Just finished new home PC build, wowsers!(free)

[ezbtr]

2.8G proc, 1G 2700 RAM, XPPro, killer sound card/speakers, w/ woofer(actually can hookup 6 spkrs, but neighbors would kille me), 80G HD(could add a few more) dig video card, replaced CPU fan, cost was NADA. I love it when spare parts pop up........

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Just finished new home PC build, wowsers!(free)

I have a tower with bad mother board.
I wish I was in the know so I could build a good one.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Just finished new home PC build, wowsers!(free)

I can remember my first build, it wasn't my computer but we had to build it for a customer, it was during my electronics class back in 96 (I wanna say), it had good ole windows 95 installed on it. My first computer was a Pentium 133, I still have the hard drive somewhere.

I wished I had some up to date parts to build a computer with, I have a 486 mother board I just got through sticking up in storage . We have a place here local that you can buy a Pentium 4 or newer tower for $50 just for a tower, then for a complete computer you can pay $120 to $200 tops.

How's that computer working out for you? Are you using it now?

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: Just finished new home PC build, wowsers!(free)

A 486 motherboard is going to require an AT case most likely which are not as plentiful these days.The power supply for an AT style case will also be harder to find.The case style that replaced the AT style case was an ATX style which was significantly different both in the power supply that is required and the motherboard itself that it was designed to use.
Basically the ATX case was designed to accept a newer industry standard motherboard that incorporated sound and video onboard rather than having to add additional cards that used up the slots on the board.
The newer boards now have a network adapter built in among other things so you can buy a used motherboard on ebay for 30 bucks that has just about everything you need to build a system.
Be careful of the Dell PIII systems as their boards and power supplies were proprietary and you cannot mix them with the industry standard stuff without problems.
Intel made the 810/815 boards for especially for Dell and they also made them for the rest of us so you need to be sure what you are getting before you buy.
I would suggest buying Scott Muellers "Upgrading and repairing PCs",it is expensive but there is no other single source of accurate info to be had in one place when it comes to PC hardware and software as well to some extent.There are several versions out there covering just about every generation of computer and following the eveloution from the beginning to the current products on the market today.Ron G

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Just finished new home PC build, wowsers!(free)

yup, I've been using this new one for a few weeks, had to work out some bugs(sound card) but works very well and is quick. PC's are pretty easy to work on, just like cars My first one was a IBM XT ??? Actually before that an Apple system, no harddrives, just diskettes then a P133 on W95 that lasted for like 8 yrs??? I donate prtrs., P3's and a few P4's to sons school at times too. Great way to get rid of old still usable systems

 

[beezee28]

Re: Just finished new home PC build, wowsers!(free)

The day of computers, I remember that my 1st computer was a 386 SX with 2mb of RAM and a 40MB of HD with sound card and a video card running windows 3.0 and a 15 inch CRT color monitor. Now the smallest flash drive is bigger than the combine Ram and hard added together. Technology has come a long, long way in such a short time. Now I have an Intel motherboard that is 3.2hz with Core2Quad, 4GB of RAM and 2x500gb HD and a 512mb killer video card with dual digital interface and 2x20 inches LCD monitor. Probably overkill but I have it now. MAybe it would be come obsolete in 2 years time, who knows as technology advance.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Just finished new home PC build, wowsers!(free)

MAybe it would be come obsolete in 2 years time, who knows as technology advance.

I doubt it. I bought this computer, a 3.5ghz with a gig of ram and a 200gig HD back in early 2006. Here we are, 2008, and only having put a mack daddy (for the day) 256mb video card (which slams every game I can find) and added a single gig of ram and it's not outdated, it still rocks and plays every game I could possibly want to play. I can max out graphics of intense games like IL-2 1946 and BF2 (well almost maxed out on that game) and still play them fine.

I feel that computers have slowed down their speed rush of the early 2000's. No more is a computer outdated in a few months.

 

[i386]

Re: Just finished new home PC build, wowsers!(free)

I have a tower with bad mother board.
I wish I was in the know so I could build a good one.

It's not that hard. For your first one, I'd recommend getting a "bare-bones system" as a package deal. A bare-bones system is a motherboard, processor, and ram sold as a set. From there you can decide which of your existing components to keep. For example your old hard drive may be IDE, but the new motherboard only works with SATA. If you're not into games, a motherboard with integrated Video and Sound and Network interface may be fine. In that case, you just pick out a hard drive, optical drive(s), case and power supply and you're good to go. Newegg.com is a good place to start. Lots of folks use Tiger Direct too. As far as specific hardware goes, I can't recommend anything right now as I tend to only keep up with it when I'm about to build a new one for myself. I do tend to go with AMD as I feel you get more bang for the buck but that's a personal preference. I buy ASUS motherboards and will continue to do so until they give me a reason not to. There's plenty of folks here that will help you if you decide to take on this project. It'll be rewarding for sure.