Nervous about building my first computer!! :(

MetaDragon

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Hello! :bounce:

Well i'm about a day or so away from ordering all my parts for my new computer. I have never built a computer before, so im really excited about this. However, i am very nervous about it as well. Im nervous im going to fry a part, or the parts will arrive DOA. I purchased an anti-static wrist strap, and anti-static mat. But i just don't want anything to go wrong.

So i guess im asking; is there any advice the community can give me to make this process a little easier on my nerves? :(

Also, what are the chances of getting computer parts that are DOA? I mean is it like very common, common, rare. That sorta thing.

Please be as descriptive and helpful as possible.


If you have past experience you would like to share, please feel free. I'm very open minded. :lol: I also made sure that all parts you see below are compatible. Socket type, watt requirements, ect.

All parts below are coming from newegg.com:

Antec 1200 Unbeatable gaming case.
Intell i7 2600k Quad-core processor
Asus Saber tooth P67 Intel Motherboard
EVGA Superclocked GeFource GTX 580
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98B
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Startech M3013 24x26in Beige Desktop Anti-Static Mat
 

noktek

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i was just like you at the beginning. a friend of mine helped me, but at the end i had to mount my graphics card on my own because it arrived later. it didnt want to fit the slots. I had to force her and i was impressed with the amount of force u can put into it without it even squeeking or anything. Seriously, its not THAT delicate at all. about the DOA parts, dunno, mine were all ok, but didnt have to travel long. hope it reassured u a bit. cheers.
 

anonnymous

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I built my first computer a few months ago ordered and all my parts from tigerdirect.ca and newegg.ca. Shipping was fast it took 2 days, my computer case box was a bit damaged but everything was fine. It's actually pretty easy just follow your mother board manual and be very gentle with installing the CPU. Don't rush when you build it, make sure you have enough time. For the DOA i think it's like 1 or 2% chance of that happening it's not that common. Goodluck and have fun building it!
 


You have a $200+ board meant for dual vid cards and some serious o/c, yet that 750w psu is over kill for one of those cards, and it falls far short to push two of those cards. And where's the cpu cooler ? Also that WD Blue is slow as molasses.

Just curious but did anyone give you any advice on that build before you decided to go with it?
 

MetaDragon

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No i didn't really get help with this. I'm sorta on my own, and on a tight budget. I really don't know what i am doing. I haven't purchased those parts yet. I was just listing them. If you have advice for changing, please feel free to share.

I want as much info as possible before i commit to buying all of this.

As far as the Power supply, my video card requires about 600W, and i have the rest of those parts, so i decided to go with 750W, and one that was compatible with i7.

I don't plan on doing anything other then playing games on this rig. But i wasn't sure what processor was better.

Maybe you could help me fix this? That would be awesome. :)
 

MetaDragon

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Lol! That made my day, thanks for that joke :).

And yes, i do plan on only gaming. I will probably watch movies and listen to music, but otherwise, just games. I looked at the 2600k because it's kinda the new thing on the market. You know how that goes. Lol.

Any other advise you can give me?
 

Drop the 2600K for a 2500K seeing how Ivy Bridge is due out in April/May...and maybe by that time games other than FSX will take advantage of hyper threading. With the money saved on that size up to a psu that will push two of those cards and add a after market h/s....something like the CM 212+...it's cheap, fairly effective, and comes with decent thermal compound. Then get rid of that WD Blue for a Samsung F1 h/d.

For $150 you can grab the PC Power & Cooling 950w (manufactured by Seasonic as is that Corsair you have up there), and that psu will easily push two of those cards in SLI.
 

MetaDragon

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Thank you so much for you wonderful advice! :). However, i won't be doing SLI right away. I don't really have the money for two GTX 580's. But my questions is, if i don't use SLI right away, will that 950w PSU like fry my computer, since i'm not using all the watts?
 

MetaDragon

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I know these are n00bish questions, and i hope they aren't trying your patients. It's just I've never built a computer before. I wanna make sure i get this right. I hope you can understand how excited/nervous i am about this. :)

Anyway. Here is my complete list of the hardware im going to buy:

1.) Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

2.) PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance 80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply

3.) Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case

4.) ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

5.) EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

6.) G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM

7.) Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

8.) LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98B

9.) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

10.) COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible

IF there are any changes in hardware i need to make, please feel free to advise them.
 

thee_prisoner

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It will only use what is needed. I prefer Fortron(FSP) and Seasonic power supplies since they make them for other companies like Corsair and PC Power. I've had Fortron power supplies last over 10 years. The PC Power 950w PSUs does get a good reviews so it's a good choice.

This link is great for figuring out how much power you need. I think they defiantly go a little over the top in the need for power but with PSUs, it's better safe then sorry.http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine.

I guess the question, when you will do SLI because if it is going to be a few years down the road then stick with the 750w.
By then there will be better cards etc or you won't even be able to find another GTX 580 except maybe used.

In terms of DOA items, I have repaired, upgraded and built a decent amount of computers. It's fairly rare to get DOA items, especially when you are purchasing good quality products.
 

