Building a computer

[seizure13]

This is my first computer build, hoping to get suggestions and help from all of the computer gurus here. Ill try my best to yell you what I want this baby to do so this can be as quick and painless as possible.

The computer will be running Windows Vista Home Premium, and I would like to be able to use it fully. Im going to use this computer for gaming, photoshopping, movies, music, burning, and several of these at once most of the time.

Id also like to be able to use dual monitors with this rig too.

Money is not much of an object (building your own is so much cheaper than buying prebuilt and I had been saving for one of those) , but I dont want to be wasting money on squeezing every little bit of performance out of it. Id like it to work very nicely, and not need to upgrade for a few years.

And now... The parts:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813136168

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115003

Heatsink/Fan for Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835119057

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146098

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130071

Sound Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829118109

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148136

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148136

Optical Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135097

Optical Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136100

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811166004

Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817182027

Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824001225

Keyboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823141011

Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16826153108

I wanted to change one of my hard drives to a smaller/faster hard drive to use mainly for apps and games, but I couldnt find one that was compatable. Either that or I didnt quite grasp what was compatable :confused:
Please do suggest one if you have something that will work.


I thank you all ahead of time for your help. Ill most likely be posting my final build a while from now, as I dont plan on building until at least Vista comes out, to get final suggestions on parts and such.

[Katreat]

Hi, I am very new to this site myself, so I will leave build suggestions to those with more than one build under their belt. But I will suggest you edit your post to actually list the components so that others do not have to click on every link to see what you are planning. Just type in the basics before the link and they can more quickly give you the thumbs up or down on your components. The easier you make it to review your selections the better feedback you will get. the "experts" on this site are fantastic but they have alot of us first and second time builders to help so we should do our best to make it easy for them.

[Stuey]

The CPU comes with a cooler already since it's a retail box. The one you picked out looks nice, but its weight may be above board specifications. In other words, if it's too heavy, it can bend the board a little bit. You can try the stock cooler and if you don't like it you can always change it out later on.

An add-on soundcard is usually better than on-board sound, but you might want to hear what the mobo sounds like before adding in a PCI soundcard. Know what I mean? I made a similar mistake in the past (with fans, not a soundcard) and wasted some cash. Like with the cooler, you can always change this after your done with the build and everything's up and running.

You can always get a Western Digital Raptor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Brand=1306&N=50001306&Submit=ENE&Manufactory=1306&Description=raptor&Ntk=all)for improved performance.

In regard to the optical drives, no complaint there. I used to advocate 2 drive setups but unless you plan on copying a lot of DVDs or CDs, stick with only the burner.

You may want to check out other PSUs. There may be a chance that Rosewill is on the "low quality do not buy" list, but I don't have personal experiences with them. Others can comment better about this.

You're spending $430 on a video card but only $5 on your keyboard?

[flanzig1]

Rosewill PSUs are made by any number of companies depending on model/when they were made/etc. The model you picked is made by Atng Power,which is probably a contract builder and quailty is anybodies guess.

[seizure13]

Okay so I cleaned it up a little bit. I couldnt edit my first post again for some odd reason, maybe because I edited it before -.-



Motherboard: DFI INFINITY 975X Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor

RAM: mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory

Video Card: eVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

Hard Drive: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFDRTL 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Optical Drive: LG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner

Case: Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-BA Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

PSU: XION Supernova XON-600R14-201 ATX 600W Power Supply 115/230 V cUL,CE,FCC,CB

Monitor: SAMSUNG 204B-SV Silver-Black 20.1" 5ms DVI LCD Monitor with Height & Pivot Adjustments 300 cd/m2 800:1

Keyboard: Saitek PZ30AU Black 104 Normal Keys 4 Function Keys USB Wired Standard Eclipse Keyboard

Mouse: Razer Krait 1600 dpi 3 button Gaming Mouse - Full Retail Multi Language

[newbuilder14]

I don't understand this... you seem to be spending more money on power than reliability. First change I'd make is switching to an Asus P5B motherboard - very stable. Also, get DDR2 667 memory - Corsair ValueSelect is great. For an optical drive, get anything from Liteon. For the power supply, that probably won't power your card, not because of the wattage, because of the quality. You are better off going with something like the Corsair 620w power supply. Good luck, and welcome to the forums.

