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Building your own computer.

K

KJbushway

Commodore
I am looking around to see(with my limited knowledge of brand names and etc.) whats out there for me to build my own computer with. I have found and compiled a list of things I would like to put into my first personal built computer.
If anybody is doing the same please share as well.
Here's the list, what do you think? All of these where found at Geeks. com if you want a clearer image.
BLK-GCC-4481B-DO-2R -- Hitachi/LG GCC-4481B 48x24x48 CD-RW/1...
BLK-TS-H492-DO -- Samsung TS-H492 52x32x52 CD-RW/16x DVD-ROM...
602U-BL-SF-400W -- PSI Comet 602 10-Bay ATX Mid Tower Comput...
WD15EARS-R -- Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5 Terabyte (1.5...
WD2500AAJS-R -- Western Digital Caviar Blue 250GB SATA/300 7...
3200N-BP -- 2-Port SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PCI Express x1 Control...
ORN-DF1208SM-PB -- 3" x 3" (80mm) Case Fan w/3-Pin & 4-Pin C...
CDN667D2D8C5-2G -- CenDyne 2GB DDR2 RAM PC2-5300 240-Pin DIM...
SP-IMD693 -- iMicro SP-IMD693 2-Piece Multimedia Speaker Set...
COMBO6S1250 -- Biostar N68S NVIDIA MCP68S Socket AM2+/AM2 mA...
BLK-L1755-R -- 17" HP L1755 DVI Rotating LCD Monitor w/USB 2...
BLK-KB-US819EB -- iMicro KB-US819EB 107-Key USB Keyboard (Bl...
21453 -- 3-Button PS/2 Optical Scroll Mouse (Silver/Black)
ZT-98GES5P-FDL -- ZOTAC GeForce 9800GT 512MB DDR3 PCI Expres... ​
 
Why 2 dvd-rom drives? Just get one. Do you need the usb expansion? the mother board already has 6 usb ports. Refurbished harddrive? Your just asking to loose your data. The 250gb HDD is not going to be a huge speed increase.

Save money on these three things and use it to get a minimum of 4gig of memory and bigger lcd screen. The memory will give you more of a speed boost than the harddrive and your eyes will thank you for the monitor.

Also, don't forget to budget for an operating system. Windows 7 ain't cheap.

I would also be wary of the 400watt power supply. The video card requires 400 as a minimum. better to have a safety margin in there. Go at least 600 if you can.
 
3 1/2 years ago, when I first built my machine, I put 2 Lightscribe DVD burners in it.
Mainly for redundancy & they were cheap, even then.

I have a BD burner in mine now, in addition to one of the original DVD burners.
Obviously a must even if you're only going to watch a Blu-Ray and do screencaps.

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.

1TB HDD's are cheap enough to have two of them. OS & apps on one and media on the other.
I rip most of the DVD's I own and that's got a 1.5TB about 3/4 full.
 
I'm in the midst of making a computer, but I haven't gathered together all the bits I need yet.

I just hope it all turns out the way I want it to... I'm not confident that it will.
 
KJbushway said:
BLK-GCC-4481B-DO-2R -- Hitachi/LG GCC-4481B 48x24x48 CD-RW/1...
BLK-TS-H492-DO -- Samsung TS-H492 52x32x52 CD-RW/16x DVD-ROM...
Click to expand...
I'd just get one or the other unless you can think of something right now that you need both for.

WD15EARS-R -- Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5 Terabyte (1.5...
WD2500AAJS-R -- Western Digital Caviar Blue 250GB SATA/300 7...
Click to expand...
Go with just the 1.5 TB. If you need more space, then pick up 2 of them. There's no point in paying more for (relatively) small expansion in hard drive capacity.

3200N-BP -- 2-Port SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PCI Express x1 Control...
Click to expand...
Don't bother. It's very rare that I encounter someone who has used up all the standard USB ports on their computer and needs an extra card. Hell, I'm only actually using at most 3 at any given time and the motherboard you picked out has 4 on the back and two additional headers (for front side ports).

