Well, as the title says, I have recently started shopping for computer parts and such to build myself a custom computer, and after looking at several sites, have become indecisive as to what would probably be best for me to use with my budget and usage of the computer. I am a fairly avid gamer (RPG, FPS, RTS, you name it), and other then that the computer gets rare use other than just surfing or writing. I would like to keep the price between $800-$1000 (the lower the better, closer to $800 if possible), and when looking at the various prices, I wasn't really sure what would be the most bang for my buck. So, if any of you have any experience buying and building your own computer, I would really appreciate it if you could help me start out my shopping list :D

1) I buy pretty much all my computer stuff from www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/)

2) Spend the extra money on a high quality power supply and high quality memory. No name parts will come back to haunt you.

3) Buy a decent Mobo from a reputable company such as Asus.

4) AMD vs Intel is like Ford vs Chevy. Both make good chips. Pick whichever one you get a better buy on(and matches your motherboard)

5) If you use www.pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com/) be very careful of the vendor you pick. Easy to get ripped off. See #1

6) HD's are cheap. Saw an 120GB for $45.00 after rebate at Best Buy last week. Might be worth it to wait a week or 2 for a sale if they are high in your area.

7) DVD burners are dirt cheap now....go that way instead of a cd burner. You'll be happier in the long run.


These are a few general suggestions. I just got home from a 16 hour shift so not in the mood to really think at the moment. I'll be more specific after I get some sleep :)

Visit deal sites like www.slickdeals.net and www.fatwallet.com - they list a lot of good price breaks / rebate deals on their main page, but the best deals come directly from their "Hot Deals" forums.

I would build a system just like this one but go with 2 sticks of 512m.
http://anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2282&p=3

Head on over to www.newegg.com for all your parts. Props to building your computer yourself. You can also head over to www.tomshardware.com to get an idea of preformance for diffrent parts. In general AMD is going to give you more bang for your buck at games. Intel is going to give you more quality parts.
I am assuming you can use some parts from your old computer, so you wont need a monitor keyboard/mouse and speakers. So that will reduce the cost that you can apply to other places. Stepping up the video card is going to be the most noticable if your primary use is gaming.

As has already been said, do whatever you can without skimping on the source of the components.

Simple example is RAM... always buy the likes of Crucial or Kingston (the top brands) and make sure they have a lifetime warranty. (I know for a fact the latter does and I'm 99% sure Crucial does). If you ever have bad RAM you'll have all sorts of problems... even sometimes RAM can have timing problems that aren't picked up by programs such as memtest86 without running it for like a week. I'll bet that most stability problems in Windows XP/2000/NT, if they aren't caused by dodgy drivers or viruses, are down to bad RAM.

On that note, it's also better to get 2 sticks (e.g. 2 x 1GB) than 1 (e.g. 1 x 2GB). That way if there ever are stability problems you can pull one out at a time and determine whether it's RAM or not. (That and a lot of setups are dual-channel nowadays requiring 2 sticks anyway)

I would like to keep the price between $800-$1000 (the lower the better, closer to $800 if possible), and when looking at the various prices, I wasn't really sure what would be the most bang for my buck.
I assume you mean $800 without monitor, because for $800 with a monitor you're going to have to go super bargain basement.

Unquestionably, an nForce3 + Athlon64 combo would give you the best gaming performance, on a budget or otherwise. Athlon64 simply stomps Intel when it comes to gaming, and the price is about the same. Figure about $300 total for the motherboard and a 3200+ CPU, or $250 with a 2800+. Then pick a good budget video card for $200, such as one based on Nvidia's new 6600GT chip. Don't skimp on these two (CPU/video card) as they will define your gaming performance.

Then, add on some budget PC3200 memory ($100 for 512 Mb or $200 for 1 Gb), a small hard drive for $60-80, a good mouse/keyboard (~$50 total), a good Antec case/power supply combo ($50-100), and you've got a great gaming system!

For hardware sites, check newegg and zipzoomfly (formerly Googlegear), both of which I recommend.

Thanks a ton for the recommendations folks. I already have the basic monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, along with a CD-ROM, so your ideas will help a lot :D

After doing a bit of searching I have come down to these:

Mobo (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-254&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
Processor (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-484&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-147&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
Hard Drive (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-029&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
RAM x2 (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-424&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
Case (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-170-018&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)

Anything there that you guys see wrong? I'm fairly new to computer building, so I'm not exactly positive about what fits with what and what I need for what, etc.

1) I prefer ATI vid cards but thats a personal preference.


2) 80Gig is pretty small for a harddrive.
I would probably go with something like http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-203&depa=0

It's 160Gig and same money. Plus I just prefer Western Digital drives although some will disagree with me on that.

3) I would not buy a case with a powersupply.
This Article (http://www20.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/) from www.tomshardware.com (http://www.tomshardware.com/) explaines why.

I buy all my powersupplies from www.pcpowerandcooling.com (http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/) but they are a little pricy. At a minimum take a look at the tomshardware article and pick a brand that is reputable.


These are my suggestions. Your mileage may vary.

btw saw this one pricewatch.com last night

Athlon XP 3200 Mobo + Cpu + 512mb DDR ram for $212

btw saw this one pricewatch.com last night
Athlon XP 3200 Mobo + Cpu + 512mb DDR ram for $212Athlon XP = ancient history. Do NOT get one, get an Athlon64 instead.

Make sure to get a 939 board with a Athlon64 as well, not the socket 754.

Follun - Your processor and motherboard don't match up. You're buying a Socket 754 processor and a Socket 939 motherboard. One or the other needs to change. Following DemonMage's advice go with the 939.

Yes thank you, I didn't see that until you guys said something. As far as the hard drive goes, I currently have a 20 gig HD and I think the closest I have come to filling it up is about 15 gig...so I saw no reason to spend extra money on unused space. Also, after doing a little bit more searching, would something like this (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1133509&CatId=1683) be a better buy?

With that bundle, the rest would be:

Hard Drive (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1074952&sku=THD-1200M)
RAM (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=637682&sku=ULT31022)
Replacement Power Supply (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1069932&sku=E456-1016)
Video Card (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1121824&sku=P450-8529)

A friend of mine recommended this combination, just trying to get some more input on opinions about which would be better. :whistle:

IMO, Tiger Direct sucks... Newegg is in every way superior to it. Try to find those items on Newegg.

Tiger Direct has some bad reseller ratings, it's defin. a "Buyer Beware" site. Don't expect to get any rebates back from them. NewEgg all the way.