Building first system - comments/suggestions please =)

For the past few months I've been wanting to make myself a desktop (currently just have a laptop). This will be my first time building a PC so I'd like peoples opinions about what I'm planning on buying - I've been running it by a friend who's built a computer but would like another opinion.

I plan to buy through newegg since they sound pretty awesome, and I've read of problems from other sites.

The computer will be for college (if that matters) and I am basically looking for a great performing system for all current games, but that will be, at least slightly, future safe (I dont want to have to upgrade it for a while since I don't forsee recieving much money for about 5-6 years =)), but that is quiet enough for typing out essays too (hence the case =))

CASE: Antec Performance I P180 Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - $149.00

MOBO: DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - $135.00

GFX CARD: XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $389.00

PSU: FSP Group (Fortron Source) FSP550-60PLN EPS12V 550W Power Supply - $96.00

PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor - Retail - $146.00

MEMORY: OCZ Performance Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model - $114.75

HD: Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $105.00

MONITOR: ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT Monitor D-Sub - Retail - $219.99

DVD DRIVE: BenQ Black IDE DVD Burner Model DW1640 BK OEM - $46.99

And then the externals to go w/ the computer

HEADPHONES: SENNHEISER HD 280 3.5mm Connector PROFESSIONAL Headphone - $99.99

KEYBOARD: LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - $5.25

MOUSE: Logitech MX518 931352-0403 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - $39.89

MOUSE PAD: STEEL PAD 4-D Mouse Pad - $19.99

TOTAL: $1,586.85

Which means about $1,800 with taxes and shipping
I'd really like to spend less than this, but dont want to compromise performance.

So, please let me know what you think, or if there are any problems with this system. I'm hoping to buy it within the next few days but can wait up to 2 weeks if something should be coming out in that time.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this and TIA to anyone who posts constructive thoughts/criticisms/etc.

EDIT: Changed PSU to a more powerful, $20 cheaper one which seems well recommended on forums =)

Hi and to the forums

I would say it looks like a pretty good rig, and the only things that I would comment on are:

- Headphones - could you get away with spending a little less on them? $100 (£60UKP?) seems a lot for headphones

- Graphics - again $400 for a high end graphics card is a lot. You could potentially save $100-$200 by going with a cheaper card (6600GT or 6800) and upgrade to a 7xxx card later?

David said:

Hi and to the forums

I would say it looks like a pretty good rig, and the only things that I would comment on are:

- Headphones - could you get away with spending a little less on them? $100 (£60UKP?) seems a lot for headphones

- Graphics - again $400 for a high end graphics card is a lot. You could potentially save $100-$200 by going with a cheaper card (6600GT or 6800) and upgrade to a 7xxx card later?

Click to expand...

then again, the top of the line seinheiser headphones truly cost that much, are well worth their bucks for audiophiles or to those who knows how to appreciate them.

But yeah, if you are on a budget, this is definitely a luxury you can cut

yeah, if you want, you can get the 6800gt...its only about 5-20% less powerful than the 7800gt. but if you dont plan to upgrade at all for the next few years, and do foresee having any more cash to do upgrades, AND also have the neccessary cash now, by all means, go for the 7800

You may want to use an LCD monitor with 16ms or better refresh if you can afford it. A 19" CRT is pretty big and may use up all of your desk space at college.

kravdra said:

For the past few months I've been wanting to make myself a desktop (currently just have a laptop). This will be my first time building a PC so I'd like peoples opinions about what I'm planning on buying - I've been running it by a friend who's built a computer but would like another opinion.

I plan to buy through newegg since they sound pretty awesome, and I've read of problems from other sites.

The computer will be for college (if that matters) and I am basically looking for a great performing system for all current games, but that will be, at least slightly, future safe (I dont want to have to upgrade it for a while since I don't forsee recieving much money for about 5-6 years =)), but that is quiet enough for typing out essays too (hence the case =))

CASE: Antec Performance I P180 Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - $149.00

MOBO: DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - $135.00

GFX CARD: XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $389.00

PSU: ENERMAX Noisetaker AX Series EG495AX-VE SFMA 2.0 ATX12V 485W Power Supply - $116.00

PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor - Retail - $146.00

MEMORY: OCZ Performance Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model - $114.75

HD: Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $105.00

MONITOR: ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT Monitor D-Sub - Retail - $219.99

DVD DRIVE: BenQ Black IDE DVD Burner Model DW1640 BK OEM - $46.99

And then the externals to go w/ the computer

HEADPHONES: SENNHEISER HD 280 3.5mm Connector PROFESSIONAL Headphone - $99.99

KEYBOARD: LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - $5.25

MOUSE: Logitech MX518 931352-0403 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - $39.89

MOUSE PAD: STEEL PAD 4-D Mouse Pad - $19.99

TOTAL: $1,586.85

Which means about $1,800 with taxes and shipping
I'd really like to spend less than this, but dont want to compromise performance.

