Building a new PC

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

ASUS Main board:
http://tinyurl.com/c6o3rr


I am thinking it'll be the ASUS M4N78 PRO, & the AMD Phenom II X3 720 CPU ( the quad core X4 seems like a waste of money)

ASUS says the board is prepped for: O.C. DDR2 1200 memory:
What does the “O.C.” mean? Over Clocking?

Then ASUS, also says the Mainboard “features dual-channel DDR2 1066 memory support.”


Kingston has a DDR2 1200 memory chipset 2 Gigs only $518.00
What a deal~!! For Kingston that is.
Half a grand for a couple gigs of memory?
Who buys that stuff?

Why wouldn’t I be better off using:
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2-8500) 240-Pin, Non-ECC, Unbuffered for about $60.00~~??
Or
Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5DF 2GB Kit DDR2-1066 XMS2-8500 Memory for about $70.00~~??

Both are 2 gigs.


Video:
What is a “Discrete GPU” ???

From the below description, I am unable to tell whether they are telling me that their board supports some un-named NVIDIA card or if it is Built into the main board and I don't need to buy a separate video driver card.


Boosted Performance with Onboard GPU and Discrete Graphics Card HybridPower™
Intelligent Graphics Power-Savings and Quiet Operations
Hybrid SLI™ technology is a unique hybrid multi-GPU technology. It includes two primary features: GeForece Boost and HybridPower™. GeForece Boost turbo-charges performance of discrete graphics cards when combined with the motherboard GPUs. HybridPower™ unleashes graphics performance for demanding 3D applications and enables low-power operation for everyday computing needs.
* GeForce®(R) Boost and HybridPower™ are on select GeForce®(R) GPUs And


NVIDIA® GeForce 8300 offers the latest support of Hybrid SLI Technology, DirectX® 10 graphics features, HD video playback with HDMI/DVI output.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

If you know cheaper, do please turn me on to 'em.


Main board.............ASUS.........M4A78 PRO.......$99.00........... tinyurl.com/cpcql3
CPU.......................AMD.........Phenom II X3 720 …… $133.99 ..tinyurl.com/cp66xc
THE ABOVE TWO ITEMS ARE INCLUDED IN A UNITARY PRICE SEEN BELOW WHEN PURCHASED TOGETHER

CPU & MOBO……… Purchase above 2 together….. $219…….. tinyurl.com/8snd9

Memory……Corsair… TWIN2X2048-8500C5DF 2GB Kit DDR2-1066 XMS2-8500….. $70.00… tinyurl.com/ck3zkq

Video card - I believe it is Built in to the board

Ethernet Card……. Netgear………. FA311 10/100 PCI Ethernet Card…… $22.99 ……tinyurl.com/d3r9tz

Floppy Drive…….. SONY……. Model MPF920 Black……… $7.99…….. tinyurl.com/ctjpht

DVD…… Plextor…….. PX-760A……… $119.00……. tinyurl.com/d5wwnq

Power supply…….. ULTRA…….. Lifetime Series Pro LSP750 750W……. $70.99……. tinyurl.com/chb6yk

Case…….. COOLER MASTER………. RC-330-KKN1-GP Elite 330 Mid Tower Case (Black)……… $47.99……… tinyurl.com/c6vqox

fans……… Vantec Tornado……… TD8038H…….. $15.99……… tinyurl.com/cyy6vg

Keyboard…….. Microsoft Ergo Keyboard 4000………. $45.74………. tinyurl.com/d2vkv2

goo………. OCZ OCZTFRZTC Thermal Conductivity Compound…….. $9.99 ……….tinyurl.com/da26jh


Grand Total……………… $409

[Chuck Wintle]

Cliff,

the video is built-in to the card from what i read of the specs on the asus website.

The card has a LAN connection so the ethernet card is not needed.
The memory you have ordered should be fine...O.C. means overclocked so unless you are into overclocking and stuff...

my personal preference is to stay with and intel chipset and cpu but thats just my own experience.

[Eric DeSilva]

I haven't compared prices for the parts you are buying, but when I built mine, I did a lot of shopping around and found the best prices at www.zipzoomfly.com.

