Any Tips/Hints/Mystical Rites for a First-Time Builder?

[scitzo81]

I've been using an IBM Thinkpad since 1999 - all through college and grad school. After graduating last spring and nailing down a job, I'm can finally afford a new computer and actually play newly released games for the first time in about 5 years. I've spent the past few weeks researching and reading so many guides and tips that I have most of the process memorized. (To reassure all of you, I'm not quite crazy enough to assemble it by memory.) I'd appreciate any kinds of tips or advice anyone could provide before I sit down this weekend and start assembling the beast.

My system's below, I aimed to put together something that would be good for general use (gaming, multimedia, work, net) for several years with a little judicious upgrading here and there.

Case - Antec P180 (comes with 3 120mm fans, plus I bought an extra one for overkill)
Power Supply - Antec Neopower 480
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI Socket 939
CPU- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
RAM - Kingston KVR400X64C3A 1 GB DDR 400 (2 sticks for 2GB total)
Hard Drives - Western Digital Caviar 250 MB SataII w/ 16mb cache (x2 for RAIDO)
Video - EVGA Geforce 7800GT CO
DVD-ROM - LG GDR-8163BK 16X IDE
DVD-R/W - Sony DW-Q30A-2 Internal Double Layer
Generic OEM floppy drive (for RAID0)
Sound - Creative's X-FI Xtreme Music
Speakers - Logitech X-530 5.1

Plus keyboard, mouse, printer, power strip/surge protector, and an old CRT monitor. I plan to upgrade to a 19-20" LCD later on - like around Christmas 2006.

[pam123]

Looks good.
The only advice I can give, besides the obvious about grounding yourself and drinking the coffee somewhere else, is take your time.

[RevCLB]

PCMech homepage has an article on building your own pc. You might read through it & possibly print it out. Also, if you want to wait awhile they offer a cd with LOTS of information on it. Good luck

[freakitchen]

I'd prefer to see Corsair / Crucial RAM in there as opposed to Kingston. I've heard nothing but incompatilibty reports of late.

Looks good to me otherwise. Dont forget an operating sytem.

Freakitchen

[Dominion]

Be very careful with the door on that case - its heavy and the tendency is to grab near the front. You will squish the door if you do as its abit on the flimsy side. Great case apart from that.

I suppose you could make use of the side exhaust and install an 80mm fan. I've down away with that all togethor - runs very cool with the fans on low speeds at it is.

[Cricket]

Read all the manuals before you start, especially the motherboard manual.

Work in a well lit area that has enough room spread the parts out in.

Have some nylon zip ties handy for the wires and cables.

Take your time, don't rush and never assume anything. If you don't know, ask.

Exercise static precautions.

mechBgon's guide to building your first PC from parts

Cricket

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by Freakitchen I'd prefer to see Corsair / Crucial RAM in there as opposed to Kingston. I've heard nothing but incompatilibty reports of late. Looks good to me otherwise. Dont forget an operating sytem. Freakitchen

Excellent observation and I'd agree with removing the Kingston in favor of Corsair. Besides the Kingston compatibility issues, it's VR is Cas 3.0 while Corsairs is 2.5. Not really noticeable but you get a "free" performance boost with the faster ram.

[Louds3]

Originally Posted by Cricket Have some nylon zip ties handy for the wires and cables. Cricket

I couldn't agree more. Always remember that as you build with the computer laying down flat, you need to keep in mind that as you put the computer upright, wires will move around and you don't want them getting stuck in any fans. I use twist ties as they are easy to undo if you want, I got a whole roll/wheel of them at a garden center one time and it comes with a little cutter on the end and its like 2 bucks. and yes, READ THE MB MANUAL CAREFULLY!

steve

[sgtspector]

Put the cat out before you start.