How hard is it to build a computer?

[Gamerlord]

So, I want a new computer, and after taking a good, hard, look at all the computers out there for $600 or less, and looking at their capabilities, I have decided that maybe it would be a better idea to just build one.

So, how hard is it, and could I build a really powerful computer for $600 or under?

[Thajocoth]

If you build the boards and chips and drives and everything yourself, it's almost impossibly difficult. If you buy all the parts and put them together, it's my understanding that the difficulty is in ensuring that the parts you buy are all compatible.

[Gamerlord]

If you build the boards and chips and drives and everything yourself, it's almost impossibly difficult. If you buy all the parts and put them together, it's my understanding that the difficulty is in ensuring that the parts you buy are all compatible.

I plan on buying the parts and assembling it together, lazyness FTW.

[tyckspoon]

The answers are 'not very' and "yes, if you're a really careful shopper." A lot actually depends on whether or not you can get a free/very cheap copy of the operating system you intend to run; if not, you have to budget ~100 for Windows, and that's enough to buy a lot of significant part upgrades when you're looking to build on the cheap.

[Gamerlord]

Also, I have absolutely no clue about motherboards, I want a really mean machine, what am I supposed to look for? Also, I intend to use Windows XP.

[tcrudisi]

Also, I have absolutely no clue about motherboards, I want a really mean machine, what am I supposed to look for? Also, I intend to use Windows XP.

I've built my last 4 computers much like you are asking about now. However, I've not done it in about 3 years now, so my knowledge is a bit antiquated. I just do my research when it's time to build a new one. However, knowing that my knowledge is a bit old, it still doesn't really change: If you don't plan on upgrading it until it's time to build a new one, pick out the processor first. If you plan on upgrading later, pick out the mobo first. And if you are like me and think that you'll want to upgrade later and then never do, well, pick out the processor first. There's a big difference in processors and just what slot they fit in will help determine what kind of mobo you need/want.

Once you've decided on the processor, take a look at how much RAM you will want. Do the same for the video card. Now that you've got those picked out, you know (mostly) what kind of mobo you need: one that can handle all of those functions. Amazingly, it is easy to figure these things out. I'd recommend mwave and newegg as the two websites of choice for myself. Definitely shop around, though, as prices do vary and you can easily find great deals.

Other things to consider: do you want top-quality sound? I don't listen to music (ever), and when I play games, I have the volume down low (I value my hearing), so on-board sound card is great for me. How many PCI slots will you need? (wireless card, audio card, modem (haha), etc).

All of these things must be considered. To me, it usually makes the most sense to pick the mobo last so I can make sure it fits all of this.

Having said all this, if you plan on overclocking, that will definitely change your choice of mobo as well. (Tip: I don't recommend it until you've built your computer a couple of times).

A lot of people will recommend picking the mobo first so you can determine what components will fit into it first, then picking those components. But really, the mobo is mostly there for upgradeability and not so much for the sheer power of your computer (okay, it does matter, just... well, make sure it can handle your other components and it won't bottleneck you). If you don't plan on upgrading and instead just building a new computer in a year (or two, or three), then the mobo is only sort of the "connecting" piece and not the component you should pick first.

tldr; Pick what you want from the other components first, then pick a decent mobo that can handle all of it. It'll be much easier than just looking at a lot of mobo's and trying to decide before picking the rest of your components.

[Gamerlord]

I've built my last 4 computers much like you are asking about now. However, I've not done it in about 3 years now, so my knowledge is a bit antiquated. I just do my research when it's time to build a new one. However, knowing that my knowledge is a bit old, it still doesn't really change: If you don't plan on upgrading it until it's time to build a new one, pick out the processor first. If you plan on upgrading later, pick out the mobo first. And if you are like me and think that you'll want to upgrade later and then never do, well, pick out the processor first. There's a big difference in processors and just what slot they fit in will help determine what kind of mobo you need/want.

Once you've decided on the processor, take a look at how much RAM you will want. Do the same for the video card. Now that you've got those picked out, you know (mostly) what kind of mobo you need: one that can handle all of those functions. Amazingly, it is easy to figure these things out. I'd recommend mwave and newegg as the two websites of choice for myself. Definitely shop around, though, as prices do vary and you can easily find great deals.

Other things to consider: do you want top-quality sound? I don't listen to music (ever), and when I play games, I have the volume down low (I value my hearing), so on-board sound card is great for me. How many PCI slots will you need? (wireless card, audio card, modem (haha), etc).

