Tom's Hardware > Forum > Homebuilt Systems > New System Build > Complete newbie bulding his first pc

Complete newbie bulding his first pc

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - Complete newbie bulding his first pc

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!

Ask the community Add a reply

Bottom Search this thread

so i'm building my first pc soon and here is the set up i have planned on getting:

miditower: Antec Performance One P180
gpu: Asus Radeon HD 4870
memory: Corsair TWIN2X DDR2 4096MB (2x2048MB)
motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 (rev. 1.3)
cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
psu: OCZ StealthXStream 600 Watt
dvd: Samsung SH-S203D
hard drive: Samsung Spinpoint F1 750 GB
screen: Samsung Syncmaster 226BW
cpu cooler: Thermaltake Blue Orb II

however, i have plenty of questions:

1. is the psu sufficient? is it quiet?

2. how is that samsung syncmaster 226bw? any good or are there better options in the same price range?

3. is the cpu cooler any good? does it make a lot of noise? any better options out there that costs about the same?

4. how's the midi tower? quiet? any better options?

5. should i chose a different motherboard? is there any difference between using a radeon hd4870 and a x48 motherboard and a hd4870 and a p45 motherboard?

Add a reply

1. For one card yes- Two no.

2. Not sure. Samsung makes a good LCD though.

3. It is ok, there are better though. Link is at the end.

4. P180 is old but awesome! One of the best cases ever in my opinion. However get the P182 instead now. It has a combo with the E8400 where you save $50

5. If you don't plan to Crossfire zero. Get the P45 board. P45 is ok for even Crossfire on that 22" monitor. (But if you want to XFire go X48) X48 gives you a better cooling setup, 2 16x PCI-E 2.0 slots (not 8x-8x). X48 is a higher end board that provides more tweaking and performance features. The P45 boards are great for the majority of users.

CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003
AND
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] %2bbracket
Avoid the pushpins!

------------------------------ Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."-John Wooden
Reply to shadowduck

miditower: Antec Performance One P180
I suggest Antec 900 or Coolermaster RC-690. This is only a matter of taste.

gpu: Asus Radeon HD 4870.
Good enough. Don't forget to update your driver as soon as it is available.

memory: Corsair TWIN2X DDR2 4096MB (2x2048MB)
Good.

motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 (rev. 1.3)
Want something cheaper but good? (Xfire-able) X48 is still too expensive.
ASUS P5EX38 (witzh bundled 7.1 HD-Audio-Card) or Gigabyte GA-X38DS5

cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
I suggest quad cores for example : Q6600 or Q9300

psu: OCZ StealthXStream 600 Watt
Just like shadowduck has told you. If you are gonna Xfire/SLI your GPU than your system needs about 750W. Corsair, Tagan, Silverstone, Antec, or Enermax is good.

dvd: Samsung SH-S203D
Good.

hard drive: Samsung Spinpoint F1 750 GB
I suggest Seagate 500GB 32MB 7200.11

screen: Samsung Syncmaster 226BW
22''? If you wanna play (Crysis) with this monitor on full resolution, Xfire or SLI is a must.

cpu cooler: Thermaltake Blue Orb II
Artic Cooling Freezer pro 7, Xigmatek HDT-S1283, Zalman CNPS9700, or Scythe Orrochi.

------------------------------ Intel Q6600 @ 3.0GHz + ASUS P5E X38 +
4GB DDR2 1000 CL5 Mushkin + Coolermaster Dominator Xcalade 690 + Corsair VX 450W + HIS HD 3850 512MB Turbo + Seagate 500GB 7200rpm 32MB + Zalman CNPS 9700 LED + Logitec EX110 + ASUS VW198S.
Reply to guanyu210379

i'm undecided in terms of future use of crossfire. i don't plan to buy two gpu now, but maybe in the future. my problem is this:
do i buy asus p5q pro and a hd4870 and just stick to one gpu card. replacing 4870 one day in the future.

or

do i buy the gigabyte x48 card, a hd4870 and buy another hd4870 later. this will cost me maybe about $100-150 extra initially(with the more powerful psu). is it worth it or do i just stick to a p45 card and a single gpu?

Reply to kel varnsen

one more thing, is the corsair 650w enough for my system if i do go crossfire some day or do i need the 750w?

