My first PC build...
 

Building your own computer seems to be a right of passage, but it's something I've yet to do. My PC is long in the tooth and I want to build its replacement. I'm looking for something solid, fast, and quiet. I want power but don't play PC games, so I don't need to get carried away with graphics support. I have an initial budget of around $700, but will go over within reason if worthwhile.

Here is my preliminary list. Please comment:

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H
$109 less $10 MIR

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition
$185.99, includes $15 newegg gift card

Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB
$64.99

Boot drive: Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV425-S2BD/64GB
$124.99 less $25 MIR

Storage drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6402AAEX
$69.99

Case: Antec Six Hundred
$65

Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W
$59 less $20 MIR

Optical: LITE ON DVDRW
$25.99

Total of above is $712 shipped from newegg. I then get back $55 in rebates plus a $15 newegg giftcard.

I'm skipping a GPU for now to keep the budget in check, but plan on adding a video card later. I'll pump the rebate money back into it to partially cover the GPU in "6 to 8 weeks" when they come back. I'll also start with 4 gb of ram, but will be upgrading down the road when DDR3 comes down in price.

May remove the LiteOn drive in favor of a bluray combo drive, or may keep it and add bluray later.

So, what am I missing? I'll get some good thermal paste and already have the OS (win 7 pro 64 bit). Feel free to point out what I'm doing wrong and link me to the manual. I surely deserve it.

This will be replacing an 8 year old retail bought computer (2.4 p4, 512mb ram, 256mb PCI (not PCI-E) gpu). So this new rig will be a substantial upgrade.

you think 640 gigs is gonna be enought why not go bigger or do you plan on running more than one drive? and also from what i have seen ddr3 is not that awesome performance for the cash outlay siomething like 10% more effeciency. ooh i see the SSD cool beans i would still want more space though lol esp if you store movies etc it gets eaten up quick.

Here is what I would start with.
AMD phenom x6 desktop(no os)
http://www.ascendtech.us/customkitit...TPCPH2X6109002

Would probably upgrade the motherboard(base one seems to suck) and memory, but you could probably stay in your budget

Building it yourself, like with almost everything, gets you the best bang for your buck. I've built my last 5 or 6 machines, and all have been pretty much top of the line machines for their time, maybe some of it was just previously out-dated by new released parts (like buying the AMD Phenom II X4 940BE right when the 945 and 950 series stuff came out, and use of high end DDR2 instead of cheap DDR3, which isn't much better) just for extra saving. That gives me 95% of the performance, and all for half of what companies wanted for pre-built machines. Plus I find the stockpiling of parts and the build a lot of fun. Lots of research, reading reviews and learning stuff as you go. Overall an enjoyable thing, typically. Never had an issue with any build, thanks to good research, and a bit of luck I guess.

Thanks. My proposed build has nearly 9x the storage of my current PC, which I've only managed to fill 60 out of 80 gb over 8 years. So I don't think it's an issue, but if I do manage to start filling it up, I'll get more storage as it's warranted.

Yeah I started looking for a preassembled machine but couldn't find one that I wanted at a reasonable price. When I started looking at components, I considered going with something a little older to save a bit of money, and it looks like the difference would be in the $150 range to get into a high clock speed 2 or 3 core. Tempting. But I think the better value is in the 970. I'm not popping for the i7.

Thanks for the link.
I do want to build this on my own though for the learning experience and the braggin rights. :)

Surprised about the solid state drive. You think there is much benefit of running it over just a standard sata?

Never had one myself, but from what I read and hear from those who do have them, yes. Dunno, guess I'll find out.

As far as I can tell, the spindle drive I picked out is also reasonably fast for mechanical.

LOL, get SSD, but skimp on GPU.


Makes sense.


(I'm trolling, I see you're not playing games)

I approve of the use of SSD. You're going to like how snappily windows will boot and run.

^^That's what I'm looking for.

