First Time Building a PC

[jiggajase85]

First post and first time building =]

For starters, I just want to say that I love this forum, and thankyou to all of those who provide support to people like me, who are just getting to building. Thanks!

With that said, I'm aiming to build somewhat of a gaming rig probably shooting around $1000. I have a decent amount of knowledge, but I can always use tips and understand if I'm doing something wrong. Heres what I have picked out so far:

Case:
Antec 900
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Mobo:
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

GFX card:
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339

PSU:
OCZ600GXSSLI 600W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341001

RAM:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262


Thank you so much in advance. I'm always open for suggestions, so feel free to comment!

 

[rathspawn]

I suggest a bigger hard drive such as 500 or 640 GB for only 20 dollars more

 

[shortstuff_mt]

You're off to a good start. One thing I would consider changing is the GPU. The motherboard you chose is capable of crossfire, so if you think you'll ever want to add another GPU in the future I would get an ATI GPU. The 4850 competes with the 9800GTX+ for considerably less. You could even step up to a 4870 for not much more $.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=+40000048&Configurator=&Subcategory=-1&description=4850&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=%2040000048&Description=4870&bop=And&Order=PRICE

You can get a newer, faster HD with more capacity for the same price:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074&Tpk=wd3200aaks

 

[fullmetall]

If your more into intel, you can get a q6600 and oc it or something like a Q9550. But, IMO, LGA775 is like a dead root. They hit there stop sign.

AMD x4 940 build can be built with no problem on 1grand with top of the line stuff.

Heres a suggestion:

AMD x4 940 + UD4H Gigabyte 790gx Combo

G.skills PI Black 800mhz/1066mhz or Mushkin 1066mhz ddr2.

HD 4890 / vapor x edition 4870 2gb.

RC-690

WD Black 640gb HDD

LG / Samsung 22x DVD optical drive

750tx PSU

s1283v heatsink + silver arctic 5

 

[optional22]

I have the UD3R motherboard (same thing but only one PCI-e slot). The following is a quote from a previous thread where someone was having troubling installing Vista on the system. Here's what I wrote in reference to the installation of Vista where you need to choose a hard drive to install on:

"First off, if no drivers are showing up, that means your BIOS isn't set to ACHI mode. I don't have my computer on me, so I forgot where in the BIOS that was exactly. It was on the left column and 2-4 rows down. It was the very first option in that menu (originally set to disabled). Also make sure HPET is set to 64 bit mode (all other options were set to default). That should be enough to get drivers off USB drives and floppy disks recognized. For me though, that wasn't enough to get my hard drive recognized. I figured it out though. The South Bridge has problems detecting WD and Seagate hard drives that are unformatted/unpartitioned. The solution is to go to Western Digital's website, go to support, and under downloads, find your exact hard drive. Download the Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS (CD or Floppy doesn't matter) and put it on the CD/Floppy and boot your computer from that CD/Floppy instead of Vista. The actual program is buggy as hell, it took me 20 minutes to trick it into working. Get it to partition any amount of space, it doesn't matter as long as it is one partition. After you have a bit of it partitioned, boot from Vista. Once you get to the screen where you can pick which hard drive to partition, you should see your hard drive's partition (you don't need any drivers). Click on it and go to expand partition, and expand it to the whole drive, and reformat it. Make sure no USB drive is in your computer or else you get a weird error, and then it installs Vista just fine."

Seagate has a similar program available on their website. This is a just-in-case post.

 

[fullmetall]

ok........?

 

[bh2o]

If you wanted to stick with nvidia you could go for the gtx250 1 gb which is the same card with more ram, or the 260 gtx (216). Otherwise as someone stated, go ati for your crossfire

 

[jsc]

And my usual comment about Antec 900 cases - it does not come with a system speaker.

 

[jiggajase85]

Thank you so much everyone for your timely and helpful replies. With a bit of research, I came up with a few things I wanted to ask your opinions on.

First, I'm really leaning towards intel. I took a look at the Q6600 and I know there are a bunch of threads on this topic, I still wanted to ask your opinions: would the q6600 quadcore 2.4ghz be better than E8400 core2duo 3.0ghz? I read that the q6600 is easily oc'd to 3.0, but I'm not that comfortable with oc'ing (still learning and researching =]).

