Building a computer

Sami

jakelm wrote: »

That was my point. Laptops ..yes... by sterdy ones. But if you the kind of person who builds and then places the tower and thenl leaves it alone. The cheaper ones would do just fine.

I use the cheap ones only if my friends want a cheap, budget computer for little money. For mine I usually find a decent case that doesn't flex when you pick it up, and then I pick a PS separately. I usually end up spending $80-100 total for a case and PS, both of good quality. It's a good middle road as I don't see the point for uber expensive cases, unless you are looking for the bling factor...

VSchneider

audiobliss wrote: »

So that just leaves a case. What would you recommend for a case?

I have recently built a PC with this Cooler Master. Very easy to work with, includes one 120 mm fan, and a good price after the rebate. Handsome good looks and nice air flow.

shadowofnight

You can cheap out on the case all you want ( To a point...just make sure you have decent cooling ) ...where you dont want to cheap out on is the power supply. In the past you could and get away with it...power demands were low ...nowadays with video cards using in the hundreds of watts and demanding their own 12 volt rails or they just dont want to play ball....multiple 7,200 to 15,000 rpm hard drives...and quad core cpu's....you HAVE to have a decent power supply.

Most of the problems hardware wise I run into nowadays is power supply related....go cheap many places and you still have a fast good pc nowadays...just make sure you buy a good power supply as the foundation.

shadowofnight

VSchneider wrote: »

I have recently built a PC with this Cooler Master. Very easy to work with, includes one 120 mm fan, and a good price after the rebate. Handsome good looks and nice air flow.

That is actually a really good cheap case...a 120mm rear exhaust fan and a great front that inlets through all of the bays ( And each bay cover has a very high flow open cell foam behind it keeping the dust out but still flowing well...I was impressed when a friend of mine bought that case at frys and had me do his build.

VSchneider

... AND I think this particular one actually includes another 80mm front fan, too, looking at the pictures (mine didn't). It's positioned to force air directly over harddrives.

audiobliss

Yeah, that case come with two fans. If you'll check back on the first page, that's actually the case I decided to go with.

Thanks for all the input, guys. The jury's still out as to MOBO and RAM. I'm going to start doing some real reading about this stuff this weekend so I can make a better decision.

VSchneider

audiobliss wrote: »

Yeah, that case come with two fans. If you'll check back on the first page, that's actually the case I decided to go with.

Ahh, I see.
Doesn't the window rob you off of the CPU side vent? Actually, I am not sure how much value it may be with your cooler choice, since it draws air from the bottom rather then traditional side. Still, the $20 rebate pays for that cooler then!

jakelm

shadowofnight wrote: »

You can cheap out on the case all you want ( To a point...just make sure you have decent cooling ) ...where you dont want to cheap out on is the power supply. In the past you could and get away with it...power demands were low ...nowadays with video cards using in the hundreds of watts and demanding their own 12 volt rails or they just dont want to play ball....multiple 7,200 to 15,000 rpm hard drives...and quad core cpu's....you HAVE to have a decent power supply.

Most of the problems hardware wise I run into nowadays is power supply related....go cheap many places and you still have a fast good pc nowadays...just make sure you buy a good power supply as the foundation.

I gues I'll be replacing a PS in the future. With a Ge Force VC that requires a minimal 250 watt PS and a AMD 64 X2 4200. AND Soundblaster SC.


Thanks for the heads up.

I always thought , as long as the rails were up to spec, you were good to go?

VSchneider

jakelm wrote: »

I always thought , as long as the rails were up to spec, you were good to go?

Again the white van speakers and the $69 dollar 1,000 watt amps have the specs, but would you want them at your home?

- Val

jakelm

VSchneider wrote: »

Again the white van speakers and the $69 dollar 1,000 watt amps have the specs, but would you want them at your home?

- Val

No I would not..I see your point

Well....I guess I'll see how long it last

kingcars66

Sami wrote: »

Switch the memory to PC6400. Both of these are CL4:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220144

Alright, I've been helping the OP piece together this build. DDR2 800 RAM is pointless. At stock speeds, the CPU doesnt use near that much FSB. And if he needs to OC, the DDR2 667 RAM OCs great (I have mine at DDR2 850 in 1:1 ratio with my E6400 @ 3.4GHz).

As for the motherboard, it is also the one I'm currently running. Great BIOS options and has been 100% stable even with this high OC running for a year now. And by the time he needs DDR3 RAM, it'll be time for a new computer anyway. Computers with DDR RAM still run great (I ran Vista RC1 on an Athlox XP 2800+ and 1GB DDR 400 RAM just fine...and even played FEAR just fine as well with my old 6600GT), so I dont think the RAM standard is a huge deal.

