Long time user, first time builder, help needed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gabagimpy
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Gabagimpy

Could someone point me in the direction of a website (with illustrations
preferably) that can help me in building my first PC? Also, what's a good
place to buy parts? Ebay? Newegg? Thanks.
 
Gabagimpy said:
Could someone point me in the direction of a website (with illustrations
preferably) that can help me in building my first PC? Also, what's a good
place to buy parts? Ebay? Newegg? Thanks.
Click to expand...

If you are building for the first time, I'd advise buying only new, and only
from online stores that have gotten good customer feedback on the feedback
sites. There are a lot of things that can go wrong. You don't want one of
the variables to be the used video card you got off eBay, and not knowing if
the system won't boot because you got a bad card, and not being able to
return it.
 
Gabagimpy said:
Could someone point me in the direction of a website (with illustrations
preferably) that can help me in building my first PC? Also, what's a good
place to buy parts? Ebay? Newegg? Thanks.
Click to expand...
I've found Newegg the best to deal with, and for the stuff I've
purchased over the past year, their prices are competitive with anyone.
I also like the reviews on their site of the items -- I like to read
what other buyers experience was with the parts I'm considering
purchasing. Hope this helps.

- Dave Kistner
 
jeffc said:
If you are building for the first time, I'd advise buying only new, and only
from online stores that have gotten good customer feedback on the feedback
sites. There are a lot of things that can go wrong. You don't want one of
the variables to be the used video card you got off eBay, and not knowing if
the system won't boot because you got a bad card, and not being able to
return it.
Click to expand...

Even doing so, you can run into bad hardware. When you're stuck with
a system that won't even beep at you, is it the power supply, the
motherboard, the CPU, or the memory? Which one to return? Even
worse, what happens if it's your mistake? What if you hook up the
wires to the case wrong and the thing won't even turn on?

Building your first system should really be done with the help of
someone who has not only done it before, but has a working computer
that you can use to test your components, just in case nothing works
when you plug everything together and you're sure it's hooked up
right.

Jeff
 
jeff findley said:
Even doing so, you can run into bad hardware. When you're stuck with
a system that won't even beep at you, is it the power supply, the
motherboard, the CPU, or the memory? Which one to return? Even
worse, what happens if it's your mistake? What if you hook up the
wires to the case wrong and the thing won't even turn on?

Building your first system should really be done with the help of
someone who has not only done it before, but has a working computer
that you can use to test your components, just in case nothing works
when you plug everything together and you're sure it's hooked up
right.
Click to expand...

By your logic, we might just as easily conclude that he shouldn't build a
system at all, but buy one from Dell. The point is where to draw the line.
He obviously wants to try building. If he has all new stuff, then he can
come back here for advice on how to figure out a problem, then return
something if there's a defect. I wouldn't recommend buying used stuff on
eBay for his purposes, but I think he can build one from scratch on his own,
just like so many of us have done.
 
jeffc said:
By your logic, we might just as easily conclude that he shouldn't build a
system at all, but buy one from Dell. The point is where to draw the line.
He obviously wants to try building. If he has all new stuff, then he can
come back here for advice on how to figure out a problem, then return
something if there's a defect. I wouldn't recommend buying used stuff on
eBay for his purposes, but I think he can build one from scratch on his own,
just like so many of us have done.
Click to expand...

I agree, but it's nice to have someone locally who can help you out if
you run into trouble. I've built a couple of systems from all new
parts. The last one used the same motherboard and processor as two of
my friends at work used (ECS K7S5A, Athlon XP 1600+), so if I had run
into problems, I could have tested my components in their system.

Most of the time, if you use new components, you know what you're
doing, hook everything up o.k., and don't fry anything with ESD,
the machine will boot up fine the first time. It is scary for some
people to build their first system, depending on whether or not they
think the money involved is significant, or chump change. If it's too
scary, it's easy enough to have a local shop build a computer for you,
but it will cost you more than doing it yourself.

Jeff
 
jeff findley said:
I agree, but it's nice to have someone locally who can help you out if
you run into trouble. I've built a couple of systems from all new
parts. The last one used the same motherboard and processor as two of
my friends at work used (ECS K7S5A, Athlon XP 1600+), so if I had run
into problems, I could have tested my components in their system.

Most of the time, if you use new components, you know what you're
doing, hook everything up o.k., and don't fry anything with ESD,
the machine will boot up fine the first time. It is scary for some
people to build their first system, depending on whether or not they
think the money involved is significant, or chump change. If it's too
scary, it's easy enough to have a local shop build a computer for you,
but it will cost you more than doing it yourself.
Click to expand...

There is always the option of buying the components from the local shop
rather than online and then going to them with questions!
 
When the time comes to do it yourself, that's what you do. If you screw
things up, hey, that's the name of the game, and the fun part is finding
what you did wrong and fixing it. There's a lot of satisfaction from
knowing you did it by yourself, and not as a student of somebody else. Say
you burn up a chip or something, so what? Go buy another one, and now you
have a war story to tell your grand kids.

There's nothing wrong with being a student and watching how it's done,
having your hand held while you get familliar with the parts, etc., but at
some point, it's time to leave the nest and do it on your own.
 
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