Building my own computer

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

All right, since I'm getting confirmed on Sunday and will be receiving lots of money, I'm going to build a new computer from scratch. Actually I knew this about half a year ago which is why I'm getting money for the most part and not other gifts, but that's beside the point. I've worked out this setup so far. All prices are in Euro and all links are to Alternate.de, a German electronics store.

AMD Phenom "Agena" 2,6 Ghz x4 - 124,90

I plan to overclock it to 3 GHz if possible.

Case - 36,78

This was a recommendation by a friend of mine, it's a rather cheap case but according to the reviews well manufactured, so it seems like a good choice.

Asrock A770 Crossfire Motherboard - 59,90

GeIL 4GB RAM - 44,99

GeIL is a very well known manufacturer of RAM in Germany, not sure how well known they are in the States.

Western Digital D 640 GB HDD - 59,90

Zotac Nvidia 9800GT - 99,90

I don't plan on doing too much gaming on my PC (I have a Wii and DS), but I don't want to be too behind, so I thought the 9800 GT was a good compromise, especially considering the price.

Corsair power source - 74,90

Pioneer DVD Burner - 29,99

Fan x2 - 9,98

CPU Cooler - 38,49

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598.83 €

Like I said above, I won't be gaming too much on this rig, so I don't need a very expensive graphics card. I'll run Linux as primary OS and see how long I'll be able to cope without installing Windows at all using Wine and Virtual Box only. For Virtual Box I'll need plenty of RAM, and I use the dolphin emulator a lot so the RAM is important. I'm also getting into programming, so I'll be doing a lot of multitasking running/compiling programs and having my Firefox running on the side etc. etc. so I decided to go for a quad core. I would have liked an Intel processor, but in combination with the Intel motherboards they are far more expensive than AMD, so in the end I went for the Phenom X4 @2.6 GHz. I already mentioned I'll probably overclock it- I'm already building the entire thing from scratch, I don't think there's a high risk involved here.

So I'm pretty sure what I want. What I have no clue about, on the other hand, is actually assembling the darn thing. I found some tutorials online (like this one, but I'm not sure how reliable they are. Unless it's completely unnecessary I'll probably look into buying a book on the subject. This is where I really need any advice you guys can give me.

Help, tips, recommendations and corrections would be much appreciated.

 

[rabbt]

I recommend an Antec case. They are more expensive, but are a lot better than (just about) anything else out there. They have plenty of room, for better airflow and later expansion, and are awesome looking.

The CPU Cooler is listed out of stock.

Aside from that, it's pretty good.

 

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

It's just a broken link, I just checked, it's definitely in stock.

http://www.alternate.de/html/produc.../263405/?tn=HARDWARE&l1=Cooling&l2=CPU-Kühler

 

[Superstar]

If you don't plan to game much, why a 9800GT?

That's upper midrange. If a 9600GT plays almost every game max, a 9800GT plays even more close to max. That, and it'll make quite some noise.

I'd recommend a 9600GT, 9500GT, or 9400GT. Silent if possible. You Dolphin a lot though, so maybe a 9800GT will get you lurvly performance [so will a 9600GT, though].

_____________

When it comes to building, I dunno about that guide. Personally, my preferred steps, in order for assembly are.

1) Assemble Motherboard
- Place CPU/CPUCooler
- RAM
2) Screw Motherboard into case
3) Put HD/CD/DVD into the right areas, slot in PSU [power supply]
4) Put in your graphics card into the Motherboard [better once it's in the case]
5) Plug in the LEDs [Need a good manual, I know my ASUS motherboard and Antec case had really good manuals for what goes where].
6)Connect your HD/CD/DVD to the motherboard, likely using SATA cables [CD/DVD may be SATA or IDE, IDE is a big fat metal sheet sort of thing you see in old computers].
7) Plug in all the power cables

When it comes to power, there are different kinds of cables, denoted by the number of pints. 20pin, 4pin, and 6pin are the type of PSU cables I remember. Your motherboard will either require 20pin or 24pin, 24pin just being a 20pin and a 4pin [my motherboard has it side by side to be one big slot]. Your graphics card will need it's own source of power, and will come with a Y adapter [2 slots converging to one]. This is if you lack the type of cable your graphic card needs, but have the other two

I can't read that stuff, does the Power supply come with dual [or more] 12V rails?

Common Terminology: Mobo = Motherboard, PSU = Power Supply. Two of the more 0.o for first timers.

 

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

I'm familiar with those abbreviations. The power supply only has one rail. As for the graphics card, going down a notch would only save me about 10 €, so I figured it wasn't worth it. Thank you for your post though, I really don't want to screw anything up the first time.

 

[Superstar]

Yeah, why I think I should have gotten a 9800GT instead of a 9600GT. But going down a million nothches to a 9400GT silent saves about 80 dollars I think, which might be 60 of your currency or...something. At least on Newegg.

Still, Wii/DS aren't that great for gaming [lol], so if you ever want to try a PC game I assume that 9800GT will work fine. But, you likely play Brawl. I assume if you're one to like the game it might have good replay value.

Only one rail? I dunno then, but I hear it's very important to have 2. For what reason I don't know, just been reading around.

