First ever build: gaming from scratch.

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radiatinglines

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
247
Alright, I've decided to build my own computer for the first time. I've been wanting to do it for a long time now, but I think I finally have the guts to go through with it. The machine will be for gaming, doing my schoolwork, maybe some light photo editing. I want to keep the price under $1200, which is what I've done with my build so far. I don't want to overclock it, don't need RAID, SLI, or the super fancy stuff. I'll be building from the ground up, the only thing I'll be keeping it my trusty 'ol mouse.

I've already got a shopping cart full of what I have decided on so far. At the beginning of this little endeavor I had no clue at all what I needed to be looking for; now I'm a little better and trying to get the opinions of as many experienced builders as I can.

To start off, I went through this guide: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15381 that I found in the SHSC building thread over at somethingawful. I thumbed through that thread and compared what people liked with what the suggested parts from the guide were, and got a very rough estimate of what I wanted.

Then, I went to CGHMN over at gen[m]ay and posted an early build. The guys over there were very helpful and I ended up switching out most of my parts. At their suggestion for brands and my own browsing of opinions / prices / deals at newegg, I have what I came to post here today. Here's the [m] thread that shows the evolution of my machine: http://www.genmay.com/showthread.php?t=799356

After all that, here's the list of parts that I've come up with and my reasoning behind them:

Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail ($139.99, free shipping, $20 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299
I started out with a Gigabyte with essentially the same specs, but two people over at genmay said that ASUS was the leader in quality for Motherboards right now, and I will be getting an ASUS HD4850, so I switched over.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 - Retail ($189.99, free shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036
This I never really had much doubt about, it's a fast dual core. I'd rather not get a slower one and overclock it. I couldn't find the processor QVA sheet for my mobo, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear with this one.

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM ($84.99, free shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218
This is one of the few things leftover from the guide. I've read at newegg and [m] that WD Caviars are reliable, and preferable to a raptor or something.

Case / Power Supply Combo: Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail ($129.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024
This is left over from the guide as well. Newegg reviews and the people at genmay think it's solid and quiet. The PSU it comes with has two 12v rails, which I know little about but I'm fairly certain means that my Video Card will run off it. Can anyone confirm this?

RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail ($66.99, free shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122
I started out with some Kingston RAM for the same price, but after looking around newegg I found this kit for the same price ($40 instant savings). G.Skill has a good reputation over there, and I found the exact product number for this kit on the QVA sheet for my Mobo.

Video Card: ASUS EAH4850/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail (169.99, free shipping, $30 rebate, comes with free game)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253
I've read at somethingawful that the 1gb video cards don't really offer that much more, and the price for this is right for me anyway. I read that the performance is good, but that the card runs hot because the ATI software keeps the fan running too slow. I read that I can tweak that, and I imagine the tweak will be here at [H]. I got the ASUS for the great price they're offering for it, and since I also have an ASUS mobo.

Monitor: Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support - Retail ($194.99, free shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094
This is the standard 22" gaming monitor over at newegg. 5ms response time, priced the same as the 19"s that I was looking at, and even has free shipping.

Optical Drive: SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q - OEM ($27.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173
Pretty much a standard DVD drive, this is left over from the guide as well. I may look around to find one with free shipping to save a few bucks.

Keyboard: Logitech 967738-0403 Black USB Standard Deluxe 250 Keyboard - OEM ($6.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126013
Basically what I did was go to the keyboards section, picked top sellers, and went to lowest price. I don't need a frilly keyboard, I will probably look around further to find one with free shipping and good reviews.

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM ($99.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488
I won't be changing this system around much at all, maybe just a card reader or something in the future. I've heard MS gives pretty good leeway when it comes to that sort of thing. 64bit to make the most use of my RAM.

120mm Fan: APEVIA CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Case Fan - Retail ($7.49)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998121
My case has a space for a 120mm intake fan in the front, and since the vid card and CPU are said to run a little hot, I figured I'd get this to help out a little. This is the top seller at newegg. It has a trippy LED, but It looks like it'll be covered by an air filter anyway. If anyone can suggest brands, I might try to find a reliable one with more free shipping.

