Building a Computer vs Buying A Computer and Upgrading vs Buying Used/Open Boxed Computer?

I am pretty good with computers. I have never however, had to put a whole computer from scratch. I know I am going to need a case. I know there are a lot of different sizes, however I do not know which way to go. I do a lot of A LOT of downloading. I also do a lot of transferring. I download a lot of emails and software’s and such, and I usually have a lot of programs installed. I upload a lot of pictures. I am a photographer in training. I am looking to build a good computer for around 250-400$. It depends on what I am getting for the price changes.

I have reformatted home computers, I have installed cd and dvd drives, and also changed out power supplies. Here is my “hard part” The little indicator plugs that go to the motherboard, like for the power button for example, I am horrible at figuring out where they go. I don’t know if there is an easier way to do it, or if I am just not doing it right, but I have a computer that I turn on by the back button because I can’t figure out where the cable goes on my motherboard.

I need to get a magnify glass to see the small numbers and such and on the motherboard.

I am also looking to have maybe 2 cd/dvd burners installed on my next computer. I have a 1.5tb hard drive external, however when I plug it up it only shows a 1tb of space. So I am wandering where the rest of that space is I am suppose to have?

I am looking for some tips or some sites that have good tutorials. I get a lot of my stuff from new egg.com or COMP-USA.

My current computer is an AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3400+ 2.20ghz , and 1.00gb of ram. I am wondering how well of a computer this is. I got it about a year or 2 ago. It’s just time to update, I hear all about this dual core processor stuff, double even triple ram speed, and everything is going through FireWire now and I really don’t have a clue on the new stuff. I don’t want to order wrong parts and have to send things back if parts are incompatible. Is there any site that helps/shows how to build a site, with purchasing parts and such so no such errors are made?

Please email me at rjm954@yahoo.com thank you everyone for your time.Building a Computer vs Buying A Computer and Upgrading vs Buying Used/Open Boxed Computer?
Generally it cost more to buy all the parts yourself and assemble the computer than it does to have one build for you. The store wants to make a profit off each part, so the price of each is higher than if you buy a whole, pre-made unit. There the store already knows it is going to make a profit, so the markup on a whole PC is less than the mark up on the parts.



However the last PC I build cost me less because I purchased the parts one at a time over about a seven month period. I found a case on sale in january, a hard drive for a steal in february, got a deal on a system board when a new store open in march, etc. And was eventually able to assemble the PC for less than normal. But it takes time and patience.



The people who make and sell PCs for a living buy the parts %26quot;in bulk%26quot; - like 25 system board. That way they get a big break on the price.



Installing the connectors on a new system board is not that hard because it will come with step by step picture instruction. It is a lot easier than trying to figure it out on an already installed board with no instructions.



Finally, the reason you are only seeing 1 tb of your external drive is because the version of Windows you are running is limited to only one tb. You will need to reformat the hard drive and make two partitions on it. The first will need to be smaller than 1 tb so Windows can see that there is more drive beyond where that partition ends. Once you have divided it (say into two 3/4 tb partitions) you will be able to use the whole drive.Building a Computer vs Buying A Computer and Upgrading vs Buying Used/Open Boxed Computer?
Who says buying parts for a computer is more expensive than buying pre-built? I've found parts that run a game like Crysis on High for $1000, in which case a pre-built would cost a little more.Building a Computer vs Buying A Computer and Upgrading vs Buying Used/Open Boxed Computer?
It's like with a car - the total cost of the parts exceed the cost of just buying one. Most computer dealers will allow you to customize your configuration.Building a Computer vs Buying A Computer and Upgrading vs Buying Used/Open Boxed Computer?
First of all I think XP only can see 1TB so thats the problem there.



I would build something new. Its pretty simple. I have confidence you can get it running fine.Building a Computer vs Buying A Computer and Upgrading vs Buying Used/Open Boxed Computer?
If your budget is under $400 you're going to have a real hard time building a computer from scratch. A REALLY hard time. As in, you might not want to bother.



A good mother board will run you $80-150. A case will run you $20-100. A good video card can run hundreds of dollars. And we still don't have a processor...for that you're looking at anywhere from $50-500. Memory can run $100s of dollars as well if you're looking top of the line.



Don't get me wrong, it's fun, and it can save money in the long run (I've been building my own for years) because once you get started you can reuse many of the parts in a computer in your next one (the case, Windows, CD/DVD drives, hard drives, power supply, the monitor). But the initial outlay is rough.



So my advice, if you're just looking for an everyday computer...large companies can build them way cheaper than you can.



For research nothing beats TomsHardware.com for charts on which processor/video card, etc beats whatever.