Building-Virgin, suggestions welcome!

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Paejunho

Paejunho

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Jan 2, 2011
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Hello all,

I'm Ash. I've often thought of building a computer from time to time, to have somethign that is truly unique and personalized, that I can be proud of. Well, before joinging the Navy, I never really had the funds for such an endeavor, but now, I feel it's as good a time as any to fulfill that lifelong dream. Only one problem: I don't know where to start! Sure, I'm familiar with the basics, I can take tower apart and put it back together, replace parts, etc., but building one from scratch?

I've decided to stretch out the project, buying one piece at a time so I can really enjoy the process. I've ordered my case:

http://www.xoxide.com/nzxt-crafted-phantom-black.html

But after that, I don't know where to go!

Task #1: Decide which component should be purchased first, decide the exact model, and order it!

I want this machine to be capable of gaming with the best of them, but I will also be doing a lot of music processing (Amateur musician 😛) and possibly some video editing, as well as my occasional forays into programming and video game design.

I'd love any suggestions, comments, or (constructive) criticism you all have to offer. Forums, in my experience, are one of the best learning tools available today, so I look forward to learning a ton from the community.


Thanks, everyone!


 
Solution
boiler1990
That budget should be plenty to build a system around the i7-950. I would look at a good Asus, Gigabyte, or EVGA motherboard. EVGA generally has a lot of overclocking features, and Asus has very strong quality.

If you're thinking about crossfire/SLI, you may want a bigger PSU, but it is GPU dependent.

You can get the A-Data S599 64GB for $114.99, and that'll be enough to hold your OS and a few programs. It's a great SSD that comes highly recommended and is fast. Couple that with a 1TB Hitachi (54.99), Samsung F3 (69.99) or WD Black (87.99). If money is tight, go for the Hitachi (they still run well); the F3 is faster than the WD Black.

If you're just gaming and using the computer normally, go with 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1600 with a Cas...
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I'm reading up on how to choose a motherboard... I think this is going to be the hardest part for me. I've dealt with almost every part of a computer except the CPU and motherboard, so I'm not even sure where to start on that one.

I know it needs to have more than one PCIe slot, and preferably room for a good chunk of RAM, but other than that I'm in the dark.
 
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I was thinking about cross-firing two graphics cards, but I may go with a single card... haven't really decided on it yet.


I am trying to nail down the budget, but it's taking a bit of research, as I had no idea what these parts go for these days. Here's about what I have so far (I've also narrowed down some of them):

HDD: Looking into Solid State drives, or possibly RAIDing 2 HDDs together (Atleast 1 TB)
Optical Drives: Minimum 2 drives, preferably BD-ROM (Lightscribe would be cool too)
Power Supply: 550-600w
Motherboard: ???
CPU: ??? (Probably i7 or equivalent)
RAM: Looking for a motherboard with atleast 4 slots, total of 12-24 GB
Graphics: GTS450 or higher (Possibly 2x if the motherboard allows)
Sound: ???
Case: NZXT Phantom Black

I'm thinking between 1000 and 1500 total... does that sound feasible?
 
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That budget should be plenty to build a system around the i7-950. I would look at a good Asus, Gigabyte, or EVGA motherboard. EVGA generally has a lot of overclocking features, and Asus has very strong quality.

If you're thinking about crossfire/SLI, you may want a bigger PSU, but it is GPU dependent.

You can get the A-Data S599 64GB for $114.99, and that'll be enough to hold your OS and a few programs. It's a great SSD that comes highly recommended and is fast. Couple that with a 1TB Hitachi (54.99), Samsung F3 (69.99) or WD Black (87.99). If money is tight, go for the Hitachi (they still run well); the F3 is faster than the WD Black.

If you're just gaming and using the computer normally, go with 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1600 with a Cas Latency of 8 (or 7, if you can find it). Unless you're doing tons of video/photo work or other heavy programs (NOT games), 6GB is all you really need.

For a video card, you shouldn't be looking lower than a GTX 460. They're all under $200, so SLI is easily a possibility. My Antec EA650W easily powers two OCed GTX 460s, and is only $70.

You may not need a dedicated sound card, unless you're a real audiophile. Just make sure that your motherboard has the inputs you need (EXCEPTION: don't sacrifice motherboard quality for the sound inputs. A sound card can always be found.).
 
