotta take his budget into consideration. 4GB would have gotten him by and he might have been able to get it for $20, if not that I know for $30.

The other option you can have done manny, is waited a little bit longer and saved a bit more to have the money and not sacrifice.
 
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So what motherboard did you end up going with? And you can't really beat the 2500k combo deals (granted I got the 2600k deal but I have a different budget and use). Also if you don't "need" the system built by the weekend I would just hit up newegg for 1-2 weeks and wait until either a big sale, or enough shell shocker deals turn up to spec your system for a budget. I got some Very nice deals there and all I did was log in, see what is coming up for the day, and check out the email offers. For example, I got N82E16811133179 for 39 with free shipping and a 10 dollar mail in rebate. N82E16817341047 For 60 plus a 20 dollar mail in rebate, and I paid california taxes (sigh). But seriously, if you have some patience you can get a really good deal on really nice hardware, just take your time, a first build shouldn't be rushed anyway.

Finally I don't know if this is decent at all so everyone can tell him not too but I have been trying to figure out what to do with my old video cards, I have 2 3850's in Crossfire, I don't recommend them both but in order to give you 'a' GPU and save you some money I will send you one for the cost of shipping. If the 2500k's integrated graphics is better than that please someone speak up, but I'm new here on [H] and I want to help out a fellow newbie.
 
Just got back from MC.
WOW..!!!!
I figured I'll hopefully keep this system for a while (kept the last one for 9 years), so I decided i could move a couple of bills to next month. So this is what I'm ending up with

From Microcenter
Intel Core i5 2500K $180
Asus P8Z68-V/Gen3 $130 (After $50 savings)
HIS IceQ HD6850 $160 (Before $20 MIR)
OCZ Agility3 60GB SSD $75 (Before $15 MIR)
Kingston HyperX DDR3 1333 2x4GB $30
Cooler Master HAF912 Case $58 (Before $10 MIR)
Cooler Master 200mm fan $23
Vantec IDE to SATA converter $16
Anti-static wrist strap $4

From Newegg
Windows 7 Home Premium 64b $80 (After $20 Promo)
Corsair CX 600Watt PSU $60 (After $10 Promo, Before $20 MIR)
Rosewill RCR-IC002 Card reader $17
LG 22X SATA DVD Burner $16
BYTECC IDE to SATA converter $11

Total $860
Net (After MIRs) $795
So $195 above budget :(

I forgot I had already ordered an IDE to SATA converter and bought another one at MC today. Going to use to add the 160GB IDE HDD in my current PC to this one, for data. The guy at MC convinced to get this SSD instead of the one i was gonna get because even thought this one has lower capacity, it has faster and more consistent read/write speeds. Besides it gave me some extra cash to move up to the Asus P8Z68-V/Gen3 which is a full size ATX instead of mATX board (more room for possible future upgrades).

I have everything except the Windows 7. Once that gets here, i'll start assembly :D:D:D:D
 
extide said:
One thing here, that mobo will not work with that CPU. Thats a G45 chipset board which is lga 775, and a sandy bridge cpu which is lga 1155.

...

You need a lga 1155 board (P65 or Z68 chipset) The Asus P8Z68-V LX is a great starter board.
Click to expand...

While I do admit that the original quotes were way out of whack.. the MSI Z68MA-G45 is a Z68 board, not a G45 board and therefore is a Socket 1155 board.
 
No MC i3 2100 deals IC.

The good thing is that 2500k should last manny quite awile, and you got the mobo savings/bundle so saved 50 buckaroos haha nice. BF3 is the only game I really need a Quad for myself, that and video rendering is faster on a Quad Core CPU, other than that it's almost overkill for me. Maybe if you play Civ 5 the quad helps I think...

I also think 8GB is smart its so cheap now days. Looks like a solid build, yet the videocard might leave something to be desired, but it might also be the perfect fit for you. ;) I can't wait to see what them Keplar cards can do! Nice build bro!
 
I just got done putting it all together. BIOS splash screen :D . Just wish they had delivered my Windows 7 today.
I took pictures, but i can't figure out how to put them on here
 
I guess that's what i get for saving a few $20 with newegg promotion. It took 1 day to get from NJ to OH by UPS, now 7 days and counting from OH to MI by USPS. Funny thing is the UPS website say it arrived at the local USPS office 6 days ago, while the USPS website just says "electronic information received". I really hate waiting.
 
Finally got my Windows 7, fired it up and got a 7.5 on my Windows experience. That's pretty good, right?

Is there a way to get programs/applications to automatically install on my HDD?
 
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