All of these things must be considered. To me, it usually makes the most sense to pick the mobo last so I can make sure it fits all of this.

Having said all this, if you plan on overclocking, that will definitely change your choice of mobo as well. (Tip: I don't recommend it until you've built your computer a couple of times).

A lot of people will recommend picking the mobo first so you can determine what components will fit into it first, then picking those components. But really, the mobo is mostly there for upgradeability and not so much for the sheer power of your computer (okay, it does matter, just... well, make sure it can handle your other components and it won't bottleneck you). If you don't plan on upgrading and instead just building a new computer in a year (or two, or three), then the mobo is only sort of the "connecting" piece and not the component you should pick first.

tldr; Pick what you want from the other components first, then pick a decent mobo that can handle all of it. It'll be much easier than just looking at a lot of mobo's and trying to decide before picking the rest of your components.

Thanks! :smallsmile:

[valadil]

So, how hard is it, and could I build a really powerful computer for $600 or under?

Not very. Assembling the whole thing is like putting a puzzle together. Most components slide into place, require 1-4 screws or some clips, and maybe a cable or two.

$600 is tight, but doable. Check out sites like Ars Technica and Tom's Hardware for guides. They sometimes even published suggested builds.

Regarding the motherboard, you generally need to figure out a few basic requirements. How many hard drives will you be using. How much RAM? Is one PCI-X slot enough, or do you plan on SLI (hint: at $600 you're not using multiple video cards). What kind of CPU? Any other ports or features you need? Then look at Newegg and see what mobos fit the bill. Check the ratings. Maybe pick based on brand.

[The Valiant Turtle]

There are numerous tech-oriented websites that regularly publish guides for what they consider to be good systems. Here's a few:

The Techreport: http://techreport.com/articles.x/18747 - The econobox here would probably meet your needs just fine. I'd go for 4GB of RAM if possible though.

Ars Technica is in the process of writing their new guide. The forum thread where they are discussing options is here: http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1113052

The CPU & Motherboard Technologia forums at Ars are great places to go for advice on new builds. http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewforum.php?f=8 I strongly recommend reading the various "new system build" threads there and feel free to ask them for advice. The regulars there never get tired of it.

One important question is if you need a monitor as well or whether you are re-using an old one.

The OS issue is another big concern. If you have a valid Windows XP license available I can understand sticking with XP. But be warned: It's possible that XP won't have the drivers it needs to install on newer hardware and getting it the drivers it needs can be very tricky. I strongly recommend going with Windows 7 if at all possible (64 bit). XP is pretty old now and definitely not as secure.

At this price range be aware that you can only barely make a better PC than you can get from Dell or HP, but you're components will probably be somewhat better than what they use.

When it comes to purchasing your parts the most common source for most people is www.newegg.com. Other sites I occasionally purchase from are www.zipzoomfly.com and www.mwave.com. Newegg in particular often has great combo deals which can really save you some money.

[Gamerlord]

Is Windows 7 capable of running XP software?

[tyckspoon]

Depends on the software. There's a lot of stuff that was intentionally broken, because it was using insecure shortcuts and programming methods that 7 no longer allows. For the most part, there's 2 kinds of software you can bring forward: big products that have good developer support (they'll have updated their drivers and/or re-written the troublesome parts to be 7-compliant) and small self-contained widget kind of programs (like Java and Flash-based tools that never touched the broken parts anyway.) Everything else.. you can try, but don't bet on it.

[raitalin]

I've found that when you're not trying to build a high-end gaming system (i.e. something you want watercooled) you can often find custom "starters" (Case+Power source+mobo+processor) for less than you can buy the parts individually. It'll also reduce the work on your end by quite a bit.

Like these (http://computers.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=barebones&_sacat=179&LH_ItemCondition=1&Processor%2520Configuration=Dual%2520Core&Processor%2520Speed%2520%2528per%2520Core%2529=2%2 520GHz%2520or%2520more&_dmpt=Desktop_PCs&_odkw=barbones&_osacat=179&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313)

Also, Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/) is free. Just throwing that out there.

[The Succubus]

One other thing - the amount of RAM you want will affect your OS selection. 32 bit versions of XP, Vista (dunno about 7 - used it once, despised it) only support up to 4Gb. If you want 8 or higher, you'll need a 64 bit OS.

[Zovc]

Other things to consider: do you want top-quality sound? I don't listen to music (ever), and when I play games, I have the volume down low (I value my hearing), so on-board sound card is great for me. How many PCI slots will you need? (wireless card, audio card, modem (haha), etc).

