ANOTHER Help Me Build My Computer Thread

T

tyR

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May 5, 2006
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Yeah, I need some help. Finally getting around to ordering and putting together my first custom and could use a little advice. I have around a $1200-$1500 budget. This is for the computer only. I don't need a mouse, moniter, etc. Now on to the good stuff:

I am planning on going with the Core 2 Duo E6600 for my processor. I want something with some lasting power. Although, I'm open to suggestions if this is too much for my price range. As for the motherboard, I'm not sure wear to go. I've heard a lot of different things.

I need 2 GB of RAM. It's a must. I figure I can just check the good deals section and pick up something there, but I just want some opinions.

Drives: Not a big deal to me. I can deal with just one DVD drive. Everythings going DVD nowadays anyways.

PSU, whatever is cheap, and will work. Not really sure where to go for this either.

As for the video card, I don't really plan to splurge huge here. I will probably just need a new upgrade when DX10 comes out anyways, right? If that's the case I want to take it as easy as I can here.

Heat sink: No idea.

For the hard drive, the more space the better. My current setup only has 80GB, and that is just not cutting it. I can live with a slower speed if I have to.

I think I can handle the case and everything else myself. I don't really give two flying fucks about my sound card either. Not sure how many/what kinda fans I should be getting ahold of, though. As for the thermal paste, I have some I can take from a friend. Thanks.
 
this motherboard, Gigabyte GA 965P DS3 was suggested to me in a differen thread for my 6600 build. At only 150$ it's much cheaper than the 250$ mobo's I was looking at. Not sure if I will go for it yet, since I'm building a very fast, very powerful gaming machine.


As for video cards, anything from Nvidia in the 7800 or 7900 should suit you fine. It's a strong card, that was top of the line a few months ago, and recently had the prices lowered for the new top of the line cards coming out. They aren't as expensive as the 600$ state-of-the-art 7950 GX2, but should suit you just fine until the DX10 cards hit.

RAM isn't too hard to find if you aren't planning to overclock, just look for a well-known brand like OCZ or Corsair and your best price.

I think Newegg has a deal right now, 89$ for a 300GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive. Again, just look for the best deals on different sites, and you should be able to find a few hundered gigs for less than a hundred bucks.

Since you aren't overclocking, heat isn't going to be a huge issue for you, just get a decent sized heat sink, and preferably one that works with a 120mm fan, because it makes less noise. Same goes for your case fans, the bigger the fan, the less noise it will tend to make. Again, I wouldn't worry about heat too much since you aren't overclocking, just make sure you have 1-2 intake fans, and 2-3 output fans, and that should be MORE than enough.
 
Its pretty hard for us to make hardware suggestions when no where in your post did you tell us what the computer will be used for and what you are planning on doing with the computer.

Are you a big gamer?
Why do you feel that you need 2GB of RAM? What programs will you be using that take advantage of that?
What do you want the PC to be able to do when your done building it?
 
Other considerations -

Are you going to overclock (eventually)?
What size (form factor) do you want - desktop, mini-tower, cube, mid-tower?
Should it be super quiet?
Will this (eventually) be a PVR (think TiVo-like) or media system?
 
I'm a pretty big gamer, and for that reason alone 2 GB of RAM is a must. Let alone if I upgrade to Vista in the future. The computer needs to be able to run games, and Word.

Overclocking is definatly a possiblity in the future, but isn't really a must for me.

Size and sound aren't big issues at all.
 
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