A bit of history:
'In 1976, the people of Alaska amended the state's constitution, establishing the Alaska Permanent Fund. The fund invests a portion of the state's mineral revenue, including revenue from the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System, "to benefit all generations of Alaskans."'-Wikipedia Doesn't make any sense? Well it does you see, up until about 3 weeks ago I was a resident of Alaska, and got a chunk of that fund (everybody ages 0 and up gets an equal share). But still in October I get my last permanent fund dividend since I have moved to the east coast. In past years I have not been able to get mine, because my mom needed it to support us due to low wages in Alaska, but since this is my last, my mom has agreed to me having it (more like a “We’ll see what happens.â€?) My last dividend was around $900, so I figure this one will be a little over $800. I was planning on getting a low-wage job and combining funds to get a nice Alienware, but then while looking through a blog on this site I heard this astounding info:“Build your own pc. It is cheaper, you know what you're using and it is just a matter of connecting some cables there and here.â€? – gml_josea“With Alienware you pay around $500 extra because it says "Alienware" on itâ€? – DS"'Brand' Computers also make it hard to upgrade your computer as most of their boxes are built so that unless you break it they won't open enough to work on your computer. They're a load of crap.â€? – RhysAndrews“I don't even trust Alienware computers since Dell bought the company.â€? – melee-master“Oh my godâ€? I thought “I didn’t know Dell bought Alienware!â€? I thought it might be false, but a quick Google search proved it to be true… unfortunately. So was going to do some research to find the best parts, methods, etc… to building a good computer, but then I got a better thought, why not ask the community here at 64Digits, I imagine out of the over 1000 members (Me, see badge [/boasting]), I’m sure somebody will have some good advice for building a custom computer… So that’s what I’m asking for, advice for building a computer.(And for anyone who was reading the comments on that blog, I am going for a legit copy of windows.)EDIT: Also, I hope that all whom are quoted here don't mind me doing so.
Processor: People constantly argue whether to get an Intel Processor or AMD; I would personally go for Intel Pentium 4; Get 3.0ghz or more.
Video Card: Pci-Express is the way to go; And it doesn't matter whether you go ATI Radeon or Nvidia GeForce, SO LONG AS you do not get the no-name-brand-remakes, like Sapphire Radeon or whatever; THEY SUCK.Sound Card: Get a creative sound card; Audigy 2 is nice. And like-wise for video card, don't get no-name-brand-remakes.For all other parts, well, Don't wanna bother talking about them but i'm sure other responders will help. Just make sure what you're getting are the proper company-brands, not crappy remakes; Or that'll run you into problems later down the track. Creative and Logitech are two brands to trust when it comes to sound cards and speakers/headsets. Finally, don't attempt to build the computer yourself… It's best to get the computer-shop-dudes to build it for you. And it's also nice if you installed Windows yourself, as you get to setup all the network settings etc; Giving you more control. NTFS is the file-system to use, NOT FAT32 like my idiot computer-shop-guys did on my old computer. I guess they just thought "Hey, I'm Fat, I guess that's what I have to set the file-system to"-RhysThanks for the info, and I've heard never to use FAT32.
Heres some good general ideas:
1) Research <b>every</b> product before you buy (its free to research unlike having to buy again)*very important2) Make a plan of all the components and how they fit together, have multiple 2nd best options incase you cant find what you need.3) Make sure each component is compadible with each other.4) Keep a close eye on your budget and prioritse what you need most.(eg good GFX card would be high)Im sure there's plenty more, which no doubt the other members will fill you in on.The very first thing you should look for is the motherboard. What ports does it have, what kind of hardware it supports, the processors it can hold up to.
For a good motherboard it must have pci-express, or at least agp 8x. Pci-express is the rule on vidoe cards now, unfortunately this pc doesn't have pci express.About RAm don't aks me much, I don't know much about RAM stuff, what I know is you plug them and done, but there's stuff and you need to know which are compatible and which not.Some SATA ports for a nice up to date HD.A nice video card, the ones with 256 Megs are pretty good, my video card is 32 megs and pulls AoE3 pretty easily.512 Megs of RAM can do the job pretty easily, but getting 1 gig is pretty cool.Meh, the basic parts you should look up first are:-Motherboard-Processor-RAM-Video Card-HDThe rest in my opinion is optional stuff. Huh, well, get WinXP if you can legal, but I always go to pirated.I hope this "helped"AMD Athlon Dual Processor! Get the best possible!
Okay, so you'll have at least 1800 dollars? That should buy you a pretty damn good computer. I agree with Rhys on all but two of his points - the sound card and processor. AMD is better than Intel, and no I'm not being biased. I've looked a benchmarking stats in a good PC magazine, and who came out on top? AMD. (the best AMD series would be the Athlons). I personally would recommend the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Skt 939, or even better, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Skt 939. (the former costs around 1200 dollars Canadian).
Now for the sound card - I'd recommend the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro.Also, a good motherboard company is Asus. But otherwise, I'd have to say the same thing everyone else said.Thank you all, it has been quite helpful. Now, if I could get a template of what components I need… I'll Google it.
That's an expensive chip, melee…
Which one? I've looked them both up and found the AMD CPU for around $632 on amazon… That's the cheapest I could find, and the sound card for around $285 on a site called 'NewEgg' which has a high rating on CNet. That's already my dividend… Is that a ripoff?
Also, I'd like more specs on a motherboard, I don't know a thing about them. I don't know anything about brands or types of HD's either, only that I want a big one*. *No alternate meanings intended.Oh boy…better brace yourselves for Intel/AMD and AMD/Nvidia flamewars…
And NewEgg pwns. I got a whole buncha stuff from them and they've been awesome. I'm buying a new motherboard soon through them.And, I just remembered, (off-topic-ish), I got an Nvidia 6200 plus a very nice gamepad plus Far Cry for $100 at Sam's Club…if you can find some sort of "XFX" package, buy it. Even if it's too medium-end for you, you could, I dunno, sell it on eBay or something. Because that should cost like $200 at least.