New Guy building new

[ray661]

Hello, I'm ray661. You may have seen me on another couple forums but this is my first time here. I'd like to say, first, sorry. I know alot of forums stress about the constant "OMZG HALP!! IDK WUT I DOIN' MAN" and people that don't use the search feature, but now I must stoop to their level by just randomly joining this forum and asking for help :P. The thing is, I do not have a lot of time on my hands this week and would like to get this out now and flowing before i head off to bed.

Here's a petty sum up of my current life. I work two jobs, from 6 a.m. till midnight with an hour in between jobs to get ready for the next. I'm also only 16 years old. I was an extremely active online person but now, i fell out of popularity in the two forums i prowl on, and am moving more into gaming during my time off.

Now we move into my problem. This past couple weeks, me and my parents have been butting heads like most families do with teens. They don't get that my computer just doesn't cut it, and it's out of its age to truly upgrade unless i completely rebuild. Now, outta no where, my dad cuts in my argument with 'why don't you just build one yourself, i know you can do it'. So here, i spend 2 weeks researching and realize, i know alot, but i also know nothing. I mean, how many 16 year olds can just up and fix my mothers computer and a few 360's, But, there is still no way i can truly build one. Heck, I don't even know what's good on a power supply, or motherboard. But, i will learn, soon as school starts again because I was just accepted into a computer tech class (forgot exactly what it was but pretty much the same as teaching me how to do computer technician stuff) for my jr and sr year of High.

So, here's how you can help. I don't have a true budget, and my only requirement is, think of what Crisis is now for computers, now think of that 'oh my god' level, and put that in two years, i wanna be able to play something like that in two years even if it's just minimal, and overkill the games now. I wanna be able to play Call of Duty 4 online and know my lag is from my internet not my computer.

Now, I'm not looking to OC my gear, cause, honestly, I haven't the faintest idea what that means. If you think i should, then you'll have to help me there too.

Pretty much to sum up my post, what i need is someone to do the research for me, and put together a grocery list of parts, how much they cost, where to get them, and then a step by step guide in putting it all together and running, and get the gear as strong but cheap as possible. Yes, i know I have no budget, BUT, i don't want to waste my money when i could've just saved 200 dollars on an extremely small thing.

Do include a mouse, possibly keyboard, and screen as well.

Here's all i got right now in my current computer.

AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3200+
RAM: 478 MB
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Build Service Pack 22600)
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE (GeForce 6150 LE)
80 GB Harddrive
Standard Mouse and Keyboard. (meaning garage sale kinda stuff)
Standard cheap butt monitor, Samtron 76V
that RAM was an upgrade, yes it is a 512, but the system reads as that number for some reason. it was a 156.


Final note: have fun with this. If you're doing this as a chore, don't f*cking help me. I mean it, i don't like it at all when people complain about helping me. If you're just going to b*tch while helping me, just shove it.

Oh and I live in the US :P might need that info.

P.S. when you write the guide, even if it is as simple as 'turn on the computer system' include it, i really really don't want to miss something that should be obvious but i forget anyway

[Paulieg]

Here's a start. :)

[ShadowFold]

You put the link to the page not the image :p

http://img.techpowerup.org/080726/budgetpc.png

btw thats pretty nice too

[ray661]

wow that was quick, I'll let this thread sit over night (or two depending on how work is tomorrow) thanks for the replies so far that should help a lot.

[Paulieg]

Just an fyi, clicking on the thanks button will encourage more replies.

[ShiBDiB]

Final note: have fun with this. If you're doing this as a chore, don't f*cking help me. I mean it, i don't like it at all when people complain about helping me. If you're just going to b*tch while helping me, just shove it.

calm the hormones, ull find out this is a friendly forum for the most part.

But what kind of budget r we looking at??


(and small threadjack, u got the $ i sent paul?)

[Paulieg]

calm the hormones, ull find out this is a friendly forum for the most part.

But what kind of budget r we looking at??


(and small threadjack, u got the $ i sent paul?)

YHPM

[FR@NK]

I don't have a true budget, and my only requirement is, think of what Crisis is now for computers, now think of that 'oh my god' level, and put that in two years, i wanna be able to play something like that in two years even if it's just minimal, and overkill the games now.