The SLI bus, I believe, allows you to add additional graphics processors for increased graphics speed.

What OS are you planning to run? I thought, for some reason, that WinXP maxed out at 2GB of RAM, so you want to make sure you aren't overbuying.

Do you really want a floppy drive? I didn't put one on my last build and haven't missed it. Also, I don't see a hard disk drive spec'd?

[John Schreiber]

I've thought about building my own PC, and I think that if all the parts I ordered worked fine, I wouldn't have any trouble. My fear is that something won't work, but without having known good substitute parts I won't be able to tell which ones are bad.

GPU = graphics processor unit, and I think that verbiage means that the gpu is built into the mother board.

The last computer I bought was from the Dell Scratch & Dent store. I payed less than half of the usual price and I couldn't see any wear on the machine when I got it.

[Walter Plummer]

Hello. A friend sent me to www,crucial.com. I dont know enough to look for you but it is another option.

[Don Eddard]

I've been happy with my computer component purchases from Newegg.com. Hard to beat their prices, their shipping is fast, and their return policy is vey good.

I'll also second the question about the need for a floppy drive. For my last build I left out the floppy and added an internal USB memory card reader instead.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

My sources are pretty much all over. New Egg, Zip Zoom, Amazon etc.

I'll likely use a couple of large multi platter Western Digital HDs. I'm thinking I should get Norton Ghost for drive imaging and backup. They bought Power quest and have that tech now.

I'll transfer my Plextor CD burner

Floppy? You guys don't use 'em?
I use 'em. In fact this week, I am using floppy drive and DOS to run my box while accessing lower level functions of a burnt hard drive to get the old data off it.
Nothing else would read it: Not Windows, not Knoppix They all recognized it but couldn't access it.
Plain old DOS Ver-6.2 could get it and transfer it to another drive.
Manually of course (ouch).

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Cliff,
the video is built-in to the card from what i read of the specs on the asus website.

Thanks. That's what I thought. When I went to NVIDIA's site and clicked the "Buy Now" link it sent me to a list of motherboards.
Technology changes so fast - along with the vernacular - that when one drops out like I have for a few years in between purchases one tends to feel left behind.



The card has a LAN connection so the ethernet card is not needed.Gracias. I missed that entirely. Saved $20.00 it pays to be a Creeker.


The memory you have ordered should be fine...O.C. means overclocked so unless you are into overclocking and stuff...I run XP 64 bit so I can use 2 Gig. The overclocking options on that MainBoard are supposed to be really easy just enter the Bios at boot up and change it.

Now where'd I leave that dewar of liquid helium for cooling?




my personal preference is to stay with and intel chipset and cpu but thats just my own experience.Call it brand loyalty. Some years ago I got all snaggled up in the bitter quarrel between Intel and AMD. Something about AMD handling number crunching better and Intel being more for graphics. None of us knew what we were arguing about. It's all Ones and Zeros to a CPU.
I bet a whole dollar that debate is gone by the wayside now. Lost in the mists or time - and all that.
At any rate I've never had anything but AMD.

[Cary Falk]

I do all my shopping fromhttp://www.pricewatch.com/public/. Just another option to try to find the cheapest parts

[Neal Clayton]

I've thought about building my own PC, and I think that if all the parts I ordered worked fine, I wouldn't have any trouble. My fear is that something won't work, but without having known good substitute parts I won't be able to tell which ones are bad.

GPU = graphics processor unit, and I think that verbiage means that the gpu is built into the mother board.

The last computer I bought was from the Dell Scratch & Dent store. I payed less than half of the usual price and I couldn't see any wear on the machine when I got it.

even without parts to check, determining the source of the error is usually pretty simple.

motherboards have beep codes that tell you if a critical part fails.

lack of beeps is the video card 9 times out of 10.

that's really about it, anyone who can read the motherboard manual can build a computer.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

As another option to Norton Ghosting is to have RAID 1. It will do real time backup. However, I don't have any experience (or need) for RAID on my home system because infrequent manual backups to a USB external harddrive are sufficient for me. And, I like simple.

