All my system components will be here by Friday!

[figfiddle]

I want this post to serve a dual purpose. First, I want to list my components, where I purchased them, and prices. Second, I want to to tell everyone about my online shopping experiences.

Lets keep a few things in perspective before I get started. This is my first computer build. All of my previous computers have been built by computer houses like Dell. I have done some decent research but never enough obviously not to have someone in this forum criticize one or more of my component choices. I only want to receive constructive advice on how to build my rig. If you have something negative to say or want to bitch about whatever else please reserve it for one of the other posts that welcomes this kind of feedback. Ok lets get started.


Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS $86.00 (after rebate) ZipZoomFly.com
Gamer Limited Edition Retail

CoolerMaster PAC-T01-EK Praetorian $115.99 Newegg.com
Aluminium Mid Tower Case (Black) Retail

NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, $67.00 Newegg.com
Black, Model ND-3500A BK, OEM

Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM, Model SOHD-167T $29.00 Newegg.com
Black, RETAIL

NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy Drive, OEM $9.99 Newegg.com

OCZ PowerStream 520W Power Supply $139.00 Excaliberpc.com
OCZ520ADJ - 520W

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3160827AS $112.00 ZipZoomFly.com
160GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive
w/8MB Buffer

Asus A8N-SLI DELUXE Socket 939/nForce4/ $213.66 Ewiz.com
PCI-Express/RAID/2GBE/ATX Motherboard

Corsair VS1GBKIT400 1GB Kit DDR400 $144.50 Zipzoomfly
PC3200 CAS2.5 Value Select Memory Retail

AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 2.2 GHz, 512KB L2 $305.10 Monarchcomputer.com
Cache 64-bit Socket 939 Processor - Retail
Winchester core

Leadtek nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, $199.49 Newegg
128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI-Express,
Model "PX6600GT TDH" -RETAIL


Total $1421.73 (includes shipping and taxes)


Please note I already have from a previous rig a retail copy of Windows XP Pro and a Dell Ultrasharp 18.1" flat panel monitor.


Ok as far as my shopping experiences. Newegg, Zipzoomfly, Excaliberpc, Monarchcomputer, and Ewiz are all excellent with the whole online shopping experience. The best by far however I would have to say is Monarchcomputer.com. I ordered my cpu through them. I received the first email immediately acknowledging my order. I received the second email shortly thereafter acknowledging the successful charging of my credit card. The third email I received is the kicker. By 6pm I received my Fedex tracking number for 2nd day delivery. The kicker is I had free Fedex ground shipping and they upgraded me to 2nd day free of charge!

Ok and without getting into the grizzly details, the absolute worst online shopping experiences I have ever had are awarded to Tigerdirect.com and buy.com. Believe me, everything you read is true! If you notice none of my components were purchased through them even though a couple of attempts were made.

Now on to the good stuff. All of you experienced rig builders please list for me, in order, the steps I need to follow to build my rig. Be as detailed as possible as once again I have no prior experience other than upgrading my previous rigs. Please also note that I will not be OC'ing. Thanks in advance.

 

[figfiddle]

Bump

 

[nick1985]

please dont say you are planning on getting 2 6600GT's for SLI.

 

[AwesomeJay]

read this ... it'll get you started nicely

http://www.omnicast.net/~tmcfa...uides/build/index.html

 

[figfiddle]

Originally posted by: nick1985
please dont say you are planning on getting 2 6600GT's for SLI.

you are officially banned from my post. Go away naysayer.

 

[figfiddle]

Originally posted by: AwesomeJay
read this ... it'll get you started nicely

http://www.omnicast.net/~tmcfa...uides/build/index.html

Thanks. Nice info.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: figfiddle

Originally posted by: nick1985
please dont say you are planning on getting 2 6600GT's for SLI.

you are officially banned from my post. Go away naysayer.

Another user1234 in the making, I see.

 

[halfadder]

Awesome! Building a new machine is always fun. Being one of the first to try SLI is even better!

Tip: invite some friends, order a few pizzas, and break out the mountain dew and plastic cups! To we geeks, building a new PC (or even watching a friend) is better than watching a new movie!

 

[figfiddle]

Originally posted by: halfadder
Awesome! Building a new machine is always fun. Being one of the first to try SLI is even better!

Tip: invite some friends, order a few pizzas, and break out the mountain dew and plastic cups! To we geeks, building a new PC (or even watching a friend) is better than watching a new movie!

Interesting...I guess I never thought of it as a social event. Plus they would probably be oooing and aaahing your new components, right.

