Building a new PC

D

Desert Fox

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Dec 29, 2007
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Hello everyone, I've decided to go ahead and build my PC instead of buying it from a manufacturer, etc.

I will be getting the parts from NewEgg, and am posting here to receive some help from people who are experienced with this stuff. This will be my first build, and I don't want to screw it up.

I already have an OS, monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, and speakers.

What I need:

Case - Antec Three Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower - $59.95

CD/DVD Drive - ASUS (long title) SATA - $36.99

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 250GB - $59.99

Memory - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $44.99

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - $84.99

Power Supply - Corsair CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V - $89.99

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - $169.99

Video Card - PNY VCG88512GXEB-FLB GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported - Retail. Bonus copy of Frontlines: Fuel of War included in box - $119.99

Grand Total: $666.88
What games I play:

I don't play any hardware extensive games like Crysis, I mainly play Source engine based games such as Day of Defeat: Source and Half Life 2 Mods.

My Questions:

1) Since this will be my first time building a PC, can you please provide me with some tips.
2) Do you need any special tools to build a PC?
3) Should I get a case that includes a PSU, or should I buy them seperate?
4) Should I purchase a sound card, or just use the onboard audio from the motherboard?
5) Will my internet be ok? I have a Linksys router.
6) Will all these parts fit in that Antec case?
7) Am I forgetting anything?

Thank you all.
 
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Well here is what I can make you for that price. Think this will be good for what you want.
and do you already have a SATA hard drive? Most likely your gonna want SATA for faster performance. (If you don't have one already)

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138122

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

RAM:
(2GBs) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231144
(4GBs) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
Or for a bit cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146047

Here's a good SATA drive as well:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262
 
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For the motherboard I'd like to get ASUS, just because I know they're quality... and the case an Antec. Also, do I really need a 750W PSU for all of this? I figured 600 or 650W would be enough..

Check my original post, I have updated it (click the part names to go to the NewEgg page for them). Also, could you answer the questions too. Thank you.

Edit: Also, would all this stuff fit in that case? I don't want to get all the parts, then have it not fit. :(

No, I don't have a SATA HD.. it's a Seagate ATA.
 
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Everything will fit in the case. As far as the PSU goes I posted a 650w in my post up there.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

1) Since this will be my first time building a PC, can you please provide me with some tips.
- Always remember to put the standoffs between the motherboard and the inside wall that your mounting the mobo to. If you don't you could fry the board. They will looks like THIS

2) Do you need any special tools to build a PC?
- Non-magnetized screwdriver ;)

3) Should I get a case that includes a PSU, or should I buy them separate?
- Buy separate

4) Should I purchase a sound card, or just use the onboard audio from the motherboard?
- Use onboard sound to start off with

5) Will my internet be ok? I have a Linksys router.
- Should be

6) Will all these parts fit in that Antec case?
- Yup

7) Am I forgetting anything?
- SATA Hard Drive
 
Well, I have an ATA hard drive.. I know SATA is faster, but this seems to be good enough for me.

Could I add you on Steam friends or something so it's easier to communicate. Thanks.
 
I added you. And as far at a ATA drive: It will work but most boards now only have 1 IDE port so if your DVD/CD drive is IDE as well its gonna be one tight cable there. ;)
And here is a motherboard I'd recommend. Its not ASUS but EVGA is still a really good brand.
Seen reviews on it and they say its a good budget board and is still up there with the best of them.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188026
 
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Sounds like you're ready to have some fun Fox. I'll see what I can offer. Please note that I am by no means a performance enthusiast. I squeeze the most performance out of a dollar that I can. That means that I don't buy the top-end graphics cards; rather, I buy a card that just reaches the "last gen" stage and pocket the hundreds of dollars of difference.

I basically have a mental list of quality/price tradeoffs when looking for components:
  • Start with the case. Technically, the case is the least important component, but certain cases will restrict your options later on. For example, if you select a really small Micro-ATX case, you will be limited to Micro-ATX motherboards. Whereas if you select a large tower, you can fit just about any motherboard you can find in the case.

    This one is purely up to personal preference. I still read reviews just to get a good idea of the build quality of a case. If I can't find a professional review, I move on to another case. The review will help you know if the case is filled with sharp edges, how easy it is to install components, whether there are any design flaws, how sturdy the case is, etc.

    Make notes of any limitations of the case you are looking at: limited room for power supplies, drives, or CPU heatsink sizes are common limitations.

