What Components Do I Need To Build A New Pc?

Question

How much should I expect to pay and where can I get the parts from? Simple home pc, will play some games but mostly to use internet, play music and word process. Although not nessasary I would prefer vista.

Answer 1

Basics that you need:
Case
Motherboard
Graphics card (if not on the motherboard)
Sound card (if not on the motherboard)
Memory (if not included with the motherboard)
Hard drive
Power supply
Optical drive (CD/CD-R/DVD/DVD-R - your choice)
Disk drive (not usually required these days)
Ethernet card
Wireless card (if desired)
Fan (if not included in the power supply)
Peripherals (Mouse, keyboard)
Various cables (if not included with the stuff)
Monitor (if you don't already have one)
OS (your choice, Windows or different Linux varieties)

The cost these days will add up to within $50-100 of buying a new PC with the same specs (or maybe more if you really go upscale). The real advantage to building your own is that you have ultimate freedom to include what you need and not include stuff you don't, although you have similar freedom these days at Dell, so the main reason comes down to saving a few bucks and having some fun. Unless, of course, you build one from salvaged parts, but then you have to be real careful with compatibility, so it becomes more of a challenge to find all the right stuff.

Answer 2

The first question is do you really want to build one, especially if you only want a simple one.

You will get the best from building a machine if you want something tailored exactly to your needs or fancy a super-computer with all the latest bits. You pay a bit of a premium doing it this way as most pre-built machines are made from mass-purchased, tried-and-tested products so they are somewhat cheaper. Buy a computer magazine, I recommend MicroMart and look through all the ads for something that matches what you need.

If you want the challenge of building a computer then I recommend you get the back-copies of MicroMart magazine that had a series of "How to build a PC from scratch" articles. There were six I think. This was about a year ago and as you only want a simple machine you don't need to worry about it being a little out of date. That was all I needed to build my machine - I had only done a bit of part replacement before that - and it worked first time.

A quick run-down to get you thinking though:

Motherboard
CPU (+ CPU fan if not included)
Memory
Graphics Card (optional but worth it)
Hard Drive
Optical Drive (DVD, DVD-R(W), CD, etc)
Power Supply (if not already in the case)
Case
Keyboard + Mouse
Monitor
Floppy Drive (some people think optional but worth a fiver!)

You will need to do some investigation to make sure all the parts are compatible but there are a ton of forums with these answers that Google will find for you if you type in the names of the products. You can also join the forums and ask the experts if you are not sure. I recommend www.geekstogo.com

I also recommend scan.co.uk for a parts supplier, especially their today only offers, but check out the ads in magazines for other suppliers - it can be worth getting parts from different suppliers but be careful of paying too many delievry charges this way.

Good luck!

P.S. Ignore the answerer who recommended PCWorld!

Answer 3

Power Supply (550W or better) make sure you have at least 20A on the 12V rail.

Motherboard, I prefer one that supports Intel Core 2 Duo processors and DDR2 memory, make sure to get one that has two PCIe x16 slots.

As far as processors go, a good middle ground is the Core 2 Duo E6600.

Memory, if you are going with Vista get 2GB of DDR2 memory and make sure it matches or is compatible with the speed on the motherboard.

Hard Drives, go SATA and get 300GB or more, might want to get two.

Graphics, here's where we come into a problem. DirectX 10 cards will be out in a matter of months so you don't want to splurge on one right now (unless you plan on spending $400 for the nvidia 8800GTS or GTX). For now, the Radeon X1650XT should be fine and you can get it for about $120 even cheaper with rebates.

Two DVDRW drives, consider BluRay or HDDVD for the future (but don't get them yet).

If you want support for HDDVD or BluRay in the future then you will need a graphics card that supports HDCP (as some X1650XT cards do) and a monitor that supports it as well. You will also need Vista as none of that stuff is compatible with XP.

A case. Keyboard, mouse... nice ones... and a monitor if you don't already have one or want support for HDCP.

If you want more advice on exactly what to buy, feel free to contact me directly.

Oh, for all those parts go to http://www.newegg.com/ I wouldn't buy them from anywhere else nor would I suggest buying this and that here and this and that elsewhere, it's best to deal with one retailer in matters like this.

The guy above said around $600, I want to know what he's one and where I can get some. What I have laid out here will run about $1300 though I have not done exact calculations, it really depends on whether you need the monitor or not, that will cut $300 easily but the old monitor you have won't support HDCP.

Again, if you want exact components and pricing, contact me and I will get back to you.

