New Comp list

firestorm · 05-14-2006, 10:22 PM

Hey,
I am starting to build my new comp. No rush on when I need it done by, just thought I'd start to look around.This is the first one I have ever made so if I'm missing something plz tell. If you have time, just look at the chart and see what you all think. What might be too expensive and what a good alternatative is. Thanks.

-fire

**Lyte** · 05-15-2006, 02:42 AM

Hey fire,

Looks like a nice build!

I'd definately go with a flatscreen/LCD monitor. They're still a little expensive but they're so nice!

Lyte

firestorm · 05-15-2006, 04:03 PM

of course, will probly go with a dell 19in+ on that part. If you have any good choices for graphics cards or anything else, feel free to input. A closed mind only promotes an empty head.

McDaddy · 05-15-2006, 08:55 PM

mostly an overhaul.

Mother board-DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX Motherboard $174.99
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...356361&CatId=0

tv tuner- persionally i would drop the tv tuner, just my sugestion. i dont really see a use for them, i have one and never use it. i bought i thinking i would, but i dont.

Hard Drives- i would go with either western digital, or maxtor. you should look for sata II, or a 16 meg buffer. i chose these only because of the price, they cant be beat at the moment. they are 160gig by maxtor with only an 8 meg buffer but for $50 bucks, you cant beat that. i would go with 4 of them. the motherboard i spec. out will handle up to 8 of them
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=TSD-160M4

memory- Corsair Dual Channel 2048MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz . can run in dual channel which the motherboard i spec. is one of the best. can be overclocked well.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...188&CatId=1075

case- man as far as the case is concerened. it is your call, but the max i would send about $150 on a case. and take the rest and drop in to your video card. case only look nice, but dosent do any thing for you other than that. the only thing i really suggest in a case is look that air will flow easily and that it is made of aluminum.

video card-BFG GeForce 7900 it costs $325. but it is a great card. i recomend this one. that way if you want to upgrade, you can put two of them in and connect them together and that would be sick.

power supplyi would go with a 600 or a 650 watt. psu. just dont buy a cheap one. i did that once and have had problems with it big time. my good 450W put out much more power that a cheap 500W i bought. i run both of them at the same time, but still. a good psu is a good investment, dont get a cheap one. they are not all equal.

firestorm · 05-15-2006, 09:51 PM

Thanks for the info McDaddy. I like the motherboard you picked, but the ASUS is only 20 bucks more, comes with dual LAN's and 1 more PCI slot. Still not decided about. Corsair is on the top of my list though, it and crucial. I have changed the case to a 140 buck one(Antec right now). The vid card is a bit pricey for me(only 16), I think a 120ish one will do at the start, I can always add on

. Will definitely get a better psu, don't want a bad one

.

As for HD's, I really like scsi's, their speed is unmatched. What I am leaning toward right now is a U320 SCSI as the boot drive and then set up a bunch of HD's in an external box through eSATA-II. Kinda inmy dream world, but that would be cool. I have about a terabyte of IDE-ATA drives sitting around. Those make for cheaper storage like you said

.

I might go down to a cheaper tv tuner. I need it to experiment with MythTV. Just somethin' I am interested in. Thanks for the advice McDaddy, you've given me alot to think about!

McDaddy · 05-19-2006, 11:10 PM

i am partial to the lan party series mother boards because i use them and they are exelent as far as stability. the are also one of the best for overclocking. (the best in my opinion). befor you get the asus ask around at you local computer store about them. and the people who are familuar with them will most likley agree with me. also read what overclocker have to say about hard ware. they are the people who will be able to tell you the best reviews hands down.

question for you. why do you need 2 lan ports. i dont see why. kinda neat and nifty, but i have never found a "NEED" for 2.

antec makes a great case so does cooler master.

psu. alwase go with a good on. i got a cheap 500W and got burned. i learned my lesson there. (i think we all go cheap once hoping to be differant. but all learn the hard way)

memory. if you are debating on memory. remember low latency and high speed will alwase be better then just big sticks. i would rather have 2 fast 512 sticks running in dual than 4 slow 512 sticks. much more efficent and much faster

firestorm · 05-20-2006, 05:31 PM

Hey McDaddy,
Will definately look into the LANPARTY motherboards. Doesn't D_ _ make them? Can't remember the last two letters. I definately agree with you on the psu and memory though

. Will do some more research now. Thanks!

