Building

[Rofl]

Hey guys, I'm going to be building myself a new system for a school project. I want my desktop to be somewhat upgradeable within the next 2 to 3 years but also want enough power to game, which I've never been able to do with the systems I have owned in the past.

I will be building the PC sometime this winter hopefully, so I can use some Christmas money for parts. Hopefully I will have around a 1000 dollar budget just for the computer itself, no monitor or anything else. What I wanted to ask you all is: what are your recommended builds? This is mainly to see what the SF crew likes in terms of processor cores, video cards, specific brands, etc.

Thanks in advance and hopefully this can turn into a discussion thread.

Note: I'm not asking for a complete build, just suggestions on certain parts. Thanks.

[St0rmW1nd]

I recommend getting a Intel Quad Core 3.0 GHz, my friend bought this and it suited him just fine for the past year, never had to upgrade yet.

[Rofl]

I recommend getting a Intel Quad Core 3.0 GHz, my friend bought this and it suited him just fine for the past year, never had to upgrade yet.

Yeah, I think going quad would be the best decision for me, since I want this build to last. I was thinking maybe i5 or i7 with a P55 or X58, respectively. What are you all's opinions on those processors/mobos?

[Kharnage]

Be sure to always ground yourself before you build your computer.

[Viciousness]

Be sure to always ground yourself before you build your computer.

Very true, you can destroy everything if you don't.

[Stephon]

I suggest looking around on TigerDirect. They bundle mobo's and CPU's together, so it saves time and money. Then all you have to find is a case, GPU, cooling, and RAM.

[h4ck3d-]

if you need places to look for parts try tiger direct or newegg those are great sites i prefer tiger direct though.

[SeRCH4]

I personally thing that buying one is cheaper these days. Back than yes building your own PC was the way to go, since they are so cheap now, It might come out to be even more expensive. It is fun tho building your own PC

[Stephon]

You're mistaken. Building your own computer saves you money and you get better specs than buying it at BestBuy or Fry's.

[theEND]

Building your own PC gives you more bang for your buck. Remember to ground yourself. Get a video card made in the last few months to a year, I recommend Nvidia. Get at least 1GB of RAM, bare minimum. When buying RAM, faster RAM will be better than a larger quantity, but having faster RAM and a large amount is great if you can. I do not recommend using Vista, since you're going to be doing gaming. Stick to XP for the moment until you feel comfortable upgrading to Windows 7. If you can order parts online, check Newegg. Buy a quad-core or a high quality Dual-core CPU (I'm using an AMD Phenom). Remember to make sure all of your parts are compatible (I made the mistake of buying a 24-pin power supply without checking whether or not it had a 6 pin extension... Don't make that mistake.) Hard Drives, I wouldn't go below 100 GB if you're putting games on there. Don't forget the ever-important disk drives (CD-R is the minimum you need). The case, make sure it fits with the motherboard and PSU (Power supply unit) you choose to buy. Don't go buying a mobo suited for a Tower case when you buy a Shuttle case.

This is just random bits of information I remember from when I built my first computer. Good luck on the computer, and have fun. =P