Need help building a PC please

[Tarmenion]

Hello again friends,

Well as I stated in my last post, I decided to build my own PC as that seems to be the best choice from everyones opinons. I am kind excited about it to tell you the truth, seems very interesting and overwhelming, I never thought I would build my own PC.

Well now that I decided to this I am not sure where to even begin

Is it possible you guys could walk me through this? I have so many questions and dont know where to even start. What should I buy first?

I even looked at some of the components such as Motherboards and I am not even sure what I am looking at or for, its a foreign language to me as well as the other components.

Could anyone please walk me through this process and start from step 1?

As soon as I get a chance I will buy a book for building my own PC as well but I feel it wont be as good as asking questions on this forum.

Any help would be very appreciated.

Thank you

[figarowa]

first off give this article a full read, http://www.pcmech.com/showdoc/282/ its very helpful, and may keep you from having to purchase a book, then from there decide what your budget is going to be. Choose a platform AMD or Intel, and build from the motherboard/cpu and up.

[Tarmenion]

Thanks alot for that site, very helpful but now I am starting to get headaches from all the ways to go.

Whats better Intel or AMD?

Also can anyone recommend a Case and a Motherboard?

I am basically looking to make one of the better systems out there such as P4 or AMd (not sure which is better) with 1.7 gig, 80 gig harddrive, geforce card, etc.. the works.

It seems I got alot of reading and learning

Oh, does anyone know of a glossary or dictionary to translate some of these abbrevations such as ATA, UDMA, SCSI, ECC, etc... I could go on forever, some type of dictionary would be nice heheh

[Smoke24]

ATA and UDMA are one in the same and refers to your hard drives data transfer speed, ATA 100 is now pretty much the standard, just be sure the motherboard you choose supports it. From all I have read the ECC, which is error correction control memory, doesn't actually do much so I would stay away from it. Some motherboards don't support it anyway. I don't know much about SCSI except that it is a lot more expesive and you probably don't need it anyway. Some of these other guys can tell you more about it's possible benefits. There are lots of good cases to choose from, I am running Addtronics 6890 but I like the new Antec SX1030 as it has some really neat new features and is very similar in design to the Addtronics. These go in the $100 to $150 range but if you want something nice at a much lower price, look at the Superpowers at Mwave and Allstarshop. Right now it seems that the higher AMD Athlons give you the most bang for your $ and the higher end PIII's are pretty reasonable too. You probably won't notice too much speed difference in either of them and the P4 you seem to want, you'll just end up spending a lot more for the P4. I don't know if P4 runs with any memory other than Rambus, but I would stick with either DDR (double data rate) SDRAM or just SDRAM for now. The DDR adds just a little bit of speed. In Japan they already have begun using QDR which is Quad data rate RAM and it will get here in probably a few months. Hope all this helps a little and good luck.

[FreakyMonkey]

FreakyMonkey Reccommends:
CPU: AMD - Cheaper, Faster (more bang for buck)
CASE: I'd reccommend INWIN or ENLIGHT (they're cheap and have side-opening options ), you're going to want at least a 300watt power supply, probably 400watt if you're into the big hardware.
Motherboard: I'd suggest a ASUS A7A266 if you're going for DDR (double-data rate) RAM., I've had good experience with ASUS, and this is their newest SocketA. Looks like a good un, but it's new, and ALI chipset... I've had issues with ALi in the past.. If you're not going for a superMachine, I'd stick with one of the A7V systems. I've had good times with the VIA chipsets.

[Tarmenion]

Ok, hehe I am getting so confused on what to buy, I dont know what to look for. Its starting to feel like this might be a bad idea, making my own PC and all because again I have no clue on what to buy, and I am not even up to the hard parts

First we have the case, by reading the tutorial on this site it states to make sure your case is the right size for your system you plan on building among other things. Thats fine, but I have know idea what case will be "the right size" for the system I am building.

Could someone give me an example on what size case to buy for the system I mention above? I had this one in mind
http://www.hardwareqa.com/article_view.cfm?article=37

Second is this whole AMD, ATHLON and PENTIUM 4 situation. Can someone explain to me what exactly is the difference between the 3? which is better and why? to help me make my decision on what to buy.

Another thing about cases, will a high end case be compadable for all (amd, athlon and pentium)? In other words if I buy a case and I plan on using AMD but when I get the case I decide to go with P4 or Athlon will the same case work or would I have to buy another?

