first time im gonna build a computer. review my parts please

CRT's make an image in one of two basic ways. Passing electrons through an almost microscopicly fine screen of vertical wires (aperture grille) or through a shadow mask plate made of metal, perforated with tiny holes. The aperture grille method gives a higher-contrast, more accurate color scheme, and their screens are truly flat, where as a shadow mask screen is never truly flat.
 
heh man. i just finished building my dads computer yesterday, i'm a first time builder like you. i had the help of my friend, who just made this first computer too.

me and him assembled the entire thing in ~2 hours. we booted up the first time and everything was fine, exept 2 little nitpicky things:
1 the motherboard gave a bleep and "talked". it said CPU fan failed, but it didnt in reality. going to call ASUS about that.
2 my onboard sound doesnt work. going to call ASUS about that too.

all and all, it wasnt hard at all. just plug in some stuff, screw this and that, insert this card into here, and your good to go.

hope i helped :)
 
thanks for the input guys.

as for the uh shadow mask thing. anybody know if that view sonic is "sahdow mask" ?

the diamondtron monitor i picked out before the viewsonic has some REALLY GOOD reviews.




edit: just looed on newegg, the monitor i had picked out (diamondtron) is aperature grille, this is good for gaming right?

i also looked at the uh... viewsonic one, and i like the specs on it better but if it doesnt say if its shadow mask or not. anybody have a definitive answer on that?


on a side note: im gonna order everything except for the video card, cd burner, and the hard drives today! (maybe the monitor too)




edit 2:

i was reading through the reviews of the viewsonic to see if anyone talked of said "shadow mask" stuff and sure enough i found this:

"
I bought the G90FB-2 model three months ago and I love it. I couldn't tell you what the difference is between the G90FB-2 and the G90FB model though, so if someone else could that would be great. I upgraded from a 17" Viewsonic (E75) and the improvement in image quality is simply amazing. The image is bright and sharp and text is always clear. It's not perfectly flat, but it's almost perfectly flat and it's not something I ever notice. I have never heard of a perfectly flat shadow mask monitor either. The greatest thing about this monitor is the value. Granted, aperture grill monitors will give a better picture (sharper image and more vibrant colors), but you need to spend a lot more money on them since the two horizontal lines are often very noticedable on the cheap ones. I tried a cheap 19" monitor for about half the price of this monitor (I can't remember the monitor brand) and the picture was blurry and the image was badly curved at the edges despite it being a "flat screen". Suffice to say that this monitor delivers a wonderful picture at a very affordable price."

looksl ike im not gonna save 70 bucks and get the diamondtron.
 
ok final list here: any changes you can think of, im gonna order at roughly 5:30ish tonight when i get home from work.

edit: heres the new final list. lol



http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-299&depa=1 ram

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-035&depa=1 case

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-160&depa=0 hard drive 1

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=21-103-116&depa=1 floppy drive

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-488&depa=0 this powwer supply

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-463&depa=1 CPU

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-130-468&depa=1 mobo

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-102&depa=1 page file HDD




http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-143-022&depa=1 video card

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-002-037&depa=1 the monitor

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-131-329&depa=1 cd burner



someone check over it, ee anything wrong? besides the out of stock stuff.
 
ok, i just have a few things u might want to check out,

viewsonic p95f+b, a bit cheaper then the nec, aperature grill, but it is rated 87hz@1600x1200 (which is the resolution u will most likely be gaming at) which is faster by a tiny bit, just check it out.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-116-232&depa=1

and if u have any money left over in ur budget or ur just willing to spend it, get some better ram if ur planning to overclock. preferably one with 2-2-2-5 timings with TCCD like this stuff. its $100 more then ur muskin stuff but a lot better (in terms of ram)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-220-033&depa=1
 
well i was gonna use that ram earlier but some people said get better? they said the mushkin was beter? when all i hear was about this tccd stuff on that patriot stuff. im gonna go with the patriot i guess.
 
i edited it cause i thought u were still going intel and i said go amd64, but you already were so i changed it
 
If I were buying "NEW" at this point I'd go AMD also...been there done that in the past. You should consider an LCD monitor though. They have come a long way since I bought mine a year ago and you will kick yourself later for not getting one. I went to brick n' mortar stores to see the models I wanted and compared them directly to several CRTS.
Then I went to Newegg for the price.

Good luck !!
 
A few more Hz @ 1600x1200 won't make too much difference. They will both do 1600x1200 just fine, but one gives much better color(the NEC).