Also, is LGA775 really dying? I read a few articles about and I am still up for consideration towards AMD..

Oh yea, I'm definitely going with the 4850 rather than the 9800gtx.

Definitely picking up the bigger hdd for the same price =]

Thanks again for all your help!!

 

[fullmetall]

Yea LGA775 stopped making cpu's.

But, they have really good gaming chips for budget builders.

It's what you want and what you need.

AMD at a grand to spend will be a way better rig than a e8400 rig.

You might be able to throw a Q9550 in an intel rig for 1 grand which would probably out beat the amd.

 

[jay2tall]

for a $1000 you may need to stick with the LGA775. They are no longer going to make make new chips for this, but will continue to be the midrange to budget area until the i5 comes out. If you can spring for an i7 will have more of an upgrade path. Just a comment.

The e8400 will OC to 4Ghz with a good cooler and will be better with games than a quad.

My suggestion is not to go with the 7200.10 drive, its an older design. I like Seagate and the ES.2 drives are awesome. But Western Digital is nice as well. I'd go with thish 640GB drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136298

Also, the new GTS250 is the replacement for the 9800GTX+ I'd go for one of those, they actually tend to beat out the 4850 in most cases. You can always spring for a 4870 which would be EVEN better, or a GTX260 for a little more.

PS the Antec 900 has been around a while the new 902 case is WAY nicer.

 

[Helloworld_98]

I'm still amused at people offering up LGA775 when am2/3 is always cheaper for the equivalent.

if you want a $1k build then i7 is the way to go, or if you want it to be best at gaming, you have to buy amd's 955 there's no doubt about it.

 

[fullmetall]

http://security.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2009/4/23/amds-new-phenom-ii-x4-955-still-cant-match-intels-i7-cpus

Can't say something better than something when it just came out and theres no benchmarks to prove..

 

[Helloworld_98]

have you been on any PC tech news site today?

there's one on Tom's and Hexus from where I've looked, there's probably more aswell.

 

[fullmetall]

To lower it down instead of having to read thread after thread, the 955 is 5% faster than its formal x4 940be postioned behind the i7 920 still.

As it claims to be catching up with the Q9550 series, it's priced lower than the Q9550 and performs around the same.

 

[fullmetall]

So with that being said, "IF" it's possible to build an i7 for 1 grand, do it. It would be way more up-to-date than what you were looking at.

 

[jay2tall]

$120 Antec 900: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
$70 WD Caviar Green 640GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136298
$145 XFX GTS 250 1GB w/ COD5: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150356
$90 OCZ 600W :http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341001
$60 Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 3GB kit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145223
$240 ASUS P6T x58 mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359
$280 Intel i7 920 w/ Tom Clancy HAWK game: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

TOTAL: $1005 and includes (2) free Games.

Plus most of these items are FREE shipping, it showed me $16 for total shipping, that is a saver right there. I also did not include a DVD drive because you did not list it at the start, plus you did not list an OS, I'd recommend Vista 64bit.

DONE! now buy buy buy... problem solved dude.

 

[fullmetall]

lol. i7 ftw.

 

[jay2tall]

Circle gets the square

 

[fullmetall]

He could get this board, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375


and allow him to get a better psu/hdd

Lower the case to a RC-690 and save a little more for the psu/hdd.

keep the card/ram/cpu.

 

[jay2tall]

ehh don't cheap out on the mobo. that board only supports Crossfire not CF and SLI. Plus it is not triple channel.

 

[fullmetall]

Well, your throwing the slowest wd in there + a 600w 12v 4 rail psu.

Atleast lower the case to a rc-690 saver of $50. Get the WD Black 640gb

and a better psu. 650tx prefferably.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Plus it is not triple channel.

That motherboard does, in fact, run RAM in triple channel if you use the three white RAM slots. It does, however, limit the amount of RAM that can be installed.

 

[jay2tall]

^ to each his own. I was saving a few bucks. And what is wrong with the OCZ PSU? It will run a single card just fine.

 

[fullmetall]

Yea it will, then the time comes, he wants a bigger gpu , thent he psu will need to be replaced aswell.

it wont get all 18a's out of every rail, some will be limited below 18a.