Complete noob, Looking for help!

H

Healingtramp

New Member
Hello everyone!
I am looking to build a computer myself. I want to learn about the parts, how they go together, and be proud of my final product! A fusion of sexy, and powerful is my goal. Gaming, theater system, photo programs will be the computers main usage.
I would like to first point out, though links to awesome parts are great, and ill thank people now for them, I would also like links to forums explaining how to pick the parts, and why they are the best. This is about learning first and foremost!
I am hoping to spend about 2 grand up front, with a total of 4 grand in the final product. I would like to start with good parts, and have a working computer, with the ability to add upgrades at a later date. For Example: Gonna hold off on the sound card till i buy the sound system for it. Also, would like to start at about 6-8 gigs of ram, goal of 12 at the end. Possibly 16 gigs, though i doubt I would ever bog down 12.
Any and all help is deeply appreciated! Ill continue to browse these great forums, while i await for any replys!
 
With a price limit that high I say you should look at the Intel Core i7 as your central processing unit.

The Core i7 950 Quad-Core is a very powerful processor to put at the heart of a system. Spending more than $300 on a central processing unit is not worth it in my opinion. Intel's top of the line Core i7 980X may be somewhat more powerful than the Core i7 950, but you would pay over three times the amount for less than three times more processing power.

Intel Core i7 950 Bloomfield Quad-Core (3.06 gigahertz) 130 Watt Processor - $295
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=Core_i7_processor-_-19-115-211-_-Product

Take a look at the following article on building your own custom system:
http://www.computerforum.com/104641-how-build-computer-step-step-photos.html
 
The ASUS Crosshair IV Extreme you are looking at is a Socket AM3 motherboard. That means that it will not work with an Intel Socket 1366 processor. It will work with the Phenom II processor line which is also a good choice.

That Asus motherboard has a few problems. It seems Asus did not release the correct software with the mainboard and software updates are required to keep it from crashing.

If you do want to choose AMD processors over Intel I would suggest looking at the GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H motherboard.

GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H Socket AM3 ATX Motherboard - $113
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Socket_AM3_motherboard-_-13-128-444-_-Product

The Phenom II 1090T Six-Core Processor would be a great choice to go with the GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H Motherboard.

Phenom II 1090T Black Edition Thuban (3.2 gigahertz) Six-Core Processor - $261
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=Phenom_II_Six-Core-_-19-103-849-_-Product
 
If you also want some basic information about basic parts in a computer here is some interesting data:

An important component in a computer is the motherboard (also called the main board or system board). The motherboard is the most complicated piece of equipment inside the computer case. The primary function of a motherboard is to provide a structure for all components and devices of a computer to interface with each other. A device that is not installed directly on the motherboard is called a peripheral device.

The central processing unit (CPU) is also called the processor or microprocessor. As its name implies, this device is central to processing done by the the computer. It is the brain of the computer. It is the component in which most processing takes place.

The processor uses temporary storage, called primary storage or memory to temporarily hold both data and instructions while it is processing them. Primary storage is much faster to access than permanent storage. Primary storage is volatile; it loses its contents when power is removed. Primary storage is provided by devices called memory or random access memory (RAM).

The most popular permanent storage or secondary storage devices are hard disk drives, solid state drives, USB flash drives, digital versatile discs (DVDs), compact discs (CD-ROMs) and or floppy disks.

Hard drives are presently the most important permanent storage devices. A hard drive stores the information available to a computer when the computer is turned off (unlike RAM which loses all its contents once the computer is powered down).

A power supply unit (or PSU) is the component that supplies power to a computer. Most personal computers can be plugged into standard electrical outlets. The power supply then pulls the required amount of electricity and converts the AC (alternating current) to DC (direct current). Computers require DC to give power to components. The power supply also regulates the voltage to eliminate spikes and surges common in most electrical systems. Not all power supplies, however, do an adequate voltage-regulation job, so a computer can be susceptible to large voltage fluctuations.
 
I'm sorry for the nonconstructive comment, but FOUR THOUSAND CLAMS? Holy freakin' crap! Total powergasm.
 
Ok, loving the help, and its appreciated. Thank you all so much. Now I have been researching a little on AMD versus Intel. Thus far its left me confused. Is it kinda like Ford and Toyota? Some people back one, others back the other? With the end result being they both do the job?
If i must choose, i think ill go Intel. Simply, all my comps have had Intel, and i trust it. Kinda. Hasnt failed me yet anyways lmao.
 
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If I were building 'today' I would build around the components below. The brands are quality. Intel caters more to the higher end builders than AMD and your budget would fit that. There are more 'exotic' components available than what's below that might be better suited for multi-gpu setups or overclocking and liquid cooling but for your uses and as someone who is also new to building, the kind of setup below is powerful and not overly complicated or tremendously(?) overkill either.

Your budget would allow for some options including a Solid State Drive, BluRay, TV Tuner, Sound Card, After Market Cooling and still be under $2000. You would also need Monitor, Mouse, Speakers and Keyboard I suppose.

Also, I listed a 6870 graphics card 'today', next month AMD will be releasing their next level of more powerful graphics card which will probably fall in line with what you are building at that budget.



