First Build Seeking Assistance

[acal131]

Hey guys I just compiled together some computer parts after a days work of light research and what on each part. I am a first time builder and am trying to build a decent PC for myself. I think im going to end up going the new egg route since it seems to have pretty good customer service and an easy web layout makes things simple. Well anyways I just wanted any of you to chime in on the specs that I post and if they are all compatible and what I should change or what not. Thanks in advanced

HDD: Seagate barracuda 250 GB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0g/b
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262

Memory(RAM): Corsair XMS2 2GB (1GBx2) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590

Video Card: GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-Bit PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130082

Processor(CPU): AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103773

MotherBoard: ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131013

DVD Drive: SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151153

Case: Antec Sonata III Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129024

Any Tips are Welcome.

 

[lunyone]

Looks pretty good. Did you have a budget? If this fits your budget, than it should be fine. Newegg is down right now, so I don't know the prices. I do have an idea on them, but that's the status right now.

Edit: I forgot to ask you what resolution that you game under? General consensus is that if your below 16x12 resolutions that the 320mb version will do well. So if your 16x12 or better resolution than the 640mb 8800gts would be better.

 

[acal131]

The budget is under $1200 I don't really want to push it for my first build. Right now all those parts listed are at $933 with shipping and whatnot. I am definately gaming under 16x12 so the 640mb isn't really a priority at the moment. I have been getting pushed by some people to get the E6750 with an Asus P5k Board instead of the AMD that I have listend and that board so I dont know what your take on that is. I am kind of fond with the AMD I might stick with it.

 

[lunyone]

The budget is under $1200 I don't really want to push it for my first build. Right now all those parts listed are at $933 with shipping and whatnot. I am definately gaming under 16x12 so the 640mb isn't really a priority at the moment. I have been getting pushed by some people to get the E6750 with an Asus P5k Board instead of the AMD that I have listend and that board so I dont know what your take on that is. I am kind of fond with the AMD I might stick with it.

Okay here's what I'd do with $1200 on Intel build. (just throwing this out there so you can see what you can buy)

CPU - $195 shipped
e6750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115029

Mobo - $106 shipped Good quality and cheapest P35 mobo.
Gigabyte DS3L
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128059

Memory - $110 shipped - $47 MIR = $63! Some of the best memory you can get at 800mhz range.
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820146565

GPU - $537 shipped - $20 MIR = $517! eVga 90 day Step Up program (if you want to upgrade to newer GPU's w/in 90 days of purchase)
EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130072

Case - $56 shipped - $10 MIR = $46 shipped! Nice solid case for the $.
COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119115

PSU - $100 shipped - $45 MIR = $55!!! Can't get any better than this for this price!!!
Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, TUV, CE, FCC, CCC, CB, C-tick - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817103941

HDD - $71 shipped Nice solid 250gig HDD (the size you originally stated)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148261

DVD Burner - $41 shipped! Retail DVD burner, so you can get Nero in the box for about $4-5 more than OEM
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106057

Total w/shipping - $1204.15 - $122 MIR's = $1082.15!!! Now that might streach things, but that would be the best case scenario for ya.

For the AMD rig, I would use everything above except for mobo/CPU (obviously). Using your selection (not sure why you want SLI, since it's overated and spendy) of CPU/mobo you would have a total of - $1207.19 - $122 MIR's = $1085.19!

Obviously I would get an non-SLI mobo (just my preference) and save about $60 off of the AMD build giving you about a $1025 build!

Final thoughts: If you go with Intel and want to save some initial costs, go with e2160 processor and do the stock OC like Tom's just did. That would save you ~$110 now and that could be saved up for a Penryn processor later. That would put my build around $915 after MIR's, which would be much better than your initial build. I'm not saying to go with Intel, but I'm just showing you options. Anything listed on here can be modified to fit one thing or another, especially in the $1000-1200 price range. I hope I haven't made this any harder to decide on.

My 2cp's

 

[acal131]

Wow that was a very good post. Thanks a lot for filling me in on all these things and what I should upgrade on. Yeah, you did just make it a little harder ,but only for the better lol. I think I will probably use your advice a lot especially on that RAM it looks like a great deal. When I was picking up the MoBo it was really the PC part that I had the least knowledge of ( I don't really have much knowledge on any PC parts ,but things like Memory and GPU are pretty straight forward ) so I really took your advice on that. Thanks Alot. Hopefully I can assemble this quite easily.

 

[lunyone]

Wow that was a very good post. Thanks a lot for filling me in on all these things and what I should upgrade on. Yeah, you did just make it a little harder ,but only for the better lol. I think I will probably use your advice a lot especially on that RAM it looks like a great deal. When I was picking up the MoBo it was really the PC part that I had the least knowledge of ( I don't really have much knowledge on any PC parts ,but things like Memory and GPU are pretty straight forward ) so I really took your advice on that. Thanks Alot. Hopefully I can assemble this quite easily.

Which way are you going?

