Building a computer

[DragonBlaze]

Well I need a new computer, I think I just killed everything on my old one and broke the OS disks, but I needed a new one anyway.

Alright, I'm gonna buy the parts for a computer and put them together, the problem is that I don't know too much about what's good or not, or what price is good or not. Heres what I have so far though, please let me know if this is a good deal or if I'm being screwed over somehow. Also be sure to tell me any suggestions

First the motherboard and processor:
Mach Speed Viper K8M8MS Socket 754 MicroATX Motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor - $200 (160 after rebates)

RAM: Mushkin Green Line Dual Channel 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory (2 x 512MB) - $80

Hard Drive: Maxtor 120GB 7200 / 8MB / ATA-133 / OEM / Hard Drive - $80

CD Drive: Aopen / 52x32x52x CD-RW / 16x DVD-ROM / Internal Beige Combo Drive - $34

Graphics Card: Integrated, although I will probably update it once I get enough money :p

Audio: Integrated

Case: Linkworld 617-C.88-P4 Grey/Beige Metal ATX Mini Tower Computer Case 300W Power Supply - $30  This has a 300 watt power supply since its a smaller case, would that be enough to power my computer?

Then I also have an operating system, so I don't need to buy a new one of those.

Total Price: About $430 before rebates and before shipping and handling


Oh, my bro also told me I needed some heat sync, but I have no idea what that is... Any help?


If you need any more info or anything on any of the parts, I'm including the links to the pages they're all on.

Motherboard and CPU:http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1226607&CatId=1181

RAM: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1002469

Hard Drive: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=115960

CD Drive:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1268668&CatId=87

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811164011

[AsakuraHao2004]

This kinda helps me... I wanted to build my own too. My local computer shop sells cases for 10-15 dollars, though..

[DragonBlaze]

Yeah I think I can get cases for about that price too, but this case is a small one that sites on its side rather than upright, so its costing me a bit more. One of those would work better for how I want it set up.

I'm putting a 20 inch monitor up in my room with a TV tuner wich will cost about $200, and all I have is a small TV stand with two shelves, and I don't really even have room on the floor for a computer, so having it sit in one of those shelves would probably be best.

[Osmose]

1.Tiger Direct sucks ***. Ordered a videocard from them, took three weeks and cost more.

2. http://www.newegg.com

3.Rosewill seems to be an up an coming computer case company as well as some other things. My case is Rosewill and looks good, dishes out enough power, has more than enough slots, comes with a fan and a funnel for the CPU fan, and is quite sturdy. I highly recommend them.

4.Double check your motherboard to see if it has an AGP slot(or PCI). Most likely, it doesn't because it has integrated graphics, and thusly you won't be able to upgrade it.

5.When you search Newegg, don't limit yourself to microATX. I'm not sure if they perform worse than normal ATX, but I do know that my case can handle both, so there's a chance yours can too. Besides, it being a fance smaller motherboard probably ups the cost.

6.Try to get most of what you order as vendor items and not OEM. If you'd rather pay less for the OEM be prepared to buy cables to go along with your hardware. (OEM means it comes just like it did from the manufacturer, no cords or software or guides)

7.Re-read and triple check everything before you order. The worst thing is to order parts and realize that they aren't compatible. I had the page for my motherboard open the full time while I was selecting parts for my computer.

8.Find someone on your buddy list(not me ;P) that knows enough about hardware to know what's going on to advise you during the buying process. Trust me, there's a lot of questions that pop up.

9.Try to see if you can make sure the cords from your motherboard will reach their slots, like if you have cords for a front sound port that won't reach the front (luckily I never used the port anyway, so it's all good. )

The heat sink your brother was talking about is for the CPU. It's the metal thing below the fan that absorbs the heat so the CPU doesn't melt. If you get your motherboard as vendor it should come with one.

[DragonBlaze]

Well I got the case at newegg. The reason why I got the rest of the stuff from tigerdirect was because of the cpu and motherboard combos. I didn't want to buy two that are incompatable, so I didn't have to worry about that with the combo packs. If I could find the same parts at newegg, I'd rather get it there, but the site is hard to navigate for me anyway...

I looked at the motherboard, and it has one of those APG slots. I don't even know if I will upgrade it, if integrated works good, then I'll stick with that.

I think everything works together, the only thing I'm not sure about is the power supply.

Hmm, I'll look for the parts at newegg, but most likely it'll be too complicated for me. Especially with these nasty spyware that I just can't get rid of...  

[charaman]

nasty spyware: download the trial of stopzilla: itll be gone if 10 seconds.

[DragonBlaze]

Yeah, well I'll try that later. I'll be ordering the parts within the next few days (with a much safter computer). The only other thing I'm gonna use this computer is to back up some stuff on CDs, then I'll be stripping it down for parts. Mainly the modem, possibly a few wires.

Right now I'm using spyware search and destroy, ad-aware, hijackthis, and the pocket kill box. Spyware search and destroy and ad-aware are updated, but they don't come up with anything on their searches, hijackthis comes up with a program called tooumz.exe, but it comes back within 5 seconds of deleting it... Meh, it'll die when I kill the computer.

EDIT: Alright, I found stuff at newegg now. Everything is basically the same, and I'm pretty happy now. Everything seems like It'll work together. In case anyone is really interested, here is all of the links to the parts for this computer.

MoBo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186019
RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103486
HardDrive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152017
Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103486