Author Topic: I'mma make a computer. (Read 10150 times)

TinMan · « **Reply #20 on:** July 02, 2006, 03:12:39 PM »

Serial ATA, its a faster alternative for IDE, you use it for newer HardDrives and CD/DVD drives. That motherboard you have picked out will do SATA, and so will the PSU, so you can use it. I do recommend a SATA HDD instead of IDE if its reasonably in your price range. I just upgraded to one recently because Quake 4 was lagging on my box and I was clueless to what could possibly be the problem, it was my old harddrive slowing it down.

Eiii · « **Reply #21 on:** July 02, 2006, 03:14:12 PM »

Yeah, I looked it up, but I don't get what it has to do with the PSU.

TinMan · « **Reply #22 on:** July 02, 2006, 03:35:10 PM »

The PSU has the right connector to power it, SATA devices don't use a normal 4-pin connector like other devices, they use a special conector. You don't really need the PSU to have those connectors on it to run SATA devices though because most SATA things come with a 4-pin molex to SATA adapter thingy-ma-bobber.
here's what it looks like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sata#Cables_and_Connectors

Here's all my parts, I didn't get them all off of NewEgg, but I'll try to find them on NewEgg so that its easy to compare stuff to them.

AMD Athlon 64 4200+ X2 - Has been serving me well in 32-bit and 64-bit software.

ASUS A8N-SLI - I got it because I have friends who are ASUS fanboys, it hasn't let me down and its BIOS is great for tweaking stuff in, also its got some neat features to it like being able to replace the BIOS screen image.

ASPIRE X-Plorer Case - Its actually a normal green, not neon at all unless for if you happen to have a blacklight in your room, the fan layout on this case is great though, not loud at all for me, the CPU fan-duct has a plastic filter on it that I clean once in a great while.

ASPIRE ATX 520W PSU - has a fan speed controller on it, but if its not all the way turned down then its loud, good speakers cover it up well though.

1GB 184-pin PC3200 DDR SDRAM - they're cheap and they work fine, a friend of mine recommended that I got them, so I did

Fatal1ty 1010 Mouse - This and the Wingman are the only mice that I've ever felt comfortable with in my lion-paw like hand, sadly its not designed for extended use and my left-click is almost broke, as for the driver problems people have, I don't have those problems in linux

eVGA Geforce 7900GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - I had an AGP eVga MX400 a while back, so I decided that it wouldn't be bad to buy this card even though it was one of the cheaper 7900GTs, it suits me well, so far there's no game that I've tried with it that I couldn't get good settings out of at 1280x1024. If you run this in linux you will need to modify your xorg.conf to get the full potential of this videocard.

Logitech Z-4 2.1 Speakers - my headphones hurt my ears, and my old speakers crackled too much, so I got these, they work very well and don't crackle for me. I have the woofer at my feet and the left and right speakers on each side of my monitor, with the wired remote right next to my keyboard for easy adjustment of volume and bass while in a game.

Segate 160GB SATA HDD - I picked this up at the local TigerDirect, I wanted a Maxtor, but they didn't have squat in stock in the actual store so I got this, its been holding up for a month or so, and has already outlived two of my WesternDigital harddrives from the past, so I'm hoping that the Segate brand which I've never bought before this, won't let me down. Everyone told me to get a Raptor, but I didn't for these reasons 1.) Price, 2.) Don't really know that I need more than 7900 RPM, and 3.) WD harddrives have let me down a lot.

Ergonomic Multimedia PS/2 Keybord - it was in stock at the local TigerDirect, it had multimedia keys, and I need ergonomic or my wrists hurt. Also the split spacebar is great for double-jumping

Eiii · « **Reply #23 on:** July 02, 2006, 04:27:21 PM »

Thanks. I'll consider that motherboard and case, but the CPU looks a little bit too expensive. I need hard drive reccomendations-- is the one I have right now any good?