Just curious, but does anyone here know if the onboard RAID controller will be easy to setup the secondary HDD on IDE with?
 
Your hard drive says "page file HD". Ummm with a good amount of RAM it won't matter... plus if you're getting that raptor drive, your OS should be on that drive in which case the page file should reside there also.
 
d34dly said:
Your hard drive says "page file HD". Ummm with a good amount of RAM it won't matter... plus if you're getting that raptor drive, your OS should be on that drive in which case the page file should reside there also.
Click to expand...

Yup I found that funny too. Still a Second HD is a second HD. Use it for storage instead of Page File :D
 
Oh and just now noticed you had originally chosen Patriot RAM. Someone said get more well known stuff but I am running Patriot RAM just fine right now. Seems like great stuff to me. (I have the pc4000 kit 1gb). I think you'd be fine but that's just me.
 
^^ Yeah, I am not sure why they thought Patriot RAM is not "known"
I have seen a lot of peoples sigs in this forum that have that ram...
 
92Camaro said:
well i was gonna use that ram earlier but some people said get better? they said the mushkin was beter? when all i hear was about this tccd stuff on that patriot stuff. im gonna go with the patriot i guess.
Click to expand...

some people may argue that mushkin is the better brand but that mushkin memory u had is worse then the patriot,
 
Nice spec, Stick with the AMD, Go with the Patriot (good ram), I have the Praetorian (beautiful case). For mouse MX510 is probably the best mouse you can get. The keyboard doesnt make much of a difference, it is just what you think looks nice.
For speakers, THX certified speakers are very clear and have high dB/distortion ratios.
It depends how much you use speakers.
 
Everyone is so concerned with RAM but if you look at workstations, server's and other ultra high end computers they use stably timed high quality RAM, not exoticly timed unstable stuff.

Having a single-size page file is much more important than having it on a different drive. Make sure you do this. SATA isn't that much faster than IDE. If you want significant a speed boost over IDE get a SCSI 15,000rpm.
 
BossNoodleKaboodle said:
Everyone is so concerned with RAM but if you look at workstations, server's and other ultra high end computers they use stably timed high quality RAM, not exoticly timed unstable stuff.

Having a single-size page file is much more important than having it on a different drive. Make sure you do this. SATA isn't that much faster than IDE. If you want significant a speed boost over IDE get a SCSI 15,000rpm.
Click to expand...

There is nothing "Exotic" about Patriot RAM... I would say it was a very good choice. Very stable, yet OC's well also.
 
about the seperate page file hard drive thing, tis not anything for the page file except htat when the computer USES the page file it wont detract from whatever the OTHER harddrive is doing. i dunno i might drop the 80gig and just go with one raptor for right now. i wanna stay no a KIND of tight budget, and 74 gigs is PLENTY seeing as how i use all of.. 10 gigs right now.
 
The page file is kind of like back-up ram... When your comp is using all the RAM available it starts using the page file. Because RAM is accessed very quickly, using the page file slows things down. If you put it on a whole other HD as the OS it will be even worse, and file transfers between two diff drives are much slower than transfers within one drive.

Make sense?
 
d34dly said:
There is nothing "Exotic" about Patriot RAM... I would say it was a very good choice. Very stable, yet OC's well also.
Click to expand...

I meant peoples choices in general, not in that specific instance. What I mean is just get the most stable, basic, good brand stuff at a decent price. I've had everything from Infineon to Hyundai.

I do a lot of Photoshop with 5-700MB files and Adobe recommends to keep the page file on a different hard drive than the one with PS installed on it for better performance. The best thing to do is just make sure its an optimized page file, no matter which HDD its on.
 
well.. im hearing conflicting reports here people.

some say page file on ONLY used by page file hard drive is best for performance.
while others say otherwise. which is it i want to order in a few mniutes
im so excited.
 
ok real quick whats a good uhm..


heatsink stuff for my computer. uhm.. i need a good one for uh..

the ram?

the cpu

and how about a hard drive cooler? any coolers you think will work good. im gonna be looking into overclocking obviously (on reason to go with amd for me..) so i want something good for air cooling,

anyways....

i think i read that the processor im getting (retial box) has a really good heatsink. is this true? quick reply plz im ordering as we speak. lol.
 
Uh...What?

Just buy two hard drives. End of story. One for OS and OS related things. The second one for all your info. If the OS crashes your info isn't lost.

Page File is just "memory" you computer "Steals" from your HD's when you Real memory runs out. You can have Page Filing (<-- that looks funny "Fileing...Filing...) on both HD's anyways. With a gig of ram you wont "need" a page file at all. But its better to have one. From my experience when I turned it off my comp suffered in performance.