I feel the need to contest you here. Most non-professionals (/hobbyists) shouldn't have any need for any sound card beyond their onboard one. Essentially, if you're building a 'gaming machine' on any sort of budget, money spent on a sound card should have been spent elsewhere in my opinion.

The rest of your advice is sound, but even suggesting that a sound card might be useful in everyday computing is kind of ludicrous. ...and it's no like you said "You need to get a sound card if you..." it's just, you hinted at sound cards, which I predict will be completely useless to OP.

@raitalin
This is a serious question (I'm not trollin', in other words), how is Ubuntu's compatibility with games? I'm not referring to random indie games, I'm asking about 'mainstream' games like Source engine games (Counter Strike: Source, TF2, etc.) and World of Warcraft.

[Zovc]

To your "Can I build a powerful computer for under $600", or however you worded it:

Nice, widescreen monitors easily run $200. You can probably find an economic one for $150, but it'll be around 17" or 18" (I have 22", and I wish it was bigger after having it for two years).

Your operating system will also be a painful cut in your budget.

Your mouse, your keyboard, your speakers/headset, all also chip away from what you can spend on your machine's meat. You'll also probably need an ethernet cable or a wireless card, there are a lot of small things that quickly add up when building on a budget.

What 'peripherals' for your current computer can you carry over?

I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there: Laptops are becoming powerful very quickly. For $800 about a year-and-a-half ago, my girlfriend got a laptop that was as powerful as the PC I spent a total of almost $2000 on three-and-a-half years ago. Last year I saw someone snipe an upscaled (that is, better everything) model of that same laptop's series for $600. The one catch to laptops is that they come with a lot of 'bloatware' on them; I recommend reinstalling windows, then installing only the drivers, not all the additional trials and sample software that comes with the machine. The cool thing is, most laptops come with a copy of windows, as well as a CD key for it. You'll probably get Windows 7 on a new laptop.

As a side note, be prepared for your 'awesome' machine to become outdated very promptly. Unless you get the very best parts available at any given time, your machine won't be playing things at the highest settings in about a year or two.

[Gamerlord]

To your "Can I build a powerful computer for under $600", or however you worded it:

Nice, widescreen monitors easily run $200. You can probably find an economic one for $150, but it'll be around 17" or 18" (I have 22", and I wish it was bigger after having it for two years).

Your operating system will also be a painful cut in your budget.

Your mouse, your keyboard, your speakers/headset, all also chip away from what you can spend on your machine's meat. You'll also probably need an ethernet cable or a wireless card, there are a lot of small things that quickly add up when building on a budget.

What 'peripherals' for your current computer can you carry over?

I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there: Laptops are becoming powerful very quickly. For $800 about a year-and-a-half ago, my girlfriend got a laptop that was as powerful as the PC I spent a total of almost $2000 on three-and-a-half years ago. Last year I saw someone snipe an upscaled (that is, better everything) model of that same laptop's series for $600. The one catch to laptops is that they come with a lot of 'bloatware' on them; I recommend reinstalling windows, then installing only the drivers, not all the additional trials and sample software that comes with the machine. The cool thing is, most laptops come with a copy of windows, as well as a CD key for it. You'll probably get Windows 7 on a new laptop.

As a side note, be prepared for your 'awesome' machine to become outdated very promptly. Unless you get the very best parts available at any given time, your machine won't be playing things at the highest settings in about a year or two.
You're suggesting I buy a laptop?

[Erloas]

Well there are a couple threads here I (and a few others) have posted reasonable builds that you could copy, or modify slightly to fit your exact needs and budget.

The main problem with using XP at this point is no DX10 or later, and no one has 64bit copies of XP. 4GB is the standard now, and 32bit won't see more then about 3.2GB, so you'll have unused RAM with XP compared to 7. It works if you need to save the money for the OS though.

As for how hard it is, it is really pretty easy. I know there are quite a few youtube video guides to building a computer. Not counting advanced topics like OCing, you can generally get a system put together in about an hour, though its generally another 2-3ish hours before you have the OS installed and get everything to the point of actually being able to use it.
In terms of picking out the parts, there are only a couple bigger variables. What processor you want will determine your motherboard and your motherboard will decide your RAM (only a few real variables of RAM, in reality about everything you buy at this point in time will all use the same RAM). Video card, Hard Drive(s), optical drives, and case are all independent. The power supply has a few more options, mostly depending on which video card you choose, but with a single video card setup, a 500W PSU from a reliable brand will be good.

