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First Time Building a Full computer NEED HELP!

Blawkyy

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So in the upcoming week I'll be building my first full computer. So far the only stuff I have messed with inside of my computer is putting in a new PSU and Graphics card. Now I'm ordering the parts for a full build and I need to know if one, the parts I'm ordering will work together and two, is there anything I need to make sure of when building it.

Here are all the parts that are going to be put in it.

Case:
NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Steel / Plastic Enth...

Motherboard:
ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX...

CPU:
AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-...

RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR...

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda ST320DM000 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB C...

CD Drive:
ASUS Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Dri...

OS:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - Oper...

Graphics Card:
EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB...

PSU:
RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-630SS 630W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V...

These are all the pieces I'm ordering for my computer. I would SERIOUSLY appreciate it if someone would be kind enough to go through them and tell me if there is anything that won't be compatible. I've checked basic things that I could think of for compatibility but I'm unsure if I've missed anything.

Then I need to know a brief explanation on how to build the computer. I think I have a good understanding on where everything goes but I just want to be careful.

Thank you in advance for helping me out!
 
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Why go with AMD?

Do you live near a Microcenter or Fry's? If so, they offer some good deals on processors.


At any rate, the i5 2500k beats the pants off of the FX-8120. You could get the 2500k, an AsRock extreme 3 gen 3 board, and only spend about 50 USD more. The extra money will buy you a computer that functions significantly better for gaming and general use.

Additionally, a more beefy graphics card might be necessary if you're going to be running at a decent resolution. As we don't know what resolution you're running at, or even if gaming is your goal, then that's all I can offer.


Put simply; 8 "cores" from AMD are similar to 4 cores from Intel, but they use more power and only perform better on highly threaded tasks.



Otherwise, the 530 watt power supply is the only question. I would suggest at least a 600 watt, so you have some room for later upgrades.
 

Blawkyy

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Storage Seagate Barracude 320GB
Display(s) Samsung 22" LCD
Case NZXT Phantom Black
Power Supply Raidmax 630w
I go with AMD because it's much cheaper and I'll be able to upgrade more often because I don't have money to blow all the time. What you said about the Intel does sound tempting but I dont know if I'd want to just because the prices are crazy.

Sorry for not mentioning it but yes I spend the majority of my time gaming so that would be the goal is to get the best experience. I play League of Legends, plan on playing BF3, WoW and I'm getting Diablo 3 on the 15th if that helps explain what kind of parts I'll need to run everything well.

Right now and most likely for a very long time I'll be staying with my main monitor at 1650x1080 and my secondary at 1600x900. But the graphics card is going to stay the same because currently I am using that graphics card I linked, I got that a few months ago. Will that card be fine with running my two monitors?

The power supply is also currently in use, so that will be staying as well. Everything else I am planning on ordering by this week. I'm not that worried about the PSU anyways because I don't think I'll be upgrading for a while considering I don't have the money in order to do so.

And unfortunately I do not live near a Microcenter or a Fry's so that isn't an option ):
 
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Ok, that makes more sense.

AMD might be cheaper, but the difference in performance is high. Check out these processors: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%2050001157%20600030236&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=50

All quad core. The same price, or very similar. The system will not overdraw your 530 watt supply, which the high end AMD system may.


Otherwise there is no problem with the video card, as long as you don't expect all the bells and whistles.
 
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I go with AMD because it's much cheaper

Right...

and I'll be able to upgrade more often

OK...

because I don't have money to blow all the time.

What??? I thought you'll be able to upgrade more often???

What you said about the Intel does sound tempting but I dont know if I'd want to just because the prices are crazy.

Wow, just wow.

Sorry for not mentioning it but yes I spend the majority of my time gaming so that would be the goal is to get the best experience. I play League of Legends, plan on playing BF3, WoW and I'm getting Diablo 3 on the 15th if that helps explain what kind of parts I'll need to run everything well.

All the more reason to go with an Intel Core i5 then.
 

Blawkyy

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Processor i5 2500k
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Storage Seagate Barracude 320GB
Display(s) Samsung 22" LCD
Case NZXT Phantom Black
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@entropy13 alright maybe I contradicted myself a lot there. All in all I don't have a lot of money to spend so that's why I was planning on going amd. But I'm considering intel at the moment.

