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"bare bones" help
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Senior Member
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11. February 2010 @ 01:44 |
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I want to build a bare bones system that will basicly just stream DVDs off of another computer through my wired network. I've never built one so just a few questions. Don't I just need a motherboard, hard drive, video and sound card, CPU, and power supply. How cheap should I go? I want it quiet as possible on a budget...
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. February 2010 @ 19:13
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Xplorer4
Senior Member
4 product reviews
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11. February 2010 @ 04:33 |
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We cant say much of anything with out knowing what your budget is, and bare bones are cheap for a reason, cheap parts.
OS: Kubuntu 12.10/Windows 8 -- CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K -- Motherboard: MSI P67A-G45 -- Memory: 2x4GB Corsair Dominator -- Graphics Card: Sapphire 4890 Vapor-X -- Monitor: Dell 2208WFP -- Mouse: Mionix NAOS 5000 -- PSU: Corsair 520HX -- Case: Thermaltake Mozart TX -- Cooling: Thermalright TRUE Black Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink Rev C -- Hard Drives: 1x180 GB Intel 330 SSD/1xWD 1 TB Caviar Black/1xWD 2 TB Caviar Green/2xWD 3 TB Caviar Green
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Senior Member
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11. February 2010 @ 10:19 |
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I can't imagine spending over around $350.
I already have the hard drive, operating system, DVD rom, and a power supply
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. February 2010 @ 19:14
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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11. February 2010 @ 11:52 |
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When you say you have the operating system and hard drive, do you mean you have the CD and the drive, or is it already installed to the drive? Remember, once you install windows to a drive it is only meant to boot that system. If you move the drive to another PC and expect that version of windows to work, it's unlikely, as the installs are mapped to the hardware configuration of the PC they were installed on. While it's possible to try and work around this, it's a very complex procedure and it is thoroughly recommended to reinstall windows on the drive (or better yet, start from scratch with a clean one).
As for the power supply, what brand is it? $350 for a system minus the PSU and drives is definitely doable, but if you have a cheap tacky PSU, you could be endangering both the system and yourself by using it.
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Senior Member
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11. February 2010 @ 14:34 |
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I have an operating system disc that's never been installed. As for the power supply not sure of the brand I'm not sure. It's 350 watts I know. Cases seem to be almost a hundred dollars by themselves. Is there anyway to make my own cheap case (I know I'm getting very cheap) but i may want to make multiple systems for all rooms of my house
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AfterDawn Addict
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11. February 2010 @ 15:19 |
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You needn't spend $100 on a case, but I do recommend people spend a reasonable amount of money on a case rather than buying the cheapest they can find, as the superior cooling performance and build quality will make the PC much nicer to use overall. Cases like the Antec Three Hundred and NZXT Beta aren't excessively expensive, but are nice cases to use for anything but top-end systems.
As for the PSU, I advise you check the brand. It is likely that it should be replaced.
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Xplorer4
Senior Member
4 product reviews
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11. February 2010 @ 17:23 |
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300 watts doesnt mean anything. A quality 300 watt psu may outperform a cheap 700 watts PSU.
OS: Kubuntu 12.10/Windows 8 -- CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K -- Motherboard: MSI P67A-G45 -- Memory: 2x4GB Corsair Dominator -- Graphics Card: Sapphire 4890 Vapor-X -- Monitor: Dell 2208WFP -- Mouse: Mionix NAOS 5000 -- PSU: Corsair 520HX -- Case: Thermaltake Mozart TX -- Cooling: Thermalright TRUE Black Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink Rev C -- Hard Drives: 1x180 GB Intel 330 SSD/1xWD 1 TB Caviar Black/1xWD 2 TB Caviar Green/2xWD 3 TB Caviar Green
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AfterDawn Addict
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11. February 2010 @ 18:24 |
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and not just that, when you overload the quality 300W unit it wil just shut down. When you overload the cheap 700W unit, not only will it probably break, it could also catch fire or destroy some of your PC parts.
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Senior Member
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11. February 2010 @ 19:12 |
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The brand of the power supply is "Power Up"
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AfterDawn Addict
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11. February 2010 @ 19:14 |
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Not sounding too promising to be honest, I'd recommend including a better quality unit in the budget, it's still doable for $350 with basic stuff.
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Senior Member
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11. February 2010 @ 19:16 |
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So what should I go shopping for first. Do some motherboards only fit is certain cases? Or will most anything work. I want the system to stream blu ray iso's so it has to put out hd. Can I go cheap on the motherboard and cpu and get a good video card? Is there any parts that I need that I'm leaving out?
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jony218
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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11. February 2010 @ 19:37 |
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All my computers I build as cheap as possible, most use the cpu/motherboard combos, I rarely spend more than 100.00 for the cpu/motherboard). You can get good deals on some of the low-end dual cores. Every motherboard already has built-in audio no need to buy an audio card.
For video card get a radeon hd4350 (cost 40.00), very good quiet video card (I have 2 of these). They can output video to 1920x1080, and will also output 7.1 audio through the HDMI cable. Also this card is specially design for HTPC computers and has a large heatsink (no fan).
A generic case cost only 30.00, no need to buy anything fancy for a non-gaming computer.
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11. February 2010 @ 21:19 |
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jony218
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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11. February 2010 @ 22:14 |
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the motherboard and cpu will not fit together.
The motherboard is for an intel cpu like a e2140,e2160,e6300 etc. I have an intel motherboard with a intel e2140 on my mediapc.