Where you trying to include a monitor in the $600 budget (because that makes things a lot more difficult)?

Here is a sample lower end computer build. (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/value-gaming-pc,2578.html) Though its a bit of overkill for most people using a crossfire setup (2 video cards). It also doesn't include the cost of the OS, but a few tweaks should put it near your budget.

[shadow_archmagi]

I just built my computer last night. It took me seven hours, but none of it was particularly difficult. It was a lot like putting together anything; you have a ton of parts, a diagram that shows how they're supposed to go together, and so on.


Take the CPU installation. To install the CPU, you just have to undo this little latch thingummy and then open the case and then put the CPU in so that it fits; it's shaped funny so even though it's a square it only fits if it goes in right, and it's easy to tell if you've done it wrong. Takes about 10 seconds if you know what you're doing, or 10 minutes if you take a long time to ogle the parts and figure out how to make things go.

It's no more complicated than, say, a belt buckle, or assembling a grill. It's just kinda time consuming. Apparently my 7 hour experience was a lot more than most people can expect to spend; I'm kinda bad with mechanics, so I spent a lot of time saying to myself

"Okay, so this needs to go here, but this is here so it's in the way... wait, what if I shove this over can I do that? Hmm... what if I push on it and-oh hey it just snapped into place. There we go, now this part fits. I see."

[Zovc]

You're suggesting I buy a laptop?

I was just throwing it out there--it's worth considering with a budget of $600.

[pendell]

I've built two computers, although they were all awhile ago.

The main bit of advice I have to give is to do it very carefully. It might help to have a friend help you. The kind of patient, slow, person who you would trust to disable unexploded ordinance. I killed a motherboard by plugging a wire in wrong, and got a nasty smell of smoke.

Another one was built for me by a professional, who had done this for years. He still got something reversed, and blew out the fuse in the house when he flipped the power switch.

So my advice is that you won't build your first computer for the price you're looking for. I would add 20% to the cost to replace parts I broke during the build. You might on your second, or third, or fourth, however. It's a matter of practice and patience, patience, patience.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Erloas]

The main bit of advice I have to give is to do it very carefully. It might help to have a friend help you. The kind of patient, slow, person who you would trust to disable unexploded ordinance. I killed a motherboard by plugging a wire in wrong, and got a nasty smell of smoke.

Another one was built for me by a professional, who had done this for years. He still got something reversed, and blew out the fuse in the house when he flipped the power switch.

How did you manage that? The two main power plugs on the motherboard are both keyed so they will only install one way. And there are no plugs that could be switched from one place to another because of sizing and keying. It would be easy enough to forget to plug in a power switch, but in cases like that that I have seen the system just didn't power up.
The only non-keyed plugs I can think of are the power and reset switches and the power and hard drive LEDs and I don't see how getting those mixed around would blow anything up.

I guess it could happen since it did. What was it you had plugged in wrong?

As for the professional the only thing I could think of that might blow a fuse in a house is if they switched the power supply from 110 to 220 (or the other way around for the countries that use 220). I'm not even sure if that would do it, but its the only thing I could think of that might. Although I don't even think that is possible any more, that switch is now automatically controlled by every PSU I've seen in the last few years. It is possible it was just a bad supply too though, in which case it had little to do with how it was assembled.

[shadow_archmagi]

How did you manage that? These days it's impossible to get wrong

I'm going to take a guess and say that in the past, it was possible to get it wrong. I did notice that there were a lot of wires that could only go in one way because of little tab-things or whatnot, and I strongly suspect that those tabs were borne from hundreds of smoking motherboards.

[Erloas]

I'm going to take a guess and say that in the past, it was possible to get it wrong. I did notice that there were a lot of wires that could only go in one way because of little tab-things or whatnot, and I strongly suspect that those tabs were borne from hundreds of smoking motherboards.

The 4 and 8 pin power cables for the processors aren't that old, I think they started with the Pentium 4s, and they haven't changed in that time, they've been keyed the same way.
The main power cable, the 20pin ATX has also been standardly keyed since it was added... I forget how long ago that ways. The newer ones are 24 pin ATX cables and they are keyed the same as the 20s with an extra 4 pin attached to the side, and keyed in such a way that the 4 pin will only ever go on one side of the 20 and it isn't the same as the CPU 4-pin.

