While it's difficult to build a decent pc for the same cost as a low end, off the shelf unit, that's not why I build my own. I do it so I know what's in there AND I can do upgrades for a lot less money than buying a new off the shelf unit.
I save money when I buy the parts by watching sales & rebates and then when I sell my old parts. I always save my boxes then when I upgrade I can sell my old parts for anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of their original cost, depending on the part.
My next upgrade will be to a Haswell cpu. The only parts I'll have to buy will be cpu and motherboard and I'll have a new pc. I'll reuse everything else as it's all compatible.
All that said, it's not for everybody! Some of us actually enjoy doing this, while others.....well, not so much.
I would say, if you're planning to build a budget machine to use for as long as you can just to save some money, you probably should look at an off the shelf unit.
Otherwise, go for it. My first build was done out of frustration at my Dell pc. I couldn't upgrade it, Dell "tech support" wasn't, and I just decided it might be fun to build my own. It was!
As to linking the parts for your perfect machine, I don't think that's possible.
The basics;
Case
Power Supply
Motherboard
CPU
Memory
Hard Drive
DVD Burner
The fun part is deciding WHAT those basics will be! How much can you spend? How much SHOULD you spend?
For your uses I can easily recommend an Intel Core i3 either 3rd or 4th gen. That cpu has very good video capability and would probably relieve you of needing a graphics card. Though a low end graphics card can be had pretty inexpensively.
Power supply is very important. Don't scrimp here. A QUALITY 450 to 550 watt PSU will serve you well. Corsair, Antec, Seasonic are 3 examples of quality PSUs. Key here is # of amps on 12 volt rail/rails. In general, the higher the amps on that 12 volt rail/rails the better the PSU. Other considerations are, modular/non modular, sleeved cables & does it have the connectors you need. Most, reasonably priced, quality PSUs will have the connections you need, will be non modular and will have sleeved cables.
Motherboard can be decided by the bells and whistles you want. The more you pay the more you'll get in the form of connections/headers. You'll want to make sure you have enough sata & USB 2/3, (front & rear), ports for your needs and at least one pcie slot for a graphics card should you need one, the rest is pretty much extras. One thing important to me is an eSata header for the rear i/o panel. Case has to offer the eSata connection as well. Examples of quality names here are Asus, Gigabyte and Intel. Asrock is highly thought of in some quarters. Any of these can be had for reasonable cost depending on configuration.
Memory will be determined in large part by the motherboard you choose. Each board will have list of approved ram sticks. I will say here that I'm a diehard fan of G.Skill. There are several brands available that would probably do just as well though!
Hard drive/drives. Do you want mechanical drives? Do you want an SSD for your OS drive? Do you want more than one drive? I recommend Western Digital for mechanical drives. SSDs are harder but obviously Samsung and Intel are the 800lb gorillas here.
A quality DVD burner can be had for under $20.00.
Case............good grief. I think I had the most trouble picking out a case! I've tried a few different ones over the years but my all time favorite cases have been Antec. I'm currently using an Antec P280. But, I like the bigger cases with extra room to work. I also like the layout, the front connections, etc. Your tastes and needs are probably not the same as mine.
If you haven't already, sign up for an account at Newegg. Then sign up for their emails. They will send you sales and promos nearly every day. They also have a very nice "compare" feature where you can compare different brands/styles of say, power supplies. Many vendors have this same compare feature to help you figure out the differences between models.
I think this post is way too long, I apologize for that. I've gone over it a couple of times and cut it back!
If you decide to build I hope you have fun!
I save money when I buy the parts by watching sales & rebates and then when I sell my old parts. I always save my boxes then when I upgrade I can sell my old parts for anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of their original cost, depending on the part.
My next upgrade will be to a Haswell cpu. The only parts I'll have to buy will be cpu and motherboard and I'll have a new pc. I'll reuse everything else as it's all compatible.
All that said, it's not for everybody! Some of us actually enjoy doing this, while others.....well, not so much.
I would say, if you're planning to build a budget machine to use for as long as you can just to save some money, you probably should look at an off the shelf unit.
Otherwise, go for it. My first build was done out of frustration at my Dell pc. I couldn't upgrade it, Dell "tech support" wasn't, and I just decided it might be fun to build my own. It was!
As to linking the parts for your perfect machine, I don't think that's possible.
The basics;
Case
Power Supply
Motherboard
CPU
Memory
Hard Drive
DVD Burner
The fun part is deciding WHAT those basics will be! How much can you spend? How much SHOULD you spend?
For your uses I can easily recommend an Intel Core i3 either 3rd or 4th gen. That cpu has very good video capability and would probably relieve you of needing a graphics card. Though a low end graphics card can be had pretty inexpensively.
Power supply is very important. Don't scrimp here. A QUALITY 450 to 550 watt PSU will serve you well. Corsair, Antec, Seasonic are 3 examples of quality PSUs. Key here is # of amps on 12 volt rail/rails. In general, the higher the amps on that 12 volt rail/rails the better the PSU. Other considerations are, modular/non modular, sleeved cables & does it have the connectors you need. Most, reasonably priced, quality PSUs will have the connections you need, will be non modular and will have sleeved cables.
Motherboard can be decided by the bells and whistles you want. The more you pay the more you'll get in the form of connections/headers. You'll want to make sure you have enough sata & USB 2/3, (front & rear), ports for your needs and at least one pcie slot for a graphics card should you need one, the rest is pretty much extras. One thing important to me is an eSata header for the rear i/o panel. Case has to offer the eSata connection as well. Examples of quality names here are Asus, Gigabyte and Intel. Asrock is highly thought of in some quarters. Any of these can be had for reasonable cost depending on configuration.
Memory will be determined in large part by the motherboard you choose. Each board will have list of approved ram sticks. I will say here that I'm a diehard fan of G.Skill. There are several brands available that would probably do just as well though!
Hard drive/drives. Do you want mechanical drives? Do you want an SSD for your OS drive? Do you want more than one drive? I recommend Western Digital for mechanical drives. SSDs are harder but obviously Samsung and Intel are the 800lb gorillas here.
A quality DVD burner can be had for under $20.00.
Case............good grief. I think I had the most trouble picking out a case! I've tried a few different ones over the years but my all time favorite cases have been Antec. I'm currently using an Antec P280. But, I like the bigger cases with extra room to work. I also like the layout, the front connections, etc. Your tastes and needs are probably not the same as mine.
If you haven't already, sign up for an account at Newegg. Then sign up for their emails. They will send you sales and promos nearly every day. They also have a very nice "compare" feature where you can compare different brands/styles of say, power supplies. Many vendors have this same compare feature to help you figure out the differences between models.
I think this post is way too long, I apologize for that. I've gone over it a couple of times and cut it back!
If you decide to build I hope you have fun!
