I'm a Comp Eng freshman and I figure it's time I built my own box. There's so many choices, though... how do I know what kind of power supply, chip, and mobo to get? how much of a difference does FSB speed really make? I'm looking to build a good machine but I don't do a lot of high-end gaming or anything else needing the best of the best... just the occasional UT2k4 or Warhammer
I'll prolly be looking around on ebay unless anybody knows of a good place to buy components...?

any estimates on the cost of a computer like this?

It all depends on two things... how much you have to spend and what is your main purpose for it.
More number crunching should have more CPU and RAM.
More video games and etc. you should spend a good amount on vid. card and RAM.

Basically get 1gb of RAM, more ram the better.

FSB only matters if you plan of overclocking it. Goto pricewatch to get prices for components. But if you are getting a cheap one, go with Dell. You will get a better deal then if you built it yourself. If you are going high-end, build it yourself. Saves you serious bucks. Plus a good learning experience.

My suggestion for a system:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
MSI or ASUS mobo
1gb RAM
160gb HD
GeForce FX 5600
Onboard sound (onboard sound for most 64bit systems is 7.1 channel)

Around $500 depending on shipping for that there. But you will also need case, dvd-rom, floppy,etc. But I bet you could find most of that off of Seek FS/WTB section.

Nice pricing there, however that 5600 won't last very long. If you go with that setup, which I think you should, get a 9800 pro and the MSI K8N Neo Platinum. That'll probably add about $150 or so, but it'll be worth it. That's probably the best board out there. Plus, you can overclock those 3000+ chips pretty easily. Overclocking may sound like it's difficult, but it's extremely easy. And also remember, for the most part you get what you pay for, so if you get some generic power supply or generic value RAM, don't expect a whole lot out of it.

Definitly MSI, they make OCing easy as pie... blueberry pie ah la mode easy. And as for 5600, its what I am running I haven't found a vid card yet that makes a game look or run any better. Granted 6800 runs slightly better, but not enough to justify its price over the 5600. I have nevery run a 9800 so I couldn't tell you anything about it. And since 754pin socket is what AMD is planning for the next wave of its processors, you have a good range to upgrade to later if you want to.

Oh and one major thing about going with 64bit, follow the suggested components to a T. The chips require a min of 20A on the 12v line and the ram is very finicky (sp?) that it will take. Trust me, I made these mistakes myself, not getting them right can cost you. But after you get it running it is sweet, plus you can goto WINXP 64bit when it comes out, which will give you even greater performance.

thanks, this should get me started... what kind of power supply should I get?

I have always had good experience with antec.

Fortron 530W is definetly the best bang for your buck. It's $75, which is nice for a PSU that has that much power, but it's also extremely stable.

the wattage doesn't really matter. I had a 700W PS but I got rid of it because it didn't put enough Amps through the 12v line. So when you buy a PS for a AMD64 look at the 12v line. The CPU requires atleast that. I use a Antec 430W and it works fine.

I've never really had problems with off brand motherboards, only when you try to overclock them is when you run into problems.

If your buying a lower end card, I'd go with ATI for the graphics.

Oh I know the wattage doesn't matter. That's why I suggested that one, because it has 28A on the +12V rail. You could get an Enermax (not the Noisetaker line), most of those have 30 or more amps on the +12 rail.

If you're going to be using your computer to learn about CompE-ish stuff, I'd recommend getting an acutal unix workstation. Just in Rolla, I've found several Suns, a Silicon Graphics Indigo2, and numerous pieces of PPC hardware (old Apples) that can be retrofitted with a unix of one kind or another. I know there's lots of PA-RISC machines the ME/AE department retired two years ago still floating around. Goat might still have his that he wanted to get rid of...

Chances are, when something goes wrong you'll actually be thinking of what goes on inside the machine (hint: related to career) instead of the typical "Reformat, Reinstall, Recreate" mess.

On the other hand, if you want to build yet another Wintendo, just forget I even posted.

are you bashing windows, or the whole x86 architecture?

A little of both. I'm bored.

Video card wise, i'm running a Asus Radeon 9550 in my computer. Plays Doom 3 good enough (pretty much zero stalling) and only cost $75 from Newegg.com. I'm not a hardcore gamer, so it works pretty good for me.

Building a computer is fun and easy. I built my first a little over a month ago and it feels so much better than buying a pre built one.

I'm also running a Antec case and 350w psu and the combo seems to work pretty good.

For a rough price guide, i spent about $530 on mine and have a ABIT mobo, AMD 2600+ mobile processor, 160 gig SATA hard drive, half a gig of RAM, and the other componets listed above. I re-used the floppy and CD-R drives from my old computer so i didn't have to buy new ones. Works great so far.

dont be like me and continue to shell out money. know what you need to buy and know if the hardware is compatible with each other. i found out my mobo doesnt support my vid card. it just so happens to be, it doesnt support the ati 9600 chipsets (which is total gayness because a few months ago, the company said their mobo supports the 9600 but can only run it in 4X, not 8X). Now their website just says it doesnt support the 9600 at all. What sucks is, i need a mobo that supports the prescott cores, has sata, micro atx form, and agp 8X. guh, i think i'm up to $600 right now. well, to let some people know, i might be selling a mobo pretty soon. its a ASRock p4i65gv.