So, please let me know what you think, or if there are any problems with this system. I'm hoping to buy it within the next few days but can wait up to 2 weeks if something should be coming out in that time.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this and TIA to anyone who posts constructive thoughts/criticisms/etc.

Click to expand...

very sexy machine your build mate.


and "WELCOME TO THE FORUMS"

I love my +3000 Venice.

I would recommend getting an LCD instead of a CRT just because of the size. I think desk space at college will be at a premium and you won't want to be stuck with a bulky CRT.

If your willing to buy expensive headphones, then you should probably get a good sound card.

Well, your spending about $1600 on your compuer, but your only getting a 3000+? Everything looks as if it'll bottleneck in it too, and since you want future-proof, the 3000+ isn't much of a good choice.

CPUs should be the last part you'll upgrade, so at least get a good CPU and you can cut back on video/ram and stuff like that. If you want futureproof, go for the X2 3800+, you can cut down to a 6800GT and value ram.

Also, if it's your first time building a computer, I highly don't recommend getting the DFI. Only get the DFI if you want to do extreme OCing, otherwise, the DFI isn't good for beginners. Get an Epox or MSI board for better stability.

First off, thanks for the warm welcome!!!

now, on to my ignorant thoughts in reply to your guys' great comments!

Since the x2 is soo new, I wonder if its worth its price premium? While I said I wanted to be future ready, the processor is the one thing I do think I'll (have to) upgrade. As I see it, since they basically just introduced multi-core and are already talking about tri- and quad- cored chips, I would think that the prices on them are going to be coming down a lot and since no current game uses dualcore but they do use sound (headphones) and graphics (7800GT) those give immediate benefits while helping future proof the computer a little bit. - The processor on the otherhand I'm not sure is.

I mean I could go with a better single core, but since games and other programs will probably be transitioning to multi-core before the 3000 isn't good enough it doesn't seem worth it. And given the potential drop in multi-cored prices and increase in their performance, paying the premium now ($240 more than the 3000+)... is it really worth it?

I'd love a soundcard, and it may make more sense to buy $50 headphones and $50 soundcard. However, the onboard sound on my laptop combined w/ my friends hd280s is a lot better than with my $20 headphones, and I'd imagine that the onboard sound on the DFI board is quite a bit better than it is on my laptop. So I'm thinking, at least for now I can survive with the onboard sound, and its easier to spend money to buy something totally new (AKA buy a soundcard) than it is to buy a soundcard and headphones cheaply then "upgrade" them by replacing them with better ones. <- if that made any sense =) - who knows maybe I'll just steal the soundcard in my parents computer - they never use sound anyway =D

darksparkz: I was wondering if anyone would comment on the board. It seems to be rated insanely well for basically everything, and, according to anandtech.com, it can (or used to be able to be) upgraded to SLI for the mere price of some pencil led! While I may never get SLI its nice to have that ability without buying a new board, yet because its an nForce4 ultra board its $70 cheaper than an equivalent SLI one!!! - HOWEVER, I am a little bit worried about how hard it will be to set up since I've read of lots of problems with getting the memory to work. This has me worried a little bit, though I'm hoping that w/ a combination of help from online guides, and my friend (who's built a few computers, though is no expert) I will be able to get it working. Does this sound doable? or am I dreaming? Its hard since I don't have enough experience (AKA none) to know if how realistic this approach is?

Almost forgot... about the monitor...

I pondered which to get for a long time, and am not very sure CRT is the right choice. However, a few things...

1. The desk (in the dorm room I'll have next year) is about 5' deep. this is because of the wierd layout of the room resulting in the windowsill adding a foot to the desk and then there is a foot gap between the window and the desk (necesitated by the heater/AC) so if i put a piece of plywood over this gap that gives me a massively deep desk so, at least the first year, I think the desk will be plenty big.

2. CRT has higher resolution. At 1600x1200 @ 77hz its recommended resolution is quite a bit better than the 1280x1024 of all the LCDs. (It's hard to imagine having a desktop monitor with less resolution than my laptop which I believe is probably the biggest factor swaying me towards the CRT)

3. The cheapest LCD thats 17" w/ a 16ms refresh (about the same as the CRT) is $40 more, yet has 1" less viewing area, less resolution, and I believe that ghosting is a big problem at that refresh?

4. And then theres the fact that a CRT can run at any resolution fairly easily, but I believe LCDs can only run at their native resolution or exactly half that (640x480)?

Thanks again to all those who have replied and TIA to any who reply again and any others who add their comments!

