Anyone built a computer lately????

Jim O'Dell

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Between Aledo and Fort Worth, TX
I'm deep into the process of purchasing the parts. I got a HD and memory back in January while Corsair had a rebate on and Circuit City had a 10.00 off coupon on 100.00. (2 sticks of 4 GB for 8 gig total) Had been watching Amazon and a few other sites for the Intel motherboard and CPU I had decided on. Found a brick and mortar store in Dallas that had the I3 550 CPU for 99.99 plus tax. Lowest price a few weeks ago on Amazon was 114.95, and this past week was up to 155.00. Now at 127.95. We were in Dallas Sunday for the Celtic Festival with one of the rescue dogs, so was a no brainer to go pick this up. They were out of the case I wanted though, but gave me a price hold for when they get them back in. Came home and found another case, NZXT M59, for two dollars more, and free shipping. Since no tax, came out about two dollars less, and is a wild looking case!! Came in from work last night and figured I'd go ahead and order the motherboard (Intel DH55HC), from Amazon. It had been about 8.00 cheaper 7-10 days ago, but I procrastinated and missed it. After I read my emails, I went and looked one more time to see if anyone had it at a better price, then noticed I had another email. Newegg sent a 25.00 off 50.00> purchase email promotion for new customers. They had the board at the same price and same free shipping as Amazon. 25 off??? Another no brainer.:thumb::thumb: Ordered 3 more fans to fill out the case from Amazon. Now I need to save a few more pennies for Windows 7 Pro 64 bit OS, and a DVD burner and I'll be set.
The current system (and old PIII 600) will continue on as my shop computer. After I transfer what I need to save to the new computer, I'll wipe the hard drive and start over with very basic programs on it to keep it de-cluttered. I may put a wireless router in so I can get internet out there. We'll see. Guy at work said their old computer has it and he won't need it anymore and that I could have the old parts. May see if it is usable.
Well, that's where I'm at. I really enjoy researching and shopping for electronics. I'm sure there are better prices out there, but I'm happy with what it looks like I'll be getting for the price I'm spending. Jim
 
I'm sure you already know this, but it's a fact of life that as soon as you buy any computer components, you'll find something better for less money. :rolleyes:

Sounds like you're in the midst of a fun project. I did my last computer build about 3 years ago, so mine's way outdated now. :p (Actually, I've got a 3 GHz dual core Intel processor on a good Gigabyte motherboard, so it's still plenty for what I do.) I do need to bump my memory up from 2 GB, but it's not in the budget right now. Before I add memory, I'm keeping my eyes open for a good deal on an external drive to back up my 1 TB RAID array onto. If you happen see a 2 TB eSATA/USB2 external drive at a good sale price, let me know. ;) I did upgrade from WinXP to Win7 (32 bit) a couple weeks ago, and I'm liking it a lot. :thumb:
 
Here's one for less that $100

I have a 1 TB that I keep all my backup data on. If you change your system, just plug it in and it all there and ready to go! :thumb:

Best Buy
 
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I built my music masheen a couple of years ago. 2.6ghz Quadcore AMD.

Just upgraded recently to add 4 more gigs of ram.

PC building is one of those things that takes a lot of research when you do it, and as soon as you buy the components, they are yesterday's news.

I'm just happy my music masheen is still doing a good job for me. If I never have to update the software, it'll last for another several years...:rofl:
 
Here's one for less that $100

I have a 1 TB that I keep all my backup data on. If you change your system, just plug it in and it all there and ready to go! :thumb:

Best Buy

I've seen that one, but it doesn't support eSATA. USB2 is less than half the speed of eSATA. I've had my eye on this one, hoping to catch it or something similar on sale.

I like the speed and reliability of the RAID5 setup I'm using for my day-to-day data storage, but want an external single-disk copy of it for safekeeping (and for an easy way to transfer the data to the next build).
 
Vaughn, do you have an account set up with New Egg? That's how I got the extra 25.00 off the motherboard. Has to be a new account and see if they send you the email they sent me. If you aren't signed up, worth a shot. I think I signed in 2 weeks ago, so may not work to sign up now as this promotion is over 3/20 or when the funds run out. Jim.
 
For backups, I've got a Network attached storage device with two 1tb drives in a raid configuration. Basically everything is written to both disk. If one disk dies, you pop in a new one and it will recover and everything is safe.

I also save off to a 1tb external hard drive.

The drives are pretty cheap now
1tb Drive

I use a little external dock for bare drives like this External Sata Dock

It works great and it feels good to have things backed up in multiple locations.
 
Vaughn, New Egg does show that has a 10.00 rebate. I know some hate dealing with rebates, but I've never had a problem getting them. Quick search shows that in Feb they were down around 75-80.00 at a couple places. Jim.
 
I'm sure you already know this, but it's a fact of life that as soon as you buy any computer components, you'll find something better for less money. :rolleyes:

Sounds like you're in the midst of a fun project. I did my last computer build about 3 years ago, so mine's way outdated now. :p (Actually, I've got a 3 GHz dual core Intel processor on a good Gigabyte motherboard, so it's still plenty for what I do.) I do need to bump my memory up from 2 GB, but it's not in the budget right now. Before I add memory, I'm keeping my eyes open for a good deal on an external drive to back up my 1 TB RAID array onto. If you happen see a 2 TB eSATA/USB2 external drive at a good sale price, let me know. ;) I did upgrade from WinXP to Win7 (32 bit) a couple weeks ago, and I'm liking it a lot. :thumb:

And just when are you going to be ""record" ready, Jefe?:huh::wave::D
 
I love building computers, I wish I could do it more often. I like to grab great prices on 'just old' tech.

