|
I really am so out of the loop that I have no concrete suggestions, but surely I can add in some tips and pointers of stupid things that I've suffered through.
Sometimes more is better - buying second-hand can be really sketchy and have really bad results. Seriously. You REALLY need to know what you're getting!!! It can be worth a little extra $$$ and save you a lot of time and possibly more money in the future.
Make sure you put the spacers on the case before you screw down the motherboard or else you will short out the motherboard. The spacers are copper-ish doodads with a threaded nub on one side, and usually a hexagonal top with threading for a screw to go inside of it.
For your first case, I recommend something a little larger - more room is nice. A removable motherboard tray is kind of convenient, as well.
Before you ever build anything, I suggest you take apart and put together at least some parts of a pre-built machine and make sure that it works. I don't recommend unscrewing stuff, but if you can get ahold of a machine from about ten years ago or so, just play around with it and get acquainted with components. Newer OEM stuff, in my experience, is mostly toolless and actually different from a homebrew PC.
|