building my first pc

[deh707]

starting from scratch, can i shop at http://www.newegg.com for every pc hardware parts?

if i do that, where can i get someone to build it, or where can i learn to build it myself?

these are the parts i chose, what am i missing? and are all of these parts compatibale with each other?: (i dont need a monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard) below are PAGE 1 and PAGE 2 of my http://newegg.com order

[budz]

get a better case like a ANTEC one with a ANTEC POWER SUPPLY.

[glockjs]

get a better case like a ANTEC one with a ANTEC POWER SUPPLY.

eh. actually that ocz isnt bad at all. ocz is known for putting out the power they are rated at. i'd rather have a powerstream. but for that price look at the fortron 500w bluestorm

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-934&depa=0

as for the case. im not sure about that one but usually in that price range its gonna be flimsy at best. spend a few more dollars and buy a case like an Antec.

no flames. but i'd rather have a pioneer 109 dvd rw. they're only $65.

for the hdd. go with SATA. $106 for 160 gb and its a faster drive.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-034&depa=1
i'd spend the $20 more and go with the 200gb sata. but thats up to u.

as for TwinMOS. eh. if thats the TCCD stuff then you are golden. if not scrap that without a second thought.

DFI landparty-nice

for the cpu you just might wanna wait until later this month when the venice core comes out.

6600gt-nice.


thats just my take

[Cobra]

I just bought an Antec supply and it really is rather good. However, I hear that the OCZ supply you are looking at should be even nicer. Sorry to disagree, budz - just what I've heard.

You should maybe consider an Asus motherboard instead of the DFI. I have had no experience with DFI boards, but plenty of good experiences with Asus.

Remember to pick up your copy of Windows XP (if you intend on using that OS)!

[glockjs]

You should maybe consider an Asus motherboard instead of the DFI. I have had no experience with DFI boards, but plenty of good experiences with Asus.

asus is solid board, but if you're gonna overclock at all abit or dfi is the best choices. dfi redeemed themselves with the landpartys.

if you dont plan on overclocking at all you cant go wrong either way

im now an abit fanboy myself after seeing what they can do

[deh707]

alright i have my windows xp professions sp2. so that's all i need?

where would be a good place to learn how to assemble this pc?

or would bestbuy or circuitcity build it for me for less than $20

[glockjs]

no they wont do it for anywhere near that price range. i dont even think they would do it at all.

best place is to read the mobo manual it'll pretty much walk you through almost everything you need

edit: oh yeah. you probably wanna pick up some arctic silver. i'd say ceramique since you've probably never applied thermal paste before

[Soopafresh]

I've been using DFI motherboards on the AMD 64 platform and they are solid.
Whatever you do, look for the Nforce Chipset on the motherboard. That's the best bios at the moment for the AMDs.

You'll be able to build it. Worry not.

[rkr1958]

One suggestion on the case ... check out http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-127&depa=0

This is an Antec Sonata quite case w/380-watts PS. What I really like about this case is how easily the drive trays slide and and how easy it is to install drives. This is the case I built my current PC around. It supports 3 x 5 1/4 inch external, 2 x 3 1/2 inch external & 4 x 3 1/2 inch internal drives. The internal drive trays slide out sideways which makes it very easy to get to intenal harddrives. The external drives also have drive rails that allow you to slide the drives in and out very easily.

Anyway ... you might want to give this case a look. Case w/Powersupply from newegg is $99 and it got a five star user rating (out of 518 votes).

[waheed]

I would also recommend going with a SATA Hard Drive.

I take it you dont need a floppy drive. Though they dont have much uses these days, can come in handy in certain cases. ( I only use it to boot from).

[Xylob the Destroyer]

i am seriously dissappointed with my Antec PSU experiences, unfortunately, I can't find anything better....
NewEgg is good, but also check www.zipzoomfly.com
ZipZoom is where I go first, if they don't have what I want, then I go to NewEgg
ZipZoom has good selection, great prices, and often offer FREE SHIPPING

[redwudz]

I have 2 of the Antec cases similar to what rkr1958 mentions. Very nice to work on and roomy. I would add in a 8 cm front case fan to go in front of the hard drives to push air over the drives and it cools them considerably. Get one with a 3 pin plug that can connect to the MB.

I would also add in a second HD, could be smaller, say 80Gb just for the OS and programs. Use the larger drive for video files, etc. SATA is cheap now and if you have the on board controllers, is a good idea.

I would also add some round IDE cables. My mid tower is tall enough that I use 36 inch cables to reach the top drives and route them out of the way. Increases airflow and looks a lot neater. The MB may come with them, but check. A handful of plastic wire ties are also useful for cable routing.

For instructions on how to assemble your computer, do a Google search for 'build PC'. You will find several sites listed that can guide you through the process. It's not hard at all, just take your time and double check everything before you power it up.

I've put together about 15 PC's and it's always a thrill when you hit that power switch the first time and it comes to life.

