newbie wants to build computer

Molar · Mar 16, 2005

First off this forum is great for info and for laughs! I am hoping that I can get some great advise on building my own computer.

My experiences with computers are no more than replacing video cards, memory, dvd burner, etc. I will play mostly games on this computer so I will spend more now because it may be several years before I can upgrade again, plus if I am going to go through the trouble of building it, it better be for the good stuff!

Once I order all the hardware, should it come with all necesary parts or are there extra cables and pieces that I will need to get before I sit down and do this?

Rookie questions I know but I would like to start this project and finish this project in one day. Pointers, tips, good books, little things, etc that can make this an easier experience? Look forward to your responses and thanks ahead of time.

Molar

Here is the config at this time and I took Spits advise on AMD processor

Case-Antec P160 buying additional 120mm fan

Power-Antec 550w

CPU-AMD 64-3800+

Motherboard- Ascus A8N-SLI Deluxe 939

Memory- 2 GbRam Cosair PC3200

Videocard-Unsure at this time either a ATIx800 or x850 ePCI
or Nvida 6800 Ultra ePCI

Hdd- 74Gb western digital 10000 rpm

You computers masters keep viewing but no post, come on give me some love!.
Edited by Molar on 03/16/05 10:31 AM.

slvr_phoenix · Mar 16, 2005

**ROFL** There's not much that's actually been asked to respond to. But I'll give you some answers.

Once I order all the hardware, should it come with all necesary parts or are there extra cables and pieces that I will need to get before I sit down and do this?

That depends entirely on what hardware you order. :\ I know that's a pretty vague answer, but the reality is that things like screws and cables sometimes do and sometimes don't come with what you order. You really have to figure that out for yourself. If it's a retail part usually the packaging will say what it comes with somewhere on the box. If it's an OEM part then hopefully the place that you buy it from can tell you (or if it's on line they may have it in the description somewhere).

All in all, I'd expect to have to pick up a few bibs and bobs when all is said and done. That way the worst that could happen then is that you don't need any after all so you can be happy that you don't have to pick them up.

Pointers, tips, good books, little things, etc that can make this an easier experience?

Hmm ... if you don't have one, pick up an anti-static device. (Typically a wrist strap.) Better safe than ZZAAAAP sorry.

Also, try to get it to post with a minimum of hardware, and then add the remaining items in one by one. That way if something goes wrong you know pretty much exactly what caused it.

And this should probably go without saying, but don't get drunk before you begin the assembly. **ROFL** I had a friend try to fix his PC while drunk once. He ended up causing more damage instead of fixing anything. Had I been there, I'd have stopped him of course.

Other than that, enjoy.

Take things slowly and carefully and expect it to take a lot longer to get it all up and running than you would think. :O But in the end you should get there just fine. And when in doubt, post and we'll try our best to help.

<pre>Antec Sonata 2x120mm
P4C 2.6
Asus P4P800Dlx
2x512MB CorsairXMS3200C2
Leadtek A6600GT TDH
RAID1 2xHitachi 60GB
BENQ 16X DVD+/-RW
Altec Lansing 251
NEC FE990 19"CRT</pre>

Cybercraig · Mar 16, 2005

Were all just here for the laughs. We all really just buy Dells and E Machines and we are paid for pumping up great products like Prescott CPU's and ECS Dual Intel/AMD boards. You need a Prescott on one of the ECS Dual CPU boards. If you don't buy one we will send Eden over to play "Hide the Pickle" with you.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

RichPLS · Mar 16, 2005

Yeah, it will come with everyting you need. Good choice ATIx800XL $300 or x850 ePCI $500

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

Molar · Mar 16, 2005

Tesla RULES!

Thanks for all the responses they have truely helped but keep them coming. I have looked at this post while working and saw people looking but not posting but now the Computer Masters (ego boost)have started to open up!

I have been saving for this for a long time and I know it looks like a dentist walks into the forum throws out the most expensive crap and now wants you all to help him? I promise I will post my progress if not for laughs but so I can make sure I am doing this right.

Prices are a concern but not if it will get me the best product for the next few years I am actually thinking about upgrading to an AMD64 Fx-55(and yes I admited it) but I would rather have the best GPU than a CPU Ati x800 comparable to 6800 ultra? I know this is more personal opinions but I am open minded give me your thoughts

Your friendly Tom's Hardware dentist

Molar

P.S. I have seen most people recommend XP professional with SP2? Why is that?

RichPLS · Mar 16, 2005

If you have the money, the PCI-e X850XT PE is the fastest there is. But you can get the PCI-e X800XL around $300 which is just about as the same thing, just not quite as fast. And will run dual monitors if you wish. Dual displays are nice.