Right now my rig is just over two years old - AMD Tri-core, 4GB of memory and Win7. Runs spectacularly once I turned off the power saving feature.
 
For backups, I've got a Network attached storage device with two 1tb drives in a raid configuration. Basically everything is written to both disk. If one disk dies, you pop in a new one and it will recover and everything is safe.

I also save off to a 1tb external hard drive.

The drives are pretty cheap now
1tb Drive

I use a little external dock for bare drives like this External Sata Dock

It works great and it feels good to have things backed up in multiple locations.

Hmm...I hadn't thought of a docking station. Might be a little harder to keep the dust off than a plain enclosure, but I can see where it'd come in handy. One of the things I like about the plain enclosure is that it's quick and easy to grab in the event of a quick departure (earthquake, fire, zombie apocalypse, etc.)

I did find a case and drive where I could roll my own external for a little under $100 by the time I get the rebates.

Jim, I'm already registered at Newegg, so I don't think I can get the new customer rebate. They are my go-to computer parts place, though. :thumb: I'll try to stop hijacking your thread, though. :p
 
Hmm...I hadn't thought of a docking station. Might be a little harder to keep the dust off than a plain enclosure, but I can see where it'd come in handy. One of the things I like about the plain enclosure is that it's quick and easy to grab in the event of a quick departure (earthquake, fire, zombie apocalypse, etc.)
:threadjacked:

Sorry about continuing the hijack...

What I like about the dock is that I can get multiple bare drives and not have to have another power supply or case for each one. I'm really getting tired of having to plug in so many wall warts, each with a different connector.. I've got a huge collection of the darn things and I'm afraid to throw any of them out, cause I'll probably need it one day...:rofl:
 
Well, got the Pioneer DVR-S18MBK at Comp USA (Tiger Direct) locally. Retail version for 39.99 plus tax. Frys were out even though their internet said they were in stock at the Arlington store at 29.99 plus tax. I had tried to get another Comp USA to price match, but they only do it if the price is not below their cost. Sounds like a convenient way out to me. Did find a 12" CPU power cord extension at Frys for 3 bucks that lets me route that cord around the edges to keep it out of the way. This set up sure makes for a clean install inside the case. Wish I had the modular power supply so I only had the wires I need inside the case. Got all the files migrated over from the old computer (hard drive in an external case hooked up USB worked great!!) External hard drive formatted and did my first back up of the system.
Having one problem that I can't get over. It's minor as it doesn't affect the use of the computer, but it's getting on my nerves. In the Fire Fox add ons, under the extension tab, I have 3 programs I can't get to load or uninstall. Seems to have started when I downloaded 2 add ons to try on form filling. (Seems they took off the Sxipper that I used on the other computer. Still find it on the net, but it automatically goes to a FF page saying it's not found. I have an email to the developer to see if I can find out why.) Anyway, when I started opening up one of the other programs is when I found I had an issue. I've gone through the troubleshooting information. It actually got rid of one of the 2 programs plus one other one, but now it is stuck on these three. Can't get rid of them, can't get them to work. Oh, there is one other minor glitch. I downloaded the Intel Desktop Utilities to keep an eye on the temps of the components, and everytime I open the program, it asks me for permission to make alterations to the computer. All the other programs did that when I loaded them, then never again. Still works, just double the clicks to get there.
Next on my list is a new monitor, then a new keyboard and track ball, then a new battery for the APC backup, or a new one altogether. It's almost as cheap to get a new one if it's on sale.
Well, another item to add to the not quite ready list. Win 7 won't recognize my USB card reader. :dunno: Thought that would be an easy one. I was going to post some pictures, but.... Maybe another day. Jim.
 
OK, got the card reader straightened out. Here are a couple pictures.
Pic 1 is the front of the case.DSCN2832computer case.jpg Pic 2 is the side of the case with the clear side in place. dscn2833computer case side.jpg Pic 3 is the inside of the case. DSCN2834computer inside.jpg This one came out better with out a flash. The others didn't.:dunno: Sure wasn't easy to get the driver loaded for the card reader, and I'm not why it finally did load. But glad just the same. Jim.
 
Looks good, Jim. :thumb:

I'm debating whether to re-do my recent Windows 7 install to switch to the 64-bit version. I recently found a good deal on memory, so I upgraded to 8 GB of RAM. Only after installing it did I learn that 32-bit Win7 only supports up to 4 GB. Just not sure I want to go through re-installing all my apps again. :rolleyes: (And troubleshooting pesky things like USB card readers.) ;)
 
I put the 64bit version on 2 of my PC's. Love it on my music PC. I think the only thing (other than reinstalling software) you have to worry about is if you have any devices (web cams, etc) that do not have 64 bit drivers. I think there is an upgrade compatibility checker you can use to see if there are any potential problems.
 
Update

Well, spiffs at work have picked up, so I had enough cash available to order the monitor tonight. Asus VE247H. Has gotten pretty good reviews, and seems to be the best unit for the money, though it doesn't have some of the features that some of the comparable picture quality (spec wise) units have like card readers, height adjustment and such, it is a lot cheaper than they are. Found it for $177.99 with free shipping, and there is a $10.00 rebate. So that puts it on the upper end of what I wanted to spend for a monitor, but I'm getting a 24" unit rather than the 22" I thought I'd be limited to. In fact, this came out to be only $2.00 more than last years model of the 23" Asus monitor. Guessing it will be the end of next week before it shows up UPS from California.
Now to find a replacement battery for the APC power back up unit. Think I may try an aftermarket battery for half the price of the APC units. Jim.
 
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