Building a New PC (I Hope!)

Well I have had this odd, compaq pc for awhile now, it's one of those "$800" brand new deal PC's...

Here are the Oringal Specs.

Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.50 GHz
132 DDR Ram
Intel Graphics

Then I upgraded it a bit.

Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.50 GHz
632 DDR Ram (Added a Kingstin 500 DDR)
NVIDIA GeForce 5500 (BFG GeForce FX 5500 OC 256mb) - PCI

Now I'm looking for a good way to rebuild a lot of this, anyone know about how much it's going to cost to add in AGP? Should I just use my VID CARD and RAM and go build a Custom?

Anyone please recommend a site for parts, I'm in CANADA so one with CANADAIN price's would be nice...

I really gota get a new case though, barley any holes on this one so it heats fast.

you cant just "add" an agp, you'll need to update the entire motherboard to one that will support your ram and cpu socket
to tell you the truth, you are kinda fighting a losing battle trying to build off from a compaq. Those celerons are horrible and aint for gaming. If you are really into gaming I'd suggest holding the PC off as a nongaming PC (which it should be nice at fulfilling that role)- like for the kids/wife/mom to surf the net do research and all that other stuff and then building an entirely new pc from scratch.

If you want to build a PC for a fair price then go to www.newegg.com. This is an AMERICAN site. DOn't know of any canadian site but the prices and customer service there is far better then anyone else. I use to work for compaq so I say this from experience. Don't waste your money upgrading your current PC any longer. Build one from Newegg. You can probably build a good GW gaming rig for around 500 US Dollars. GW doesn't take much to run it well, but if you want to play other games that are more demanding then you will have to obviously spend more. pm me if you need specific recommendations on parts and such.

richard

Alright, i'll look on that site you gave. The only problem is buying WINDOWS XP, which costs like $500... Well it did last time I checked at staples I think it was. So what I will do however is keep my 500 DDR ram that I bought for this PC, and my Video Card aswell, if I get an AGP Card, PCI + AGP will run nice last time I researched since they wont be hogging mem. if using two PCI's. I have been sick of compaq for so long so I know right now I got the ram covered and video card, now I need to get a mother board, P4 maby? a bit costly when I checked on DELL, $600 for a P4...

I definately would not recommend a P4 as it is more costly and at this current time an inferior processor when it comes to gaming. Go with amd and you will be amazed at the difference. Make sure your AGP video card will work in the new motherboard. The AGP speed may be off so you may need to get an older motherboard. lots to consider. you can always use your old os on your new pc build also

Well with the PC I have no Guild Wars should run fine. Now I really don't know about building a PC however I do know just the basic's of parts needed, just I'm clueless on what is "good".

For a motherboard I have no idea,

GIGABYTE GA-K8U-939 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Socket 939 Athlon 64 FX/Athlon ...
ULi M1689
4x 184pin DDR
$58.00

It has 5 PCI, so I would be able to keep my own Card and buy 1 AGP card!

Max LAN Speed 10/100Mbps which is perfect for my T1 internet network.

USB 4x USB 2.0 would perfer 2.1

I would need one of these CPU's CPU Type Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64/Athlon X2.

Heres the link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128307

Also found a power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817148008

For ram I would buy a 1gb stick if possible from kingston.

The thing I hate is with compaqs the WINDOWS XP disks are just backups for the compaq, so I might have to buy one, which I cannot afford at this time.

EDIT: I'm going to PM you so I don't waste so much space on the forums with questions.

check you pm

do you have a price range?

do you have a price range?

STOP

YOU CAN NOT PLAY MIX AND MATCH WITH VIDEO CARDS

AGP OR PCI BUT NOT BOTH.
ALSO DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR OLD STYLE PCI WITH THE NEW PCI-E (EXPRESS) EITHER

you will need to upgrade the power supply as well as compac/dell/etc use proprietary setups that could burn a regular motherboard

Build one from scratch. You probably don't want a n out of date pc, so if you want, in a sort of staying ahead of tiems way, get an AMD dual core. I am making a comp with all new parts, just keeping my vid card, and it will be between 600-700 dollars. 2 gigs of ram, ati radeon 9550 vid card, amd 4200 dual core, cool custom case, etc. Why do you need to buy windows xp if you already have a comp?? Use the same hard drive, although with a new mobo, you might want to reinstall windows xp.

Thanks guys, I have already gotten help from pegasux. I wont be building off my sad sad compaq, just using it untell I get the parts to build my PC.

Also my thread

Shopping for a new comp

I built my own computer and it runs fine. But I noticed there are some kinks I have to work out.

Alright! I'll take a peek, from my own personal experince with PC's. I'm going to go for some things I can overclock to save money, just need to buy cooling and fans.

Forgot to add there's two of them

Shopping for a new comp

"" "" (it CAME!)

Just extra stuff you could look at.

Here is a budget PC I threw together with very little research, if anybody is looking for a cheap computer make sure you also check around for lower prices. ZipZoomFly has NO taxes in the US outside of CA and most items have free 2nd day shipping.

