WooHoo!!!!

[subtle_turtle]

I just built my first computer! I've been toying with the idea for years, and doing tweaks on my old HP Pavilion (which is an AWFUL machine. Really bad) to make it barely able to do what I want it to do. But I decided that with my economic stimulus $$$ I was going to make a new machine.
It's low spec compared with most game machines, but it's MUCH faster than what I had, and it WORKS!!!! I put it all together and it boots into the BIOS and recognizes all the bits that I put in there, so I think it was successful. I'm installing Ubuntu for now, and a friend who works IT is getting me a good deal on XP pro for later.
I know a lot of you do this a lot, and have for years, but this is awesome!

 

[Ryael]

congrats. the new ubuntu, hardy heron, is pretty nice. it seems to be a lot more stable than before and they've added a couple of handy features.

 

[Sharp67]

You know what man...my comp has viruses galore and i have been toying w/ the notion of doing the same thing...i think i will now
congrats on your new machine man!

 

[trykael]

Welcome to the joys of building your own computers! Now that you've crossed over you'll almost never go back to pre-made machines. This is just way too much fun...and very addicting! Now you're going to find yourself checking tigerdirect and newegg for all your new upgrading needs

Ubuntu is a lot of fun - enjoy getting to know the system. I was dual-booting for quite a while, but found that I was spending most of my time in XP anyway. In all reality, XP is a pretty darn good OS - it's just expensive But I really did enjoy my linux time, and I keep considering re-installing the OS about every 3 months just to do something new.

 

[subtle_turtle]

I've used XUbuntu on my school workstation laptop for a while now, and I like it MUCH better than XP. You can run Steam games in Wine, apparently (I've never done it but a lot of people on the Ubuntu forums have), but without DirectX 9 the games run laggy and in low graphics. So this comp will be getting XP this weekend. I just put Ubuntu on here now to verify that I had put everything together right (Yay!). I haven't decided if I will do a dual boot yet.
Thanks!

 

[tiddy]

It is a great thing to know how to do, and very addicting. I've built exclusively for about 7 years, and I will never go back. (excluding laptops).

Here are some of my favorite sites to browse/shop:

http://www.newegg.com - The Only place I completely trust, and the only retailer that has never let me down.

http://www.hardforum.com -Great hardware enthusiast forum. A LOT of knowledgeable people and it's just a great resource. I've spent hours looking through the picture threads. (Post your Workstation, Post your LCD setup, Post your case) etc. Just addicting. They have a forum for each piece of hardware and a welcoming community. Their apples to apples hardware reviews and comparisons are very good.

 

[Ryken]

[blockquote]This is just way too much fun...and very addicting! Now you're going to find yourself checking tigerdirect and newegg for all your new upgrading needs[/blockquote]

I can't agree enough with this statement. I look at Newegg's Daily Deals every day now.

I'd say welcome aboard, but I just built my first computer a month ago, so I'm no seasoned guy myself. I hope you enjoy your computer as much as I am, and I hope you saved some bank in the process!