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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Alan Loy on October 30, 2014, 05:32:37 AM
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My daughter has decided she wants to build a PC. I know nothing about this and she comes from a lifetime of Apple use. Is this a smart thing to do?
Any traps for the unwary we should look out for?
Suggestions on good places to get parts both online and in Melbourne?
Thanks
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My daughter has decided she wants to build a PC. I know nothing about this and she comes from a lifetime of Apple use. Is this a smart thing to do?
Any traps for the unwary we should look out for?
Suggestions on good places to get parts both online and in Melbourne?
Thanks
Good place for parts in Melbourne is MSY, both online and shop front.
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X2 for MSY, best prices you will find. I'm in the IT industry and that is where I go for all my personal PC needs.
Pretty easy to build up a PC, everything is slotted so can't be installed backwards.
Then pick you OS (Windows, Linux) and start installing.
Cheers
Whitedg
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This is probably not the best forum for that. Head to 'whirlpool', there are heaps of build threads there
Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
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this guide may help:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/08/ars-technica-system-guide-august-2014/ (http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/08/ars-technica-system-guide-august-2014/)
parts should still be available. if not, good excuse for a bit of comparison research... :)
NOTE: american prices in the link. oz prices will be higher...
edit: as previously advised, here's a good starting forum on whirlpool:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/7?g=77 (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/7?g=77)
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Building a pc is really pretty easy these days (which to my mind has removed much of the fun). Working in the IT industry and having worked in the component level of the industry for many years as others have stated it is pretty hard to go wrong.
I would be starting by building an idea of what the PC is for - web surfing / games / work?
Then you can guauge the level of componantry you need or can justify. Personally I would be looking for a good quality case, that will support a number of hard drives (you can never have enough storage) with a motherboard that has good I/O (so loads of USB (preferably USB 3 poirts)) and a good memory footprint (8-12Gb). these days the processor is not the be all and end all - in fact i tend to ignore the processor most of the time and focus on memory - but I tend to run memory capped workloads.) The place where you can easily blow the entire budget is on the graphics card, but unless you are building a gaming PC of something for serious graphics work then you may easily get by with the onboard graphics on most midline motherboards, but remember that these often share the memory so allow for that in your design.
MSY is a good place to start but have a look at static ice - www.staticice.com (http://www.staticice.com) this is a search engine for parts and type in what you want and you will see a long list of suppliers for that part with their prices.
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Thanks guys
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MSY Mitcham is up the road from work. Go there all the time...
There is little to no service - you really need to know what your going in to buy... Prices are cheap....
But honestly, have a look at some of the prefab PC's on Ebay.. I went to build a high end gaming machine for a mate to play some online car racing game that has Bathurst etc on it, and it was cheaper via nasty auction site than through MSY - which is nearly impossible.
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The place where you can easily blow the entire budget is on the graphics card
Ain't that the truth. Last time I was in MSY there was a guy in the queue in front of purchasing a $3.5K graphics card. WTF?
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Building a pc is really pretty easy these days (which to my mind has removed much of the fun). Working in the IT industry and having worked in the component level of the industry for many years as others have stated it is pretty hard to go wrong.
I would be starting by building an idea of what the PC is for - web surfing / games / work?
Then you can guauge the level of componantry you need or can justify. Personally I would be looking for a good quality case, that will support a number of hard drives (you can never have enough storage) with a motherboard that has good I/O (so loads of USB (preferably USB 3 poirts)) and a good memory footprint (8-12Gb). these days the processor is not the be all and end all - in fact i tend to ignore the processor most of the time and focus on memory - but I tend to run memory capped workloads.) The place where you can easily blow the entire budget is on the graphics card, but unless you are building a gaming PC of something for serious graphics work then you may easily get by with the onboard graphics on most midline motherboards, but remember that these often share the memory so allow for that in your design.
MSY is a good place to start but have a look at static ice - www.staticice.com (http://www.staticice.com) this is a search engine for parts and type in what you want and you will see a long list of suppliers for that part with their prices.
/\ /\ agree x2. I have been building systems for 20 years. So easy now you don't have to worry about clock multipliers etc. Just one thing that you may need to keep an eye on is the matching your ram to the motherboard, make sure it is the right type (DDR2 - DDR3) though DDR2 is dead in the water now, and match the cpu to the motherboard. Socket 1150 Haswell is the most common at the moment.
