Will this computer run?

[Drtydzn12]

I'm going to make a Vista Compatible PC. The only thing I don't know right now is whether or not this PC will even turn on after I build it. (Got really confused on the PSU part) Also, sorry if this is a stupid question. But does that motherboard already have an ethernet port? Or do I need to go buy a network card?

This PC's going to cost me around 1711 dollars including tax in my area. The following are clickable.

Antec Nine Hundred Gaming Case - Black

Antec Neo HE 550-Watt ATX CPU Power Supply

BFG NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI ATX Motherboard

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6600

XFX NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3 PCI Express Graphics Card

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE Sound Card

Dynex® 4-Port USB 2.0 PCI Desktop Card

PNY Optima 2-Pack 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 DIMM Memory

Hewlett-Packard 20x Internal Double-Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive with LightScribe

Dynex® Internal Floppy Disk Drive Kit

[perkster]

go for a asus P5b motherboard which will have onboard network port and also good enough onboard sound so you wont need that soundcard, its also better to have an intel chipset.

the DVD burner you need to swap for a SATA model, would recommend lite-on.

in terms of PSu you wont do better than the corsair 520W HX, really well made and good value.

wouldnt go for PNY optima ram, you need quality here, go for corsair value select, 1gb is ok but ram is cheap at moment so may be worth the slightly more for 2gb especially fi running vista.

the case, processor and graphics card look good.

dont forget a hard drive and operatign system! for hard drive go for seagate 7200.10 320gb SATA drive.

not sure you will need the USB PCI card

[Drtydzn12]

Ok I'll get the Corsair 2GB RAM Pack, and I'll change the DVD Drive. This is the Asus I'm looking at.

Better than the Nvidia?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1158317360477

I really got my eye on this Motherboard.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...879&CatId=2541

But still confused about the PSU. Are you saying that it's a good PSU? Or a bad choice?

I can't order from newegg.com. (Live in Hawaii) I only plan on getting around 150gb or harddrive storage. And I plan on installing Windows Vista Ultimate.

EDIT: Also, what do you mean by chipset? Is tigerdirect a reliable website?

[marine63]

about tiger direct check the cost of the shipping it hurts alot buying from them :l its a shame you cant buy from newegg T_T

i think what he saying about the power supply is that you want a nice stable one. if your going for gaming i think 500w would be enuff but thats just me

[perkster]

the asus mother board you linked to:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1158317360477

IS the P5B i recommended, a very good stable board, highly recommended on these forums.

i would think it is worth the extra few $ for that rather than the EVGA, EVGA are ok but the P5B is very proven.

for hard drive go:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...363&CatId=2457

for PSU go for the corsair 520W, the one you selected i dont think it that good.

[andper10]

EDIT: From what I've heard you can order from newegg in Hawaii, but you might have to pay for overnight, next day, or 2nd day:

$117 - Asus P5B Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131030 - If you want to be ready for the future intel chips look at the P5K.

$80 - 2GB Corsair Value Select DDR2 677 Ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098 - You could get DDR2 800 if you want to do heavy overclocking.

$260 - 8800GTS 320MB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130082 - You might want to look at getting an 8800GTX with the money you save.

$223 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003 - Good CPU.

$80 - Seagate 320GB 7200.10 16MB Cache Hard Drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140 - You can get a smaller HD if you don't need 320GB's. Seagate's 7200.10 is good because of its Perpendicular Recording Technology. Look for drives with 16MB (or 8MB for smaller capacity drives) of cache from Seagate or Western Digital.

$38 - LiteOn 20X SATA DVD Burner (also plays dvd's and cd's and burns cd's) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106057 - A lightscribe version is also available if you are interested. Get retail versions so you get the bundled burning software.

$90 - Antec 900 Case - shop3.outpost.com/product/4991611?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG - Frys.com has it $50 cheaper than newegg right now. They ship with DHL, and I know they ship from Illinois, not sure if they have other warehouses. If there are any Frys Electronics stores in your state you will have to pay sales tax.

$80 - Corsair 520W PSU - http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w...203270716.html - Better price from buy.com in this case, even if you skip the MIR.

$188 - Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate OEM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116213 - You could get Home Premium if you want to save some money (get the OEM version for system builders). We don't recommend Vista yet, so beware that it might still have some bugs/compatibility issues.

