Building a gaming computer, first timer.

J

Jake Noble

New Member
Hey there.

Ive never built my own PC before but I thought id give it a go, however I know almost nothing about how to go about it.

I know that you have to have the right motherboard for the other parts that you buy but I’m not sure how you tell if they’re compatible. I will be using the computer for gaming. Also, how do I know if it all fits in the case I have bought? Or is I have the right power supply etc etc.

Basically, will all this fit together??

This is what I have come up with.

Motherboard
ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073


I have no idea about the specs on GFX cards, so which out of these three would be better? (And whats VIVO?)
EVGA 512-P2-N637-AR GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP KO Superclocked Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130066

GIGABYTE GV-NX88S320H-B-RH GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125054

ZOGIS ZO88GTS-320 GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814136010

Will this processor be good enough? I don’t really want to spend $600-$1000 on one of those quad core ones.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115004

RAM
Patriot eXtreme Performance 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220227

SOUND
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102006

HARD DRIVE
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

DVD DRIVE
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 8X DVD-R DL 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM IDE Burner with LightScribe Technology
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106045
Should I buy two of these??

CASE
Antec Performance One P180 Silver cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129154

POWER SUPPLY
THERMALTAKE TR2 500W Power Supply ATX12V V2.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153028

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.
 
Im to tired and stoned right now to tell you if it's all compatible bc im very lazy to check it all but 4gb's just for gaming? I think I can say that that's pretty overkill. 2gb would be sufficient.
 
it all looks good, i would go for the 8800 card which is much better and dx10. i dont think your PSU will supply enough power for the 8800 card with only 12v@14a even though it has dual rails...the 8800 asks for atleast 12v@26a :) good luck ....you can find many tutorials for first time builders, you shouldnt have any problems.
 
If you want to use the 4gb of ram you'll need to change your motherboard to a 650i cuz the 680i doesn't support over 2gb of ram (drivers) maybe later, how much is your budget?
 
Chupcabra - i dont really have a budget but that doesnt mean i want to run off and spend 4G's on a tower.

As it is that setup will cost me about $1500. Im happy to spend another few hundered dollars or so if needs be, i want to have really good gaming performance.

Maroon1, thanks for the link. I'll get that processor instead of the one i posted.

I'll also get another power supply. Will this one be sufficent?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153039

I'll keep the motherboard that i chose and just use 2GB or RAM.

Also, what about cooling? Will this machine be able to keep itself cool? Do i have to buy extra fans or something? If i do, how do i put them on?

What about water cooling? How does that work?

**EDIT**
Looking at the specs on the motherboard it says it supports up to 8GB of RAM, so why would i not be able to get the 4GB?

Also, how do i know if the power supply and motherboard are compatible? I was looking through some reviews of the PSU and people were mentioning something about the pins on it not being compatible with some motherboards, they dont have a 8-pin 12V sockets or something?

If that diddnt make sense... ignore it. Im not actually too sure what im talking about.
 
Last edited:
Jake Noble said:
**EDIT**
Looking at the specs on the motherboard it says it supports up to 8GB of RAM, so why would i not be able to get the 4GB?

Also, how do i know if the power supply and motherboard are compatible? I was looking through some reviews of the PSU and people were mentioning something about the pins on it not being compatible with some motherboards, they dont have a 8-pin 12V sockets or something?

If that diddnt make sense... ignore it. Im not actually too sure what im talking about.
Click to expand...

It can support 8gb, but atm it cannot "see" over 2gb due to driver conflicts, the PSU looks fine 4 rails of +18 amps each, i would suggest you to get an after market heatsink/fan for the cpu because it might get hot with the 8800 like this one, also get thermal paste if you want less temperature on your system.

heatsink/fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134
thermal grease
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007
 
Jake Noble said:
Chupcabra - i dont really have a budget but that doesnt mean i want to run off and spend 4G's on a tower.

As it is that setup will cost me about $1500. Im happy to spend another few hundered dollars or so if needs be, i want to have really good gaming performance.

Maroon1, thanks for the link. I'll get that processor instead of the one i posted.

I'll also get another power supply. Will this one be sufficent?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153039

I'll keep the motherboard that i chose and just use 2GB or RAM.

Also, what about cooling? Will this machine be able to keep itself cool? Do i have to buy extra fans or something? If i do, how do i put them on?

What about water cooling? How does that work?

**EDIT**
Looking at the specs on the motherboard it says it supports up to 8GB of RAM, so why would i not be able to get the 4GB?

Also, how do i know if the power supply and motherboard are compatible? I was looking through some reviews of the PSU and people were mentioning something about the pins on it not being compatible with some motherboards, they dont have a 8-pin 12V sockets or something?

If that diddnt make sense... ignore it. Im not actually too sure what im talking about.
Click to expand...

Computers don't keep themselves cool.

I suggest the fan/heatisnk suggested above me and a couple case fans to keep everything nice and cool.
 
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