I have accounts with some distributors/wholesalers here in Brissie but have found I can buy some stuff cheaper retail, especially from Umart. I see they now have a store in Melbourne, not sure if it is close to you though. http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=7 (http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=7)
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MSY Mitcham is up the road from work. Go there all the time...
There is little to no service - you really need to know what your going in to buy... Prices are cheap....
But honestly, have a look at some of the prefab PC's on Ebay.. I went to build a high end gaming machine for a mate to play some online car racing game that has Bathurst etc on it, and it was cheaper via nasty auction site than through MSY - which is nearly impossible.
x2 I've built my own for the last 20 years, but it's hardly worth DIY now ???
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Ain't that the truth. Last time I was in MSY there was a guy in the queue in front of purchasing a $3.5K graphics card. WTF?
which is now worth $250 LOL I found it cheaper to run 2x cards.
Edit: for non gaming machines for staff for home we now send staff to Dell.com.au for normal workstations .. the 24/7 home support is worth it..
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PCcasegear is aother great site.
Fast delivery.
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Edit: for non gaming machines for staff for home we now send staff to Dell.com.au for normal workstations .. the 24/7 home support is worth it..
As long as they are prepared to throw it away once the warranty expires and they have a fault. Quoted $655 for a replacement mobo for a 980 the other day one month out of warranty.
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As long as they are prepared to throw it away once the warranty expires and they have a fault. Quoted $655 for a replacement mobo for a 980 the other day one month out of warranty.
The only Dells we've had issues with were the USFF Optiplexs... All our others have been bullet proof even in the Media Lab where the air vents get blocked each week and they overheat.
We've still got some old 210's running around here with XP in the labs - still going strong... None of our users who have bought them for home use have complained either. maybe your users are just ****ed... who knows.
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My son wanted a gaming PC so we shopped around looking at all the high end systems and got an idea what they were worth and what specs he wanted.
Then we went and bought the parts and built our own. We saved a heap of money by not necessarily getting the absolute latest and greatest parts at the time but still got it to the specs he needed and the thing flys.
In fact that was a year or two ago and it still flys.
Id say we almost built it for half the cost of getting an equivalent at the big name stores.
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Id say we almost built it for half the cost of getting an equivalent at the big name stores.
easily.. Go to the local dodgey Asian computer stores all the time.
Im still running an old Antec 900 at home - internals have been redone 3 times though
(http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/928/1.jpg)
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Sounds like I really need to get a definite idea about the requirements. I personally don't care much as my needs are modest.
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Sounds like I really need to get a definite idea about the requirements. I personally don't care much as my needs are modest.
I haven't read the whole thread so this may have already been said but IMHO if all she needs to do with it is basic use (No high end gaming) then building your own may not be the way to go for cost effectiveness. There are some ripper deals out there for basic PC's.
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Ain't that the truth. Last time I was in MSY there was a guy in the queue in front of purchasing a $3.5K graphics card. WTF?
$3.5k - He wasn't even trying. ;D
We sell systems for high performance floating point work and they use the Nvidia Tesla K40c cards. These are currently $10,519 each and it isn't uncommon for us to use four of them in each system.........
http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-servers.html (http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla-servers.html)
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The only Dells we've had issues with were the USFF Optiplexs... All our others have been bullet proof even in the Media Lab where the air vents get blocked each week and they overheat.
We've still got some old 210's running around here with XP in the labs - still going strong... None of our users who have bought them for home use have complained either. maybe your users are just ****ed... who knows.
Yeah we have roughly about 2000 dell optiplex from 745 through to 9010 mostly SFF. There are some staff but mostly the rest are in classrooms (Tafe college). Some get thrashed, others may be on once a week.
All in all the Dells are very good (we keep buying them lol) but their service is going down hill. Next Business Day contract and they turn up 2-3 days after etc. We are going to all in one 9010's now
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Yeah we have roughly about 2000 dell optiplex from 745 through to 9010 mostly SFF. There are some staff but mostly the rest are in classrooms (Tafe college). Some get thrashed, others may be on once a week.
All in all the Dells are very good (we keep buying them lol) but their service is going down hill. Next Business Day contract and they turn up 2-3 days after etc. We are going to all in one 9010's now
745's are throughout our finance 7 with 4gig and just purr along.
