[QUOTE]Originally posted by DJ Qube
[B]...snip..


also, go to www.pricewatch.com for the best prices.

The most important piece of advice I can give you is, "Buy your RAM at Fry's".

 

A couple of good/inexpensive vendors that I and friends have used many times over the past couple of years:

http://www.googlegear.com
http://www.newegg.com

Also, I wouldnt ever buy ram from fry's, but if you do, get the name brand stuff, not fry's cheap ram. Personally, I'd stick with a place like crucial or mushkin for my ram.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mrkim019
[B]


Although pricewatch lists the cheapest prices for hardware/software available on the net, I've had some really bad experiences with a lot of the vendors that are listed on that site.

 

www.newegg.com

Here's what my friend got!

Amd Athlon Xp 2400+
Asus A7N8X
Ati Radeon 9100 128mb DDR pro
Kingston 512 mb DDR Pc2700 x2
Western Digital HD 120gb 7200rpm 8mb cache
Lite On 52x24x52 CD-R/RW
Lite On 16x Dvd/Cd
Sony Floppy
Some blue case with lots of flashy stuff 300w power supply too
4 fans + 1 side fan


$651.47

 

Kevin,

Becareful of the INcompatability of parts. Drives me nuts. Returns at Fry's is a "You know what". I got myself:

P4 2.4 Ghz
Kingston Hyper-X DDR 3200 512/128=640
Ge-force 4 64DDR
60 HD/7200RPM
Sound Blaster 5.1
48X CdR
3.5 Floppy

For 500.00 at Dell.com including delivey and tax.

Also bought Dell for my GF (Just to play SIMS)

2.0 ghz
Kingston DDr 2100 512/128 640Mb
Ge-Force DDR 64
40 HD/7200
Sound Blaster 5.1
48X CDR
3.5 Floppy

for 420.00 out the door/ Tax and delivery!

Hope that helps. look into the NEW Shuttle "Mini" Systems. Those are bad-ass for a "Game-cube" size but $$$.

BC

 

1) Newegg.com is really good as far as RMA/return policies, fast shipping, pretty decent prices and selection. I usually get about 80% of my stuff from there. They have free shipping on a lot of their bigger items.

2) If you get a retail AMD (that comes with the heat sink/fan), I'd suggest getting a better heat sink/fan. THe ones that come with the retail CPU's generally arn't that great. A decent HSF is about 15 bucks, for those I suggest coolermaster.

3) For RAM, get a brand that's reccomended by your motherboard manufacturer. If you check their website, they should have several ram vendors listed that they "support." If you stick with these, you should be okay. Personally, I like corsair.

4) Make sure you do as much homework as possible on your motherboard. Find out what issues people are having with them, read reviews of them, etc.

5) If possible, I suggest full towers. Much better airflow, much more room... especially if it's your first build. Some midtowers are very cramped for space, and heat will be a problem if you're not careful. The in-win Q500's are my personal favorite, albiet a bit bland style-wise.

6) Make sure the power supply you get is AMD approved, or at least is adaquate for your power needs. If you don't know what your power needs are, just look for something 300W or better that's AMD approved and you should be okay (IN-win usually has good PSU's in their cases).

Happy building

 

lol... got myself the shuttle mini system. love every minute of it. i used to build computers from scratch myself. i usually just order whatever i need and assembled them. well... now i sorta got tired of doing that. i usually will do numerous searches on the net for places with a system without monitor that suits my need. then i asked them to swap in some higher quality parts. once that's done, all i have to do is install the OS, applications, games, etc... most places will allow you to purchase a system without OS. save a few $$$ there.

on the other hand, if you really want to assemble the system yourself... just order whatever you like the best and start from there.