Assistance for First Time Computer Builders

Thier are a lot of Guides and assistance availible here and other places on how to build your computer.Seldem does anyone address what might be the most important factor and that is component selection and purchase.Everyone can feel free to throw thier "Two Cents Worth" in.
One of the most (if not the most) important aspects when deciding what components you need to be looking at is what are you going to be doing with the computer.This is critical in determining what specific components you need.
A second factor that is critical in determining what components you purchase is the amount of money you have availible to spend.It is here that you may have to make personal value judgements on what you can and cannot do and how your going to accomplish your goal(of building the computer that will do exactly what you want it to do).
As soon as you make the determinations above(1-what you want your computer to do 2-How much you have availible to accomplish it) you are ready to begin the component selection.
I am going to stick my neck out and say it is at this time you have to decide what company your going to go with(Intel or AMD).At this time it isnt necessay to decide what specific chip your going to get but it is time to decide what manfacture your going to go with.Both comanies have a devout following supported until death as well as many others that feel one company is better at specific functions.Sometimes one company produces a line of chips that convert many to thier ranks because of its superiority.It is probably also true that most people have already decided which choice thier going to make before they even start thinking about gathering thier parts.
As soon as you make your decision on which company(Intel or AMD) your going to build it is time to make the most important decision.
It is now time to decide which Motherboard your going to purchase.This is the single most important decision you have to make.You can make a mistake on selection of almost any other part and correct it fairly easily.However,
the selection of the Motherboard is so critical in what your computer can and cannot do and the compatibility of any other component that you have to make a solid choice.Price cannot be the determining factor in making this choice.Your choice has to be made based on what the Motherboard can do for you(In preformance and quality).
If these guidelines are helping anyone out there let me know and I will continue if not it is probably time to cut this off and save the bandwith.
Thank You

Personally I think the PSU is the most important decision. Get a crappy PSU and all that other stuff will not function at all or go up in smoke...and the magic smoke is no good(forums inside joke).

Component Selection

Here are some details that will help you select the proper components:
1)If thier is a chance you are going to overclock it is very benifical to take that in consideration before you select any component.You have to consider this a priority in selecting the proper Motherboard.
2) If you are not going to overclock thier are several components that become a less priority.Power Supply-A good Power Supply is always a benifit.You can use the charts and determine the wattage you need(add a percentage to the head room to keep from overtaxing the power supply).When you are not overclocking thier are many power supplies that can fit your need(even some power supplies that come with cases).Your main concern is to have enough power supply.But if your going to overclock then it is mandatory to select one of the few that are strong reliable and dependable that enable you to
actually have the control,power and reliability that you have to have(one of the best guides for this is the overclockers forum on power supplies).
Memory-Enough good memory makes using a computer a pleasure.Again if your not going to overclock your primary concern is to make sure you have enough memorythat is compatible with you Motherboard..You don't have to spend a lot of money to have plenty of memory.However again when you start overclocking memory takes on a whole new personality and you not only have to have enough memory but it's quality has to be a whole lot better and it becomes expensive in a hurry.But it is necessary to maximize your overclock.(again the forums are a real help here)

I think you should put a line break or 2 in between each point for readability.

Very good points.

Hard Choices-On component selection

Case Selection:
Many people make thier case selection based on appearence or cheap price. These are the last reasons to be considered when selecting a case.Thier are two critical factors that should effect case selection.
The first of these is Air Flow.Overclockers and Toms Hardeware both have had excellent articles discussing the heat generated in a computer case.Many people don't realize the temp on top of the cpu roughly approaches that of a rocket engine.Other sources of heat include the hard drive bay,the vid card,the power supply,MB as well as all the other components.When computers were slow they could operate without cpu heatsinks and fans.They cannot do that now.A modern cpu will fry in less than a second without approiate heatsink and fan(unless thier is a failsafe built into the chip or mb or unless you use water or extreme cooling).Good cases have airflow thru the hard drive bay and across the vid chip as well as onto the mb and across the cpu slot and thru the power supply.Fresh air from outside the case has to cool the heat generated by all the components.The Goal you should aim for is to have the inside case temp the same or as close as possible to the room temp.A Good case attempts this(and comes close).
The second factor to consider is to have enough room inside the case.This includes room for all the components you have now as well as all the components you will add in the furture but it also includes enough room that allows you to run all the wiring in a manner that will still allow good air flow with all components installed and the wiring in place.There are other factors that many overlook when purchasing a case.Most people make sure the HD drive bay has enough room for all the hard drives but only the astuite buyer insures there is room in the HD bay for all the hard drives and pleanty of room to blow air thru the bay to cool the drives.
If you examine most of the better computer builders (not extreme cooling or water)they will have a total close to 10 fans (total) in thier cases.(example;2- front fans.side fan,top fan,2-rear fans,cpu fan,vid card fan,Northbridge fan,1 or 2-power supply fans).This is done because you have to move a lot of air to keep a top preforming computer working well.They also often have larger cases to insure that the air flow is not hampered.Cost was not discussed because we discussed the preformance factors that are critical to case selection.

