Building a computer

[racer12306]

I am considering building a new desktop. My dell is about 7 or 8 years old. And I am ready for an upgrade.

I recently became aware of www.newegg.com and I am fascinated by it.

Could someone give me a checklist of what is needed to build a computer? I have a wish list setup on newegg but I don't know if I have everything. I know I also have to check to make sure all the components fit together. I not looking for something supercrazy, but I would like to run Pro-E on it (3-d modeling software for those that don't know).

I will probably be asking a lot of questions about this process as I have never done it before.

Thanks

[01WhiteNe0n]

Just buy mine, I built it custom with graphics to run games and such Its pretty fast for everything I do, Vids music, net, games...
600 bucks and you get 19" flat monitor and the whole comp setup

I'd post em but I have to leave right now...
but ill do it anyway

tower
power supply
motherboard
processor
processor fan
memory
video card
cd drive
dvd drive - optional
hard drive
audio card ( if into music )


Goota go

[Adionik]

Get Quad Core. The Q6600 from intel's line right now is fucking FAST as hell and even though it's not on a 45nm die, it's still bang for buck pretty damn good.

Don't go AMD. I'm not a fanboi and my ONLY rig right now is AMD, (server chip) but they're just in a slump. DDR3 will be out.

Peek your head around Hardforum.com, PLEASE do so, you will learn so much more than you bargained for and come out with a better rig and more knowledge

I'm big on pc's btw so if you have a question let me know

[ZeroChad]

A couple of things you also might want to invest in are a TV tuner card which also you to access cable and composite inputs to your computer. Also a wireless pci card so you can eliminate those pesky cat 5/6 cables.

[OverDrive418]

Lightscribe DVD recorders are the sh!t. Get one of those in your set-up, it's a cool little toy and they're cheap as hell right now.
As for the rest, whatever you buy will be outdated as soon as you open the package so don't think you need the most brand new thing out there. Computers are so advanced now even if you get everything from the close-out section you'll still have plenty of power to do just about anything.
For graphics you'll want to put more emphasis ($$$) into cpu and video card components.
Also if you can run 2 hard drives it's a plus too. Get a 40g (I don't even know if they make 'em that low anymore) for the operating and program software and a 120 or greater for a "storage" drive for raw project files or what have you. On my system I edit video and audio and it really makes rendering a lot quicker and easier. SATA is faster than IDE from what I hear so if you can get a motherboard with this support and get SATA drives and you should be in good shape.

[BlackRoseRacing]

Tower
500watt ATX power supply with SATA ready cabling
Motherboard w/PCI express capability
CPU for the above board
Dual or Quad core CPU w/fan
DDR2 min 1GB memory
SATA hard drive bigger the better
DVD burner, no need for CD only burner
PCI express video card w/256mb of memory
Dont go wireless networking since you loose internet speed.....

[jT]

what i was planning on doing if i was going to build a new pc was this... did not get around to choosing a few items but these were the essential pieces..

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard $124.99

EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $89.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E4300 - Retail
$129.99

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail $69.99

Subtotal: $414.96

and 80gb main drive for $45, then a couple 320gb dricves for 75-80 each (all sata 3.0)

youd probably want to either get 2 of the video cards and run them in SLI, or get a better card alltogether.. i was going for a budget system and did not care about all the power i could get out of gfx .. less than $100 card is what i was aiming for


a couple comments on these suggestions already made:

you most likely dont need a quad core cpu.. why it would even be suggested is beyond me.. for the $280 and $540 price tag of the two intel c2q cpus you could use that money in much needed other areas

cd drive
dvd drive - optional
audio card ( if into music )

maybe its just me but i dont see how a cd drive would be a nessecity, and a dvd drive optional.. that should be reversed.. who uses cds anymore? seriously. a dvdrw reads/burns cds and is the same price

the audio card.. unless you are an uber geek and have dog's ears any motherboard's onboard sound system will be just fine. again thats money that can be used for the gfx or something..

Lightscribe DVD recorders are the sh!t. Get one of those in your set-up, it's a cool little toy and they're cheap as hell right now.

other than burning the lightscribe label is SLOW as hell, and still only black and white.. its not a particularly valid point


ultimately it really boils down to what YOU are going to be doing with the system, what you might WANT to do with the system, and how much you want to spend on it.

one thing that nobody has mentioned, which you may or may not know, don't forget the cpu thermal paste you need that when putting the heatsink onto the cpu.

so put your emphasis in shopping on the cpu power you need (the c2d i picked out can be overclocked to 3ghz stable), the graphics card, minimum of 1gb of ram but 2gb is probably a better choice espectially with your 3d stuff.. and if you are going to make the wrong choice and use Vista you should think about 3gb or even 4gb.

