dan727
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 p.1 #11 · Desktop recommendation ~ $500 | |
dimitris77 wrote:
I have taken apart my laptop a couple of times in order to put some new paste between the processor and the heat sink. I don't know how easy it would be to put together something together myself but I could definitely try. The only thing is I wouldn't like to spend $500 on parts and the computer not running.  Do you guys have any recommendations for sites with instructions about putting together a PC? It would be a nice project for the upcoming cold winter in Boston. 
Definitely easier than putting a laptop back together. I have been building my own pc for years... but when I had to replace a cracked LCD on my wife's laptop, I almost did not get it put back together.
It is really a simple task these days. Way back when you had to move jumpers around and figure out IRQ's on all your devices. Now it is all just plug and play. Basically you first decide your budget, then you look at AMD versus Intel. Then you buy the components to match. The only hard part is figuring out what type of RAM you need to buy.
My motherboard died last week so I went ahead and bought an i5 cpu and motherboard. After plugging in the cpu, ram, power, and connectors like lights, fans and drives, I turned it on, put a cd in the drive and within 40 minutes the OS was loaded.
My favorite forum is forums.anandtech.com, lots of helpful advice. But if you just google you can probably find some good tutorials with pictures. The forums are handy for getting advice on components.
UCSB wrote:
I added up the parts in a new computer that I purchased last week ... they totaled $2,155 ... my price from the manufacturer $2,035. I'm pretty sure that the refurb units are going for less than their parts cost. I'm not saying that you can't build a computer yourself on the cheap ... you can ... but, if you are not careful parts will add up.
You just cannot compete with OEM's like Dell and the like... they have the buying power to get very good bulk pricing. They also pay a heck of a lot less for Windows than someone buying it from an online source. It would be hard to beat a prebuilt machine price wise...but in many cases you come away with a system that is more upgradeable, sometimes faster components, and you also come away with then being able to not have to pay someone $50 to upgrade your ram or cpu..
Edited on Nov 02, 2009 at 07:41 PM · View previous versions
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