What kind of places build custom PCs?

[ZackL]

If you live in Ottawa that would help even more, but my question is... where can I find somewhere to build a custom PC and have it built? I don't mind doing it online but I don't know where to go...

It's definitely time for a new rig for my upcoming mmorpg addiction, and i'd like a bluray drive. I was also wondering what the cons for using your LCD as a monitor would be... is it harder to see text and stuff?

[arush5268d]

The major PC companies let you custom build a computer online.

Or you can buy the components individually, but you'll need to know how to actually assemple the computer.

[ZackL]

Originally Posted by arush5268d

The major PC companies let you custom build a computer online.

Or you can buy the components individually, but you'll need to know how to actually assemple the computer.

Yeah I was more aiming towards individual components... I know everything i'd need but I can't assemble... well I havent ever assembled one, so maybe I could but I wouldn't wanna do something dumb. I know how much cheaper it is just to build one yourself so thats why I'd like to do it.

[arush5268d]

If you shop smartly...buying from a major company can actually give you a better deal.

Since they buy in bulk they get massive discounts on the hardware components and the software bundles. The key is to look for sales though.

[Augustine864]

My first and second computers were built by Dell and last a good long time. The second one I retired from my services and now is used by my parents. We've had that one for a good 8 years maybe. When I went to college is when I updated from that second Dell. I decided to built a custom PC/gaming rig from Ibuypower. Biggest mistake I've ever made. I had a terrible experience.

Within the first year the computer had to have several replacement parts sent out, (all of them were refurbished and subsequently failed also). I also had to sent the entire PC back to California twice at my expense.

Since then I've bought two Dell laptops. The first was an Inspiron 1505 in summer 2006 and I recently had to replace that one only because of user idiocy. (Milk on keyboard incident). I am now writing this post on my 1 week old Dell Studio 1535 which so far I have very few complaints about.

As far as buying parts separately, Newegg is the place I've found to be best for that.

[ZackL]

Originally Posted by Augustine864

My first and second computers were built by Dell and last a good long time. The second one I retired from my services and now is used by my parents. We've had that one for a good 8 years maybe. When I went to college is when I updated from that second Dell. I decided to built a custom PC/gaming rig from Ibuypower. Biggest mistake I've ever made. I had a terrible experience.

Within the first year the computer had to have several replacement parts sent out, (all of them were refurbished and subsequently failed also). I also had to sent the entire PC back to California twice at my expense.

Since then I've bought two Dell laptops. The first was an Inspiron 1505 in summer 2006 and I recently had to replace that one only because of user idiocy. (Milk on keyboard incident). I am now writing this post on my 1 week old Dell Studio 1535 which so far I have very few complaints about.

As far as buying parts separately, Newegg is the place I've found to be best for that.

You wouldn't recommend ibuypower then? It's the first one I found that looked like I might use. Damn...

[Augustine864]

Originally Posted by ZackL

You wouldn't recommend ibuypower then? It's the first one I found that looked like I might use. Damn...

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone simply because of my nightmare of an experience with incompetent and rude customer service, no. But I've heard other people had better experiences than I did, so maybe I just got unlucky. The only good thing I got out of my experience with Ibuypower was that I now know how to put a PC together since I pretty much had to replace everything I bought from them with stuff I bought off of Newegg. The only remaining sign of Ibuypower in my current desktop is the case.

Although I will say that I recently, (two years after initial purchase), called them to get some harddrive cables that they didn't send with the first purchase, (I was adding another harddrive), and the rep I talked to had no problem sending them out to me.

So it's your call really. Personally I will never buy from there again but things may have changed or maybe my experience was simply an unfortunate exception to normal good service. I don't know.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by ZackL

Yeah I was more aiming towards individual components... I know everything i'd need but I can't assemble... well I havent ever assembled one, so maybe I could but I wouldn't wanna do something dumb. I know how much cheaper it is just to build one yourself so thats why I'd like to do it.

That's the same way I felt. Have you ever opened up a computer and looked inside? The only tricky part is seating the processor, everything else goes together pretty easy. If you've already researched which processor, MB, video and sound cards you want, you've done the hard part. When I built mine the only foul-up is I didn't buy a 3.5 floppy, which I needed for BIOS so I had to cannibalize my other computer for one.

[X400]

NCIX (www.ncix.com)


hmmm.... i was sure they had stores in Ontario... but the website doesnt list them oO guess they sold them or theres a problem online..


edit2: guess i was wrong, anyhow you should just order from them, the shipping is cheap and they'll do everything for you if you want.. they've been in business a looooong time and have great prices/service

[ZackL]

OK. Couple questions.

