Building a PC

[PeterT]

@Harry; I agree totally on all your points.

The only reason for even using the upgrade trick would be to bypass the need to install an earlier system that was legally a fulll version and then possibly head through a series of legal upgrades.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Iznogood

Another benefit from building a system yourself is that you can actually buy a large and expensive e.g. power supply (PSU) and re-use it the next time you build something new.

These days I have to keep two power supplies on hand because we move often between countries that use 240v and 100v. I blew up one power supply when I forgot to change it after a move, and just plugged it in and turned it on. A 100v unit does NOT like to receive 240v...


Stitchawl

[SteveEisenberg]

I built the one I am typing this on about 7 weeks ago -- the first I built rather than bought since the early Pentium days.

It is easier than it used to be.

The web site I liked best for parts guidance was http://www.hardwaresecrets.com -- power supply reviews there are especially impressive.

[Iznogood]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I blew up one power supply when I forgot to change it after a move, and just plugged it in and turned it on. A 100v unit does NOT like to receive 240v...

ouch. Hope that was an inexpensive one

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Iznogood

ouch. Hope that was an inexpensive one

Well, it taught me a lesson; I never seem to learn from my mistakes. This was not the first 100v item I blew up plugging it into 240v, and I have a feeling it won't be the last. We're getting ready to move back to a 240v country, and of course, all our electrics are 100v right now... Sure comes as a surprise when you throw the switch and hear a loud 'pop' and a big puff of smoke!


Stitchawl

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Well, it taught me a lesson; I never seem to learn from my mistakes. This was not the first 100v item I blew up plugging it into 240v, and I have a feeling it won't be the last. We're getting ready to move back to a 240v country, and of course, all our electrics are 100v right now... Sure comes as a surprise when you throw the switch and hear a loud 'pop' and a big puff of smoke!


Stitchawl

We used to call that the "Smoke Test."

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

This was not the first 100v item I blew up plugging it into 240v, and I have a feeling it won't be the last.

Maybe next to last

More and more, devices automatically adjust to voltage.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by cromag

I did a lot of hardware maintenance on computers back in the 80s, when things were actually more cramped and difficult inside most computer cases, we didn't have "screwless" mounts for disk drives, etc. Aside from a hard drive replacement a few years ago, I really haven't done any significant hardware work since then ...

But I've been accumulating the parts I need for a new computer for a few months, now. At this point I'm really just procrastinating, but I should be getting into it in a few weeks.

Keep in mind that there are a few sites that provide "kits" of parts for builders with all, or most of the parts you'll need. It can be easier and (a little) cheaper to go this route if they have specs that meet your needs, especially if you're looking for something off the beaten path -- like a gamer PC, a media PC, etc.

Originally Posted by PeterT

I know that if I look at (for instance) TigerDirect and their kits, I am not that impressed by the quality of what they include.

I got some components from Tiger when I was upgrading my computer, a few years ago, but the core of my present project came from Newegg. It had the exact case I was going to get separately (an Antec One Hundred), plus a good "media PC" motherboard and processor, and an ample power supply.

[RickyMaveety]

I built my own pcs for about 20 years. The last one cost me about $5000 (in 2005), but it was sweet. Four flat screen monitors, 3TB of disk space, a 1000W power supply, 4gb of RAM, and two graphics cards with a bridge.

I built it strictly for gaming and graphics. I ran my business off my laptop.

The only caveat I have for your own build is to be certain each manufacturer and/or vendor has quality customer service and tech support, and to start and finish your build soon after buying your parts. There are few things worse than getting a defective mobo, and when you try to replace it finding that the new model has a configuration that will not work for the build.

Also, make sure you have a functioning computer with a CD or DVD drive and an Internet connection handy. I also keep binder with all my software and updates (along with registration information), and drivers with updates. That binder also contains a list of installation quirks, if any.

Be prepared to tear your hair out, and then you won't have to.

[bizzybody]

I've been a computer (ab)user since 1983. Aside from my first few, a TI-99/4A, a Xerox 820-II, a PCjr, a model 5150 IBM PC, I've assembled all mine from various parts and pieces. (There's also the various Macintoshi I've had, but until they went Intel they were Macs, not PCs, aright? Some of those I had to put together from bits too.)