@lilhasselhoffer
So if the i5 is really going to be that more significant then I'd like to look in that direction. And the fact that the high end amd stuff may be too much for my power supply then I'd definitely want to go intel. So if I wanted intel, should I get the 2500k? I'll go 50 dollars more tops on the processor and motherboard together though. And what motherboard should I get?
 
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@entropy13 alright maybe I contradicted myself a lot there. All in all I don't have a lot of money to spend so that's why I was planning on going amd. But I'm considering intel at the moment.

@lilhasselhoffer
So if the i5 is really going to be that more significant then I'd like to look in that direction. And the fact that the high end amd stuff may be too much for my power supply then I'd definitely want to go intel. So if I wanted intel, should I get the 2500k? I'll go 50 dollars more tops on the processor and motherboard together though. And what motherboard should I get?

$324.98 (15 dollar rebate possible, but not factored in)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157279
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072


Current setup: $289.98

You've got enough to even step up the motherboard a little. See why we suggest the i5?


Edit: Check out the extreme3 gen3. I've got it right now, and it is great.
Edit: Edit: No after market cooler? If you want this rig to scream you'll need a decent aftermarket cooler. A 212 can be had for $20 after rebate, and will do very nicely in keeping that CPU chilly. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
 
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I would recommend a less expensive case for a better video card and/or more storage.

The optical drive is also only 18x - you can find 24x at around the same price.
 

Blawkyy

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Case NZXT Phantom Black
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Okay that looks great! I just have a couple questions on the motherboard. I notice for the graphics card slot it says pci express 3.0 x16 instead of pci express 2.0 x16. Will that effect anything? And is that brand a good brand? Im not familiar with Asrock so I wanna make sure. And is that motherboard better then the previous one I linked? Lastly if I'm switching to intel are the processor and motherboard the only items I'll need to change? Will everything else be compatible still?

Edit: is the cooling really that significant?
 
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Blawkyy

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Processor i5 2500k
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Display(s) Samsung 22" LCD
Case NZXT Phantom Black
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I would recommend a less expensive case for a better video card and/or more storage.

The optical drive is also only 18x - you can find 24x at around the same price.

I already have the card so I won't be switching out that and the hard drive space is fine for me to be honest.

I checked and I couldn't find any other drives but 18x so maybe I'm missing them.
 
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Okay that looks great! I just have a couple questions on the motherboard. I notice for the graphics card slot it says pci express 3.0 x16 instead of pci express 2.0 x16. Will that effect anything? And is that brand a good brand? Im not familiar with Asrock so I wanna make sure. And that motherboard is better then the previous one I linked? Lastly if I'm switching to intel are the processor and motherboard the only items I'll need to change? Will everything else be compatible still?

Simple answers: Yes, processor and mobo are the only changes. No, 3.0 is compatible with 2.0, there is no problem.


Long answers:
The only components that are different between AMD and Intel are the processors. Different processors offer different connectivity, which is why the motherboards need to be different. RAM, HDDs, ODDs, and power supplies all run on independently set standards so they are interchangeable.

One of the features of Intel's newest generation of processors (Ivy Bridge) is the pci-e 3.0 specification. In short, it should double (ideally) pci-e connection speeds. As there are no graphics cards that currently use this (on store shelves), you won't see any benefits. As you're going with Sandy Bridge, you can't even get pci-e 3.0. There is nothing that you need to worry about then.

Edit: Stock Intel coolers suck. Badly. If you want to overclock then get aftermarket. If this is going to be a stock PC then the included heatsink will work...
 

Blawkyy

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Simple answers: Yes, processor and mobo are the only changes. No, 3.0 is compatible with 2.0, there is no problem.


Long answers:
The only components that are different between AMD and Intel are the processors. Different processors offer different connectivity, which is why the motherboards need to be different. RAM, HDDs, ODDs, and power supplies all run on independently set standards so they are interchangeable.