AT was the standard before that, but it was 2 mirrored 6 pin connects that had the positive on one side and the negative on the other, and if you got those two mixed up it would definitely fry the motherboard, which is one of the reasons ATX was designed the way it was. According to Wikipedia it was pretty much completely replaced by ATX by 1997, which would have been around the Pentium 1/2 days. If that is in fact how long ago the story was from it means its almost completely irrelevent since virtually every thing has changed at least once, most things twice, since then.

[raitalin]

@raitalin
This is a serious question (I'm not trollin', in other words), how is Ubuntu's compatibility with games? I'm not referring to random indie games, I'm asking about 'mainstream' games like Source engine games (Counter Strike: Source, TF2, etc.) and World of Warcraft.

Well, a lot better than it used to be at least, and improving constantly. I know WoW runs extremely well (Platinum rating), and the Source engine games run well (gold rating).

You can see the top apps here (http://appdb.winehq.org/) and can browse all tested apps here (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&sTitle=Browse%20Applications&sOrderBy=appName&bAscending=true)

[Zovc]

It's very possible that you shorted your motherboard by not properly separating it from your computer's case, shadow_archmagi. I did this when assembling a friend's computer once, I neglected to install the 'risers' that came with his motherboard that allowed the board to stand about a quarter of an inch 'off' of the case's side. Essentially, there was a contact between the circuits on the bottom of the board and the metal in the case... it broke.

Before plugging in your computer, OP, make sure you have used everything, that includes screws (or anything that resembles a screw). You might not need every screw that comes with all of your components, but you probably need to and/or should use most of them. Then, once you do that, make sure every connection is tight, then plug the power cable into your computer and switch the power supply on. If you did everything right, your computer should power on when you press the case's switch.

For information on how to hook up your case's switch and lights (those will be the paired, capped wires coming from the front of your case), look at your motherboard's manual, a diagram will be in there somewhere. These cables and pins--to my knowledge--can't break anything, so don't be afraid to try different stuff. Your wires' caps may have different labels than what your manual's diagram ask for, but chances are you still have what they're asking for. The only important one, naturally, will be the power switch, but most of the other ones serve a convenient purpose--I remember my first computer's motherboard had its own built-in power switch, so I just used that for the longest time.

[tcrudisi]

I feel the need to contest you here. Most non-professionals (/hobbyists) shouldn't have any need for any sound card beyond their onboard one. Essentially, if you're building a 'gaming machine' on any sort of budget, money spent on a sound card should have been spent elsewhere in my opinion.

The rest of your advice is sound, but even suggesting that a sound card might be useful in everyday computing is kind of ludicrous. ...and it's no like you said "You need to get a sound card if you..." it's just, you hinted at sound cards, which I predict will be completely useless to OP.

I agree completely. I think sound cards are a waste of money which is why I always use the on-board.

Also, to the poster that suggested buying a laptop: I disagree. A laptop will not be the same as a desktop, dollar for dollar. It does come with its own advantages (most notably the ease to transport it around), but, as I just said: it won't be as good as the desktop.

Also, $600 is a bit of a stretch to build a computer on IF you do not already have the monitor you want to use, the operating system (unless you go for a free one like what was suggested), and the peripherals. Heck, I never buy my monitor and computer parts at the same time. I like to stagger them to decrease the financial burden. I also do the same with peripherals. If you already have those things (monitor, OS, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc), then that $600 will go a long way. If you don't, you will lose a lot of that money just buying them: maybe $150 for monitor, $50 for OS, $50 for peripherals, which adds up to $250 right there (okay, those were guesstimates, admittedly), which would put you down to $350 to build the actual computer on. You would still need the case, power supply, mobo, cpu, ram, video card, and hard drive.

Which actually brings me to another point: if you have an old computer which you don't plan to use, you might be able to salvage a couple of parts from it. I'm actually talking about the hard drive and power supply. Be careful reusing that power supply though, as you do need to make sure it can handle your new computer, should you choose to reuse it. But hey -- when on a budget, sometimes reusing things can be very handy! (especially the hard drive if it is big enough for you as is. They don't tend to have much in the way of technological advancements; they get bigger instead of getting faster.)

And just because I'm betting someone will correct me: yes, you can get a faster hard drive, they just aren't as price efficient for the dollar.

[Zovc]

I agree completely. I think sound cards are a waste of money which is why I always use the on-board.

Also, to the poster that suggested buying a laptop: I disagree. A laptop will not be the same as a desktop, dollar for dollar. It does come with its own advantages (most notably the ease to transport it around), but, as I just said: it won't be as good as the desktop.

Funny, they're the same poster! For $600, OP might be better off getting a laptop. That's all I'm saying, and he probably can get a good enough gaming machine at $600 in laptop form.


