Advice On Computer Building (was forum=28) (was forum=25)Follow

Pretty sure this is the best spot to put this question of mine.

I just went flippin through NewEgg and made a rough list of products i'd like to use to build my own computer with. I'm not building it, because I dont have alot of hardware knowledge. That's where one of my friends come in :)

Just looking to get some feedback on my list and suggestion if any.

Here's a list of what I've come up with so far.

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

APEVIA CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Case Fan

COOLER MASTER Hyper Z600 RR-600-LBU1-GP CPU Cooler

LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive
(do i need a burner for the 2nd cd drive to burn cd's?)

ASRock A780GXE/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 3.1GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory

XFX GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

SUPERMICRO AOC-SAT2-MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz SATA Controller Card


so I think that's just about it. If someone has a materials list for everything required to build a full computer, that'd be kewl too. like extra cables usually needed or what not. appreciate it folks :)

You're gonna need some wires. And probably some sparks or something to make it work.

Vista definitely needs to be part of this equation. McLovin prefers Vista over XP anyway.

The case you picked comes with at least one blue LED fan in the front, so you may not need more. You really want an intel Core i7 Motherboard and processor. The case you specified will take a double stack motherboard, get the 9800 gtx instead. its much faster than the gt and only about $20 more. The 18X dvd burner you specced out is fine, there are 22 speed ones for about $6 more. you only need one to copy disks, it writes them to the hard drive then writes back to the disk. I'd go with faster ram and more of it, Pc2 8500 1066 At least. I don't see a power supply specified.

That motherboard has onboard SATA ports. You don't need the AOC-SAT2 sata controller card.

You'll want at least a 650 watt. I reccpmmend the Antec Truepower 650 watt. It's about the cheapest decent class power supply out there. $119

Other than that, looks like it will be a nice machine. That motherboard comes with the cables you need.

Diablo3 should be the last game of choice.

You really have everythign you need to build a computer listed. Your case will come with the power switch control lines and wires to any of the front ports. For your hard drive and DVD burner you will need sata cables (which come with the motherboard) and power cables (fromthe power supply) to connect. The processor actually comes with a heat sync so you don't need to really buy another one, but the one you have specified is probably better. The case also comes with all the mounting screws you will need to secure the motherboard to the case and to secure all the drives. It doesn't really matter which SATA port you plug which drive into, i'd just use the top 2 SATA ports on your board.

By the way, since this is your first computer build, make sure you install the standoffs between the case and the motherboard. DO NOT ***** the motherboard directly to the metal motherboard plate without using those standoffs. Seems silly to mention, i know. But I know of 2 people from these forums who have built them that way and destroyed all their components, so I mention it just in case.

Video card just plugs into the slot and requires one or 2 power leads from the power supply, depending on which card you get. Motherboard you specified has sound built in, so you don't need a sound card. Ram clips in place on the board, does not need anything extra.

When plugging power into the motherboard, make sure you plug in the primary power lead and the 4 or 8 pin core voltage (yellow and black wires) lead. If your board supports the 8 pin one, use that even if 4 of the pins are covered by a removable plastic cover. The power supply itself comes with the power cable to the wall, so you won't need one of those. The video card you specified or the one I reccommended will have DVI outputs, so you will want to use a DVI cable with it. many new monitors only come with the blue VGA analog cables. your video card will come with an adaptor so you can use that cable, but if at all possible you want to use a true DVI cable for better video quality. If you are reusing an older monitor it may not have a DVI port.

Other than that, You will want a mouse and a keyboard, USB for both if possible. And a surge protector to protect your shiny new computer.

You might want to put in a Card Reader in one of the 3 1/2" bays. They only cost about $11 and you really don't need a floppy drive for anythign these days.

If you have any extra money in your budget after removing the SATA controller and adding the power supply, you might want to consider adding a blue ray burner. Then you could watch blue ray movies on your computer and burn blue ray disks. They currently cost about $150. Could add in addition to your DVD burner or instead of.

I did something similar - I tried to put an ATX motherboard (normal size) into a backplate designed for m-ATX (small size) and put one of the standoffs in the wrong place. It was okay for a while until a really hot day and then my cpu, motherboard, graphics card and sound card got fried.

After that I've employed a professional whenever I've had motherboard problems.

EDIT: While I think about it, if you're getting a USB keyboard then make sure you also get a very cheap PS/2 (the normal PC keyboard connection) keyboard. USB devices don't get any power until mid-way through the boot sequence so if you have to go into the BIOS or you want to enter SAFE mode on bootup, a USB keyboard can't do this. That's why you need a normal keyboard just in case.

Edited, Jan 27th 2009 4:39am by Leodis

After that I've employed a professional whenever I've had motherboard problems.

Really? I understand there are people who aren't mechanically inclined, but you put a ***** in the wrong place and something went wrong so your solution was "this is beyond me. I'll never be able to understand where these brass things ***** in, alas!"