Building a Computer for the First Time

Invisible

So, I'm thinking about building a computer for the first time. I've actually done a lot of little stuff before, installing PSUs, RAM, hard drives, CD Drives, etc., but I haven't installed everything like MBs/CPUs etc. though I've watched it done a few times.

This is what I have so far, I really just need to make sure everything is compatible and what I'm missing. I have a Graphics Card (Radeon HD 4870), monitor and OS (Vista 32, but I plan on putting Windows 7 on it once it's released):

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM

LG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray Reader & 16X LightScribe DVD±R DVD Burner - Retail

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case - Retail

XION Supernova XON-800R14N 800W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply - Retail

Updated: Final Purchase

Ruckus

Looks good to me, except I have a personal preference for Seagate or even Western Digital over Samsung harddrives.

Also, you seem to be missing a video card.

And finally, how familiar are you with the proper application of thermal compound?

tech_hunter

A lot about building a computer comes from preference really.

What you got there seems ok. Only changes I would personally make would be to use an AMD processor and compatible motherboard and to also use a seagate hard drive.

I do really recommend the Asus mother boards I have built 6 systems with different boards from Asus no issues.
Well except one thing, when my G1 is connected to my girlfriends machine it wont post unplug the phone and boot it up works fine. But other than that all the other machines have worked flawlessly

Invisible

Ruckus wrote: »

Looks good to me, except I have a personal preference for Seagate or even Western Digital over Samsung harddrives.

Also, you seem to be missing a video card.

And finally, how familiar are you with the proper application of thermal compound?

I have a video card (Radeon HD 4870).

From what I've read something like two small rice sized drops very lightly spread across.


And I'm kind of wary of AMD. I have one now, but from what I've read Intel is the better processor at the moment which is why I went with it instead.

Crashtard

tech_hunter wrote: »

A lot about building a computer comes from preference really.

What you got there seems ok. Only changes I would personally make would be to use an AMD processor and compatible motherboard and to also use a seagate hard drive.

I do really recommend the Asus mother boards I have built 6 systems with different boards from Asus no issues.
Well except one thing, when my G1 is connected to my girlfriends machine it wont post unplug the phone and boot it up works fine. But other than that all the other machines have worked flawlessly

Same here. All the pc's I've built have had AMD processors. Their last round weren't so great, but the phenom's are pretty good. I'll also second using Seagate HD's, I love those things.

Clipse

FYI, you're not going to see anywhere near 6GB of ram with Vista 32. If you can get a Vista 64 installer, I believe the CD key from your 32 bit copy should work (though this may be outdated/wildly incorrect). At the very least I would say set up a dual-boot system with Vista 32 and Win7 RC1 64. It won't cost you anything extra except a little hard drive space, and Win7 seems pretty stable/reliable in my experience.

LavaKnight

As far as I know, it should only be one small rice sized drop of thermal compound.

Check the instructions here: http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

tech_hunter

Seagates perpendicular recording technology by Hitachi, you gotta watch this video


www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xPvD0Z9kz8

Zeon

tech_hunter wrote: »

Seagates perpendicular recording technology by Hitachi, you gotta watch this video


www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xPvD0Z9kz8

Thats so totally boss.

eternalbl

From the newegg description the FSB of the mobo you've got there is 1333. There were a couple of 1333 6GB DDR3 sets with better timings and for about the same price as the ram you've got listed.

Are you going to overclock at all?

Invisible

Clipse wrote: »

FYI, you're not going to see anywhere near 6GB of ram with Vista 32. If you can get a Vista 64 installer, I believe the CD key from your 32 bit copy should work (though this may be outdated/wildly incorrect). At the very least I would say set up a dual-boot system with Vista 32 and Win7 RC1 64. It won't cost you anything extra except a little hard drive space, and Win7 seems pretty stable/reliable in my experience.

I know I won't get my full RAM with 32, but at the moment it's all I have. I have some system restore DVDs with Vista Home Premium 64 that might work. But with Windows 7 so close to being released and hearing good things about it, I can probably suffer a few months with less than optimal RAM (it stops at 3 something IIRC) if it doesn't. Or I can do like you said and dual-boot.

Of course the real problem is I need to find a wireless N card that will tentatively work with Windows 7.

Invisible

eternalbl wrote: »

From the newegg description the FSB of the mobo you've got there is 1333. There were a couple of 1333 6GB DDR3 sets with better timings and for about the same price as the ram you've got listed.

Are you going to overclock at all?

No. Please link, if there's something better for a similar price I'm all for it.

Also changed HDD Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST31000340NS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

EskimoDave

If you can plug a plug in to a wall socket and use a screwdriver its dead easy to build a computer.

You only need to buy/apply thermal paste if you aren't using a the stock heatsink for the CPU. And since you aren't doing that or even overclocking at all then you don't need to mess around with that shit.

Crashtard

Invisible wrote: »

eternalbl wrote: »

From the newegg description the FSB of the mobo you've got there is 1333. There were a couple of 1333 6GB DDR3 sets with better timings and for about the same price as the ram you've got listed.

Are you going to overclock at all?

No. Please link, if there's something better for a similar price I'm all for it.

Also changed HDD Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST31000340NS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

How about The same drive for half the price at tiger direct or

same drive +500GB for 20$ less than at Newegg?

Crashtard

EskimoDave wrote: »

If you can plug a plug in to a wall socket and use a screwdriver its dead easy to build a computer.

