Helping someone with his first build...

[Disgrace]

I've built one before, but this was over two and a half years ago now so I might be a bit out of date with my knowledge since I've not followed the technology world so much since then so excuse my nativity. I guess the hierarchy can't have changed much since my build (signature).

I've asked for a budget (as you do at PC-Mech) but I'm not getting one but he wants a build that will play the latest PC games with ease, so it's going to have to be good but not over the top.

Can you bright folks recommend me the top brands of this era along with the basics (PSU wattage, amount of memory) so I can search for exact pieces to get some direction? I know an Intel build will make things easier anyway. Thanks a lot.

[Disgrace]

Alright then.

Just graphics card. With an Intel CPU and an Asus motherboard will it be better to go ATI or Nvidia? Is either in particular a leader in it's department or is it merely a question of taste?

[Khalil]

Nvidia benchmarks show them as more powerful however ATI cards are playing the games much better with far better reliability and less crashing. All you need is an ATI 4890 to own any game on the market.
When it comes to CPU, either an Intel E8400 or an AMD Phenom II 550 will do the job really well.

[Disgrace]

Sweet stuff, that's the direction I'm looking for, thanks! I'm pretty much done with a list now but I'm curious to know about mobos: what is the trade off between price and features? I went overboard with features I didn't need last time. Do you pay for what you get and cheap mobos are not worth it?

[MaxRat]

yes cheap motherboards arent worth the headache....

if you pick out some parts we can help fine tune those for you....

[glc]

Cheaply made motherboards are not worth it. You can still have a quality inexpensive board. For example, with an Intel Socket 775, the Asus P5Q or P5Q Pro is excellent and not costly. To me, it's not worth the extra 100 bucks for a Maximus.

[Khalil]

I highly recommend Asus, I use them on 85% of my builds, I also use a few Gigabyte only for AMD builds, during holidays I build specials with Biostar motherboards as well, those are cheap and reasonably reliable with decent tech support but if you can afford the extra few dollars, Asus is the way to go. Don't forget, power supply is the most important part in the computer.

[Disgrace]

Yup, I use an Asus mobo and no problems at all. Good advice, thanks all and I'm good for a PSU I think, either a Corsair or a Seasonic. Cheers! I'll be back later when I have the time to post a full list.

[Disgrace]

Okay, so I have a final list that I'll copy and paste from the site:

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-550VX, 550W, ATX2.2/EPS, 80Plus.

Mobo: Asus P5Q, Intel P45, Socket 775, 1600FSB, EPU, Express Gate.

Memory: Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4, 2x1GB, DDR2-800, CL4.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 E0, Dual Core, 3.0 GHz, 6MB, FSB1333.

GPU: HIS HD 4890, PCI-E x16 2.0, 1GB GDDR5.

HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B, 7200rpm, 16MB, 1TB, SATA-II.

DVD: Samsung WriteMaster 22x DVD±RW Writer, SATA, LS, black.

And the ones I left to the tastes of my friend with some help...

Case: Gigabyte Midi-Tower Poseidon 310, Aluminium-Front, black.

Sound: Logitech Z-2300, 2.1 THX-Certified.

Mouse: Logitech G5 Laser Mouse.

Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Mirror.

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2243FW, 22" TFT Wide, DVI-D, silver.

I am working with a local website in my country (which is fine) and so I don't have as much choice as you would in America what with stock and time issues, blah, blah. Quite a few of those items are on offer so it was worth the bump up I believe. Can't find many reviews for monitors but with Samsung it looks as though you get good quality if for a bit of a price.

When approved by the pros, it's ordering time! And my friend can stop pestering!

[shadowpr]

Looks good.

I would try to get a western digital hard drive instead though.

[Disgrace]

Inevitable problem...

So it's all built and beautiful and upon powering on, everything runs but I'm getting a constant beeping. What does the beeping mean? I'm aware of the take-it-all-out and bare-minimum test but I'd like to know what the beeping could mean first and provide me some focus in diagnosing the issue. At least everything appears to be running and I've following instructions to the letter, naturally. Cheers.

[glc]

Constant beeping is usually a ram issue, and it won't POST. If it does POST and it's beeping, it's usually a voltage or temperature out of spec.

[teddy3254]

this may sound silly may i ask what do you mean by post?

[glc]

Power On Self Test.

[teddy3254]

ok..thx

[Disgrace]

Alright, no beeping anymore. Been away for a while which explains the gap between posts.

New problem: everything is running and lovely but the monitor is not reading that it is connected to the GPU. "Check signal" followed by the monitor going into it's own sleep mode are what I get so I assume the monitor works.

I've tried plugging in different PCI-E cables into the two slots on the GPU. I've tried plugging in two VGA and two DVI cables into the two input slots on the GPU.

So I assume: all cables work, monitor works. But graphics card? Is that the problem?

I'm knackered now so I will resume a bit later on.

[Disgrace]

I've put my graphics card in the machine and there's still no monitor signal. Could the monitor be a lemon, if even it's actually on?

Question: do the latest graphics cards need two PCI-E cables from the power supply plugged into the graphics card? Because my older PSU comes with only one and so I can't put the new card into my older machine. My monitor says that one cable is not connected. This is normal and not a problem with the card right?

Or have I not connected something up? My graphics card only slots into the mobo slot and has one PCI-E six-pin cable running to the PSU. Maybe I'm missing something. I'm running out of ideas.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by Disgrace I've put my graphics card in the machine and there's still no monitor signal. Could the monitor be a lemon, if even it's actually on? Question: do the latest graphics cards need two PCI-E cables from the power supply plugged into the graphics card? Because my older PSU comes with only one and so I can't put the new card into my older machine. My monitor says that one cable is not connected. This is normal and not a problem with the card right? Or have I not connected something up? My graphics card only slots into the mobo slot and has one PCI-E six-pin cable running to the PSU. Maybe I'm missing something. I'm running out of ideas.

You need to have two 6 pin pcie cables from the power supply plugged in to the cable. Ideally this should come directly from the power supply, however you can use a dual molex (4 pin) to pcie (6 pin) cable (which should have come with the video card, but if it did not, it can be found relatively inexpensive) for the second pcie power connection.