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Building Computers

tiredretired

tiredretired

The Old Salt
Anyone here build their own computers, or have in the past.

I recently installed a new HDD in the iMac along with 4 more Gigs of RAM, formatted the new HDD and reinstalled OS/X and all was well.

Feeling good about that, I broke out my old Dell Windows XP SP3 machine, reformatted the drive and reinstalled Windows. Then installed an old graphics card I had hanging around. Found all my drivers on the Dell site, but it took a while to locate a free ATI driver for the Graphics card. Finally found it and all is running great, but..........

The but is, as great as XP is, it is outdated and needs to be retired. Like me.

So, feeling flushed and gung ho with my recent success, I am thinking of building a Windows 10 PC for grins and chuckles.

So, again, anyone here have any experience doing this. It sure sounds like fun.
 
I always build my own desktop PC's from scratch as it works out way cheaper than buying off the shelf,i prefer to build to my needs not pay for something built by some idiot that knows nothing of my needs.

The best thing about installing modern operating systems is they do most of the hard work for you and find/install the drivers for you.

I must say there is nothing better than getting a box of new parts and installing them in a shiny new case and firing it up for the first time knowing it is custom to your needs,and because you know what is in it you know what is compatible when you decide to give it a upgrade.
 
I wouldn't mind building a PC or buying a custom one from a forum member that builds.

My son is into gaming. Just got him a new laptop but that thing struggles at gaming.

He's saving his pennies but buying off the shelf is really expensive.
 
Gaming PC hardware gets expensive. And in laptop form, very. Look at the price of a new top of the line Allienware with the best video, most ram, etc. Sit down first.

There's nothing to building one. The 5v plugs only into 5v plugs, any data cords only plug into data cords. You really cannot mix anything up. Buy a box with a great power supply (important!), and piece one together. Turn it on. Spend a few hours making it work.
The hardest part is selecting the components, matching what you need to what you buy.
 
waybomb said:
Gaming PC hardware gets expensive. And in laptop form, very. Look at the price of a new top of the line Allienware with the best video, most ram, etc. Sit down first.

There's nothing to building one. The 5v plugs only into 5v plugs, any data cords only plug into data cords. You really cannot mix anything up. Buy a box with a great power supply (important!), and piece one together. Turn it on. Spend a few hours making it work.
The hardest part is selecting the components, matching what you need to what you buy.
Click to expand...

Everybody's definition of expensive is different but I had HP build a laptop suited to my needs, which seemed to be similar a gaming system. High end graphics, humongous memory and hard drive, best P7 boards. Basically everything HP had that could be stuffed into an Envy box and the top of the line of everything. The cost was around $1300 or so. And they threw in a nice medium range color laser printer.
 
The gaming computer doesn't need to be a laptop. I've seen the prices on those Alienware computers. I don't spend that much for my computer I use for business 10 hours per day.

Anyone familiar with CybertronPC Borg-Q
[ame="http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B016LO0QPC/ref=pe_2439540_163895880_pe_epc__1p_0_im"]Amazon.com: CybertronPC Borg-Q (Blue) TGM4213D Gaming PC (3.8 GHz AMD FX-4130 Quad Core, 1GB GeForce GT610, 8GB DDR3 1600MHz, 1TB HDD, Windows 10 Home 64-bit): Computers & Accessories[/ame]
 
Can't help you on that one. Since I don't game I have no desire to shell out my left nut for a fancy system with pretty neon lights. Lol. My current laptop and main computer is a basic dell I picked up three years ago on ebay for a whopping $230.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
 
I build for myself, I.used to build for others. Gets expensive to be doing it commercially when parts from major suppliers fail and all the labor to fix it is on my nickel.

Galvi - I never save cash building because I always just have to have that one up component that isn't even offered in a pre build. LOL I do agree that you do get what you want.
 
I used to enjoy building for myself and for friends and family. Building was better than trying to fix store bought ones that friends and family would bring to me. I moved to laptops for home use but still build servers for internet use. Linux only. Game machines need to be the most robust of all. That amazon unit looks okay BC but you might enjoy building one. Start a thread we can help you with what parts you need and help you spend your money. :D
 
I'm a software guy (mainframe programmer since the 1980's and still chugging along).

This is a hardware issue. ;)

Would rather someone with the hardware skills to do this. I could easily write what drives ATM machines but would rather someone with the hardware skills do the part where it spits out the cash.
 
My PC bit the dust a few months ago, and I decided to go back to laptops. I had a small Dell, 7 inch screen, that had windows 7 on it. I upgraded to windows 10 and it worked.....for a few days. Then it crapped out. I get an error message that says the start menu and cordana are compromised. I worked on for days and nothing I did fixed the problem. So I went out and bout an HP, brand new. It had windows 8.1 on it. I also had an HP printer. I tried downloading the printers driver on the new laptop with no success. Then I tried upgrading to windows 10, again no success. So I just worked with it as it was, but for whatever reason it was slow and unresponsive with any upgrades.

Finally, I dug up a 14 year old laptop I had stuck in the closet years ago. It has windows XP on it. I started working on it, upgraded what I could, put some security on it and this things works great. I know it won't be long before this thing becomes obsolete, but when that happens I think I will just quit using computers. I get tired of upgrading all the time to try and keep up with all the new crap. So for the time being it is windows XP on an old 14 year old laptop. :biggrin:
 
MrLiberty said:
My PC bit the dust a few months ago, and I decided to go back to laptops. I had a small Dell, 7 inch screen, that had windows 7 on it. I upgraded to windows 10 and it worked.....for a few days. Then it crapped out. I get an error message that says the start menu and cordana are compromised. I worked on for days and nothing I did fixed the problem. So I went out and bout an HP, brand new. It had windows 8.1 on it. I also had an HP printer. I tried downloading the printers driver on the new laptop with no success. Then I tried upgrading to windows 10, again no success. So I just worked with it as it was, but for whatever reason it was slow and unresponsive with any upgrades.

Finally, I dug up a 14 year old laptop I had stuck in the closet years ago. It has windows XP on it. I started working on it, upgraded what I could, put some security on it and this things works great. I know it won't be long before this thing becomes obsolete, but when that happens I think I will just quit using computers. I get tired of upgrading all the time to try and keep up with all the new crap. So for the time being it is windows XP on an old 14 year old laptop. :biggrin:
Click to expand...

Windows XP is without a doubt the best Windows version ever invented. Microsoft lost me with Vista, the worst OS they ever had.

XP will do the job for you as long as you keep it simple with just email and web browsing. Be aware, technically XP is already obsolete. It has not been supported by Microsoft since 2014. Use AVG or Avast and you should be fine as long as you watch what you click on.

Another option for you is Ubuntu. A good free Linux based OS that works great on PC.
 
I build my own desktops and will repair about anything on a laptop, up to motherboards - not because I can't but because it costs too much to justify it. You used to be able to build a cheap computer and save money, but not really any more. I always tell folks that want me to build a computer for them, if you just want a cheap computer, go to Wal-Mart, Dell or whatever and spent your $299 bucks. I can't compete with that. Now, if you want to customize your computer and spend a decent amount, I can build you a better computer for less money than you would spend with Dell or HP or whomever.

Though it has gotten a little more confusing of trying to figure out exactly what processor and such that you want and what motherboard they are compatible with. It used to be look at your processor. By the fastest you could afford and then get a Motherboard and RAM to go with it. Then buy the amount of hard drive room you wanted.

I guess technically that is still all true, just much hard to mix and match.
 
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