Taking the dive into PC building

[Etra]

I know. Me again with nubcake questions.

After years of buying premade PCs and upgrading / cleaning them out / reapplying pastes / etc., I've decided I should try and make my own computer. I've held off doing it and rigged up my laptop to use a desktop video card, but it's time to move on and get past the old Core 2 Duo CPUs. lol :s

Currently, I'm looking at this for a general guide (The "hot rod"): Ars Technica system guide: December 2011 However, I wanted to get some general input from you all, as well. Any advice on parts, building, anything else?

Edit: Forgot to mention, I already have a 1080p monitor to use and was hoping to use my current Radeon HD 5670 (for now), until I can afford something better.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Try to buy your parts from a local store. Hopefully they'll have employees who can help make sure all your components are compatible and if they aren't it's easy to bring them back and yell at them.

Get a nice roomy case if you can. Nothing's more frustrating that trying to shove all your components into a tiny box. It gets messy and makes life more difficult than it has to be.

Not all video cards fit nicely in all motherboards. My current rig has two PCI-express x16 slots, but any worthwhile video card will only fit in one of the slots because of the placement of some copper piping behind one of said slots. It's not a big deal for me, but it's the kind of thing you want to watch out for when you're picking out components.

[Armando]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Tom's Hardware periodically puts out articles called "Best Video Card for the money, <month> <year>" and "Best CPU for the money, <month> <year>". You can find them in Articles -> CPU and Articles -> Graphics. I like to use those articles as a general guide, and reference their benchmarks (in the Charts tab) to compare other hardware to the ones they recommend.

Also, not sure how much you know about PC hardware but bear in mind that your motherboard needs to support your processor and memory. You can generally use any PCI-express video card with any motherboard, but if you want two cards at the same time then you can usually only use two GeForce or two Radeons, depending on the motherboard. Since you're going for a mid-range PC, and this is your first time, you probably don't want two cards though. Also, make sure to leave some wiggle room in your power supply choice. E.g. If the power of your hardware adds up to 490W, don't pick a 500W power supply, pick something bigger.

[Etra]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Thanks you two. I'll keep that stuff in mind and will definitely check out Tom's Hardware. Will have to do some investigation on the local store thing. Outside of the general chains of electronic stores... Not much else out my way.

[Absentia]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

I would definitely suggest a full tower case, that way if you ever upgrade or add to your build you'll have sufficient room down the road. Anyway, what kind of price range do you have for the build?

[Etra]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

I would definitely suggest a full tower case, that way if you ever upgrade or add to your build you'll have sufficient room down the road. Anyway, what kind of price range do you have for the build?

Was thinking around $700, since I already have a video card and monitor. Was going to upgrade the video card later on.

[Absentia]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more! $315.00

Newegg.com - SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3&#47;EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $160.00

Newegg.com - AZZA Solano 1000 Black&#47;Black Japanese SECC Steel&#47;Metal mesh in front ATX Full Tower Computer Case $115.00

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB &#40;2 x 4GB&#41; 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 &#40;PC3 12800&#41; Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9B $47.00

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb&#47;s 3.5&#34; Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $85.00


Total comes to about $722.00. I know it's above your price range, but it's decently close and I hope it helps. :3

[Malacite]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Anything from Corsair is usually very solid & reliable. (They mostly deal with RAM but I thought I'd seen some other parts made by them).

Coolmaster is also a great brand for power supplies/fans.


As for brands for video cards, I'm unfamiliar with Radeon makers sorry, but for nVidia E.V.G.A. I believe is usually the best.

[DakAttack]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Case: NZXT

Graphics: Asus, EVGA

Motherboard: Asus

Power Supply: Corsair

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Coolmaster is also a great brand for power supplies/fans.

I completely agree. One of theirs is the case I'm planing to buy when I rip my rig back open in a few weeks. Lemme see if I can find the link. I liked it a lot.

---------- Post added at 05:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:00 PM ----------

Here: Cooler Master RC-942-KKN1 HAF X ATX Full Tower Computer Case - ATX, 230mm Red LED Fan, USB 2.0/3.0, 9x Expansion Slots. *Supports XL-ATX, 4-way SLI and Quad Crossfire X* at TigerDirect.com

Damn... the upcharged it. It used to only be $149.00. Fuckin' holidays.

---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:02 PM ----------

Edit: The 922 model has many of the same features for about half the price, but it drops you down to a Midsize Case.

This one: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel &#43; Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

[Etra]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

{links}

Total comes to about $722.00. I know it's above your price range, but it's decently close and I hope it helps. :3

Oh wow! Great! :D Only question is, what motherboard should I use? That's my main concern with all of it... I have no idea how to tell what motherboard to buy.

[Absentia]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

There's a motherboard in the first link. It comes as a combo deal with the processor.

[Malacite]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Yeah I wanted to grab a coolmaster silent cooler for my PC because it was on sale for boxing day for only $40, but my tower literally has no room in it so I pad to pass on it


Though I haven't had much issues with heating lately anyway, and I don't think there's much I can do about the GTX 465's noise anyways for that matter.

[Absentia]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Yeah I wanted to grab a coolmaster silent cooler for my PC because it was on sale for boxing day for only $40, but my tower literally has no room in it so I pad to pass on it


Though I haven't had much issues with heating lately anyway, and I don't think there's much I can do about the GTX 465's noise anyways for that matter.

I've got one of these for my PC: Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED

And I grabbed this for my 470 because that thing got as hot as an oven D: Newegg.com - ZALMAN VF3000F&#40;GTX580&#47;570&#41; EBR Bearing Dual 92mm Fans, FanMate 2, IHD Technology for Nvidia Fermi GTX580&#47;570 VGA Cooler


Those 2 components have dropped my temperatures during gaming by like 45-50. :3

[DakAttack]

Re: Taking the dive into PC building

Those 2 components have dropped my temperatures during gaming by like 45-50. :3

What?