DDR3 in a triple channel configuration is currently the newest and fastest RAM. If you're a *serious* gamer, a sub $100 PCI Express x16 video card is just not going to get the job done. Wikipedia has very good articles on the specifications of all the ATi and nVidia GPU chips.

As for the power supply, more watts = better. Make sure to get one with the right plugs for the motherboard, video card, additional CPU power and all your drives.

Peruse this page for power plug info. http://www.playtool.com/pages/psucon...onnectors.html

As for the drives, get SATA. It's faster than the old IDE and the tiny cables are easier to keep out of the way of other things.

If you *must* have a floppy drive, there are still a few boards made with the connector, usually also including one IDE connector.

If you want to connect it to a TV, get a video card with an HDMI connector. It will have an SPDIF connector to route digital audio out through the HDMI.

Unless you're a super "golden ear" audiophile type, the built in multi-channel sound on most motherboards is perfectly fine. Don't waste money on a super fancy sound card, unless you really really want to.

The way to get a PC booting faster is with a Solid State Drive or SSD. Install the operating system and programs to it, but save all your data to a hard drive. look up how to redirect your web browser caches to a location other than their defaults.

An SSD can wear out, but current ones are very robust. NEVER use a defragmenter on an SSD. It's completely pointless. All solid state storage devices (except the very earliest ones from the early 90's nobody uses anymore) use a "wear leveling" system where writes are randomly scattered across the chips. "Defrag" it and the files will appear to the OS as if they're not fragmented, but will still be scattered randomly.

There's no track to track or sector to sector seek times with an SSD. Every memory cell is accessible at the same speed. Defragmenting an SSD just puts more wear on it.

I'm still using the same 12 bay giant tower case I bought in 2000. I dubbed it "Megatower 2000". I was fed up with weeny little mini and mid tower cases all cramped and hard to get into. It's been through a succession of motherboard, drives and other pieces to the point where only the case remains from the original Pentium III system. Its last major upgrade was to an AMD Athlon 64 3500+, Socket 939 - circa 2005~06. I just got another gig of RAM (DDR1) and ordered a 64x2 3800+ CPU. Other cheap PCs with supposedly faster CPU and RAM tech have come and gone, ye olde big box beat them all.

'Course if I put together something with a 4 or more core CPU, triple channel DDR3 and all the really latest goodies, Megatower 2000 would be left in the dust.

One thing I really want to upgrade is the RAID 5 array. It's four 200 gig SATA II drives connected to a PCI *hardware* RAID controller with all 4 ports internal. Such a card was insanely hard to find. Most of them for some reason have 2 internal and 2 external ports and/or use software driven RAID.

The thing with a hardware RAID controller on a plug in card is it's completely transparent to the OS, appearing as a single drive, and the card and drives can be moved to another computer without having to backup the data and rebuild the array as must be done with a motherboard integrated RAID controller. (Unless the new board uses a 100% identical controller and RAID firmware.)

I'd love to get four 1TB drives for it, if I can find a super deal. I got the controller on eBay at a low price and the drives are OEM "white label" Seagate, around $200 for all a few years ago. Total storage with the RAID and other drives is 3/4 TB.

I've a single 1TB external drive connected to another PC - I *need* to upgrade MT2K's storage situation.

As for a case, how about something like this? http://cheezburger.com/6875364096

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bizzybody

If you *must* have a floppy drive, there are still a few boards made with the connector, usually also including one IDE connector.

If you must have a floppy drive, get a USB one. Less than $20 from Amazon, and works fine. I have one for the increasingly rare occasions that I need to use floppy disks. Absolutely no point in wasting a drive bay for something that you're only going to use once in a blue moon!

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you must have a floppy drive, get a USB one. Less than $20 from Amazon, and works fine. I have one for the increasingly rare occasions that I need to use floppy disks. Absolutely no point in wasting a drive bay for something that you're only going to use once in a blue moon!

I bought a generic USB floppy drive three years ago. I think I paid about $10-$12 for it. I needed to access an old diskette I found in the bottom of a drawer, and wanted to know what was on it. That was also the last time I had any use for it, and now sits in the drawer space formally occupied by the disk! It keeps company with a 'Zip drive' that hasn't seen any use for even longer. With the price of 128gb flash drives or memory cards going down so quickly and storage size going up just as fast, it may soon make even hard drives be relegated to that same drawer!

Stitchawl