also the power supply is extremely important.. its the most overlooked component. you could get away with using a $30 supply for a while, but it wont really benefit you in the end. you really need to evaluate all the power requirements of the system (total watts, +12v amps, etc).. some video cards for example will suggest a +12v of 28amps.. this is important to account for


if you buy hard drives from newegg, they are mostly all OEM .. what that means is unless you already have some, or your motherboard comes with enough of them, you will need whatever cables they attach by..

example being if you buy an OEM sata drive, you need to also buy the SATA cable to connect to the motherboard... you dont want to order all your stuff just to find out that you cant connect your drives (this also applies to any optical drives that are OEM or dont specifically say they include cables)

i think thats all i have to say right now


oh, here are a couple power supply calculators to give you a rough idea of what you actually need

each calculator has a different level of sophistication (aka updated hardware) so check them all out and decide which works best for you


http://www.utcache.com/power.asp

http://support.asus.com/PowerSupplyCalc ... uage=en-us

http://www.journeysystems.com/?powercalc

[racer12306]

Thanks for the info.

This is what I want out of the computer:
- something newer
- run Pro-E
- try to keep costs down (this is a very important one)

I am not interested in something super fancy or crazy. No overclocking for now.

I have been looking at Pentium 4 and Pentium d processors. I know a dual core or quad core would be awesome, but I think that is just a little too much for me right now ($$$ wise). I have been told to watch ebay for processors and such, which sounds like a good idea, as long as they are not ebay offbranded stuff.

I was looking at a 160GB harddrive, I might even go smaller with 80, because right now I am only at about 35GB of total space. I was also thinking about a smaller harddrive for my music, something like 40 or 60 GB.

I was looking at 2GB minimum of ram. If I had a few extra dollars and I was smart enough to pick a mother board with the capability, then 4GB of ram would be great.

I WILL NOT use Vista. I really like XP, and I know Vista sucks up ram.

One other thing I have been curious about is using two monitors. I will not be upgrading my monitor for a little while, but when I do I was thinking of a 19" widescreen. Then I would use my current monitor as the extra monitor. Keep all the extra stuff on there, like AIM, etc. How does one go about doing this. Do I need a special video card?

I am not against building a "small" one now, and then in a couple years building a "big" computer.

Current crappy computer specs
Celeron 1.8GHz
512MB ram
40GB HD
bogged down with all kinds of shit

[OverDrive418]

Lightscribe DVD recorders are the sh!t. Get one of those in your set-up, it's a cool little toy and they're cheap as hell right now.

other than burning the lightscribe label is SLOW as hell, and still only black and white.. its not a particularly valid point

I just got mine a few weeks ago so I'm still a little hyped about it! It's not neccessary but if you're spending the money on a dvd recorder anyway a decent dual layer lightscribe one is only a few bucks more. I just like not wasting my $$$ printer ink on fancy color labels anymore. Even though it's only black and white (for now) it still looks a bit more professional. Mine takes about 10 min to burn a label. To me that's not all that slow but I guess to each his/her own.

You should be able to fine plenty of vid cards to run dual monitors.

BlackRoseRacing has a pretty good system list going there it seems.

[racer12306]

One other thing to ask....

AMD vs Intel

Is one going to be cheaper and provide the same or similar performance?

[OverDrive418]

Opened up a can-o-worms with that one.

I've been using AMDs since the Duron 550s were out and never had an issue with them (vs. friends who use Intel and have constant issues such as overheating, having to overclock them to get any performance out of them, failures...). They're reliable and cheaper than Intel in most cases. I've built around 8 computers for myself and others with different types of AMDs and never had a complaint so I may be a little biased. I tend to stick to what works.
I've heard only good things about dual core AMDs (64 X2s) from any computer store geeks I've talked to about upgrading mine so...idk, I'm sure there's an argument for each one that will go on forever.

[racer12306]

I'm sure I did, its like which oil is best for the computer world.

If they are reliable and cheaper then an AMD might be a better choice. Remember I'm in college, bang for the buck is important.

[ragek23]

keep in touch we will get this thing built!

[Diablo0]

It always seems to come down to brand loyalty. Someone likes Dodge they'll probably always buy a Dodge. Same thing tends to happen with CPUs. AMD and Intel have come a long way from previous years. AMD used to be ahead in the game in comparison to Intel when it comes to latest and greatest and AMD was typically always cheaper as well. The gap has narrowed a lot since those days where Intel and AMD are pretty close with Intel taking the lead. Last I checked prices were getting pretty close to each other but I'm pretty sure AMD is still cheaper. The older chips typically ran a lot cooler than the comparable Intel chips and yeah... a lot cheaper too. You really can't go wrong with an AMD... when you select your board research it and the chipset. Get benchmarks on just about everything, mainly CPU, Motherboard and Video Card. Memory is another crucial part so get a fairly good brand like Corsair and see if there are any specific brands the motherboard you pick wants... some motherboards are very picky, some boards don't care what you throw in it and won't give you any problems.