TinMan · « **Reply #24 on:** July 02, 2006, 05:05:09 PM »

From the reviews on that HardDrive I'd say that it looks fine, not too many people have had trouble with it. WD's newer harddrives are a lot better than their old ones, so if you get WD stick to the newer SATA ones, not their IDE ones.

Another SATA thing is that in windows when you install you sometimes have to stick in a Floppy disk that comes with the motherboard that has the SATA drivers, this isn't always the case though and I didn't have to do it with mine.

Some heads up on my case are that people who have larger powersupplies have trouble with the fan on the top of the case getting in the way of it, also I don't recommend getting a case with lights like this if you sleep in the same room as your computer and leave it on at night, the lights are really bright. The slide out motherboard tray saves a lot of trouble on putting the motherboard in, this case is large, so that's not too important, on smaller and more crammed cases its more important to have.
I always hear bad things about dual-channeling PNY ram in ASUS motherboards, so if you get an ASUS make sure you aren't getting PNY ram too, although you aren't.

Eiii · « **Reply #25 on:** July 02, 2006, 08:26:30 PM »

I don't sleep anywhere near my computer, but I'd prefer it not have lights and junk. Is there a similar case without the lights and fancyness?

Also, if WD doesn't have the best hard drives, is there another manufacturer that does SATA that has more reliable drives?

TinMan · « **Reply #26 on:** July 02, 2006, 11:44:16 PM »

The whole harddrive thing will be different for any person you ask, just like if you ask them about Operating Systems, you're best bet there is to just stick to the reviews and see what the majority has to say about the individual harddrive model.

Aspire has a case like mine that doesn't have the clear side-panel, but it still has the lights on the front door to the drive-bays.
On personal opinion I was gonna get one of these Ultra Fulltower Cases but the price is the reason that I didn't, also the size, I move my case a lot for lan parties and hacker meets, so a fulltower case, nomatter how cool it is, wouldn't work well for me.

Eiii · « **Reply #27 on:** July 04, 2006, 02:39:07 AM »

Now I need to make sure all the components I've selected are compatable... I need some advice on that. Also, I'm still can't decide on motherboards or cases. Both motherboards seem good, but I'm not so sure I want to go with the cheaper option on such an important thing as the motherboard. The cases are near the same price, and I just don't know which one to get.

So, this is what I have now. The '<-'s are the parts I'm planning on getting.

Quote

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210 - $190 (-$30 +$5) <-

Vid Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150149 - $300 (+$0)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139004 - $270 (-$20 +$5) <-

Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148105 - $65 (+$5) <-

MotherBoard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135220 - $87 (+$8)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524 - $110 (+$8)

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103603 - $123 (+$0) <-

CD-ROM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152060 - $35 (+$0) <-

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119094 - $80 (+$0)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144105 - $58 (+$12.89)

Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182009 - $55 (+$9) <-

EDIT: ^not up to date. See my most recent post.

Eiii · « **Reply #28 on:** July 05, 2006, 12:37:50 AM »

Um, bump. I need help. See above.

jitspoe · « **Reply #29 on:** July 05, 2006, 10:37:13 AM »

Wow, it seems Opterons have gone up in price. I guess they're probably not worth it. I'd stay away from that WD Caviar drive. I've had 2 die and my friend has had one die. Granted, they were refurbs, but why would woot.com have thousands of refurbs to sell unless thousands of people had problems (which it seems weren't even fixed for the most part). Spend a little more and get something more reliable like a Seagate.

Eiii · « **Reply #30 on:** July 05, 2006, 05:30:44 PM »

Seagate you say? Found one. I decided I probably don't need more than about 150GB, so I moved down in size. I can always get another, or something.

Well, changed the above post to reflect that. Now, what do I need to make sure is compatable? As far as I can tell, this all works, but I don't know much about this.

Eiii · « **Reply #31 on:** July 07, 2006, 06:03:16 AM »

Bump again because I need help.

Everything on newegg says they're compatable, but as I've said many times before, I don't really know what I'm doing. Can anyone help out in any way?

Also, don't buy hard drives from Hitachi. Because they made this.

