Never built a comp before, need help with componets and any tips

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g-paw

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Jan 31, 2006
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You're right about cooling when it comes to a case and looks are really a personal thing. But other factors are important for a case, how well it's constructed and how easy it is to work with. A good case can last you for years so you don't want one that is made out of paper thin steel that will easily buckle, bend, or break. Weight can also be an issue if you go to Lan parties or getting older and don't want to muscle heavy cases. Some cases are quieter than others, .e.g., one with 120mm exhaust fan will both cool better and be quieter. I have Antec Sonata cases and the hdd cage faces out, which makes it incredibly easy to install and remove hdd. One of my granddaughters wanted a new case for her b'day a few years ago and picked one that lit up like the Los Vegas strip, which was OK because it was in the home office but would have probably gotten old fast in a bedroom if you want to keep it on all the time or sharing a bedroom. Also what's really cool today can get old in the not too distant future. So like everything else there is a lot to consider when buying a case.
 

HYPHY

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some people are telling me to get a computer from ibuypower.com and cyberpowerpc.com, they say you get to, chose all the stuff that goes in it with good brand stuff and they do the work of putting it together and making sure it works, is that a good idea? I heard somewhere that they suck for some reason or are a bad company or something, any info on them?
 

g-paw

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Didn't mean to suggest that, in fact, RAIDMAX makes good cases. A bit gaudy for my taste but I'm an old guy :) but I would guess most of my grandkids and their friends would be impressed with it.
 

HYPHY

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ah ok, anyone got info on ibuypower and cyberpowerpc? they good, bad,or what, sorry guys for all these posts
 

deusex

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lol...I'm roughly your age...you're like one of the only few that's around my age on the forumz XX

Cyberpower/Ibuypower are lottery buys - sometimes you get a good one, sometime....eh...

I live close by them (iin LA), so I can pickup/check for quality if I acually ordered one..don't know about you...I wouldn't want to have a dead e6850 in the middle of kansas...(no offense to any midwest states!)

BTW, I have a P180B rev1.1...the modern, minimalistic look is for me!
 

g-paw

Splendid
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One option would be to buy a bundle (mobo, cpu, and RAM) from here and then install it in the case or buy the case and have them install it. Not as cheap as building but better than buying off the shelf. This is what I did prior to my first complete build. A way to sneak up on building :)
http://www.jncs.com/

DeusEx, good we can add some "maturity" although my wife would disputer that :)
 

HYPHY

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I live in north cali,near frisco and oakland so im no where near ibuypower/cyberpowerpc in LA and gpaw what do u mean buy buy a bundle and have them(who?) install it, install it as mean i buy all the parts and give it to(who?). atm im reading the asus mobo guide and looks pretty doable but sometimes they put stuff in their since its a manual that are extra and i dont need to do(i think) since im a beginner

and deusEx, its nice to see some1 near my age lol, (no offense to thers lol) just cuz im usually the youngest one on all forums im on lol, like on this other forum were everyone was at least 40-60(nutin wrong with that lol but being the only 15 yr old made it obvious when i cant buy stuff with a credit card on my own lol)

will be posting a redo of all my specs of stuff, and btw is this a good motherboard, seems to have everything i want and under $130

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142


this one too looks nice , $150 after rebates: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188019

 

HYPHY

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o you mean thast jncs thing,na if they dont assemble whole thing,id rather it the whole thing myself, the biggest problem i would have is that newegg would ship a faulty part which i wouldnt know , i assemble the comp, TRY to install the OS and BIOS or whatever and dont know how to install/config the BIOS anyways, then it wont work and i dont know wut part is faulty and then i would have to look back and .... etc.
 

g-paw

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At JNCS you buy a mobo, CPU, and RAM and they'll install the CPU and RAM and test it, don't know what testing consists of, and then you just have to install the mobo into the case and install everything else. If you a buy a case from them, they'll install the mobo in the case. While their prices aren't outrageous, definitely higher than a place like newegg. When I bought the bundle I had replaced everything in a computer including the PSU but had never put in a mobo and CPU and that's what had me scared. After thinking about figured installing the CPU couldn't be that hard, had to install the bundle in the case and knew I could do that, so I did my first build. Understand you're concerns, building the first time is scary especially when you don't have anyone around that had done it before, which was my case. At some point you either need to say to he!! with it and o it for find an alternative. The longer you procrastinate the crazier it makes you
 

zenmaster

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Feb 21, 2006
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Like others, I would change alot about this build.

1) You are wasting money on the case. The PSU in the case means you are paying for a PSU to throw away. You can bet a better case than that.

2) The PSU you selected is not good. Look at the Corsair 520w or others.

3) The GPU is a waste of Money. The E6750 will easily clock to the same speeds as the E6850. The Q6600 is not a bad deal either, but there is no point to an E6850.

4) The GPU is not a good deal. Spend just a little more to get the 8800GTS. Simply cut out 1 of the DVD players for most of that.
You can always buy another at a future date.

5) No need for 4gb. It's fine so long as you don't have to get the cheap GPU and PSU to get to 4gb.

6) Way too much for the Mobo. I would go for just about any of the Asus Mobos. I've read they will support the PCI-E 2 which is nice for future GPUs. The Gigabytes linked by others for much less money are also very nice.
 

