Building a computer, need suggestions

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 2:02 pm

I've ordered the computer, anyone have any suggestions for building it?

I decided that instead of going to a company and getting ripped off, I'm going to build a computer myself. I need some suggestions. I can pay around $1200 for the whole thing.

Basically this is what I want (from newegg.com of course

). Anyone see any conflicting hardware?

Code: Select all

CPU :

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

$312.99
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Motherboard : 

ASUS P5LD2 R2.0 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131048

$104.99
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Ram:

Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134114

$161.99
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Graphics Card :

eVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130062

$139.99
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Hard Drive x2 :

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JS 120GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144414

$56.99
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Optical Drive :

SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151136

$31.99
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Case :

NZXT Apollo SILVER NP Silver Secc Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811146028

$69.99
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Power Supply : 

Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Power Supply 115/230 V - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023

$39.99
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Monitor :

Acer AL1916WAbd Black 19" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009091

$184.99
------------------------------------------------
Operating System : 

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116059

$139.99
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Keyboard And Mouse : 

Logitech LX300 967427-0403 Black 86 Normal Keys 34 Function keys Function Keys PS/2 RF Wireless Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823126156

$39.99

totokan · Post by **totokan** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 2:18 pm

2 Gb Kingston Ram. Try to get ddr2, and a mobo that supports it. ddr2 is cheaper than ddr, but better and faster.

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 2:31 pm

You didn't want to go with Seagate's 750 gig monster HD?

(Ka-CHING!)

You're sure you want Pro? I thought Media Center edition was cheaper... (halfway between pro and home?) It's $109 as opposed to $139. I know, that's only 30 bucks difference, but it's still cheaper, besides you don't really need Pro unless you're on a large network, or need hard drive encryption.

Go with an MSI motherboard if possible. I've never had a problem with them. (*knocks on wood*)

(as you are probably aware,) I'm not a big fan of spending money on fancy cases. 70 bucks is quite a bit to dump on a box. I mean, unless it's going to live on top of your desk (in which case a desktop PC is better than a tower), I don't see a need for a fancy case with lights and windows so you can see the dust inside. In fact, my next machine (if I stick with IBM Wintel clones) is going to go in my old Slot 1 machine's case (sure it's beige, but I don't use that PC much anymore, just for referencing old junk.) But, it's your taste and money...

ViewSonic 19" LCD =

(I think that's what mine is; a ViewSonic VG800b) The built-in speakers kinda suck, though. Invest in an additional set of speakers, or wire up your PC to a stereo, if you're going to do any gaming or music on your machine.

DVD DL+-RW drives "for the win", as they say.

1 gig of RAM is more than enough for anything besides gaming. If you do play a lot of games, get 2 gigs.

"power supply": that's kind of a duh...

I've never had a power problem with the 450 watt PS that came in my tower case (running 2 disc drives, 2 hard drives, a floppy drive (old school!

), an extra fan, and various USB thingies)

If only you had 18 grand to spend, you could get a Mac Pro with 2 dual-core Intel Xeon processors, something like 2 TB of hard drive space, and 16 gigs of RAM.

EDIT: Random tips and such:

1. Since you're going to have two seperate hard drives, put them on seperate IDE channels.

2. You can get better performance out of the machine if you put the virtual memory swap file on a seperate physical drive from the Windows folder.

3. After you get the C: drive all set up with Windows, the patches, and everything else, boot off a linux Live CD and use the dd command to make a disk image, just in case something bad happens.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:16 pm

List updated!

Post by **gannon** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:22 pm

hmm... well, I built up one on newegg and it came out to be ~$1300 total

I suppose it didn't need the peltier based cpu cooler though

http://portablesofdoom.org/media/cart.html

Post by **Skyone** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:28 pm

Last edited by vb_master on Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:16 pm; edited 6 times in total

Indecisive enough?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:02 pm

bicostp wrote:
1. Since you're going to have two seperate hard drives, put them on seperate IDE channels.

those are SATA drives, i automatically assumed he was goign to RAID them

also, id like to reiterate that 1gb of ram is plenty unless you need preformance.

also, even though ddr2 looks better on paper, i dont think it would actually give you preformance you could notice without multiple benchmarks. but it IS cheaper. so why not i guess.

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:03 pm

Why would you need to set up a RAID array in a desktop PC?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:33 pm

striped for prefromance. i guess. i dunno. i did it to my dual 250s just to see how much faster it would be (not that much).

there are raid configurations that just merge multiple physical discs into single partitions for convinience.

its up to him really. pretty shure his board has built in raid, it would be a shame to not play with it at least.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:09 pm

timmeh87 wrote:its up to him really. pretty shure his board has built in raid, it would be a shame to not play with it at least.

One was going to be for Windows and applications, the other for storage.
If one of the HDD fails, I am dead though with RAID.

And yes I need 1GB RAM because I want to play Source games on high quality and high FPS.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:15 pm

you mean 2gb?

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:34 pm

timmeh87 wrote:you mean 2gb?

I might get 2gb I don't know.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:23 pm

be different and get 1.5

(note: dumb idea)

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:25 pm

timmeh87 wrote:be different and get 1.5

(note: dumb idea)

Yeah... that's really stupid.

EDIT: 4000TH POST OMG!!!!!!!

Post by **Sparkfist** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:29 am

vb_master wrote:
timmeh87 wrote:you mean 2gb?
I might get 2gb I don't know.

Save the money and don't buy 2GB of ram. You system will run best with 1GB and believe me I have a intructor who runs VM sytems on his laptop, it has 1GB ram and he's never had the swap/paging used on his system.

The hard drive, really look at places like CompUSA and see when they're having a sale. They have unbelievable prices on hard drives. Like 200-300GB hard drives that are only $30-50 after rebate. The wait for a few weeks will be worth it.

I also have to agree that a RAID5 array is not neccessary on a desktop. If you feel you need a RAID go with type 3. Fewer hard drives (means less money) and really I don't know how you'd need the kind of redundancy that a RAID5 offers. If you're hell bent on a RAID5 just build a lower end machine and use it as a network backup server.