Honestly I think its best to just get a good motherboard paired with a mid range processor and videocard. For example a P45 chipset board with either E8400 or Q6600 and either HD4850 or 4870. Then just plan to upgrade in a year or so when new tech comes out and/or the current high end stuff falls in price....by then the Q9550 would be fairly cheap and get another card for crossfire. IMO its just not cost efficient to build a high end rig now and have it last 2 years.

Where about in the US are you? I might be able to sell you some of my spare hardware to get you started. I have a Q6600. 2x HD3870, decent 550watt modular PSU, and a set of cheap 2x2GB ram pc2-800 4-4-4-12 that I've been thinking about selling on here.

[Paulieg]

Honestly I think its best to just get a good motherboard paired with a mid range processor and videocard. For example a P45 chipset board with either E8400 or Q6600 and either HD4850 or 4870. Then just plan to upgrade in a year or so when new tech comes out and/or the current high end stuff falls in price....by then the Q9550 would be fairly cheap and get another card for crossfire. IMO its just not cost efficient to build a high end rig now and have it last 2 years.

Where about in the US are you? I might be able to sell you some of my spare hardware to get you started. I have a Q6600. 2x HD3870, decent 550watt modular PSU, and a set of cheap 2x2GB ram pc2-800 4-4-4-12 that I've been thinking about selling on here.

Yeah, getting some used stuff may be a good option. You may want to take a good look at the B/S/T forum. There are usually a ton of good deals, and MOST of the people who post stuff for sale are honest and reliable traders.

[ShiBDiB]

maybe snag some open box stuff off of newegg

[ray661]

Honestly I think its best to just get a good motherboard paired with a mid range processor and videocard. For example a P45 chipset board with either E8400 or Q6600 and either HD4850 or 4870. Then just plan to upgrade in a year or so when new tech comes out and/or the current high end stuff falls in price....by then the Q9550 would be fairly cheap and get another card for crossfire. IMO its just not cost efficient to build a high end rig now and have it last 2 years.

Where about in the US are you? I might be able to sell you some of my spare hardware to get you started. I have a Q6600. 2x HD3870, decent 550watt modular PSU, and a set of cheap 2x2GB ram pc2-800 4-4-4-12 that I've been thinking about selling on here.

I never thought of that lol, thanks for that thought. It would make sense. I'm northwest Missouri, if you want the exact town, Osborn MO.

calm the hormones, ull find out this is a friendly forum for the most part.

But what kind of budget r we looking at??


(and small threadjack, u got the $ i sent paul?)

I'm calm :) see all smiles. I just had a couple bad experiences with a few people that helped a few noob guys out. Sure, they got help, but flamed to pieces along with it. Just one of those times you wish you could do more than ban the person you know.

Budget, well, like i said, i really don't care money wise, I just don't want to get into the range of alienware prices. The cheaper the better though, cause then i can get my equipment faster. The whole point of building my own is to save money and have the ability to upgrade with ease. If you HAVE to have a budget, keeping it below 1500 would be nice.

[Cold Storm]

Another thing that I might want to ask is. Is it for everyday use like web serfing, a few games and stuff like that? Or, is it a more of a multi tasking state? Paulieg set up is pretty nice. I'd just want to step up the thought of it all. Since you say you have a budget of 1500...

You might also like to pick up this Acer monitor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094)

As for keyboards and mouse, what is the type of feel you like? a normal keyboard? A eurgo keyboard, or something portable that you can move around?
Then Mouse as being USB or portable also?

Just a few things to help you and others think of.

[ray661]

It's going to be strictly for gaming and music playing (maybe movie watching too), I'll leave this current computer for my web serfing. I don't want to risk viruses and such.

For keyboards, i've always used standard keyboards. nothing special, so honestly i couldn't help you there, if you got a good keyboard in mind, go ahead and tell me to get it, in fact, if there's a return policy, why not?


My uncle got himself a gaming mouse, it feels awesome, but the feature i like most about it is, more buttons on the thumb. I'd imagine that would be good for me in alot of games but not exactly a requirement. If you can find the stuff cheap enough, go portable, but my only requirement there is, they charge via USB. I'm horrible with batteries that aren't built in, and my family's no better. We've always nabbed my mothers AA batteries off her camera since they recharge and used them on our 360 and Wii controllers. I don't want that happening here :P.

