So, I just finished my first custom computer build. My laptop's motherboard died about a month ago, so instead of paying over $200 to fix an aging machine that wasn't very good to start with, I decided to build a new one. It took about half the day today to build and install Windows 7, but now it's all set up and running.
Specs:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 @3.0GHz
4GB DDR3 Dual-Channel Memory @1333MHz
ATI Radeon HD 3300
750GB Western Digital Caviar Green SATA Hard Drive
ASUS 790GX Socket AM3 Motherboard
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Case
Windows 7 64-Bit
Setup went pretty smoothly except for installing the processor. I made a mistake when I tried to latch on the heat sink and wound up bending a pin on the processor, but I managed to bend it back and it seems to work fine. *Phew*
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Harakou wrote:
So, I just finished my first custom computer build. My laptop's motherboard died about a month ago, so instead of paying over $200 to fix an aging machine that wasn't very good to start with, I decided to build a new one. It took about half the day today to build and install Windows 7, but now it's all set up and running.
![]()
Specs:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 @3.0GHz
4GB DDR3 Dual-Channel Memory @1333MHz
ATI Radeon HD 3300
750GB Western Digital Caviar Green SATA Hard Drive
ASUS 790GX Socket AM3 Motherboard
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Case
Windows 7 64-Bit
Setup went pretty smoothly except for installing the processor. I made a mistake when I tried to latch on the heat sink and wound up bending a pin on the processor, but I managed to bend it back and it seems to work fine. *Phew*
My friend's is better
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waveOSBeta wrote:
Harakou wrote:
So, I just finished my first custom computer build. My laptop's motherboard died about a month ago, so instead of paying over $200 to fix an aging machine that wasn't very good to start with, I decided to build a new one. It took about half the day today to build and install Windows 7, but now it's all set up and running.
![]()
Specs:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 @3.0GHz
4GB DDR3 Dual-Channel Memory @1333MHz
ATI Radeon HD 3300
750GB Western Digital Caviar Green SATA Hard Drive
ASUS 790GX Socket AM3 Motherboard
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Case
Windows 7 64-Bit
Setup went pretty smoothly except for installing the processor. I made a mistake when I tried to latch on the heat sink and wound up bending a pin on the processor, but I managed to bend it back and it seems to work fine. *Phew*My friend's is better
Not all that surprised; this is a decent rig, but far from high-end. What are the specs of his? Do you know?
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fg123 wrote:
Lol, My dad and I recently bought parts for $800, and we built a computer too.
Intel core i5 4 core 3.3ghz
8gb ram
Windows 7
Asus motherboard
ATI graphics
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It was hard, cause it was our first time.![]()
Nice! I actually spent around $800 too. How much did you get the Core i5 for?
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My uncle's computer that I use when we go over there is a built one. It looks really cool with the clear sides and the red light inside lighting up the room when I don't bother to turn on the lights.

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What website did you go to? I want the URL on how to build a laptop. I have a old one (very slow) and I want my own one (custom branding!)
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thebuilderdd wrote:
What website did you go to? I want the URL on how to build a laptop. I have a old one (very slow) and I want my own one (custom branding!)
I used NewEgg for all my parts, but good luck building a laptop. As it stands now, laptop cases (and even some components) are specific to the manufacturer. You'd be better off just building a desktop in my opinion.
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Harakou wrote:
thebuilderdd wrote:
What website did you go to? I want the URL on how to build a laptop. I have a old one (very slow) and I want my own one (custom branding!)
I used NewEgg for all my parts, but good luck building a laptop. As it stands now, laptop cases (and even some components) are specific to the manufacturer. You'd be better off just building a desktop in my opinion.
Ok, can you give me a link to desktop?
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Nice rig, I must say. Are you planning on doing anything special with it, like gaming or media?
