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Help me build a PC!

Robert Maxwell

Robert Maxwell

memelord
Premium Member
It's been several years since I've built myself a desktop PC. I've been on laptops for quite a while, but I want a modern PC I can use for gaming and such. It sucks not being able to play anything made in the last 5 years, you know?

So, I've managed to price myself a PC at a bit over $600. A case is being given to me so I don't have to worry about that part. I also have a monitor already, which goes up to 1920x1080, so any higher resolutions would be overkill here.

Here are the specs (and prices I've got):

Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 P43 ATX Motherboard - $80
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8200 - $120
4GB DDR2-800 (PC-6400) CL6 SO-DIMM Memory Kit - $80
EVGA GeForce GT220 1GB PCI-e 2.0 Graphics Card - $68
WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $55
Samsung Super-WriteMaster Dual/Double Layer 22x DVD±RW Burner - $30
Thermaltake TR2 500W ATX 12V Compatible with Core i7 & Core i5 Power Supply W0379RU - $60
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM - $110

Now, what I'm looking for here is to see if anyone can point me to superior parts without breaking my price point. My budget on this tops out around $625. Please hold the "just don't buy Windows" comments. :p

I know the video card is kinda crap. I want a dual monitor solution, if possible. I'm fine if only one of the cards is good for gaming--that'll be the primary.

Any suggestions here are welcome!
 
Looks good to me.

You've managed to find some decently priced quality parts. I bet you could scrimp a few more dollars of if you really tried, but I think that's probably plenty good enough.

I'm not a big fan of Thermaltake PSUs, but it should be okay.

I did notice you don't have a Heat-sink/CPU fan listed. I've never been comfortable with the Intel stock ones. I like Zalman myself.

Also, who's the memory by?
 
I believe the memory is Crucial. I'd have to go look.

I've always used the stock Intel HSF on past systems. I don't overclock and I've never had issues with cooling. Is it more of a concern with Core 2 Quads? I could see springing another $20 to make sure I have good cooling, I just didn't want to do it if it's not necessary.
 
Robert Maxwell said:
My budget on this tops out around $625. Please hold the "just don't buy Windows" comments. :p
Click to expand...
Well, slipping a little OEM-SLIC 2.1 into your BIOS is a personal decision, but it would help ease the budget crunch. That extra money could go towards an SSD!
I know the video card is kinda crap. I want a dual monitor solution, if possible. I'm fine if only one of the cards is good for gaming--that'll be the primary.
Click to expand...
I'm confused, I assume the vid card you listed has dual outputs, heck, when I last upgraded in 2006, that was a pretty standard feature. Nowadays ATI is shipping cards that support up to 6(?) monitors on a single card with, I assume, some kind of dongle.
 
Yoda said:
Robert Maxwell said:
My budget on this tops out around $625. Please hold the "just don't buy Windows" comments. :p
Click to expand...
Well, slipping a little OEM-SLIC 2.1 into your BIOS is a personal decision, but it would help ease the budget crunch. That extra money could go towards an SSD!
Click to expand...

I'll pretend I don't know what you're talking about. :shifty:

I know the video card is kinda crap. I want a dual monitor solution, if possible. I'm fine if only one of the cards is good for gaming--that'll be the primary.
Click to expand...
I'm confused, I assume the vid card you listed has dual outputs, heck, when I last upgraded in 2006, that was a pretty standard feature. Nowadays ATI is shipping cards that support up to 6(?) monitors on a single card with, I assume, some kind of dongle.
Click to expand...

The card has multiple outputs, and in fact I meant to ask--does a card that has multiple outputs inherently support extending the display across multiple monitors? I don't want display cloning, but actual additional real estate. I wasn't sure if having DVI, HDMI, and VGA outputs meant I could actually have all three hooked up, doing different things!
 
It looks good to me as well. Like others have said, I would recommend looking at AMD.

Also, double check that memory. You said it was a SO-DIMM? If so, that's laptop memory. Check to be sure it's a regular DIMM, not SO-DIMM.
 