HYPHY

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okie here it goes, the newly revised list, i dropped some RAM, yea the case is still expensive but hey youl only have one case since youll be upgrading everything inside not out,dropped the DVD burners, beefed up the GPu, lowered the CPU , ahh ull see , the only thing im not 100 sure bout is the PSU i chose, the case i chose also has like 4 fans in it to if i need the cooling k heres the list

CPU: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115029

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814150172

Case(yes flashy and prolly too much for a case but hey, it looks cool): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811146038

Hard Drive: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148140

Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824001095

Optical drives x2: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827101131

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817812002

RAM(2gb): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820220144

Speakers: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16836121125

Keyboard/mouse combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16823126174

OS Windows XP(home): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16832116056

Floppy!!!!?!: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16821103116

wow almost forgot the Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131142


Subtotal:$1,439.86
+
Shipping:$59.62
+
Tax(dam i live in Cali):$104.39

Total:$1,603.87 REBATES:$85______________>> REAL TOTAL:$1,518.87 just around my $1500 budget including the OS this time

and thanks for the link mad dog

If this list sucks(prolly does but...) then can someone post up the wholelist of items i should get then but i think this list is good(revised 3 times) and thanks for all the tips and suggestions(do i have to buy a PC building kit or something for all i have is a screwdriver but i dont have a ESD strap thing/mat or a anti static bag/mat etc. and no non magentic screw retrevier)

Also is everything compatible with each other and will everything fit inside the case smoothly and am i missing anything (like cables for a HD or optical drive or something cuz i wouldnt know and it would delay me building the comp once the parts come and that would get me mad lol)
 
Hey, been following along here and started my input, but you are already getting some really good suggestions that I agree with. Your last list looks right on the spot to me, that will make you a really nice system. But why do you need 2 DVD drives (especially both ROM)? Just get 1 DVD burner and be done with it!
 

HYPHY

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hmm the Antecs features are nice but to confusing for people who have exp. building comps before so i dont have any exp or know anyone who does so itll prolly confuse me alot too plus its a lil boring looking but its supposdably ultra quiet and durable but i wont ever move my machine anywhere so durabitly on mobiltiy isnt too much a issue at all for me so i guess ill just keep my cool looking(prolly loud thou with 4 fans) case and mobo

and to jit, i got 2 so i can easily burn stuff from one cd to the other at the same time without uploading the stuff on 1 cd to the comp then upload it to the new cd, i also had to drop my 52 in 1 card reader thou, but i can easily skip the floppy drive for i dont think i would need it and get the memory card reader(need it for my psp since i dont have a usb link cable for a psp i use my comps built in memory card reader but i think i do have a usb adapter

And i need to make sure this is everything i will need, like im not missing and cables/wires etc. for this is EXACTLY what im buying and going to build(unless i revise a 4th time lol) i dont want to be missing any IDE cables or wutevr. and thanks all for those fast replys and help, i really appreaicate it, otherwise id be no where lol
 

deusex

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Pretty good setup now. I would switch the PSU to a solid Antec NeoHe or the likes, and also, 240$ for a 20"monitor is way too much. You can get an Acer (little-to-nil picture quality if you don't do Heavy pic editing/gaming) for 50$ or less there....

The P180B is a great case, but if you aren't going to OC, and your room isn't too hot (SoCal ughhh..I love my AC) just stick with the lexa..its a good case too. However, if you want a beginner's case, for someone who has never done any building, the Cooler Master Centurion series is the best contender.
 

systemlord

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Jun 13, 2006
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I totally agree the system you have here after three times finely looks awesome. You have a go for liftoff.
 

g-paw

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Jan 31, 2006
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Suggest $12 more for a DVD burner, something like this. Agree with jitpublisher, you really don't need two optical drives. You will want a burner and sooner or later you'll want a DVD burner.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151153

I think you should keep the Floppy, it's $8 and when you need, and you likely will someday, you'll have it. Agree with those saying you're better off with a P35 board, which gives you a better upgrade path. This ASUS has onboard firewire if you need it and is only $10. If you don't need the onboard firewire, you could save about $30 with either the Gigabyte or ASUS. About the only reason I can see for getting onboard firewire is if you have or are going to get a digital camcorder, which I have so the onboard firewire is important for me. I know this mobo has SLI but it's really tough to find anything other than an Intel board with firewire without SLI. Intel makes good stable boards but not particular good for overclocking and generally fewer BIOS options.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131180

As for the case, as long as it's not junk and the one you picked isn't, it's very personal. It's like a girlfriend or boyfriend, as long as you think they are attractive and worth the cost and can afford them, that's really all that matters. Your choices don't suck and I don't think anyone is trashing it, people are just giving the opinions. When all is said and done, it's your money and what you chose is basically a very solid system. I think you/ve learned a lot over the last several days

For some reason I can't see this post to edit it so this may be a duplicate and I apologize. Would suggest this set of speakers, they have a separate sub and for the price sound is decent, got them for my wife's machine and had to use them one night.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836113014
 

paq7512

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If you want to SLI your machine you have to get a better psu, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010. That one is great at a great price.