TinMan · « **Reply #32 on:** July 07, 2006, 01:03:17 PM »

OMG. Thanks for the heads up on that one, anyone who makes a horrid movie that seems to rip off of the School House Rock "I'm just a bill" song is just sick.
From what I see, it'll all work...but I didn't check out any of the power stuff...I'm not good with my Volts, when I put my boxes together I never checked any of that either and they worked though, lol.

Eiii · « **Reply #33 on:** July 07, 2006, 01:11:21 PM »

I think I have the power down, but I don't know what specific components require power. The motherboard does, and the videocard does, but none of the other parts say anything...

TinMan · « **Reply #34 on:** July 07, 2006, 01:49:13 PM »

The SATA HDD is powered from the PSU's special SATA power cable, the CD/DVD drive is powered by a 4-pin molex thingy (also a PSU cable), the RAM is of course powered by being plugged into the mobo, it looks like neither of those video cards require any power other than what the PCI-e16 gives them, and the Aspire case has a 4-pin molex piece that another 4-pin molex from the PSU plugs into to power the front lights, most of the other fans plug into either the little power wires that come out of the PSU, or the ones on the mobo (that way it can control their speed). The fan that comes with the CPU will definately plug right into the spot on the mobo next to the CPU socket.

IronFist · « **Reply #35 on:** July 07, 2006, 01:53:42 PM »

Post removed

jitspoe · « **Reply #36 on:** July 07, 2006, 08:29:42 PM »

eiii double posted! We should all give him a hard time about it since he bugs everybody else!

RAM:
Should be fine, but you could probably get something cheaper if need be. I think this is what I got: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220040

Vid:
I don't think the brand really makes much of a diffrence. The XFX looks like it comes stock overclocked. I've never heard of the other brand.

HD:
Should hold you over well. As for Hitachi, they also made the "Deathstar" drives for IBM.

Mobo:
Don't know much about ECS, but I've heard good things about ASUS. Never owned one myself.

CPU:
Basically the budget version of what I have. Should be good and has lots of positive reviews.

DVD burner:
I think this technology has pretty much leveled out, so you'll probably be fine with whatever. I usually go with lite-on because they're cheap and reliable, but I think lite-on may actually make the drives for NEC, so whichever is cheaper.

Case:
Really up to what you think looks good. Just make sure it allows for good air flow (vents in the front and back that fans can be attached to).

PSU:
I think rosewill PSU's are the ones that come with cases that people throw out to put in antec or seasonic psu's, so I don't know how much I'd trust that. Seems to have a fair number of good reviews, though, so you may be OK.

Eiii · « **Reply #37 on:** July 07, 2006, 11:24:56 PM »

Yeah, it was a bump.

I needed to draw attention to the topic, as modifying won't make it say there's been new posts.

I really don't care if my case looks good or not, it should just have enough room for everything and keep cool. It could be hot pink and have ponies on it for all I care.

As for lite-on, a good number of their reviews say that they died after a year or so of use, so I'll stay away from them. They're only about $10 cheapor than my current one, anyway.

I'll go with the ASUS motherboard, then. And I'm the PSU has enough good reviews that I trust it.

Here's what I have now:

Quote

MotherBoard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135220 - $87 (+$8)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524 - $110 (+$8) <-

Vid Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150149 - $300 (+$0)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139004 - $270 (-$20 +$5) <-

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220040 - $188 (-$55 +$5) <-

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103603 - $123 (+$0) <-

Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701 - $90 (+$0) <-

Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182009 - $55 (+$9) <-

CD/DVD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152060 - $35 (+$0) <-

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119094 - $80 (+$0)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144105 - $58 (+$13) <-

OS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102059 - $88 (+$5) <-

I'm happy with it.

XtremeBain · « **Reply #38 on:** July 08, 2006, 05:39:17 PM »

This is the point where you admit to having no money and thank us all for wasting our time.

TinMan · « **Reply #39 on:** July 08, 2006, 06:00:21 PM »

You're buying Windows?...hit me up and I'll save you the $88+$5 and get you Pro too...