Robert Maxwell said:
The card has multiple outputs, and in fact I meant to ask--does a card that has multiple outputs inherently support extending the display across multiple monitors? I don't want display cloning, but actual additional real estate. I wasn't sure if having DVI, HDMI, and VGA outputs meant I could actually have all three hooked up, doing different things!
Click to expand...
Well, I can't speak to whether 'clone only' type adapters even exist... I do know that modern graphics cards will support both.

I have an Nvidia 9800gt type card, and like an... 8600gt in the same system. They both have dual DVI (or possibly one DVI and one VGA with a DVI dongle, I forget, and don't want to crawl back there). I run three monitors, and I know I've changed which card had dual monitor responsibilities more than once while troubleshooting other issues. The 8600gt was a very very low end card when I got it.

Anyway, I know both Nvidia and ATI drivers handle clone and extended modes. Eyefinity from ATI, and Nvidia's soon to be take on it allow modes where your monitors appear as one big logical monitor to Windows as well. Great for games, but it'll be hell when trying to use multimonitors for productive tasks, for instance clicking maximize on your web browser only to see it span across all three screens :lol:. I'm hoping when I upgrade that switching between these modes will be relatively painless.
 
Well, I like the setup I have on my laptop right now. It has an integrated Intel card, which admittedly sucks, but there's an external VGA port. When I put any application on my external monitor, maximizing it only fills the external screen--which is what I want!

Having it fill all the screens could be a real pain in the ass. I think UltraMon can fix stuff like that, though. I used to use it way back when I had 3 monitors hooked up to a desktop.
 
A few suggestions:
- Get a better graphics card. Like Yoda said, just about any card from Nvidia and ATI/AMD on the market today will support dual screen output. So drop the GT220 and get something better
- Get a bigger hard drive. The price difference between a 500GB and a 1TB (and even 1.5TB) is so small that getting anything smaller than 1GB does not make sense. Unless you're absolutely certain you won't need more room.
 
That graphics card is going to be no use for gaming, sorry. If you want to go the nVidia route, and I strongly suggest you do with Windows 7 64-bit as ATI's drivers for that are garbage right now, a 260 would be an ideal happy medium between price and performance.
 
A suggestion I always make is a larger power supply. That way you can add components without overloading what you have in there, or having to replace the P/S later.

I have an 850W in mine now, after the 700W burnt out. Obviously everything doesn't run all at once, but my CPU is 95W alone.
 
Robert Maxwell said:
It's been several years since I've built myself a desktop PC. I've been on laptops for quite a while, but I want a modern PC I can use for gaming and such. It sucks not being able to play anything made in the last 5 years, you know?

So, I've managed to price myself a PC at a bit over $600. A case is being given to me so I don't have to worry about that part. I also have a monitor already, which goes up to 1920x1080, so any higher resolutions would be overkill here.

Here are the specs (and prices I've got):

Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 P43 ATX Motherboard - $80
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8200 - $120
4GB DDR2-800 (PC-6400) CL6 SO-DIMM Memory Kit - $80
EVGA GeForce GT220 1GB PCI-e 2.0 Graphics Card - $68
WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $55
Samsung Super-WriteMaster Dual/Double Layer 22x DVD±RW Burner - $30
Thermaltake TR2 500W ATX 12V Compatible with Core i7 & Core i5 Power Supply W0379RU - $60
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM - $110

Now, what I'm looking for here is to see if anyone can point me to superior parts without breaking my price point. My budget on this tops out around $625. Please hold the "just don't buy Windows" comments. :p

I know the video card is kinda crap. I want a dual monitor solution, if possible. I'm fine if only one of the cards is good for gaming--that'll be the primary.

Any suggestions here are welcome!
Click to expand...

Get a mac! Oh wait... 600 bucks for a budget... get like half a mac! You'll get to be so cool though.

Just kidding. Looks good to me. Although I'd wonder if you could scavenge a disc burner from another computer if you wanted to really save money, or just use your laptop for burning. I guess 30 bucks isn't a bank buster there though. If you watch most of your media on the computer, then it might be worth throwing in the extra 70 bucks or so to get a blu-ray reader. But only if you're really in to watching hd media.