Again-Welcome to the Forums

You have made a lot of solid choices.Here are my thoughts:
1) If you have the room a CRT is a solid choice.They preform well and you can get a lot of mointor for the money.It sounds to me you have thought about it so I wouldn't worry about that choice.
2) The sound on the MB you selected is solid.I think there is a lot of support for your choice to select the headphones you want and use the on-board sound.If you decide later you have to have a stronger sound system then that is the time you should start looking at sound cards and a speaker system.Addational money here will only gain a little in sound.
3) You didn't mention if you planed on overclocking.Most of your components are solid enough to if you want to but if you ever plan on thinking about overclocking I would spend a litttle time on the power supply forum checking out the PS's.Also a little more research would be advantagious for the CPU heatsink and fan.
4) The 3000's and 3200's are solid chips that preform well and will do a good job.I wouldn't be afraid to build my unit with one of them.If there is a game or function that is developed in the future that they won't handle you still have room for a resonable upgrade by buying a chip later but they seem to be doing the job now very soundly.
5) The vid card selection is very tough as David noted you can save a lot of money and only lose a little preformance by taking a step downward. For todays games the step downward would not hurt your gaming.However as stated earlier if you can afford it by all means go with the top choice it is awesome.Many people are very happy with a vid card in the range of the 6800gt's and spending the additional money in hard drive storage,memory or software components that they use in collage.
Your choices are looking good and Good Luck and Good Computing

^^^ thanks!

OK, as per your suggestion I looked at power supplies more... you never directly said it, but from what you said I take it you don't like enermax? - I read some good reviews about them (and that one in particular) but mainly chose it because the P180 puts the PSU in the bottom and therefore requires longer cables (which the enermax advertises having) though I cant seem to find information about actual length of the power cables (this is true of any PSU I've looked at - maybe i'm just dense though)

I was looking in the PSU forum, and someone recommended FSP550 which is cheaper and more powerful than the enermax, but I've never heard of them, and can't find any "official" review, only comments in forums. However, one nice thing about it is that the air enters from the front (instead of bottom) which seems better for the P180 design.

Most of the rest that I found at 500W + (which I believe your suggesting for OCing?) don't have active PFC. But many are recommended... I had been under the impression that PFC was a good feature and worth having. Is this not true? - If not it allows a lot more PSU's that are around $100, but I had been excluding them from what I've looked at. (Things like the OCZ 520 W, and Antec Truepower II).

Thanks!

Why not make yourself a budget of $800 - $1000 and get yourself a cheaper system because you might kick yourself when you don't have any $$$ left for games. Plus - this is a mistake i made when i built my rig (a while ago) - i didnt NEED, just WANTED, that extra performance. Just a thought.

Also, will you need a printer for your essays?!

Good luck with it anyway, whether you listen to me or not

Well, people don't need a lot of stuff, they just want it. So why not spend money on something that'll make you happy?

Anyways..your idea of buying the 3000+ now to last you about a year or so is pretty good. Yeah, dual cores have only been out for a few months, but I doubt there will be any large price decrease. And the talk about quad cores, I highly highly doubt it'll go into mass production for a long long time, so you'll still be safe with dual cores for a long while.

But you could stick with the 3000+/3200+ and wait for the new FX dual cores to be released near the end of the year or so.

Yeah, I guess you could stick with onboard sound, maybe even buy the new Creative X-Fi sound card in a little bit when prices go down.

The 6800GT is going to work pretty decent for current games, but that's only current games. In a little under a year, many games will take advantage and benefit more from the 7800 series. So if you have the money, then of course get the 7800s. Either the GT or GTX verison is fine, I would say the GTX one, since your planning to upgrade CPU something later, getting the best video card you can get will be fine and not need upgrades later.

I thought they sell PSU wire extension things. If so, the Forton AX500-A is a good choice, but a better one would be the OCZ Powerstream 520W for more solidness.

Yes, the DFI can be easily modded to SLI, even if you don't need SLI, the option for it is pretty good. But only choose the DFI if you have patience and the will to troubleshoot it. Yes, it's the best board for OCing, but it may get pretty complicated depending on how lucky you are to get that one good board.

kravdra said:

^^^ thanks!

OK, as per your suggestion I looked at power supplies more... you never directly said it, but from what you said I take it you don't like enermax? - I read some good reviews about them (and that one in particular) but mainly chose it because the P180 puts the PSU in the bottom and therefore requires longer cables (which the enermax advertises having) though I cant seem to find information about actual length of the power cables (this is true of any PSU I've looked at - maybe i'm just dense though)

I was looking in the PSU forum, and someone recommended FSP550 which is cheaper and more powerful than the enermax, but I've never heard of them, and can't find any "official" review, only comments in forums. However, one nice thing about it is that the air enters from the front (instead of bottom) which seems better for the P180 design.

Most of the rest that I found at 500W + (which I believe your suggesting for OCing?) don't have active PFC. But many are recommended... I had been under the impression that PFC was a good feature and worth having. Is this not true? - If not it allows a lot more PSU's that are around $100, but I had been excluding them from what I've looked at. (Things like the OCZ 520 W, and Antec Truepower II).