CDN667D2D8C5-2G -- CenDyne 2GB DDR2 RAM PC2-5300 240-Pin DIM...
Click to expand...
Go with 4 GB if you can.

COMBO6S1250 -- Biostar N68S NVIDIA MCP68S Socket AM2+/AM2 mA...
Click to expand...
Not much to say here except to keep in mind that this motherboard has integrated video. In my experience (once), they don't get along if you have a separate video card.

BLK-L1755-R -- 17" HP L1755 DVI Rotating LCD Monitor w/USB 2...
Click to expand...
17"? Really? This monitor isn't even good.

ZT-98GES5P-FDL -- ZOTAC GeForce 9800GT 512MB DDR3 PCI Expres...
Click to expand...
The PCI Express slots on the motherboard are not 2.0 and this card is. I think that will be okay, but you won't get the performance you'll expect out of this card. And same warning applies about the motherboard integrated video.
 
Some of the things you have seem to be an odd match. The CPU is very low power and low performance, yet you have a fairly powerful video card (although it is a few generations old now). Are you planning on playing games with this setup? If you are, I would strongly suggest a better CPU. In fact, I would suggest a better CPU either way because this one is rather underpowered for just about anything today. If you're not playing games with it, just stick with the onboard video.

Ditch one of the optical drives and use that to get a better CPU. You might also ditch the USB 3 card. There aren't many USB 3 things out there yet, and based on what it seems you budget is from this list, I doubt you will have any in the near future. Wait to get that until you have a good reason.

I agree with sojourner about the hard drive and memory. And he's right about the OS. That's an expensive part that people often forget to include in the budget because it's not hardware. You're probably okay, though, with the 400W PSU. The system as you currently have it is pretty low power, except for the video card. I would be surprised if the whole system minus the video card pulled more than 150W, and the video card won't add that much.

A couple more thoughts: (1) get a better mouse. I've used many different ones over the years and EVERY one I've used that wasn't a Microsoft or Logitech lasted 1 year at best before a button stopped working or something. (2) The current configuration has every expansion slot on your motherboard full. There is no room left if you decide later to add a firewire card or a TV tuner or a wireless card or anything else.

Overall, your list of components seems a little schizophrenic. It seems your budget is not large so you're trying to do it as cheap as possible, yet you are also buying some things that seem extra or frivolous to me. Why don't you tell us a little about how you plan to use the computer and maybe we can help you tailor your list to better fit your goals.
 
It's also worth noting that AM2+ is at the end of its lifespan, so you've no room to upgrade your CPU a few years down the track. AM3 should be launching in a month or three and Intel's new 1155 socket was released a few weeks back if you're looking for future-proof gear.
 
With the CD and DVD roms, I have two in the computer I have now, this way I can back things up on CD's.
I will be in school for two different things, plus I like to relax and play games. Both things are going to require a lot of memory. I was going to use the 250GB as a slave drive and back up important things on that, keep the games and music, school work and CAD programs on the 1.5 TB. I actually saved a different power source to the list, but it didn't show up. Its powerful enough to run the graphics card, and just fits.
I have a USB LOGitech mouse now, but I was looking for one that had a cord, thats the first I ran in to. I didn't actually see that the motherboard had a intergrated videocard, I will go back and read through it again. The motherboard that fits that tower has to be a ATX/ MATX. Thats the cheapest one I found that fit. Yes, you right I am on a budget, I went slightly over.
I usually like the smaller monitors, I am using an old DIGIVIEW 17" now. Its not bright becuase of its age, but it fits well. Its all about price, plus it rotated and I thought the price was a steal.
Thanks I will look into the AM3, as long as it fits into my budget.
I got the tower becuase of its many PCI slots, this way I could upgrade as it got older.
The 4GB was just too expensive, so actaully I was going to order two of those, I am not even sure if that matters or not.
I actually didn't see that it had 6 2.0 usb ports already I thought it actually had less.
I have a operating system already covered fortunately.

