I’m planning to get bits and pieces to build my own customised PC but I am a newbie in this area. There are so many motherbards and processors type nowadays, I’m just totally confused… Can anyone here recommand me any good site that have all this information regarding building a PC?

Cheers!

Patrick

http://www.alienware.com then start the configurator :ph34r:

Sorry, what I mean is to buy those parts and build it my own.

Patrick

I don’t know how much you know, and whether you are into SATA drives/raid etc, etc.
But you can do no worse than go to a computer fair. Try this one at Birmingham, then you will see all the kit available.
 

anandtech ‘s buyers guides are a good place to start. They have a few different guides for different price levels and it will give you a good overview of prices and what sort of equipment you should be looking at.

any idea about cpu, etc? right now im planing a new desktop too, so maybe you have some specific questions

Why do you want to build your own computer?

If it’s to save money, you won’t save much. Particularly if you stick with quality components. (Which you should)

If it’s for the experience or just to build your “perfect” machine, then enjoy. Don’t let time or money be an issue.

What is your level of expertise?

If you get a thrill of satisfaction when you’ve managed to open the case and install a new card. Think again.

There’s a degree of mechanical skill involved in mounting the motherboard and installing power supplies, drives, heatsinks et. al. Cableing can be an adventure and the ability to read broken English is helpful. Understanding the nomenclature and how to handle delicate electronics safely is critical.

I suggest going to a bookseller and finding a book on building your own computer. Augment that by learning to search the web. If your interest is gaming, you can likely find a local group of like minded individuals and some real-time one-on-one support.

Read reviews, follow forums (just read) and even take advantage of the commercial “configure your perfect machine” sites to see what they suggest.

Consider buying a solid bare-bones system and building from there. I’m sure if you search around you can find a n00b build-your-own-pc forum. One complete with FAQs, stickies and helpful moderators.

My current desktop was my first own-build, but it was a partial cheat as it’s a shuttle so it comes with motherboard and power supply already installed.  Although saying that, they are very small and fiddly insdie so you could get annoyed pretty quickly.
I’m the house computer guy so I’m pretty used to changing ram, pci’s etc so the only new challenge for me was the processor and heatsink, but I found it all pretty intuitive.

Well it’s an idea anyways!

dbs has the right idea tho.  Find someone who has done it before and ask them to help you through.  I’ve got a mate a few doors away who I was ready to call on should I have had troubles and it definately made me feel better when installing everything.

[quote author=“dbs”]Why do you want to build your own computer?

If it’s to save money, you won’t save much. Particularly if you stick with quality components. (Which you should)

If it’s for the experience or just to build your “perfect” machine, then enjoy. Don’t let time or money be an issue.

What is your level of expertise?

hey dana,

dont worry about me..  :mrgreen:

[quote author=“Sony Vaio”][quote author=“dbs”]Why do you want to build your own computer?

If it’s to save money, you won’t save much. Particularly if you stick with quality components. (Which you should)

If it’s for the experience or just to build your “perfect” machine, then enjoy. Don’t let time or money be an issue.

What is your level of expertise?

hey dana,

dont worry about me..  :mrgreen:

Gee, I thought you were going to moderate the “build your own TR” forum.

Extremetech also has some good guides/hints/recommendations:

http://www.extremetech.com/category2/0,1556,644478,00.asp

Many thanks for all your suggestions! I’ll see what I can get with it…  8)

Patrick :D