Shopping for parts?

[auen1]

I want to slowly start gathering parts to build a computer, as my budget allows.
First, I want to decide where I want to buy the parts.

I love Newegg's selection and price. But they kill you on shipping, in Alaska. As an example, two sticks of RAM are $20 to ship. It's usually free for the lower 48. They will only ship 2 day express UPS to Ak. which takes exactly the same amount of time as regular UPS. 1-2 weeks. I'm fine with slower UPS or even mail which is more than half the cost.

Any suggestions as to where else I might look, that compares closely with Neweggs price and selection but maybe has more shipping options?

Thanks!

[glc]

Try amazon.com.

[auen1]

OK thanks for the suggestion, I have not been to Amazon before today. Looks like they do have a good selection. And shipping is more reasonable. I can't figure out what shipping rate computer parts would fall under, but looks to be in the $10-13.50 range for a couple of sticks of RAM.

I guess now I need to think about the budget and system requirements. I'll probably have some questions, but will save it for a later thread.

I have plenty of working computers now and not in a big rush. They are just limited to what they can do.

Thanks again!

[David M]

Amazon has always done us well. My wife and I have bought a significant amount of merchandise from them.

[Staren]

There is another way to go here, and it may be the best option in your situation. Buying parts piecemeal is never the best idea. Things change quite quickly in computers. That means that waiting even a couple of weeks could mean that a part is out of date by the time you buy it. It might be better for you to save your money until you can buy everything all at once.

This would also have the advantage of saving shipping costs by sending as many parts together as possible.

[quartet-man]

Not only that, but you can't tell, if the parts are defective until you use them and you chip away at their warranties until you put them to use.

[auen1]

Those are good points.

And because of work, I rarely use computers from about June thru Oct. anyway, except once a couple of weeks to check up on email and the forums.

I was figuring that by Oct., I would have all the parts and be ready to go.
But I think I'll follow your guys advice and wait. I'll just keep learning more about what I want and need.
I usually make decent money during the summer months, so I could probably afford to plan a better build as well.

[rwest]

I bought mine piece meal and wish I hadn't afterwards. Everything worked okay and I didn't have any issues, but I should have just saved.

In my case I bought a DDR2 MB, DDR2 ram, and my cpu was DDR2/DDR3 capable. It kinda worked out, but I ended up wanting to upgrade to the DDR3 platform and spent more money in the long run between the initial parts and the upgrade parts than I would have, had I just waited and got it in one shot.

Honestly; had I waited, the parts on the DDR3 components would have come down and I would have been able to afford a similiar system at less cost to me than it did. I was impatient and it ended up costing me more. Take it from someone who's done it. Just save your cash and get it in one shot. Getting it piecemeal is doable, but not as cost effective as one would think. I also foud it more satisfying knowing I was done with it. Well almost. I'm adding htpc funtions to it as we speak.

[DeViLzzz]

if you are going to buy piece by piece start with a psu or case as you will likely be able to use this much later on in a build or in future builds

next thing I would buy is a cpu as they rarely have problems out of the box as compared to other components .... getting a dead cpu is totally unlikely

next buy your motherboard and the cheapest ram you can get (if you are going with Intel for the cpu)

I have done build over time and I ended up with a pretty nice rig. Being patient and waiting for things in your price range is worth it. My current pc is an i5 2500k, Gigabyte Z68 board with SLI I got for like $130 or $140 and it is cheaper now and a great value, HAF 912 (great value case at $50), GTX 560 Ti (waited for a price drop and got it at $199 with rebate), Mushkin ram (got the cheapest available at the time), and an Antec 750 watt psu earthwatts green version for cheap after rebates and got a free gift card for $10 also with that purchase.

You can get a good pc for cheap and build it over a year but you have to be smart about it. Do your research.

I bought at NCIX and will continue to buy from there cuz you get free shipping with points from their online flyers that you collect each week and you get points from doing reviews and so on. They also let you price match which has helped out tremendously too.

[auen1]

I'm still doing my homework.
My work often requires me to move around a bit. Shipping a computer always is risky.
I was wondering about a rackmount computer? Housed in those heavy duty, impact resistant cases, maybe 3-4 feet tall (extra room for other stuff).

Probably expensive, but were allowed to dream.
Any pro's or con's about rackmount computers?
Any good links I should look at?

Thanks!

[David M]

Whatever you buy, buy it all at the same time. This is because prices drop and computer technology changes rapidly.

A rack computer would have a cool factor to it but I think that would be the only advantage for a home user.

[glc]

Sounds like what you really need is a Panasonic Toughbook.

[auen1]

I'd love to have a Toughbook.
But currently I am using 3 computers and a server. They are older and need replaced. I could get away 1-2 computers and a smaller server in the future. I found this rack cabinet that is affordable and fairly durable. I was looking at the 12U model. I'd also like to put a receiver and some other stuff in the cabinet, if I had the room. Benefits appear to be less exposed wires, less bulk and a shipping case. My concerns include overheating, the 17" depth of cabinet and case compatibility with MB's.

So back to my last question,
Any pro's or con's about rackmount computers?

[MyCattMaxx]

As far as Newegg goes, is shipping cheaper from Canada?
Newegg Canada - Computer Products, Laptops, Electronics, HDTVs, Digital Cameras, Cellphones and More!

Not sure about duty fees though.