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

Rugger · Mar 16, 2005

If you go with an ATI video card, then save some money and don't get the SLI mobo. Something like the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-152&depa=1" target="_new">DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D</A> or the <A HREF="http:// www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-196&depa=1" target="_new">Abit Fatal1ty AN8</A> will work great. Here is an <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2337&p=2" target="_new">Anandtech DFI nF4 review</A> for your reading pleasure.

__________________________________________________
You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!

RichPLS · Mar 16, 2005

If you are from the states, Newegg.com is a good supplier, and can probally get most, if not all compents on one order.
Also could get two Raptors, one for O/S and the other for data files and swap file, to increase performance and keep data seperated should need to re-install O/S should arise.

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

Molar · Mar 17, 2005

Thanks again for the great comments but explain why the SLI or not the SLI Moob.

Thanks in advance

The dentist-Molar

RichPLS · Mar 17, 2005

SLI only benifits you if nVidia writes drivers for the application or game. If not, you get no benifit, just the added cost of motherboard being SLI and an additional video card.
It really depends on if your particular games support SLI mode, then if it matters enough to outweigh the cost.
If not, then just go with a fast single card option, which happens to be the ATI 850XT PE at the moment.
Or a step down slightly in performance, but way up in price/performance the $300 X800XL

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

pat · Mar 17, 2005

I would first read the FAQ in the motherboard forum and HDD forum. That will save you some time. I would download the manual for your board at Asus web site and start reading it because you wont read it fully when your parts will be there, you'll start building the whole thing AND post here after because you dont know why ... or how...

So, reading your manual now before having the parts will help you.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

Flinx · Mar 17, 2005

Easy to be missing the 2nd IDE cable.. unless ur buying SATA.

Cases that come with PSU's, the cheap ones anyway, may have inadequate PSU's. So if u buy a cheap case to plop in expensive components then beware.

If your the first on the block with a set of componets you can be sure noboby can lend you a helping hand to swap components to see which one doesn't work properly

The loving are the daring!

RichPLS · Mar 17, 2005

That retail board will come with cables.
That PSU is kick a$$ too.

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

Guest · Mar 17, 2005

Good luck with the build man, and don;t yank so hard on some poor guys teeth if you get stuck

Woohoo!! I am officially an Addict !! 
 One new Firefox fan 
<pre> Always remember to keep testicles away from live wiring </pre>

RichPLS · Mar 17, 2005

ouch, I was more thinking don't suck all the nitros if things don't go well... wait, maybe that would be what to do if things go well...

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

Rugger · Mar 17, 2005

Agree with Rich on the SLI issue - you save a lot of money and lose little performance with that X800XL. Take a look at <A HREF="http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041110/index.html" target="_new">THGs graphics card buying guide</A>. There will be links at the end for graphics cards comparisons - take a look at the PCIe cards. They bench SLI setups as well as the top single cards. Another thing to consider is the resolution and quality settings you will be playing at. If you're not going over 1280X1024, then some of the middle range cards are enough for today's games...

__________________________________________________
You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!

RichPLS · Mar 17, 2005

If you are not overclocking, (even if you are, this is a good choice), get the <A HREF="http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx1024-3200xlpro.pdf" target="_new"> Corsair TwinX 3200XL Pro RAM </A>

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

RichPLS · Mar 17, 2005

Hey, you are going to keep us updated on specs and progress, yes?

And is this your first build, or are you having it built for you?

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

TheRod · Mar 17, 2005

For the price difference between ULTRA and SLI mobo, get a SLI mobo. I didn't had the cash you had so I bought an nForce4-4x based mobo. A lot cheaper than ULTRA/SLI mobo, but less features...

If you have the money, get the SLI board, even if you never use it. Because if one day you want to use it you will regret not having paid a few more bucks for DUAL 16x PCI-EXPRESS slots!

In fact, nForce4 ULTRA chipset is useless, since nForce4 SLI cost nearly the same price!

-
GA-K8NF-9 / Athlon 64 3200+ @ 3800+
Infineon DDR400 (CL2.5) 2x512Megs
GeForce 6600GT 128Megs
<A HREF="http://www.getfirefox.com" target="_new">Firefox</A>

slvr_phoenix · Mar 17, 2005

for DUAL 16x PCI-EXPRESS slots!

I thought that when in SLI mode they were each 8x because the bandwidth gets split.