[Alaron]

The LG DVD Burner doesn't come with any burning software, so I'd go with a LiteOn. Here is a link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106013

Check out our list of good power supplies: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

And as a side note, you can only edit posts for 12 hours. :)

[seizure13]

A new mobo, memory, optical drive and psu (edited to have chucks suggestion). I figured out my problem with finding which PSU I should use. I simply wasnt looking at the specs correctly -.-

Motherboard: ASUS P5NSLI Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI Intel Edition ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor

RAM: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory

Video Card: eVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

Hard Drive: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFDRTL 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner

Case: Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-BA Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 EPS12V EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, ULC, CE, CB, RoHS- Retail

[chuck4456]

A 450 watt PSU doesn't cut it with those video cards. Go ahead and get a PC Power & Cooling S750 Quad. That will leave you room to add another one later.

[seizure13]

Should this good for my final build then?

(edited for mobo and forgot floppy)

Motherboard: ASUS P5N32-E SLI Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor

RAM: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory

Video Card: eVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

Hard Drive: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFDRTL 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner

Floppy: SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model MPF920 Black

Case: Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-BA Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 EPS12V EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, ULC, CE, CB, RoHS

Monitor: SAMSUNG 204B-SV Silver-Black 20.1" 5ms DVI LCD Monitor with Height & Pivot Adjustments 300 cd/m2 800:1

Keyboard: Saitek PZ30AU Black 104 Normal Keys 4 Function Keys USB Wired Standard Eclipse Keyboard

Mouse: Razer Krait 1600 dpi 3 button Gaming Mouse - Full Retail Multi Language

Also, any suggested reading for me to learn about the actual building process? I wont be building this until Vista is out, and would like to use this time to learn as much as possible about the process of building, to reduce the chance of messing up (and destroying parts in the process) as much as possible.

[newbuilder14]

I don't think you'd want that motherboard. You might get lucky with it - but it is not a stable board. Look into the 680i chipset - you'd be much happier.

[Alaron]

Here is our building guide: http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/index.htm The book we offer is much more thorough will plenty of extra information.

If you plan on using SLI later on (2 Nvidia cards), you'll need to upgrade the motherboard to one that uses the 680i chipset. This chipset has full Nvidia SLI support, the 570 does not. Unfortunately, it is expensive. We recommend the Asus P5N32-E: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131073 But this is the best choice for SLI and Core 2 Duo together.

[seizure13]

Thanks for the suggestion for the mobo, I will most likely be upgrading that with 2 Nvidia cards in the near future. I may just spend a few $$ on that book too, I dont think itll be bad to be over prepared.

[TimPoet]

Goodness, how much does all this come to?

[newbuilder14]

Makes you wonder, eh Tim. If I could afford to do so I'd get the latest technology, but tomorrow there will be something else out there. :) Depends on what kind of person you are really.

[seizure13]

Total with all cost reductions, ordered from newegg.com right now should be $2551.87

I have around $4000 saved up for a computer, I was originally just going to buy a computer pre-built but recently I have been also looking into building my own. I may be a first timer, but the cost/risk ratio made this an easy choice to build after a litte researching.

[chuck4456]

Well, you're set as far as the POWER SUPPLY goes. Hope your build goes well.

[TimPoet]

Good man. That will be an AWESOME build.

Now you have $1500 for games!

[seizure13]

It may just be a bit better than what I have up, never know if Ill go for the second video card to start off. With all the games Ill be able to get, I doubt Ill be leaving my house anytime soon once I do build this beast. :D

Thanks to everyone who helped me, your awesome folks. Now I just have to wait until Jan.... Silly Vista, making me wait. Im just praying that Vista is everything I hope it to be.

[glc]

If you are going to use a Nvidia chipset board for Intel, you are better off waiting a bit anyway to let them get the bugs out of the 680i. It's just a bit too new for me to trust.

[TimPoet]

Im just praying that Vista is everything I hope it to be.
Not that I am a Microbasher, but I wouldn't put too much stock in Vista, it just doesn't seem to have much substance to it....