**First time building my own...need help!**

oscaryu1

VIP Member
So I'm about to order some stuff from newegg to make my own desktop. It'll be used for heavy photo manipulation and processing (I'm a professional photographer, and this will be my workstation).

I've never built my own machine before, so I need to know exactly what is necessary. Below are what I have so far:

CASE:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

DISK DRIVES (2):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173

HARD DRIVES:

HDD for OS and programs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296

^ what does 'bare drive' mean?

HDD for general files:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283

GRAPHICS CARD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143141

POWER SUPPLY:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

MEMORY:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145233

MOTHERBOARD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375

PROCESSOR:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

OS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116478



anything else I need? cables, extra fans, etc.? The only other thing I'll add is a simple 12-in-1 card reader.

The total right now is $1750 or so, including shipping and mail-in rebates. I'd like to keep it below 1800, or even lower if possible (duh).


Thanks!!

Bare drive means the same as OEM. The drive only, no accessories.

And i7 build, me likey :)
 

bigd54

New Member
AS stated deffiantly go with the nvidia with the cuda technology espicially since a lot of your programs are big graphic tasks.
 

thebeginning

New Member
Okay here's the final breakdown:


CASE:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

MOBO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102802

Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

RAM (2 of these sets):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

Disk Drives (2 of these):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106280

Operating System:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116478


anything I'm missing?

extra notes:

I'm completely building from scratch for the first time. Any key tips that are important (even if they seem super obvious) are welcome :)


Total comes to $1647, excluding rebates but including shipping and 1-year replacement warranties for CPU, GPU, and MOBO.
 

maroon1

New Member
The CUDA technology used Nvidia cards will give much more performance boost and it is supported by more applications
 

thebeginning

New Member
The CUDA technology used Nvidia cards will give much more performance boost and it is supported by more applications


wtf, do you work for Nvidia or something?

From what I've read, the CUDA technology isn't that impressive, and many of the claims are twisted to make it seem like the performance boost with CS4 is because of CUDA. Not so. If I see comparison tests and raw evidence, that's different.

Besides, I'll only be using a handful of programs...mostly Photoshop cs4 (which adobe already listed on their website is accelerated by both ati's GPGPU and CUDA). It's cs4 that's enabling that, not CUDA. The only other program I'll use intensively is Lightroom 2, which I don't believe has any special support for GPU's.

still researching though. any other thoughts besides the gpu?
 

phantomofrussia

New Member
just to save you a bit of cash microcenter is selling i7 920 cpus for 229.99. but its only in store pick up so if you dont live near to one then it might not be worth buying one.
 

thebeginning

New Member
cool, thanks man! I'll have to give them a call (there's one in my area). Only downside is that there isn't any kind of extra warranty that I know of through Micro Center, and I can buy one through NewEgg.
 

thebeginning

New Member
ok so I finally bought everything...only changes I made were adding Thermal Compound (likely unnecessary) and an anti-static wrist strap. That and I switched out the GPU (radeon 4850 1gb) for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition.


Part of me is really excited.


Most of me is scared as hell.


I've read far too many horror stories of building your own pc, and have been reading too many negative hardware reviews on Newegg. :(
 
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