That totals only $1156! As you can see Best Buy overcharges.

All prices are after Mail In Rebates and all other rebates. I personally don't send in mail in rebates because they void your newegg warranty. Its up to you to decide if you want to send in the rebates or not.

You should try out integrated sound before you get a seperate sound card.

I would think that the onboard USB would be enough. If you need an expansion card newegg should have them.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Drtydzn12 I can't order from newegg.com. (Live in Hawaii)

Why not? I've been using Newegg.com since 2001 and I live in Hawaii. I've ordered enough parts from them to build at least 70 computers over the last 6 years.

Originally Posted by Drtydzn12 EDIT: Also, what do you mean by chipset?

Chipset.

Originally Posted by Drtydzn12 Is tigerdirect a reliable website?

No, they're one of the worst vendors to buy from.

Cricket

[Drtydzn12]

Originally Posted by Cricket Why not? I've been using Newegg.com since 2001 and I live in Hawaii. I've ordered enough parts from them to build at least 70 computers over the last 6 years.Chipset.No, they're one of the worst vendors to buy from. Cricket

I accidentally misread the 3 day shipping part. I thought it meant there was absolutely no shipping to Hawaii. I really want to get the EVGA 680i Motherboard because I want to run an SLi Setup. I also pretty much changed everything. Here's what I plan on getting now.

Clickables:
COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 RC-830-SSN2-GP Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail (I want this because I've heard great reviews about it. The size isn't much of an issue to me.

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail (2 of these of course)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

LITE-ON Black 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 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner - Retail

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

Atech Flash Xm-4U 11-in-1 USB 2.0 Black & Silver Internal card reader - Retail

SONY Beige 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model MPF920 Beige - OEM

SAMSUNG 216BW Black-Silver 21.6" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 3000:1(1000:1) - Retail

I pretty much got my mind set on this already. All I want to know is when I build it, and power it on, will it work? Or will it not? If it won't work, what should I get instead. Also, how exactly do I discharge myself. I want to wear latex gloves to be on the safe side. Is that okay? Or is it bad?

[Cricket]

Unless you absolutely must have that particular case my suggestion is to try and get a case locally. It'll really make a difference in the shipping cost. I buy all my cases, monitors, keyboards, mice and speakers locally because the local prices are comparable (if you factor in shipping costs) and they really impact shipping costs a lot.

Cricket

[Mr.Ferrari]

-If you really want SLI, you have to get a good stable(term used loosely) board. The Asus P5N32-E SLI is what I would suggest. Of course the most stable setup would be one with a Intel chipset.

-Get the Corsair HX 520W for a single card. And if you want to be set for dual cards, go with the Silverstone ST75ZF or Etasis ET-750.

-Im not a big fan of the 830 myself. The 810, even cheaper, are built with more sense.

-I would not spend my money on a small sized raptor when you can get almost equivalent performance, but a heck of a lot more space from a Seagate 7200.10 drive.

Just saying, must you really have SLI? To me, unless your going to be using a monitor capable of reaping SLI's advantages, your wasting money here. Your 20'' monitor is of good quality, no doubt, but unless you plan on shelling out much much more, SLI with the 20'' will be a step backwards. I suggest you buy a stable intel chipset board, Asus P5K, and pair it with the 8800GTS or 8800GTX, and a Corsair 520w. You'll be set.

[Drtydzn12]

Ok I guess I'll just go with one card. And I'll change to the Asus. If I get a P5K. (This one in Particular.) Will the 8800 GTS still be compatible with it? Or will I need to get a completely different card?

I got this hard drive.

And I changed the PSU to the 520 instead.

I'll just stick with the 830.

Also, can anyone help me with water cooling? Can you tell me just exactly what to get. I want to water cool the 8800GTS. (I've been looking at the Swiftech Stealth for it.) I want to cool the CPU, Hard Drive, and the Chipset. That's pretty much it. What parts are needed to water cool each of those. I also don't know which radiator, and pump to get. I'd also like it if they were swiftech. If you think I should go with another brand, please tell me. Also if it has a water cooler for the 8800 GTS.

