first time building computer

[moxing2]

HEY, i have all my parts picked out. I have read reviews and i am just concerned about Compatibility, and/or if im paying to much for something i can get cheaper and better. i was also wondering about the sli mode on the motherboard. can i just use one graphics card now and later put in another one. also is it really complicated to install another graphics card? and do the 2 graphics cards have to be the same? i also cant decide between 2 graphics cards. which one would be best for gaming. here are my parts.

case: here

motherboard: here

video card: here

or

video card: here

Power Supply: here

Processor: here

RAM: here

Hard Drive: here

Sound Card: here

liquid cooling system: here

operating system: here

the total is around $1,500 including tax. i want this to be a good gaming rig, i was hoping for this to run oblivion and BF2 at medium to high levels. i was considering getting another hard drive (500GB hard drive space...) mainly on the safe side since i heard not having enough hard drive space can slow down your computer. but is 250GB enough? I am also not sure about the sound card. And would the liquid cooling be to complicated, since i am new to building computers, and it might be to advanced. Thanks in advanced for all your help.

[jayb1234]

I would not trust an aspire power supply. they have a very bad reputation. A 550W Antec would be a better choice Truepower II or the eps version if your motherboard needs the 8 pin auxillary power connector.

As far as the sound card the motherboard will have pretty good 7 or 8 channel sound, give it a try before you get a card. If you just have some inexpensive speakers, you probably wouldn't notice the difference anyway.

Not a fan of watercooling myself, so I can't really comment on whether that setup is good or not. However the stock heatsink/fan combo should be more than sufficient, and not using it will void your processor warranty.

Optical Drives, look at the Liteon DVD burners if you don't have one that you plan on reusing.

Floppy drive might be needed during setup to install stuff like sata controllers, and good to have for diagnostics etc.

[moxing2]

thank you for the advice on the power supply. But im still wondering about which graphics card to get. Also if the second hard drive is needed. So were u saying that i could loose that liquid cooling system and i would be fine with what i have already, or do i need to buy an extra fan? Thanks again ( :

[Mr.Ferrari]

Do not ever ever touch watercooling kits. Especially those made by, innovatek, waterchill, zalman, kingwin, thermaltake, and coolermaster. Not only are those kits some of the most crappiest peices of crud available, they perform like a aircooler, and are massively overpriced. Make your own custom setup. You are not going to get watercooling for 70 bucks.

I would be more then happy to help you choose the parts, but I suggest you first get your computer built and running and then go to watercooling. Ill need your budget too.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showpost.php...12&postcount=2
^
Thats what I had suggested someone else, those might not be the parts you need nonetheless the little summary I gave could be helpful.

I would pick the X1800XT over 7800gt as it will beat it.

Powersupply as the above said get a antec tp2 550W, Tagan U22, FSP Blue Storm 500W, or Silverstone 560W. Any of them would be great.

Best bang/buck 939 proc right now is the 3800X2. I doubt you will notice the diff between it and the 4200

[minsonngo]

One 250GB HDD should be more than enough for most people.

Liquid Cooling is really not neccessary unless you plan to OVERCLOCK your system or you want a silent PC. The heatsink/fan that comes with your processor and a couple of case fans will still do an excellent job if installed correctly.

[moxing2]

for the LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner W/ LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHM-165H6S - OEM, how do i get the connector and screws to install this if it doesnt come with them.? and thanks everyone for your advice

[Mr.Ferrari]

Your motherboard for cables, and case for screws.

[minsonngo]

Some of the OEM drives I have purchased in the past came with mounting screws too.

[moxing2]

i keep seeing people saying their going to put their mother board in "cross fire" mode. i was just wondering what this is. and also, do i need 2 lite ons or is that just preference.

well... ive picked out all the parts. made a few changes, got rid of some things, and added some things. i would really be thank full for all your opinions since i want this to be as near perfect as possible. so heres a list of what im planning on getting now...


LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHW160P6S04


COOLER MASTER Ammo 533 RC-533-SWN1 Black/Silver Aluminum+Plastic front bezel; SECC chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive


HYUNDAI B70A Siver-Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail
Model #: B70A

ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD Motherboard


Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply


CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model Twinx2048-3200c2pt


AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4200BVBOX


Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM



SAPPHIRE 100154 Radeon X1800XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card - OEM



When it says "OEM", it means it doesnt come with anything else right? just the card... if so is that a bad route to take...? also this card is out of stock, is there a certain amount of time it will take for them to get more or willl i have to call to find out? i am still a little unsure about the mother board and processor. and will all of this run BF2 and oblivion on near full specs? thanks for all your help and support! i am completely open minded for any opinions. THANKS!

[Mr.Ferrari]

It should come with card, driver cd, and all the cables. Just not the extra games or softwares.

[glc]

Crossfire is ATI's answer to SLI. Requires 2 cards and a Crossfire motherboard.

If you are using an ATI card, no need to spend the big $$ for a SLI motherboard. Look at the A8N5X and the A8N-E. The *only* reason I'd even look at that SLI board would be to get the heatpipe cooler for the Northbridge - is that worth the extra $75 to you?

[moxing2]

so i should be fine with this mother board right here. It would save me a good extra $100.

ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard

does that mean you can only use geforce cards in sli mode on the other mother board?

still looking for any other opinions...

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by moxing2 does that mean you can only use geforce cards in sli mode on the other mother board?

Yes, you need identical NVidia based video cards for SLI. For CrossFire you need ATi based video cards.

Cricket

[moxing2]

so if i got the radeon saphire x1800xt, would i really be needing dual graphics cards. Because initially i was planning to buy one graphics card now... and later buy another to put it in sli mode. but in that case i would either need to get a different mother board for crossfire or get geforce graphics cards. and i might not need the dual graphics now, but technology today this stuff will be "old" so by then i would have dual. And i dont want to have to change my mother board later as well, if i get mobo with sli and the saphire.

Please help, i still have other questions un answered above.. if u have time to read ( :

greatly Appreciated

[flanzig1]

For Crossfire, you will need a Crossfire capable mother board. For a lot of people here, going with one high end video card will play the latest games just about as good as SLI or CrossFire rigs.

[minsonngo]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 For Crossfire, you will need a Crossfire capable mother board. For a lot of people here, going with one high end video card will play the latest games just about as good as SLI or CrossFire rigs.

I agree.

[moxing2]

ok, so ive been reading some reviews about the A8N5X and the A8N-E. the A8N-E was said to have no firewire. is that important... im not quite sure what that is. and the A8N5X was said to "Motherboard lockups due to PCI-Express video cards not being supported well". are these still good mother boards that i should try. I just really want to get this right the first time.

[moxing2]

so... i have everything ready,and it turns out i have some extra money (:. i was wondering if i could add an extra fan with some cool lighting or somthing, u know, just for looks for lan parties. plus, i figured it would help keep my computer at a cool level. i just dont no if ill have room. Also, how do you know what the temp is inside your computer? is there special things i could buy to do this, or what?

[minsonngo]

Look here to find modding accessories: http://www.directron.com/mods.html or http://www.svc.com/lighting.html

Adding extras fans are fine, just note that more fans = more noise. Don't add more fans unless they are needed.

Lighting is cool and eye-catchy but it does get old. But hey, its your money so spend it as you like.

You can monitor you temperatures through your BIOS/CMOS setup, aftermarket software available to you that work in the OS enviroment, or external devices (look here for some examples: http://www.svc.com/lcd-displays.html or http://www.svc.com/525frontpanel.html).

[moxing2]

HI again, my mother board is a 24 power pin, and my power supply is a 20+4 pin. will this still work?

[Alaron]

Originally Posted by moxing2 HI again, my mother board is a 24 power pin, and my power supply is a 20+4 pin. will this still work?

Yes. The "+4" just means that the last four pins can be disconnected for older motherboards.