Just got a few USFF 9020M's.. bout the size of a VHS Video. very nice machines. I've got 8.1 on one and 7 pro on the other.. Although not keen on rolling out across company as you can hid them in your pants to steal them.. :(
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Tell her to start doing her homework here-
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/7 (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/7)
but be aware it's a lot like sewing your own dresses nowadays and put me down for Dell. They have big buying power and the scale and resources to test reliability and compatibility of hardware on your behalf so that you get bang for buck.
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Thanks Guys you have been a big help :cheers:
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What sort of gaming requirements does she need? What does she want to play? I am no expert in PC online gaming but we just have a HP all in one that was bought for my business. My wife uses that for world of Warcraft online, and I have a steering wheel and pedal set hooked up to in for iracing online. so far we haven't had any problems with it.
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just came across this as well:
http://lifehacker.com/5828747/how-to-build-a-computer-from-scratch-the-complete-guide (http://lifehacker.com/5828747/how-to-build-a-computer-from-scratch-the-complete-guide)
updated as of today... so pretty current...
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I work for one of the big manufacturers, and personally I wouldn't give MSY a cent, they're just too hard to deal with for warranty, and have been in the poo with the ACCC for not conforming with the retail act...
I bought a video card from them that didn't work, and had to go back to the importer as they refused to change it 30 minutes after I paid for it, as that's "not their policy"
When I need components I go to Scorptec, who will also price match, and for systems I recommend people buy Dell from the Dell website, or new HP hardware via Grays Online... And I work for one of those two companies ;)
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
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I work for one of the big manufacturers, and personally I wouldn't give MSY a cent, they're just too hard to deal with for warranty, and have been in the poo with the ACCC for not conforming with the retail act...
I bought a video card from them that didn't work, and had to go back to the importer as they refused to change it 30 minutes after I paid for it, as that's "not their policy"
they mustn't have liked your deodorant... I've never had an issue with it.
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they mustn't have liked your deodorant... I've never had an issue with it.
Maybe it was because I use deodorant - some of their customer base don't appear to know what it is...
I'm not the only one from my work who's had issues with them not being a consumer rights compliant retailer...
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I work for one of the big manufacturers, and personally I wouldn't give MSY a cent, they're just too hard to deal with for warranty, and have been in the poo with the ACCC for not conforming with the retail act...
I bought a video card from them that didn't work, and had to go back to the importer as they refused to change it 30 minutes after I paid for it, as that's "not their policy"
When I need components I go to Scorptec, who will also price match, and for systems I recommend people buy Dell from the Dell website, or new HP hardware via Grays Online... And I work for one of those two companies ;)
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
Never had this problem, got many things for the last 10+ years from them and others in melbourne when i do trips down there, if something for one of my clients is broken i take it back, some things that need to be sent back im ok with, but when its new they have always replaced it for me.
The other store i go to is Centrecom Some really nice staff there and they havent asked me to ever rma an item back to manufacture within the first 3 months, after this i can understand sending it back.
Infact ive had more trouble returning items marked with Acer and HP than i have with any other computer parts suppliers ebay included.
Lets just say you never want to RMA a laptop to any of the big guys because the battery and charger were DOA 6months later you will still be waiting for your item back.
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Maybe it was because I use deodorant - some of their customer base don't appear to know what it is...
sadly that is true... the nerd to human ratio is terrifying.. specially the Box Hill store.. Mitcham is quite fine.
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Got this one from Scorptec in Melbourne. Specified the parts in their online build your own and had them assemble it.
No dramas in 4 months of use
bazt
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I am thinking of upgrading some components in my desktop to speed up the video editing.
It has:
- CPU: AMD FX-4130
- Mobo: AMD M5A78L-M-USB3
- GPU: ATI HD 5770 1GB
- RAM: Kingston KVR13N9S8K2/8 2 x 4Gb & Corsair CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 2Gb (12Gb total)
What I think of is:
- CPU: i7-4790K
- Mobo: ASRock Z97 Extreme6
- Harddrive: Samsung 850 Pro 256
Is this too much, is a i5 sufficient?
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didn't we go through this a few weeks ago with speeding up the video editing?
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didn't we go through this a few weeks ago with speeding up the video editing?
Sort of. I tried bigger RAM and reinstalled windows but that didn't made it better.
I will see what have been suggested in that topic. I remember the ssd which I definitely will get.