Am i requiring too much here???

btw, thanks for the monitor linky, looks like a good deal and good screen.

*Off topic* work in 2 hours, won't be back to check on this till tomorrow after i go.

[Paulieg]

I never thought of that lol, thanks for that thought. It would make sense. I'm northwest Missouri, if you want the exact town, Osborn MO.



I'm calm :) see all smiles. I just had a couple bad experiences with a few people that helped a few noob guys out. Sure, they got help, but flamed to pieces along with it. Just one of those times you wish you could do more than ban the person you know.

Budget, well, like i said, i really don't care money wise, I just don't want to get into the range of alienware prices. The cheaper the better though, cause then i can get my equipment faster. The whole point of building my own is to save money and have the ability to upgrade with ease. If you HAVE to have a budget, keeping it below 1500 would be nice.

At the $1500 price point, you can get one hell of a system. Base it off of the suggestions I gave you, add a case, monitor and keyboard/mouse...and you will still be under $1500. :)

[Cold Storm]

Razor is a good brand to grab (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010290065+50002202&Configurator=&Subcategory=65&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&Order=BESTMATCH&srchInDesc=)
I have the Logitech G5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104076) mouse..

as for a keyboard, Saitek (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175103) makes a pretty nice keyboard under $40 dollars... But that's just me.. Some grab Razer keyboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823114004)... Me, I just have a media (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126011) type keyboard.

But, I do say Paulieg set up is quite nice... One more thing... OS and Case?

[ray661]

Marked for deletion. Another person posted before me

[ray661]

I just about to say something about the software lol. Probably go Vista since games are turning more to that OS saddly.

Anything else, i'll leave up to you guys, i'll take care of the anti-virus though, AVG Free all the way.

So, I'm leaving for work early, first guy just got sick *rolls eyes*. Most of the grocery list is made thanks to Paulieg, but some stuff is still missing obviously, but I'm happy with this progress so far. Still need some instruction though :\. Thanks again guys, be back morrow.

[ShiBDiB]

vista is a quality os, a few tweaks and on a good system ull have no problems with it.

before u start looking at gaming keyboards and mice, u should pick out the case... a crappy case will ruin a good system

[ray661]

Wait, a crap case would ruin it? how so? I mean sure if the stuff don't fit or it's too hard to toy with the insides then i understand but how would that be ruining it? and any suggestions on a case.

Another question, with that build how many USB ports will I have, and what if i want more?

[PVTCaboose1337]

You should have 4 USB, if you wanna add more, the mobo usually comes with a PCI card that has 2 more on it, so 6 total!

[ShiBDiB]

and airflow thru a case is important, not to mention most crappy 1s r uglyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[Cold Storm]

Yeah, if you don't have a good case with good air flow, then no matter what you get, even a Qx9650, it won't be worth anything because of the amount of heat that will be trapped in the case.
You want to ether have a case that blows air right thew it, or one that is negative pressured. Meaning Blowing from the bottom to push air around... But, the choice is yours on it all.. Just make sure the case has plenty of air flowing threw it and out of it.
And if you don't want to bother with that, then its water... but that is a WHOLE different ball game, and would be more and more money.

[hayder.master]

i see this is good for you
gigabyte 780g very good to support ati card with hyper crossfire
amd 6000 or phenom 9850be if you can pay more
2g ram or 3g
hd 4850
samsung f1 500g hard disk
500w psu or 600w

[ray661]

oh yea, I forgot about airflow. So which case would you guys suggest?

I got my mouse picked out too, I'll just get what my uncle got. He let me borrow it and oh man :). I'll stick with the monitor already mentioned on here, so all that's left is keyboard and case. I'll take care of the keyboard part, cause that is really a person to person thing.

And the case could be any color, even pink. I honestly do not care.

[exo17]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119155
Depending on your budget, im guessing something like that would be pretty decent for your needs.

[Cold Storm]

Or, you can grab a NZXT TEMPEST (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146047) for a little cheaper then the Cooler Master.. I would suggest the Stacker if you can wing the price, but the other one is pretty good.

