9 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
  • |
Im interested in building my own desktop pc soon. I never have done this although I have upgraded many pcs in my day. I know newegg is a good place for the parts.

One main question that is bugging me, how do i find out what is compatible and what now? I don't have my budget set yet, and I don't know exactly where im going with this, but looking around, i dont know if a certain mother board works with a certain processor works with a certain ram works with a certain hd .... you get the picture. I used to know a compatibility site, but do not remember it. Any help would be awesome!



Also while we are at it, who has built their own pc, and what specs/parts did you use and how do you like it?
  • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
    Start with the motherboard, they are all designed for a specific range of processors, they will also accept specific types of ram and require a PSU with a specific power output.

    if you start with the MOBO you should go wrong as they description will tell you whats it's compatible with.

    BTW don't expect it to be much cheaper that a store bought one, you used to be able to save about 30-40% a few years back not any more.


    Originally Posted by Jenn1986 View Post

    Im interested in building my own desktop pc soon. I never have done this although I have upgraded many pcs in my day. I know newegg is a good place for the parts.

    One main question that is bugging me, how do i find out what is compatible and what now? I don't have my budget set yet, and I don't know exactly where im going with this, but looking around, i dont know if a certain mother board works with a certain processor works with a certain ram works with a certain hd .... you get the picture. I used to know a compatibility site, but do not remember it. Any help would be awesome!



    Also while we are at it, who has built their own pc, and what specs/parts did you use and how do you like it?
    Signature


    If you are serious about online marketing come and Join our free community The Foundation
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4285546].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Jenn,

    If you expect to find a site that can give you the details, in general, FORGET IT! If you REALLY want to find out all the stuff you mentioned, like you have parts, and you want to get a board that is compatible, HERE is what you do:

    1. Find out the SOCKET, voltage, speed(REAL EXTERNAL CLOCK SPEED! NOT the approximate related speed companies like AMD may use, or the multiplied speed INTEL may use), name, etc... of the CPU you want to use. Find out the speed, connector type(including number of conductors), size of memory, and name of your memory, and the speed and type of connector for your disk drive.

    2. Search the motherboards for the socket type for the CPU, and narrow down from there. A given socket may NOT be compatible with YOUR CPU, even though they are PHYSICALLY 100% compatible. HOPEFULLY, they will mention YOUR CPU and clock speed. If they don't, you will have to check clock speed, and voltage. The SAME caveats apply with memory.

    3. REALIZE that they NO LONGER CARE about compatibility, so it is possible that even items 2-3 years old may be TOTALLY incompatible with EVERYTHING!

    4. For the disk drive, there ARE companies that make enclosures to adapt older technology drives to newer technology systems. The lower the number on the more general connectors are compatible with most stuff. So USB 1.0 would be more compatible than the new esata. but the more specific connections are usually the fastest. esata IS faster than USB 2.0, but apparently not faster than USB 3.0. Frankly, I don't know WHY they have SO many serial standards! It is STUPID! But that just illustrates the point I started with.

    5. ALSO realize that expandability may be a concern, etc...

    BTW M Thompson is right. Don't expect to really save anything. I told this to a friend of mine about 13 years ago, and he didn't believe me. Back then, it was HARDER than now. MORONIC handling of expansion, poor standards, etc... So I showed him. We went out and bought the parts, and I showed him how to put it together. The standoffs had to be just so. They depend on the case AND the motherboard. THAT should be BETTER NOW! And the powersupply has to hook up right or you can blow everything. I THINK they improved THAT. And you have to break the cutouts for expansion. A lot of times, you don't have to worry about that now, they have a standard cutout that a block in the motherboard fits up to. And THEN you have to put everything else in. ACTUALLY, it's usually easier to do that BEFORE trying everything else. And you have to plug various cables in and connect the power up to the drives, etc... Anyway, it probably took about an hour just to assemble it, and the drivers were a problem. Any money we saved was spent on the cuts and effort. It SHOULD be better now, but you really won't save much, and you SHOULD know what you are doing. BE GROUNDED! DON'T touch the pins on the circuts! OBSERVE POLARITY! Get GOOD conductivity on the heat sink, and use the RIGHT ONE! Some of those units now look like THEY could be computers, they are HUGE and FANCY!

    steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4285871].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      Jenn,

      If you expect to find a site that can give you the details, in general, FORGET IT! If you REALLY want to find out all the stuff you mentioned, like you have parts, and you want to get a board that is compatible, HERE is what you do:

      1. Find out the SOCKET, voltage, speed(REAL EXTERNAL CLOCK SPEED! NOT the approximate related speed companies like AMD may use, or the multiplied speed INTEL may use), name, etc... of the CPU you want to use. Find out the speed, connector type(including number of conductors), size of memory, and name of your memory, and the speed and type of connector for your disk drive.

      2. Search the motherboards for the socket type for the CPU, and narrow down from there. A given socket may NOT be compatible with YOUR CPU, even though they are PHYSICALLY 100% compatible. HOPEFULLY, they will mention YOUR CPU and clock speed. If they don't, you will have to check clock speed, and voltage. The SAME caveats apply with memory.

      3. REALIZE that they NO LONGER CARE about compatibility, so it is possible that even items 2-3 years old may be TOTALLY incompatible with EVERYTHING!