If you plan to do some 3d CAD graphics, I would recommend a graphics card even if the card is lower end. Rotating 3D shaded views is very intensive to a computer.

I also second Dell's Outlet for computers and monitors (sold individually). My last two systems were 'refurbished' and they were much cheaper than I could build (I had no reusable parts laying around). Also, the Dell computers are guaranteed to work when you plug it in for the first time, and share the same limited warranty/support as a new machine (~2 years). Both systems arrived in a condition that was essentially new (not even fingerprints could be seen).

-Jeff :)

[Darius Ferlas]

As another option to Norton Ghosting is to have RAID 1. It will do real time backup.
No RAID level is an option to Norton Ghost or other drive cloning software, and it is quite deceiving to think of RAID 1 (aka mirror) as a backup. That is unless yo create a mirror to get identical copies of drive, and then break the mirror, take one of the disks out for storage (approx 5 years is OK). That, though, will make discs out of sync very fast.

RAID 1 offers disk redundancy - one fails, the other keeps going giving you a chance to replace the failed drive and to rebuild the mirror. That's not the same as backup. If, in RAID 1, you get data corruption, then both disk will have the same corruption. In such cases the solution is a backup set.

The amount of effort and associated costs put into backup solutions is usually relative to the importance of the data stored on the computer. The only problem is a lot of people do not realize that this relationship exists.

As for Dell, I'm quite happy with their products, and I see few reasons to build my own computers these day, other than experimenting, niche applications or professional gaming.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I ended up getting the SamsungSH S223 for a lousy $30 compared to the $120 for the Plextor 850
And the reviewers like the Samsung better.


The Corsair web sire memorey maxing utility was all screwy they didn't use the same names for ASUS boards as ASUS so I had to call theor tech guy who convinced me top get their 4Gig package of DOMINATIOR memory 'cause it is the fastest they got for that main board. I asked about the fact that my XP 64 bit OS wouldn't read more than two and he told me that on his XP box he's really using 3.5 Gig even though it only reports 2 Gig as present.


Whish of course meant I just HAD to go get the Asus Lion Square CPU cooler so I can overclock.


Woo hoo watch out for me.

Now if I can only figure out why I want to overclock in the first place. Faster Cut & paste?


Oh yah I know Norton's Speed Crunching software.

Yah maybe after the new build I can boot up in less than a half hour if I overclock like three times speed.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

My stuff came in so I set about to build:

If you get this main board maybe this post will help you:

The front panel connection pins are poorly marked.
If your power LED requires polarity ( mine does) you gotta put the green (+) wire on the far left pin.

The 4 pin speaker connector is not marked at all but it's sort of obvious when you get the rest in.


Asus sells a CPU cooler called the LOIN SQUARE and it's a big beast of a cooler. It comes with a bunch of heavy mounting hardware. The mounting hardware requires four holes in the main board.

Those holes are not installed in the ASUS main board.

Nice trick that: CPU Cooler for over clockers can't be installed on the ASUS main board made for over clockers.

I also got the Corsair Dominator 4 gig memory.
IT's got it's own little cooking fan kit that has three little fans that blow air over the radiating fins of the memory modules.

That ASUS Lion Square CPU cooler (if I can ever get it to mount) interferes with the Corsair cooler to the tune of about 3/16 of an inch. That's not be an isue I could trim the fins that interfered - but I can't mount the cooler on the board.

I'm asking ASUS it it is safe to let that monster depend from the itty bitty cooler Clamp that comes with mose heat sinks. I think it's too much weight. we'll see what the engineers say.

[Anthony Scira]

I buy everything from Mwave.com

These guys are awesome. For an extra 10 bucks they assemble and test the memory, cpu and mainboard.

I find it a very good deal since you don't have the DOA problem. And they are VERY fast at shipping and I have never had any problems.

Getting ready to pull the trigger on a quad core myself.

[Brian Elfert]

I know this is a somewhat old thread, but my opinion on building your own is don't do it unless you are using an OS other than Windows. It just isn't cost effective unless you're a hardcore gamer or just like to build your own. I gave up and started buying from the Dell Outlet.

