Thread: Where to buy computer

TRUST ME you do NOT need to be handy at all to build your own computer. I have no experience with doing it and I built my current machine.

I bought all my stuff off newegg, including a 22 inch monitor for about $1500 after the rebates.

I have 4 gigs of ram. But watch out for windows 7. I loved the OS but when I tried to record I would get all these clicks and pops that would not go away. Went back to XP and all is candy.

What cost a big chunk of mine as well was a good graphics card. If you get a cheaper one you can significantly lower your cost.

Do you need monitors / speakers? If you're going to leave this computer in one place, get a bigger case so you get more air going through it as well as more room to move and put in different things if need be. (some smaller cases can't fit certain boards)

your questions, my answers:

4 gigs of ram
windows xp (it could have just been an error with my soundcard and the OS)
no. firewire ftw!
yes, around $1,000 give about $200 I'd say.

your final thoughts, my .. thoughts:

monitors!
online company to what? build the computer?
will be VERY easy and MUCH cheaper to build it yourself.

all the cables and wires can only go into one place essentially, and there are plenty of guides online on how to do it. It's honestly "put this board in this slot, attach it to the power supply" and that's it.

thank you for your response.

some additional questions/comments:

i have a monitors already, but a 2nd would be groovy

do i need a soundcard if I get the presonus firewire interface? would i also need to get a firewire pci card?

i have no problem installing hard drives, pci cards, ram, and dvd drives, but installing the motherboard to the case, as well as the cpu and power supply would be tricky and uncomfortable.

i have xp media edition and been having using that, but i understand that pro is way better. so i will definitely upgrade that

are there any other cheaper alternatives to the i7? i am currently running out of a stock dell that has a pentium-4, 2.80. i am pretty sure anything currently on the market would be an upgrade... is there any company that offers sales of only cases, motherboards, power supplies and fans, and cpus, already installed?


thanks for the help!

Just screw it in, shouldn't be difficult if you can screw things in. Not screw up, screw in.

Generally the motherboard goes in first, then the power supply, then wire up the bits which are either colour coded or very simplistic. Usually the front buttons and front USB and audio are all labelled separately.

You *can* buy barebones PCs, depends on the retailer and actual kit on what you get and what you still need to install.

Yeah don't be afraid of putting in the power supply and motherboard. Literally, the power supply is a box that you secure to the bottom of the computer. it's the same thing as like on your x box (i actually used an xbox cable to plug in when i lost mine lol). the motherboard, just be easy with it. as long as you're not literally throwing it in you should be fine. as with any computer parts make sure you're grounded when you put them in.

i'm not sure if you will need a soundcard. i don't think so though. i put on my FirePod drivers and listen through the headphone jack, and can hook up my speakers to play through that as well.

as far as processors, i think i have some variation of this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115206

look at the reviews. 95% of people gave it a 4 or 5.

you don't need a gaming-level processor to run music software. give yourself some more credit, you can build this alone easy. plus it's fun having a big stack of boxes it's like adult legos.

If you are planning on getting a Presonus interface it would probably be wise to get a PCI firewire card with a Texas Instrument chip. You do not require a sound card for monitoring or recording but may want one for computer sounds, media player etc.
Building a computer from parts is not really difficult the most difficulty comes from choosing equipment that is well matched and plays together nicely. A vendor like Newegg or others can be an ally in this, you should call them and see what advice they can offer you.

more questions:

1. can i run sonar 7.0 producer edition and presonus fireproject studio with windows xp pro 64?

2. why the texas instrument chip in the pci firewire card

3. should it be a pci or pci express firewire card?

4. codemonkey, do you know of any reputable sites that sell barebones kits?

As Codemonkey stated, assembling a PC is not rocket science. The important part is finding solid and stable components. Newegg is a good place for parts as is Tiger Direct.

1. Yes
2. Texas Instruments makes the most stable firewire chip on the market. The recommendation is definitely not just for laptops. Onboard firewire chips tend to suck on desktop motherboards too.
3. This depends on whether your motherboard is an antique and has PCI slots or is anything made in the last four years meaning PCIe (express)
4. Google is your friend. The above mentioned websites are a good place to start too.

More questions:

1. What is the minimum amount size of the power supply I should get in terms of watts?

2. How does a Pentium 4 2.83Ghz fit into these other processors, performance-wise?

Dual-Core Intel® Celeron® E1500 2.20GHz 800FSB 512KB Cache
Dual-Core Intel® Pentium® E5200 2.50GHz 800FSB 2MB L2 Cache
Dual-Core Intel® Pentium® E5300 2.60GHz 800FSB 2MB L2 Cache
Dual-Core Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz 1066FSB 3MB L2 Cache
Dual-Core Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache (VT)
Dual-Core Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache (VT)
Dual-Core Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8600 3.33GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache (VT)

The reason I ask is because I have the Pentium 4 already, but my comp crashed and looking to replace in theory, but possibly upgrade here and there. I would be running Sonar 7 with either a Presonus Firestudio Project or a PCI-based Seasound solo.

3. Any thoughts on the pros/cons of xp pro 32 vs. xp pro 64?