Anyways, off to work. Cyas!

billbillw

jakelm wrote: »

To me noise and cooling would be a fan problem not a case problem..

hell you could sit the mother board outside the case and with a well built fan on CPU and PS it would be quiet.

Maybe so, but don't forget hard disk(s) and video card fans too. Besides, most cheap cases don't come with nice quiet fans or quiet PS. Also, the cheap cases tend to add vibration harmonics to the noise too. Hard drive noise is next to impossible to control in a cheap case. I had one case that the drive was nearly silent outside the case, but as soon as it was bolted into the case, a hum was VERY audible.

Yes, you could go and replace all the fans with quiet ones and get a quiet PS, but by the time you do that, you might as well have bought an expensive quiet case like I did.

jakelm

billbillw wrote: »

Maybe so, but don't forget hard disk(s) and video card fans too. Besides, most cheap cases don't come with nice quiet fans or quiet PS. Also, the cheap cases tend to add vibration harmonics to the noise too. Hard drive noise is next to impossible to control in a cheap case. I had one case that the drive was nearly silent outside the case, but as soon as it was bolted into the case, a hum was VERY audible.

Yes, you could go and replace all the fans with quiet ones and get a quiet PS, but by the time you do that, you might as well have bought an expensive quiet case like I did.

True

billbillw

bliss, If you haven't ordered your case yet, check out this

http://www.antec.com/Detail.bok?no=524

Details here: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=18500

Its Antec B-Stock. Its practically the same as my $100+ P-150 case, but half the price. It has the sound deadening side panels, rubber band hard disk holders, etc. Get that and a high quality power supply and you'll be all set. I'd budget at least $50 for the PS. Good names are FSP (Fortron), Thermaltake, Enermax, Antec, and maybe Sparkle.

audiobliss

Hey, thanks for the heads up, there. That is a nice looking case. I like the idea of the 'suspension mount' for the HD's.

However, I really like the case I picked out, too. I haven't decided which to go with, yet.

But, the PSU I picked out is a Thermaltake unit.

Barnestormer

I'm a java coder for a living so I like lots of processor and RAID. This site lets you configure some pretty nice stuff. The system I bought from them in January is still performing well with no issues.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

Shizelbs

shadowofnight wrote: »

He already has the power supply on the list With the power supply already purchased, this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021 is a great looking ...fairly cheap..very good cooling case by a great manufacturer Antec.

Thats a nice case. Its one I was considering for a future build.

Antec cases are great. The first good case I bought was an Antec. Within minutes of working in that case I swore I would never go back to a cheap case.

audiobliss

Ok, I've been researching MOBO's all day, and I'm still not 100% sure on one, or really either of the two I've picked out.

However, I've decided I do want P35/ICH9R, and I want 3 PCI slots. Given that and my budget, I've narrowed it down to these two:

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R

ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP

What do you think? Which of those would you choose? Is there another board you'd take over either of those?

I really like the WiFi on the Asus board; that way I could have wireless without using up a PCI slot with my Linksys adapter. However, I also like the extra 2 SATA ports on the Gigabyte, and the Asus doesn't have a parallel port...though I have no idea if I'd ever miss it.

What're your thoughts??

EDIT - The Asus also has 10 USB ports over the Gigabyte's 4.

audiobliss

Here's another MOBO I just found that looks to be pretty solid:

DFI BLOOD IRON P35-T2RL

What do you think about this one?

Sami

audiobliss wrote: »

What're your thoughts??

Thoughts? It really doesn't matter which one you'll choose given the use, you'll never notice a real difference between the two. Even if you gave your system some beating you still wouldn't notice much of a difference. If your wallet can handle it, based on specs, Asus seems like the winner.

audiobliss

At the moment I'm going for quad core and PC6400. I'll probably hafta change my mind when I see what it all adds up to.

ledhed

I have that Asus board and it runs fine. Have not hit one hitch since building my comp (except for iTunes corrupting a drive - the program is NOT 64 bit friendly).

DFI boards are pretty much top notch, I never even saw it when I was building due to lack of a firewire port.


I am on the opposite end of the case debate. I like good, sturdy cases that are built strong and planned well. Thus I bought the Antec P-180 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129025) I absolutely LOVE this case. Silicone dampers for my HDDs, separate PSU chamber, wonderful cable management and 3 speed adjustable 120mm fans! (one for PSU, one vent on top and one vent on back). Setup was a breeze and I love the simple looks.