I was already worried about the motherboard, it looked too small to upgrade. Worse comes to worse I will change the tower, to one that fits a bigger motherboard(updated) and still has a good number of PCI slots.
 
Last edited:
KJbushway said:
With the CD and DVD roms, I have two in the computer I have now, this way I can back things up on CD's.
Click to expand...
Not sure why you need 2 identical drives to do this?
I will be in school for two different things, plus I like to relax and play games. Both things are going to require a lot of memory. I was going to use the 250GB as a slave drive and back up important things on that, keep the games and music, school work and CAD programs on the 1.5 TB.
Click to expand...
You have this reversed. Put your operating system/programs on the smaller faster drive for performance and your data on the large slow drive. Though the performance boost in this case is not really worth the price of 2 drives. Oh and refurbished? BAD!
I actually saved a different power source to the list, but it didn't show up. Its powerful enough to run the graphics card, and just fits.
I have a USB LOGitech mouse now, but I was looking for one that had a cord, thats the first I ran in to. I didn't actually see that the motherboard had a intergrated videocard, I will go back and read through it again.
Click to expand...
Most motherboards these days have integrated video. It's not an issue to worry about and quite handy for troubleshooting if the add-on video card fails.
The motherboard that fits that tower has to be a ATX/ MATX. Thats the cheapest one I found that fit. Yes, you right I am on a budget, I went slightly over.
I usually like the smaller monitors, I am using an old DIGIVIEW 17" now. Its not bright becuase of its age, but it fits well. Its all about price, plus it rotated and I thought the price was a steal.
Click to expand...
I personally won't buy a monitor (or TV) that I haven't seen the picture on in person.
 
The WD Green drives do slow down as part of their power saving features, which can make them sluggish at times. If it were me I'd use that as my secondary drive, and the 250GB drive as my primary.

Also, is there a reason why you're choosing a 4:3 monitor over a 16:10 ?
 
Well, thats just in case one fails, computers and me don't have a good history.
That makes sense, but it stated that the 1.5 was actaully powerful. But I will do that make the 1.5 a slave drive. I actually haven't had bad expirences with refurbished. But I will look back on the list for a new one or one that isn't refurbished but can still hold alot of info on it.

how good is that intergrated video card?
I might just skip the whole buying a new one and just update the drivers for the graphics card I have now.

I have never expirenced a large monitor. but as long as it fits into my budget I can get a slightly bigger one.
 
When I was using a 4:3 monitor, I was very hesitant about buying a widescreen one because I didn't expect it to feel right. So much so that I put off buying one for a couple of years. I was concerned that applications designed for 4:3 would not work properly with it. I was concerned that everything would feel narrow and awkward.


I bought one early last year, and I am moderately pleased with it. It doesn't feel narrow and awkward; it feels like there's a column of extra space on the right hand side. I'm also pleased that applications don't need to be run full screen because there is that extra room. I've had no problems with any 4:3 applications: My monitor allows me to letterbox them in the centre of the screen (good), or stretch to fill the screen (bad).
 
here is an updated list. some things are the same. but there is some changes.
No extra video card. or USB ports.
different mouse-monitor-large harddrive-
I haven't looked into a different tower or motherboard, but for right now this actaully put me back into budget.
 
 
integrated video is not good for gaming/multimedia at all. If you don't already have a video card to put in the machine I would suggest getting one. Also, still not syre why you are buying 2 cd/dvd rom drives when they both do the same thing?
 
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.
 
sojourner said:
integrated video is not good for gaming/multimedia at all.
Click to expand...
That's not necessarily true. It is true that a separate card will almost always outperform an integrated solution, but many of the newer integrated video solutions do very well with multimedia. Many of them are designed for HTPCs, and have the same HD decoding ability as stand-alone cards. They will also play older games just fine. I'm not as familiar with the capabilities of the one on the selected board, but there are many out there that would be excellent choices if playing the newest games is not a priority.
 
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