Building Computers, anyone here do it?

[Ventus]

I've just picked out all of my parts for my computer I'm building this year. I just have to get the money up and order the parts.
So far I'm going for a AMD build again this year.

The parts consist of...

ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS Motherboard
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-M5A78L-M-LX-PLUS-DDR3-Motherboard/19399383?findingMethod=rr

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 260 3.2GHz
http://www.walmart.com/ip/AMD-Athlon-II-X2-Dual-core-260-3.2GHz-Processor/15746974

2GB sticks Kingston HyperX 2 x 1GB
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Kingston-HyperX-2GB-2-x-1GB-DDR3-SDRAM-1600-PC3-12800-240-Pin-Desktop-Memory-Model/15747227

Western Digtel Blue 320GB Sata Hard drive
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Western-Digital-Scorpio-Blue-320GB-SATA-Portable-Internal-Hard-Drive/16349847

And where I can put the hard drive above in my tower...

BRACKET 2.5in Hard Drive to 3.5in Drive Bay
http://www.walmart.com/ip/StarTech.com-BRACKET25SAT-2.5in-Hard-Drive-to-3.5in-Drive-Bay-Mounting-Kit/13060442

Memorex 24X Multi-Format Internal DVD Recorder
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Memorex-24X-Multi-Format-Internal-DVD-Recorder/13969212

Cooler Master GX Power Supply, 650W
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Cooler-Master-GX-Power-Supply-650W/15988265


Now I'm not getting a video card just yet. I'll get that later. But everything looks good to me for my needs.

So... Anyone else likes building their own computers?

[SpykStorm]

That's pretty good for less than $300. Have you thought about checking out Newegg or TigersDirect? They sometimes have really good deals.

[Ventus]

That's pretty good for less than $300. Have you thought about checking out Newegg or TigersDirect? They sometimes have really good deals.

I would go and buy the parts from those sites. But currently I don't have anyway to buy anything off of them, Mainly because I don't have a credit card or anything like that.
At least with walmart.com I can go buy a gift card in store and use it online with no problem.

[Majora]

Get more RAM. and where's your GPU?

[Ventus]

Get more RAM. and where's your GPU?

Yeah. I'm planing on getting more ram in the future, I thought I would just go with 2GB for the time being.
And for the GPU, I'm going to keep using my ATI Radeon HD 5450 Until I can get another Card. thats a bit better.
My main plan was to get a New mother board that took DDR3 Ram and allowed me to run a better CPU.

Getting a New GPU is the last thing on my mind. and anyways I have a ton of Cards already that I can use. :P

[Majora]

Well buy a 2GB chip instead of two 1 GB chips to take up less room. as for your GPU, oh okay! Also, invest in a quad-core CPU.

[Ventus]

Well buy a 2GB chip instead of two 1 GB chips to take up less room. as for your GPU, oh okay! Also, invest in a quad-core CPU.
Yeah a 2GB Chip would be good wouldn't it. hehe... Well I'll have to look around and find one. As for the quad-core idea. that'll have to be gotten later in the future. I'm one would cost more then I can afford right now.

[Aliem]

For a cheap build, that's not too bad. Room for upgrading too. Like Majora said, 1 stick at 2GB is better than two of 1. Or, if you can afford it (RAM is dirt-cheap now) get a single stick of 4GB. And the 5450 should hold you over for a while and perform moderately well.

By the time you upgrade CPU, AMD's piledriver chips should be out. Something to keep an eye on, since they should use the same AM3+ socket as the board you're getting.

All in all, that's a nice solid build for such a low price. Though if you were ordering from Newegg, you'd be able to do a bit better for a bit less. You don't have to have a credit card for Newegg; I order all my parts using my debit card.

EDIT

Though, buying directly lets you bypass RMAing any potentially DOA parts... That's a huge pain in the ass.

[Ventus]

For a cheap build, that's not too bad. Room for upgrading too. Like Majora said, 1 stick at 2GB is better than two of 1. Or, if you can afford it (RAM is dirt-cheap now) get a single stick of 4GB. And the 5450 should hold you over for a while and perform moderately well.

Yeah, I'm going head and looking around for a 2 GB stick instead of one 1GB. it would make more sense to do so.
And my 5450 has been working for me pretty good for a year or so, thats why I'm upgrading just yet.