I do plan on doing the GPU in the near future. Just figured I'd wait for the rebate money to come back to help pay for it while I watch prices.

Be careful with the SDDs. You have to set them up correctly because they do not last as long as a HDD. At least you did a year or two ago when I did my SSD setup.

EDIT: This looks to not be the case anymore! Good deal.

www.hardware-revolution.com <--------- good stuff

Good link. Thanks

Why not spend $6 less and get 6 cores. Easily OCed to 3.5 GHz on stock cooling. Multi-tasks like a moFo. For more explicit directions just read all Newegg comments.

http://i52.tinypic.com/9tzbc1.jpg

I wouldn't bother with SSD as Win7 boots pretty fast (assuming that's the OS you're running). But I leave my shit on all the time too.

My next build, which might be soon, WILL have 1090T action, unless they outdate it before then. Honestly, 6 core shit snuck up on me. I went for a few months without looking at computer stuff, then I look at newegg and see 6 core technology on both sides... damn!?

Because 4 cores is plenty to multitask. Remember the more cores you have the less efficient they are. 4 cores @3.5ghz > 6 cores at 2.8ghz. I bet that x4 smokes that x6.

Does AMD have the turboboost like the i7s? Where you can have 4 cores @xghz when multitasking, or 2/1 cores @xghz when you don't need multiple cores.

But what about 3.5 vs. 3.5? I'll take the 6 core. Preferably the 1090T for only $40 more. I find it insane that AMD can offer their top of the line processors for less than $250. Which is why I have always been an AMD guy. Intel might have better stuff, but for multiple times more cost, and only slightly better in performance. The 1090T apparently can run pretty hot and remain stable. So even with stock cooler, you can coax just under 4ghz out of it.

Good feedback, and the answer is :dunno:
The data's conflicting on which is better.

Also, as much as I want the SSD for geek factor, reading around I'm thinking I might be happier with a RAID0 setup for now, and later if I get bored, I can explore SSD after it's better sorted and the $/GB is lower. Reading about RAID0 failures also is tempting me to add a "green" back up drive or other external back up solution.

If you haven't purchased the parts yet... wait till black friday. There's usually a ton of deals on hardware. Should even be able to find a decent GPU for cheap.

Though... i will admit last years black friday deals sorta sucked.

Heck .. if you really want to move towards geek factor.. look into water cooling! can either aim for a ridiculously quiet computer, or one that you can overclock and keep low temperatures.

now that makes it fun!

bfads.net why wait to find out if there's anything good on black friday?

Jesus don't run RAID 0 on anything you are about keeping. For the cost of drives do a RAID 1 setup. Data integrity is worth more than a small % of performance.

:bigtu: for your choice in MoBo. A gigabyte S-series is what I am running, with intel p-35 chipset. I know, its old. But gigabytes are the shit, cheap, and I have never had a problem with one.

You sir, would take the slower processor, well they would probably perform similar but the 6 core would not be faster. Unless you are editing video as a profession there is no need for more than 2 cores really. At least not until that CPU is out dated. Software won't utilize the extra cores for a long time.

I would not bother with SSD on a desktop.

I'd take a SSD with trim support over just about any other upgrade any day of the week. The HDD will always be the slowest part of your computer. An SSD is absolutely the most noticable upgrade for real time every day use.

It's crazy how computer components shift in price day to day. For instance the really nice Antec case I had picked out at $65 a couple days ago is $90 today. $15 isn't much against $700, but $90 is a 40% increase over $65. The RAM I had picked out also went up by $10. Overall the same system is ~$50 more today than it was a couple days ago.

I bought some Kingston RAM today. $75 - $25 MIR. I know you should get your mobo nailed in before the RAM, but it should be good with anything I get.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820104223

I was hoping to build this over the thanksgiving weekend, but I guess I'll hold off to see if there's anything cool over black friday. I'll keep watching daily specials though. Hopefully I'll get the items all ordered over the next 7-10 days.

What makes you get AMD over Intel?

