ChopStick

Okay, so with your help, I have put together something to start with. I put it over in my thread to clutter this one up less:
http://www.tacticalgamer.com/hardwar...new-puter.html
Please if you have the time look over it and help a newbie!

jaymind

For a case, don't be afraid to spend some bucks here. While there are quality cases that are relatively cheap, you are not going to find a great case for under $30 bucks sitting in some mom-and-pop shop. I personally will always spend the money on a quality Antec or Lian-Li. My Lian-Li I have now is almost the perfect case - cools great, quiet, plenty of space... One of the best computer purchases I've had.

For a psu, go here Jonny Guru and read it like it's the bible. Take his recommendations to heart. I've seen more problems with bda psu's than I can mention. And don't forget, it ain't the wattage you are looking for mostly - it's the amps on the 12v lines that really matter for driving today's video cards.

As for a motherboard, research is your best friend here. There are a ton of choices and most are very, very similar. Set yourself a price point, figure out what features you want and what features you need, then go do some research within those parameters. I spend $135 on my gigabyte 965 DS3 motherboard when I could have easily blown another $50-100 on features I wouldn't use. Most people worry to much about chipsets, etc but almost any major brand, regardless of chipset, performs very similar.

Pay extra attention to bios options though if you are an overclocker, because that can make or break a purchase.

For a video card - don't let yourself get locked to 1 vendor. Buy the best you can for the money you have budgeted towards it. Make sure you look at warranty - is it lifetime? 3 year? 1 year? How long are you going to keep the card? If it's greater than 1 year, spend more money and get the fastest card possible or in a year your going to be hurting.

As for Ram, check what is compatible for you motherboard. Buy name brand always! It will cost you more, but you will have less headaches. If you are an overclocker but high speed, but if you don't overclock save that money and buy only what you need speed-wise.

Use the usual review sites: Hardocp, Anandtech, Beyond3D, extremetech, jonny Guru. If you haven't ever visited beyond3D I suggest everyone taking a peak there - there are more 3D knowledgable people there than there are scattered about the other usual sites combined.

Also, froogle is your friend. On my last build I saved over $400 by using froogle than going with just newegg or mwave or pricewatch.

loyalguard

One of the things I found most difficult was trying to figure out where to begin with hardware selection. There are so many choices and so many subtle differences it is hard to know where to even start.

A definite help was to first visit the sites of some of the custom PC builders to see what they were using in their various systems as a baseline. I used Velocity Micro and Maingear (two of the top-rated integrators) as guides when selecting hardware for my PC.

You can "build" your hardware selection on their sites, which often lists upgrades/downgrades in drop down menus and list boxes so it is easier to see which components are higher/lower end. This will also help to ensure compatibility of components to make sure you don't put an Intel CPU in an AMD board or SLI-ready components in a non-SLI ready board, etc. Then once you have a general idea of what you want, save/copy/print the hardware list and start checking out reviews of the individual components to see what are the best choices for you. Then order the parts via Newegg or other vendor of your choosing.

The only hardware this will generally not work with is cases and PSU's which are usually custom to the PC manufacturer and not brand name but should help with most other major components.

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|TG| LoyalGuard

Jeepo_SAS

Here is a conundrum for you guys....i have a new Asus p5N-E SLi MOBO, 4 gb geil ram, and a new 8800. All sounds good.... I built her tonight finally, but thing is, she only boots up to the screen where u push DEL to enter setup, or TAB to enter BIOS....but i cant do that, nothing, i mean mouse, keyboard, is working, and i have checked all connections etc i could think of, almost REBUILT her! Any help appreciated!

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|TG-22nd|Jeepo

The Triple R's

|TG-X| d1sp0sabl3 - "This is why I shoot Zombies, they never complain about teamstacking, and they're smarter than half the people on the server....."

micr0c0sm

WOW! No! Bad Advice about the PSU!
Yes, don't skimp on the PSU. Yes, go with a name brand. But you DO NOT need to go with an SLI certified PSU, and you DO NOT need at least 650 watts. What you do want is a high effeciency psu. Find something that is 85% effecient or more and you can go dual 8800GTX with raid0 raptors and the latest power sucker cpu with a 450W PSU. You will be saving yourself money and helping the environment.

The best thing to do is get the peak wattages used by each component (easy to google most of them), add them up, then give yourself about 20% more room in case you upgrade. If you are going 1xHD and 1xDVD/BR/HDDVD you save some good power there.

Check [H]ard|OCP and Anandtech for solid reviews on any hardware.
Tom's Hardware slid downhill about 4 years ago (there were a few articled IIRC that were basically paidvertisements).

micr0c0sm

Have you tried a livecd to test things?

Did you make sure your mobo pins are set correctly (check the manual for the mobo and possibly check you hd master/slave connections). Try different cables too.

Wimpinator

Does it pass POST? You may want to start another thread in this forum to keep this one on topic.

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|TG-6th|Wimpinator

Jeepo_SAS

tried different cables and nothng,checked connections,nothing, turns out my DVD drives not working either, no power when i press button, yet everything connected!PSU is 630 watts,plenty of juice!:s

When i restart her, sometimes she beeps and the monitor works, sometimes she dont, its not the graphics card i dont think, couldnt cause all those probs, so has to be mobo?

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|TG-22nd|Jeepo

The Triple R's

|TG-X| d1sp0sabl3 - "This is why I shoot Zombies, they never complain about teamstacking, and they're smarter than half the people on the server....."

Anospa

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd give you guys another place to look for info and such on building PCs: www.diy-street.com

Great community and very knowledgeable people in that crowd. If you have a question you want answered, they can probably help, if they don't know, they'll more than likely find the answer. A good 50% of what I know today about PCs has stemmed from that community and the shared knowledge.

"-Choose a modular power supply that lets you connect only the power cables you need for better cable management. The largest and most number of cables in your PC will come from the power supply. Depending on the hardware you choose you may use alot or very few of these. Modular PSU's allow you only plug in the ones you need to save on space. I do not have one and can tell you the hardest part of managing my cables is dealing with the ones that are not connected to anything."

I do have to disagree on this part. Modular's PSUs (the majority of them), are not as reliable and such as a regular PSU. Their connections degrade the power flowing through the wires. Read an interview with the president of PC power cooling (big PSU manufacturer) and this was something he stressed on. Extra wires may seem like a pain, but bundle them all up in an unused drive bay or run them along the edges of the case if you can.

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