You only need to buy/apply thermal paste if you aren't using a the stock heatsink for the CPU. And since you aren't doing that or even overclocking at all then you don't need to mess around with that shit.

This whole post is truth. Definitely don't mess around with the thermal paste if you don't need to. That only leads to trouble most of the time.

juggerbot

I built my PC a few months ago with the exact same processor and mobo, and yes, it came with a heatsink with preapplied paste, but there really wasnt that much on it. I bought it with this case, which I absolutely love. It comes with the Thermaltake Bigwater cooling system inside, so there's no outside radiator or anything. I set it up with water cooling for the CPU, and it works great. Ungodly nervous doing it, since it was my first time building a PC from stratch and also my first time applying paste, and Youtube vids were a huge help. When I took off the stock heatsink, the paste had "melted" into a quarter-sized spot, which I was kind of disappointed in. Another nice this about the case is that the radiator is in the door at the front, with 3 120mm fans drawing air from the front of the door, through the radiator, and into the case. Even with the stock heatsink on the CPU, the air coming out the back of the case was barely hotter than ambient, even when gaming. The bastard is heavy though.

And as for that mobo, I got this one, which is similar to yours, since there arent that many socket 1366 out. The video card goes into the blue slot, and I really dont know what they were thinking, because there isn't a video card in existence that wouldn't block that PCI slot right next to it. My sound card thats on the slot after that one is still leaning on my video card. Looking at yours though, you shouldn't have that problem.

Invisible

juggerbot wrote: »

I built my PC a few months ago with the exact same processor and mobo, and yes, it came with a heatsink with preapplied paste, but there really wasnt that much on it. I bought it with this case, which I absolutely love. It comes with the Thermaltake Bigwater cooling system inside, so there's no outside radiator or anything. I set it up with water cooling for the CPU, and it works great. Ungodly nervous doing it, since it was my first time building a PC from stratch and also my first time applying paste, and Youtube vids were a huge help. When I took off the stock heatsink, the paste had "melted" into a quarter-sized spot, which I was kind of disappointed in. Another nice this about the case is that the radiator is in the door at the front, with 3 120mm fans drawing air from the front of the door, through the radiator, and into the case. Even with the stock heatsink on the CPU, the air coming out the back of the case was barely hotter than ambient, even when gaming. The bastard is heavy though.

And as for that mobo, I got this one, which is similar to yours, since there arent that many socket 1366 out. The video card goes into the blue slot, and I really dont know what they were thinking, because there isn't a video card in existence that wouldn't block that PCI slot right next to it. My sound card thats on the slot after that one is still leaning on my video card. Looking at yours though, you shouldn't have that problem.

It's a really nice case, but it's also $200 more than the one I have selected. I primarily selected the current one because it looks like it's very easy to gain access to everything and the lack of screws, but also because it wasn't terribly expensive (and it didn't have a low-end PSU shoved in it, I've got like 3 right now sitting around, I don't need another).

Blake T

Invisible wrote: »

Clipse wrote: »

FYI, you're not going to see anywhere near 6GB of ram with Vista 32. If you can get a Vista 64 installer, I believe the CD key from your 32 bit copy should work (though this may be outdated/wildly incorrect). At the very least I would say set up a dual-boot system with Vista 32 and Win7 RC1 64. It won't cost you anything extra except a little hard drive space, and Win7 seems pretty stable/reliable in my experience.

I know I won't get my full RAM with 32, but at the moment it's all I have. I have some system restore DVDs with Vista Home Premium 64 that might work. But with Windows 7 so close to being released and hearing good things about it, I can probably suffer a few months with less than optimal RAM (it stops at 3 something IIRC) if it doesn't. Or I can do like you said and dual-boot.

Of course the real problem is I need to find a wireless N card that will tentatively work with Windows 7.

Download the 64bit release candidate of Windows 7 and run with that instead.

CJTheran

Blaket wrote: »

Invisible wrote: »

Clipse wrote: »

FYI, you're not going to see anywhere near 6GB of ram with Vista 32. If you can get a Vista 64 installer, I believe the CD key from your 32 bit copy should work (though this may be outdated/wildly incorrect). At the very least I would say set up a dual-boot system with Vista 32 and Win7 RC1 64. It won't cost you anything extra except a little hard drive space, and Win7 seems pretty stable/reliable in my experience.

I know I won't get my full RAM with 32, but at the moment it's all I have. I have some system restore DVDs with Vista Home Premium 64 that might work. But with Windows 7 so close to being released and hearing good things about it, I can probably suffer a few months with less than optimal RAM (it stops at 3 something IIRC) if it doesn't. Or I can do like you said and dual-boot.

Of course the real problem is I need to find a wireless N card that will tentatively work with Windows 7.

Download the 64bit release candidate of Windows 7 and run with that instead.

This. Generally speaking, if it works in Vista it works in 7.

eternalbl

Invisible wrote: »

eternalbl wrote: »

From the newegg description the FSB of the mobo you've got there is 1333. There were a couple of 1333 6GB DDR3 sets with better timings and for about the same price as the ram you've got listed.

Are you going to overclock at all?

No. Please link, if there's something better for a similar price I'm all for it.

Also changed HDD Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST31000340NS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231230

10 bucks cheaper and seems to have the best timings.

Product page @ Gskill

Invisible

Thanks for the help and input. I just placed my order.

I changed the RAM to the one right above as it was better.

Invisible

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx

After a quick search I came up with that and thought it might be useful for other people in a similar situation. With a 32bit Vista Key you can order a 64bit version of Vista for $9.95.