But when I do upgrade I might go with http://www.walmart.com/ip/Zotac-GeForce-GT-520-Synergy-Edition-1GB-DDR3-PCI-Express-2.0-Graphics-Card/20551639
Or a EVGA brand of that card. it all depends on whats available at the time of buying.



By the time you upgrade CPU, AMD's piledriver chips should be out. Something to keep an eye on, since they should use the same AM3+ socket as the board you're getting.

EDIT

Though, buying directly lets you bypass RMAing any potentially DOA parts... That's a huge pain in the ass.

So Amd will have a new CPU out sometime or another eh?, Well at least my new mother board will allow easy upgrade to it maybe.
Most likely I will have to update the bios for the Pile-driver to be accepted. which is no big deal as long Asus will make a update for it. :P

And also so far I haven't any problems with any parts I've ordered off walmart.com yet. so I'm hoping that I won't have any problems like DOA... <__<

[Brasel]

Fixing PCs is fun. I just swapped out my fried motherboard for a better (still older) one and got my PC back up and running. Unfortunately, my video card was also fried. I'll need to see if I can't get a budget one to use for now.

[Chris Miller]

Better double-check your power supply.

[Brasel]

Unfortunately, I don't have a multimeter at home. I'm fairly certain I'm safe, though. Its running fine and at the time my motherboard and video card fried, I was doing way more than the thing could probably handle.

[Chris Miller]

Just to be safe, I'd switch it out too. If it was overloaded enough to fry the motherboard and video card, then it's probably taken quite a bit of damage, even if it still turns on. It would be fairly cheap insurance anyway.

[Brasel]

Yeah, you're right. I'm a pretty terrible IT person anyway. I've got another one sitting here that hasn't been used at all in years. I should switch it out. I probably won't, though. My computer will blow up again, and this time it'll take my hard drives with it. Then I'll be like "Why didn't you listen to common sense and reason?" Yeah. I'll let future Tony handle it.

[Chris Miller]

Oh, future Tony, the poor bastard! :(

[Ventus]

Well I've went ahead and interchanged the 2 1GB sticks of ram with a 4GB Duel Channel Kit that has two Sticks of 2GB of ram.
And On top of that its not that bad in price :P

Anyways I'm going to be getting half of the parts this weekend.

Right now I'm getting the Mother Board, CPU, RAM. ordered all at one time. I can get the hard drive next after all of that stuff gets here.
I can't wait to get all my parts ordered :D

[Ventus]

Getting my Motherboard and my CPU tomorrow, Thank god that FedEX works fast...

Mean while, UPS is shipping my RAM, Great... I hate UPS the last time I got something shipped by ups when it got here it was left on the ground... the wet ground.
Anyways lets hope the ram gets here as fast. :|

[Ventus]

Well got the motherboard and the CPU, my god its so pretty looking. this is my first time ever getting any brand new MB and CPU. :3
I have to say the motherboard has a ton of nice features, its a lot more nicer then my last board. :D

[Ventus]

It seems like I won't be getting my Ram any time soon... UPS Left the package in the hands of the incompetent people of US Postal Service. :|

I hate UPS and I'll continue hate them...
Well I guess its time to play the waiting game. :/

[SpykStorm]

That sucks. Do you have any other ram thats compatible with that motherboard?

[Ventus]

Sadly no... This is the first motherboard that I have gotten that has to have DDR3 :/
Most of the time I have enough ram laying around that I wouldn't have buy any. But all I have is DDR, and DDR2. Yeah I'm quite out of date. :P

[Ventus]

Well I can't believe it but the ram came today in the mail?, For once something worked for me. :P
Okay so far my computer is getting to the point where I can start putting everything together, But I have to wait until next week to get the hard drive...

I figured I'll get the DVD Drive and PSU last. I can still use my current PSU untill then and I can install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive.
And why windows 7 you ask when I have a Windows 8?, Well I'm just going to do it for the hell of it.

(I might be able to run it now without it messing the hell up :| )

[Ventus]

Okay got me a hard drive, Not the one I was going to order though... Its a 120GB. This will be a temp Hard drive I get the money to go to a bigger hard drive.

Anyways though I'm going to be putting this new rig together... Won't have a DVD drive for awhile... But who needs them. :P
I'm installing Windows 7 64Bit from USB so yeah... :)