[moxing2]

So... i have finally gotten together my final rig. i have all the parts ready to order at newegg, but just totriple check, i would like it if you could check out if everything is compatible. I ended with switching to the intel core duo, since i hear so many good things about it. instead of the ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard(out of stock), im going with the ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard. since the processor costs about $70 more than the other one i cut down on the ram. i alsopicked a new case and added a moniter. Well... this is it.

SAPPHIRE 100154SR Radeon X1800XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card


Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive


APEVIA (ASPIRE) X-Plorer ATXB8KLW-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard


Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL


G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) System Memory



ASUS MM17D Silver 17" 8ms LCD Monitor With SPLENDID Video Intelligence Technology Zero Bright Dot (ZBD) 400 cd/m2 600:1 0.264mm Pixel Pitch


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 16X DVD±R DVD Burner



Intel Core Duo T2400 Yonah 667MHz FSB 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 478 Processor



Now, ithink allof this is pretty top of the line. But what i am mainly worried about is the compatability. I want to double and triple checkthis so i can get this right the first time. Thank you for your time.

[Alaron]

You cannot use an Intel CPU on an AMD motherboard.

If you are using the A8N-E, you need a socket 939 chip such as the X2 3800+. And then you need DDR-400, not DDR2.

Once you switch those, the list is fine.

[Mr.Ferrari]

And thats a yonah mobile chip. You need a special motherboard for that chip. I suggest you stick to the desktop dual cores or wait for conroe if your going that route. Otherwise build looks fine.

[blue60007]

I'd stick with the AMD CPU. With the recent price slashings, AMD chips are VERY competitive.

[moxing2]

All my parts are here ( except for my MoBo ) :, since it came from TN ) and im ready to build my pc. Unfortunately... ive ben looking around and the saphire graphics card that i bought just dropped down fifty bucks... I am also thinking that i should have bought a better processor. Will the 4200+ be enough to handle oblivion, etc. i was also wondering if http://frozencpu.com/ is an ok place to buy from. i want some more fans, i figure what the hell, just incase. I have been reading A LOT of forums about overclocking and i think i might feel comfortable trying it, although i want to see how well everything runs before hand and if i want things better ill maybe try it. Is it really worth it? its just it generates more heat and can decrease the life expectancy... so im still unsure about if its something way out of my league. (thats why i wanted to get more fans)


also, for all you new timers... http://www.extremetech.com is a pretty helpful site for extra help.

[minsonngo]

Extremetech is a great website, I go there daily.

The 4200+ processor you purchased should handle Oblivion just fine, the video card and memory you have installed also play a factor too, not just the CPU.

I don't recommend overclocking if you have never done it before. Overclocking does not provide much of a performance boost, you just do it to get more bang for your buck. It also VOIDS the warranty on your processor. But its your system and your money, so do as you wish.

More fans in your case just helps cool down the system temperatures. If you overclock, you need probably need a better cooling solution for your CPU. Mr. Ferrari should know more about overclocking that I do.

[moxing2]

are you talking about liquid cooling and such... because that is way to expensive for me, although i might try it out later. but if you say it will work fine, i trust you, since im 100% certain you know what your talking about. i guess is was fun reading up on overclocking... anyways, would u recommend frozen cpu to buy from? and at what settings will it run ablivion. i was hoping max everything except resolution but it might just be to much. Whats your opinion?

[minsonngo]

FrozenCPU is pretty good according to this: http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2013.html

Looking at your setup, it should run everything perfectly.

[moxing2]

ok i think these is my last ?'s. Are bigger fanes necessarily better in terms of keeping things cool. I have a place on my case that has multiple holes for multiple sizes, does it really matter. and also, on the window side of the case that opens up... theres a plaster chamber that im positive is to hold a fan that streches out inside the case, and its attached to the door. does this thing do anything more special then if it was just a fan? and does the measurement have to be the right length, i think im supposed to measure from screw hole to screw hole to find out what mm fan to get, but do width and heith matter or will any fan fit? it almost looks like the fan is supposed to screw in...