![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
So I'm looking to buy a new computer and have been messing around with a list of parts for quite some time. My computer right now just doesn't have enough "oomph" as I'd like. It does, however, have two great monitors, a great mouse, and a decent keyboard, so those will all remain (I'll hook my old computer up to an old KVM switch so I'll be able to use it).
I'm looking at spending $1000 to $1500 on this new rig, and so far it's just over $1200.
Processor: Q6600 [$230] (intel, quad-core, 2.4GHz). <link> I've read lots of reviews about this, and it's supposed to be very good at overclocking at a great price. I've read about people getting it up to 3.2 GHz on air, which is farther than I expect.
Processor Cooler: MASSCOOL 92mm Ball CPU Cooler [$21] (heatsink + fan) <link>. I've read reviews of this being really good at cooling, but apparently is a pain to install / remove.
Memory: OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB DDR2-1066 [$130] (2 x 2GB kit) <link>. They come with heat spreaders and apparently don't take up more than just their slot, so if I wanted to upgrade later to 8GB I would be fine. I got the better RAM because I want to make sure I can crank up the processor and the RAM to keep it "even".
Video Card: MSI GeForce 8800GT 512MB [$205] (256-bit GDDR3, PCIe 2.0) <link>. This one was a harder pick. I wanted to get good frames in games, but since I only get to play games about 2 hours a day (less than many other people I know) I didn't want it to be the focus of my new computer. Still, this card should be great (has great reviews on NewEgg) and provides enough performance for all my games (I hope).
Motherboard: ABIT IX38 ATX Intel [$220] (DDR2-1066 / 8GB compat, PCIe2.0 slots, SATA 3GB/s slots) <link>. I basically searched for a motherboard to fit my other components. This one has all the slots and compatabilities I need. I'm no good with picking motherboards so this was basically a "blind pick." It has good reviews though, and is supposed to be decent at overclocking.
Northbridge Heatsink: ZALMAN Aluminum Heatsink [$5] <link>. Since I'll be overclocking, I want my Northbridge to be pretty well cooled.
Hard Drive: WD Caviar SE 500GB [$90] (7200 RPM, 8MB Cache, SATA 3.0GB/s) <link>. I have two drives in my current rig, and I don't really like telling all my stuff to install to a non-default path. It gets rather annoying. I'm not sure if Vista does a better job at this, but still. I've read a lot of stuff about people throwing their OS's on a 10000 RPM drive but I don't want to dump too much money on that. I'm sure I'll use all 500GB between all my music, Vista, and all my games, and $90 for 500GB seems like a fair price to me.
Optical Drive: LITE-ON 20X DVD+-R Burner [$29] (20x DVD+R, 8x DVD+RW, 20x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW, 12x DVD-RAM, 16x DVD-ROM, 48x CD-R, 32x CD-RW, 48x CD-ROM) <link>. A basic DVD burner. It has decent speeds and is supposed to be pretty good. It uses a SATA connection. I had two drives in my really old PCs, but my current one has 1 and I don't have any problems with only using one so I think I'll stick with it for now.
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream ATX12V 700W [$129] <link>. So yea, another shot-in-the-dark, like the motherboard. Two components of the PC I really want to be sure about too. NewEgg said I should have about 610W with their calc, thing, so I figured I'd round up a bit to be safe, esp. since I'm overclocking my processor a decent bit. I honestly have no idea what else to look for in a power supply other than wattage and that it has the right connector to your motherboard
.
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 [$28] (24-bit 96KHz, PCI card) <link>. The motherboard I picked has integrated audio, but I want to get something a bit more. I enjoy my music and my game sounds, and want both to be relatively crisp. This sound card is supposed to deliver that. As you'll see later, I'm only starting with a 2.1 speaker system (I *might* up it to 5.1, but there's not much room here so I'm not sure if that's worth it...)
Case: Rosewill R604-P ATX Mid-Tower [$49] (comes with a 120mm fan, two other 120mm slots) <link>. It seems fine and cheap. It has a dust filter in the front where the intake is for cool air, so that's a nice feature. It comes with a fan with space for two more (one in back, one in the side). My new rig will be on the edge of a table against a wall, but the side against the wall is the side without a fan so it should all work out fine.
Case Fans: 2x Silverstone FM121 120mm Case Fan [$17 /ea] <link>. Comes with some fan controller apparently. I like the fact that it's adjustable, just hope it's automatic. It's supposed to be decently quiet, 17 to 39.5 dBA. Looks aren't my worry though, so the color doesn't bother me. Should I get a third one of these to replace the stock fan with the case?
Speakers: Logitech S-220 2.1 Speaker System [$23] <link>. I want a 5.1 system, but I still live at home (in high school for one more year *cry*) and the computer's kinda in the same room we have special dinners in, so my parents understandably don't want more than a 2.1 system. When I go to college, I can always upgrade to a 5.1 system easily.
So that's it. I'm also buying a small tube of thermal grease ($2) for the CPU cooler and the Northbridge heatsink. All pieces got great reviews on Newegg, and I've read the 10 most recent reviews at least on each piece to make sure it's good for what I want to do.
I want to overclock the CPU from 2.4GHz to about 3.0GHz or more. It's supposed to work smoothly at that speed with only air cooling. That's why I got the aftermarket CPU cooler though.
Since I'm overclocking, I decided to get decent memory just to be sure that it's compatible with the overclock.
The total price for the system is a tad over $1200, after shipping, before MIR (total MIR: $120).
I'm mostly concerned about the motherboard and the power supply. Do you think they'll be fine for what I need them for? The overclocking and such. Also, any tips / hints on actually assembling it? First time building a computer from scratch...