[ZeroChad]

BTW keep your old computer, it will be perfect for trying out linux on. I have a similar rig I'm currently running Ubuntu on. You'd be amazed by what free software can do on a crappy tower.

Dont go wireless networking since you loose internet speed.....

I use to think this too until I was proven wrong. The only thing you'd possibly loose is lan speed if you have some ungodly switch/router.

[Arro]

I dunno Jason, I was an AMD guy for a long time until the Core 2 Duo and Quad designs came out... after researching them, I just picked up a Core 2 Duo based notebook, and my next desktop system will be a quad core. I'm relaly impressed with the balls-out design. It's like taking the high-tech developments Honda and Toyota did with 4-cyllinder NA, and pairing it with BIG displacement.

As far as cases go, I have some thoughts on that... I've built many PCs, and it comes to this: price vs. features. If you're on a buddget, there are some decent cases for under $100. But if you can spend a couple hundred, do so.

I used to like Thermaltake, and I still run in a Thermaltake Xaser III, but the new line of their cases is crappy. I dislike this new trend of using black mesh in the front. It's cheap.

The Thermaltake Xaser III:





Something even more important is drive bays. The internal drive bays for the hard drives. On my case, they are *sideways*, and use little plastic snap-on rails, so you never need a screwdriver, and they are very easy to access from the side. Also, my cards mount without screws, using little plastic sliders to lock the backplates into the case.

Another thing is the front door. I'm tellin' ya, so many people choose based on what it looks like in pictures, and then discover it's cheap. Rigid, gloss-finish plastic doors will scratch up really easy and look like shitolla. Also, they will break. Try to find a case with a nice, billet aluminum door.

Fans -- make sure your case has decent fans. Mine came with seven ball-bearing fans, all with removable filter screens that can be cleaned and reused.

Media ports: try to find a case that has USB and sound replicator ports in the front or top or something. Might be difficult to wire up onto the motherboard, but sure makes things easier later.

Case lighting is easy if you want to get a case with a window. Just buy a set of CoolerMaster LED silent fans. They come four to a pack in your choice of colors, and come with mounting screws and power connectors. Part # R4-L8S-18SB.

Remember... airflow is important to keep it cool!

My next case is a CoolerMaster Mystique, sold for a great price from Fry's:

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5306108#detailed






That or this Rhodium are my next case:





http://www.listan.net/listan.net/index. ... cleID=2571

[Diablo0]

Dont go wireless networking since you loose internet speed.....

I use to think this too until I was proven wrong. The only thing you'd possibly loose is lan speed if you have some ungodly switch/router.

You won't loose internet speed even if you have 802.11b, that is unless you have FiOS to the home or a T3 connection. 802.11b tops out at 11mb and majority of the connections in this country max out around 6mb downstream. The only real place you'd see the drop in speed is if you're running a LAN with all the computers in your house networked together to have a shared drive, etc. Wired can get up to Gigabit speeds (if using Cat6 wiring) while what is it, 802.11n is 248Mbit MAX.

Arro, I don't disagree... Intel has come a long way and surpassed AMD in coming out with the latest and greatest but last I looked AMD was still holding strong at keeping it's prices low compared to Intel. AMD used to lead the way but Intel has picked up the pace in the past few years... I did read somewhere that AMD was trying to develop almost like a dual quad core setup. I didn't get to read the article and just happened to glance at it somewhere. Best bang for the buck still tends to fall on AMD a lot of the time.

[ragek23]

actually my friend works at intel right now testing intel's best stuff. He said that AMD recently tested their quad core and its scary fast! Better than anything intel has to offer.

even so i would go with the 775 chip set just because they don't' keep changing the board chip sets like amd has for the past 2 years

[jT]

I have been looking at Pentium 4 and Pentium d processors. I know a dual core or quad core would be awesome, but I think that is just a little too much for me right now ($$$ wise).

a pentium d IS dual core. and it will be better than a single core cpu.. even though you may not fully utilize a dual core cpu, its probably about time to get one anyways.. and when you examine price vs performance it only makes sense:

Intel Pentium 4 3.0E Prescott 3.0GHz $85
Intel Pentium D 925 Presler 3.0GHz $115
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz $130

remember these points:
P4 = 1 x 3ghz (single core)
Pentium D = 2 x 3ghz (dual core)
C2D = 2 x 1.8ghz that outperforms the Pentium D in every way (better dual core)


The C2D outperforms the Pentium D even though its a lower clock speed. And even though you said no overclocking for now, if you can do it without damaging your system, then why not? The E4300 has the best overclocking capability of the lower end (cheaper) C2D's and like i said its stable at 3.0ghz .. so that overclocked 2x3ghz would be equivelent to something like Pentium 4 10ghz :-p

I have been told to watch ebay for processors and such, which sounds like a good idea, as long as they are not ebay offbranded stuff.

