First Ever build...good guide? Advice? Parts arrive tomorrow!

[Guttboy]

Hi Folks!

Well I have bitten the bullet and ordered all my parts on my first-ever build by my lonesome! I have been bopping around gathering data from this forum and others and I am truly excited to do this. Fortunately for me, everything has worked out shipping wise and everything gets here tomorrow! (Hope FedEx and UPS are early....)

My first question, since its my first build, are there any comprehensive guides out there that you would suggest for building a PC from scratch? Really looking for folks guidance...perhaps you were the author or have used such a guide in the past?

Now a little about the system. First and foremost I want to OC this PC as I did it in the past with an older system and really liked doing it!

Here is the list:

CPU: E8400 (E0) 3.0 Ghz
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
RAM: G.Skill 4Gb (2x2Gb) DDR2 1066 (PC 8500)
OS: Vista Premium 64 Bit
PSU: Corsair 750TX 750Watt
VIDEO: Sapphire 4850x2 2Gb
HDD: 2 Western digital 1TB 32mb cache HDDs (accidentally ordered two)
MONITOR: LG W2600H-PW 25.5" (1920x1200)
CPU COOLER: Xigmatek S1283 with bracket
CASE: CM690
CD/DVD: Samsung 22x DVD+-R with Lightscribe
MISC: Arctic 5 paste, 4 extra Scythe 120mm fans, etc....

I will be "canning" my Xfi Extreme Gamer sound card, mouse, keyboard, mic, etc and moving it to this build.

I inadvertantly ordered two of the 1TB HDDs. I could use it in this system or put an enclosure around it and use it for my DVR. Will have to see. Not sure if I want to go with a RAID 0 or 1 setup. Perhaps no RAID at all....Recommendations?

I will be overclocking this system, doing some transfer of home movies to DVD, an occassional game, etc...

Any advice would certainly be appreciated!

Regards,

[B1gg3stN00b]

Send your old stuff my way if you're planning on just canning it!! I'll send you 20 for the sound card, mouse, keyboard, mic, all of that.

[Guttboy]

Canning as in taking it from one computer and moving it to the other....I'll reword it so that it makes more sense...sorry for the ambiguity.

[LittleLizard]

very nice parts for a first build

[DaedalusHelios]

Pricey parts for a first build!

Let me know if you have any questions along the way and I will answer them for you.

[spearman914]

Plz Drop the 4850x2. It's not really out!! Saying for the last, Sapphire just modded the drivers and made it's own version of 4850x2.

[Guttboy]

Originally Posted by LittleLizard

very nice parts for a first build

Thanks Lizard!

Originally Posted by DaedalusHelios

Pricey parts for a first build!

Let me know if you have any questions along the way and I will answer them for you.

Daedalus.....heheheh not a first PC for me just one that I have built myself. Have had many, many, computers in the past starting with my first "Trash-80 4K Color Computer"....LOL

I will be certain to ask questions here when I encounter problems....will most likely be up on Yahoo IM as I used that quite a bit in the past.

Originally Posted by spearman914

Plz Drop the 4850x2. It's not really out!! Saying for the last, Sapphire just modded the drivers and made it's own version of 4850x2.

Not sure I understand your post? 4850x2 fits my needs as placing the cards desired on that MOBO would cause problems and couldn't justify going to the 4870x2 or 4870 1GB.


SOOOOOO....any thoughts on what to do with the drives? I have read that installing the OS on one drive and other stuff on another could improve speed but never really noticed in my last setup. Not really sure if partitioning would be a good idea....

[-1nf1n1ty-]

only advice I can give you is....dont let soem of the parts hit the carpet like I did it sucks

[BrooksyX]

Don't get the 4850x2. Its not supported by Ati and probably never will be. So no matter how powerful it is, it will always have crap drivers.

Your motherboard supports crossfire so you should just go with two 4850s instead. Will save you a lot of headache.

edit: Just saw your monitor size. So my new suggestion is to get 1 4870 1gb now and then later on get another one fro crossfire.

[DaedalusHelios]

Didn't Sapphire pull the same crap with a x1950x2 a while back???

I can't remember the exact name, but I think that was what it was called.

[Guttboy]

I really don't have the option right now for crossfire with what I am planning on putting in the computer soon. Crossfire would block the slot I would have to place a tuner card in. Giving the sapphire a shot....if it does not work then I will have to return it I suppose but it has been purchased already.

[BrooksyX]

Seriously please don't get the 4850x2. You will be sorry if you do. A 4870 1gb will be more than enough for all games on high for at least a year. I you really want an x2 card save up a little more and get a 4870x2.

[EnergyFX]

Can you RAID 0 two 1TB drives?? Not sure if there is a size cap or not.

If not then you could always just RAID the two drives to make one huge 2TB drive.

[Wozzer]

When building your machine, Remember static.

Wear a static wrist band or touch the side of the case (metal).

[erocker]

Originally Posted by spearman914

Plz Drop the 4850x2. It's not really out!! Saying for the last, Sapphire just modded the drivers and made it's own version of 4850x2.

The 4850x2 and the drivers that come with it work great. The 4850x2 is a great performing card, especially at it's price point.

[DaedalusHelios]

Originally Posted by erocker

The 4850x2 and the drivers that come with it work great. The 4850x2 is a great performing card, especially at it's price point.

He was worried that without proper driver support he wouldn't be able to play certain games in the near future. Remember even with decent driver support 3-series took forever to make Bioshock not crash every 10-20 minutes. Toms hardware was talking about it with benches a while back. I was not an early adopter of the 3-series ATi myself though.