Thanks, -- ethraax
EDIT: Forgot to mention, I'll be using Vista 64 (haven't picked edition).
I'm looking at spending $1000 to $1500 on this new rig, and so far it's just over $1200.
Processor: Q6600 [$230] (intel, quad-core, 2.4GHz). <link> I've read lots of reviews about this, and it's supposed to be very good at overclocking at a great price. I've read about people getting it up to 3.2 GHz on air, which is farther than I expect.
Processor Cooler: MASSCOOL 92mm Ball CPU Cooler [$21] (heatsink + fan) <link>. I've read reviews of this being really good at cooling, but apparently is a pain to install / remove.
Memory: OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB DDR2-1066 [$130] (2 x 2GB kit) <link>. They come with heat spreaders and apparently don't take up more than just their slot, so if I wanted to upgrade later to 8GB I would be fine. I got the better RAM because I want to make sure I can crank up the processor and the RAM to keep it "even".
Video Card: MSI GeForce 8800GT 512MB [$205] (256-bit GDDR3, PCIe 2.0) <link>. This one was a harder pick. I wanted to get good frames in games, but since I only get to play games about 2 hours a day (less than many other people I know) I didn't want it to be the focus of my new computer. Still, this card should be great (has great reviews on NewEgg) and provides enough performance for all my games (I hope).
Motherboard: ABIT IX38 ATX Intel [$220] (DDR2-1066 / 8GB compat, PCIe2.0 slots, SATA 3GB/s slots) <link>. I basically searched for a motherboard to fit my other components. This one has all the slots and compatabilities I need. I'm no good with picking motherboards so this was basically a "blind pick." It has good reviews though, and is supposed to be decent at overclocking.
Northbridge Heatsink: ZALMAN Aluminum Heatsink [$5] <link>. Since I'll be overclocking, I want my Northbridge to be pretty well cooled.
Hard Drive: WD Caviar SE 500GB [$90] (7200 RPM, 8MB Cache, SATA 3.0GB/s) <link>. I have two drives in my current rig, and I don't really like telling all my stuff to install to a non-default path. It gets rather annoying. I'm not sure if Vista does a better job at this, but still. I've read a lot of stuff about people throwing their OS's on a 10000 RPM drive but I don't want to dump too much money on that. I'm sure I'll use all 500GB between all my music, Vista, and all my games, and $90 for 500GB seems like a fair price to me.
Optical Drive: LITE-ON 20X DVD+-R Burner [$29] (20x DVD+R, 8x DVD+RW, 20x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW, 12x DVD-RAM, 16x DVD-ROM, 48x CD-R, 32x CD-RW, 48x CD-ROM) <link>. A basic DVD burner. It has decent speeds and is supposed to be pretty good. It uses a SATA connection. I had two drives in my really old PCs, but my current one has 1 and I don't have any problems with only using one so I think I'll stick with it for now.
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream ATX12V 700W [$129] <link>. So yea, another shot-in-the-dark, like the motherboard. Two components of the PC I really want to be sure about too. NewEgg said I should have about 610W with their calc, thing, so I figured I'd round up a bit to be safe, esp. since I'm overclocking my processor a decent bit. I honestly have no idea what else to look for in a power supply other than wattage and that it has the right connector to your motherboard
.Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 [$28] (24-bit 96KHz, PCI card) <link>. The motherboard I picked has integrated audio, but I want to get something a bit more. I enjoy my music and my game sounds, and want both to be relatively crisp. This sound card is supposed to deliver that. As you'll see later, I'm only starting with a 2.1 speaker system (I *might* up it to 5.1, but there's not much room here so I'm not sure if that's worth it...)
Case: Rosewill R604-P ATX Mid-Tower [$49] (comes with a 120mm fan, two other 120mm slots) <link>. It seems fine and cheap. It has a dust filter in the front where the intake is for cool air, so that's a nice feature. It comes with a fan with space for two more (one in back, one in the side). My new rig will be on the edge of a table against a wall, but the side against the wall is the side without a fan so it should all work out fine.
Case Fans: 2x Silverstone FM121 120mm Case Fan [$17 /ea] <link>. Comes with some fan controller apparently. I like the fact that it's adjustable, just hope it's automatic. It's supposed to be decently quiet, 17 to 39.5 dBA. Looks aren't my worry though, so the color doesn't bother me. Should I get a third one of these to replace the stock fan with the case?
Speakers: Logitech S-220 2.1 Speaker System [$23] <link>. I want a 5.1 system, but I still live at home (in high school for one more year *cry*) and the computer's kinda in the same room we have special dinners in, so my parents understandably don't want more than a 2.1 system. When I go to college, I can always upgrade to a 5.1 system easily.
So that's it. I'm also buying a small tube of thermal grease ($2) for the CPU cooler and the Northbridge heatsink. All pieces got great reviews on Newegg, and I've read the 10 most recent reviews at least on each piece to make sure it's good for what I want to do.
I want to overclock the CPU from 2.4GHz to about 3.0GHz or more. It's supposed to work smoothly at that speed with only air cooling. That's why I got the aftermarket CPU cooler though.
Since I'm overclocking, I decided to get decent memory just to be sure that it's compatible with the overclock.
The total price for the system is a tad over $1200, after shipping, before MIR (total MIR: $120).
I'm mostly concerned about the motherboard and the power supply. Do you think they'll be fine for what I need them for? The overclocking and such. Also, any tips / hints on actually assembling it? First time building a computer from scratch...
Thanks, -- ethraax
EDIT: Forgot to mention, I'll be using Vista 64 (haven't picked edition).