Like someone else said, I'd look in to a more powerful power supply. Even without over clocking I've heard to get at least 750 to account for future hard drives and whatnot. I've had one explode on me killing the motherboard, which sucked because power supply failure is one of the things not covered in the motherboard warranty, and the power supply warranty only covers the power supply. But then finding one can be tricky because most powersupplies don't accurately list their actual capacity so you'll have to dig up reviews from hard core computer sites to see if you're really getting that 1000w that you're paying for.

Anyways, good luck!
 
Capt. Vulcan said:
Get a mac! Oh wait... 600 bucks for a budget... get like half a mac! You'll get to be so cool though.
Click to expand...
You actually present an interesting paradox.

One of Macboys' favorite arguments for the ridiculous price is the whole, "Well, you get what you pay for," BS. Pfft.

Rob is using quality parts and AFAIK he's a fairly tech-savvy guy. I'd would be willing to bet that, as long as he takes care of it, his PC will last just as long as any $2000 Mac.

Hell, my mom's computer is a P3 my dad and I put together for her early 2000. The only upgrades made to it were a bigger drive and an added a stick of memory. Everything else is original and still works perfectly fine for her needs a decade later.

And putting together a computer isn't exactly difficult these days. Heck, my lady-friend can do it and she has the mechanical aptitude of a chimpanzee.

There's the whole other side too--he can save the extra cash he would have spent on a Mac and in a few years buy more parts and stay ahead of the curve.

I'd also pretty much throw any OS arguments out the window. (err.. sorry) Seven is just really good. As telling as anything, I'm a huge Linux fanboy; I haven't booted into Linux in almost two months.
 
Wow, great suggestions, guys!

Okay, here we go:

* I'm only springing for a 500GB hard drive because I already have several external drives. I basically only use internal drives for the OS and applications. Media, backups, etc. are all kept on externals. So, I really don't need a large internal drive.
* Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't really need an internal optical drive, since I have an external one. Are today's desktops usually capable of booting from a USB optical drive for OS installation? That's really all I need it for.
* As for video, I found a good price on a GeForce GTS 250, which I understand is what they used to call the GTX+ 9800. Damn nVidia and their arbitrary number changes...
* I'm heeding the advice on the better PSU.

So anyway, here are my new specs and prices:

Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 P43 ATX Motherboard - $80
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8200 - $120
Crucial 2GB DDR2-800 (PC-6400) Memory Module (x2) - $80
Geforce GTS250 1024MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 x16 Graphics Card - $120
WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $55
700W StealthXStream ATX Power Supply - $80

Pre-tax total: $535

I took Windows out of the equation for the time being. I also removed the optical drive, and will leave it out if I can really boot from a USB optical drive.

And thanks for the vote of confidence, CorporalClegg! I try to be fairly savvy about these things and not go off half-cocked and buy garbage. I wanted to put my own system together to save money and be sure there are good parts in it.

Great suggestions, everyone! Let me know if there's any more fine-tuning I can do based on the specs I've posted this time around.
 
There is one thing I did notice that I need some clarification on. The GeForce card says it needs "450 Watt Power Supply (with 24A on the +12V Rail)". The PSU I'm getting has these specs for 12V: "+12V1@18A; +12V2@18A; +12V3@18A; +12V4@18A; -12V@0.8A;".

Am I missing something here? Does this mean I need the 12V numbers to be at least 24A? Even a $200 1kW PSU I looked up only had this: "+12V1@18A; +12V2@18A; +12V3@18A; +12V4@18A; -12V@0.5A;".

So, I'm confused. I can't find a single PSU that actually shows at least 24A across +12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4. Or do I need to add up the amounts from each lead? Yes, I'm showing my ignorance on how these things work. Knowing that amperage is actually current, I would think I am supposed to add them up, and therefore the one I listed above would be plenty, but I just want to be damn sure I'm not buying a PSU that will be insufficient for my video card!
 
Don't forget to factor in the price of a good webcam for all your cybering needs.
 
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