A website or a handwritten guide would be nice.
I want to build a gaming PC

Some questions I have:

I have this old crappy PC that is about 7 years old, could I just take that apart and replace the graphics card/motherboard/processor?

Would this save me more money instead of buying a PC? About how much would I save if I do?

What else would I need to upgrade besides a graphics card/motherboard/processor? The power supply and fan?

Is newegg the best site to buy computer parts?

Is it fairly easy to build a computer? In other words, can a non-idiotic 16 year old do it?

Also, let's say I'm looking at this graphics card, where do I find out what kind of motherboard I need? I see the power requirement is 400W+, but I dont see anything about a motherboard. Or is it the motherboard that explains that kind of graphics cards it can hold?

Also if you want to suggest computer parts for me, it would be nice. I'm noob when it comes to building computers/computer tech, I just like games.
I'm not looking for super high end $400 graphics cards, but somewhere in the $100-200 range for each part would be nice.

And if you want to suggest some pieces, try not to go over $1000. As cheap and as best as possible. $600-$700 would be an ideal range

http://forums.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=251490

Everything you need there.

Google says
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com...a-computer.htm
http://www.build-gaming-computers.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUY0tP5jYIo


Well, you might want to replace several other parts too, but yes, refurbishment is possible.

The more time you have to invest in it, the less point there is to it. Typically refurbishment is cheaper, but if it's 200 dollars worth of work you probably don't want to bother.
You can actually buy refurbished PCs, some of which were simply returned within the warranty period with no problems.


Review the links above, particularly the first one, which lists it component by component, and decide for yourself. Sound card also comes to mind.


Entirely subjective, but it's probably the most convenient for an okay price.

Yes, if you know what you're doing and have something as extensive as the 2 hour youtube video I linked.

Certain cards require certain slots on the motherboard, that's really all you probably need to check. I'm no expert, though. It's typically not a big problem, unless your motherboard is puny and struggles to keep up.

Standard Nvidia Geforce graphics card and an Intel i5 processor should tide you over for games, if you need seriously good hardware up it to an i7.

If your computer is 7 years old, I'd suggest just building a new one from scratch. There are plenty of good guides on how to build a computer and they shouldn't be too hard to find. I'm assuming you live in the U.S., in which case newegg would be the best place to shop for computer parts. I'll try to see if I can link you a decent computer build.

Case- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147153 - A decent sized tower, capable of holding all necessary parts for your build. Also has decent airflow. - $50

Power Supply -http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005 - 650w power supply more than capable of supplying power to the system. The power supply is one of the key components of any build, so you shouldn't skimp out on it. - $90

Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130275 - Decided to go with an AMD build because the Phenom II quad cores are really awesome bang for the buck. From reading some of the reviews, it seems to be relatively easy to overclock your processor/ram. (Since you don't know much about building computers to start with I wouldn't suggest overclocking. - $95

Processor - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727 - The price on this bad boy just keeps dropping. A quad core is pretty much all you'll need for games nowadays, and clocked at 3.4 ghz, it's probably one of the best processors out there price/performance wise. - $135

Video Card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161348 - I personally have this card, and it runs most games at max settings with amazing frames. This should be able to max even next year's games. You shouldn't have to worry about running games slowly, you should only be worried about if you can max them out and play them on 3 screens. - $160

Memory/Ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231275 - You should only need 4 gigs of ram in your build. I'd only suggest more if you plan on video rendering, etc, etc. It's DDR3 1333 ram which is fine in itself, but again, the motherboard would be able to overclock it further. - $47

CD/DVD drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136236 - Nothing really special, but you don't really need a fancy disc drive unless you plan on burning blue-rays or something crazy like that. - $20

Well I think that's everything. All these items are just suggestions, but they are all compatable with each other and should run fine. Total price is $597, but I'm assuming you're going to buy a new monitor/keyboard/mouse aswell, and those are totally up to you. If you have enough money though, I'd look into getting maybe a full tower case so you can have move for future upgrades to you system, or to house more fans or for better cable management, etc. If you need any more help you can always PM me, but I'll probably be checking back into this thread later.

P.S. I fogot to include a hard drive, but I'm not sure if you want to carry over from your old one or buy a new one. It's fairly easy to pick out a decent hard drive so yeah.

Thanks Giantz and boredpayne, that stuff/info looks really nice. +rep to you sirs

Th !e.FaLcon06's guide is your best bet.

Going to just hit you through it quickly;
"I have this old crappy PC that is about 7 years old, could I just take that apart and replace the graphics card/motherboard/processor?"
No, please don't do this. You will break whatever you put in. You would need to upgrade the PSU, and mobo, before you do anything, then your CPU GPU and RAM to get any benefit. And your HDD probably too, if you want to be able to do anything with it.. Which is pretty much everything.

"Is it fairly easy to build a computer? In other words, can a non-idiotic 16 year old do it?"
Yeah it's just like lego. Plug a board in there, some screws here, connect the wires.
Find a friend who knows what they are doing to help you, otherwise you could fuck yourself.

You will probably need;
RAM: 4gb DDR3 ~ $40
PSU: Any 80+ 500W+ ~ $60
GPU: 460/550/5770/6770 (or anything around there) ~ $120 - 150
CPU: Phenom X4 955 BE or 840 ~ $100-120
MOBO: MSI 870A-G54 ~$90
Case: Whatever you are in to.


Read the FAQ if you havn't already.

So here's what I'm thinking about buying so far

Motherboard
Graphics Card
Power supply
RAM
CPU
Disk reader/recorder thingy
Case

Do these things fit together? I may have gone overboard on some pieces, or some might not even go together at all.

Decided to just screw it and get a case, anything I'm missing besides a hard drive?

Edit: Changed my mind on the case, decided to go with a bit nicer/bigger one

I think everything is ok. (I'm not a expert in these thing)
So if something is wrong just say it don't troll me or something like that.

the graphic card and the power supply fit whit the motherboard.

Right now you get 3D Mark11 for free if you buy any GTX 500+ series.(whit EVGA)
You got a good one its from EVGA its the best one if your looking to buy any GTX.
The graphic card need a PCI express 2.0 to fit whit it and the motherboard got it.
( I'm actually going to buy the same card, look great( (for his cost) run every new game on max setting)

The newest graphic card is the 590GTX or a 6950HD and they cost like around 800$.

the Power supply need a 20+4 pin the mother board have 24 pin.
( I don't know if it work like that I guess yes )


yes you should be ok, I learned to build a pc whit some video/youtube
(I'm 15 going on 16)


lol a lot and the pc will be very more powerful then if you buy one from like furturshop or shit like that


for prety much all new graphic card your motherboard should have a PCI express 2.0 slot.


yes its the best of all very good support when you need them.