DO NOT GO FOR A $10 POWER SUPPLY, it will suck. You may notice I left out a CD drive, keyboard/mouse and monitor. I'm assuming that if you can read this you already have a keyboard/mouse and monitor, and Guild Wars does not require a CD drive as you can download the client online. I also have reasons for picking most of the parts.

Cheapest case I could find. I'm betting it's poorly made and difficult to use.
Linkworld A313-C00 Beige Aluminum/Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: A313-C00
$17.00

Cheap but good socket 754 motherboard. The 754 has been at the end of it'se life span for some time. If you don't plan on upgrading at all for a few years this is fine.
GIGABYTE GA-K8U Socket 754 ULi M1689 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-K8U
$48.00

Cheapest 6600 AGP card, PCI-Express cards are about $10 cheaper for some reason. The 6600 is a good card for a small budget.
eVGA 256-A8-N340-TX Geforce 6600 256MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
Model #: 256-A8-N340-TX

$113.00

It had good reviews and a good price. Unlike the fan buying a $10 PSU is a really bad idea.
RAIDMAX RX-450KW ATX12V 450W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: RX-450KW
$39.99

Guild Wars needs a 800mhz p3 OR equivilent which this is. For some reason it's rated higher than the Sempron with 256 kb of L2 cache which makes no sense. Cheapest AMD proessor I could find.
AMD Sempron 64 2600+ Palermo 800MHz FSB Socket 754 Processor Model SDA2600BXBOX - Retail
Model #: SDA2600BXBOX
$64.00

Good rating on Newegg. Going up to 1 GB made the price jump to $70.
Rosewill 512MB (2 x 256MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model RW400/512KITG - Retail
Model #: RW400/512KITG
$34.99

Cheap IDE hard drive, good reviews.
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8 6K040L0 40GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: 6K040L0
$45.50

Fits on the only case fan spot in the case.
MASSCOOL FD06025S1M3/4 60 x 60 x 25mm Sleeve Cooling Fan - Retail
Model #: FD06025S1M3/4
$1.99

You'll need this to run Guild Wars. If you currently have a pre-built computer with Windows XP there is a 500% chance that you can't use that on a custom built computer. If you already have a legal version of XP then take this price off.
Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM
Model #: N09-01528
$92.95
Subtotal: $457.42

If you were to remove the Windows XP prices the computer is cheaper than the Xbox 360! Plus you can't play Guild Wars on the 360, yet. Also I was looking at some "dream machines" on people's wishlists and found many people's dreams are not very expensive.

I got help from pegasux and I here's what he came out with.

Motherboard:
MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130491

CPU/Processors:
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103539
(He said I could overclock this to make it better.)

Video Card:
ASUS EN6200TC256/TD/64M Geforce 6200TC 64MB onboard and Effective Memory Size 256MB 64-bit DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121193
(Much better then my BFG GeForce FX 5500 OC 256mb PCI)

I'll be looking on newegg and see what the next up thing from these costs and what it offers, I'm not paying for an extra slot of a motherboard when I wont use it, which costs less. The one I have up is like $40 cheaper then another one with same stuff but less slots by 1.

Trust me my hardrive is sad... 20GB... Since I do programming a lot and play games I need a lot more room. If I use the same hard drive would the Compaq disks still work for restore?

What I was trying to say is I would have one PCI and one AGP, but with the build I showed above only 1 PCI and 1 PCI Express if possible, I already know you shouldn't put two PCI's, ect... due to mem. hogging between the cards.

dimirpaw, don't forget the sata ATA150 HD and 1 Gb of memory.

Try NCIX for a good, reputable Canadian PC parts supplier (they have a storefront in Burnaby BC I think)

from your list above
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=MicroStar $107

AMD 64 3700
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ufacture=A MD $312

video card
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...INTERNATI ONA $65


However I wouldn't get this video card for any gaming (especially with such a good processor)

go with at least an x800GT or 6600 series card (I got a 7800GT for my recent system)

6600GT video card
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=eVGA $175


memory
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=COR SAIR $115

hard drive
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=Se agate $135

Windows XP home
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=Microsoft $112

DVD burner
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=BENQ $57



do you have a case? you'll probably need a new one


all prices are $Canadian and regular prices - they usually announce a new sale every Thursday morning and you can often save 5-20% on some components.

Be careful about ordering from the US - shipping companies will charge a large fee for brokerage through Canada Customs (as well as havein to pay GST and any import duties).

Wow thanks! bingo!

Pegasux I didn't forget about that HD. I didn't show it in my post because theres not much you can really do to go wrong with a HD, well at least the one you picked!

Thanks for letting me know about the Video Card, I would only spend 400 USD Max on one.

you can get a very nice video card for $400 US

I paid 430 $CDN for my video card and now it's down to about $410, and it's a high performance card - not the absolute best available but very good

Well whatever the card is I'm sticking to PCI Express since thats what my Motherboard would support. I doubt I would keep my BFG Geforce FX 5500 Oc 256mb PCI. (Best card you can get for PCI but not good enough.)