MetaDragon

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Yeah that does make sense. I mean i tried to find the best quality items on the market. I mean i would trust newegg with computer parts. I have orded a few parts from them, and they all arrived in perfect condition. But it's something you can't help but think about, you know what i mean?

I mean, i will be doing SLI, but money is tight, so i would be sticking to one right now. But in the future, i would like too do SLI.

And thank you for your nice, non-sarcastic response. I know it's hard not to be. I am a n00b with this, i will admit that. But it's nice to see some decent people online with good quality answers, just like Why_Me.
 

thee_prisoner

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Seems like the the Samsung F1 HD is a popular choice at this time but I don't have one so no comment from me on that hard drive.

Just be careful to read the motherboard manual(RTMS). There are plenty of computer building videos around and take your time.

Happy building,

the Prisoner
 

zero888

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Just make sure you do some research and watch some vids before attempting, or you could waste your money on trying to build for the first time.
 

MetaDragon

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Yeah i can't really comment on that HDD either. I have always liked WD HDD. I have an external WD, one in my PS3, then this one. So i guess i naturally go with them. I can't really afford an SSD. LOL :p
 

MetaDragon

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Yeah that is true. :) I did find some great videos on youtube, from newegg TV. They seem like the ones to consult. It should go well.
 

cuecuemore

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Yep, this all the way. Don't be scared by the reviews on Newegg or wherever, if you're buying quality parts, 100% of them left the factory functional. Occasionally a product can arrive messed up, but most of the "OMG DOA WORTHLESS" reviews are from people who got impatient and don't have a head for troubleshooting their own incompetence.
 


Everything on there looks great but that V8 cpu cooler...it's a dog. It's big, heavy, and does a crappy job cooling for what it cost. CM 212+ ($30) will get you to a nice 4.6ghz...anything after 4.4Ghz gets you zero more FPS with these 1155 Sandy Bridge set ups. Don't know why...but it's like a glass ceiling with them.

If you want to cut the price on the board then this one down below will get you to 4.6GHz in no time flat and it has those new PCI-E 3.0 slots for Ivy Bridge.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265 $154.99
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P67%20Extreme4%20Gen3 <---- better look at that Asrock board

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_z68_extreme4_gen3_review,1.html <----- review of the Z68 version of that Asrock board...same phase set up

If you wanted to go hard core...and it's worth the few extra bucks imo just for all the bells and whistles it comes with then this board down below. It's new on the market and it's bad to the bone. It has that NF200 Bridge which allows dual cards in SLI to run @ x16 & x16 instead of the typical x8 & x8. It's ready for Ivy Bridge and it comes with everything and then some.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269 $279.99 $10 off w/ promo code EMCKAKA32, ends 9/15
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme7%20Gen3 <---- A better look at that board

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/PCIe3/ <----- PCI-E 3.0 supported by the new 22nm Ivy Bridge cpu's due out in April/May

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/IntelZ68/index.asp <----- Z68 Features

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4272/asrock_z68_extreme7_gen3_intel_z68_motherboard_review/index1.html <--- Full review of that board with benchmarks

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html <----- Review done here on Toms a few weeks ago showing that boards with the NF200 Bridge reduce micro stutter.


 

MetaDragon

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Unfortunately every part i have read on newegg, there is atleast on "OMG DOA Worthless!" Then they tell everyone not to buy the product. So that's why i am worried about it.


Thank you so much for your response. Made me feel more confident! :)
 

One of the most important things to do in regards to a new build is to check what bios version the board came with and then go the the manufactures website, find your board on there and see if there's a new bios update for your board. A lot of peeps don't know to do that and it screws them more times then naught. Those bios updates are fixes for any bugs/issues said board might have.
 

thee_prisoner

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I 'm surprised that somebody hasn't chimed in about SSDs(dude u gotta have 1!) They do have their strengths in loading windows and helping for game load time.

This is your first build so I recommend going as simply as possible.

In terms of HDD and other parts in general, it doesn't always mean the manufacture is bad but it comes down to model to model. Some models are great others not so good.

For me HDD wise I look for longevity not necessarily the fastest speed. I've been pretty lucky in not having HHD crashes. I have some old HHD's(IBM Deskstars, WD, Samsung, Seagate and etc that still work after many years).
 

madchemist83

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u can if u switch ur mobo for something cheaper ... really u can afford 580 but not SSD
i bet u can get a pair of 6870 and 64Gb SSD for same price as 580
cut down on mobo and get Z68 chipset and u can fit even 120gb
or a pair of 560ti
both of those set ups will surelly beat single 580
and 750 PSU will be enough
 

MetaDragon

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Wow that Z68 is an amazing board. But i thought that the intel i5 needed a p67 chipset. I don't fully understand that means to be honest. But it does have the right socket type. I just wasn't sure if a z68 was the same chipset, or something else.

Maybe you could clarify that for me. LOL Also, thank you so much for all the help you have been. Seriously, i had no idea what i was doing, or what good parts there are. You have made a first time builder a lot more confident about that. And thank you for not being sarcastic about this. It's good to find nice people online. :D