[rkr1958]

I have 2 of the Antec cases similar to what rkr1958 mentions. Very nice to work on and roomy. I would add in a 8 cm front case fan to go in front of the hard drives to push air over the drives and it cools them considerably. Get one with a 3 pin plug that can connect to the MB.

I assume you mean 80-mm. I did add a second fan but it was a 120-mm which should be quiter than the 80-mm. Works nicely, and I agree it's nice because it blows air across the harddrives keeping them, and other components cooler.

[glockjs]

the sonata's basically have an extra 120mm that sit behind the hdd's and basically sucks the air. vs infront of em blowing the air. im still tryin to figure out if i like that better or not

[BJ_M]

coolermaster psu's are the best ive seen .. i use those and also ANTEC, but be aware that there are different grades of ANTEC PSUs

coolermaster and thermaltake and ANTEC are the way to go for cases -- there are FEW other good ones also

[rkr1958]

One other thing I forget to metion about the Antec Sonata Case. It's solid ... not flimsy like the cheaper cases.

I have a four year old boy who likes to get on top of it. He weighs 40-lbs. I'm trying to stop him ... the case holds his weight nicely. Bottom line ... solid case.

[waheed]

Get one with a 3 pin plug that can connect to the MB.

I would also add in a second HD, could be smaller, say 80Gb just for the OS and programs. Use the larger drive for video files, etc. SATA is cheap now and if you have the on board controllers, is a good idea.

Good points. Ive got a Thermaltake case, great for cooling, and mine has 7 internal cse fans (80mm), Unfortunately, my MB only has two 3 pin plugs.

Having two hard drives, (one for OS, one for storage) is basically what i have done. You will notice a difference in speed and a reduction in loading times.

[pfh]

If you are serious about power supply then it doesn't get much better than PC Power & Cooling stuff.
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/

[BJ_M]

ya - they are very good also -- forgot to mention them as not sold up here much

[erdons]

A real good site that will take you step by step on building a pc is www.mysuperpc.com

[Delerious]

Check out the forums at anandtech. General Hardware forum. There's a sticky at the top on building your own. Here's a link to a guide in there:

http://www.omnicast.net/~tmcfadden/guides/build/index.html

[glockjs]

If you are serious about power supply then it doesn't get much better than PC Power & Cooling stuff.
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/

yeah but look at the price range he was looking at pcp&c is probably the best with zippy right there too butcha ya gotta have money if you want the good stuff

[Soopafresh]

If you do install a SATA drive, chances are XP installation will prompt you for the motherboard SATA controller driver - and will tell you load it from the A: drive, which means you might need a cheapo floppy drive.

[glockjs]

my roomate still makes fun of me to this day. built one of my puters like a year ago. he's like "what about a floppy?" im like "pssshh, dont need a stupid floppy"...well a couple months later..uhhh...i needed a floppy. my roomate "i dont need a floopy. oh look at me, i dont need a floppy. a floppy. a floppy"

what im tryin to say. get a floppy. SATA or not. i thought everything was up to date enough to not need one. well i was wrong

[budz]

my roomate still makes fun of me to this day. built one of my puters like a year ago. he's like "what about a floppy?" im like "pssshh, dont need a stupid floppy"...well a couple months later..uhhh...i needed a floppy. my roomate "i dont need a floopy. oh look at me, i dont need a floppy. a floppy. a floppy"

what im tryin to say. get a floppy. SATA or not. i thought everything was up to date enough to not need one. well i was wrong

you could always get a cheapo external floppy drive. i've been getting used floppy drives from old pcs from others. you never know when you could use one. :P

[Faustus]

If its not to late or hasn't been said already I suggest SATA hard drive if you motherboard supports it which it should.

[glockjs]

my roomate still makes fun of me to this day. built one of my puters like a year ago. he's like "what about a floppy?" im like "pssshh, dont need a stupid floppy"...well a couple months later..uhhh...i needed a floppy. my roomate "i dont need a floopy. oh look at me, i dont need a floppy. a floppy. a floppy"

what im tryin to say. get a floppy. SATA or not. i thought everything was up to date enough to not need one. well i was wrong

you could always get a cheapo external floppy drive. i've been getting used floppy drives from old pcs from others. you never know when you could use one. :P

i know i know. but at less than $10 a piece you're like "why pay the extra" for external hehe. it would come in handy though

[waheed]

If you do install a SATA drive, chances are XP installation will prompt you for the motherboard SATA controller driver - and will tell you load it from the A: drive, which means you might need a cheapo floppy drive.

Im not too sure about this. Ive installed Win XP on 2 different SATA drives (WD Raptor 74GB and Seagate 160GB). On both occasions, I was never prompted for a drivers disk.

[Soopafresh]

Waheed, I hope I'm wrong. But think about all that work to build a system, and during the install, windows prompts for a driver in A:

[Poppa_Meth]

I've heard it's dependant on what version of XP you use. But I just installed a slipstreamed XP Home SP2 onto a Dell 4600 and was prompted for the driver disk, even with the SATA controller on the mobo. Could depend on the mobo itself too I suppose.