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Building your own computer.

CaptainStoner said:
Ar-Pharazon said:
I wouldn't build a machine now with anything less than a 1000W P/S. Too much is not a bad thing, but too little will be.
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That's ridiculous unless you're building an equally ridiculous gaming rig. (And of course the wattage rating is not the thing to look at)

I rebuilt my machine several months ago - A biostar mb, athlon ii x3 - 3.1ghz, 4gigs ddr31600 and a Radeon hd5700. Still using the 430watt Earthwatts from the previous build.
Click to expand...

Each processor can use upto 100 watts
Each graphics card can use upto 100 watts
The motherboard will use upto 50 watts.
Memory modules and disk drives count 10 watts each.

Most systems will be in the order of 300 watts peak.

It's best to have a power supply rated 1.5x - 2x peak power usage. So 450-600 watts is perfect for most systems.

A psu with too low a rating will be strained. One with too high a rating will be dreadfully inefficient.
 
KJbushway said:
I came up with a new list but its not a final one.
Any better than the first?

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This is better, but there is still room for improvement. Here are my suggestions:

1. I would drop the extra power supply; the 480W one included with the case should be just fine.
2. There is no CPU on the list. You'll need one. Perhaps and Athlon II would be a good fit.
3. As per my previous post, you might consider a board like this one if you're going to go with integrated video. The GPU on this one will run circles around the one on your list and will make you much more likely to get by without buying a separate card.

KJbushway said:
I was just looking for one dvd and just one CD Re-writer.
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Just get a DVD burner and it will do everything.

Another suggestion: go check out Newegg. The site you're shopping at doesn't seem to have much choice. You will find a lot more options at Newegg, and you'll be hard pressed to find better prices.
 
Jadzia said:
CaptainStoner said:
Ar-Pharazon said:
I wouldn't build a machine now with anything less than a 1000W P/S. Too much is not a bad thing, but too little will be.
Click to expand...
That's ridiculous unless you're building an equally ridiculous gaming rig. (And of course the wattage rating is not the thing to look at)

I rebuilt my machine several months ago - A biostar mb, athlon ii x3 - 3.1ghz, 4gigs ddr31600 and a Radeon hd5700. Still using the 430watt Earthwatts from the previous build.
Click to expand...

Each processor can use upto 100 watts
Each graphics card can use upto 100 watts
The motherboard will use upto 50 watts.
Memory modules and disk drives count 10 watts each.

Most systems will be in the order of 300 watts peak.

It's best to have a power supply rated 1.5x - 2x peak power usage. So 450-600 watts is perfect for most systems.

A psu with too low a rating will be strained. One with too high a rating will be dreadfully inefficient.
Click to expand...
PSU wattage is misleading. The thing to look at is amps on the 12v rails. A cheap 600w PSU can underperform a quality 450w one.
 
Yeah. I have an external graphics card that will out-perform that intergrated on, all I need at that point is a monitor adapter to fit the big screen.
Yeah I noticed the CPU after I posted, but I have to admit I no little to nothing about it.
OK. DVD burner it is.
Speaking of.
I don't have speakers but I do have headphones with my computer, but each time I try to watch a DVD it always has subtitles, it seems no matter what I do I can't turn them off. I watch them through powerDVD.
The only thing that doesn't do it is my Stargate Atlantis DVD. Any suggestions?
 
The two dvd drives make sense to me if you want to burn a disk which can tie up the drive for a while, meanwhile you intend on doing something else at the same time, like a game or watch a movie disk. Occasionally I've wanted a second dvd drive but not so much I would go out and buy one.

The hard drive configuration makes some sense, the smaller drive holds the os and apps and is faster, the larger drive holds media; if the os crashes and the drive is corrupted the media drive will usually be unaffected. Better to have a backup external drive as well, but this is a good configuration for speed and security. If you have the money I would actually be inclined to go for a solid state drive for the os; it would be fun for a while although it wouldn't change your life.
 
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