I realize that. I was just trying to give an example of where to find a bargain.

My current system is an Acer Nitro machine I found at Micro Center.
8th GEN Intel Core i7+ processor 8700
AMD Radeon RX 580X 4GB GDDRV
1TB HD w/16GB Intel Optane Memory
32GB DDR4 Memory (I upped it from 8GB)

Felt it was such a good deal I got two of them and put the 8GB of RAM from mine in my wife's machine so she's running 16GB.

To me that was a good buy at less than $1500, as we were both running machines that were over 6 yrs old.

c-list but it takes a bit of daily checking to get the real good deals
as there is a lot of over priced stuff on the higher end newer systems on c-list
but a bit of hunting over time real deals do pop up
like 911 hunting you need to know what you want exactly
and be able to act fast as the better deals donot last

the on M/B v-nand 970 evo chip replaces the hd and is 5 times faster then a sshd
so a (PCIe M.2 2280) slot is a new must have aka a NVM-e slot for a PCI-e card x4
read the M/B list carefully as there are m.2 slots that are not fast using the old sata3
much slower standard

tom's hardware https://www.tomshardware.com/
is a good place to compare what is good better best for computer parts m/b cpu's
and their gfx card list is very good

I paid 1/2 that last year for my 8700 system but less ram 16 vs 32
intel optane is a very high end un-needed expense and small capacity for the price

I first built a computer with my son who was 13 at the time - We had allot of fun putting it together. We used Newegg, Tom's Hardware and a local college computer club to select and buy components. My son got good at this and built several during his high school years.

Since that time, I have built my own. I have an art studio in my home. I do allot of photo editing and take photos of my art work. So getting the a very good graphics card and monitor is very important to me. I don't game either. I will spend money on upgraded components.

I didn't even KNOW what optane was when I bought them!
Oh, and that was $1500 for both of them, not apiece, and the new RAM too.

Main thing I was after was a computer with RAM that could be expanded.. I play with photo's sometimes so it helps.
These Nitro's were pretty decent specs from what I could tell and I was kind of in a hurry as my old computer had just died.:(

The alternative might be to price out a desktop tower from Dell, Lenovo, etc with the processor and graphics you want, but the minimum storage and RAM, then add drives and memory yourself. The PC companies pay far less for things like motherboards, CPUs, GPUs, etc than you will pay buying at retail, and they price their barebones machines pretty aggressively, looking to make margin with overpriced storage and memory.

When I bought my work PC, I got a Lenovo workstation with Xeon CPU and double nVidia GPUs, but the minimum of storage and RAM.

Doesn't seem to be much talk about the computer case and/or cooling.

Besides defining what you want the computer to do and then decide on the computer components, don't forget the case to put it all into.

Cooling is one factor that must also be considered. Air cooled and/or liquid cooled or both. Rule of thumb is to have more air going into the case than is coming out. Positive pressure.

In my last computer build, I got the Corsair Carbide Series 200R case. Big enough for my requirements yet small in overall size. I got the Corsair liquid cooler for the Intel CPU and also got the liquid cooled video card from EVGA. I installed the radiators in the back and top of the case with the attached fans in exhaust. I inverted the Corsair power supply to suck air out of the case and exhaust out the rear. Both the front of the case and the side of the case have two fans each forcing air into the case. So mine is a positive pressure system. 4 fans blowing air into the case and 3 fans blowing out. I haven't had any cooling issues and everything runs fairly stable even while playing a game of Modern Warfare. CPU or GPU never get above 40C during long episodes of game playing and cool down rather quickly afterwards.

I've built all my computers for the past 20 years....until my current computer I bought about 3 months ago. Funny thing, after I compared the cost of components I found the same build on NewEgg for nearly the same cost...including software! Yes, it was on sale, but my advice is to comb the the websites for the components you think you need, then look for sales of built computers with the same components. I love building them....but if you have one completely set up for the same price,....then.....

So we built one. I'll inherit the hp box I bought her not long after starting this thread. She can't play the games she wants to on it.
Can't seem to get the case fans to come on though. Not sure if they're triggered by temp and the temp just hasn't triggered them yet. There are three in the case and are all wired to this small board on the back side.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1629561965.jpg


There is only one plug left unconnected and I believe it's for some type of led strip add on.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1629562045.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1629562196.jpg

There should be a way whether via an app or something, that you can check the temps unless the OS has neutered that ability out.

Good stuff. I hope it works well for you.

Fans are typically run straight off the mother board so they can be triggered by component temps.

The three plugs on the bottom of the small board I would assume are plugged into the MB to draw power but I don't see them in the front pic.

I would ignore the small board and go direct to MB first and see what you get.

What did the small board come with, part of the MB set, the case, the fans?

Those breakouts are almost always for a 3rd party way to control fans and lights so there may be a utility that needs to be installed.

The small board came with the case, wired and hooked up already.

And how is it tied into the mother board?

Where is it drawing power from?