Building my own computer for the first time - Parts list

[angelkiller]

Cause i am a AMD fan? just helping?

Hm. I'm not tryna be an ass here. It's just that I don't think an AM3 build is the best choice here... But I've already made my point. I'm gonna back off this thread.

 

[JCP21]

Looks good

 

[3volvedcombat]

Ok im looking at the list here and what a experience this guy is having XD

I Actually SAW A gtx 285 IN A LIST= FAIL SORRY. Its a pointless money scrounger now get with the ati 5000 serious now

I say get a Phenom II AMD 945 processor
grab some ddr3 sticks at 1600 Mhz and at least 2gb of it
grab a HD 4870-4890 or ati HD 5850-5870 now the HD 5770 is dx11 but you need to overclock to hit HD 4870-4890 performance. and the HD 5850 blows everything away, and HD 5870 is just silly for 20inch monitors.
Get a 1tb lets not get in gb right now 1tb is like 5-20 bucks more expensive then a 640gb plz???
Grab a case with air filters, if you like looks a side window, and at least 2 120mm fans in front.
Wire Management is also great to(its holes precut around the motherboard for easy wire cleanup and threw put making it looks dam sexy and perform excellent.
If you get a p55 i do understand your choice because new motherboards with sata 3gb's and usb 3.0 are coming out and i don't blame you i would rather get that.
Find the prices for your self but i can get a rig like that for 900-800 dollars without mouse or keyboard and monitor and Operating system(i torrent my 2 copy's of vista and XP and windows 7 beta and eventually windows 7).

 

[Soylent Joe]

Ok im looking at the list here and what a experience this guy is having XD

I Actually SAW A gtx 285 IN A LIST= FAIL SORRY. Its a pointless money scrounger now get with the ati 5000 serious now

I say get a Phenom II AMD 945 processor
grab some ddr3 sticks at 1600 Mhz and at least 2gb of it
grab a HD 4870-4890 or ati HD 5850-5870 now the HD 5770 is dx11 but you need to overclock to hit HD 4870-4890 performance. and the HD 5850 blows everything away, and HD 5870 is just silly for 20inch monitors.
Get a 1tb lets not get in gb right now 1tb is like 5-20 bucks more expensive then a 640gb plz???
Grab a case with air filters, if you like looks a side window, and at least 2 120mm fans in front.
Wire Management is also great to(its holes precut around the motherboard for easy wire cleanup and threw put making it looks dam sexy and perform excellent.
If you get a p55 i do understand your choice because new motherboards with sata 3gb's and usb 3.0 are coming out and i don't blame you i would rather get that.
Find the prices for your self but i can get a rig like that for 900-800 dollars without mouse or keyboard and monitor and Operating system(i torrent my 2 copy's of vista and XP and windows 7 beta and eventually windows 7).

The 640AALS is faster than the 750 or 1TB. Getting a power munching PII 945 or 955 seems silly now that the i5's are out. I say that if you're not going with the build I suggested, still try to go i5 + P55 + 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 along with a 58XX series card or the 5770 like I suggested. The 5770 performs somewhere between or above the 4870 and 4890, but uses a lot less power and is more quiet. Just because it has the performance of an older card, doesn't mean that it's no good. A 4870 would be fine for what you're doing, so a 5770 would be even better.

 

[Desmond]

Alright, I have replaced my $150ish Corsair 650M power supply and my expensive $100ish case with this case that has the Earthwatts 500W power supply in it.

500W is enough, right? Well I think it is, but I don't really know for sure.
Now, one of the features of the Corsair power supply (the one I'm replacing) is "Compatible with Core i7," so, will the Earthwatts processor also be compatible with the i5? (I am also replacing the i7 with the i5, by the way.) Why does the Corsair power supply even say "compatible with core i7" anyway? Do some power supplies not work with some processors?

And my budget is now under $1000. Here is my wishlist if anyone wants to see it: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=8112449
Now I have enough money to buy a new keyboard/mouse/monitor. I don't really need the accessories, but replacing my old mouse/monitor and getting a better keyboard would be nice.

And also, is this the same as this?

EDIT:
I looked at my mobo's reviews on Newegg, and apparently the exact RAM that I am getting does not work with the motherboard.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rk=&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&Keywords=
Now I'm looking for a different RAM stick to use.

EDIT 2:
Is this good ram? and will the motherboard support it?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231282
edit3: here's another ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231278

 

[Desmond]

Ok guys, I'm considering getting the Radeon HD 4890 GPU instead of the Radeon HD 5850.
The 5850 is being sold for $280 on Newegg, but it's out of stock. Everywhere else it is being sold at the mid 300's, and I can't easily afford that.

According to what angelkiller said, the 4890 is still a good graphics card that will "last me a long time," and it is cheaper too, at only $200.

