- Joined
- Feb 22, 2008
This is my first build and I am pretty excited about it. This was built mainly to be a media center, but I also game a little bit and I didn't want to be limited at all in my game selection so I may have gone a bit over board in the graphics area for what I will use on a daily basis, but I got a really good deal and I stayed under my $1100 budget. Which is not like your average budget because I have a friend who gets this stuff for REALLY cheap. Makes Newegg look like Best Buy when it comes to prices. For instance he just gave me a 1TB hard drive. So yeah you probably kind of get the picture. Anyways here is my FIRST BUILD! Please critique it any way you please good or bad. Like I said this is my first time so ANY input will be appreciated. I have all the parts except the processor and it should be in tomorrow. So I haven't put anything together yet so I can still change the plans a bit if it is ABSOLUTELY necessary. Anyways here ya go.
ABIT IP35 PRO mobo
Wolfdale e8400
MSI NX8800GT 512MB
8GB Mushkin DDR2 800 PC2 6400 RAM (4x2GB) Yeah I know its overkill but I got an awesome deal and I am sure I wouldve upgraded to 8GB eventually anyways might as well do it while its cheap
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
1TB Western Digital 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive once again maybe overkill getting 2 but 1 of them was free and I really might need the room because I movies, music, tv shows, etc. are a big hobby of mine plus I do a lot of video editing b/c I am a journalism/film Major
Flashed KREON Pioneer DVD ROM
Lite-On 20x DVD Burner IDE
Samsung 20x DVD Burner SATA, Burns DL @ 12x
APEVIA X-Tellstar S-Type Case w/ APEVIA Warlock 750 watt power supply
26 " ACER widescreen LCD monitor plus two 15" ACER monitors on each side of the Big Boy. Main reason I keep the other 2 monitors is for online poker, but it comes in handy for other things as well but I would probably drop them if I didn't play for cash online.
Hauppauge Dual TV Recorder Tuner Card From my current somewhat crappy set up. Lets me see all of the HD channels with my cable company, extra S-video cable, FM tuner, TV input. Its pretty cool. I can hook my xbox 360 up to it and use my HD monitor and play, DVR on 2 different channels at the same time, pause live tv all that crap. I'm sure yall know about it and it has some bugs here and there but it is what makes a Media Center PC to me. I have to the reverse hook up to my Plasma big screen as well, but I usually watch tv or play 360 on my computer unless people are over.
Anyways that about it.....let me know what you guys think good or bad and any suggestions you may have.
The one question I really want answered though is this. I haven't ordered a CPU fan yet. I know I probably should, but I was thinking I might just try the intel one that comes with the e8400 and just watch my the temp close and see how it went. My friend has the same case I have and he says he doesn't even turn his aftermarket fan of off low unless he is OCing pretty hard and he knows what he is doing. I really don't plan on over clocking much if at all......but to be honest I am not really familiar with all the ins and outs of it. I know the basics but I have been reading some of the stickies around here and it kind of makes me want to push it just to see what my creation can do.....and if I do that I will definitely need to get a good aftermarket CPU fan.
Oh yeah I have access to Windows Vista Ultimate x64, Windows XP x64, as well as either 32-bit Windows for free. What should I go with? I have decided at all on that yet so you all could definitely help me there. I know you can't utilize more than 4GB of RAM unless you go 64 bit, but I also heard that you are supposed to start out with 2Gb when you first start your OS and THEN upgrade your RAM to 8GB or whatever. I don't really understand why that is or why you can't just pop it all in before installing your OS and then just going with a 64 bit system. Answers appreciated.....This is my first post too by the way. Love the forum so far. Look forward to getting to know some of the members, learning some stuff, and hopefully in time teaching some stuff?..maybe
ABIT IP35 PRO mobo
Wolfdale e8400
MSI NX8800GT 512MB
8GB Mushkin DDR2 800 PC2 6400 RAM (4x2GB) Yeah I know its overkill but I got an awesome deal and I am sure I wouldve upgraded to 8GB eventually anyways might as well do it while its cheap
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
1TB Western Digital 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive once again maybe overkill getting 2 but 1 of them was free and I really might need the room because I movies, music, tv shows, etc. are a big hobby of mine plus I do a lot of video editing b/c I am a journalism/film Major
Flashed KREON Pioneer DVD ROM
Lite-On 20x DVD Burner IDE
Samsung 20x DVD Burner SATA, Burns DL @ 12x
APEVIA X-Tellstar S-Type Case w/ APEVIA Warlock 750 watt power supply
26 " ACER widescreen LCD monitor plus two 15" ACER monitors on each side of the Big Boy. Main reason I keep the other 2 monitors is for online poker, but it comes in handy for other things as well but I would probably drop them if I didn't play for cash online.
Hauppauge Dual TV Recorder Tuner Card From my current somewhat crappy set up. Lets me see all of the HD channels with my cable company, extra S-video cable, FM tuner, TV input. Its pretty cool. I can hook my xbox 360 up to it and use my HD monitor and play, DVR on 2 different channels at the same time, pause live tv all that crap. I'm sure yall know about it and it has some bugs here and there but it is what makes a Media Center PC to me. I have to the reverse hook up to my Plasma big screen as well, but I usually watch tv or play 360 on my computer unless people are over.
Anyways that about it.....let me know what you guys think good or bad and any suggestions you may have.
The one question I really want answered though is this. I haven't ordered a CPU fan yet. I know I probably should, but I was thinking I might just try the intel one that comes with the e8400 and just watch my the temp close and see how it went. My friend has the same case I have and he says he doesn't even turn his aftermarket fan of off low unless he is OCing pretty hard and he knows what he is doing. I really don't plan on over clocking much if at all......but to be honest I am not really familiar with all the ins and outs of it. I know the basics but I have been reading some of the stickies around here and it kind of makes me want to push it just to see what my creation can do.....and if I do that I will definitely need to get a good aftermarket CPU fan.
Oh yeah I have access to Windows Vista Ultimate x64, Windows XP x64, as well as either 32-bit Windows for free. What should I go with? I have decided at all on that yet so you all could definitely help me there. I know you can't utilize more than 4GB of RAM unless you go 64 bit, but I also heard that you are supposed to start out with 2Gb when you first start your OS and THEN upgrade your RAM to 8GB or whatever. I don't really understand why that is or why you can't just pop it all in before installing your OS and then just going with a 64 bit system. Answers appreciated.....This is my first post too by the way. Love the forum so far. Look forward to getting to know some of the members, learning some stuff, and hopefully in time teaching some stuff?..maybe
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