Then we have to motherboards, OH MY GOD heheh the headaches, I have no clue on what to even look for here and I had a kind of a hard time understanding freaks post because I have no idea what some of the terms mean such as DDR, socketa, ali chipset, a7v systems, these are just an example, there are so many codes and terms out there that I get lost in because its like speaking to someone in a foreighn language, also what is overclocking?

Sigh, you guys think there is hope for me or what hehehe I am not sure if this is going to be a good idea anymore.

[Tarmenion]

Ok, I answered a couple of my own questions but here is an example of something I dont understand, I got this from the mother board Freaks recommended

ASUS A7A266 ALI MAGIK 1 CHIPSET ULTRA ATA100 ATX FORM FACTOR
1xAGP(PRO)/5xPCI/1xAMR/2xDDR/3xDIMM W/AUDIO

I have no idea what most of this means and this is just an example among many other parts.

[fvlmasl2]

This system has worked very well for me....
I have heard that AMD chips tend to get a little hot and the VIA chipset seem
to have some issues...(this is what i heard).....

[Tarmenion]

Heres another example when I clicked on details for the same motherboard, heres the link: http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/doc/a12205.html

Maybe a few lines out of the 30-40 I understand and this is what frustrates me.

[Xayd]

Originally posted by Tarmenion Ok, I answered a couple of my own questions but here is an example of something I dont understand, I got this from the mother board Freaks recommended ASUS A7A266 ALI MAGIK 1 CHIPSET ULTRA ATA100 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP(PRO)/5xPCI/1xAMR/2xDDR/3xDIMM W/AUDIO I have no idea what most of this means and this is just an example among many other parts.

Asus A7A266----motherboard brand and model number

ALI Magik 1 chipset---the chipset on the motherboard, which controls how devices interact with each other

Ultra ATA100----the max speed the hard drive controller supports (100 megs burst transfer rates, assuming you put an ATA100 drive on it)

ATX Form Factor----the size of the motherboard. All will be ATX now, so that's no problem (just make sure not to get an AT case or power supply, since they are different sizes)

AGP, PCI, AMR, DDR, DIMM----these are the open 'slots' on the motherboard. 1 AGP slot for a video card, 5 PCI slots, 1 AMR (audio-modem riser, pretty useless as all of the devices that use these slots are crappy), 2 DDR memory slots, and 3 standard 168 pin SDRAM slots.

W/Audio----means it has a sound card integrated into the motherboard (fine if you don't require high quality sound but replacable if you want to add another PCI sound card).

ALI motherboards have been historically iffy. I don't trust them even though they have been one of the first companies to get a DDR RAM chipset out there for Athlons. Stick with VIA chipsets if you go with an AMD setup.

Xayd

[Smoke24]

The case you have the link to above is very good but any good quality mid-tower is enough for most of us and far better than you'll get from HP. You really don't need to understand everything about computers to build yours. You'll need the basics:
A case preferably with a 300 watt power supply
A good quality motherboard that supports your choice of Intel or AMD processor
Your choice of Intel or AMD processor, the current bargains are AMD
At least 256 meg of memory of the type for your motherboard choice
A decent video card which may be determined by wheather you're a gamer or not
A good sound card, probably a Soundblaster Live, the value is what I use
A good hard drive, preferably IBM whatever size you need
A CDROM of at least 50X and a decent brand (not a Delta)
A CDRW if you're into music or recording, Plextor is the Rolls Royce
A good quality set of multi-media speakers, I use JBL's in a surround format
A Teac floppy drive
A keyboard and mouse of your choosing, I love my Logitech cordless
A good quality, high resolution monitor
And whatever way you'll connect to the net; modem or network card
You might want a DVD player but I can't see watching movies on a computer although some newer games are now on DVD

It's not rocket science but you can easily research and read reviews on every possible component and make your choices based on your own needs and wants. Always consider that you may even use those parts in a future computer when deciding on how much you're willing to spend. Many parts will last a long time and live through several builds.

[Lawther]

the main reason you should go with an amd chip instead of an p4 is that even in the short run your p4 will be very expensive to upgrade because they will be channging they way their new chips work, they will soon be able to use ddr ramand more standard motherboards so its not really worth buying onw right now

plus who wants a p4, when u can go for the underdog?

[Tarmenion]

Thanks for the info, it helped alot. I decided that I am going with AMD since it is better for the money.

I have some more simpler questions to ask now.

1. I am currently looking for an AMD MOBO 1.5-1.7 gig and I cant seem to find any, the highest one I can find is the ASUS freaks mention, any one have any suggestions on a MOBO with higher speed?

