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First Time Builder

N

n00bl3t

n00b
Joined
Jun 16, 2005
Messages
9
Hey all you talented computer geeks-

Sorry If I may sound really retarded in this, but I'm really new...

I have the desire to build my own computer for graduate school and I want to know where to begin. I've seen a friend of mine build his computer and I've been reading Tom's Hardware to learn all the crap I can and to do all the research I can. I just started reading this site and it's fantastic, though I don't understand a lot of it yet. I'd like to try to build one by the end of this summer.

Anyways, I want a high-end system that runs 3-D games and multi-media really nicely. I also want something really upgradeable (i.e. something that will last me grad school, which is about four years). I've decided to budget $2,000 for this (just for the hardware).

I've been researching brand names a lot and just learning different people's styles. My first question to all of you is, how should I allocate my money?? Like, how much should I be looking to spend on mobo, how much on processor, how much on RAM, etc...

And then in those prices, what should I be looking for (i.e., which chipset is best for what I want to do, should i go with AMD or Pentium for CPU, blah blah..). What specs should I look for? Perhaps you can post your experiences and the comps that you would build with that money.

Again, I probably sound really stupid, but please bare with me. I'd appreciate any responses.
 
Step one, don't assume all the people on here are geeks.

Pentium M with an AOpen SFF barebones XCube. 1GB of RAM, fanless Gigabyte 6600 or GT. DVD/CD burner of your choice, 300GB WD or Seagate HDD 7200RPM 8MB cache. I just built one and its silent and probably the fastest computer Ive ever owned other than my Dual Xeon Dell.
 
Disagree. $2000 to spend, man. And for 4 years, a 6600?

Mobo: DFI NF4 SLI
Proc: SD or X2
Video card: G70
HD: Samsung 250GB SATA-II when they're out
RAM: 2GB of Crucial
PSU: Seasonic S12-600HT
DVD burner: NEC ND-3540A
Sound card: Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1LT

Should leave you a bit to get a case and give you options for 2nd 3540A or whatever. Of course, not if you went like X2 4800+. But you SHOULD be able to afford a lower end X2 and G70.

If you want a monitor in that $2000 then you might need to stick to SD over the X2
 
mobo:dfi n4 sli
cpu: A64 X2 4400
ram: 2x1gb patriot (2-3-2-6)
hdd: 2x 250gb maxtor 16mb sata raid 0
psu: fortron blue storm
Video card: 6800gt or wait and get a 7800gtx (you can allways get another one later)
DVD burner: NEC ND-3540A
case: doesnt matter
 
dandragonrage said:
Not RAID! We need to get rid of this myth that RAID is always good here.
Click to expand...
it just makes things easier instead of having two 250gb drives you can have one 500gb partition
 
Well, if you have a lot of important data, then a Raid 1 setup would be good for redundancy. From what I hear, Raid 0 is pretty worthless for the investment, and gives you no backup unlike Raid 1.
 
Empyrean said:
Well, if you have a lot of important data, then a Raid 1 setup would be good for redundancy. From what I hear, Raid 0 is pretty worthless for the investment, and gives you no backup unlike Raid 1.
Click to expand...
how is it an investment... the mobo has a built in sata raid controller and 2x 250gb is still gonna give him 500gb which will last along time and at no additional cost
 
the cost is desktop performance and higher possibility of failure. RAID 0 increases latency.
 
dandragonrage said:
the cost is desktop performance and higher possibility of failure. RAID 0 increases latency.
Click to expand...
not anymore than going with a single 500gb 8mb cache drive :rolleyes:
 
Yes, more. And if you're admitting that, then you're admitting that having that drive w/o RAID will be faster still.
 
dandragonrage said:
Yes, more. And if you're admitting that, then you're admitting that having that drive w/o RAID will be faster still.
Click to expand...
umm no..i meant that a single 8mb cache 500gb (they dont make a 16mb cache version) is going to be slower than two 16mb 250gb drives in raid 0
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Empyrean
Well, if you have a lot of important data, then a Raid 1 setup would be good for redundancy. From what I hear, Raid 0 is pretty worthless for the investment, and gives you no backup unlike Raid 1.

how is it an investment... the mobo has a built in sata raid controller and 2x 250gb is still gonna give him 500gb which will last along time and at no additional cost
Click to expand...


I just meant that you then need 2 HDD instead of 1.
 
Empyrean said:
I just meant that you then need 2 HDD instead of 1.
Click to expand...
true but i think a single 500gb is actually more expensive than 2x 250gb

edit: and im not saying the guy has to have 500gb its just that he wants it to last 4 years and my plan seemed logical
 
Thanks so much guys for your suggestions. I'll post what I find and maybe you guys can help me fine tune from there. I'll probably just look at newegg.com. If you have other suggestions, I'd really appreciate that. Thanks again!
 
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