Where should I start?

[n57flyguy]

Hello all

I'm, a total No0b when it comes to computers and I want to start building one soon, when the money comes. I have a friend who told me to start with a good mother board, which I definitely agree with, and Im planning to build a new PC from scratch. Could anyone please tell me a good mother board, thats easy to setup, and realativly cheap? I want a pretty much high end PC that I could put a few games on and wont be slow. I planning on spending about $1000-1,200 building a new PC and am planning on putting in XP. Any Help will be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Kov-Ice]

Welcome to PCMech! I'd say your best place to start would be to browse some of the threads in the Build Your Own PC forum. You'll find several threads dealing with what parts to use, suggestions for brands, and so on. Then check out www.newegg.com for the best price, service, and selection to start checking out cost of your build. That budget should be more than enough for a very nice rig!

[n57flyguy]

Originally Posted by Kov-Ice Welcome to PCMech! I'd say your best place to start would be to browse some of the threads in the Build Your Own PC forum. You'll find several threads dealing with what parts to use, suggestions for brands, and so on. Then check out www.newegg.com for the best price, service, and selection to start checking out cost of your build. That budget should be more than enough for a very nice rig!

Thanks! Yeah, I should have posted there instead. Thats what Im confused about, is what parts to get, brands, and things I dont even know yet. Ive checked out that site but am not sure what to focus on yet. AS for my budget, I think I was being to generous, Ill want to go cheap as possible, but best of quality (ha, don't we all)

[glc]

Okay, you have determined a rough budget. This is the first thing. The next thing you need to decide is whether to go with AMD or Intel - and then single or dual core. Then we can start looking at motherboards and the rest of the components. For budgeting purposes, games are most affected by the video card - then amount of ram, then processor speed. Any modern processor will do the job, it's not necessary to blow a good chunk of your budget on that alone.

[Panama Red]

Other thread closed. Moving this one to BYOPC.

[n57flyguy]

Sorry for making another thread.

I just found out what a double core was from a computer teacher at my school. I think for gaming purposes it would be more sutable. I would probably go for an ADM (which could some one explain?) for gaming, not really into video. Would definitely want RAM, something like 512mb would be sutable and less expensive. Its good that I know that I shouldnt blow a huge amount of money on a CPU, thanks.

[jayb1234]

As far as the RAM, most of the gamers start with 1Gb and ad another Gb if thier games need it.

[786ARS]

if you want AMD, then you have to consider their new AM2 platform, do you want to spend a bit more and get something that will last longer or save some money on a dead-end platform?

[n57flyguy]

Originally Posted by 786ARS if you want AMD, then you have to consider their new AM2 platform, do you want to spend a bit more and get something that will last longer or save some money on a dead-end platform?

I would consider that, how much more would I be looking at? I have know Idea what a AM2 platform is (no0b) could you explain?

Also, why an ADM for gaming? Ill take your words for itbut I just want to know why.