How to build a PC for < $1,800.00

[daepp]

I want to build a PC with my son. I need a new PC and he needs the experience. But he cost so far exceed the cost to purchase off the shelf.

A friend forwarded this to me - $1800!!! Surely something here is amiss, yes?

[onewhippedpuppy]

I'm no computer expert, but FIVE fans plus a water cooler?!

[biosurfer1]

I don't know about $1800 but unfortunately, but pretty much the standard these days is it's cheaper to buy off the shelf than build, even if you can find good deals.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I'm no computer expert, but FIVE fans plus a water cooler?!

My thoughts as well.

That MOBO has on onboard RAID controller, I would have done 3 1TB drives instead of the single 3TB.

And where's the graphics card?

[Schumi]

there is no graphics card listed there. But that rig is being setup for a big ass card- that is the only reason for such a big power supply.

Also, 3TB HD? WHo needs a single drive that is 3TB? Is he doing HD video editing? That along with a 128GB SSD....
He could save a few hundo by going with a smaller drive / single SSD.

The watercooler is for the CPU or a GPU? If it is for the CPU, there is no need for all those fans. Even still.. I don't see this system putting off tons of heat unless there are 4 GPU cards going into it.

Poke questions about just what this computer needs to do... her's still missing a few things there, but this is a high power rig.

[stomachmonkey]

Your friend sent you specs for a balls to the walls gaming rig.

What are you using it for?

If just a standard daily use PC that thing is way overkill and honestly not well thought out.

$115.00 Blu-Ray? Why?

$189.00 for a 1000 watt power supply? There are not enough high draw components in there to warrant that massive a PSU. If you add a couple of $300.00 graphics cards you still would not need it.

I-7 3ghz processor? Again, how heavy are you going to use this PC. That's a high end processor and likely way overkill.

Even $39.00 for a fan controller is silly, willing to bet that MOBO has on board fan speed control which you manage through software / bios.

First determine what you will use the PC for then if you really want to build one for the experience got to Microcenter.com or newegg.com and look into their Bare Bones kits.

You can get a bundle with all the components you need and shopping by price point is easy because it's a single bundled price.

[JD159]

My thoughts exactly. I run a 650w psu with an overclocked 560ti and overclocked i7. No problems. The 3 tb drives are excessive. I would do something like this.

i7 - 300$ - BUT you can make due with an i5 depending on what you use it for.
motherboard - Asus aprox. 150 maybe 200.
8gb ram - corsair vengeance - 70
128 ssd - 100
1 or 2 tb HDD - 100? Need to check prices
Case - 59 - 79.99
650W corsair or xfx power supply under 100

Optical drives are optional. maybe a dvd burner?

Thats just under 1k before taxes. A video card with set you back another 2 - 300. If the motherboard has integrated intel chipsets you won't need it.

PM me if you need any specific recommendations and we can go over things in greater detail. But his quote is WAY off.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Schumi

Also, 3TB HD? WHo needs a single drive that is 3TB? Is he doing HD video editing? That along with a 128GB SSD....


The watercooler is for the CPU or a GPU? If it is for the CPU, there is no need for all those fans.

Xactly, if you are doing video editing you don't want a single drive. It's a read / write bottleneck. You'd always want to go hardware controlled RAID. HD editing I'd be getting 10k RPM drives instead of 7200.

And all those fans if not placed and configured properly can cancel each other out. More is not always better.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by JD159

My thoughts exactly. I run a 650w psu with an overclocked 560ti and overclocked i7. No problems. The 3 tb drives are excessive. I would do something like this.

i7 - 300$ - BUT you can make due with an i5 depending on what you use it for.
motherboard - Asus aprox. 150 maybe 200.
8gb ram - corsair vengeance - 70
128 ssd - 100
1 or 2 tb HDD - 100? Need to check prices
Case - 59 - 79.99
650W corsair or xfx power supply under 100

Optical drives are optional. maybe a dvd burner?

Thats just under 1k before taxes. A video card with set you back another 2 - 300. If the motherboard has integrated intel chipsets you won't need it.

PM me if you need any specific recommendations and we can go over things in greater detail. But his quote is WAY off.

Cool, but still overkill for normal use. An off the shelf $500 PC will satisfy the needs of 95% of us.

[masraum]

budget pc build $850ish

Build a PC: Recommended Builds (February 2014) | Maximum PC

[stomachmonkey]

If you really want to build one for the experience and control costs while getting the right amount of PC for you dollar look here.

Barebone Kits | TigerDirect.com

[sammyg2]

I bought my son a custom built awesome pro gaming puter that he picked out and designed last year, cost $1300 and he knows that stuff pretty good. He paid half with money he saved btw, he was 14 at the time. He learned about saving vs spending from me evidently.

Anywho, I can't see spending much more than that, he got the best of everything pretty much without going stupid.


Lots different than my $450 I3 puter from frys, which I think is great.

[Head416]

My buddy built a nice system recently for I think $600. Unless you're into some crazy graphics or video editing I'd aim for that ballpark.

One thing he didn't get though was a solid state hard drive. An SSD will give you a better sense of "speed" than anything else. Last one I bought was a Crucial, 256 GB for around $250 I think. If you need more storage for pics/music/whatever make it a second drive for storage with your OS loaded on the SSD. You'll get way more benefit from that than i3 vs i7 or 4GB vs 8GB RAM.

[emcon5]

Start here:
System Builder Marathon Q1 2014 - Build Your Own - Tom's Hardware

I built a gaming monster a couple years ago for under $1000, I have no doubt I could do it again.

[red-beard]

I spent about $1500 putting together my drafting rig.

PassMark Software - CPU Benchmark Charts

You can build a very good rig by looking at the $/Benchmark for both CPU and Video.

[red-beard]

[june82000]

I don't see any mention of software either - $$

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Always liked that case.

USB, audio, Firewire etc.... ports all readily accessible and intelligently placed.

[RichMink76]

I would go with a solid state drive for the main drive and a 1 TB drive for storage. The case will come with fans (enough for now). the on-board video and audio will do for now but you may want to ugrade later. The i5 and i7 comes with a cooler that is pretty good. I would get two 8 (total 16 gigs) gig sticks of Ram so you can upgrade later.

Tiger Direct, Microcenter, and Newegg are your friends, they often have sales and deals. At Microcenter you can get a deal on the motherboard if you buy a processor.

I built one up and it was fun. Set aside a good area and get ESD wrist straps.

Sounds like a cool project for you and your son!

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by RichMink76

....At Microcenter you can get a deal on the motherboard if you buy a processor....

Yes they do have great MOBO Processor bundles.

And don't be afraid of using AMD processors.

You can get some good bang for the buck.