Maybe you aren't running Windows, but I noticed that cost was not listed. Figure another $100 or more for that. Yes, you can transfer the Windows license from an old system, but Microsoft makes it a hassle to do so.

I decided I want computers already put together and tested for compatibility with a warranty and a Windows license.

[Neal Clayton]

on the warranty point, what's it really worth? any manufacturer like dell is just going to tell you to box the computer up and send it back to them unless you pay for on-site service, which won't be next day even if you do pay for it. you going to do without a computer for a week over a 50 dollar part? or just buy the part and swap it yourself? between the time i used to do it for a living and the time i've spent on my own, i've built, repaired, or replaced hundreds of computers over the years, and i can't remember ever going through a warranty claim on a part. it's just not worth the trouble, when the parts don't cost that much.


I buy everything from Mwave.com

These guys are awesome. For an extra 10 bucks they assemble and test the memory, cpu and mainboard.

I find it a very good deal since you don't have the DOA problem. And they are VERY fast at shipping and I have never had any problems.

Getting ready to pull the trigger on a quad core myself.

i've also dealt with mwave alot over the years.

them and newegg are two of the more reputable online dealers i've bought stuff from.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I know this is a somewhat old thread, but my opinion on building your own is don't do it unless you are using an OS other than Windows. It just isn't cost effective unless you're a hardcore gamer or just like to build your own. I gave up and started buying from the Dell Outlet.

I disagree. You can build a much better box with much better hardware - not just faster - better, if you spec it out yourself. It'll last longer and be valid longer, perform better, and have fewer issues.

Dell computers ( and their ilk) are built by purchasing agents on a cost first basis. They buy the stuff they can get the cheapest and let the poor guys in Tech figure out how to get it to work together. Then they sell it to the public.

If all you will ever do is surf the web and type a few letters than great you can get on just fine with a $200 dollar box. Then, Toss it in a year or two when it's slow because the demands increase etc.

[Anthony Scira]

Thats why I like Mwave I know the stuff is good and will arrive as expected. Not to mention if you source from a lot of people the shipping really adds up. Stick with one quality shop and your good to go. I mean unless there is a deal that is a lot cheaper to make it all make sense.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Got it all up and running - using it now.

Some issues others have blogged about like inability to use an IDE drive as the boot device were non issues for me.

I didn't change any of the Factory settings on the main board and it's fine.

I have not got that monster CPU cooler installed yet Still waiting for the ASUS Engineer to tell me it's OK to hang it from the little clip

Things that caught me unawares were all the interface changes since my last build. It's all SATA and USB now. The ribbon cables are a thing of the past. The parallel ports are extinct too. I gotta get an adaptor to use my big HP Laser 5.
I am haging issues with my HP 3380 all in one. HP built it in the beginning so it wouldn't talk to an XP platform and dragged their feet about making it compatible. I've read it is and got the drivers but it's not installing like I want.

[Anthony Scira]

Yeah its easier to buy one from Dell and for most people I would recommend it. But if your a tinkerer building your own is the only way to go.

And if you have a full retail version of Windows its pretty painless to transfer machines. About a 5 minute phone call. I have 2 copies of Vista and 2 of XP and switch hardware all the time.

Not to mention its easier and cheaper to buy a table. But you will find a lot of people here who make their own ;)

[Chuck Wintle]

Yeah its easier to buy one from Dell and for most people I would recommend it. But if your a tinkerer building your own is the only way to go.

And if you have a full retail version of Windows its pretty painless to transfer machines. About a 5 minute phone call. I have 2 copies of Vista and 2 of XP and switch hardware all the time.

Not to mention its easier and cheaper to buy a table. But you will find a lot of people here who make their own ;)

Anthony,
I agree 100% with you. The building process is very good for to learn how computers work and troubleshooting them an even better teacher. Dell are very good on the price side but they make thousands of them at a time.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I have 2 copies of Vista and 2 of XP and switch hardware all the time.

How are you liking Vista? It is the horror that so many have made it out to be or is it that Vista simply needs a bigger badder box than what XP needed?


