so ive been obsessed with building my own computer, most folks have told me not to as its cheaper to just go to future shop or staples and buy one. but after installing ram and a cdrw into my hunk o junk hp6532, decided that i would love to take up the challenge of building one myself. im no techy by any stretch of the imagination, i just love to get my hands dirty learning new things...

so this is how i found this site, reading many reviews trying to find out how something i can afford performs. this is what i came up with in my search for a new computer:

icute 302 case w/3 fans & 400wpsu
asus p4p80-mx motherboard
intel celeron d 320 2.4 gh 533fsb
zalman cnps7000acu heatsink/fan (the more i read here the more i was convinced of this one!!)
ocz400512eldc-k dual channel kit (im not a gamer and wouldnt know how to overclock if i tried, i looked on my machine at home...slow thats it!!!)
lite on 16xdvdrom
lite on sohw1633s dvdrw (matching black ones)
wd1200jd cavier se 120gb sata, 7200rpm, 8mb, 8.9ms(not sure what that is)

my big concern is figuring out the bios, the pieces im sure i can get together fine. i have some friends who will help me if i ask so im not too worried really about that either, and i signed up here.

i love the rigs here and got a kick out of the site name, my gf tells our friends im doing the pimp my pc, so i loved finding this site!

i will post more when i start buying all the pieces, any comments, suggestions, tips are welcome as im just learning everything i can now.

thats me, ciao

First thing, don't get a celeron. I'm not an Intel guy by any stretch of the imagination, but Celeron's suck. Get yourself a new P4 and pocket the five bucks difference in performance. It's worth it, I swear.

I don't know why you need two disc drives, really. I know that some people might like to copy, but if you have a hard drive big enough you can just have them cached to the hard drive in Nero or whatever. I'd say drop that just for price, but it's all preference.

Umm... hard drive. the 8.9ms is the seek time, basically, the quickest it can access data. Smaller is better.

Hard drive will be the only thing you'll have to configure in the BIOS. There'll be a screen to set the boot order, you want to make sure SATA is set at highest (after CD-ROM, of course), but, you should be able to just plug everything in and go.

I'll assume you know how to install Windows properly and I remind you to grab your components' latest drivers from the website and burn to a CD before you get going so that you can install new drivers on a fresh install.

Also, about the mobo, I think it's a bit on the side of weak. A mobo with integrated graphics (I'm assuming from the -mx and no vid card listed) won't have as good of performance as a standalone mobo and vid card. Wait a bit and people'll come and give better answers.

Have fun on your first build and welcome to PimpRig

Do you have a specific budget?

If assuming your on a tight budget here and thats the reason for the celeron. In that case I will enlightin you that as a general rule of thumb a REAL P4 a few clock speeds slower than a celeron will generally outperform it. For Instance you would be better off to get a 2.2 GHz Pentium 4 over a 2.4 or 2.6 GHz celeron........the slower P4 will outperform the celeron. Overclocking messes this theory up a bit but it holds true at stock speeds.

Dont worry about the BIOS or the build, fairly straight forward. You have alot of advise and info at your fingertips here, just dont get frazled.

One great thing about it is that building a computer is fairly hard to mess up. Most things can only plug into where they are designed to go and only fight in where they are supposed to fit in the case. Be careful and take your time. Bios is not really much of a big deal since it should auto recognize most everything you need. Search the forums for questiosn you have and if oyu cant find the answer just post a question.

I would defintly agree on going with a P4 over a celeron. Gaming or not you will still notice a difference.

Good luck man

thanks for the info so far.

i dont want to go overboard on this...that may be too late im hitting about $700 so far with taxes.

the motherboard does have a graphics card in it: Intel Extreme Graphics 2

heres a link for it: http://www.eglobalonline.com/ProductDetail.asp?id=8887

im in vancouver canada, any tips on where to buy there would be cool. i found eglobal from someone who overheard me talking about upgrading my computer, and they have some of the cheapest prices on parts.

dont all motherboards have some type of graphics card in it already? i was planning on just using that for now and when i get some more money getting a card.

gruvee

Not all mobos have on-board graphics.

VERY IMPORTANT - READ THIS

Also not ALL motherboard have an AGP slot (or PCI Express). Some have onboard graphics and no AGP slot, therefore hosing your plans of upgrading to a kick ass graphics card. I have made the mistake of not checking and have ended up with a few of these before - luckily they were business machines and they arent going to ever upgrade them anyways.......

Using onboard graphics till you get a decent card is a good plan, just dont plan on much gaming - onboard blows goats.

Quote: Originally Posted by Gruveechyk thanks for the info so far. i dont want to go overboard on this...that may be too late im hitting about $700 so far with taxes. the motherboard does have a graphics card in it: Intel Extreme Graphics 2 heres a link for it: http://www.eglobalonline.com/ProductDetail.asp?id=8887 im in vancouver canada, any tips on where to buy there would be cool. i found eglobal from someone who overheard me talking about upgrading my computer, and they have some of the cheapest prices on parts. dont all motherboards have some type of graphics card in it already? i was planning on just using that for now and when i get some more money getting a card. gruvee

Thats a good mobo - they make some of the best. I have used a couple of these SOYO boards with good lluck

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...139-147&depa=1

They have onboard graphics with TV out and some of the reviewers have said the graphics isnt that bad. They support 800mhz FSB and prescotts. In fact I have one in my closet right now.