    I personally like big cases so I can mount lots of drives in them. I have two Thermaltake Armors and one Antec Performance One P180. I recommend both as they have been very good to me and allow me great flexibility.
  • Power supplies are really important. People will often ignore this component and get the cheapest one that they can or get one with a case. I'll spend more than $100 on a solid power supply in order to protect my investment in the rest of my components and to ensure 24/7 operation without problems.

    I personally use the PC Power & Cooling 610 power supply for my systems. They are really solid. Read up on Power Supply Myths on PC Power & Cooling's site. It really helped me understand what is real and what is hype regarding power supplies. Arguably, they could be making some of their stuff up, but their reputation and results indicates that they are earnest.
  • Motherboards are the next most important item. Don't short-change yourself on the board. If you get a bad board, you will spend hours trying to figure out why Windows won't install, why your drives aren't recognized, why you system is unstable, or what that smokey smell is.

    Get a board with heat pipes and fins that draw heat away from the motherboard chipsets. When these chipsets get too hot, your system will reboot, BSoD, or die (it might even take another component or two with it in the process). Keep in mind whether you would like to use Crossfire or SLI at some point in the future as your motherboard selection will be the deciding factor in this. Also pay attention to the fact that not all boards support PCI-E 2.0. If having the ability to support the latest cards is important to you, you'll want to make sure that you select a board that has that feature.

    Make sure that the board you select is a form factor that is compatible with your case.

    I typically spend between $80-150 on a good solid motherboard. As I talk about below, do your research read up on what professional reviewers have to say and then compare that with what the Newegg reviewers say. Professionals will help you understand how well the overall board is designed while the purchasers will give you a good idea of any potential pitfalls or longevity issues.
  • After you have the board, select a processor that meets your needs. Both AMD and Intel make great chips, so this is purely up to how much you want to spend and whether you are aiming for performance or low-power (quiet) processors. If you are going to be running everything at stock speeds, get the processor with the included heatsink and fan as both Intel and AMD provide stock ones that are more than sufficient as long as your case is well ventilated.

    I find the $100-150 range to be a good bargain range for processors.
  • The combination of the motherboard and processor that you've selected will determine what type of memory you are looking for. Do a Power Search in Newegg's Desktop Memory section. Put in the details of what speed, type, and capacity you are looking for and search. You can sort by price, but I recommend sorting by best rating and then looking for memory that meets your price requirements.

    I will usually spend about $80-120 on Memory depending on how much I'm getting.
  • While I'm sure most people here go nuts deciding on the graphics card, it's really easy for me. I have experience with XFX, EVGA, and BFG, so I just look for their cards. I do a power search for those manufacturers, the interface type (look at the motherboard features), whether I'm looking specifically for nVidia or ATI, put in a range of memory sizes I'm interested in, limit the results to cards with GDDR3 or better, decide whether I want to support DirectX 9 or 10, check whether I want SLI or Crossfire support, select to return results with fans, and then search. From there, I can quickly see what my price range is and make search option changes as needed until I find what I want.

    I typically spend right at $100-120 dollars on graphics as this is a kind of sweet spot for excellent deals.

    Do a search on both your motherboard model and memory manufacturer/speed to ensure that there aren't people complaining how their memory didn't work in their board. This is by no means a sure-fire solution, but it's a good step to do as sometimes you find something.

As for your questions:

  • Since this will be my first time building a PC, can you please provide me with some tips.

    Research, research, research. Before you commit yourself on anything, make sure that the part you've selected will work with all your other parts. Read reviews and not just on Newegg. Search for the manufacturer, part model, and the word 'review' in Google and read up on reviews for that specific part. For example, if you are looking at the BIOSTAR TForce TF8200, search for biostar tf8200 review.
  • Do you need any special tools to build a PC?

    The primary tool you need is a medium Phillips head screwdriver. You may also need smaller Phillips screwdrivers for some small screws and a medium slotted screwdriver. I can add and remove most all of my computers' components with just one screwdriver.

    However, if you get some special cases, they could require some different tools.
  • Should I get a case that includes a PSU, or should I buy them seperate?

    I heartily recommend getting the case and power supply separately. I have seen more power supplies fail than any other single component.
  • Should I purchase a sound card, or just use the onboard audio from the motherboard?

    People go back and forth on this issue constantly. From my perspective, the sound card situation is a mess. Creative has a stranglehold on much of the market, but they also have a huge list of complaints against them in terms of driver support. I used to buy Creative cards, but I rely on the built-in sound now without problems.
  • Will my internet be ok? I have a Linksys router.

    Should be fine unless you have problems with it currently.
  • Am I forgetting anything?