Total (Including Shipping): $1,156.58
After Rebates: $1,106.58

Do any of you see any glaring faults with this build? I'm still open to suggestion, since I won't have enough money in my checking account to be comfortable buying this for about a month. What I'm most concerned about is being able to fit everything in there. The vid card is big, the RAM has heat spreaders, and I'll have the extra fan in there.

I know this is the hardware forum, but this is just for initially getting it going once assembled. I need to ask a few questions about the software. Once I get all of the parts assembled I am going to:

1.) Turn the power on, hopefully be able to access the bios (unless something went terribly wrong), and set the primary boot disk to my DVD drive.

2.) Insert Vista DVD and install?

After this I'm not sure what I should do first. Should I use all of the driver discs and get everything installed first? Should I keep it unplugged from the network / internet until this is sorted out? In what order should I install the drivers?

Once this is handled, I was going to connect to the network, let Vista sniff it out and connect to the internets. I'll then chill for a while when Vista updates, and I imagine the drivers will auto update as well.

Does this sound right or am I expecting this to be too easy?
 
I really wish I had time to read all that, but someone else should be along shortly with a more thorough response than mine. I took a quick glance over your parts, and it looks like a good list. Yate Loon fans are cheaper than that Apevia, btw, and are probably more quiet and push more air.

This is what I generally do...
3) install drivers (chipset, lan, audio, video, etc)
4) windows/driver update (may update some drivers, or you may have to update them manually)
5) if OC'ing, install OC'ing tools and proceed with OC'ing
once you have a stable setup (primed for 24+ hours or however long you want)
6) install any apps/games/utils/peripherals/etc
 
Two things I would say, get a good case and upgrade the stock cpu cooler. I would go with Zalman personally, they are quiet and work great. I would either get the cnps 7500 if it fits..
As for the case fan stay away from led fans....I worked at a store and did all the custom builds and everyone wanted led fans and they would come back a month or two later because the fan led would die and the fan would be really loud or just burn out...go with this sunon fan, most others would go with this one also..if it fits..
but have fun with the build. I remember when I did my first build when I was 12... man the days of building p2 and t-bird machines...
 
I suggest you take advantage of the NewEgg bundle deal -- the P5Q Pro and the E8400 for $275 shipped. You'll see virtually no difference performance-wise between the E8400 and the E8500 at stock speeds (and the E8400 has the same overclocking threshold as the E8500).

Though the Antec Sonata III (with the Earthwatts EA500 500W PSU) is a good choice for your build, a cheaper options would be the Antec Three Hundred case and True Power Trio TP3-650 650W PSU bundle deal (for $120 shipped).

If you plan on play some of the latest games like Crysis and Age of Conan, and you want the best frame rates and/or visual quality possible, you may want to purchase the HD4870 instead. While Asus is a good company, VisionTek is the only one that offers limited lifetime warranties on its AMD/ATI-based video cards. (Having said that, the HD4850 is a good card for that resolution.)

The "more reliable" fans -- the Yate Loon D12-series and the Scythe "Slipstream" fans -- don't have free shipping. However, they perform just as well as some of the more higher-end fans (like the Scythe S-Flex and the Noctua fans) for a fraction of their price. For good performance, I recommend either the Yate Loons or the Slipstreams... the Slipstreams are available at NewEgg for $9-$10 per fan, and the Yate Loons are available at several other places for around $4-$7 per fan.
 
-Drop to the e8400, reasons stated by tiraides
-Cases are on a 'what you like' basis IMO, only time i correct people on a case is when they are buying a 200 buck case for a 800 dollar build. The PSU is fine for your needs.
-Hopefully you havent ordered that monitor, Its pure garbage. I bought 3 and returned them all to Microcenter, all 3 had dead/stuck pixels and horrible backlight bleeding.
- I like my Antec tricool fans /shrug, they do me well.
- I would pay a little more for a Visiontek 4870 cause the warranty rox.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I ditched the LED fan for this Scythe: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185060. Ton's of positive reviews and the price is the same anyway.

I was looking into that case combo, but the true power trio was getting hammered by people in reviews. If you guys say it's alright I'll go with that rather than random newegg people.

I easily found a DVD drive with the same specs and free shipping, don't know why I didn't do that earlier.