One of the features of Intel's newest generation of processors (Ivy Bridge) is the pci-e 3.0 specification. In short, it should double (ideally) pci-e connection speeds. As there are no graphics cards that currently use this (on store shelves), you won't see any benefits. As you're going with Sandy Bridge, you can't even get pci-e 3.0. There is nothing that you need to worry about then.

Edit: Stock Intel coolers suck. Badly. If you want to overclock then get aftermarket. If this is going to be a stock PC then the included heatsink will work...

I've never even touched overclocking before. Would the fan still help even if I don't overclock? Should I want to overclock this?

I assume the brand of the motherboard isn't that significant?
 
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I've never even touched overclocking before. Would the fan still help even if I don't overclock? Should I want to overclock this?

I assume the brand of the motherboard isn't that significant?

I haven't had problems with AsRock. They were a sister company to Asus originally, but are a distinct entity now.

You buy a k model of processor to overclock. A little bit of change to the multiplier, and a few other tweaks, and you can easily push a 2500k to 4.5 GHz and beyond. That means that this processor has a large room for improvement, and thus can last you for quite some time. A $20 cooler might push off the need for a replacement by a year or more. Than kind of payoff is rare in the world of the PC.
 

Blawkyy

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Overclocking sounds like something I'd like to try out in the near future. So I'll pick up the fan as well especially if it will increase the lifespan of the processor. Adding everything into the cart now the total is 767. With the amd stuff it was around 700. You seem to know what you're talking about so I'd say that this will end up being a lot better then the amd items.

Well thank you so much for taking the time to help me out. I greatly appreciate it. I'll most likely order the parts tomorrow and then the next step will to try and put it together!
 

manofthem

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Blawkyy

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Why not take another look for another set of RAM? 2x4GB is better than 4x2GB, and 2133 is completely overrated and will offer 0 real world help in gaming. You're getting off getting a 2x4Gb set of 1600 instead; go with G Skill though as they have been great for me.

Red cas9 1600
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR...

Blue cas 9 low 1.35v
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR...

If 2133 really makes no difference then I wold definitely rather get those red ones you linked. What makes 2x4 better than 4x2? Does it matter if not all ram slots are filled? That will save me like 40 bucks.
 
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If you live with a lot of dirt or dust in the house, you might not want such a cheap case. PC will turn into a dirt farm.

AMD build isn't so bad. If you are going high resolution gaming then yeah, might want Intel build. The longevity of AMD builds is a factor. I used an AM2 board for 6 years before finally coming to the point of needing to update the board itself. CPUs just kept coming out backwards compatible. Ended up going with a 990FX because of price and my board finally getting too many issues to coax more life out of. Work hasn't ramped up yet so, just cheaper swapping in some of my current parts.

AM3+ may have a long life. Still remains to be seen. But Piledriver and I think one more gen after may keep working with AM3+. Least from what I've read. Now, that isn't a guarantee of super performance. Bulldozer is a lameduck, but then any CPU with it's design would be on initial gen. Piledriver won't fix it. But as far as beyond that goes...dunno.

I was planning on switching to Intel till Ivy hit. Intel switch hinged totally on performance and other factors. One, I wanted to get into SSDs. The new SSD cache tech interested me and it seemed like I needed an Intel board to use them. Then I found the opposite and that was one factor out of the way. Next major one was i5 or i7. I wanted i5 at first but when I kept considering how much I do use video encoding at times. i7 kept looking more attractive. So thats another $100 price bump. Then the question of longevity. 1155 is looking to be dead with Ivy so future upgrade would be whole new board all over again. But it might last a bit longer in performance. Last factor was then the board, which to get the features I wanted, would be $200+ for Intel.

So, roughly $200-$250 for board, $250-$350 CPU, then $50 for initial RAM. I just couldn't swing $500 when everything came down. $200 was doable and so I had no choice. Decided to take a gamble on 990FX and overclock my 945 better. So far, mildly satisfied. It is a visible difference. System is much more stable. Games that were choppy are smooth again. I'll probably get another 8GB of RAM along with one of those SSD cache drives. Boost it a bit more.

But overall, if you got the money to swing an i5/i7 now, I'd do it.
 
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Get an intel cpu and the cheapest 6870 card. Rest is up to you.
 