I like that, good job, when you are all done maybe we could compile them and sticky it

A Hard Drive Choice

To make a solid choice on hard drives all you have to have is a little information. There are basically three types of hard drives found in several different speeds. You can disregard the SCSI hard drives- they are commercial hard drives that require specific equipment and are expensive very seldom found in personal computers.That leaves the IDE and the SATA drives. The IDE drives have been the standard for a long time. They are as cheap as they have ever been and are acceptable to use in any situation. However the new kid on the block SATA has several technological improvements and their price is no long higher but very competive and sometimes cheaper(because it is rapidly becoming the mainstream drive). Your primary concern is to match your MB.Most of the modern MB’s can use both and if you have a choice you cannot go wrong with the technology of the SATA.If my motherboard only used IDE I wouldn’t hesitate to use them.Given a choice go with the SATA drives.Many MB’s now give you the option of several Raid Arrays(for both IDE and SATA). The most used are the mirrored(a second hard drive makes a exact copy of the first-giving you a back-up) and the striped(a second hard drive writes and reads at the same time as the first-giving you faster reading and writing).Arrays can be helpful but they can have problems like striped arrays will lose data when one drive goes out. The adverage(mean time between failures-MTBF) failure time may be cut in half but many users enjoy the benifits of Arrays.The speed of the hard drives that are 5400 and below really slow your system down so it is recommended to go with the 7200 (if your setting your system up for a lot of speed and don’t mind paying a large preminum for storage space there is an option to go with the faster speeds of 10,000).The onboard buffer on the HD works like memory and it gives you faster write and read speeds if you get the 8mb instead of the 2mb(a definite improvement for a small price).Wheather a hard drive is OEM or retail makes no difference in the performance of a HD.
One of the most important factors in purchasing a hard drive is to buy from a reputable company that has a warranty and stands behind its product.It’s tough enough to lose the data on your drive but without a warranty you will be out the price of a new drive also.
The size of a hard drive is a personal decision(and financial) but should be based on the purpose of your computer.If you copy a lot of movies,vids or music you will need a lot of gigs. If your for speed only small fast drives might be your answer.just keep in mind that generally gigs become cheaper as you buy HD’s that are larger.

Don't forget that the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) of a RAID 0 (stripping) array is half that of the individual disks in it (for a 2 disk array).

Video Card Selection

"What are you designing your computer to do?”
There is probably no component that it is any more important to select a specific card designed to do what you want the computer to do than the vid card.

When we start looking at video cards we find a confusing price range from about $30 to about $600.
We are lucky that we have the options of using everything from a MB’s on-board video to the higher end vid cards costing over $600 bucks( times two in some systems).
Design your computer video for the applications and games that you will be using during the life span of the computer your building. It cannot be emphasized enough to buy a card based on it being able to do what you want and not based on price.
If you use your computer to only to check your email or surf the web a lower end vid card in the 30 to 50 range could work for you (or even on-board video: On-board video uses your system memory and less memory is available to do the memory functions so if you use on board video have extra memory to make up for this . If you use it to play the newest video games(like the new FPS’s ) it will take a lot of card in the higher part of the price range. If you have specific goals such a tv viewing or vid editing a different card is designed to suit your needs. A little background will be helpful. Video cards come in three flavors. The almost obsolete PCI cards(only a few remaining-there is no need to discuss them or the work station vid cards because their not our mainstream computer components.).The mainstream AGP cards and the new standard PCI-e cards. If you have to purchase a new vid card and the PCI-e is compatible with your motherboard that is the way to go. If you already have a AGP vid card that is compatible with your motherboard you can use it until it doesn’t give you the performance you need.