________________

Little more on the building. Remember that whole touch the case before working thing, but for some stuff, you can't always be holding the case [like slotting in the CPU]. Remember the antistatic bag thing, and do not force in the CPU. CPUs are made to just be slot in, pull lever. No insertion force is needed. RAM/GFX can be forced in.

Also, guides may mention IDE cables for CD/DVD, but many modern ones use SATA. Plug them in order, SATA 1, SATA 2, SATA 3,... [you're likely only going to be using 1 and 2].

Also, once you're done, make sure your PSU's power switch is on. That always gives a laugh. XD

 

[kigbariom]

My dad and I built a computer just before spring break, it works like a charm but it took us about a day and a half to get everything stable.

It is a REALLY powerful computer. It's got the GeForce GTX 285 GPU, and the Intel Quad Core i7, we bought the least powerful processor of that series because it's cheap and it can be over clocked to 3.6 GHz and the best one can be over clocked to 3.8 GHz, so you know.

The silly thing is we bought a case, it looked sharp and it was a reasonable size but when we got down to it, it was too small. I figured it's nothing a hack saw couldn't fix, wrong. Although it did fix, anytime I pressed the power button the whole thing shorted out.

Now the computer is sitting on my desk out in the open, I'm using it all day with great games, but it has no case.

 

[Superstar]

^^^ HAHAHAAA

I assume you bought a MicroATX case with an ATX motherboard? Either way, since cases are so reusable, I would recommend an Antec case.

Expensive, but it's a one buy and a really solid case. But I assume yours is fine, although, what does "Midi-ATX" mean? Is that Micro-ATX? If your motherboard isn't Micro-ATX itself you are going to have some compatibility issues I will say that right now.

 

[kigbariom]

Right on the nose, you are a Superstar.

Although a Antec case is something I've looked into, I thought, why not have fun with the setup. I decided that with a carpenter's help we could literally build it into the desk, a real "desktop".

The blueprints are so cool, we have it so it looks like a normal drawer, but then at the touch of a button the disc drive pops out. It looks really good right now.

 

[Superstar]

So no one gets confused, bottom part was speaking to the OP. His case says midi-ATX, and the Motherboard doesn't say what it is. ATX cases are compatible with both ATX and micro ATX motherboards, but...I don't know.

You even got the ventilation working, and fans? Sounds awesome.

 

[kigbariom]

Yeah, that was hard because the GPU does have a cooling fan. The way it's drawn out it does work though.

 

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

So no one gets confused, bottom part was speaking to the OP. His case says midi-ATX, and the Motherboard doesn't say what it is. ATX cases are compatible with both ATX and micro ATX motherboards, but...I don't know.

You even got the ventilation working, and fans? Sounds awesome.

Both the case and the motherboard are ATX format. Midi refers to the size of the case overall (medium I guess).

Also, how much of a difference does it make what speed the RAM is at? The accounts that I've read online are very contradictory, ranging from "hardly any" to "huge difference."

 

[Superstar]

Difference, I don't know. It makes a difference, but the amount, well, outside of games you won't notice it at all. Even in games it barely matters [DDR 333 to DDR2 1066 may be noticeable but DDR2 800 to DDR2 1066 isn't].

Only thing is that old ram seems to be a bit pricier.

Weird on the ATX. Cases here come in Micro-ATX and ATX, since the Medi says Medi-ATX, it makes me 0.o

 

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

Thanks. As for the ATX thing: if you click on the tab that says "mehr Details" (more details) and then look under "Format", you'll see that it's definitely ATX.

 

[Superstar]

Good, good.

Well, you look good to go.

 

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

So, thanks to my budget getting a boost I've decided to actually go with a Phenom II 940 @3.0 GHz, and a better graphics card. However, I've noticed that the GTS 250 and better models require two slots. So I would need to upgrade to a motherboard with two PCIe slots, correct? Also, what do you guys think of spending ~50 € (~70 $) more on a Blu-Ray instead of DVD only?

 

[noradseven]

So, thanks to my budget getting a boost I've decided to actually go with a Phenom II 940 @3.0 GHz, and a better graphics card. However, I've noticed that the GTS 250 and better models require two slots. So I would need to upgrade to a motherboard with two PCIe slots, correct? Also, what do you guys think of spending ~50 € (~70 $) more on a Blu-Ray instead of DVD only?

Seems like your going a bit over kill once you get above $1000 they isn't much more you can get that will not be $1000 in a few months.

 

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

Well even with the Phenom II and GTS 250 plus a new monitor, keyboard and mouse I'll still have around 200€ left over plus whatever I'll get for my old computer, and I'm not quite sure what to do with the money.

That doesn't answer my question though; I need a motherboard with 2 PCIe slots for a GTS 250, correct?

 

[Amon Amarth]

Definitely go with the Phenom Black Editions (AM3). You basically get the same performance as the i7 without paying $999.99 for it.


Saving up for a 3 way SLI my self.

 

[kigbariom]

You know, I built a computer a couple of months ago, my FPS is games like CS:S goes up to 299. If you don't believe it here:
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/9140/csassault0000.jpg

(It's an offline server so I could show you, my ping isn't actually 0)