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I am sick and tired of the lagging response that I get from playing games like Elvenar and Minecraft on my laptop so I'm thinking of building a gaming PC.
I want to start on a bare bones, totally inexpensive, with room to grow, type of machine. I took A+ Certification, although that was around 1999 and I haven't worked in the field at all.However I have done things like adding cards and memory to my PC's and laptops so am not afraid to open up a machine (I actually opened up my first machine to add a sound card several years before I took the course, although I was so nervous about static shock that I had the entire bedroom floor covered in newspaper and hollered "stay out" at anyone who tried to open the door:!) I have also had a lot of experience helping co-workers with issues with their machines that didn't require tech to come down to discover that it was an easy fix, like "take your notes off of the keyboard and it will stop screaming for mercy"!I have begun reading a book called "Build your own PC on a Budget" by John Paul Mueller. Gaming PC's are one of the things that he guides you on and he mentions that I need an ATX motherboard but not what kind, I have seen some for less than $100 on newegg but am not sure if they are something that I could build on down the road. Also from re-using someone else's discarded PC I have a graveyard of machines, 9 of them ( found more in the attic, so now 13!) and 7 laptops that I can salvage from, I figured that I could use one of the cases, I've got a large one that originally had 4 IDE hard drives in it (I think it might have been used as a server) that I think would be great. From various machines I've pulled out 3 fans, I can't remove some of them (one of them is closed up in a black box that has 2 levers on it to get it open and 2 tiny things that might be Phillips, flat head , or hex screws but I've gone blind trying to figure it out and am afraid of stripping them if I keep trying"). I've also pulled batteries out of some of the machines (some of the machines had rust so I didn't want to take a chance, plus they were totally being a bear to get them out anyway) and I've got 3 heat sinks, while I'm not sure, but as they all seem to attach differently, it might be better to get new (also I've got 2 of them with thumbscrews which obligingly unscrew but will only go so far, so they can't even be removed!)).I have also thought about pulling power supplies out, but haven't gotten to that part yet and I also don't want to waste time taking ones out that would be underpowered although the server-like machine may have a good one for my needs).
So my question (s) is/are, what is a good inexpensive ATX to start with, are any of the parts that I've salvaged thus far usable, is there anything else that I should take out and should I bother to strip the other machines that I haven't gotten to yet. (I have also pulled out SATA and IDE cables, my thought is to toss the IDE's keeping only the SATA's, but I'm not that confident that I'm 100% correct, hence another question)).Also what’s the thought on using one of the power supply’s and if I could what should I look for in terms of appropriate power for the build? Sad to say not one of the motherboards is an ATX although that should not be a surprise, as aside from the server-like one, they were all pretty much, run of the mill home PC's..
btw-some of the PC’s were so old that they still had 3.5 in floppy drives, so not worth it (I think)
Also I am sending pix of the case I'd like to use, is it a viable choice? (btw the machine has 2 onboard fans!)
Wasn't sure whether this was for questions or discussion, hopefully, I've made the right choice, if not please let me know for future reference.
Thanks.
I want to start on a bare bones, totally inexpensive, with room to grow, type of machine. I took A+ Certification, although that was around 1999 and I haven't worked in the field at all.However I have done things like adding cards and memory to my PC's and laptops so am not afraid to open up a machine (I actually opened up my first machine to add a sound card several years before I took the course, although I was so nervous about static shock that I had the entire bedroom floor covered in newspaper and hollered "stay out" at anyone who tried to open the door:!) I have also had a lot of experience helping co-workers with issues with their machines that didn't require tech to come down to discover that it was an easy fix, like "take your notes off of the keyboard and it will stop screaming for mercy"!I have begun reading a book called "Build your own PC on a Budget" by John Paul Mueller. Gaming PC's are one of the things that he guides you on and he mentions that I need an ATX motherboard but not what kind, I have seen some for less than $100 on newegg but am not sure if they are something that I could build on down the road. Also from re-using someone else's discarded PC I have a graveyard of machines, 9 of them ( found more in the attic, so now 13!) and 7 laptops that I can salvage from, I figured that I could use one of the cases, I've got a large one that originally had 4 IDE hard drives in it (I think it might have been used as a server) that I think would be great. From various machines I've pulled out 3 fans, I can't remove some of them (one of them is closed up in a black box that has 2 levers on it to get it open and 2 tiny things that might be Phillips, flat head , or hex screws but I've gone blind trying to figure it out and am afraid of stripping them if I keep trying"). I've also pulled batteries out of some of the machines (some of the machines had rust so I didn't want to take a chance, plus they were totally being a bear to get them out anyway) and I've got 3 heat sinks, while I'm not sure, but as they all seem to attach differently, it might be better to get new (also I've got 2 of them with thumbscrews which obligingly unscrew but will only go so far, so they can't even be removed!)).I have also thought about pulling power supplies out, but haven't gotten to that part yet and I also don't want to waste time taking ones out that would be underpowered although the server-like machine may have a good one for my needs).
So my question (s) is/are, what is a good inexpensive ATX to start with, are any of the parts that I've salvaged thus far usable, is there anything else that I should take out and should I bother to strip the other machines that I haven't gotten to yet. (I have also pulled out SATA and IDE cables, my thought is to toss the IDE's keeping only the SATA's, but I'm not that confident that I'm 100% correct, hence another question)).Also what’s the thought on using one of the power supply’s and if I could what should I look for in terms of appropriate power for the build? Sad to say not one of the motherboards is an ATX although that should not be a surprise, as aside from the server-like one, they were all pretty much, run of the mill home PC's..
btw-some of the PC’s were so old that they still had 3.5 in floppy drives, so not worth it (I think)
Also I am sending pix of the case I'd like to use, is it a viable choice? (btw the machine has 2 onboard fans!)
Wasn't sure whether this was for questions or discussion, hopefully, I've made the right choice, if not please let me know for future reference.
Thanks.