 

[acal131]

Well, unfortunately I was going to change into the intel E6750 and new MoBo ,but I kinda jumped the gun before and already ordered off NewEgg with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ and the MoBo that is currently listed up top. So I guess that is a done deal. Hopefully everything runs great. Also I hope AMD gets there stuff together and ups there game to create a little better competition. I hope they make my choice the best choice lol.

 

[lunyone]

You can't go wrong. Yes Intel has the edge (and has since fall of '06), but AMD isn't too bad. With the x2 6000 you shouldn't be disappointed with it. Hopefully we helped ya out and will make your gaming experience better

 

[acal131]

Yea, you made it a lot easier on the choices and understanding them. Now its off to learning how to assemble this lol. Any Tips ? or any suggestions to what games I should get or how to assemble the PC ( which is pretty straight forward ,but im looking for little pointers )

 

[lunyone]

Yea, you made it a lot easier on the choices and understanding them. Now its off to learning how to assemble this lol. Any Tips ? or any suggestions to what games I should get or how to assemble the PC ( which is pretty straight forward ,but im looking for little pointers )

Read your mobo's manual, it will have information on how to hook things up. I'm not an expert at builds, but I've put together about 12 builds in the last 2+ years. Here is what I basically do:
1) Make sure you have a clean table to work with.
2) I open up case and see if the mobo tray pulls out of not, if not than I put the mobo standoffs on the tray first.
3) Next I pull the I/O port panel off of the case (this is where your would plug in sound/usb's/LPT's/etc in the back). Watch for sharp edges where the manufacturer has stamped out the panel pattern.
4) Install the I/O port panel that comes with the mobo. Usually pretty easy to press into place from the inside of the case.
5) Pull the mobo out of the box. It should be in an anti-static bag and should be sitting on a anti-static foam base.
6) I keep the mobo on the foam base and install the CPU and memory (be careful to make sure your grounded and don't have any static electricity). You can use anti-static wrist band to minimize this threat.
7) I then install the HSF that comes with the CPU. Be carefull to not stress out or tighten down the HSF to the CPU unevenly. If you take your time and slowly install the HSF, you shouldn't have any issues. The stock HSF should already have the thermal compound already applied to the bottom of the HSF.
8) I then install the mobo into the case. If your lucky and the case has a removable mobo tray, I would then place the mobo onto the tray and hook up the front panel usb/audio onto the mobo.
9) I then hook up the front panel usb/audio onto the mobo.
10) I then check to see where the PSU cables will fall into place and decide where I'm going to install the HDD. This position can be pretty critical, especially with longer GPU's.
11) Once I know where I'm going with the HDD I install it and the DVD/CD drives and then I verify that the GPU won't infringe on the HDD's position.
12) I install the GPU onto the mobo and lock it down onto the mobo (hopefully your mobo has a PCI-e lock, I think most mobo's these days do).
13) I hook up the 20(4) pin mobo connection (be careful and don't tweak the mobo too much).
14) I then hook up any remaining power cables to the respective units, don't forget the 6 pin PCI-e power connection to the GPU (if it's needed).
15) Tidy up all of your cables, so they are out of the way and allow good airflow.
16) Boot up system and go into BIOS to double check settings (mainly the CPU/mobo temps).
17) Make sure that the CPU/mobo temps are stable for at least 30-60min. to make sure you don't get into the middle of a XP/Vista install and have the computer crash on you.
18) I then do the OS install.

I'm sure there are other ideas on doing this, but this has worked for me. I hope I didn't miss any important steps. Some people won't install everything until they have a solid temperature on the CPU/mobo. Some other people will run Memtest86 before doing all else, but in my experience I haven't needed to do that until after installing the OS and all other drivers.

 

[deathsycthehe11]

Here's my two cents, cause I know you want a lil cheaper build since ur original built was lower than ur budget.
I would get basically everything lunyone mention with some few exceptions. If OCing ds3r, ocing brings better bang for the buck. Less OCing i would just stay with his ds3l. I would just get the gpu you originally chose since you said you game with a lower resolution. Also the 320gb mite be better bang for your buck but is your personal reference. Also I never really liked rebates because sometimes they don't give your money back is almost gambling depending on the company reputation on rebates. So thats my two cents.

 

[lunyone]

Here's my two cents, cause I know you want a lil cheaper build since ur original built was lower than ur budget.
I would get basically everything lunyone mention with some few exceptions. If OCing ds3r, ocing brings better bang for the buck. Less OCing i would just stay with his ds3l. I would just get the gpu you originally chose since you said you game with a lower resolution. Also the 320gb mite be better bang for your buck but is your personal reference. Also I never really liked rebates because sometimes they don't give your money back is almost gambling depending on the company reputation on rebates. So thats my two cents.

Well, unfortunately I was going to change into the intel E6750 and new MoBo ,but I kinda jumped the gun before and already ordered off NewEgg with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ and the MoBo that is currently listed up top. So I guess that is a done deal. Hopefully everything runs great. Also I hope AMD gets there stuff together and ups there game to create a little better competition. I hope they make my choice the best choice lol.

If you had read the previous post from the OP, you would see that he already had bought the AMD CPU.