Im building a computer... 3

[BH13]

I am Building a computer for a school project. Since its my first time building one i was hoping to get some feedback to see if anyone else would have any reccomendations about my computer parts. I would be using it for college and some gaming. My computer parts are listed on newegg at

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion...asp?ID=1832522&WishListTitle=BH wish List #13

if you have the time i would appreciate it if you would take a look and give me some feedback

-note. i am hoping to keep this around $600

 

[Mich]

1) Don't get a CD and a DVD burner. The DVD burner will cover both.

2) Your mobo has a built in NIC. Don't get the extra one.

3) Use some of your savings to buy a good heatsink/fan. Check out Volcano products.

4) To save money you can look at the AMD route. It's a Coke/Pepsi argument, but I prefer AMD. Going AMD would allow you to get a more memory or a better video card.

-If it ain't broke, break it and make it better.

 

[electronicsfreak]

First off , go to the ram or motherboard manufacturers site and look up that specific brand and model of ram and see if it has it listed as compatible. I dont mean like example say if a board takes pc3200 that the ram is pc3200, i mean check to see if say example (fake model number) corsair dingy325 is listed on your motherboards site as compatible. Reason I mention this not to sound rude if it does lol just from past experience you do not want ram with a motherboard that is not compatible. It will throw neverending tempertantrums.

Second, I would reccomend ordering another power supply to replace the one in the case as most power supplys that come with cases are just bare minimum to work. So I would reccomend buying another one and the way I look is make sure on the +12 that it has minimum 18 or more amps. Just how I look but if you look around this forum there are many post conerning building computers and power supplys. Also on power suppply id reccomend at least 400watts.

Another thing I reccomend is an anti static bracelet as one simple shock can destroy one or all componets.

Also I would reccomend plastic clips to place for spacing under your board, they are not neccesary but they can save from future problems as sometimes boards accidently can short against the case. Not fun when they do that either.

Also I reccomend adequate cooling as paste or thermal tape. I reccomend cooling for chipsets on the board to as ive seen alot of times they dont come with any heatsink. I use thermal tape and then a heatsink on mine works pretty good. Anyways thats all I can think of right now. Hope this helps.

 

[keun]

I just built my first pc with this mobo but I used

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819112186

as my processor.
I went with

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505

RAM.

All has been well for a month.

 

[mainegeek]

BH13,
I don't know about the brand memory listed as I have never used it, but I would go with either crucial or kingston and I would use a pair of 512meg sticks rather than a single 1gig.

Also, I would swap out the IDE hard drive for a SATA drive.

The power supply may/may not be an issue depending on the quality.

When building, Just take your time, don't "over tighten" screws, refer to the component manuals often and if you get stuck on a problem come back here for some help.

 

[BH13]

Well I've changed my Memory to two 512's, ive got a different DVD rom and CD drive, and im in the process of getting a new hardrive. thanks for your input it helped quite a bit. if you have anything else to add feel free!

P.S. Mich, Electronicsfreak, and mainegeek your posts were extremely helpful and thank you for taking your time to look fairly thoroughly through my list.

 

[MonkeyX]

The tower looks wicked but I wouldn't be to worried about the LED issues most of the reviews were complaining about. Not a hard fix.

You are going to love the video card for right now. However, I have noticed that the 9600 is starting to show its age with some of the newer games. You can still run them but you may have to kill a few bells and whistles. Not as big a problem as you would think. I have a 9800 w/128Meg Mem in one machine that is starting to have issues keeping up with some FPSs. But for RPGs (including FF XI and WOW) it works just fine.

Nice amount of memory and good choice od drives. The Lite-on drive I have in my desktop at work is a bit noisy but I have never had a problem (ok except the user caused kind) with the drive.

Best of luck and heed the warnings in electronicsfreak's post about the thermal issues!