First timer needs PC-building help

[Kazmorhaz]

Greetings all,

This is my first post to these forums but I've lurked for a short bit and I think from the research I've done, I've put together a decent rig.

I want to build my own for a couple of reasons. One is to save a little bit of money and another is so I know what is going on inside my rig and be able to make upgrades myself when necessary. The computer (a six-year-old Pavilion) I have now has lasted through three upgrades but now just can't handle anymore level ups. So, the plan with this one is to have a computer than can last awhile without being bottom basement stuff in half a year. And oh yeah, do it on a budget.

My requirements going in where to spend just over $1,400.00, which I've done. (With shipping, I'm $1.10 over 1400, but with $65 coming in rebates.) I wanted a widescreen LCD monitor (mostly for geek factor).

I intend to do some light gaming, nothing major, Guild Wars, Oblivion, NWN2, etc. But I'm a photographer with interests in film. So I need a machine than can handle Adobe Creative Suite 2 and the latest version of Premiere.

I think I have what I need to get the job done and I hope this won't be too difficult for me to piece together (as a first-time builder).

Here's my expected order list for my build, based on some Internet research and your suggestions on other builds:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

ASUS P5B LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131030

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145167

ENERMAX ECA3052BL Blue/ Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811124115
(I like that the USB and audio ports are on the top of this case, major selling point.)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148144

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply 115/230 V TUV, UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103937

eVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130062

LITE-ON 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 40X CD-ROM IDE DVD Burner included extra White bezel – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106050

Acer AL2016W Silver & Black 20" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 600:1 – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824009085

Saitek PZ30AUR Red 104 Normal Keys 4 Function Keys USB Wired Slim Eclipse Keyboard – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823175104

Sunbeam FireLine MS-2011-BK-BL Black/Blue 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Illuminated Mouse – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826178003

Other than the obvious questions about compatibility and quality for the price, I have some specific questions.

1. That Enermax case has two slots for 12mm fans (one in the front, one in the back) to go along with the massive 250mm side fan. Does anyone recommend I fill one or both those slots with decent 12mm fans? Or will my rig cool fairly well on its own?

2. The cooling HSF that comes with the Mobo sufficient for this processor or should I get an independent HSF?

3. That power supply…. Will it work?

(Note: I also included the input devices in case someone knows of any major faults with them.)

I appreciate any help you guys can offer and I thank you in advance.

[juppy]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

That looks like it should be a pretty nice rig and offhand I don't see anything that's incompatible (not to say there isn't, because I could have overlooked something).

1. Well, first off, I've never even SEEN a case with that large of a fan in the side! It will probably cool enough on its own with just the power supply fan and that side fan. If it were me, I'd probably go ahead and get one of those 120mm fans though, just in case I needed more air. That way I could just slap it in the back of the case for more exhaust if the temps weren't staying low enough. With that large of a fan on the side though, I'd think putting a 120mm in the front AND back both would just be overkill.

2. The HSF that comes with the retail processor will be plenty for cooling if you don't plan to overclock.

3. On whether the power supply will work.....if you mean the size as far as fitting in the case, yeah, the supply and the case are both standard ATX, so it should fit no problem. If you mean does it have enough power, they yeah to that too. The video card only requires a 350W supply, so 500W should be a good size to give you some expansion headroom in case you need to add something else later.

As for the input devices, I really don't know whether those are good or not. I always stick to either Microsoft or more often Logitech for my keyboard and mouse.

[glc]

If you are going to get XMS2 ram, get DDR2-800. If you want DDR2-667, just get Value Select.

[Kazmorhaz]

Thanks, everyone.

I swapped out the DDR2-800 Memory for

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098

How am I looking now?

[flanzig1]

Looks like your set. Just a thought, could use your old monitor and do a dual monitor setup. Comes in handy if need to see two different pages or apps at the same time.

[Kazmorhaz]

Should I go head and get a dual-DVI card if I plan to use that monitor (which is starting to dim after years of use)?

Or is that cost prohibitive?

[glc]

You don't need a dual DVI card to use an older VGA monitor as the second display - one VGA one DVI is good enough and almost all new cards have that.

