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First Time PC Builder

J

jthm

n00b
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
30
Hey guys this will be my first stab at putting together a PC and I have done some research but prostrate myself infront of you gurus for advice as to how I should go from here. Here are the tenative specs of my PC:

Case: Enermax Medium Tower
Processor: AMD 64 3000+
RAM: 512mbx2 OCZ 3200ppm
Motherboard: ASUS K8V Deluxe SE
HD: 7200rpm 8mb cache hard drive(s)
Video Card:ATI Radeon 9800 Pro or HIS Excalibur Ice Q 9800 Pro
Drive: CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Keyboard: Logitech
Mouse: Logitech
Speakers: Creative Imagine 5.1 Speakers
Fans: x3 80mm fans

I'm wondering whether or not a 350W ATX PS2 power supply provided in the Enermax casing will be sufficient also.
 
If it's an Enermax PSU, it'll do. (Check my sig) - If it's generic, then buy yourself a Fortron or Sparkle 400W or more. I'd go Corsair mem. before OCZ, but if OCZ is notably cheaper, then it'll do. You didn't specify an HD brand so I will recommend Seagate or Samsung.
 
HDD...you didn't list how many gigs it has

Video Card...Get the Sapphire 9800pro 128mb from newegg.com

Memory...OCZ doesn't have the best record/history, Corsair or Mushkin would be better if you have the $
 
Western Digital's also a known good brand for hard drives, and Antec Truepowers are great PSUs.
 
WD is okay, not as good as Samsung or Seagate.... Avoid Truepowers unless you can get one for CHEAPER than a Fortron. I don't recommend Fortron because it's cheap-I recommend it because it's GOOD.
 
I heard that the Sapphire is an iffy video card with some shady details such as one of the "9800 Pro" one was in fact 128bit....

As far as HD I've been hearing WD, Seagate and Samsung preominently so odds are it'll be one of those three.I'm thinking I'll either get a 120gb HD and use my old 30gb as well or get dual 80gb ones.

For RAM I have head that OCZ works well with the Athlon64 and motherboard, also it is a fair bit cheaper than it's superiors Corsair and Mushkin.

I do believe the power supply in the case is an Enermax brand one as it is their case.
 
Don't believe - ask. Find out for sure. Sapphire cards are fine, just make sure it is not the 128-bit version. They are renaming those to Atlantis or some shit, but that'll take a little while for sites to update, I think. Sites like Newegg DO label it as 128-bit, just that people I guess do not notice it. As for WD, I do not dislike them at all. Just make sure your ears are not sensitive to high pitched whines not unlike what you might hear from some CRT displays.
 
The only thing I suggest modifying is the choice of a CD-RW/DVD combo drive. They run for about the same price as DVD burners. At Newegg I believe a Lite-on combo drive is around $50ish while a NEC-2500A (flashable to dual layer burner) is around $70. For the extra $20 it would be a better bang for your buck.
 
I would stay away from Western Digitals...my SATA 120Gb died less than 5 months
 
Do NOT get a 2500 and try to flash it. You may get lucky, but you may not. The 2510 has an improved optical pickup. 2510s are only ~$15 more than 2500s anyway and you're guaranteed either a working drive or an RMA.
 
wow I'm pretty lost, so WD hard drives are no good? If I'm going to bother with a mixed drive then I might as well get a dvd-burner? What if I don't intend to burn dvds?

So far I've been hearing 9800 Pro video cards are great so either ATI, Sapphire or HIS Ice Q would be good?

Checking out the Enermax site I'm pretty sure that the PS in the case is provided by them as well.

If I don't intend to overclock do I really need such expensive and high quality RAM as Corsair or Mushkin?
 
WD hard drives are extremely good. I have used them for many years exclusively. I have been a computer technician for well over ten years, and head computer technician for a store for over a year. I convinced the owner to use WD exclusively, and we had no problems with them ever, as have I personally.

Remember this: All hard drives fail, all companies have lemons, there is no such thing as a factory that makes thousands of the same product without having defects -- remember this

The sticking point for me:
WD drives are very good, but the thing that got me so loyal to them was their customer service for drives I did not purchase, but customers' systems drives that failed or had problems (I have had problems with every drive brand but by far the least was WD and seagate) When I dealt with the RMA department, it couldnt have been easier if they tried to make it easier, very quick, kind, and they will take drives years old. Even OEM drives were NO PROBLEM to RMA to them.


on RAM - I got some generic RAM for my sys as I dont OC it at the moment. make sure you get a good offbrand stick with quality chips on it, ex samsung or micron(my fav) chips on the ram, and you should be fine. Don't expect to run cheap ram at top timings though.
 