[andper10]

You want this version of the Seagate 7200.10 250GB HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148144 . It has 16MB of cache (the one you linked to only has 8MB). As far as the monitor you can get a little more screen size for a little less money with one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824009094
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824116076

YOU DON'T NEED WATER COOLING! Seriously, it will run just fine on air cooling, and besides, I beleive that it will cost you at least $500 to water cool the stuff that you listed. Its just not worth it. The only reason to get water cooling is so that you can overclock like crazy and since this if your first build you should just focus on getting it built and running. Water Cooling would make that way more complicated. If you have money to burn, upgrade to an 8800GTX video card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130072 . It will give you a much more noticable preformance increase than water cooling your components to get a little more overclock out of them. And if you are interested in overclocking, you might want to get some nice(er) ram like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227178 .

[Mr.Ferrari]

Originally Posted by Drtydzn12 I want to cool the CPU, Hard Drive, and the Chipset. That's pretty much it. What parts are needed to water cool each of those. I also don't know which radiator, and pump to get. I'd also like it if they were swiftech. If you think I should go with another brand, please tell me.

Watercooling is a custom project in itself. As buying kits would be the worst decision, making your own custom loop, as mentioned, would be best, and expensive.


I would personally only cool the CPU and GPU. Hard Drive and Chipset cooling is novelty. Although chipset cooling does come in handy if you want silence and are overclocking the chipset very had.

I would first get the computer built, and running with stability, then think about this. A decent CPU and GPU loop alone would come in around $250-300.

[Drtydzn12]

Okay. Thanks for the help. I guess I'll just do watercooling some other time. Does this mean I should get a different air cooling system? Like a different one for the CPU? If so, any suggestions? I plan on gaming on this machine, but I just want decent FPS. Whatever the 8800 GTS does for me, I'll take it. I don't plan on overclocking or anything like that.

[Mr.Ferrari]

If your not overclocking, then I would suggest you stick to the stock heatsink fan assembly that comes boxed with your retail processor. Its of good quality, and is more then adequate.

It shouldn't overheat or cause any issues if installed properly.

[Drtydzn12]

I'm going to install about 5 of these. Will the 520W PSU I listed be able to power everything? Including the fans? (And of course the two that come with the cooler master stacker 830.)

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Drtydzn12 I'm going to install about 5 of these. Will the 520W PSU I listed be able to power everything? Including the fans? (And of course the two that come with the cooler master stacker 830.)

The 520 watt Corsair will handle your system easily, even with the additional fans.

But why do you need so many fans? The more fans you install the noisier the computer will be. All my computers only have 1 case fan installed (1 exhaust fan to remove heat from the case) and they all run fine, even in the summer.

Cricket

[andper10]

You don't need that many fans. I have 2 of the green versions of that fan and they are so loud that I had to buy a fan controller to get the noise to even a decent level. If you want more case fans get Yate Loons. I think they make blue LED versions if you want LED's. Or you could get a set of blue cool cathodes and focus on getting quite fans. You want quite fans. It is annoying to have to listen to screaming fans when you aren't gaming.

[Drtydzn12]

Are Yate Loons quiet? I guess I'll just get 2 fans then. The Cooler Master Stacker 830 comes with a panel for 4 additional fans. But I guess I'll just fill 2 of those.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Drtydzn12 Are Yate Loons quiet?

Yes, they're very quiet.

Originally Posted by Drtydzn12 The Cooler Master Stacker 830 comes with a panel for 4 additional fans. But I guess I'll just fill 2 of those.

The trick to good cooling is not to use as many fans as possible...it's to use the right amount of fans in the correct locations blowing in the right directions. Just because you can install 4 more fans doesn't mean you should.

Cricket

[Mr.Ferrari]

Originally Posted by Cricket Yes, they're very quiet.The trick to good cooling is not to use as many fans as possible...it's to use the right amount of fans in the correct locations blowing in the right directions. Just because you can install 4 more fans doesn't mean you should. Cricket

+1, Really pay attention to this, having fans blowing in all different directions won't help if the air stays stagnant.

[Drtydzn12]

There's a slot in the Master Stacker on top of the case. If I just install one fan there to intake cold air, and let the rear one included outtake (or whatever it's called) the hot air (as it was intended to), just for safety, I should be fine right? Two 120mm fans (front and top) intaking air and one 120mm fan outtaking air.

[flanzig1]

The use of the fan depends on the location of the fan mounts in a case:
Top of the case:exhaust
Top rear of case: exhaust
Front of case: intake
Side panel: generally intake