home built

[sailorsix]

I have no history of building Heathkit TV or ham radios but all of my co-workers in IT have all built their own PC's for home use. Some get the parts at Tiger Direct but they also source from a bunch of underground suppliers.

My question is what should I price out for my own use.
I want to surf and email but the one app that I need to upgrade for is Photoshop which is a RAM hog. I don't do gaming, doubtful that I will use Netflix but would like to be ready.
What are the parts that I should list?

Thanks.

 

[basketcase]

Canada Computers generally has better prices than tigerdirect and for a few bucks more they will put together the parts you buy. It's really not that hard to do though if you have even basic skills with a screwdriver.

For your uses you don't need to go too high end on the CPU or graphics card and you can likely just take the DVD drive and maybe even hard drive from your old system.

Somewhere on here there is a good thread about building computers. Might be a little out of date but should still be useful.

 

[needinit]

... but all of my co-workers in IT have all built their own PC's for home use. Some get the parts at Tiger Direct but they also source from a bunch of underground suppliers.

My question is what should I price out for my own use.
...

Thanks.

Why don't you just ask your co-workers...seems like a quicker and more reliable way to get the information you want?

 

[onthebottom]

Here is some inspiration for you: http://thechive.com/2011/02/23/computer-case-mods-fit-for-the-gods-of-m-nerds-28-photos/

OTB

 

[Master_Bates]

what's your budget?

 

[Cobster]

Definitely build your own. Running my own made (buddy at Canada Computers) built it for me. But i bought the parts piece meal from various places (NewEgg in the States shipped to a friend in Buffalo), Canada Computers and that's it actually. lol
I suggest you buy the RAM from the U.S. if you have somewhere to ship to in the States and can pick up. At least at the time when I bought RAM, it was HALF the price it was here in Canada.

Still runs great, powerful, enough for my needs - I don't game at all.

You won't regret it, just don't buy super cheap parts, go mid-range and you'll do fine.
......like Master Bates asked, what's your budget? That's the starting point and then you go from there.
Check out www.tomshardware.com join their forum and post there, the tech heads will make you nuts with helping you.

 

[WoodPeckr]

Why don't you just ask your co-workers...seems like a quicker and more reliable way to get the information you want?

Good idea really.

For what you are planning to use it for which is not that demanding, buying one ready made may be just as good. PCs are cheap. Here in the States you can get an excellent PC for < $300 that comes with 64 bit WIN 7 in it. W7 alone will run you ~$100 so that means you are getting the PC for ~$200.

 

[onthebottom]

Definitely build your own. Running my own made (buddy at Canada Computers) built it for me. But i bought the parts piece meal from various places (NewEgg in the States shipped to a friend in Buffalo), Canada Computers and that's it actually. lol
I suggest you buy the RAM from the U.S. if you have somewhere to ship to in the States and can pick up. At least at the time when I bought RAM, it was HALF the price it was here in Canada.

Still runs great, powerful, enough for my needs - I don't game at all.

You won't regret it, just don't buy super cheap parts, go mid-range and you'll do fine.
......like Master Bates asked, what's your budget? That's the starting point and then you go from there.
Check out www.tomshardware.com join their forum and post there, the tech heads will make you nuts with helping you.

As Pekkkr pointed out, with prices so low what was your motivation to bother?

OTB

 

[WoodPeckr]

As Pekkkr pointed out, with prices so low what was your motivation to bother?

OTB

This even worked when buying my Dell i7 over a couple years ago. Back then I was thinking of building my own i7 PC. Priced out the parts and it came to ~$1200-$1350. Then all that was needed was to get the components, assemble them and hope there were no compatibility issues when you fire it up. At that time Best Buy and Dell ran a promotion on an excellent i7 model Dell desktop for $1019.99! Checked it out and played around with it. It was sweet. Got it to replace my 14 yr old Pent II that BTW still runs better than when it was new but was getting a bit long in the tooth. So far that Dell has been running W7 flawlessly and Linux even better as a dual boot system....knock on wood!....

 

[oldjones]

Not that the guys haven't been giving good tips, and as a Heath and DynaKit vet I truly wish you the best and expect you'll do well, but…
…is an escort review board really the best place Google turned up for you?

 

[WoodPeckr]

LOL!
Perhaps not the best place but just another place discuss/pass info...

 

[Master_Bates]

As Pekkkr pointed out, with prices so low what was your motivation to bother?

OTB

Personally... home built computers aren't about saving money... it's about getting the exact components you want in your PC. It allows you the most options to get exactly what you want/need. And for those that want the best performance, its the only way to get it.

Think of it like a house... you can either get a cookie cutter home that lots of other people have, even if you choose different options its still similar to everyone elses... now if you design your own, you can have something truly unique and more closely meets your needs/wants

 

[onthebottom]

Personally... home built computers aren't about saving money... it's about getting the exact components you want in your PC. It allows you the most options to get exactly what you want/need. And for those that want the best performance, its the only way to get it.

Think of it like a house... you can either get a cookie cutter home that lots of other people have, even if you choose different options its still similar to everyone elses... now if you design your own, you can have something truly unique and more closely meets your needs/wants

I get that but it didn't sound like he built a high performance machine, he didn't build it himself so I'm wondering what the motivation was.

OTB

 

[splooge]

tomshardware.com - alot of ideas of different builds optimized for unique purposes with various budgets kept in mind.

You can do amazing photoshop work with a processor from 2002. ie, an Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor supporting HyperThreading Technology 3.06 GHz, 512K Cache, 533 MHz FSB for $30. Just be sure that the rest of the pc is up to snuff and it will fly when handling multiple layered photoshop graphics and pics.