Anyway, you are building a fairly similar computer to mine so if you have any specific questions I may be able to help out a bit more since I just did all of that research.

Here is what I bought, though I paid about $200 more about 2 weeks ago.

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6051272

EDIT: And by the way, the Asus does have PATA and I doubt you would ever fill all those SATA ports.

EDIT #2: Have you factored in the cost of operating system?

Systems

ledhed wrote: »

I have that Asus board and it runs fine. Have not hit one hitch since building my comp (except for iTunes corrupting a drive - the program is NOT 64 bit friendly).

I put win XP X64 on my main gaming/workstation machine right after it came out, ran it since then as my main Itunes and Ipod computer the whole time with no problems.

Same here.. Always Asus boards. A8N-SLI x64

audiobliss

Well, I've decided on the Gigabyte board. I really like the idea of the WiFi on the ASUS, but it's just not worth the extra money to me. I was going to choose the DFI, then, but a LOT of people seem to be complaining about inadequte cooling of the north bridge. So that leaves the Gigabyte, and I really don't feel like I'm 'settling'; it's a nice board.

I'm going to have to step down to the E6600 processor; I just can't spend that much on a computer!

And I researched more about RAM, CPU FSB, and all that, and I'm sticking with PC2 5300. The Patriot RAM I picked out comes out to be just $60 after the mail-in rebate.

I also splurged about $30 more dollars on a nicer video card.

So, here's what I've ended up with so far:
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=6289152


What's the deal on optical drives? That's really the only choice I don't feel confident about. I don't know a thing about what to look for in them or which brands are good. I just want a DVD+RW SATA drive that's as cheap as possible without being junk.

What would you suggest?

Oh, and I have Win XP Pro - $10. School is good for something!!

Sami

audiobliss wrote: »

And I researched more about RAM, CPU FSB, and all that, and I'm sticking with PC2 5300. The Patriot RAM I picked out comes out to be just $60 after the mail-in rebate.

And the reason is? PC6400 is the same price so you're not saving any money. If I'm not mistaken, your processor is 800MHz FSB which means you need to overclock your RAM and while it most likely can (but is not guaranteed) you'll get that out of the box with PC6400.

audiobliss wrote: »

Oh, and I have Win XP Pro - $10. School is good for something!!

Haha, my wife is finishing up her degree and dual pack of xp x32 and x64 was $15 (so OS for 2 comps) and now I got Vista Ultimate for $30.

audiobliss

Actually, after the rebate, that 5300 is just $60. A quality set of 6400 would be $20 - $30 more than that.

Now, I still could be wrong in my logic, so please tell me if I am. The FSB on the E6600 pre-multiplier is 266MHz. The PC2 5300 is operating at 333MHz. So already the RAM is operating at a faster speed than the CPU's FSB. My friend is running a E6400 with that same RAM, and set the CPU's FSB to a 1:1 ratio with the RAM (thus OC'ing the CPU). And he's OC'ing his RAM quite a bit, so that RAM does happen to be very OC friendly.

*sigh*
I still don't really understand any of that I just said. I don't understand the CPU's FSB, the RAM's speed, and how they really correlate. That's just what I've been reading.

jmwest1970

Sami wrote: »

Haha, my wife is finishing up her degree and dual pack of xp x32 and x64 was $15 (so OS for 2 comps) and now I got Vista Ultimate for $30.

Mine is working on her Masters, but I haven't seen pricing this good. Where did you find it?

Sami

Cheap brand name: http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA1547206

Cheap off-brand: http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?zipCode=76021&PID=327962&jspStoreDir=Staples&catalogId=10051&errorUrl=zipcode&cm_mmc=CJ-_-affiliate-_-feed-_-listing&ts=1191681648508&langId=-1&AID=10428550&partNumber=579713&storeId=10001&ddkey=StaplesZipCodeAdd

Sami

jmwest1970 wrote: »

Mine is working on her Masters, but I haven't seen pricing this good. Where did you find it?

UTA (University of Texas, Arlington)

Sami

audiobliss wrote: »

Actually, after the rebate, that 5300 is just $60. A quality set of 6400 would be $20 - $30 more than that.

You don't consider the Cruzial and Patriot I send links to be quality RAM?


Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

($62.99 after $47.00 Mail-In Rebate)

Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

($51.99 after $40.00 Mail-In Rebate)