Well thanks again for the Canadian Site, I hate those dang charges when stuff gets stuck at the border.

I just looked up: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=MicroStar

It doesn't seem to support the AMD 64 3700+... Or does it, am I reading the site wrong?

---

Heres what I had in mind so far.

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ Processor S939 San Diego 2.2GHZ 1MB L2 Cache 90NM Retail Box
In Stock 14828 $312.10 $312.10

MSI K8N NEO4-F MOTHERBOARD ATX S939 NFORCE4 DDR PCI-E16 PCI-E4 PCI-E 4PCI SATA RAID SOUND LAN
In Stock 14237 $107.53 $107.53

2X Kingston ValueRAM PC3200 512MB DDR400 CL3 184PIN DIMM Memory
In Stock 13212 $59.02 $118.04
(I got another one here so that would be 3x)

EVGA E-GEFORCE 7800GT PCI-E 256MB 256BIT GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV VIVO SLI Ready Video Card Retail
In Stock 16261 $417.62 $417.62

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB SATA 7200RPM 16MB 9MS FDB RoHS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty
In Stock 15355 $159.85 $159.85

BenQ DW1640 DVD +RW 16X8X16 -RW 16X6X16 Dual Layer +R 8X -R 4X Beige IDE OEM Burner W/ SW
2-5 Business Days 15642 $57.84 $57.84

OCZ OCZ52012U-520W Modstream Power Supply PCI-E Ready W/ Ezmod Cable System & Blue LED Fan
In Stock 13609 $117.23 $117.23

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition OEM
In Stock 6526 $105.98 $105.98


Any thing else I might need? Cooling Fans, I gota get a case too... Still planing.

thats a very nice choice on the cpu
but i think you're skimping out on your video card too much

Do you mean I'm goving over what I should get with the Video Card? Or I'm not getting enough?

The only card above the 7800gt is the ultra which is overpriced. The motherboard supports the processor you have listed.

Yep I know the CPU and Motherboard are supported togeather, I just wasn't sure if he was saying I'm spending to much on getting the Card or I should look for something else.

Any thing you guys think I should go for?

aw i was referring to a previous one you had listed
now youre system is has reached into expensive territory where some cut backs will produce unnoticeable decrease in quality but can save some money

Well it's about 1,300 CDN for what I listed NEW, which I would be more then happy to save for a few months to buy! However your right, I need to do some cut backs, Over Clocking can save some money too from buying something at a high price when you can get a lower priced one and OC it.

easy places to cut back
your ram is a bit expensive at that cas latency
check out the 2x 512MB geil 2.5cas ram at newegg thats like less than $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144310

obviously you can get a cheaper video card

can save a good 80 bucks on the hd if you dont need that much space (always can upgrade later) -check out the WD caviar drives

dont need a fancy power supply like that. You can save a good $20-30 if you get a basic, yet reliable psu like from antec.
If you want to save more, rosewell has a VERY soild 450W psu thats only about $30. It maybe worth it to check and see if this psu will work out with your system.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182008

Alright thanks! The price of the ram is about the same or even less. if you compare shipping from the USA, getting fee's from passing the border and any other taxes.

Check my post that should be on page 2 or under this post, its titled Computer Specs:UPDATED.

It has a list of parts I am using, and I think it is for a lot cheaper than what you have listed, so check it out, because it also seems better. 2 gigs of ram, AMD Athlon X2 4000 or 4200 or 3800, havnt decided, but you could go lower and overclock. As for your hard drive, try to upgrade that last, when you get enough cash to, and you can use your XP install disk on different hard drives, I did when I had to replace.

Alright, i'll check your post very soon. With COMPAQS you don't get INSTALL DISKS but some worthless recovery disks that only work with that PC. So I have no real option but to buy WINDOWS XP.

Some how I used the recovery disks for my fiances laptop (the windows XP one) and used her code to activate it on my new built compy) When I tried my own code (on my old compy) it wouldn't work so I used hers and volia! I have windows XP

I bought one anyway just is case things go wrong in the future..


You'll need this to run Guild Wars. If you currently have a pre-built computer with Windows XP there is a 500% chance that you can't use that on a custom built computer. If you already have a legal version of XP then take this price off.
Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM
Model #: N09-01528
$92.95

Yaos that's the same one I got, and it hasn't even been shipped yet =P Well I think but I don't understand why I'm getting a free audio 24" 4-pin cable connector o.o??

Well all I know is mine is just a backup disk not an install disk. So I'll be shipping for my XP soon, but I might wait a bit for the price to go down... Maby after Christmas.

You guys hear of the NEW WINDOWS OS coming in 2008? Is GW going to work on that when the time comes?

Erm.. no I never heard about that. I sure it will though. But I don't trust buying stuff when it first comes out.. might have bugs in the product.

Yep I know, then again anything Microsoft has bugs, look at XBOX 360 when it first came out...