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Solution
Wow thanks that is a lot of useful information! I should be able to make a few more decisions now, but it also brings up a few questions:

So what exactly is the difference between the GTS and GTX series graphics cards?

For heavy music work (i.e. Audacity, FL Studio, etc.) I would think I'd need a bit more RAM, but how much?

When I finally get down to putting the system together, I'm not sure how to go about it (Not dumb, just inexperienced 😛)
Will I be putting only the essential parts together at first to install the OS, then add things like graphics cards, wireless cards, etc. after that, or will it be ok to put everything together before I install the OS?

I was looking into the i7s, but what are the pros and cons vs. AMD processors? I know you have to make sure the motherboard and CPU are compatible, but how do the two stack up against one another?


PS I received confirmation that my case has been shipped, so I should have it by next week!i7s
 
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It is usually built with every part you're planning on using inside of it before you install the OS.

As for the amount of RAM, 6GB of 3 Channel DDR3 should be fine; just make sure you get a 64-bit OS so you can utilize all of that.
 
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The GTX series is intended for maximum gaming performance, while the GTS series is more of an everyday consumer-level item. if you're gaming, you'll want the GTXs.

I somehow managed to gloss over the working side of this computer (as opposed to the gaming side 😉). If you're doing really intense stuff, 8-12 GB RAM will be good for you. You can always add more memory later, if you're not sure. If you get the same brand/model, you won't have any problems.

There are homebuilding guide around the site somewhere, and also on the net. You just need to be careful and conscious about static electricity; touching a metal ground before touching parts, etc. The most common method is to put the CPU, RAM and cooler onto the motherboard, then install it and everything else into the case and board.

You can put everything you need on the motherboard; it will be unrecognized until you install the drivers for the system components anyway.

AMD CPUs generally have better value, but when comparing the computational power of AMD and Intel, MHz for MHz, Intel generally outperforms AMD. An important note about the i7s is that they are the only CPUs that support triple channel memory (three sticks in a set).
 
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What advantage does triple channel offer vs. just three or four sticks "not in a set"?

I think I'm definitely going to look into the i7-950, and at least one GTX460 (I'll leave room for another :) )
 
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It's my understanding that the information is split up among the three sticks in triple channel (two in dual channel), so the computations move more quickly, as opposed to having one chunk of data handled by one stick (and the other sticks serve as overflow?).

Triple channel will give you a little better performance over dual channel, and it's worth it for the i7s. Even AMDs 6-core uses dual channel, and most of the i7s outrun it in terms of total performance (as opposed to performance per cost).
 
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Ah ok makes sense. So what if my motherboard has four slots, and I fill all of them, will the fourth stick act as "Overflow" for the the set of triple channel sticks?
 
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It won't work properly; you'll probably experience a huge decrease in performance and even system stability. You're better off buying 2 dual channel sets. (It'll probably cost less too).

The X58 boards have 6 RAM slots (2 triple sets), and all other dual channel boards have 4 slots (2 dual sets). The second set at least needs to have the same latency and speed as the first (that's how I'm running 2 different triple channel sets in mine).
 
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Got it. So tonight after work I'll be doing some research on RAM, motherboards, and CPUs, and hopefully I'll be able to come to at least a preliminary decision.

Thanks for your help so far. I really appreciate your knowledge and experience. :)
 
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Which other board were you referring too? I saw the ASUS Rampage III Gene and the P6TD.
It's probably more expensive because it is 3-way SLI certified, while the other only support 2-way SLI.
If that's of interest to you, get it, but keep in mind the only 3-way SLI capable GPUs are the GTX 285s (I think; either 280 or 285), 470/480, 570/580. It may not be worth it if you stick with GTX 460s or the like, and you don't get that much more performance from a 3rd GPU at the moment.

From what I hear, the ASUS Rampage III Gene is a good board (and for OCing too), and it's reasonably priced.

As for the EVGA board, I wouldn't use a recertified board. That board is an older model (probably pre-SATA III), and it's been used. If you're planning to work this computer hard with games and video, I would get a brand new board.


 
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I was looking at the Rampage board as well. I think choosing the board is going to be the toughest part of this whole thing.

My case came today.... It is huge! 5 Optical drive slots and room for 7 HDDs!
 
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