Blawkyy

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If you live with a lot of dirt or dust in the house, you might not want such a cheap case. PC will turn into a dirt farm.

AMD build isn't so bad. If you are going high resolution gaming then yeah, might want Intel build. The longevity of AMD builds is a factor. I used an AM2 board for 6 years before finally coming to the point of needing to update the board itself. CPUs just kept coming out backwards compatible. Ended up going with a 990FX because of price and my board finally getting too many issues to coax more life out of. Work hasn't ramped up yet so, just cheaper swapping in some of my current parts.

AM3+ may have a long life. Still remains to be seen. But Piledriver and I think one more gen after may keep working with AM3+. Least from what I've read. Now, that isn't a guarantee of super performance. Bulldozer is a lameduck, but then any CPU with it's design would be on initial gen. Piledriver won't fix it. But as far as beyond that goes...dunno.

I was planning on switching to Intel till Ivy hit. Intel switch hinged totally on performance and other factors. One, I wanted to get into SSDs. The new SSD cache tech interested me and it seemed like I needed an Intel board to use them. Then I found the opposite and that was one factor out of the way. Next major one was i5 or i7. I wanted i5 at first but when I kept considering how much I do use video encoding at times. i7 kept looking more attractive. So thats another $100 price bump. Then the question of longevity. 1155 is looking to be dead with Ivy so future upgrade would be whole new board all over again. But it might last a bit longer in performance. Last factor was then the board, which to get the features I wanted, would be $200+ for Intel.

So, roughly $200-$250 for board, $250-$350 CPU, then $50 for initial RAM. I just couldn't swing $500 when everything came down. $200 was doable and so I had no choice. Decided to take a gamble on 990FX and overclock my 945 better. So far, mildly satisfied. It is a visible difference. System is much more stable. Games that were choppy are smooth again. I'll probably get another 8GB of RAM along with one of those SSD cache drives. Boost it a bit more.

But overall, if you got the money to swing an i5/i7 now, I'd do it.

My home is extremely clean due to the fact tht my mom is an OCD psychopath. So that shouldn't be a problem. I would get a better case but I just don't have the money right now.

As for the intel vs amd I think I'm going to stay intel because if the i5 really runs games a lot smoother then that's what I want.
 

manofthem

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If 2133 really makes no difference then I wold definitely rather get those red ones you linked. What makes 2x4 better than 4x2? Does it matter if not all ram slots are filled? That will save me like 40 bucks.

2 sticks is much easier to deal when overclocking and stability, easier on the board and IMC. I'd definitely go with with the 1600 G Skills. When i got my ram, I benched it at 1600, 1866, and 2133 running 3dmark11, resulting in no difference within a few points if at all.

Save the money most definitely

edit: I went from AMD to Intel (1090t to 2600k), and the difference was amazing when gaming and everything else. It would take a lot for me to go back.
 

Blawkyy

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2 sticks is much easier to deal when overclocking and stability, easier on the board and IMC. I'd definitely go with with the 1600 G Skills. When i got my ram, I benched it at 1600, 1866, and 2133 running 3dmark11, resulting in no difference within a few points if at all.

Save the money most definitely

Looks like I'll be going with the 2x4 1600s then. Thanks for the help!

Edit: yes I've heard so many people say switching to intel was the best thing they've done. Makes me feel better about changing as well.
 
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actually to gaming right now (and at least for me)(also if your looking at the price as they are different on each country, like mine for example a amd build is actually better than an intel build if your going mid range (remember I put i5 2500k as high end with a reasonable gpu like the gtx560ti/570 or its amd equivalent)

i5 2500k is all you need and I consider this as High-end as it's the best bang for the money. and even an i7 is useless. as it doesn't give like 60% increase in performance in using it.

so for a mid range I do suggest AMD x4 960t/965be with a pair of 6670/6770/6850/6870 or gtx550ti/gtx560 non ti

then for low-end it would be those older amd and intel.

actually gaming wise, me coming from i7 3930k with dual gtx680, 32gb ram, and after swapping out my ram to my friends 2x2gb and my gtx680 to his sapphire 6850 (just to see difference between his 960t and my i7 3930k) then turning off other irrelevant features.