      4. For the disk drive, there ARE companies that make enclosures to adapt older technology drives to newer technology systems. The lower the number on the more general connectors are compatible with most stuff. So USB 1.0 would be more compatible than the new esata. but the more specific connections are usually the fastest. esata IS faster than USB 2.0, but apparently not faster than USB 3.0. Frankly, I don't know WHY they have SO many serial standards! It is STUPID! But that just illustrates the point I started with.

      5. ALSO realize that expandability may be a concern, etc...

      BTW M Thompson is right. Don't expect to really save anything. I told this to a friend of mine about 13 years ago, and he didn't believe me. Back then, it was HARDER than now. MORONIC handling of expansion, poor standards, etc... So I showed him. We went out and bought the parts, and I showed him how to put it together. The standoffs had to be just so. They depend on the case AND the motherboard. THAT should be BETTER NOW! And the powersupply has to hook up right or you can blow everything. I THINK they improved THAT. And you have to break the cutouts for expansion. A lot of times, you don't have to worry about that now, they have a standard cutout that a block in the motherboard fits up to. And THEN you have to put everything else in. ACTUALLY, it's usually easier to do that BEFORE trying everything else. And you have to plug various cables in and connect the power up to the drives, etc... Anyway, it probably took about an hour just to assemble it, and the drivers were a problem. Any money we saved was spent on the cuts and effort. It SHOULD be better now, but you really won't save much, and you SHOULD know what you are doing. BE GROUNDED! DON'T touch the pins on the circuts! OBSERVE POLARITY! Get GOOD conductivity on the heat sink, and use the RIGHT ONE! Some of those units now look like THEY could be computers, they are HUGE and FANCY!

      steve
      Steve:

      Building it myself saved me $300 over a pre-built, plus I got the features I wanted (which I suspect would have cost even more).

      It's all in how you do things.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4286018].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher View Post

        Steve:

        Building it myself saved me $300 over a pre-built, plus I got the features I wanted (which I suspect would have cost even more).

        It's all in how you do things.

        Well, my last system is FAST, 1TB, 4GB, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and it didn't cost much more than $300. GEE, if I could save $300, I would get 10, and star a nice business well in the black! Just the materials I listed, I would expect to NOW cost about $140 MINIMUM! Add in the $300 you said you would save, and it is more than I spent. Remember, I am NOT counting the case, powersupply, motherboard, processor, Windows 7, or even the most basic of labor. Oh, and things cost MORE when I bought this a few months ago.

        Steve
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4287600].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
          Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

          Well, my last system is FAST, 1TB, 4GB, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and it didn't cost much more than $300. GEE, if I could save $300, I would get 10, and star a nice business well in the black! Just the materials I listed, I would expect to NOW cost about $140 MINIMUM! Add in the $300 you said you would save, and it is more than I spent. Remember, I am NOT counting the case, powersupply, motherboard, processor, Windows 7, or even the most basic of labor. Oh, and things cost MORE when I bought this a few months ago.

          Steve

          Let me tell you how I pulled that off.

          For starters, I already had a case lying around...full tower that used to be a P-4 machine.

          I skimped a little on the motherboard, and got one of those 3 slot boards that was capable of sli/crossfire....who needs expansion slots when the boards themselves have features like sound, usb ports, and network adapters already built in?

          I also went for the 4 core i5, instead of the two core which believe it or not was actually cheaper. Don't know why it worked out that way...it's kinda wierd to say the least as the 4 core is way more powerful than the 2 core.

          I also bought right after christmas when all the clearance sales were going on...so that saved a bit too.

          All told, I put together a 4 core i5 processor for $900 that I priced at somewhere around $1200 elsewhere. $1,100 for the machine plus and extra $100 for an extended warranty (parts believe it or not come with a 2 year warranty).

          It does pay to do it yourself, provided you know what you're doing.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4289166].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author seasoned
            Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher View Post

            Let me tell you how I pulled that off.

            For starters, I already had a case lying around...full tower that used to be a P-4 machine.

            I skimped a little on the motherboard, and got one of those 3 slot boards that was capable of sli/crossfire....who needs expansion slots when the boards themselves have features like sound, usb ports, and network adapters already built in?

            I also went for the 4 core i5, instead of the two core which believe it or not was actually cheaper. Don't know why it worked out that way...it's kinda wierd to say the least as the 4 core is way more powerful than the 2 core.

            I also bought right after christmas when all the clearance sales were going on...so that saved a bit too.

            All told, I put together a 4 core i5 processor for $900 that I priced at somewhere around $1200 elsewhere. $1,100 for the machine plus and extra $100 for an extended warranty (parts believe it or not come with a 2 year warranty).

            It does pay to do it yourself, provided you know what you're doing.
            Well, my system is probably roughly between a 2core i5 and 4 core i5. Yeah, I didn't pay that much. Some people may figure they will save a LOT. On an EXPENSIVE system, or one that a high end premium brand, or at a big non discount store, you MIGHT. OK, I'll concede THAT. As for knowing what you are doing, I gave some hints in my first post.

            Steve
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4289409].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    "BTW don't expect it to be much cheaper that a store bought one, you used to be able to save about 30-40% a few years back not any more. "

    This is true, but the performance is much better than a store bought machine usually.
    Signature

    Read A Post.
    Subscribe to a Newsletter
    KimWinfrey.Com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4285941].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jenn1986
    I kind of realized it would cost about the same, but the features is whats important. Thanks for all your helpful replies! Now I have some stuff to go on
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4292097].message }}

Trending Topics