SO, is it a good idea to get the 4890? Apparently it won't be able to max out everything, but neither will the 5850.

 

[MT Alex]

I bought this monitor last month, and it has been great, for an TN panel (don't get Wile E started) No dead pixels.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052

$20.00 cheaper than the one you speced, also free shipping, which makes a big difference. And it has HDMI which the AOC doesn't. ASUS makes some decent stuff, not sure about AOC.

Edit: I moved up to this from a 15" Sylvania, and it seems like heaven, or at least like getting peed in the eyes by an angel.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Doesn't matter. Case is personal preference. 500W is enough. The Earthwatts (PSU) is a solid unit. Pick whichever.


IMO, I wouldn't spend the extra cash on either of those motherboards. Read Anandtech's Review of the UD2. He speaks very highly of the UD2 board, and if that board is really that good, then I see no reason to 'upgrade'.


Ooook. What's up with everyone suggesting AM3 builds? I understand that such a build will improve on the OP's build, but you can do a Ci5 build for a tad more. The Ci5 is a bit faster than the Phenom 965 at stock speeds, but once overclocked, the Ci5 has the advantage. (Because both CPU's hit about the same frequency, and clock for clock Ci5 is faster.) Please list some reasons to pick AM3 over Ci5. Thanks.

because he wants a gaming RIG the I5 is limited due to the PCI-E being limited to x16 lanes The I5 does not in any way offer any advantages over the AM3 and by being limited your also going to effect all PCI-E including your audio and Hard drive access time.. When it comes to gaming,The I7 is different but it costs to much to give any advantages in Gaming Unless your budget is over $1800. GAMES like higher clock speeds period... that has been proven on this forum and all over the web countless times...If you want to save power stick with the 945 but get the 95watt version..Being his first build He might want higher clock speeds without OC'ing

 

[angelkiller]

because he wants a gaming RIG the I5 is limited due to the PCI-E being limited to x16 lanes The I5 does not in any way offer any advantages over the AM3 and by being limited your also going to effect all PCI-E including your audio and Hard drive access time.. When it comes to gaming,The I7 is different but it costs to much to give any advantages in Gaming Unless your budget is over $1800. GAMES like higher clock speeds period... that has been proven on this forum and all over the web countless times...If you want to save power stick with the 945 but get the 95watt version..Being his first build He might want higher clock speeds without OC'ing

I do not think the Ci5 platform is limited in this situation. Yes. P55 doesn't have the PCI-E lanes that X58 has. But that only becomes an issue on the high end. Most notably in situations with CF/SLI with high end cards. (eg 5850 CF and higher) The OP has no intension of spending that kind of cash. Based on the budget, OP wants a single graphics rig, and CF down the road never works anyway. Here's an excerpt from an Anandtech article:

For those of us who are interested in power consumption, heat, noise, and not all that worried about a 2% to 7% difference in the benchmarks, then the Lynnfield platform is an attractive alternative with the latest generation GPUs.

Your claim about hurting audio performance is unsupported. Sata devices connect directly to P55, which connects to the CPU via a DMI. No PCI-E there.

You say that games like higher clock speed. This is true, but only in certain situations. You can make that statement when comparing CPUs from the same architecture. For example a Phenom II X2 550 will probably beat a Phenom II 720 is alot of games due to clock speed. HOWEVER, you can't apply that statement across different platforms. When comparing platforms, you have to consider performance per clock, not purely clockspeed. In other words, you can only compare performance at the same clock speed due to differences in performance per clock. THIS has been proven many times. Most notably when the Conroe archetitcue was introduced. How about this, I'll let you have a 3.4GHz Pentium D. I'll take a 1.8GHz Conroe. Which is faster in games? Ah yes, the 1.8 Conroe whups up on the PD because it's performance per clock is sooo much higher. Clockspeed isn't everything. However, all things equal, clockspeed will certainly make a huge difference. Comparing different arcitectures at different clock speeds proves nothing becuse there are 2 variables in the experiment.

Clock for clock, Ci5 is faster. That means that if the Phenom II 965 and Ci5 were both clocked at the same speed, Ci5 would be faster. How do I know this? Look at any review. Ci5 beats PII 965 even though the 965 has 25% more clock speed. Why not get an AM3 platform you ask?

• Ci5 has more potential. Even at stock clocks, Ci5 is a tad faster. Both CPU's only get to ~3.9GHz, but like I just said, at the same frequency, Ci5 wins.
• The Ci5 CPU + mobo costs pretty much the same as a AM3 CPU + mobo. You could say that this makes this point moot. But once overclocked, the Ci5 will be faster. So you get more potential performance with Ci5. If you don't plan to OC, than it is a moot point.
• Ci5 draws alot less power. You can say that that's not really important, but why pick a hotter CPU?