McDaddy · 05-20-2006, 05:57 PM

they are made by DFI

firestorm · 05-20-2006, 06:57 PM

yep thats what I was thinkin of, google brought it up for me right after that post

OulZac · 05-20-2006, 09:26 PM

no the two fans will not be enough, i would get 2 more, or drop 200 and get a liquid cooling system. also if your going to splurge on the 64 x2, why not upgrade for 50 more and get the 64 FX2. as for memory, that boad should support dualchannel, so snag a DDR2 DC 2GB

firestorm · 05-20-2006, 09:39 PM

hey oulzac,
Am looking into the FX2's right now but still not finding a great price. I not too keen on liquid cooling, it seems a little much for me. Dual channel memory is a great alternative but I am once again looking at prices. Maybe ebay will have some great deals. Thanks for the suggestions, everything is still in planning so I am also up for more

McDaddy · 05-21-2006, 02:27 PM

dual channel is the way to go hands down. you will not be disipointed i promise.

as for liquid cooling, that is what i am using now, since i like to overclock. if you look around, you can get a starter kit for about a hundred bucks if you look for them.

firestorm · 05-21-2006, 02:45 PM

will look around then

. guess I just steered clear of liquid cooling when it first came out and never looked back. Thanks for the info.

McDaddy · 05-21-2006, 09:58 PM

well if you are still wanting to stay with air cooling, be sure to invest in a cood, 100% copper heat sink. heat pipes work verry well, you can also cut a couple of more degrees by laping the bottom of your heat sink.

if you overclock any, you also might think about a chipset cooler. by simply uping the clock of you entire system in the bios, you can get a couple of hundred MHz extra out of the computer, do that and then dync. the timing ouf your ram and overclock your ram a little can save you money. by doing these two things you can by componets that are not as expensive as the others and make them run just as fast, or you can buy the expeensive componets and make them run that much faster.

firestorm · 05-21-2006, 11:08 PM

I don't think I want to overclock with this comp. Might try it out on an older one first, kinda pointless to ruin a brand new comp on my first try lol. Still reading about air and liquid cooling. Got your pm and just missed you in the chat. Thanks again for all the info.

McDaddy · 05-27-2006, 01:05 PM

just because someone overclocks does not mean that they push their system to the limits. jsut only have to make some parts run faster than intended, and not by a whole lot to make a big performance differance.

firestorm · 05-30-2006, 08:58 PM

I know exactly what you mean by that. I am starting to lean toward liquid cooling. If you see any good deals let me know. Thanks again!

-fire

fmauniverse · 07-29-2006, 11:54 AM

Hi. The computer parts look quite good. It will be a cool computer - 2GB ram (quite a lot), if you want to play good computer games, get a 128MB video card, also you need a keyboard and a monitor (Widescreen better I think) added to the list.

Good luck with your custom built computer!

Regards.

firestorm · 07-29-2006, 04:14 PM

thanks. Thinking about getting a Dell XPS 600 off of ebay instead(still deciding). Most of them have dual 256mb video cards in them

. I want 2 gigs minimum. I try to use all of my PC. Have to just about to do video editting, 3D-modeling, and run all of my CAD's that I need for electrical engineering classes(1 more yr of hs left

) Gonna get a 19" LCD at the smallest. Should have a good comp bought or made in less than a month!

ThaiN · 08-04-2006, 05:35 AM

i got a samsung dvd-r drive i dont use it... It was from my HP computer but since i dont have anything to burn i just leave it out.. Its somewhere in the storage if you want i can send u it but if only i find it hehe

firestorm · 08-04-2006, 08:18 AM

Thanks Thain but I have plenty of those from old comps too

. I just need a fast DVD-RW. Thanks for the offer.