[ShiBDiB]

thats a quality case, and if ur using a crt monitor ur not gonna get the full experience of owning a quality system

[exo17]

True but afaik he was looking into buying a new monitor. He should look up something like that Acer Cold Storm suggested a few posts back.

[ShiBDiB]

ya a 22" for that price is a steal, he should definetly work that into what he's gonna buy. I ran this current system on a crt to setup windows before i moved it up stairs and it was uglyy

[BarbaricSoul]

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=6518754

here's my suggestion. It's alittle over $1500, if that's a issue, change the q9450 for a e8400

[ShiBDiB]

Subtotal: $2,293.85

a little over?

[BarbaricSoul]

Subtotal: $2,293.85

a little over?

huh? showing a subtotal of $1,603.88 to me

[ShiBDiB]

for some reason it has it set that ur buying 2 monitor 2 mobos and 2 video cards... set those to 1 and its right

[ray661]

thanks for the list but as an FYI, I'm not going to be online for a few days, my best friend just got life flighted to a hospital, got in a wreck. so.. yea

[MadClown]

as far as lcd monitors go, you want to have as little latency as posible, 2ms is the best you can get atm, but anything at 5ms or lower is good for gaming

Samsung makes great monitors and tvs, id recomend this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001273 its alot like mine but 3 inches bigger, outstanding image quality is samsung's business, i got a samsung 17'' crt and it gives lcds a run for their money

[ray661]

well, good news, i got false info about the life flight thing, she's fine and already got released, so i'll just be on as usual. *deep breath* so more computer talk shall we :)

EDIT: why can't i thank the guy above me?

[ShiBDiB]

i never got a thank you :( haha

[Wasley]

Hello Ray,

Let me start of by Welcoming you to the forum. :toast:

So, Its your first build. Not so long ago, I was in your position. I had a rough Idea what to do, I just needed some tips and tricks.

Below is an article that techpower made for users such as your self. I used it and found it very helpful. With a bit of luck, it will help you to.

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/144

[ShiBDiB]

Hello Ray,

Let me start of by Welcoming you to the forum. :toast:

So, Its your first build. Not so long ago, I was in your position. I had a rough Idea what to do, I just needed some tips and tricks.

Below is an article that techpower made for users such as your self. I used it and found it very helpful. With a bit of luck, it will help you to.

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/144

nice find, wish i had that 3 weeks ago. My anti static precautions were limited too putting the dogs outside, and putting it together in my tiled kitchen lol...

[ray661]

Ok, Is that guy's wishlist good? or should I go with the one from paul (forgot the actual user name)?

[BarbaricSoul]

Ok, Is that guy's wishlist good? or should I go with the one from paul (forgot the actual user name)?


Both of our builds are good. Isn't much performance difference between the two. I can and do personally vouch for the EVGA 750ftw motherboard. I've had mine now for several months. Even being a total n00b at OC'ing and only armed with what I learned from this forum, I was able to get 4.25 gig on air stable with my e8400. Very user friendly bios IMHO. Check my system specs to see all my OC'ing acomplishments with the 750ftw board. In all honesty, I think my build with the e8500 Paulieg listed would be your best choice. I'm willing to bet a 4.5 gig OC would be possible. :rockout:

[BarbaricSoul]

I edited my wish list to include the e8500 Paulieg suggested and included one of the best CPU heatsinks available today

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=6518754

[hayder.master]

oh yea, I forgot about airflow. So which case would you guys suggest?

I got my mouse picked out too, I'll just get what my uncle got. He let me borrow it and oh man :). I'll stick with the monitor already mentioned on here, so all that's left is keyboard and case. I'll take care of the keyboard part, cause that is really a person to person thing.

And the case could be any color, even pink. I honestly do not care.

cheack up case mod and chose one

[hayder.master]

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=6518754

here's my suggestion. It's alittle over $1500, if that's a issue, change the q9450 for a e8400

or you can try the new one the e8600 , but i prefer the quad you can try the q6600 with g0

[wiak]

if you can afford get a Radeon HD 4870 instead
better perf & will last longer

[BarbaricSoul]

if you can afford get a Radeon HD 4870 instead
better perf & will last longer

The 260 can be OC to 280 speeds which beats the 4870