1. Do I want dual core or quad core? How big should I go for some seriously speediness?

2. If I go Vista, I get more ram, correct? If i go XP, I get less?

So I went on iBuyPower... not planning on buying one there but I just went through their little program and made one with their setup... I guess this is the kind of system I would like. My main question is that I thought that XP couldn't even do 4gig ram so why did it give me the option? Any input is helpful. Thanks so far!

Case ( [$15 OFF Mail-In Rebate] Nzxt Apollo Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Red )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 600 Watt -- XION SuperNova XON-600R14-201 Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8600 (2x 3.33GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( [CrossFire] Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, Dual PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+ 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 320 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Blue )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( None )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Speaker System ( None )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )
Operation System ( MS Windows XP Professional w/ Service Pack 2 )
Media Center Remote Control & TV Tuner ( None )
USB Flash Drive ( None )
TV Tuner ( None )
Power Protection ( None )

[X400]

Vista and XP cant use all of 4gb (if you get windows 64bit version it will use 4gigs)

multiple cores are for multi-tasking (although dual core has noticed a slight increase in speed even without multitasking) anyways dual-core is good for ye


if i were you id get the Ati 4870 video card instead of a 9800gtx (its newer better)
also your motherboard is a crossfire motherboard and you can only SLI ur nvidia 9800gtx so theres a conflict (unless your never planning on running 2 video cards) you can crossfire ATI cards i knw that

as for your harddrive you really have to look at brand and series # not just the size of it

[Augustine864]

My 32bit Vista uses all 4GB of ram. Earlier this year when I put in 4 GBs, it wouldn't read it, but they then released an update that now it seems to work. I don't know the technical side of that though.

Seems like a pretty good system. I might suggest going for a Raptor Harddrive at 10000 rpm as opposed to the standard 7200 since it looks like you are building a gaming rig.

That processor will be great. There aren't any games out that will even utilize a quadcore, so you will be great with the dual. My dual is only 2.4Ghz and it doesn't have any problems playing anything on any settings. That is run with a GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB Overclocked graphics card which conquers whatever I tell it to.

It's been long enough since I've been my own system, (like 8 months), that I'm no longer up on the latest and greatest though. Tomshardware.com I found to be a good site to do part comparisons and look at speed and efficiency charts.

[ZackL]

Originally Posted by X400

Vista and XP cant use all of 4gb (if you get windows 64bit version it will use 4gigs)

multiple cores are for multi-tasking (although dual core has noticed a slight increase in speed even without multitasking) anyways dual-core is good for ye


if i were you id get the Ati 4870 video card instead of a 9800gtx (its newer better)
also your motherboard is a crossfire motherboard and you can only SLI ur nvidia 9800gtx so theres a conflict (unless your never planning on running 2 video cards) you can crossfire ATI cards i knw that

as for your harddrive you really have to look at brand and series # not just the size of it

Thanks for the input, just a couple questions.. :P With regards to the motherboard, what does SLI mean? And what about crossfiring ATI cards? Huh! Why should you look at the brand and series #?

Originally Posted by Augustine864

My 32bit Vista uses all 4GB of ram. Earlier this year when I put in 4 GBs, it wouldn't read it, but they then released an update that now it seems to work. I don't know the technical side of that though.

Seems like a pretty good system. I might suggest going for a Raptor Harddrive at 10000 rpm as opposed to the standard 7200 since it looks like you are building a gaming rig.

Wow I didn't even know a harddrive was measured in RPMs. So a 32bit Vista system WILL run all 4gb ram? What exactly does 32 and 64 bit Vista mean? What does a higher RPM harddrive do for you?

[quexos]

I know Apple lets you custom their MacPro but if you get carried away with powerful chips, lots of memory, a big screen and so on, the price tag can easily go over a new car's

After that they are surprised they only have 15% of the market

[ZackL]

This is my revised rig now:

Case ( [$15 OFF Mail-In Rebate] Nzxt Apollo Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Red )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 600 Watt -- XION SuperNova XON-600R14-201 Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8600 (2x 3.33GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( [SLI] eVGA Nvidia NForce 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0 Dual PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 4 GB [1 GB X4] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( 2x NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video - running SLI mode )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 320 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( None
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )
Operation System ( MS Windows XP Professional w/ Service Pack 2 )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the original question wasn't really answered... if I am using XP Pro will those 4gigs of ram be usable? Also.. I looked into that videocard by ATI yo suggested but it was much, much more then I could afford =P I switched the motherboard and made it a dual vid-card setup, also. I couldn't change the HDD because of cost... the only 10,000 added $200 to my ticket price.

Total cost here is $1,307. Is that reasonable for something like this?

[Augustine864]

Originally Posted by ZackL

Thanks for the input, just a couple questions.. :P With regards to the motherboard, what does SLI mean? And what about crossfiring ATI cards? Huh! Why should you look at the brand and series #?