The AMD stuff costs less and appears to perform comparably for my usage.

Newegg tends to change prices frequently. Sometimes it works in your favor and sometimes it does not.

Got my power supply. $54 less $25 MIR.

Yes, but again, for the price, why not get the 6 core. When it comes to computers, I like to have the latest and greatest, even if it's a bit ahead of its time. I could find ways to utilize all 6 I'm sure. Not that I'm saying quad core is bad, I'm loving the hell out of my Phenom II 940. Run it overclocked at 3.5ghz on stock cooler, and does what I need it to do without question. My weak links really are the slightly outdated mobo and DDR2-800 memory. Even then, it's minor vs what today would cost 4x-6x as much for maybe 20% increase in performance, which would barely be noticeable by most.

Get a 1TB Western Digital RE3 drive. You will pay a little more but it will last 2-3x longer and will be MUCH faster. Better yet - get 4 x 1TB and run a RAID 10 setup. That pretty much eliminates the need for your SSD too as it's going to be almost as fast and much more reliable.

Pretty sure I won't be running $520 worth of hard drives in a $700 budget computer.

Good write up

http://lifehacker.com/5684015/crafti...uter-spec-list

I know your hearts set but...

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...812&aoid=35252

use code:DTF259161

899 shipped

Wow, good deal on an i7, but yeah doesn't give me the chance to do it myself.

There isn't a lot to putting together a PC, no mystery or fun. I can understand if you are putting together a performance rig where you want to have very specific components in it. But on a budget build, what are you going to get out of putting the thing together yourself?

I guess I don't get it because I'm in the industry and HATE fucking about with my own computers. I personally own 2 applicance PC's that boot off of CF and access a Dlink NAS via NFS for my firewall and webserver. My wife has a new i5 MacBook Pro.

Have fun!

Ditch the SSD. Doesn't Antec have a 300 case that well priced? Sounds like you don't need a large case.

I've been tinkering with building another box, but I just keep updating my old Dell 8300 for the fun of it. I'll eventually build an AMD based machine.

Woot. Pulled the trigger on all the remaining components.

Went with a PhenomII 3 core CPU instead of the 4 core. Saved a good chunk of money, and I thought it would be fun to see if I could unlock the 4th core. If it does unlock, then I get X4 performance at half price. If it doesn't unlock, the CPU was still significantly less expensive. Also decided to pass on the SSD boot drive after continuing to read about them. Going to do a RAID setup instead, but will start with 1 drive first to make sure that everything's ok, then will install the rest.

Pretty excited about it. Should have everything to put it together next weekend.

Post up the results, I'm curious to see how it turns out.

I have a SSD on my laptop as the boot drive, Win7 boots in seconds rather than the minutes I'd grown accustomed to.

If I built a desktop, I'm pretty sure I'd run smaller, faster hard drives on the system and externals for storage. I bought a 1Tb external when I got to Afghanistan and just filled it up the other day. Luckily, I had the foresight to buy another when I went on leave, so now I'm working on filling that one.

I can take my movies, music, TV shows, software, etc. with me, share it, grab more from friends, etc. External drives come in handy.

Sure it makes more sense on a laptop I think.

I went with the new, fast Samsung drives. "Only" 320GB, but I'll run 4 in Raid 10. That gives 640GB storage, plus a backup set of 640GB storage. 4 drives in Raid 10 should give fairly equivalent speed to an SSD, though it uses more power and possibly noise. I got an efficient power supply (>87%) and a fairly quiet case. If I find I need more space, I can add 2 more drives to the Raid, a high cap green drive, or go with a NAS or WHS solution.

It's my first rodeo, but I put a lot of research in it.

Just run that setup with an external 1-2TB external for storage.

Got a few of the parts in. The rest come today or tomorrow.

The case included hardware to mount the various components including a set of standoffs and bolts to retain the mobo. It did not include any insulators to isolate the mobo from the case. The hardware is definitely conductive. Is it best practice to use insulators or not? Does it even matter?

