Barebone Computers for the Novice

If you have ever considered buying a new computer buying a barebone computer could save you lost of money. The main problem is that many people are not tech savvy. They basically have no clue where to begin. In this article I give you some easy tips to get you started and up and running in no time.

Search pricewatch.com

Pricewatch is not just a website but a tool. You can use it to look up exactly the hardware that you need. It will search by hardware, price, etc. You can read the reviews of each vendor before you buy. If there are a lot of negative comments than you may want to skip buying from that vendor.

What you should search for

Every computer starts with a motherboard, CPU, case, and power supply. I recently bought a motherboard, CPU, case, memory, and power supply from place called Portatech. I spent less than $200 and they fully tested the hardware before shipping it. Doing it this way saves you a tons of hassles cause you are almost assured of getting a good fully tested hardware. It does mean you have to wait 3 to 5 business days of testing before they ship it to you. This option works great if you have a hard drive, CD, and video card you can stick into it.

Make sure your current hardware is compatible

This is important if you have older hardware that you plan to use. In my case I wanted to use my hard drive, DVD, and video card. I had to make sure the motherboard I was buying had an AGP slot. In most cases your hard drive should work in almost any machine as long as your motherboard has the proper connection for it. If you have a SATA hard drive than your new motherboard must support SATA. I think you get the idea. Keep in mind anytime you change to a different chip set you have to clean off your hard drive and reload it. If you try booting to your hard drive it will just keep rebooting. So back up any stuff you want to keep before your new hardware arrives.

Even a novice can install a hard drive, CD, and any add on cards. If you plan on using memory you currently have it must be compatible. I advise you just to purchase memory along with your barebone hardware. That way you will know it is compatible and the vendor will test it as well.

Vendor warranties

The vendor you decide to purchase your hardware from will give you a standard warranty of 1 year in many instances. You can extend that to up to three years if you so desire. Remember though the vendor will only support hardware that you purchased from them. With all warranties there are some limitations so make sure you know what those limitations are. As in all warranties by these types of vendors they do not cover accidental damage or a computer being used for what it was not intended.

For the vendor to cover the warranty on the CPU you must purchase a CPU fan from them that they know is designed for it. Usually this is included in the price.

If you shop effectively you can get a faster machine and save hundreds of dollars. This is one of the best ways to get a good computer for less.