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Fortron is a good power supply. You wouldn't be disappointed. Having said that, however, Enermax is also a good power supply. BUT....the PSU is like speakers in a stereo system. You definitely don't want to scrimp on the PSU. If the PSU is weak, you will have nothing but trouble with your comuter. A good rule of thumb that I go by is spend about $100 on your power supply and you will probably be OK.

Thanks for the great replies...

Yea, like sparkz said, i don't NEED this, only want - my laptop would meet min req's for at least the first year. As far as the printer and stuff like that, I'm getting my parents old one, and they are getting a new one, though it is an excellent point, right now I'm just worrying about the computer and imediate, necessary components to get it working (hence listing mouse...)

As far as the power extenders, I hadn't really thought about that. I'm sure they make them, but if I have to extend every cable, that could become quite a mess/pain but if I end up with one that is too short I guess i can simply get some - at fry's =/

I'm still a little confused about PFC though - can one of you confirm that it doesn't make a difference - that (and lack of dual 12v rails) is whats keeping me from switching to the OCZ - and the green fan in back is kinda wierd, but i'll just disconnect the LED. It does have a good fan layout for the P180 though =)

As far as the mobo, I believe I have the patience, I worry more about the ability =)
Could you recommend me another one (specific, not simply brand) to look at and decide between... I'll probably end up just getting the DFI though - I'm sure its quite stupid, but I always want the best - even if i may not be the best for my needs.

And as far as the sound, I think thats what I'll do - wait and see how much I want it - maybe wait and get it as a christmas present =)

Thanks all!

DFI isn't the "best" motherboard in terms of performance. It is only the best in terms of OCing, and pure OCing.

If you want the "best" motherboard, that would be the ASUS A8N-SLI Preminum, but thats pretty expensive, probably like $160ish.

If you want the best motherboard in terms of pure performance, it's either the ASUS A8N-SLI Preminum, or the Abit AN8 SLI Fatality.

But if you want the best motherboard for OCing, it's the DFI or the Epox ones.

Well, I'm not an expert in PSUs or anything. But almost for any new system that is based on any AMD cpu over the 3500+ would almost "require" a PSU of around $100+. The active PFC and dual 12V makes the PSU you choose better....well that was a stupid example. But yeah, try looking around the PSU section and maybe there'll be explanations there.

I doubt you'll need that many PSU extentsion things, because most cases are designed so that it wouldn't cause much trouble and need for extentsion lines.
But yeah, the only thing that you might need extentsions are for might be a few case fans and probably CD drives, otherwise everything should be fine.

But yeah, I have the OCZ Powerstream 520W, and the green LED thing is only annoying if I leave the computer on overnight, since my computer is in the room I sleep in. Otherwise, I rarely ever notice the green LED, if you mod it enough, you can probably change the color of that LED. Actually, the wires in the OCZ are actually pretty long, it might be fine for your case.

Welcome to the forums!!!

I'm going to be very honest according to my preferences:

1) Ditch the CRT and go for an LCD. 19 inch CRT's are way too big for college.
2) Get rid of the 7800GT and pick a slightly cheaper card.

Excellent choice on everything else. Good luck with the build!

Well I ordered it (well most of it). I did go with the fortron though i debated between it and the OCZ for a long time. I also went with the DFI. I had originally planned to get the Abit Fatal1ty SLI, but for $70 more for a board that doesn't overclock well (well, didn't when reviewed on anandtech), i just couldn't do it, though the extra fans and uguru panel thing seem pretty awesome. And like you mentioned, the Asus is a little expensive, and anandtech, wen they reviewed a few SLi boards said "The Asus is certainly a competent SLI motherboard, but it is pretty average in this roundup and does not stand out in any way" whereas the DFI does fairly well stock, and amazing overclocked.

I'm sure you didn't care why I decided the way I did, but because of all of your helpful comments, I felt you deserved an explanation, and didn't want it to seem like I was ignoring your comments.

I haven't ordered a monitor yet tho :-o because I havent been able to see them in person and don't know whether to get the samsung one (that I put above), or the viewsonic G90FB I was going to go look at a local computer place and possibly buy it from there to save the $30 shipping, but fry's, bestbuy, circuit city, and good guys don't carry CRTs capable of displaying 1600x1200 at decent resolutions, and compUSA only had the viewsonic (which I'm going to go look at just haven't yet).

And haven't ordered the headphones because 5 minutes before ordering the computer newegg sold their last one =D

Just thought I'd let anyone who's interested know whats up, and totally bore you all.

Thanks again for all the comments!

Good ideas, good lucky with your build and have fun building it =).

Well yeah, we we're just giving more or less our opinions on how it should be, it's your money and your computer in the end. The customer is always right =D