Buy both HD's. Your SATA and your IDE. HOWEVER! Why not two SATA's? The MSI Neo2 has 4 Sata connectors...Get a "boost" in performance off your HD's.
------
Blah, stop updating :-D

To your other questions.
Ram? Get either or, Both are Great. One may be slightly better, and people will argue I am sure. In the end both will do what you want and give your PC awesome performance.

CPU: Go get a Winchester 3200+ or 3400+ or whatever speed you want.

The stock cooling does the job for me. No aftermarket stuff for me.

Your HD's dont need an aftermarket cooler. THe fan in the front of your case will be enough to blow enough cool air on it.
----
Roar...

The cooling on the NewCastle you got will be fine. Since your not OC anything it will run fine. Besides you can always buy Coolers and fans after anyways.

----

Are you kidding?
(Removed URL...wrong link...to lazy to find the other one) Newegg it. 80 GB and SATA. Youll find a WD that is 80 gb 7200RPM for 63 bucks.,
80GB WD Sata 63 x 2 = $126...

----

Stick with your newcastle. Stock's are the same. People have different opinions. Whatever...they both get the job done and there is no denying that.
 
is htis a good cpu cooler? is it needed i mean, the proc im getting says it runs good with the stock cooler...
 
ok uhm. as for two sats right now, i dont think im gonna be able to, the two ide's cost almsot as much as this ONE sata costs (74gig raptor) . i dunno i mgith add an extra one on real quick...
 
lol one more little postwhore post in:


im gonna stick with the 3500+ newcastle. the winchester is quite a bit more (for the 3500+) model than the newcastleo ne. is there any real difference between the two (aside from one overclocks better?) i mean, stock vs. stock is it really a HGUE difference. lol cuz yall arel ike starting to talk me into a super h00j power cray su[per computer thing. lol. anyways.

quickly quickly. about to finalize my order.
 
hey guys. guess what i got for xmas.


a brand new top of the line pc.


edit:


looking to get everythign at ocne so im digging around on monarch comp.

anyways, im looking at this uh..

bfg 6800 ultra, and i notice it has two power htings. how does that work? it uses the uh.. +12v@33a right? or was i supposed to get a psu that had TWO 12v rails or something. er..

any help qwould be greatly apreciated.
 
92Camaro said:
ok uhm. as for two sats right now, i dont think im gonna be able to, the two ide's cost almsot as much as this ONE sata costs (74gig raptor) . i dunno i mgith add an extra one on real quick...
Click to expand...

lol, the raptors are 10,000 rpm, the other drives are 7,200 rpm. raptors arent the only sata drives, they just havea faster rpm. u cant get a 200gb sata for ~$210 that is 7,200 rpm.

dont worry about the hdd cooler

stock cooling is O K , they do cool the cpu fine, but aftermarket HSF, well if u get a good one, are better then the stock and more likely they will allow u to overclock more because u will not be as heat limited then u would with the stock, u understand? they cool better givin u less heat worries which is why u can oc better with water(because its cooler)and phase change(which is even more cooler, a LOT more cooler)

winchester is better then newcastle but not by a lot, they run a little cooler and are a little faster(clock-per-clock) and if u are willing to buy from monarchcomputer.com(dont worry, they are a well known site) i saw the 3500+ winchester for $270(oem) the other day and all u have to do is wait another day and pick out a good HSF (the xp-90 i hear is very good and a panaflo fan works great with it, so i am told.)

dont rush into it, i dont think u bought the parts yet and u shouldnt have, seeing u have soo many questions left. but i think i answered the majority.

order tomarrow, by me its 10:30 at night and i dont think newegg processes orders this late anyway.

[edit] if ur trying to save money, get the 6800GT, u can always oc that to ultra speeds, its a great card, u dont need an ultra, ultra is basically a 6800gt but faster at stock and it has another power thingy(lol i forget what its called), the power thingy lets u oc it more then the gt. the ultra is just faster, nothing more too it, u dont get any special features with it or anything that the gt doesnt have.....correct me if im wrong

and theres nothing wrong with buying from more then one store (think about it this way, if u get the parts from one store first, lets say newegg, and u get mad cause ur waiting for monarch, think about it that if u ordered them all from monarch, u would have to wait longer without getting any parts at all.)
 
too late

i ended up going with lets see...

