new computer build

skives

what would it cost to build a pc from sratch?

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bighornsheep

that depends alot on what your requirements are.

standard headless pc today should be about 300-500. But you can always build some gamer's rig for upward 1500-2000, or perhaps even more.

TheShadow

I just built one over the weekend with the sole intent of testing Vista. I am not hard core so I don't do bleeding edge but I don't want donkey carts either.

Core2 duo 6300 retail w ECS MicroATX motherboard $159 at Frys The retail box includes intels stock cooler.

OCZ DDR2 2x1Gig $199 - $50 rebate at Frys so $149 total

ThermalTake 430 watt sATA supply $39 at PCClub

XFX 6800XT AGP 8x 256Meg 256bit DDR3 (motherboard is AGP and i did not want to buy another so I looked for a aero compatible card) $119 PCClub special

Seagate 500GB sATA2 16meg + Seagate 250G sATA 8meg (Newegg special both drives) for $209 free shipping

I am in California so your prices may vary. Obviously I relied on holiday pricing because a Core2 duo retail is over $200 alone and I got the chip plus motherboard for much less. Tack 8.5 percent on all the above for state sales taxes. So it was around $700 I guess with more memory than needed and far more storage but when you consider that Nivida top of the line 8800 gaming video card costs over $600 alone I did fairly well.

I did use an existing case that I had laying around but cases out here range from $30 to $150 with 300 to 400watt supplies. System is wired to my 8 port KVM so no was monitor needed. I have a 21 inch CRT for gaming and a 20 inch LCD for most other stuff.

Oh Vista is pretty with all the eye candy but other than that I am not impressed very much as of yet. Still need to find a 64 bit driver for the video card to test that version but I am in no hurry.

Orion82698

IMO... unless you're building a system for gaming, or anything high end, I would just get one from a manufacture. You can get a system from DELL (if you watch for specials) for under $500 w/ a 17 LCD and it's perfect for running home stuff, and even some gaming.

elover_jm

TheShadow wrote:

I just built one over the weekend with the sole intent of testing Vista. I am not hard core so I don't do bleeding edge but I don't want donkey carts either.

Core2 duo 6300 retail w ECS MicroATX motherboard $159 at Frys The retail box includes intels stock cooler.

OCZ DDR2 2x1Gig $199 - $50 rebate at Frys so $149 total

ThermalTake 430 watt sATA supply $39 at PCClub

XFX 6800XT AGP 8x 256Meg 256bit DDR3 (motherboard is AGP and i did not want to buy another so I looked for a aero compatible card) $119 PCClub special

Seagate 500GB sATA2 16meg + Seagate 250G sATA 8meg (Newegg special both drives) for $209 free shipping

I am in California so your prices may vary. Obviously I relied on holiday pricing because a Core2 duo retail is over $200 alone and I got the chip plus motherboard for much less. Tack 8.5 percent on all the above for state sales taxes. So it was around $700 I guess with more memory than needed and far more storage but when you consider that Nivida top of the line 8800 gaming video card costs over $600 alone I did fairly well.

I did use an existing case that I had laying around but cases out here range from $30 to $150 with 300 to 400watt supplies. System is wired to my 8 port KVM so no was monitor needed. I have a 21 inch CRT for gaming and a 20 inch LCD for most other stuff.

Oh Vista is pretty with all the eye candy but other than that I am not impressed very much as of yet. Still need to find a 64 bit driver for the video card to test that version but I am in no hurry.

U built all this just to test vista?
interesting

goforthbmerry

I built my first machine years ago before I switched careers to go into computers. It is actually the reason I decided to go into computers. You can build a computer at almost any price you want depending on your demands. The real proce advantage the computer companies have over you is the opperating system and included software. If you already own copies of the software you need you will come out a little better. I highly recommend going to hardware review sites and learning about what you are buying. I also reccommend www.newegg.com for your hardware. Great prices and even better service.
The best thing about building your own computer is the amount you can learn by doing it. Also you will never mind going in and ripping your computer apart and upgrading as necessary later. I highly recommend building your own.

Good Luck

goforthbmerry

I forgot to mention another advantage of newegg. I used their wishlist feature to design and price out my computer before I actually purchased anything. It is a good way to know what you are getting into financially. That high end motherboard might seem nice but it will triple your cost.

spike_tomahawk

IMO... unless you're building a system for gaming, or anything high end, I would just get one from a manufacture. You can get a system from DELL (if you watch for specials) for under $500 w/ a 17 LCD and it's perfect for running home stuff, and even some gaming.

Blasphemy!!!!!!!

No, really I can see the low cost, but whats the fun in that?

TheShadow

elover_jm wrote:

U built all this just to test vista?
interesting

Sure. That's cheap knowledge when you are paid to tell clients and/or students whats up. Visit the Cisco forums for expensive knowledge where this system was half the cost of a decent switch. Some say knowledge should be free but us old timers know that it never is. It always takes cash and caffeine

famosbrown

Why did you build a rig to test Vista, but buying an AGP video card. Are you sure that motherboard has an AGP slot? It might be PCI-E since it is equipped with the socket needed to run the Conroe core of Intels, it may have both, or it might just have the old dinosaur technology.

Famos

TheShadow

famosbrown wrote:

Why did you build a rig to test Vista, but buying an AGP video card. Are you sure that motherboard has an AGP slot? It might be PCI-E since it is equipped with the socket needed to run the Conroe core of Intels, it may have both, or it might just have the old dinosaur technology.

Famos

You are not aware of how big a hardware junky I am. I carved my first bits out of stone and am not likely to make a mistake like that.

On to your question....
Because the combined cost was cheaper than buying a motherboard and a video card. $159 included a retail processor and a free motherboard. I could not pick and choose as it was a package deal. The average price of a retail Core2 Duo 6300 at the time was $209 alone. Fry's does these kind of deals weekly. I am told that if you move so much product, which Fry's does and newegg to name one other, you get free product from the manufacturers. When they collect enough they move them out on sale. I also ended up with the two SATA drives because Newegg had a fire sale on buying a Seagate 500Gig vertical recording drive and get a 250Gig free.

In any case this was a crossover motherboard specifically for upgrades to Pentium D or Core2 Duo. Every time there is a technology sea change there are crossover boards. It overclocks the chip quite well if that is your desire, has SATA2 and RAID takes DDR or DDR2 but foregoes PCIe in favor of AGP 8X. Is PCIe need for Vista? Absolutely not; unless you are going to SLI or Crossfire there is not much need for a 4Gig bus when you are not likely to tax the 2.13Gig of AGP 8X. In a few years maybe but not now. Besides only a few percentage of systems in the business world have PCIe systems. This is a better benchmark for me for systems that are nowhere near their 3 to 5 year depreciation dates.

On the current crop of video cards the GPU itself is more important than the max bus transfer. Except for bragging rights, benchmarks of frame rates faster than monitor refresh rate are not particularly thrilling. What is more important is what can the GPU do for each frame and that is not affected as much by which of the two buses are used. The various video card companies are realizing that there is a big market for people that do not want to do a whole sale swap; hard core gamers with unlimited funds excluded. The Core2 quads are in the stores this week at $1100 so one can really get carried away if one wishes. Me I just needed a knock around box which as already payed for itself with knowledge for billable hours.