Wow I didn't even know a harddrive was measured in RPMs. So a 32bit Vista system WILL run all 4gb ram? What exactly does 32 and 64 bit Vista mean? What does a higher RPM harddrive do for you?

It should run the 4GB. It seems to be running mine. Like I said, I used to have an issue, late last year early this year where the BIOS recognized 4GB but Vista's sytem info saw only 3GB. A few months into the year and a couple of updates later my Vista OS (32bit) on my desktop and this laptop both read 4GB.

I can't speak to the difference between 32bit v. 64bit Vista, but when I bought a 64bit XP, (from Ibuypower actually), most of my older programs and games were incompatible with it and I could only run the newest of applications. That was... summer 2005. I just found this article which should help you decide: Comparison

High RPM harddrive just allows it to sort through information faster. If you've ever seen the inside of a harddrive operating, you see a little disc that moves around as it goes through data at a different speeds depending on the harddrive. A faster harddrive will help reduce the bottlenecking of information processing that you might get from a faster processor. (Fast processor can pass requests for data onto the harddrive faster than a harddrive can complete those tasks.)

[Augustine864]

Originally Posted by ZackL

This is my revised rig now:

Case ( [$15 OFF Mail-In Rebate] Nzxt Apollo Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Red )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 600 Watt -- XION SuperNova XON-600R14-201 Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8600 (2x 3.33GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( [SLI] eVGA Nvidia NForce 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0 Dual PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 4 GB [1 GB X4] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( 2x NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video - running SLI mode )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 320 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( None
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )
Operation System ( MS Windows XP Professional w/ Service Pack 2 )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the original question wasn't really answered... if I am using XP Pro will those 4gigs of ram be usable? Also.. I looked into that videocard by ATI yo suggested but it was much, much more then I could afford =P I switched the motherboard and made it a dual vid-card setup, also. I couldn't change the HDD because of cost... the only 10,000 added $200 to my ticket price.

Total cost here is $1,307. Is that reasonable for something like this?

I was working on building a recommended build for you when I came across the HDD option that said it wanted you to pay $286 MORE for a Western Digital Raptor 10000rpm than what you were already being charged for a 320GB 72000rpm drive. So I check Newegg, (LOVE that Newegg!), and they want $289 for the same WD Raptor straight up. That's when I realized you need to shop somewhere, ANYWHERE, other than Ibuypower.

[ZackL]

Originally Posted by Augustine864

I was working on building a recommended build for you when I came across the HDD option that said it wanted you to pay $286 MORE for a Western Digital Raptor 10000rpm than what you were already being charged for a 320GB 72000rpm drive. So I check Newegg, (LOVE that Newegg!), and they want $289 for the same WD Raptor straight up. That's when I realized you need to shop somewhere, ANYWHERE, other than Ibuypower.

But...but... this is just... so easy to use =P! So Newegg i'll have to just individually buy all the parts and assemble myself/get someone close to me to do it?

[Augustine864]

Originally Posted by ZackL

But...but... this is just... so easy to use =P! So Newegg i'll have to just individually buy all the parts and assemble myself/get someone close to me to do it?

Correct. If you aren't comfortable with it than go ahead and do it online. I was lucky enough to have two very computer literate and competent friends that helped me through the process and they were they to assemble it with me. If you have people like this, that have done it before, that is what I would recommend.

What I would do to settle it and make your decision would be to track down all the parts you want on Newegg, including case, cables, etc and place them in your cart. If you have a free account there you can save your carts/wishlists for later. Anyway, assemble this list or a couple different ones and compare the final price with what you would pay on Dell or Ibuypower. That is how I went about my most recent desktop upgrade and plan on doing it that way again in the future.

If you do this, let me know what you find out as far as price comparison and let me know what you ultimately decide. I'm curious at this point. Hah. Good luck.

[X400]

1. 32bit windows wont use all 4gb's of the memory it will show you how much you have (in vista etc) but it wont use all of it.. only 64bit windows will. (you WILL want to buy 4gigs of memory anyhow as 32bit recognizes

2. crossfire/sli is when you run 2 of the same video cards on 1 system instead of one video card (crossfire for ati, sli for nvidia)

3. every harddrive company (brand) and series # has a different quality to it for instance the seagate 7200.11 (series 11) works faster then a series 10 etc etc etc etc

4. if you order from ncix, you wont get charged pst and you wont be stuck with brokerage fees/duties as you would when you order from the usa.

5. id still get a 4870 ATI card or 4850 they're great

6. memory(ram) type is a whooooooollleeeeee other issue which is too long to explain, id suggest you do some research before you go and purchase whichever one ye want