Hello from a enw member

[Gingerwelshman]

hello one and all.
I hope I have placed this in the correct location. I couldn't see a 'new members' thread, all though there may well be one. (I appologise if I've missed it)
I have often considered building or even just repairing my current computer but I'm afraid I know very little about these machines at all. My hope was that if I tried to make one I'd understand it better.
At the moment I'm really just enquiring into how it's done. I have very little idea of how much this sort of thing would cost, and much to my embaressment I'm not wholly sure of what my current computer consists of. To be honest we're all just a bit fed up with the way our shop purchased machine keeps fouling up. We've had it repaired a few times and at one point required a completely noew motherboard, procesor and hard drive (apparently).
Currently our machine is used as a family PC upon which the usual programs are run from Microsoft, (Word, excel power poitne etc.) My daughter uses the computer for educational purposes, reading and writing software, my wife largely uses it for internet access, playing the SIMS (?) game and occasionally writing CD's for my daughter to play her choice of music. We have considered putting a DvD writer onto the computer in order to back up files more effectively and possibly make back up copies of our films (for my daughter to keep / take on sleep overs and not be overly stressed if she forgets them / scratches them)
We're not big game players, although time may well tell that the children would like something more.

Any advice would be most welcome.
Regards
GW.

[pam123]

Hi GW,
And Welcome tp PCMech.
Start off your search for knowledge with this : http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/index.htm

[rspassey]

Welcome to PCMech. We will be glad to assist in any way possible.

For a complete guide on how to build computers > check This Out

When it comes to PC building, you can save a lot of money when compared to buying the equivilent from a retail dealer. You can build PCs anywhere from 600$ to 6000$, but for an average user, we can help organize a parts list around 700$ for a completely new computer excluding monitor and keyboard and it will suit all your needs.

I highly suggest you take a look at some guides, then attempt to make a parts list which we can help you with. Once you have a list ready, post it up and like I said, we can tell you which options are better following your needs.

[Louds3]

Welcome to PCMech GM. There are some good guides on the internet that go through the different steps that you need to take. If you browse around these forums (esp. build you own) you will learn quite a bit (i do a lot of learning here everyday). Keep in mind that building your own will generally cost a little more, but you get the experience and the knowledge of it, and you can choose components that you know are quality and will be upgradeable. I would suggest checking out the build yourn own PC guide on this site, pcmech.com/byopc , as well as a great link I got from Cricket ... http://www.mechbgon.com/build/index.html

Here's a few tips to get you started. The things you need to build a PC from scratch:

Motherboard + Processor (make sure they are the same type socket...i.e 939 for AMD and LGA775 for Intel are the newest/most common for new builds)

An operating system (usually windows xp)
Memory (RAM)
Hard Drive
Power Supply (often call PSU)
Video Card (some motherboards have video built in, for any gaming it is recommended you buy a seperate video card)
Computer Case
plus any peripherals you may need (i.e. monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer)

If you want to do some research and post back here with a general budget and what you need (i.e. just a computer, or monitors and other stuff too), you will find lots of people on this board that will give you parts advice and make sure it's all compatible. Hope this helps ya get started,

steve

whoa! looks like Pam and Ryan already got you started while i was typing this up... good luck!

[Gingerwelshman]

Thank you very much. I will do a little diggin and see what I come up with. i must admit, the technical stuff scares the bee jeebers out of me. for exmaple knowning what socket types things are (i thought sockets were inter cahngeable tools used for undoing nuts on bolts!) or even what aprts are reliable or not.
There are many miles to go I feel before I venture into this.
Although I do have an old, (read obsolete here) computer in the garage which I may tinker about with to find out what some of the bits are first.
Many thanks to you all so far.
Regards
GW

[RevCLB]

You are in the best of hands here! Any question will be answered directly or a link to an accurate info source provided. Welcome aboard. RevCLB

[rspassey]

Tinkering around is one of the best ways to learn... if you aren't too intimidated, go ahead and open up that old PC you have lying around and see what's inside.