Can a novice really build a computer himself?

[richardd43]

Hardware compatibility is the trickiest part-mostly because it's difficult to get definitive answers on what works best with what. It's also a "make or break" factor... very important!

And the fact that 2 identical machines probably do not perform the same sometimes makes it hard to say what works with what.

If someone asks I tell them what actually worked for me.

Nothing gripes me more than to ask a question about a specific part and someone jump in and all but call me an idiot for wanting the part.

We have five computers in the house and they were all built for different uses so they did not all need high end parts.

[Kaworu]

Hardware compatibility is the trickiest part-mostly because it's difficult to get definitive answers on what works best with what. It's also a "make or break" factor... very important!

And the fact that 2 identical machines probably do not perform the same sometimes makes it hard to say what works with what.

I know! My neighbor has an exact copy of mine, but it's graphics arn't half as good mine! neither of us tweak, and we're both bug free unde zone alarm!

[coulterww]

I will tell you from experience that a novice CAN build a kick butt computer with very minimal preparation.  Look at my specs and you will see what I built.  Here is how I did it...

I picked up the PC Gamer PC Builder's Bible 2007.  It's a magazine put out by PC Gamer each year.  In this issue was an article on "The World's Greatest $1400 Computer.  It listed the specs for the comp they built with approx prices.  IF you have a computer store and you poke around a bit, you can do better than the base specs in the article without spending any more, and probably less than they did.  For example I got the E6750 processor for less than they paid for the E6300 in the Article.

I followed the directions, which took me through how to overclock it and everything (though I didnt OC mine).  The only think you have to make sure of is that you buy parts that are compatible.  Everything else is straight forward and pretty easy to do.

If you follow the instructions in the article and in the manuals that come with the hardware, you almost cant go wrong with the exception as someone said of not grounding yourself.

Since my original build, I have replaced the twin 8600 video cards with a single 8800GTX OC 768mb card.  Nothing went wrong, just used the SLi set up as a springboard to see how it worked out.  when I get enough gumption, I might drop another 8800 in there...

Wayne