The reason I brought up the point about getting a DVD burner instead of a combo drive is the value factor. For about $20 you any have the option of burning DVD's in the future, even if you don't plan on it now. The same goes for getting a PSU with say 430W of power when right now the Radeon 9800pro's say they only require 350W. When you decide to upgrade in a few years the power requirements will be much higher for high end cards. So for an extra $20 now, you'll save the expense of replacing entire parts later.

As for the brand of hard drive, if you ask 5 different people they'll probably give you 5 different answers. All of the major players in HD's make good drives (Maxtor, WD, Seagate, IBM, etc.). I have a Maxtor and a WD and the Maxtor is louder so I would go with WD. I've heard good things about Seagate drives being quieter but running hotter. And I've also heard that IBM/Hitachi makes very quiet HD's. So it's your call. Whatever you do, there are always massive rebates that can land you a drive for CHEAP. My rule of thumb is about .50 per 1GB.

As for RAM, Kingston value ram, Corsair Value select and Crucial RAM is good quality memory. If you have no intention of OC'ing and don't mind lax timings then by all means this is a place to cut cost.
 
bradbowl said:
. . . . All of the major players in HD's make good drives (Maxtor, WD, Seagate, IBM, etc.). I have a Maxtor and a WD and the Maxtor is louder so I would go with WD. I've heard good things about Seagate drives being quieter but running hotter. And I've also heard that IBM/Hitachi makes very quiet HD's. So it's your call. . . .
Click to expand...
Are you going from first hand experience or second/third hand?

Im going totally from first hand experience. I personally went through the IBM DeathStar crud, the maxtors fail like crazy, the fujitsu are almolst as bad... this is all FIRST HAND experience, is yours?
 
WD is good. I'm just saying that they are EXTREMELY annoying to me because of the whining noise they make. Seagate and Samsung are almost as fast and are much quieter. Seagate makes the only native SATA hard drive and they're coming out with 400GB (!!!) this year in the model 7200.8.

I have also had Maxtors fail. Avoid.
 
Hey jaqie,

Remember this: All hard drives fail, all companies have lemons, there is no such thing as a factory that makes thousands of the same product without having defects -- remember this

As you seem you to a fanboy of Western digital drives. Other people I'm sure have had WD drives fail...and Maxtors, and Seagates, etc. I'm glad you have FIRST HAND experience with many different drives but you shouldn't be so quick to discredit other people's opinions just because they have not had owned every type of HD. I stand by what I said before. I would go with a WD but other people WHO HAVE OWNED Maxtors, Seagates, etc. will tell you otherwise.
 
Your set-up looks very good!

As for hard drives, ive had much luck with western digital.... (then again, i don't smash my hard drives against the wall............... or drop my computer daily....... it just sits there, doing its little 0's and 1's)

basically, i hear western digital and Seagate are very good hard drives.... and i hear the western digital raptors are also very good (lol, pricey, but good). Just remember, i look at a hard drive for reliability! I don't mind loud noises.... just as long as it keeps my darn data flawless!!!!

as with the power supply... im not too sure how it will work. it might turn out fine, ive never tried that. But for the small price diffrence.... maybe just go to about a 420-430w or heck, even a 480 will do from a good company.


As with the keyboard, mouse, and speakers, that's up to opinion........ and i would hope that you found them to your liking before choosing them.


Lastly, you decide if you want onboard Sound or if you want to go with something like an audigy 2 or M-revolution 7.1

Other then that, looks good!

~Hope this helps
 
The best advice I could give to a new builder:

Take your time when assembling the computer. Be sure to keep the motherboard manual handy because you're going to need it (Especially when connecting wires to it...there are a lot of indicator LED wires that have to be plugged in).

There are a few little things. I think it would be easier to put the CPU/Heatsink onto the motherboard before you actually mount it.
 
WickedAngel said:
The best advice I could give to a new builder:

Take your time when assembling the computer. Be sure to keep the motherboard manual handy because you're going to need it (Especially when connecting wires to it...there are a lot of indicator LED wires that have to be plugged in).

There are a few little things. I think it would be easier to put the CPU/Heatsink onto the motherboard before you actually mount it.
Click to expand...

i second that, also get 2 hard drives pref. 2 80 7200rpm of the same type i've heard some good things about hitachi desktars when their in raid and seagates or WD and run them in Raid config. shouldn't be to hard to setup. Also MAKE SURE U HAVE THE SATA FLOPPY DISC ON HAND AT ALL TIMES WITH THE DRIVERS, i can't stress that enough.
 
dandragonrage said:
Don't bother with RAID. You don't need it.
Click to expand...
Seconded. If you have to ask if you need RAID, you probably don't.

Anyway, I like WD HDDs just fine; I use Seagate drives when I need something quiet, though.
 
I'll throw my 10 cents in here. WD has been the best brand of HDD that I've ever owned. I've had Maxtors but I did not find them as good as WD. The absolute worst is IBM. Had 4 drives fail early. AVOID!!!!!!!!!
 
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