My Build Thread

[Pyroflea]

Well, the time has finally come [kinda]! My build should be beginning soon! I am [hopefully] going out to buy a monitor, mouse, and keyboard later this week, and my mom is [hopefully] picking up my case on her way home from her vacation. Once she gets home (and I have access to her credit cards ) I'm going to start ordering all the components. In case anybody is wondering, this thread is in here because I know and trust the people here more than the other forums Anyways, before I go to building, I would just like one last opinion on my setup.

This thread is pretty much just dedicated to house any questions (which I'm sure I'll have lots of) throughout my build, programming, etc.

Intel Core 2 Duo e6750
Thermaltake Golden Orb
Asus P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi
Seagate Barracuda 320gb SATA2
Crucial Ballisatix DDR2 PC2-8500 (2x1G)
eVga Geforce 8800GTS 320mb
Corsair HX520

All opinions are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

-Pyro

 

[linux_0]

 

[Pyroflea]

Well, Monday is the official "Order" day, and I'm planning on getting my Monitor, Mouse, and Keyboard then too. The countdown begins!

-Pyro

 

[Pyroflea]

Alright, got a question about the almighty POWER SUPPLY. I'm going with the Corsair HX520, which has 3 12v rails. I did a bit of reading, but I'm still not 100% what to run on which rail. I believe it said the 3rd rail had PCI-E connectors or something, so i would run the 8800GTS off of that. I also read that the ATX, Fans, Lights, HDD and DVD-RW drive should be on another rail, while the CPU goes on a separate rail. This leaves me with:
Rail 1: ATX, 2 120mm Case Fans, 2 Cold Cathodes, 320gb Seagate Barracuda, DVD-RW Drive.
Rail 2: CPU
Rail 3:Graphics card
What rail should I put my CPU cooler on? And does that sound like a good setup? Also, I've never done anything with the PSU before, so how do I tell which rail I'm putting things on? Thanks

-Pyro

 

[linux_0]

You do not have to worry about which rail to put what devices on, the PSU manufacturer has already engineered the unit with a certain layout so that different connectors end up on the "appropriate" rail.

On a PSU with 3 actual rails:

Typically the 6pin PCI-E connectors have their own rail.

Usually the 24pin ATX, 4pin +12V and 8pin +12v connectors are on another rail and finally all the molex connectors are on yet another rail.

99% of the time the CPU cooler plugs into the motherboard which is fed by the 24pin ATX, 4pin +12v and sometimes 8pin +12v connectors. You normally want to plug the CPU cooler into the motherboard so the motherboard can properly monitor and regulate fan speeds. You should not plug powerful case fans into to the motherboard by the way.

Most of the time you won't even know for sure which rail you are plugging a device into unless the manufacturer provides you with an accurate diagram ( most do not provide one and others fake them ) or you open the PSU up and trace the rails ( not recommended! ).

Some manufacturers claim their PSUs have 2, 3, 4 or more rails when in reality they do not.

If you use the connectors to power the components they are designed to power you'll be fine!

 

[Pyroflea]

Thank you very much for that. Also, will 520W be enough to power this system adequately?

-Pyro

 

[linux_0]

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Looks like you need about 356 - 400W so 520W should be fine

The Corsair is a real 520W PSU so it should be able to handle all that no problem. Many other PSUs cannot handle anywhere near what they are rated for.

 

[Pyroflea]

The Corsair is a real 520W PSU so it should be able to handle all that no problem. Many other PSUs cannot handle anywhere near what they are rated for.

That's what I was worried about, reading that most PSU's aren't nearly what they're rated at.

-Pyro

 

[linux_0]

That's not a problem with high end PSUs from Corsair / Seasonic, PC P&C, OCZ, Silverstone, CoolerMaster, FSP Group / Fortron Source, etc.

Very low end PSUs are horrible, they may claim 500+W when in reality they can barely handle 250W.


You can expect roughly the following results:

Very Low end 40% of rated power

Low end 50% of rated power

Low to Midrange 50-60% of rated power

Midrange to upper midrange 60-80% of rated power

High end 80%-95% of rated power

High end+ 90-105% of rated power

Very high end 100-120% of rated power

Again these numbers are approximate.

 

[Pyroflea]

Youz so helpful

-Pyro

 

[audiovoodoo]

More info on PSU's can be found here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/243648-28-power-supply

I'm sure one of the guys in the HW section used to do a guide too but I can't seem to find it.

As our resident guru says though.. you should be fine with the PSU you have chosen.

 

[Pyroflea]

Well, I think I'm gonna go with either the Logitech G15, or the G11 for my keyboard... Anybody had any experience with these? Pros, Cons? Does the G15 still have a backlight?

-Pyro

 

[Pyroflea]

Okay, I ordered everything today. My friend recommended that I buy the ASUS P5K-e, so I went with his suggestion. Hopefully that was an alright movie. Anyways, the shipping from one place will be 1-6 days, and the other will be 4-15, so I'll post back here when everything arrives.

-Pyro

 

[Pyroflea]

Okay, case arrived today, also got another question. If i transfer one of my hard drives from this computer to my other, will it need to be formatted, or will I just be able to transfer everything?

-Pyro

 

[linux_0]

Does it have XP on it with NTFS?

 

[Pyroflea]

They are both formatted to NTFS, but only one of the drives has XP on it. The other just has my movies, music, pictures, documents, etc.

-Pyro

 

[linux_0]

Linux can read and write to NTFS filesystems using NTFS-g3.

It is not ideal but it works.

ext3 would be ideal.

You can mount your NTFS filesystems copy the data to your new HDDs and then re-format the old HDDs if you want.

 

[linux_0]

Or you can just use them as NTFS.

It will work either way.

 

[Pyroflea]

Thanks! All I really want to do is transfer all my stuff onto my new hard drive. Then I might get rid of the small the it's on now, or just use that to store movies and music on.

-Pyro

 

[linux_0]

What's the ETA on your parts?

 

[linux_0]

I figure you must have your tracking numbers by now.

 

[Pyroflea]

Not too sure, I just e-mailed them and requested a tracking number. It should be here by next Thursday at the latest, if I'm not mistaken. I have gotten my case, my cathodes, and my Ubuntu Live CD. I Tried Ubuntu for a few minutes this morning, and I was quite impressed, I think I'm gonna really like it

-Pyro

 

[Pyroflea]

IT'S ALIVEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *insert evil music and lightning*

Got 'er built... attempting to install XP right now, pics coming...whenever i get around to it...

-Pyro

 

[linux_0]

Cool congrats

What about Linux / BSD / etc?

 

[Pyroflea]

I got XP installed at the moment, only a few drivers and programs installed (I was up till 2:30 last night!). So at the moment, transferring all my documents and media from previous computer over, then downloading rest of my programs and drivers. After that, I think I'm going to attempt to install Fedora.

-Pyro