Last time I built a MB I just used standoffs. It's been a long time.

I remember using those little fiber washers between the motherboard and the standoffs back in the 286 era, but I haven't seen 'em recently.

If you flip the board upside-down, you should find that all of the mounting holes are surrounded by an area absent any traces, and most likely unmasked and plated. I expect that the designers intend them to be used as grounds. On the last several dozen machines I've put together, I've not used any kind of isolation between the motherboard and the case standoffs.

Ditto, no production retail pc in existence that I have seen in the last 7-8 years used insulators on the motherboard mounts either.

Thanks. I assumed as much but won't have the mobo in my hands until tomorrow.

Just make sure you don't put a standoff in the wrong spot and have it contact the board. I have seen people fry boards doing that. Its a simple mistake to make.

They were phased out when ATX came into the scene. Pretty much in the Pentium I 66-90 days.

You gotta forgive Joe, global warming just melted the glacier he was trapped in.

The last PC I built was in 1997 it was pretty epic. I think I splurged for the 56K modem.

Yeah, that seems about right.

I'd kinda forgotten what a pain in the ass building PCs used to be. Remember how most of the XT and AT class motherboards had all the little oddball plastic snap-in risers, sometimes you had to slide the thing sideways into place, which knocked all the washers off the standoffs, the power connectors weren't keyed so it was possible to install them backwards, RAM in the form of 16 pin DIPs (dozens of them) rather than just one or two SIMMs, IRQ jumpers, two separate ribbon cables per hard drive (and you were grateful, because not everyone had a hard drive), and who here remembers using DEBUG to key in assembly commands in real time to low-level a hard drive?

aah... good times.


It's funny that you mention ATX, actually. I think my first two Pentium-class boards were still Baby-AT form factor, mostly because I had a really awesome case and I didn't want to part with it.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__...nerVic20ad.jpg

I remember the first cd rom drive I bought when I wanted to install some new fps and we only had a 14.4 modem so I couldn't download it (connection would reset after too long). It had like a million dip switches on the back and I had no instructions. I literally went through it from 0 on up until it worked... Modern computers are a miracle in retrospect. High speed serial connections are ftw.

I remember when 8x speed cd-roms came out and were like $400

Hell, I remember hard drives measured in megabytes and the novelty of a color monitor, lol.

That was in elementary school...

We put our new computers to good use playing Oregon Trail. I have died of dysentery.

I still have my old Micron that I got for college in 1995. It was really nice for its day. Baby AT board, had a Pentium 100 which I upgraded after a few years to an Evergreen 233. I think that required setting some jumpers on the mobo. I maxed it out with 128 MB of RAM (4x 32MB SIMMs). I looked a couple years ago to see if it would be worth my effort to update it any more, and IIRC the fastest processor for which you can get a Baby AT mobo is a Pentium III 1 GHz. I didn't bother, and for some reason I still have it sitting in my office closet collecting dust.

That, and the death of the ISA / VLB slot really hurt me. The manufacturers did a reasonable job of transitioning away from them, to the extent that you could actually buy motherboards with a mix of all three of the major expansion card formats - ISA, VLB and PCI - all in one (I don't recall ever seeing an EISA / PCI board) but when the ISA and VLB slots finally went away altogether, I was pissed. I had a few fairly high-end expansion cards (a VLB Adaptec SCSI controller, a nice VLB VGA card, and an actual NE2000 ISA-16 card) which were rendered utterly worthless.

Funny though. After PCI had really settled in, it was actually kind of nice. For the first time since the PC/XT, there was just one single type of expansion slot, and no worries about whether Card A would fit into Machine B, or whether the one slot you had of Type C was going to get blocked by a SIMM, or some other witless thing.

And now we have, what, at least 470 different slot designs which all have the letters "PCI" in their name somewhere (not to mention the ill-fated AGP) all of which are, to some degree or another, incompatible with one another.