Also, $600 is a bit of a stretch to build a computer on IF you do not already have the monitor you want to use, the operating system (unless you go for a free one like what was suggested), and the peripherals. Heck, I never buy my monitor and computer parts at the same time. I like to stagger them to decrease the financial burden. I also do the same with peripherals. If you already have those things (monitor, OS, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc), then that $600 will go a long way.

...

And just because I'm betting someone will correct me: yes, you can get a faster hard drive, they just aren't as price efficient for the dollar.

Yes, $600 is a stretch to build an entire system on--again, this is why I suggested considering the laptop route--you save $200 on the monitor and $150 on the operating system to essentially get the rest of your parts at somewhat less efficient prices.

Indeed, salvaging a hard drive, a disc drive, and a power supply could save you about $100 total. If you can recycle a monitor, you're saving yourself about $150+. Recycling a mouse and keyboard will probably save you between $20 and $100, depending on what kind of mouse or keyboard you would buy.

(Then again, salvaging my first computer's 40gb hard drive would've gotten me nowhere, this machine has almost a 1tb of storage, and I want more.)

[Jokasti]

Hmmm. This would be an interesting summer project.

[Zovc]

Update: I'm going to rescind my suggestion on buying a laptop--looking at $600 laptops, you don't want them for gaming. I don't know my my girlfriend's $800 laptop is so good at gaming, either. O.o

[tcrudisi]

Basically, Gamerkid, I think we need a little bit more information before we can help you further. Do you already have a monitor you would be okay with re-using (at least for another year or so until you could afford to buy a new one)? You said you had Win XP: while it's not recommended (I would strongly recommend Win 7 or even Ubuntu), would you be okay with continuing to use it? Do you already have a mouse and keyboard you are okay with? Ditto for a DVD drive? Ditto for a hard drive (is it big enough that you would be okay using it for a while, or do you need space, space, and omg more space)? Ditto for a power supply?

Or would you have to purchase all this? Basically, even here I'm sure a person or two would be willing to make some recommendations, but we don't really know what your budget is without knowing how much you can salvage from your current computer, since all that above can add up to a pretty penny.


(Then again, salvaging my first computer's 40gb hard drive would've gotten me nowhere, this machine has almost a 1tb of storage, and I want more.)

I'm the exact opposite: I purchased a 150gb Raptor HD. I've still not used half of it and I've had my computer for about 3 years. It's my only hard drive. Eventually I expect to have to upgrade, but if I build a new computer in the next year, I'll keep that hard drive and won't put in a second one for a while. I just don't need that much space. I guess it's because I do not download (much).

[shadow_archmagi]

It's very possible that you shorted your motherboard by not properly separating it from your computer's case, shadow_archmagi.

1. I was very sure to install the copper legs

2. I think you're thinking of a different above poster, because my new computer works wonderfully and I am typing this post using it

[Zovc]

2. I think you're thinking of a different above poster, because my new computer works wonderfully and I am typing this post using it

Ah, yes, it was directed at Pendell, sorry.

[Brother Oni]

As for the professional the only thing I could think of that might blow a fuse in a house is if they switched the power supply from 110 to 220 (or the other way around for the countries that use 220). I'm not even sure if that would do it, but its the only thing I could think of that might. Although I don't even think that is possible any more, that switch is now automatically controlled by every PSU I've seen in the last few years. It is possible it was just a bad supply too though, in which case it had little to do with how it was assembled.

I've accidentally flipped that switch on a PSU before. It PSU fried itself with a loud bang (my ears were still ringing a quarter of an hour later).

I'm in the UK, so luckily all plugs come with built in fuses, so it didn't touch my flat's circuit ring.


@Gamerkid
Building a computer from component parts can take anywhere from a couple hours (including OS install - that takes about as long as building the thing in the first place) to couple weeks if something isn't configured correctly and you're trying to troubleshoot.
Generally the higher the performance parts, the more things you have to check and the more jargon you have to learn.

Fortunately, there's lots of people here that are quite knowledgable so if you get stuck, just ask.

[Fay Graydon]

So, I want a new computer, and after taking a good, hard, look at all the computers out there for $600 or less, and looking at their capabilities, I have decided that maybe it would be a better idea to just build one.

So, how hard is it, and could I build a really powerful computer for $600 or under?

BUilding a computer is super hard unless you trained in building the parts est...
Putting one together is stupidly easy.
I helped my foster brother build both mine and my dads about a year ago.