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| building your own computer |
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Pravit
Member #5,648
March 2005
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The recent mobo thread got me interested in my building my own computer. Theoretically it shouldn't be too hard; I've worked on computers enough times to know which parts go where and not to break anything. However as I've never actually built one from parts before I have a couple questions: 1)Is there a big risk of the thing overheating? For some reason I always read stuff on the net about people building their own computers but having overheating problems. 2)I've noticed a lot of nice deals on parts from NewEgg. But is there any catch? Should I go with the cheaper part from the lesser-known manufacturer or the more expensive one? Does it matter? 3)What mobo, cpu, gfx card would you recommend to someone who wants to be able to play the latest games(BF2, Oblivion, CoD2) but not break the bank? |
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NyanKoneko
Member #5,617
March 2005
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As for the processor, get an Athlon 64... somewhere between 3000+ and 4000+. The motherboard should be from a company you know and trust. Gigabyte and Asus are really good companies. Make sure the motherboard has the right socket for the processor you want to get. One time when I was making a computer a long time ago, it wouldn't turn on. I couldn't figure what was wrong. I finally figured out that I needed the spacer things between the case and the motherboard (it was shorting out.) Also, another time, a friend was building a computer and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't start. It turns out that the computer will only start if you plug the CPU fan into the CPU fan slot. Go figure. I don't know what other tips to give. ----------------- |
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gnolam
Member #2,030
March 2002
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Quote: 1)Is there a big risk of the thing overheating? For some reason I always read stuff on the net about people building their own computers but having overheating problems. No. Don't listen to the fan fanboys - stock heat sinks/fans and regular cases will work just fine unless you start overclocking. It's well worth it to spend a bit more to bring the noise level down though. -- |
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NyanKoneko
Member #5,617
March 2005
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I just realized that building a computer is a lot like playing with legos. Think about it. ----------------- |
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Pravit
Member #5,648
March 2005
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Thanks for your tips, guys! Quote: It's well worth it to spend a bit more to bring the noise level down though. Spend a bit more on a less-noisy fan, you mean? BTW, how many fans do you need? I don't plan to do any overclocking. Quote: I just realized that building a computer is a lot like playing with legos.
Except several times more expensive. |
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Kitty Cat
Member #2,815
October 2002
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Quote: Spend a bit more on a less-noisy fan, you mean? Not just fans. The new case here has larger fans (which don't need to go so fast, and are thus quieter), and has rubber spoke thingies to hold them to the case. It also has rubber pads for you to set the HD's on where it connects to the drive bays. It was nice and quiet until we got that monstrous video card cooling kit. -- |
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Pravit
Member #5,648
March 2005
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You have to get a cooling kit for the video card, too? Another question: How come it says 3800+ but it says the operating frequency is 2.4GHz? Are those completely unrelated things? |
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gnolam
Member #2,030
March 2002
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Quote: You have to get a cooling kit for the video card, too?
If you want your video card to be quiet (they ship with noisy fans nowadays Quote: Another question: How come it says 3800+ but it says the operating frequency is 2.4GHz? Are those completely unrelated things? They are. -- |
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NyanKoneko
Member #5,617
March 2005
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Athlons use relative speeds to describe their processors, since clock frequency is not a great way to describe how fast a processor is (look at the Pentium M for example). ----------------- |
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Kitty Cat
Member #2,815
October 2002
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Quote: You have to get a cooling kit for the video card, too? Not usually. But the manufacturer we got the card from had a poor heatsink/fan combo so we had to replace it to keep it from overheating. Quote: Another question: How come it says 3800+ but it says the operating frequency is 2.4GHz?
The 3800+ is approx. the equivilant speed of an Intel CPU. The AMD64 3200+ we have runs at 1.8GHz. -- |
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Pravit
Member #5,648
March 2005
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I see! Another question: Do you have to use a 64-bit OS if you have a 64-bit processor? |
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Samuel Henderson
Member #3,757
August 2003
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I remember the first system I built. Lesson learned: Those standoffs are in the kit for a reason I still can't believe they replaced the board for me ================================================= |
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nonnus29
Member #2,606
August 2002
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Ah, man I thought this thread was going to be about building an alu from logic gates and a bread board |
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Carrus85
Member #2,633
August 2002
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Heh, that would have been fun! (Building with Logic Gates and Breadboard)
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nonnus29
Member #2,606
August 2002
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It'd probably be better to use demultiplexers and decoders, but it would be fun. I think using vhdl and verilog with an fpga would hide the good stuff from you. I don't know for sure though, I haven't used either. |
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Pravit
Member #5,648
March 2005
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Would be fun! The most complicated thing we made in our digital design class was a little clock that looped from 0 to 9, though.:-/ Hopefully I'll get to take some classes on computer architecture next semester. |
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NyanKoneko
Member #5,617
March 2005
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64 bit processors are compatible with 32 bit operating systems. ----------------- |
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Krzysztof Kluczek
Member #4,191
January 2004
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Quote: I think using vhdl and verilog with an fpga would hide the good stuff from you.
AFAIK there are graphical editors which let you placing logic gates yourself (but they still get compiled to match FPGA structure), so FPGA can be used to avoid having to wire single gates, which should speed up the process greatly and allow making more complex circuits (buying FPGA is surely cheaper than buying everything you'll need to make circuits of similar complexity yourself). ________ |
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NyanKoneko
Member #5,617
March 2005
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Here's another tip! Don't put the processor in backwards! I did that once and the processor blew up and melted the socket. ----------------- |
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nonnus29
Member #2,606
August 2002
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Quote: I did that once and the processor blew up and melted the socket. Good job! Did you get an 'A'? Oh and if anyone is really interested in building a cpu, google for 'opencores'. |
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Dennis
Member #1,090
July 2003
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nonnus29 said: Ah, man I thought this thread was going to be about building an alu from logic gates and a bread board And i thought it was about building computers, like Jeri Ellsworth did with the C-One. --- 0xDB | @dennisbusch_de --- |
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OICW
Member #4,069
November 2003
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Quote: how many fans do you need?
Basicly 3 - one on powersource, one on processor and one on gfx cards (pretty nasty thing which will make one PCI slot unusable). [My website][CppReference][Pixelate][Allegators worldwide][Who's online] |
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Paul whoknows
Member #5,081
September 2004
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Quote: As for the processor, get an Athlon 64... somewhere between 3000+ and 4000+. What's wrong with Pentiums4? ____ "The unlimited potential has been replaced by the concrete reality of what I programmed today." - Jordan Mechner. |
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NyanKoneko
Member #5,617
March 2005
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Or get a pentium 4... whatever. ----------------- |
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Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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Quote: What's wrong with Pentiums4? You pay a nice premium for the "Intel" logo. Just like with Nike shoes and Levi jeans. -- |
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