This is going to sound stupid, but until you mentioned the mobo / CPU combo (which I think I'm getting), I didn't realize that I could expand the combo section. I'm going to look through all my parts and see if I can save even more. Perhaps I can even get it down below a grand :)
 
I was looking at that case / power supply combo you linked. Since it has rear fan and a top fan, would the extra fan I'm buying still be necessary? It's got a big 140mm top fan, perforations on the front and side as well. I imagine it's louder, not really a huge deal though; I use a headset.
 
Sorry for triple posting here, but I'm kinda amped up right now.

RyDawg: I haven't ordered the monitor yet. I was thinking about switching to this 19" Hanns-G. I didn't have my heart set on a 22", I'd like to keep framerates up as much as possible and never really had a thing for huge gaming monitors. I've been using a 14" laptop widescreen for over a year now so anything would look huge to me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254005 here's the Hanns-G

If I factor in the case / power supply combo (supposing I drop the extra fan) and this monitor, I can pay $1,007 up front, including shipping and get $50 in rebates back.
 
Moar memory depending on your gaming. 2GB is good for now but if you're going to be palying either a newer MMO (such as Warhammer Online) or a game like Crysis, you're going to defintely want at least 6GB to really have a flow (at least I personally believe that - depends on whether you're running XP or Vista too). If you get Vista make sure you get the edition that's 64 bit and a motherboard that will support a lot more memory. (Again, all in my personal opinion. You should check out the 64 bit editions of Windows Vista - they offer from 16GB+.) At work; I'll check back again later =] good luck with your first build!
 
TheCadaver said:
Moar memory depending on your gaming. 2GB is good for now but if you're going to be palying either a newer MMO (such as Warhammer Online) or a game like Crysis, you're going to defintely want at least 6GB to really have a flow (at least I personally believe that - depends on whether you're running XP or Vista too). If you get Vista make sure you get the edition that's 64 bit and a motherboard that will support a lot more memory. (Again, all in my personal opinion. You should check out the 64 bit editions of Windows Vista - they offer from 16GB+.) At work; I'll check back again later =] good luck with your first build!
Click to expand...

Dont get 6gb, thats just retarded. You wont see any preformance increase from 4gb to 6.
 
Rydawg5143 said:
Dont get 6gb, thats just retarded. You wont see any preformance increase from 4gb to 6.
Click to expand...

Agreed. 4GB is all you need.

Take a look at these.

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

$82.99
($62.99 after $20.00 Mail-In
Rebate )
 
Teh_Zion: The problem there is that the rebate ends the 29th, so that means I have to have it post dated before that. The same thing with my mobo / cpu combo and my video card. The mobo and the video card I'm cool with buying tonight or tomorrow, that way they can be delivered on time to make the rebate (god, I hope so). The G.Skill RAM I have is only 4 dollars cheaper, and that's instant savings; so I don't really want to risk having UPS screw up and not get my stuff here in time to catch the rebate.

The Case / Power supply combo deal expires the 30th as well, but I just have to order that in time, not wait for it to get here. I can wait until after I get paid on Friday and be safe.
 
radiatinglines said:
Teh_Zion: The problem there is that the rebate ends the 29th, so that means I have to have it post dated before that. The same thing with my mobo / cpu combo and my video card. The mobo and the video card I'm cool with buying tonight or tomorrow, that way they can be delivered on time to make the rebate (god, I hope so). The G.Skill RAM I have is only 4 dollars cheaper, and that's instant savings; so I don't really want to risk having UPS screw up and not get my stuff here in time to catch the rebate.

The Case / Power supply combo deal expires the 30th as well, but I just have to order that in time, not wait for it to get here. I can wait until after I get paid on Friday and be safe.
Click to expand...

That may be true, but even if you don't get the rebate, an extra 2GB with Vista is def. worth the extra $20.
 
:confused: The RAM I have up there is 4gb (2x2gb). Are you guys suggesting that I need to put 8gb of RAM in this computer?
 
radiatinglines said:
:confused: The RAM I have up there is 4gb (2x2gb). Are you guys suggesting that I need to put 8gb of RAM in this computer?
Click to expand...

No, you don't need more than 4GB of RAM.

radiatinglines said:
I was looking into that case combo, but the true power trio was getting hammered by people in reviews. If you guys say it's alright I'll go with that rather than random newegg people.
Click to expand...

radiatinglines said:
I was looking at that case / power supply combo you linked. Since it has rear fan and a top fan, would the extra fan I'm buying still be necessary? It's got a big 140mm top fan, perforations on the front and side as well. I imagine it's louder, not really a huge deal though; I use a headset.
Click to expand...