so far putting it down to 720p to what I can see both are nearly Identical with such minimal difference when I tried gaming on it. tried playing it on my system with similar parts from him (ram and gpu) then after putting it back to his system played it and the difference between the 2 is so small normal people would hardly notice a thing (I'm a normal person but I did notice a slight "slight" increase in performance with the 3930k) but well in the end I was more into frag people left and right but sadly I got fragged left and right instead.

but so far after seeing a couple of amd cpu, phenom II's and bulldozer I can't say they are a failure as big as to what people say in gaming (well they were over hyped by amd so that's a part where it fails) but so far it is capable of playing games like bf3 and skyrim and crysis 2 even paired with a silly gpu or a beastly gpu.

well if it's gaming if you ask me it would be like this in a chart. all these at stock clock

Intel i5 2500k + gtx560ti/560ti 448/gtx570/amd equivalent = high end (roughly 1k bucks
Intel i3 2120 + gtx560ti/amd equivalent = higher mid range (800bucks roughly)
amd phenomiix4/fx 4100 +6850/6870/7850 or nvidia equivalent (600 bucks or higher)
amd athlon/intel g520 or something +6670/6770/gtx 550/gts 450 or something = lower end

as for now anything above i5 is hardly any benefit with gaming so I put it in high end the i3 3120 or i3 2100 I put higher mid range due to having better performance without overclocking it and does perform better (marginal difference) between it's amd counter part.
phenomii x4/fx 4100 are good chips actually, put them in mid range and so on so fort.

actually if you notice majority of people when they upgrade (normally people who go for bang for buck) they build on a whole new socket and normally keep what can be salvaged (HDD,ODD,SSD?,case, water cooling/air cooling,monitor,mouse,keyboard etc.)
so going for a 1155 entry level then upgrading 3 years later would not really benefit anyone even if they get a z68 mobo (unless you can find it still in sale but by that time if by some unknown reasons game starts asking for 6 cores minimum requirement with 10gb ram minimum, and 5gb vram then the i5 won't be likely, but well seeing as how games go by it won't happen.

the one above is good if you live in the US as most country doesn't stock those i5 2500k once ivy are out (I can name a few in my local store) I remember a friend of mine from high school got his 775 socket and said in a few years he will upgrade, but now that part he wants to buy is no longer available in our country so in the end he build a budget 1155 ^+^.

but lol this is a long post to keep it short. go intel ^_^ I love intel and I'm a fan of intel but amd is quite capable too and I can't make any processor or even own a company to make them so got no right to diss amd (at least that's what I feel)
 
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To be honest, what you chose are not bad, using Intel or AMD of such levels in my general opinion you will get a very nice gaming experience. Tho i personally would recommend if you can squeeze out some more money go with Intel setup they generally tend to be more responsive. As far as the GPU goes and the Resolutions you are going to use the card is fine it can handle it.

I can tell you from my perspective when gaming with my rig i get very good experience no complains i know most people would say i need a faster GPU, but what i have does it just right, check my system specs on the side. I play games at max settings available on the games, and without looking at frame rates and benchmarks, the games perform very well to the naked eye past some point only benchmarks and frame rates can tell that a GPU or CPU is faster but your eyes cant. So what I'm driving at is when you are at a certain level its hard to tell we all generally get same experience depending on what we want.

I'm currently playing (Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City, Street Fighter x Tekken, Sniper Elite V2, Ridge Racer Unbounded) and all in maxed out settings available in the game and all runs smoothly no complains. last year played all the major titles eg (BF3, Crysis 2, Fear 3, Dirt 3, NFS Shift 2 & The Run) and many more all in maxed out settings played smoothly as well. mind you I dint have the 8GB i had 4GB, dint have the Mobo & i5 2500k, had DH55HC & i5 760, those are the only things i replaced, and I've had the GTX460 since August 2010 and the setup pretty much same til i changed the mobo & processor this year last month and the RAM last year September, every game iv ever played i normally first max out the settings.

So do not worry too much.

i know i can get a faster card and i have the money for that but its not entirely necessary to me plus getting latest tech is hard in our country, so i have to wait, and plus i buy coz i want not that i need to
 
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