There are three factors that you need to consider when selecting any video card: Performance /Warranty/Support&Compatibility.
Performance:
There are a lot of reviews and forum discussions that do a good job of tracking exactly how a specific vid cards performs. If you study these you can find all the cards that are capable of doing what your system needs done. After you know all the cards that are capable of doing what you need done then you can begin the selection among those based on other factors such as price or brand name preference.
Warranty:
All the reputable companies warranty their products. Even when I buy off Ebay(a buyers beware market) or the Overclockers Forum(a buyers friendly market) I buy from sellers that at least guarantee against DOA(dead on arrival). It is an advisable policy to always expect some type of warranty when buying components.(ATI and NIVIDA both have solid warranty’s.
Support& Compatibility:
A piece of hardware without the software to support it is just a paperweight. You have to have: hardware support to address broken pieces of hardware and software support to optimize drivers or operate new or different operating systems or other components. A lot of the compatibility issues are addressed by the manufactures(with their released updates).This makes selection of a reputable company even more important. However the bottom line places the responsibility for compatibility in the lap of the computer builder.
If you have any questions on issues or compatibility don’t hesitate to use the Forums here there is a wealth of knowledge willing to try to help another enthusiast.

I say we get this whole guide done with picking the parts...

and then we get a guide on how to build...

sticky after a little cleanup

Also, #1 rule to picking parts:

RESEARCH AND ASK!!

NEVER - I mean NEVER - blindly buy a part if it has a good hype or if you are a fanboy... Mistake on my part, I got an FX5600 for my computer, and the only reason was:

#1: It was nVidia
#2: It was supposed to be 'second best' because of it being one step lower than the FX5900...

Bad move, no research done on my part

I agree. Research is the best thing you can do.

i agree Research is very important part but you need an overall plan too

Input Devices

There are two factors in the selection of the right mouse and keyboard:

First;The mouse and keyboard have to be technology advanced enough to perform at the highest levels. A little information and hands on research will insure you don’t end up with a poor selection for your mouse or keyboard. In fact many people will not consider the mouse and keyboard a part of their computer build. Poor selection or use of poor quality mouse and keyboard will hamper your input to the computer and not let the computer perform to its highest. Generally there are three types of mice: ball/optical/and laser(I am not going to discuss any exotic mice but only the mainstream mice found).You should never go out and buy the Ball mouse. It is to far behind the technological curve. You should only use it when that’s the only one available (or the computer only works with it as some older computers do). The technology behind the optical and laser mice is far superior and very close in performance. If you do enough research and hands on experience you will find very little difference in performance of the better cordless keyboard & mice compared to most corded but there may be some corded mice that perform superior and some people will want them. Research the reviews and Forums will tell you about these mice.

Second: The Comfort and fit of a keyboard and mouse is important because ever keystroke and click uses these devices. That amounts to hours of use.
There are two basic designs of keyboards. The Standard and Natural. Choice should be made on comfort. Mice come in all designs (button mice,trackballs,touchpads,ect) and choice should be made first on performance and then on comfort and individual preference. Left-handed mice users have fewer selections because of mouse design and button placements.

SolidxSnake said:

I say we get this whole guide done with picking the parts...

and then we get a guide on how to build...

sticky after a little cleanup

Click to expand...

A good idea.

Also, #1 rule to picking parts:

RESEARCH AND ASK!!

NEVER - I mean NEVER - blindly buy a part if it has a good hype or if you are a fanboy... Mistake on my part, I got an FX5600 for my computer, and the only reason was:

#1: It was nVidia
#2: It was supposed to be 'second best' because of it being one step lower than the FX5900...

Bad move, no research done on my part

Click to expand...

Yup. Measure twice, cut once. Whenever you're dooing something with computers (overclcoking, buying new hardware or anything else), it is important to really understand what you are doing and why.

SolidxSnake said:

I say we get this whole guide done with picking the parts...

and then we get a guide on how to build...

sticky after a little cleanup

Also, #1 rule to picking parts:

RESEARCH AND ASK!!

NEVER - I mean NEVER - blindly buy a part if it has a good hype or if you are a fanboy... Mistake on my part, I got an FX5600 for my computer, and the only reason was:

#1: It was nVidia
#2: It was supposed to be 'second best' because of it being one step lower than the FX5900...

Bad move, no research done on my part

Click to expand...

ditto

i went into a store (stores are more convinient than internet where i live) to buy an nf7-s. the saleman said they were out of stock and didn't know when they would be getting them back in.
they did however have the nf7-s2g in stock, i was informed that it was the same as a nf7-s V2 except that it had Gbit ethernet.

in other words don't trust the salesmen, they don't know half what they think they do and they'll say pretty much anything to sell you something

didya find out the hard way, or didya buy it?

Other Components

Does anyone want other Components addressed or more details??

firebat45 said:

didya find out the hard way, or didya buy it?

Click to expand...

uh...did u just repeat yourself..in a wierd way?


yeah..i bought a 5200...not good