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Building A Computer, Worth It?


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I recently put my first box together as well, and I regret most of what I bought (I got it before discovering this site <_< ) So do LOTS of research before buying stuff. With that price range I'll assume your not too worried about saving a few bucks here and there, but to play it safe I'll tell you some good sites to shop around at :)

 

www.bizrate.com

www.dealofday.com (Not that great for anything but HDDs)

www.edealinfo.com

www.epinions.com

www.hot-deals.org (Not that great for anything but HDDs)

www.ibuyernet.net

www.mysimon.com

pcworld.pricegrabber.com

www.pricingnetwork.com

www.pricewatch.com

www.priceworld.com

pricingcentral.pricegrabber.com

www.shopping.com

www.streetprices.com

 

Best of luck to you.

Edited by c0ld

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I'm glad your getting into building your own comp. The world needs more technically educated computer users. When making your first build, I'd recommend a couple of things:

 

1) Get some guides and read over them several times so you have the general process down.

2) Use anti-static protection when working with your computer parts (I.E. wrist strap-you'll hear about that in virtually any book). The actual risk that you are going to fry your parts from ESD (electro static discharge) is very low, but it's good to be cautious anyway.

3) www.newegg.com. This is probably the best online PC hardware shop online. Cheap prices on most items + free shipping make it a 5 star place to shop.

4) Your components can probably handle more than you think. I was really really afraid that I screwed up something with my first build, but it ran fine and booted the first time I turned it on. Unless something is burning, gets wet, or a part physically breaks off, your probably ok. I've stressed virtually every component in my system far beyond it's specs, and everything is still running. Heck, my CPU is running 930 mhz faster than intended!

 

Hope that helps. Also, remember this: as soon as you build your first system, you're going to be a geek and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. :P Good luck. :)

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In my case it was cheaper for me to goto a computer store and get them to have it built and shipped. I got it from a store that sells "just" aopen and acer stuff, but the only two things that are that brand is my case and CDRW. My system cost me a little over a thousand (my budget was a thousand) canadian, which is a really good deal. The online prices seemed really good, but when the price of shipping was added, I ended up taking the cheaper route.

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yes. www.newegg.com is a good place to shop. I would like to add that if a component offers an extended warranty, take it. It will only cost you a few bucks more and its a lot easyer to deal with newegg than a component manufactor. If you have any questions about a part, ask this forum. These people are crap smart and really good to help. I'm dumber than a rock when it comes to a comp, but I pulled it off. Good luck Pal.

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Also you can get good deals on hard drives, CD drives, and other stuff with weekly ads at the Office stores such as bestbuy, compusa, staples, officemax, office depot and others. This is if you dont mind rebates. Though with that price range that wouldnt be much of a problem.

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You have USD I am imagining, which amounts to 2400$ here. For 1600 CDN I got me a P4 800MHz FSB processor @ 2.8 GHz, a gig of ram, ASUS motherboard, 4 really fast clear fans with lights (I think they may be cathode too), 400 Watt power supply, 120 gig HDD, 16x DVDrom, 52x24x52x CD-RW, Radeon 7500 video card, and a soundblaster sound card that nobody needs.

 

Oh, and an acrylic case. Sweet.

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yes highly recommend looking at newegg.com. They have great prices and customer reviews from people who bought the part to tell you weather the parts worth it or not. I am building my first comp soon to. I have some parts, but not all. Cant wait to start.

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I generally research different hardware products for two months before iI buy it. I generally rate hardware based upon reviews of a product and the capabilities of the product in the review. If I see 8 out of 10 reviewers give a product a top notch score, chances are that I will get it. I am really cautious when spending my money on hardware.

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yea man definately build your own, you can build a so much better computer with say $600 than u would get for teh $600 dell. you asked where to reserach i've found several step by step guides online on how to build a computer.

 

here's one

 

and another

 

google is ur best friend.

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