 

[BraveSoul]

That last wishlist looks really good Desmond, just 1 thing, i strongly advise 5850 even if u have to wait a week
---------------------------------------
share your 5xxx results here
whats your favorite 4x4 offroad racing game

 

[Desmond]

Alright, thanks for all your help, guys. ^^
Everything's good so far (I hope) and the only thing left is the power supply and the case.
First of all, here is the case and the power supply that comes with it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024
Someone on this thread told me the power supply was good, so I went with it.

And here's the motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128405

Is my case large enough to hold the motherboard? And my graphics card, too (my gpu will either be a 4890 or a 5850.

And is the power supply good enough to handle all my hardware? It's 500w.

 

[Soylent Joe]

Alright, thanks for all your help, guys. ^^
Everything's good so far (I hope) and the only thing left is the power supply and the case.
First of all, here is the case and the power supply that comes with it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024
Someone on this thread told me the power supply was good, so I went with it.

And here's the motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128405

Is my case large enough to hold the motherboard? And my graphics card, too (my gpu will either be a 4890 or a 5850.

And is the power supply good enough to handle all my hardware? It's 500w.

PSU is fine, case will deff. hold the mobo, it takes microATX and ATX and that's a microATX board. You seem to be forgetting all about the 57XX series cards. I'd get a 5770 before a 4890.

 

[Kantastic]

I built a fine rig for 1020, check my sig for reference.

 

[erocker]

SO, is it a good idea to get the 4890? Apparently it won't be able to max out everything, but neither will the 5850.

I max out everything with my 4890 at 1920x1200 resolution just fine. A 5850 is even more powerful than a 4890. If you can find a 5850 at a good price, go for it as it includes DX11, which will be important soon, especially if you plan to keep the card a couple years. Actually, in my opinion you should definitely get a DX11 card if you don't plan on upgrading for a couple years.

 

[Desmond]

Alright, I am almost ready to order.
Here is my [almost] final parts list.
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=15662408

I would appreciate it if someone on this forum made sure that all the parts go together and I wouldn't have to reorder or RMA anything. After all, it is my first build.

One problem is the motherboard. A lot of reviewers mentioned that their RAM did not work with it. If anyone has used the same motherboard as the one I'm getting (Gigabyte P55M-UD2) please tell me what RAM worked with it. I'm not entirely confident that the RAM I picked (G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB) will work with the CPU.

 

[MT Alex]

Looks like that RAM would work with that board: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/MemorySupport/mb_memory_ga-p55m-ud2.pdf
The last few letters of the model number are different, but that usually doesn't make a difference.

Glad to see you took my advice on the monitor. Too bad there aren't any HD 5850s in stock, but I'm sure your 4890 will work just fine. You could always use the onboard video (blah!) until a 5850 came in.

 

[angelkiller]

Or maybe someone could suggest another P55 board in the $110-130 range. There are very few reviews for the lower-end stuff.

 

[Desmond]

Awesome news!
All my parts have arrived today. I spent about 5 hours putting all the stuff together. It was VERY confusing, but I got it to work eventually!

Well, at first the heatsink was put in wrong, so when I turned it on, a series of beeps was heard. Then I got it working, but it was like 51C, and rose to 58C by the time i cut the power. Something was wrong, and after an hour of endless fustration towards Intel I found out that it was ME who instaled the CPU heatsink wrong, so I did it right this time, but it still wouldn't boot. Then I found out that the memory got out of place while messing with the heatsink, so I had to take out the GPU and put the memory back in, then put the GPU back in.

Now it is idling at around 20-38C, which is good for a stock CPU says my friend.

Oh, and Windows 7 is amazing. I actually do not feel like installing Linux anymore. =O!!

And the specs: This computer is about 100 times faster than my old one. Even though it does not have an overclocked CPU or the 5xxx GPU, it is still unbelievably fast compared to my old computer, and you can see my specs now.

Thank you to all who helped me. Your help was absolutely priceless.

And to anybody wanting to build a computer, my advice to you is to be 1. patient and 2. not let yourself get overwhelmed. It WILL probably work unless a part is dead or you somehow broke it.

 

[Soylent Joe]

Nice dude Building your first rig is always an experience

 

[Desmond]

Thanks. ^^
And another piece of advice, this is pretty important - TAKE A BREAK!
Oh man, I couldn't sleep tonight. My forearms were in excruciating pain! I pretty much sprinted home from school, and the first thing I did was open the box and start putting it together... from 5PM till like 9PM (It took so long because I didn't notice that the case had a manual so I tried to figure out how to mount the drives and the motherboard myself. :/)

But yeah, if you don't want to be in huge pain, take a break once an hour. >_>

 

[angelkiller]

Nice dude Building your first rig is always an experience

QFT.

I pretty much sprinted home from school, and the first thing I did was open the box and start putting it together.

Best. Feeling. Ever.

Glad everything worked out. Enjoy!