Answer 4

I just built my computer that will play majority of the games as of now, and is fast enough to search the internet pretty much as soon as i click the link. I got all of my parts from tigerdirect.com. Here are the things you will need: Motherboard, Processor, Ram, Graphics card (if your wanting to play any graphic intense games.), Hard Drive, DVD drive, Case, Power supply, and a sound card if you want surround sound or just better audio quality. You will also need various fans, and thermal paste or thermal tape, and other various cables, and a keyboard and mouse, and a monitor preferably for me i like LCD (there pretty cheap nowadays.) But anyways you can go to tigerdirect.com and click barebones kits on the left column and alot of times they have all the components already in a kit that you can purchase, and if they dont come with everythig then just add what you need. And if your wanting to run vista, i suggest getting 1 Gb of ram and definitley a PCI, AGP or PCI-Express graphics card. If your wanting to multitask then get a dual core processor thats what there designed for.

Answer 5

You will need a good video card, Motherboard, RAM (at least 1 Gig likely 2 Gigs). Along with your motherboard you need to buy the processor. You will need to purchase keyboard, mouse also (cheap but still required.) You'll want about 80 Gigs for your harddrive, anymore is fine.

You also need to purchase Vista, which will cost you a few hundred.

I'd peg your cost for about 800 dollars if you want a decent PC. The RAM, Video Card, and CPU are the ones that you want to get decent parts for.

Read reviews on products, but check out www.newegg.com for some deals. They ship to you for cheap.

Also you could check out Microcenter (www.microcenter.com) or any computer supply store.

Answer 6

i love answering these type of questions as its what i love doing building and repairing p.c,s
when you are planning a build as we call it you should start by doing a shopping list,this can be done by looking on the web for the best prices and then note down the prices and the web site address for later reference
then if your not happy with your first total price then change some components and then re-evaluate
anyway down to the nitty gritty,i will give you a typical build using parts i use and recommend and i will also save you money in the process
1)case: a case can be bought for less than £30 easily and for that price you can get quite a good looking case..........my choice....http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=48M3&CategorySelectedId=11145&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11145,11,42080000, a good 400w case with plenty of power for upgrades ect,also a nice stylish black finish
2)motherboard..you should look for a board with 1.plenty of memory slots 2. a pci-express slot for future proof graphics 3.at least 3 pci slots 4. the correct processor socket type(check your processor choice)....my choice http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=4CMV&CategorySelectedId=11143&NavigationKey=11143,405130000&InMerch=1,..msi am2 nforce board..pci-e enabled and 5 x pci slots,also socket am2 for new amd processors
3)processor..you need to make sure you get the correct processor for your board,in your case am2,dual core is good but more expensive..a good amd athlon64 is a good sound choice.....my choice.amd athlon64 x2 3800..amd dual core chips are low in price at the moment so i would take advantage of the low price..awesome power
4)memory..get at least 512 mb to begin with,but if you can afford it go for 1gb to make applications run smoother...my choice .http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=1Y1W&CategorySelectedId=11150&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11150,4294960195,4294960367,50001&InMerch=1.kingston value ram..dont be put off by the value name,,i use it and its fine
5) graphics card..you dont have to spend loads to get a good card.make sure that its at least 256mb video memory and has pixel and shader model 3.0 and direct x 9.0 capability...my choice... http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=40B7&CategorySelectedId=11137&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11137,43990000,42750000,12&InMerch=1..nvidia geforce 7600gt 256mb ddr3..a brilliant card that will play all the latest games and run all the tasks you need
sound,network and usb are all on the board,you could buy a soundcard but on-board audio has come on in leaps and bounds and rigged up to some good 2.1 speakers can give you some good playback
all of this should set you back around £300,but compared to a similar model from dell with the graphics card and just 256mb ram you would pay dell around £450 so building your own p.c is a good choice
one final tip...shop about for parts,there are loads of good p.c component manufacturers out there so take your time and get a good deal
finally here is some good sites to check...
1. http://www.misco.co.uk/indexuk.asp?
2. http://www.scan.co.uk/
3. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
4. http://www.newegg.com/
i hope this has helped you and if you need any help regarding building your p.c just let me know
good luck

Answer 7

i ought to commence with assistance from determining the precise specification that you're after then commence searching on the places you've pronounced. i ought to also talk to computing gadget builders to work out what their costs are for an identical spec to work out if there are any cutting-edge gives you.

Answer 8

If you go to PC World then buy all the components all togeather in complete unit!!! You will save time because it will already be build for you and will come with an onsite warranty!!!

Answer 9

unless you know PCs don't bother building one there are plenty of cheep new PCs
building one is a pain you will have loads of trouble

Answer 10

first you will need..

-a case(to put the ram, motherboard ect..in )
-mouse,keyboard,speakers
-mother board
-ram(memory)
-hard drives
-cd/dvd drive
-software(microsoft word,media player, ect)
-fan(to cool down ur computer)
-sound & graphic cards
-usb & firewire ports
-processor
-power supplie
-a person who knows what they are doing

if you know what ur doing this should cost around $300-600