My first build - based on your advice!

Hi All,

You saved me from buying a best-buy "clearance" alienware computer...and so I've decided to delve into the fun world of building my own machine. Here are some points based on your helpful sticky:

- Don't need a monitor (running at a wimpy 1280x1060 res though)
- Don't need speakers / keyboard / mouse
- Want a good system for gaming, but am not keen on spending too much cash (so, around 1-1.5K)
- Will be purchasing in the next day or two

Most of these parts were taken from Proximon's helpful list, and I'll be using Newegg for the purchases. I'm worried about little things, such as will these parts all work together, will the graphics card fit in the case, will my system overheat if I don't plan on pushing it (I doubt I'll overclock much):

CPU: i7 920 Nehalm 2.66 x4 (279.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115202

MB: Gigabyte GA-EP45 (129.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 8&Tpk=UD3P

RAM: OCZ Platinum 6 GB DDR3 (94.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227381 (I'm excited about this deal!!)

PSU: CORSAIR 650 Watts (94.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139005 (Is this enough juice?)

Case: CoolerMaster RC-690 ATX Mid-Tower (74.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ntec%20900 (Is this big enough?)

Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 260 896 MB (184.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130434 (Should I get two, is this powerful solo? I'm not crazy doing the whole dual card thing)

HD: WD 640 GB 7200 RPM (74.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136319

Drive: LG DVD/CD Burner 22x (25.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136153

The total price comes in at $960.22. My main concerns are is this case big enough, am I gimping anywhere (e.g., PSU at 650 watts or 1 graphics card), and since this is my first build, how do I hook up the USB inputs, etc? Is there a pictoral, build-your-pc guide on the net?

You guys are worth your weight in gold.

Thanks,

SG-

Yep, just as Shortstuff says.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.193607 Combo Discount: -$25.00 Combo Price: $454.98 $15.00 Mail-In Rebate
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/g [...] ,7463.html <--- Gigabyte: Enable SLI On X58 Boards

Why_Me...
GA-EX58-UD4P please...
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-EX58U4P

^ Well that is true...
But he will probably do SLI and having a board that support SLI out of the box will be better so that he doesn't have to meddle with the BIOS...

With your 1280x1024 resolution monitor just the single GTX 260 will be plenty of GPU muscle. And if you upgrade to one of the popular 22" 1680x1050 widescreen monitors it will still do a very good job for you.

For a single video card strategy the 650W is plenty of power, even a good 550W PSU would do.
That excellent Corsair 650TX will even run 2x GTX 260s. And you'd have no problem with future video card upgrades.

Also, I heard the term "budget" build thrown about. I don't want to short-change myself...is there anywhere where you'd say, consider upgrading the choice. As I mentioned, i can do a little more mullah.

Thanks!

Cool that heatsink looks reasonable and should keep things more kosher inside my case. Do you think it'll fit okay in the case I'm using?

BTW--what should I do about an OS?

I pulled the trigger on these parts last night. Thanks for all the advice--all much appreciated. I did upgrade the motherboard to the Gibabyte UD4P to "future-proof" the beast, and I upped the graphics card a bit.

Out of curiosity I went to Dell's website and tried to configure a similarly-spec'd machine, and saw that it was at least $400 more than what I paid! Interestingly, however, you can get about the same if not a little more from ibuypower.com. How legitimate are they? I'm looking forward to the process of building, but I was not expecting ibuypower to be so competitive.

SO I got all the materials together, and by far the most challenging part was the special heatsink/fan! Ugh.

Besides that, however, I'm a little confused. Was the Gigabyte UD4P supposed to come with screws? The cooler-master case provided the copper stand-offs, but no screws. The motherboard didn't come w/ screws either, however, I've heard I have to be real careful about the screws I use to pin down the motherboard so they don't mess things up--or am I supposed to use regular old little screws?

My bad--the screws were already screwed into the side of the case. I just had to uninstall them and screw them into the motherboard. Wasn't expecting that!

Cheers

I don't know if you guys get enough accolades, but I finished putting my machine together last night. It worked great! Even the leds are working correctly, and I installed beta copy of Windows 7 with success. I loaded all the "included" drivers, but I'm going to go online this afternoon and get the latest and greatest.

I uppped my motherboard to the UD4P, went with 750 watts (Corsair) over 650, and got that killer cooler referenced above. I also upped the graphics card to the GTX 275, since it got fantastic reviews and runs cool and quiet. I ditched my 19" square monitor, because it's so out of style and went with an LG 23" widescreeen. These are great monitors at sweet prices ($219, but it's sold out now). I almost regret not going with the LG 24", but that's $300.

So, anyway, thanks, and thank you again.