Reply to kel varnsen

made some changes to my set up:

Antec Performance One P182
Asus P5Q (pro?)
Corsair TWIN2X DDR2 4096MB (2x2048MB)
Corsair TX 650W
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Saphire Radeon HD 4870
Samsung SH-S203D
Samsung Syncmaster 226BW
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500 GB
Thermaltake Blue Orb II

the other option, is the following changes:
Corsair TX 750W
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4

which will cost me a few dollars more, but is it worth it?

Reply to kel varnsen

I love the Seinfeld reference man...

Go with the Pro- its only $10 and has a better Northbridge cooling setup in addition to the extra PCI-E x16 slot. The X48 board is nice and if you think you *might* go Crossfire go with it. It is only $70 more or so.

X48 is a higher end chipset than P45, so the motherboards tend to have more tweaking/overclocking options and better cooling setups. If you *can* afford it I would tend to say just go ahead and get the X48 board. You will not be disappointed with either board, but the X48 board gives you some headroom the P5Q Pro does not.

Rest of your setup looks good, make sure you do the P182/E8400 combo deal to save yourself $50.

------------------------------ Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."-John Wooden
Reply to shadowduck

is the corsair tx650w enough for future crossfire options?

Reply to kel varnsen

If you think Crossfire is a surebet I would get this PC Power and Cooling Quad 750W which is certified for Crossfire. You might even want to look at the Corsair 1kW which is overkill now, but will last you several builds.

------------------------------ Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."-John Wooden
Reply to shadowduck

i'll go with corsair as i have heard some good things about it and it is quite cheap. the 650W is not enough for future crossfire set up then?

Reply to kel varnsen

No at least 750W.

PC Power and Cooling are Corsair use the same OEM- Seasonic- they are basically the same PSU.

------------------------------ Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."-John Wooden
Reply to shadowduck

ok, thanks for all the help. i'll go with the 750W then. is PC power and cooling cheaper than corsair?

how about the noise they make? these are fairly quiet psus?

Reply to kel varnsen

decided to go for a different cpu cooler:
Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU-Cooler

any good? heard it's very quiet.

Reply to kel varnsen

made some changes. again. here is the set up i think i'll order this week:

Antec Performance One P182
Saphire Radeon HD 4870
Cooler Master Hyper 212
Corsair TWIN2X DDR2 4096MB (2x2048MB)
Corsair TX 750W
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 (rev. 1.3)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Samsung SH-S203D
Samsung Syncmaster 226BW
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500 GB

it's not too pricey and gives me the option of going crossfire down the road if so chose. it's fairly quiet as well, no?

Reply to kel varnsen

Kel, looks like a decent build. Very similar to what Im putting together next month.
Id pick a heatsink from this list though:
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

Reply to Kaldor

should i chose vista or xp? 32 bit or 64 bit?

Reply to kel varnsen

64bit for 4GB of RAM.

------------------------------ Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."-John Wooden
Reply to shadowduck

is there any particular reason for it? the laptop i use at work has 2gb of ram and uses vista 32 bit. i find it mind bogglingly slow and clumsy. don't remember the rest of the specs right now, but it is about a year old and a mid range laptop. not the quickest, not the slowest.

would the 64 bit vista run smoother on my new rig? i do have an inclination to just stick to my 32 bit xp...

Reply to kel varnsen

32-bit cannot access more than 3.5GB of RAM. If you want to use all your RAM you have no choice but to go 64.

------------------------------ Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."-John Wooden
Reply to shadowduck

i've heard that, but does it make any difference in terms of performance vis-a-vis gaming and such? to put it like this, does the 64 bit vista use more ram than the 32 bit vista? so that the available ram for other processes are the same or even less? or is the 64 bit better in every way? performance wise?

Message edited by kel varnsen on 07-03-2008 at 03:32:23 AM

Reply to kel varnsen

No. There are some driver issues with 64-bit OS, but they are limited.

Overall performance is not affected.

RAM usage is about the same. 64-bit is better for you because it allows you use all the RAM you paid for. If you are going with under 4GB and never plan to upgrade I would go 32-bit.

------------------------------ Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."-John Wooden
Reply to shadowduck

Ask the community Add a reply

Tom's Hardware > Forum > Homebuilt Systems > New System Build > Complete newbie bulding his first pc

Go to:

Help |
Forum rules

There are 1202 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Page generated in 0.321 seconds

Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel

Focus On

Complete newbie bulding his first pc

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - Complete newbie bulding his first pc

Please mind