I built mine a year or so ago, and now have:
Win7 x64 (64-bit)
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H motherboard
AMD Athlon II X2 (dual core) 240 Processor running at 2.8 GHz
6.0GB of some of the fastest RAM available
Radeon Sapphire HD 5570 1GB graphics card
500GB Western Digital (I think) HDD
//Other stuff below
19" 1440X900 widescreen monitor
Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse
Monoprice 10x6 graphics tablet
Black Antec case with a fan on top and side
Mine is a mid-high to high gaming/graphics rig, depending on how you look at it.
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Seems very hard and confusing. I really suck at stuff like that.
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blazerv82 wrote:
Nice rig, I must say. Are you planning on doing anything special with it, like gaming or media?
I built mine a year or so ago, and now have:
Win7 x64 (64-bit)
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H motherboard
AMD Athlon II X2 (dual core) 240 Processor running at 2.8 GHz
6.0GB of some of the fastest RAM available
Radeon Sapphire HD 5570 1GB graphics card
500GB Western Digital (I think) HDD
//Other stuff below
19" 1440X900 widescreen monitor
Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse
Monoprice 10x6 graphics tablet
Black Antec case with a fan on top and side
Mine is a mid-high to high gaming/graphics rig, depending on how you look at it.
Sounds like you've got a pretty nice setup yourself. That processor must be a huge bottleneck though; are you planning an upgrade?
As for mine, I plan on adding a discrete graphics card and upgrading the power supply (current one is only 430W) to match, but I just don't have the money right now. It handles games running the Half Life 2 engine fairly well as it is, so I'm happy.
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Harakou wrote:
Sounds like you've got a pretty nice setup yourself. That processor must be a huge bottleneck though; are you planning an upgrade?
Actually, the processor I have is one of the best dual-cores you can find. I have had no problems doing extreme multitasking, or running the latest games. Upgrading wouldn't make much of a difference.
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blazerv82 wrote:
Harakou wrote:
Sounds like you've got a pretty nice setup yourself. That processor must be a huge bottleneck though; are you planning an upgrade?
Actually, the processor I have is one of the best dual-cores you can find. I have had no problems doing extreme multitasking, or running the latest games. Upgrading wouldn't make much of a difference.
Well, no doubt it's a great processor, especially for the money. I prefer a quad-core and the added L3 cache of the Phenom II, but that's just me.
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Harakou wrote:
fg123 wrote:
Lol, My dad and I recently bought parts for $800, and we built a computer too.
Intel core i5 4 core 3.3ghz
8gb ram
Windows 7
Asus motherboard
ATI graphics
![]()
It was hard, cause it was our first time.![]()
Nice! I actually spent around $800 too. How much did you get the Core i5 for?
I think around 400- 500?
Most of it was CPU and RAM. The rest, eh.
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My uncle once gathered around 10 really old computers(he's in the computer business so he gets access to these sort of things) and cannibalized them, stripped them down, bought some new replacement parts and Windows 7, then put them back together. He's now got a Mac Dual Boot Linux that runs Windows 7 and uses several different browsers including Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. It works fine, but he can't use any of the inbuilt Mac or Linux applications. Ah well.
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If I had the money then I would build one but that $800 dollar computer would cost more than $1200 here even with the high exchange rate.
I think it would be cool if I built a PC case out of foam and an old case (Old case for the mounting racks and inside cover, foam acts like a shell) (Because playing with fire is cool)
Processors.
Intel Core i5 2400 Processor, 3.10GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket LGA1155 $215
Intel Core i7 870 Processor, 2.93Ghz ( Turbo 3.6Ghz ) , 8MB L3 Cache, Socket LGA1156 Lynnfield Quad Core 8 Thread Turbo Boost $319
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T- Six-Core 3.3GHz/3.6GHz Turbo Core, 9MB cache Socket AM3 125W Black Edition $309
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My friend built his own computer, and after about a year, he swapped some wires round and it stopped working. Even though he knew how to fix it, he pretended he didn't so his parents could buy him a new, better one.
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