<pre>Antec Sonata 2x120mm
P4C 2.6
Asus P4P800Dlx
2x512MB CorsairXMS3200C2
Leadtek A6600GT TDH
RAID1 2xHitachi 60GB
BENQ 16X DVD+/-RW
Altec Lansing 251
NEC FE990 19"CRT</pre>

TheRod · Mar 17, 2005

I thought that when in SLI mode they were each 8x because the bandwidth gets split.

You are right, but the slots are physical 16x slots and logical 8x slots... Quite confusing for non enthousiasts!

-
GA-K8NF-9 / Athlon 64 3200+ @ 3800+
Infineon DDR400 (CL2.5) 2x512Megs
GeForce 6600GT 128Megs
<A HREF="http://www.getfirefox.com" target="_new">Firefox</A>

Crashman · Mar 18, 2005

Uh, d00d, that's not a Tesla song. Tesla just performed a classic formerly performed by another band. The 60's protest lyrics should have been your first clue.

Little Suzie is a real Tesla song.

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

Guest · Mar 18, 2005

Since I can't run higher than 1280x1024 res, I bought the x800xl. That and it only cost me $300

Still waiting for the rest of my parts tho :frown:

 Woohoo!! I am officially an Addict !! 
 One new Firefox fan 
<pre> Always remember to keep testicles away from live wiring </pre>

Molar · Mar 18, 2005

Hey Crashman I am not that old;] Tesla was the one that made the song popular for me!

Wow thanks for all the help and insight because I have no clue what to expect.

This is my first time to build a computer. Right now I am mulling over just the final steps and some I need more advise on.

Question shoud I try to set up my harddrives into a Raid 0 and will it produce any noticable results with games,other apps or should I just set up IDE?

Here is the list at this point I have changed a few things thinking that I can put the cash elsewhere. I plan on using SATA for my harddives so I will need to order a different cable(s)? Like I stated I am new at this so a lot of my info I have researched and called the manufac. on some. I changed my hdd from the Western Raptor 74 gb to an normal Seagate 7200rpm 160 gb thinking the performance just for games is not going to be that noticable? Dropped from 2 gb to 1gb knowing I can upgrade later.

Questions comments? Thanks in advance.

Your friendly Toms Hardware dentist-MOLAR

111002 Sony FD MPF920Z161/131 1.44MB 3.5in Floppy Disk Drive (Beige)

101556 Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3160023A 160GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer

290226 Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Sound Card Retail

140032 Antec P160 Anodized Aluminum Super Mid Tower Case Retail

316353 Arctic Silver Ceramique Premium High Density Thermal Compound 22Gram/Tube Retail 1

80097-10 Corsair TWINX1024-3200XLPRO 1GB Kit DDR400 XMS3200 Xtra-Low Latency Dual-Channel ProSeries Memory w/Heat Spreader Retail

270022 Antec NeoPower 480W Power Supply Retail

370006 Antec Pro 120mm Double Ball Bearing Case Fan Retail

172620 Samsung TS-H492A/WRDH DVD 16x + CDRW 52x32x52 Combo Drive (Beige) Retail

80723-R AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 Processor Socket 939 Retail
211280 Microsoft MultiMedia Keyboard Retail

240418 Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce 4 SLI Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail

322262 Gigabyte GV-RX85T256V Radeon X850 XT PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card w/HDTV-Out, Dual DVI & VIVO Retail

Huh · Mar 18, 2005

I changed my hdd from the Western Raptor 74 gb to an normal Seagate 7200rpm 160 gb thinking the performance just for games is not going to be that noticable?

I have a WD 74 GB Raptor (not in RAID config) and on UT2004 it loads maps quite a bit faster than a 7200 RPM drive. Instead of joining the game in progress I have to wait for the other slowpokes to join.

RAID0 should give you a performance boost but I don't know how much. I think some people have RAID0 configurations for their OS and applications. The computer should boot quicker and programs should load/run quicker. They use a 7200 RPM drive as storage.

Your MB manual should tell you what cables come in the package. I'm guessing most new MBs will include at least 2 SATA cables.

Your power supply probably has SATA power connectors. I think most SATA drives have SATA power connectors and the legacy pin connector. You only use one connector not both.

Since you are buying the FX55 I would recommend 2 WD 74GB Raptors for OS and applications in RAID0 configuration and 2 7200 RPM drives in RAID1 configuration or 3 drives in RAID5 configuration for data security/integrity/redundancy.

I don't know if you can run 2 different RAID configs but I'm assuming that since most newer MB have 2 onboard HD controller chips you should be able to.

Spending someone elses money is fun!!!!!

newbie wants to build computer

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