I gotta say I will never get a touch screen (one of the advertising gimmicks they used to sell Vista). It's a big enough PITA to have to switch from the mouse to the keyboard but to have to extend my hand to the screen just to see some fancy tech happening is, I think, a bridge too far.

[Anthony Scira]

I love Vista. I did not really realize how good it was untill I went to install XP to use some legacy software.

Holy cow that thing needs to restart for everything.

If you have newer components its a no brainer. Its all marketing hype. Vista is solid now.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I love Vista. I did not really realize how good it was untill I went to install XP to use some legacy software.

Well now that's a different tale than what I'm used to hearing. What's your platform: main board, processor, and memory?


Holy cow that thing needs to restart for everything.
Pretty much,,, even updates from Spyware Doctor can demand a reboot.


If you have newer components its a no brainer.Its all marketing hype.

As I recall a lot of the complaints had a lot do do with the fact that Vista was more demanding and required more processor capacity and memory than a lot of older boxes had.


Vista is solid now.

Now I'm going to have to pay more attention to it.

[Glenn Clabo]

Cliff...I have to agree on Vista.
Maybe it's because I waited for them to get the bugs out...but it is without a doubt the best op system I've had...and I've loved/hated them all.
It may also be because I got an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz with 12 Gb of RAM running Vista Ultimate...but I have had no problems with anything but a very old (I mean VERY old)scanner that I couldn't find drivers for. I got the extra RAM because I really work it hard using PhotoShop CS 4 64 bit and big documents and spreadsheets. Believe me I would tell you if I wasn't happy with it...and would have dumped it quick.

[Anthony Scira]

My system is not really that old but I am going to upgrade to a Quad Core. Right now if I recall its an AMD Dual Core AM2 2.5 ? Something like that anyways.

I just need a horsepower boost to edit AVCHD files using Sony Movie Studio.

And networking is a breeze with Vista. Going back to XP to get my laser to connect over the network was more trouble than it was worth. (And no restarts with network changes)

So for me Vista runs fine. I think they just got hammered by a lot of Mac fanbois. Not that it did not have problems when it was released. But from what I remember XP was a PITA when it first debuted.

But when you consider the different hardware configurations that windows has to deal with Microsoft does pretty good. MS would be as stable as a Mac if they took the same approach as Apple as far as hardware and software goes.

[John Schreiber]

I think the main problem with Vista was that it couldn't live up to its hype. I'd been hearing about it for about five years (first as Longhorn) and I had high expectations. I got it fairly early on my daughter's laptop and it was full of bugs and annoyances. AND, it didn't really do anything that XP didn't except look a little prettier when doing the Alt-Tab dance. AND, it had a lot of DRM issues that made everyone very suspicious of it.

Now that it's worked out the kinks, I suppose I won't object to it. Still working on my daughters, I hate it when I say "Run this Program" and it asks "Do you want to Run this Program?". I want to shriek at it and say "Yes, I want you to Run this Program. That's why I told you to Run this Program." But I'm better now.

[Glenn Clabo]

John...If you really hate UAC that bad you can turn it off. It is a security feature that makes you realize it's a program that you may not want to run on your machine. Kind of like...Do you really want to delete this file?
Here's a good explanation....
http://www.petri.co.il/disable_uac_in_windows_vista.htm

[Chuck Wintle]

Not to hijack this thread but I think the future of home computer operating systems is Linux. i am running ubuntu on one of my computers and i am very impressed with how easy and it is to use. it may have a bit farther to go but the days of Windows are numbered in my opinion.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I took course in C++ at NJIT before attending law school.
I despised it, all of it, every single bit of it.
Talk about not getting it. I didn't get it.

[John Schreiber]

John...If you really hate UAC that bad you can turn it off. It is a security feature that makes you realize it's a program that you may not want to run on your machine. Kind of like...Do you really want to delete this file? . . .
Glen,

If I were the primary user, I'd turn it off for sure, but I want to keep my daughter's laptop protected and if Vista will help, that's something at least.

I've often wondered if it is really much of a security feature. It would seem that any virus etc. which installed itself that way would be capable of answering the question itself. "No the user doesn't want me, But I'll press the button myself."