2. For the MOBO (or system rather) I want to buy will 300watts power supply be enough? should I be looking for 400?

3. Smoke mention a mid tower case will be fine but I was just curious in what the difference is between a mid tower and full? Wouldnt a full be better since you will have more room? or is more room bad? I thought it was good to have more room. I going with the mid but I was just curious just for future reference.

Thank you everyone for all your help, I dont think I would make it to far without this board and your help. I

[Tarmenion]

Hmmmm now I am wondering if I should stay away from EPOX and ASUS due to readng GLS's post.

Also question number 4. what is overclocking mean?

[RayH]

Everybody's got an opinion on the subject. The truth is, if you can't finger a copy of Windows building your own computer may become an extremely expensive proposition.

If you are a real novice as you purport to be, I'd seriously recommend you go with an Intel microprocessor w/Intel chipset. It'll probably be a lot less hassle. If you had some experience or someone more local to lean on, I'd have no problem recommending an AMD. But AMDs all use VIA chipsets. It's the VIA chipsets that can get real touchy.

[Smoke24]

I beg to differ with Ray but some of the easiest builds I have done were AMD's. I have built about equal numbers of both AMD and Intel. As for the cases, most mid-towers have four 5 1/4 drive bays and full towers 6 or more and they cost more and take up more space, and yes they are easier to work in due to the room inside and may provide a little better cooling if properly equiped with fans. You might want to look at MSI motherboards as they are quite good quality and look for a Via chipset such as this one. Stable Athlon system report + recommendations, if you need
I think at the current time the 1.33 gig Athlon is AMD's fastest but usually as faster processors come available there will be bios upgrades to allow your motherboard to support them, some are even programmed ahead in anticipation of faster processors of the same type. I think that at these speeds you wouldn't really notice much of a difference anyway. I can't notice much between the wife's PIII 550 and my 750 and I'm overclocked to 933. Overclocking is making the processor run faster than it's rated speed usually by increasing the front side bus speed which is the speed your memory is running. On Athlons you can also unlock the processors multiplier which is how many times the front side bus is multiplied inside the processor to give the final rated speed.

[PardeGT]

Let us know what your budget is for this project and what the main use for your computer will be. Systems mainly for gaming, for example, tend to use different a litlle different setup than those mainly for office program use. Since, you're new to this I suggest taking your time and read this site over as there are many things to help you here. Don't be afraid to ask as we will try our best to help with any questions. Remember, in a few months there will always be something new and better. If you try and set out and build with everything at the top of the line you will spend a lot of extra money and really not gained much over buying something that is cheaper and proven, plus you may get more help with a system that many had experience with. After a year of having your computer, if you spent a bundle of money on the top of the line you will shoot yourself because now it won't be and you'll feel as though you wasted your money. If you would have built a comparable system and saved some money it will not feel as such a loss and you can afford to update it.

I'll try and break some things down for you. Some differences with AMD Pentium III and 4. Many on this site prefer AMD because they can buy these fairly cheap and some overclock them. Overclocking is the ability to make the processor go faster than its rated speed, ie - a 600mhz chip running at 800mhz. Until about a month ago Pentium 4's chips were quite expensive but recently dropped in prices. Still AMD is cheaper than either PIII or P4. The new P4 has seen some controversy as for many uses the P4 is not really much faster than its predecessor the PIII. In my opinion, I think choosing a system with AMD or a PIII would be your best bet. They are both comparable in use and great motherboards are available for either one.

Motherboard - This is the place not to skimp on. Stay with the top performers here. Asus, Abit, Epox, MSI are all good. Pick an atx board that will support the type of memory you choose or vice versa. The top boards from these will support ata100 speed for your hard drive. I would suggest looking at the websites for these respective board makers and reading about their new boards and compare features. The board should have an agp 4x port for best video card performance. Stay away from boards that have built in video, seperate video card is a definite. I think built in audio is ok unless your an intense music listener or gamer.

Memory - You basically have only a couple choices here. Sdram has been the standard for a long time. DDR (double data rate) is the newer type of memory that is somewhat faster but if you use it make sure your motherboard supports it. Buy quality memory. Mushkin memory or Crucial memory are of the best. Also, memory that has micron or infineon/siemens chip on are usually top picks. When looking at memory, choose that that specifies it will run at CL2 ar cas2 rating as it will run faster than that with a CL3 or cas3 rating. If you happen to choose to go with a P4 system you will need to go with rambus type memory with a believe is quite expensive.