[newbuilder14]

I'd get this video card instead - the extra slightly higher speeds will help, and it has dual DVI ports with adapters if you do wish to use VGA anyway: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130017

[Kazmorhaz]

I switched to that video card and switched the mouse to a logitech (not that that really matters).

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm going to place the order. And very likely I'll be back in three or four days with a blank stare and 500 questions.

Thanks again! I appreciate it!

[ChickenCharlie]

I have that same case,you'll like it alot. I put two 120 mm fans in mine. The front fan blows right across the hard drive bay, so I think thats a good idea.

[Kazmorhaz]

Hey guys, everything arrived and seems to be in good condition.

I dunno if I have a problem or not. The DVD-Rom I purchased did not come with any additional wires or connectors. Although, the how-to guide on this website, the ASUS manual and even the literature with the DVD-Rom mention connecting a CD audio wire.

Do I need to somehow get my hands on this four-pin wire? (Which would connect from the MOBO to the DVD-Rom, just to be clear.)

Or is this step not necessary?

[newbuilder14]

No, you do not need the 4 pin audio cable - current technology allows audio to be transferred through the IDE cable itself.

[Kazmorhaz]

Sweet!

Thanks for the quick answer.

[Kazmorhaz]

I hit the power button and everything worked. Thanks for all your help.

Now I've run into software problem.

Much like someone posted on the guide's comments...

"Step 20 of the guide (http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step/20/) says that the bootable Windows XP Pro disk should be automatically detected by the computer after the BIOS has been configured. I have already set the boot priority to CD 1st, HD 2nd, and Floppy 3rd. However, every time I try to boot up with the CD, I get the following error: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key."

I have the same problem. Any suggestions?

Thanks again.

[Kazmorhaz]

A night's research has turned up no help. I can't think of anymore options and seem to have hit a wall.

Any help you guys could offer would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

[juppy]

Does that CD drive show up in the BIOS? Should be under the IDE settings. If it's not in there, then the system isn't seeing the drive and you've likely got something configured wrong on the drive or in the way the cable is plugged in. Is the drive set to CS?

[Kazmorhaz]

It recognizes my ASUS drivers disk but not my XP Pro install disk.

So, I used an external floppy drive and a boot disk. But the boot disk couldn't find that any CD-Rom drives existed. (This was after I moved my old CD-R drive into the build in case it was the DVD-RW drive.)

Still no luck.

All the drives are recognized in BIOS as I've tried just about every boot sequence I could manage. I've also changed the drives from master, slave and CS in relative order, no dice.

[glc]

Are you saying it *boots* with the Asus driver CD and not the XP CD? If so, the XP CD is defective.

[Kazmorhaz]

I've used the disk before (on this PC) and it's worked through two reformats.

The ASUS disk that comes with the motherboard, gives me the option to create a boot disk to update the motherboard's drivers (although, the ones on the disk are a month older than the factory default, go figure).

I'm trying to get a friend's version of XP to see if something might have happened to my copy.

I'll post the results.

[Kazmorhaz]

I must have done something to my copy of XP Pro as a borrowed copy of XP Home worked without a glitch. Everything is running smoothly and darn near perfectly.

I would have said so earlier but my Wireless Network didn't like a second PC added to the mix and would allow me to access the 'Net for about 3 minutes to sometimes as long as 20. I called Belkin support and apparently they can only help me if a PC is wired to the router. So, the old PC is in shambles but attached to the router and for some reason, just attaching them, inexplicably corrected my problem.

So, maybe Belkin knew something I didn't.

As it happens, without a router mishap and a dead copy of XP Pro, I would have had this PC up and running in about 8 hours and on the first try. It's got me a touch addicted to the idea of building as now I'm looking at popping that old HP Pavillion 511w into a sleeker and quieter case. (Since it's in the bedroom where the cable outlet is.)

But, all of this would not be possible without your help. This forum and this site are a great boon to amateur builders all over. Your information, guides and tips are (from what I've seen) spot-on and easily understood.

A heart-felt thanks to all of you for your help.