MB K8N NEO2 PLATINUM MSI

N82E16813130468


1

$148.00
POWER SP|460W(P4)EG465P-VE 24P RT

N82E16817103488


1

$92.25
CPU AMD 64 3500+ ATHLON 64 939P RT

N82E16819103463


1

$274.00
FD 1.44MB|SONY MPF920 Black %

N82E16821103116


1

$7.00
HD 74GB|WD 10,000RPM 8MB WD740GD %

N82E16822144160


1

$180.00

DUAL 1G(512X2) DDR400 LOW CL R

N82E16820220033


1

$219.50
CASE COOLERMAS|ATX PAC-T01-EK BK RT

N82E16811119035


1

$99.99




anyways, im no the lookout for a monitor, a video card, and a cd drive. (preferrably the black plextor dvd burner thingy.

anyways, monarch doesnt have what i want so.. uh.. guess im waiting for some more stuff from newegg when they get it in stock.
 
ummmmmm......shit............i just hope u dont have any regrets from what i posted.........

dont worry, u shouldnt, but if u do, all the parts u ordered are fine, they lookd great,and they still are gonna give u some hell of a gaming machine....

and dont rush into things so fast when ur spending so much money, u could get burned...bad....that way. just calm down next time and wait to have ur questions answered!!!
 
all though i do agree that i "rushed" this forum kept up with my question extremely quickly. i LOVE that. i mean : 6 pages of questions in 2 days? crazy. you guys are my heros. as far as me not knowing everything, i asked the question i didnt know didnt i? so therefore "i know" , not as many questions now. so in some wasy i didnt rush.

anyways, when the time comes and i need some help im 100% positive i can count on you guys to help me out. so far my worries are this:

i hear the amd cpus are harder to put on the mobo than the intel ones.


and as for the "kick ass machine" i agree!

hmm. all i need now is the video card, monitor and cd drive.








edit:

yea im gonan go with the bfg 6800gt oc its already ocd to 370 ?

and the NEC 19" monitor

and the plextor black dvd burner thing its like 100 bucks or something. so im nto that far off!




im gonna head out to walmart here in za bit and buy some stuff
windows xp, mouse, keyboard, and some speakers.


or would it be cheaper to order that stuff online?

also, i forgot to order this uh.. arctic silver thermal grease stuff. i will make sure to buy some when the auto email tells me the 3 thigns are in stock. w0000.


can i get some pcis of just how much artic silver stuff to apply? i mean.. heh.. liberal to me is different than liberal to you.. ya kow what i mean?
 
92Camaro said:
well.. im hearing conflicting reports here people.

some say page file on ONLY used by page file hard drive is best for performance.
while others say otherwise. which is it i want to order in a few mniutes
im so excited.
Click to expand...

The page file should be on the HDD with all your non-executable data. The programs and OS should be on the primary, the rest on the secondary. You're not going to get much more out of a 10k rpm sata than a regular IDE 7200.

You shouldn't be so indecisive or you're stuff is going to be WAY outdated by the time you actually get it.

33A on the 12v line should be enough for even the Ultra, because 36A is enough for dual Xeons and lots of HDD's.

If you get 3 80mm SilenX or Vantec Stealth fans, you'll have plenty of airflow through the Praetorian case.

At this point I can't recommend spending over 350 on a 6800GT or 250 on a 6800nu because the new stuff is due out soon. You'd probably be fine with a 6800nu for now and put the money in your pocket for the next wave, or into something else on the PC you're making. Just my financial advice, take it or leave it, both cards are great.
 
ok i went with the sata raptor because i heard everyone argue about the ide 7200 isnt as good as the sata 10,000 and some people said the ide was just as good as the sata raptor. i went ahead and got the raptor.
 
i didnt go thru all the replies

however, i think your system is good and you seem to have done enough research

good luck with it

and about your other question.. the faceplate on the back of the case, if you look closely, you can bend or cut or whatever, to easily remove the plate and pop in the new one that comes with your motherboard (dunno if it comes with OEM motherboards tho)

good luck

and happy new year
 
Well my bro built a P4 system, and I built my AMD 64 system and putting the CPU onto the mobo was pretty much exactly the same. Align all the pins, make sure its facing the right direction, place it into the socket. Add a SMALL amount of thermal paste. A small amount! Enough that you can be able to spread a nice, thin layer around the surface of the chip. After that you place the heatsink on top of the chip, (make sure its facing the right way) and then get the heatsink clamped down (which, for me, has always been a pain in the ass...one side always goes but the other side is a little bitch!)

Happy New Year. Good luck with the build and all that good jazz.
 
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