Hard drive - Ibm is the pick here for ata hard drives. I recommend since your new to this to stay away from scsi drives for now as they are quite expensive and you won't gain enough in performance to outweigh the price. Pick a drive that spins at 7200 rpm. Choose how big (this is the # of gigabytes) you want, 20-40 gigs should quite be sufficient.

Cdrom/dvd/cdrw - I think many here would conclude that the best way to go here is to install a dvd drive and and cdrw drive. I would recommend either toshiba or hitachi for dvd drive. Either above 10x should be good. This will play all cds (audio, games, programs) and dvds (games, movies). The cdrw will burn cds for you and is optional. The best here is without a doubt a Plextor drive as they feature burn proof that will prevent making bad disks known commonly as coasters. Either 12x10x32 or the faster 16x10x40 model.

Floppy - Any as these are very cheap. I usually use Sony or NEC but it doesn't much matter.

Video card - This depends on what you-re doing with your system, gaming or just internet/office programs. ATI is usually very good for either and Matrox is also good. Many card now also offer DDR which means there bus speed is faster and some have the capability to runs tv thru your monitor. Pick a card that is an agp and not pci.

Soundcard - This really depends on you. They make cards that will turn your computer into the best sound system you've ever heard or just those that will be sufficent for sound. Some motherboards also have built in sound so if you just require normal computer sounds and mild gaming/audio use this is sufficent also.

Modem - this depends on the service you go with. Let us know what your internet connection is: 56k, cable, dsl and will give more help.

Case - Addtronics, Antec, Enlight, Inwin: all good. Any case that is an atx will work so your motherboard will fit. Some like to pay more for a case that has a removeable motherboard tray as you can remove it and assemble your motherboard, video card, sound card, memory, modem or lan card, etc. outside the case. Directron. com and Colorcase.com are a few places as well as the manufacutes sites above are places to start.

Power Supply - 300 watt or better. Enermax is my recommendation here.

Monitor - Another depends on you. Too many good brand to name. I like flat screens. Also there are the tft monitors (inch think or so) but are really expensive. Just pick a good quality 17in or bigger one that is easy on your eyes.

Keyboard/mouse - Whatever you like. Go to your nearby computer store and see what they got. I love logitech cordless units. I keep a few on hand as customers seem to like them.

I hope this helps. It was quite lengthy but hopefully answers some questions. Another suggestion: when you decide what you want to buy or want to compare prices go to Pricewatch.com to compare online vendor prices. Before buying from a vendor online go to Resellerratings.com and search for that vendor. See what the vendors ratings is and read comments by their customers. Newegg.com and Mwave.com are two of my favorite vendors.

Below is my top picks:

Amd 1.33mgz 266fsb processor
Asus a7m266(not asus asa266), MSI kt266 (DDR boards); Epox 8kta3 (sdram board)
256mb Crucial or Mushkin memory (either ddr or sdram)
Ibm 40gig 7200 ata100 hard drive
ATI 32mb ddr all-in-wonder agp video card
Turtlebeach Santa Cruz or Soundblaster live sound card
Toshiba 12X dvd
Plextor 16x10x40 cdrw
NEC floppy
Antec sx1030 case
Enermax 350 watt (model EG365P-VE) power supply
Samsung 955df (19in flat screen monitor-this a beauty that is reasonbly priced)
Logitech cordless keyboard/mouse combo
Some speakers

[morriswindgate]

The best and least confusing way to get the profile of a new system is as follows:

1. Tell us what you want to spend.
2. Tell us the features you would like to have. (Burner/DVD)
3. Tell us what the main purpose you will be using the computer for. (Gaming, Internet, Music, All)
4. Print out the responses as they come in and use as a shopping list.

If you do this, most of us will give you a detail list of what to buy within your budget. This way you will get more bang for the buck and you will be learning from our mistakes.
Most of us like shopping for computer parts, and you will satisfy that nedd without us going out and spending money.

[Tarmenion]

Thanks guys, GREAT info there.

I am looking to create a PC mainly for gaming purposes for those really cool games that takes ALOT of speed and space to run them such as EVERQUEST and Dark ages of camelot coming out. I want to get something really nice where I dont have upgrade for awhile but still like to have that option, and I dont mind spending alittle cash, about $2,000 is my budget give or take.

As of right now I decided on AMD or Athlon, I am going to stay away fron pentiums for now.

The MOBO I think I will be purchasing is a "MSI K7T266 PRO RAID" I believe after my research this is what I will get.

What you guys think?