    Hopefully I've given you a good start.

I have to go, but I can give you more info if you need it. I hope this helps you out.
 
First off.. Do not buy an SLi board unless you plan on going SLi.. You do not need i, and it can just create headaches for no reason. But it is nice to have the option... Also, you do not need a 750watt psu for a single card GT setup, 650w would power a SLI 8800GT setup just fine if its a decen PSU.

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

Mobo :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337

CPU :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052

Ram : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

HDD : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148134

icon1.gif
Building a new PC
Hello everyone, I've decided to go ahead and build my PC instead of buying it from a manufacturer, etc.

I will be getting the parts from NewEgg, and am posting here to receive some help from people who are experienced with this stuff. This will be my first build, and I don't want to screw it up.

I already have an OS, hard drive, CD/DVD drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, and speakers.

What I need:

Case - Antec Three Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower

Memory - G.Skill 2GB (2 x1 GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1006 (PC28500)

Motherboard - ???

Power Supply - ???

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

Sound Card (possibly) - ??

Video Card - PNY VCG88512GXEB-FLB GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail. Bonus copy of Frontlines: Fuel of War included in box

My Budget:

< $650.

What games I play:

I don't play any hardware extensive games like Crysis, I mainly play Source engine based games such as Day of Defeat: Source and Half Life 2 Mods.

My Questions:

1) Since this will be my first time building a PC, can you please provide me with some tips.
-Use De-Magnitized tools, stay grounded, wear rubber soles, you dont want to mess up any parts and have to RMA them.

2) Do you need any special tools to build a PC?
-See Above

3) Should I get a case that includes a PSU, or should I buy them seperate?
- Get them separate

4) Should I purchase a sound card, or just use the onboard audio from the motherboard?
-If you run a crazy surround sound system like i do (z5500) then you might want an XFI or something on that level, unless you run in vista, in which case your going to have problems with any vista soundcard... Realtek Onboard sound is fine if your just using headphones or some 2.1's, etc.. im in vista 64 and using my realtek over my xfi fatal1ty right now becuase im sick and tired of the Creative drivers just sucking so bad and borking out all the time on me.

5) Will my internet be ok? I have a Linksys router.
-Yes, you plug directly in ?

6) Will all these parts fit in that Antec case?
-Yes they should

7) Am I forgetting anything?
-No


Honestly i would try and get the Q6600 quad core CPU.. it's so amazing of a cpu, everything runs like butter.. The e8400 and e8500 are nice chips too, but your on a budget..

Also, you should look into the x38 chipsets, such as a DFI Lan Party X38 Chipset, those boards totally ROCK, if i was going to stay single card then i would def go with the solid cooling and reliability of an intel x38 chipset... Plus it's crossfire compatible... so maybe you can rub an AMD card instead of the GT .. with all the hooplah around here about AMD :)

I like my nforce.. but alot of people have problems with them.
 
Desert Fox said:
Unfortunately, the parts I have listed add up to $755.

I can only afford around $650.

:(
Click to expand...

The cpu / mobo / psu parts i listed above are really cheap

psu = 89.99
cpu = 119.00
mobo = 89.99
Ram = 60.00


You can do it.. i just did a few 650 dollar budget builds for my friends.
 
I'm revising my list, I took a look at the stuff you posted.

Is Gigabyte considered a quality company? Also, the rebate for the RAM you posted expires today (8/15) so I won't be able to get it in time.

I think I'll stick with the CPU I have now though, PSU is still undecided.
 
I have updated the OP, I added each part with the price amount and grand total.

Is everything compatible/should anything be revised? Thank you.
 
Looks good.. those Gigabyte boards are really easy to work with, and they are a good price..

I bet you can find 4 Gigs for around 50 bucks, but it's not really something to beat your self up over...

If you want to stick to 2 sticks.. get this instead.. it's clocked higher and it's the same price .. its 1066

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820227178

OCZ is a solid company..

If you go to the trades section Milwauke just posted 2 diff 8800gt overclocked editions for 100 + shipping each.

Also, this HDD is on sale for 74.99 and its 5000gb...
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16822136073


After that you should be good, those are super shell shocker deals that are listed in the emailing list, that is how i found em... def get the higher clocked ram and 250 more gb's of HDD space on that one i linked for 5 bucks ? no brainer :) plus its the same speed hdd.
 
The RAM isn't the same price.. the one in my post is $45.

The overclocked one you posted is $70. I think I'll stick with the HD in my OP too, 250GB is enough for me.
 
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