If you're considering the Antec Three Hundred case, a better power supply for it would be the Antec Earthwatts EA650. I believe that you'll need two 120mm fans for the front of the Three Hundred case.

Regardless, go with the case that you like. If you like the Sonata more, go with that instead (though you'll still need a fan for the front of the case).
 
K, all parts ordered. I went with the sonata case, and got the extra fan. I didn't buy the keyboard because I'll be damned if I pay $9 shipping for a $6 keyboard. I went with the 19" monitor also.
 
Something just occurred to me: how should I partition the drive? Should I keep vista on it's own partition or just have it all on one partition?
 
That's up to you. I've heard all of the arguments for both sides of that debate, but there's little noticeable difference (to me) performance-wise.
 
For the Vista 99$ OEM, just be aware that it will become tied to your motherboard. IF you ever replace your mobo, you will not be able to license that copy. Just something to think about.

Apparently gamers are not big enough M$/Windows supporters, so they thought they should punish us for constantly changing out our hardware. I guess we are just a bunch of deadbeat freeloaders. :rolleyes:

Anyway, it is why I am still rockin' 32-Bit XP and haven't made the jump to Vista.
 
heavyfeul said:
For the Vista 99$ OEM, just be aware that it will become tied to your motherboard. IF you ever replace your mobo, you will not be able to license that copy. Just something to think about.

Apparently gamers are not big enough M$/Windows supporters, so they thought they should punish us for constantly changing out our hardware. I guess we are just a bunch of deadbeat freeloaders. :rolleyes:

Anyway, it is why I am still rockin' 32-Bit XP and haven't made the jump to Vista.
Click to expand...

Huh? Ive trades mobo's 3 times in my main rig ( see sig) and not once have I had any issues. Even had to call MS one time cause it wouldnt take my code, but turned out i kept typing it wrong :p
 
Since this thread got bumped, I'll take this opportunity to say that everything arrived fine, and it works perfectly.

Now that it's all put together, I'm thinking about grabbing that 3rd party CPU cooler. I idle around 40c; a little warmer than I'd like.
 
The mobo probably has "smart" fan enabled. If you want, you can turn that off and the fan will run at full speed, keeping it cooler at idle. Where's the pics?
 
I have Q-Control set to "Turbo" right now, I'm hesitant to disable it completely.

anyway, here are some pics:

oustide:
outsideyj1.jpg


inside:
insideyj7.jpg


zoom'd:
zoombd1.jpg


yeah, the fan placement is weird. I barely fit it in there with that PCI-E plug
 
Yeah, I'm WTFBombing at that fan placement. A GTX260 wouldn't fit in there with that retarded fan.

Did you end up with a 4850 or 4870?

Hows the Vista install going?
 
Drakan290 said:
Yeah, I'm WTFBombing at that fan placement. A GTX260 wouldn't fit in there with that retarded fan.

Did you end up with a 4850 or 4870?

Hows the Vista install going?
Click to expand...

that's a 4850, I figured a 4870 was overkill for 1440x900

Vista has been just fine, no problems whatsoever so far

I'm running 8.53 catalyst control center, and I'm afraid to update since things are going so smoothly :p
 
radiatinglines said:
that's a 4850, I figured a 4870 was overkill for 1440x900

Vista has been just fine, no problems whatsoever so far

I'm running 8.53 catalyst control center, and I'm afraid to update since things are going so smoothly :p
Click to expand...

I'm running the Visiontek 4850 with CCC 8.9 [latest] (?) no problems. 64bit Business vista.

I'm on 1440x900 also :D
Low resolution club, FTW
 
Yeah 4850 is fine. And the latest CCC drivers are fine as well. Go ahead and get them. And unless the fan placement is a problem, I think stock cooler is fine. CPU can actually handle a decent amount of heat and still have great longevity. Especially since you're not overclocking. I would rather spend the 30-50 bux on games.
 
no... it's a common gripe about this case that the fan is placed too far inside

those are undeniably the only fan mounts in there
 
Sorry about that... it's been a while since I've dealt with the Sonata cases.
 
They've moved the mount for their other sonata cases (aka P150/SOLO spinoffs).
 
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