Now its time to look for a case

[Smoke24]

In his original post he was ready to lay down $2500 for an HP machine so he has plenty of bucks to do it all first class and top of the line everything. In the event you're interested in saving a few bucks though, you might want to limit how many vendors you buy from and buy several things at a time as it can and will save big bucks in shipping charges (they can really add up in a hurry and be almost as much as your parts). I would say to use no more than three or four vendors and check and double check your list so as not to forget any small items. I do kinda like pardegt's list for the most part though you may not need the power supply unless it is an option with the case. Think I would do the MSI DDR motherboard. I wouldn't need the DVD but a good fast CDROM like a Kenwood 72X but you may want it, I would go for the Turtle Beach sound card and a really nice set of surround sound speakers and you'll need a modem or network card from 3Com to connect to the net. His list is all first rate top of the line components.
Just noticed you are choosing a RAID board. You might consider buying two say 40 gig hard drives and set them up to stripe (they alternate writting to each). You'll still get 80 gig but it should be a lot faster for about the same price, maybe a little more. Also you could get four drives and stripe and mirror (it writes the same info to the first two and the second two at the same time, instant backup) them.

[PardeGT]

Hey Smoke24, I see you have the Matrox G450 +eTV card. I was wondering if you have compared it to the ATI card (32mb ddr AIW)? Is it as compatible with as much hardware as the ati? Any reason you picked over the ati, added features easy of use, etc.

Thanks for info

[DrZaius]

Hi Tarmenion,

Just to clear things up, the two chip companies are Intel and AMD and each one has it's own line of chips:

AMD
- Duron
- Athlon

Intel
- Celeron
- Pentium (I, II, !!!, 4)

Just a few recommendations:
Motherboard: MSI or Iwill
Processor: AMD Athlon
Harddrive: IBM or Maxtor
RAM: Crucial

Hope that helps.

[Tarmenion]

I am currently looking at a Case made from Aztec and looking for 400 watts, I like the aztec because it has the option to add 2 other fans and I was told or read that is is very important to have your PC at the lowest temperture possible.

Smoke, I also remember you saying to stick with one vendor in another post and it only make sense to avoid serious charges and thanks for mentioning that I should make sure I have everything before ordering. I currently really like the MWAVE site,very nice and from what I seen alot of people recommend it.

I also agree on Pardegt's list and post, Great info, thanks a million.

I will have a cable modem which I am currently using, I am also not going to be cheap when it comes to everything that makes the games more enjoyable such as speakers, sound card, graphics card, etc.. If I remember correctly I was told to get the Gforce 2 32mb and upgrade from the website, correct me if iam wrong.

I will also get DVD and CD Writer and will probaly get a 80 gig hard drive.

Once I do decide what I am getting I will post it here for a follow up to make sure I am doing everything right.

Thanks a million guys, dont know what I would do without you well maybe heheh I would of purchased that HP LOL

[Tarmenion]

Yes, Dr it does, thanks.

I thought AMD and ATHLON were 2 diferent things hehehe, iam learning and I know ALOT more then I did yesterday.

[Smoke24]

Hey pardegt,
That's not my build, it's Statica's new machine in that link. I am running an ATI Expert 2000 32 meg card in my main machine and an old Viper 770 Ultra in the other. I think of all I have seen the ATI's are the best. Would love to have an All-in-Wonder Radeon. I do have a G400 in my Athlon 850 that is my toy machine and it does better than most Nvidia chip cards.

You maybe should use no more than three or four vendors but choose good ones. Check out my edit above about using your RAID capability.

[PardeGT]

For speakers, if you want top of the line check out the Klipsch Promedia 4.1 - these are supposed to be the best, about $279 cheapest on the net for the 5 speaker set-up. Great for gaming. And yes, the Geforce 2 is a good gaming card.

Sorry smoke24, should've looked more closely! Thanks though.

[Smoke24]

One trick you might try is to call your chosen vendors and see if they will give you some discount for buying everything from them or at least get free shipping.

[Tarmenion]

Good idea Smoke, I will do that as well.

In the mean time I am currently looking at Memory now, does anyone have the site address for Crucial and Mushkin? From what I understand Crucial seems to be the favorite.

[Tarmenion]

Also there are 2 IBM 75GB Hard drives on this site, can someone tell me the difference between the 2?

http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/DeptHD...ID=&CID=&Back=


Thats enough for tonight, time to go to bed

[DrZaius]

Tarmenion,

From looking at the page and specs the seem to be the same drive only the cheaper drive is just the bare drive (no cables, no disks) and the more expensive one is retail (fancy box, all cables and disks). If you already have cables you can just get the bare drive and get the free software from the manufacturer's web site. Hope that helps.