The cpu you have is AMD which requires a different motherboard. This cpu is approaching midrange power for a barebones computer. But would let you do some video editing etc.
If you want to output HD video, you will need a video card. Some motherboards do have built-in HDMI output but are more expensive, in the end even the radeon hd4350 will work alot better than any built-in video since it doesn't share memory with the motherboard.
You just need to decide what CPU you want AMD or intel and buy the appropriate motherboard. My preference is AMD because the cpu fan is easier to install. AMD cpu fan has one lever, Intel cpu fan has 4 screws you need to tightend down. Another difference is intel cpu's run cooler than AMD. There's pro and cons between AMD and intel but at the lowend side to me they are the same except for some minor price differences and the cpu fan installation.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-...1.2.1,1383.html
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Senior Member
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11. February 2010 @ 22:33 |
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Ok I've been thinking about this. I'm just gonna build something for around $1,000
Anyone got any suggestions
Is there anything pre built that is a good value at this price range or should I still go the do it myself route
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AfterDawn Addict
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12. February 2010 @ 16:23 |
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A bit of a jump. What exactly do you need to buy within this $1000?
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Senior Member
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12. February 2010 @ 17:37 |
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I know it's a jump. I'm just scared that lowered end stuff will be noisy and not do what I want. All I want is blu Ray streaming pretty much. I so confused on what to do
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AfterDawn Addict
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12. February 2010 @ 18:32 |
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Right well, I'll ask again. What components do you need to buy? I'll spec you out a system for that budget, or if you should spend less, I'll say so.
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Senior Member
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12. February 2010 @ 19:21 |
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Ok the only parts I do not need are...
operating system
hard drive
I guess I will just trust your judgement on how to build and what parts to use. I might want to spend a little more on making it pretty quiet since it will only be used to watch movies in my bedroom. Thanks for any advice!!
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AfterDawn Addict
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12. February 2010 @ 19:35 |
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Senior Member
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12. February 2010 @ 19:46 |
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ok that is awesome! I could probally do that. But if you don't mind could you show the other side of the spectrum on the cheapest way to go. Thanks alot for all the info!
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AfterDawn Addict
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12. February 2010 @ 19:58 |
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Well, that's the tricky part. I don't know exactly what your tolerance for noise is. I can tell you how you can save money, and what impacts it would have on noise, but collectively whether it'd be suitable or not you wouldn't necessarily know until you built it, which would be too late.
Essentially, the PSU I've chosen deliberately as I own one and it is in the top 3 quietest PSUs ever made. I can vouch for this, it is inaudible from anything more than about 2-3cm away, even when powering a gaming PC.
The CPU cooler is designed to be quiet, that's its only purpose (although it can also be used to overclock and get more performance). The stock cooler suffices, but may get noisy when your CPU is stressed.
The hard disks have been chosen since the X25-V is silent (it's an SSD) and the WD10EARS is a very quiet drive, about as quiet as you can buy. Your old drive may be very tolerable, or it could be awful. Listen out for a tone of 120Hz coming from your computer, and also the grinding noise when you do things. If either of them are noticeable, your hard disk is going to be a noise culprit (To know what 120Hz sounds like, stick your headphones on or crank your speakers up, and open a PC function generator program like SigJenny
or FG_Lite)
The graphics card is very powerful, and you could get away with something less. However, the HD5770 comes with a quiet stock cooler guaranteed. This may not be the case with the cards lower down, i.e. HD5750, HD5670 and HD5570. At the very bottom end, the HD5450 can be bought with a cooler with no fan at all, which will obviously be silent, but while this card is fine for playing back high-def video, it's useless for playing games, so you should take that into consideration.
You can fit aftermarket coolers to graphics cards that aren't quiet in their normal configuration, it's not too expensive, but it is fiddly and voids your warranty, so take caution if you choose to go down that route.
The case is already a cheap buy, it's nothing fancy but gets the job done. Other cases cool better but may be prone to extra noise - be wary of cases with large amounts of mesh, or odd shaped grilles obstructing the fans. This amplifies airborne noise.
The DVD drive is not quiet at all, but it's a solid drive, and you shouldn't need to use a DVD drive on too much of a regular basis on your system. It will be quiet reading DVDs (low speed) but noisy when copying files or burning discs, as that requires a high disc speed, and this is always a noisy process no matter what.
The extra case fan is $20 you don't have to spend, but it will help cooling the system which will reduce the other fan speeds, and it's a relatively quiet fan on its own - cut the speed a bit with the fan controller (this is a strongly recommended purchase) and it'll be pretty much silent.
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Senior Member
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12. February 2010 @ 20:04 |
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Ok you've sold me on the good system. To me this sounds like a lot of stuff to install. Will I be able to figure this out on my own (just instructions)? Also can I just use the 40gb ssd as my 1 and only hard drive. I won't be storing anthing on the drive except the operating system.
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AfterDawn Addict
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12. February 2010 @ 20:10 |
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Well if you're not storing any data on the entire PC, what are you using it for? I included the X25-V for OS purposes only, as it really isn't big enough to do anything else. I can only assume if this is an HTPC that it is networked and browses files hosted in another PC in a different room. Using an external hard drive will add unnecessary noise and complication to the system, and you would be better off using the 5400rpm internal drive.
Building the system won't be difficult as instructions are fairly self-explanatory, but do ask if you're concerned about anything with the build.
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Senior Member
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12. February 2010 @ 20:13 |
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the movies I will be watching are stored on another computer in another room. I will just watch them through my network
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12. February 2010 @ 20:16
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