If your interested (or anyone else for that matter) I would sell it for $50 plus shipping via carrier of your choice. Its not in the original box but has the drivers and all the necessary books, cables etc.

I really have collected a bunch of crap lately and need to thin it down.

EDIT: Thats $50 USD - not sure what that is in canadian money, probably an elk and 2 moose?

thanks aaron, i think i will stick with it, it can be updated later on with a graphics card.

heres my case: http://www.casepower.com.tw/english/...ts/SL/0302.htm scroll down for the deets, its ready, but silver and i want it black, i will probably paint it before i get the rest of the parts.

i found this p4 for $155: http://www.atic.ca/index.php?page=LongDesc&sku=05476

i also love searching for the best price!

ive also decided for my next project, pimp my current hp, i think this motherboard will fit the box...ooooh im so excited!!!

ok, i picked up the case and its not the right one, i called the guy and he will take care of it for me its 350w instead of 400w, small but significant detail since i asked him about it and he assured me it was it!!! but its really cool, i went to a couple of shops and took all my self control to not buy all my parts, that and i dont have the money yet but already checking out different stuff to make it more powerful.

the case has a top and side window with fans on both, if i didnt have to return it i woulda set up my junker in it to see how it worked it looked all lit up

i have paints and supplies from painting my custom built bicycle that im thinking of using to paint my old pc, that should keep me busy till i get all my parts...is this normal to be so impatient to get it going?

Oh, it's normal alright. I'm jealous of the fact that you have something to be doing with your pc in the meantime . . . when I first majorly updated my pc when I first got into PR (back in 2003), I formatted and reinstalled my pc like 8 times while waiting for the parts to come in . . . all in the name of 'making sure I'd have my technique perfected'.

Oh, and Welcome to PR. Looks like there'll be no prob at all for you to fit in 'round here.

well...now theres something else i can do

Would you consider AMD?

They are the beast bang for the buck, a 2800+ AMD 64 is around the same price (108$) as the celeron, but will kick it's ass in gaming, along with more expensive Pentium 4's!

http://www.portatech.com/catalog/products.asp?ID=301

i will look into it, i think the mobo can use amd as well...or i can find a new one then, i have heard that amd is better cant remember why i picked that one...

I agree with what necro said.. get yourself a nice AMD 64 system. with a 700 dollar budget you should have a sufficient amount of money to get a 9600pro or maybe 9600xt.

Trust me a A64 2800+ will blow that celeron out of the water! its probably like 3 times better.


You should be able to also fit a DFI DFI "LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb" with in the budget
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...136-147&depa=0

Also check out newegg.com they most likely carry everything that you need. ( Case ,RAM, Video card, mobo, proccy, etc.)

Okay, so I just went to newegg and added the following to my shopping cart just to see how much it would cost to build a system that is better than the one you listed, for less money. it contains the following:

Rosewill ATX Case with 400W Power Supply and Side Window (Black), Model "TU-155"

Lite-On 16X, Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive, Model SOHW-1633S Black

SONY Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive, Model DDU1613/B2s

Hitachi 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model HDS722512VLSA80

Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200

CHAINTECH "SK8T800" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU

AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor

Rosewill nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/HDTV-Out, AGP 8X, Model "R66GT-128"

Plenty of power for USD$695.08
V-O

HAHA ..... And he wants to make a $800 celeron system.......

:X

wow, mace...im a girl and re-read the posts, almost $700, ive actually brought that price down to $600 with a p4 now...i dont think i like you, you sound like a dumbass

thanks for the effort vo, but im shoppin in canada where im from, ive been looking at amd mobos and processors but so far am sticking with intel. when i get abit more time to research it and find out what everything means then i may change my mind. im also shopping specifically in van where i live

what is a lan partyline thing? what do i need that for? like i said in my first post, im learning this stuff, try not to let the testosterone flow to fast here and splain a bit.

its justa bad day not pms, my co-worker sucks ass!!! i love those guns!!!

Gruveechyk, basically the difference between AMD and Intel boils down to what you'll be doing most with the computer . . . Intel is strongest at business type apps (Running the Office proggies and the such) where as AMD's are much stronger at gaming in general (Tho, for some reason, Quake 3 has ALWAYS run better on Intel).

Beyond that, it really boils down to personal choice. I prefer AMD because for the same approx. processing power, you pay a fair bit less.

You'll probably end up hearing dozens of arguments supporting both chips, tho . . .

Just keep up with what you've been doing, tho . . Gather up the info, make your own choices. Experience is always the best teacher . . .

*grins* But you already seem to have a grip on all that, so that part's nothing new. Keep up the good work finding those new deals, too! Dropping the price by $100 bux is HUGE!