Intel is Intel and AMD is AMD even on ebay...

I was looking at a 160GB harddrive

i assume you have IDE drives, you could always reuse the hard drives you currently have. most of the motherboards still have at least one IDE channel to use "old" drives with... that could save you a little money also.. get a new SATA drive for your main system then use your current IDE drive as a storage drive.

and also remember that you can always make PARTITIONS. you buy a 160GB drive and partition it however you want.. so you can have one drive for music, one drive for downloads, etc.. this way you dont need to buy actual different hard drives (more physical drives increases cost, a single drive partitioned into multiple drives is still the same price)

if you are running fine on a 40GB hard drive so a 120 or 160 GB drive will do you just fine and you wouldnt even know what to do with all that extra space. partition it at 30GB for C:\ (system drive for XP, installed programs, etc..), then if you want a dedicated music only partition make that (depending how many mp3s you have will determine the size), then make a partition for storage and downloads and all that good stuff..

then you can add your old hard drive on the IDE channel and have another 40gb for backup or something like that

I was looking at 2GB minimum of ram. If I had a few extra dollars and I was smart enough to pick a mother board with the capability, then 4GB of ram would be great.

I WILL NOT use Vista. I really like XP, and I know Vista sucks up ram.

ok then.. well.. if you are unware:

XP 32bit will ONLY use up to 3gb of ram. if you add 4gb XP will not see it or use it. 3gb is your maximum.

XP 64bit will use 4gb of ram, but software and drivers for 64bit SUCK, so it should be avoided.

Vista .. good choice on not using it.

so for XP 2GB is good, or 3GB if you want to max out.

How does one go about doing this. Do I need a special video card?

you would need a video card that has dual monitor support (two connections). if you run 2 video cards in SLI mode or CrossFire .. i'm actually not sure if you can use two monitors that way or if they connect together to only use one.. but you probably dont need dual video cards anyways.. so get one that has dual monitor output



AMD vs Intel .. as said its mostly preference. right now Intel's core 2 duo basically out performs any AMD chip.. but you might be able to get better performance out of a newer AMD cpu than the E4300 or other lower end C2D's .. not sure. but there might also be a price premium for doing that..

[BlackRoseRacing]

One of my first builds....
Thermaltake Xaser III case
AMD XP 2000+ overclocked to an AMD 3400+
512mb DDR overclocker ram
Nvidia AGP8 5600 256mb video card
Asus main board w/gigabit ethernet and 5.1 audio
500watt PSU
DVD burner
Thermaltake watercooling
Price at the time roughly $500
This setup ran circles around anything, at the time...did everything from
DVD ripping,photoshopping, Quake 3 arena, etc....
Sold it without watercooling and the case for $250

Next PC built went into the above case:
Athlon 64 2400+ processor aircooled
Asus socket 754 board
512mb DDR
DVD Dual layer burner
500watt modular PSU
200gb 7200rpm IDE hard drive
Sold internals for $250...for bills
Sad part, it was fast as my old XP 2000+ system...

Now my current "temp" setup
Intel Celeron 2.4ghz 400mhz bus system w/512mb pc133....Dell 5.1 audio,lightscribe dvd burner,350watt PSU....
This pc is slow as "S@it", I miss my old AMD systems....

[Floyd]

My new system is....

Intel Q6600 OC'ed to 3.3gig
EVGA 680i A1
OCZ Reaper ram at 800meg
8600GTS in SLI
Water cooled of course

[J-Villa]

i am still using the same dell now for about 8 years or so....it works for me haha

[ZeroChad]

mmm water cooling

[Adionik]

Loyalty has nothing to do with the raw facts.

Core 2 Duo > Anything AMD

Core 2 Quad > Barcelona

Power consumption and efficiency, Intel is just winning this round.

[DJ CptnCrnch]

lol i know very little how to build a computer, so i goto my brother for help...i gave him my credit card and told him to order me something good...i had some friends over last night and they were looking at what i got....they were all jelious about the parts i have...lol i guess my brother spent my money good...hmm the stuff sitting next to me is...

GEforece 8800 GTS PCI express 320MB GDDR3
2gig RAM
ASUS P5K Deluxe Motherboard (the one dude was super jellios of this...guess its good??)
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 Ghz
250 Gig harddrive + (200mb and 70mb harddrives that r already in my comp) my 200 gig is filled with music, i need more space