DIY Computer Kits

[PsyOps]

So I bought a DIY computer kit from Tiger Direct. I went out to buy another identical kit today, but learned that Tiger Direct has sold and will be focusing more on business sales than personal computing. I know about pcpartpicker, but I'm not all that confident I would pick all the parts that are compatible with each other. And I want to stay away from Dell, HP, etc... because they load too much of their own crap that just clutters things up and causes all sorts of problems with my music recording software. I'm looking at Newegg. Does anyone know of other places to buy these preformed DIY kits?

 

[itsbob]

So I bought a DIY computer kit from Tiger Direct. I went out to buy another identical kit today, but learned that Tiger Direct has sold and will be focusing more on business sales than personal computing. I know about pcpartpicker, but I'm not all that confident I would pick all the parts that are compatible with each other. And I want to stay away from Dell, HP, etc... because they load too much of their own crap that just clutters things up and causes all sorts of problems with my music recording software. I'm looking at Newegg. Does anyone know of other places to buy these preformed DIY kits?

I've never bought a kit, but always researched parts and stared with a new box, motherboard, CPU and built up from there..

NEW Egg is a good choice though.. and trying to remember the site it may have been New Egg) that would help me build a PC by telling which parts were compatible and not, and which parts were the more reliable, or not.

 

[Hodr]

Newegg will often do extra discounts on parts in a kit fashion, so they are a good choice if you don't want to spend too much time researching every component. And honestly, lots of stuff will work just fine when thrown together, but may not work as well as optimally matched hardware. The kit just hopefully ensures things are matched to work to their fullest potential.

Microcenter is another good place to check (and there is one within driving distance), they often have very good deals on Intel motherboard/CPU combos.

Another one to check is Fry's Electronics.

 

[glhs837]

Where is that Microcenter? Boy got the parts to build a new machine last year and I got his castoffs I might cobble into a HTPC.

 

[Hodr]

It's in Towson. A bit of a drive, but I have done it more than once because they often have new i7 processors more than $100 cheaper than Newegg/Amazon/Best Buy soon after release, but in store only. I don't know how they do it, I assume they are losing money to get people in the door.

 

[Hodr]

Where is that Microcenter? Boy got the parts to build a new machine last year and I got his castoffs I might cobble into a HTPC.

I used to run a full-bore HTPC but could never get the idle power draw down to an acceptable level which resulted in my using a wake-on-lan setup that wasn't particularly wife friendly. I recently bought a Braswell based NUC for $129, used some left over RAM/SSD and an old Win 8 license (which I upgraded to 10 for free) that I wasn't using because I downgraded that computer to 7.

Thing works like a charm for Blu-Ray rips, Hulu/Amazon Prime Video/Netflix/XBMC-KODI/Etc. at 4K (only 30hz on the 4k though, no HDMI 2.0). I even stuck NES/SNES emulators on it (and have some USB SNES controllers) that run perfect, though I know those are hardly CPU intensive.

Thing draws less than 15 watts running full-bore and only 3 or so when idle, and has a built in IR port so it was easy to just add the Microsoft Remote functions to my TV's remote.

You can run a free program called LM Remote Keymap to re-map the windows remote buttons to functions or scripts so that you can one-button launch any program, alt-tab, or shut down the computer easily.

 

[PsyOps]

I've never bought a kit, but always researched parts and stared with a new box, motherboard, CPU and built up from there..

NEW Egg is a good choice though.. and trying to remember the site it may have been New Egg) that would help me build a PC by telling which parts were compatible and not, and which parts were the more reliable, or not.

I ended up getting this kit. It's for my son, for music processing. It should be plenty powerful to handle the software and plug-ins.

 

[GURPS]

And I want to stay away from Dell, HP, etc... because they load too much of their own crap that just clutters things up and causes all sorts of problems with my music recording software.

if you buy a business class 'computer' the only thing Dell generally loads now is anti-virus which is easily uninstalled

as to the other .... 'incompatibilities' are very rare anymore

and as to newegg, I have a Chrome Extension called hover hound that compares drives on newegg to Amazon ....


my last 2 computer projects I bought 90% of the parts from Amazon, because I have free shipping with Prime

 

[GURPS]

Where is that Microcenter? Boy got the parts to build a new machine last year and I got his castoffs I might cobble into a HTPC.

It's in Towson.

Rockville and Vienna

 

[kom526]

I've tried 3 different vendors to get a new graphics card for my oldest boy ... what a fiasco. First company did not offer expedited shipping, second one said YES! We have it, you'll have it December 23! December 21 I get an email from the company stating that the card will not be sent and we are issuing a refund. 3rd company's website stated that they had the part in stock and would deliver in 3-5 business days. 36 hours later I get an email saying that it will be shipped from the distributor on or near the 20th of January. I should have just taken the trip to microcenter while wishing we had a Fry's close by.

 

[GURPS]

I've tried 3 different vendors to get a new graphics card for my oldest boy ...

how unfortunate .... all I can say is Amazon ...

... 2013 my Video Card died Black Friday I paid for next day and had the card in my computer before lunch time.

at that time the GTX 780 was top shelf

 

[kom526]

how unfortunate .... all I can say is Amazon ...

... 2013 my Video Card died Black Friday I paid for next day and had the card in my computer before lunch time.

at that time the GTX 780 was top shelf

All of them were through Amazon. Tech4Less, Some other outfit and finally B&H Photo. The card is probably a bit older so a little harder to come by, who knows. Oldest said that he wanted the XFX Radeon R7 260. I found a 360 @ BB but it was a double fan card and the cables to the SATA were in the way. After I returned it he found different SATA jacks on his motherboard that would have worked to get the larger card to fit. Water under the bridge now and killing Feral Ghouls on Fallout 4 eases the pain of having to wait.

 

[GURPS]

..... and killing Feral Ghouls on Fallout 4 eases the pain of having to wait.

I freaking hate those things .... give me raiders, Death Claws... Yao Gui ....


although F4 Ferals are slower ...
F3 was the worst BAM Ghoul up in your Grill ... WTF where did you come from