Antec 902 with Asus P6X58D-E MoBo: $270
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.514470

6 GB GSkill RAM with XFX be 750 PSU: $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.514413

i7-950 with Saphire 6870: $514
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.539709

Windows 7 :$100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

500 GB F3 Spinpoint HDD: $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

Sony Optiarc DVD : $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039
 
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Intel processors are generally more overclockable, faster, due to the fact that they do more Instructions Per Clock, AMD processors are still based on the geriatric AMD64 architecture. That's the facts. Some people just have preference. Also, AMD processors need more voltage than their intel counterparts, so consume more power generally. AMD can be good for budget builds and bang-for-buck computing, but for a budget like yours it'd be silly not to go for intel
 
In addition to the Western Digital WD1002FAEX hard drive I suggested I would take a look at this Solid State Drive. Use the Western Digital drive for extra storage space and load your Windows operating system on the OCZ Solid State Drive.

This solid state drive has read speeds in excess of 220 megabytes per second. Your start up times will be very fast.

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD3-2VTX120G 120 gigabyte Internal Solid State Drive - $238
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227590
 
Setup:

Tower: 200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225
Motherboard: 275
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3952373&SID=4d594vmwbr
Processor: 295
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=Core_i7_processor-_-19-115-211-_-Product
Ram: 120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3952373&SID=41bbposb1k
Graphics card: 240
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102909
HD1: 90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3952373&SID=ed57n831up
HD2: 235
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3952373&SID=ed57t6mhva
Power Supply: 110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
Monitor: 175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254045
CPU Cooler: 48
http://www.svc.com/u120e-rt-775.html

Total: 1800 before taxes
Comments?
 
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I am not that up to date with current products to suggest, however, I would recommend Intel as it generally seems better, and is overclockable. With that kind of budget I would suggest water cooling, you don't want to be frying any expensive hardware.
A few tid-bits about hardware.
If you're going to be installing the CPU yourself, perhaps get a knowledgable friend to help as if you screw up you could fry the CPU that you just paid 300ish dollars for. Don't forget to buy coolant paste to paste the CPU to the cooling fan.
Also, if you aren;t using water cooling, I suggest investing in a nice CPU cooling fan. I have had heat issues at times and it really is annoying, and it is something that you really want to consider - buying plenty of case fans and a powerful CPU fan. Also, for your learning, the PSU or power supply is what powers the system and all of its parts, and given parts (video cards, CPUs, etc.) have certain power requirements and when selecting a PSU you will want to make sure that it meets that. All of the PSU suggestions given in this thread do that, but just so that you know and understand why you are getting a 700 or 800 Watt PSU instead of a 300 Watt one like what is pre-equipped on older and/or cheaper computers.
Don't forget about a DVD writer, as people on this site seem to assume that you will automatically remember that, as they are hardcore and into the video cards and CPUs and power supplies etc. so much that a lousy dvd writer just gets forgotten. It is really cool to have more than one; if you're putting music onto your computer or itunes, it really speeds up the process and helps multi-tasking.
I also suggest with your budget getting more than one monitor, as most new video cards support dual-monitor, or if you have an HDTV you can also connect that. Also another important thing to know is how to install drivers. Once you install all of the hardware, you will need to install drivers. All of your hardware will have CDs with the drivers on them, however it is faster and easier to go to the official websites for the parts, which would be known by its brand-name, and download the latest drivers - sometimes under "support," but usually under downloads, and sometimes "driver downloads" to make life simple.
Also a great, cheap little addition would be to buy a can or two of compressed air to use after a while of owning your computer to clean the dust from it and the keyboard.
I also suggest buying a fancy keyboard and a top-of-the-line wireless mouse, of course.
 
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if you want to spend that much you can build like one of the top computers lol
check this out

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119234

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127219

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129159

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231323

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131641

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135205

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135201



this is a really good setup for about 2 grand and you wont be disappointed with this you will be able to run every game out and do all kinds of media stuff and basically anything a computer can do but really fast lol check it out
 
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You are in the process of creating a powerful beast for a desktop.

I would not buy anymore than 6 gigabytes of RAM. It is pointless in most cases. The software you will use will not likely even use more than 3 gigabytes of RAM. 6 gigabytes is 6,144 megabytes of memory. 6 gigabytes is a lot of RAM.

You also picked a server power supply. Pick a desktop power supply. Corsair makes excellent quality power supplies. I would go with a Corsair Power Supply.
 
Wow, thank you for the catch on the Power supply. I updated the link to a new one, though i am not happy with the new pick! Also, dropped my Ram down to 8 gigs from 12. Any links to a good power supply would be appreciated, ill just keep surfing and researching!
The case i picked seems big enough, lol, and has great cooling. Anyone confirm this for me?
 
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The parts list is looking better. The link for your motherboard is taking me to several motherboards. Which one are you looking at? I think you should look at the following motherboard:

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD5 Socket LGA 1366 ATX Motherboard - $278
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rue&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1#scrollFullInfo

You chose dual channel memory for a triple channel motherboard. I would get the following RAM:

G.SKILL 6 gigabytes (3 x 2 GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit RAM - $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=DDR3_1600_6GB_240-Pin-_-20-231-225-_-Product

A full size tower is awful big. Mid size towers are better in my opinion. I would look at this case:

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $111
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Do you also have a Windows installation disk? If you do not, be prepared to spend an additional $100 for a Windows 7 64-bit installation disk.
 
Alright, went with your motherboard selection, and the ram sticks. When i go round 2 on this project, ill get 6 gig more ram. I picked my case because it is so large tbh. Alot of room for me to work in, Make it easier when i lose my virginity :D
Also, any input on the Graphics card?
Yes i am prepared to buy the Windows 7 program. however, i dont know which to go with. Windows 7 pro?
 
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