 

[Blain]

Nice list for, yet another average build. :shocked:

 

[halfadder]

My buddies and I always have a great time putting together and testing our PCs... no matter how large or small the configuration. If we start early enough in the day, we sometimes put together a small LAN party that evening to really break in the new machine.

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: figfiddle

Originally posted by: halfadder
Awesome! Building a new machine is always fun. Being one of the first to try SLI is even better!

Tip: invite some friends, order a few pizzas, and break out the mountain dew and plastic cups! To we geeks, building a new PC (or even watching a friend) is better than watching a new movie!

Interesting...I guess I never thought of it as a social event. Plus they would probably be oooing and aaahing your new components, right.

eh, use it as a social event? How about no.

How bout planning a LAN party to show off your new rig... I would much rather build my rigs by myself, maybe with my wife there, but others just get in the way, and ask to many damn questions.

 

[Regs]

I liked the fact that you knew Corsair value select 2.5 CAS offers the same performance for a lot less the cost compared to their XMS brand on an A64 set up. Then you go and post a 213 dollar SLI motherboard with one 6600GT which baffles me.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: figfiddle

Originally posted by: nick1985
please dont say you are planning on getting 2 6600GT's for SLI.

you are officially banned from my post. Go away naysayer.

are you upset that SLI 6600GT's are not your the money, and you should have gotten 1 6800GT?

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

You can read my site.
Basically it's like a diary of my build. Kinda long in the middle where I did a bunch of benchmarks and had to install the OS a few times, but you'll get an idea of what to expect.

Hey, maybe you should make a web site too since you like to detail everything.
Take pictures as you are building.
I could even host your site if needed.

http://www.nogodforme.com/MyBabyTera.htm

 

[mircea]

Well I am building my second rig. I still have to wait until last days of January or first of February until all the components get here. I'm in Romania ordering stuff off of Newegg that I ship to my uncle which sends them to my father whom then makes a big package of a lot of things togehter with my rig that get's sent with a ship over the Atlantic and then by truck over Europe. This way I have to wait 2 months from ordering to getting it. But it's worth since I get to save at least 20% on anything I buy.

Anyways My first build was 2 years ago, an XP system. I actually updated only the MOB, CPU and RAM. But that made it look like a full build since everything else was coming from my old comp (HDD, Video, Audio, CD-RW etc) but had to be reatached
Maybe taking appart the old comp helped most in making sure I don't scrue up on asambling the new one.
With the exception of instaling the Heatsink & fan on the CPU (and never forget the thermal paste) everything else is really easy to do. If people really knew how easy is to make your own PC , Dell and teh rest will die, and Newegg, Monarch and the rest would prosper, leading to some price drops.

Anyways always start by opening the case

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: mirceaIf people really knew how easy is to make your own PC , Dell and teh rest will die

Not going to happen, I'm afraid.

 

[TheBDB]

Originally posted by: halfadder
Awesome! Building a new machine is always fun. Being one of the first to try SLI is even better!

Tip: invite some friends, order a few pizzas, and break out the mountain dew and plastic cups! To we geeks, building a new PC (or even watching a friend) is better than watching a new movie!

:Q

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: Dopefiend

Originally posted by: mirceaIf people really knew how easy is to make your own PC , Dell and teh rest will die

Not going to happen, I'm afraid.

Some people don't even know how to use Email. It's the sad truth but the plus side it keeps thousands employeed. (Even though outsourcing gone crazy) But thats a whole other story!

There is a lot of pride that goes along with building your own working computer. It also becomes a nice necessity. Now knowing you can upgrade your own computer at your well without spending thousands on a completely new pre-built machine.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: TheBDB

Originally posted by: halfadder
Awesome! Building a new machine is always fun. Being one of the first to try SLI is even better!

Tip: invite some friends, order a few pizzas, and break out the mountain dew and plastic cups! To we geeks, building a new PC (or even watching a friend) is better than watching a new movie!

:Q

My thoughts exactly.
If that's the definition of geek, then I'm so far gone the other way...

 

[alexXx]

nogodforme as in from TW?

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: figfiddle

Originally posted by: nick1985
please dont say you are planning on getting 2 6600GT's for SLI.

you are officially banned from my post. Go away naysayer.

are you upset that SLI 6600GT's are not your the money, and you should have gotten 1 6800GT?

nick, first let me thank you for teaching me so much-- I think I've learned more from you than from anyone else on this website.

Looks like he's just getting one 6600GT, which seems like a solid choice! I mean, the graphics card is the one thing that's most likely to deserve a change in the next year or so. Originally, I think he was considering two 6600GTs, which I'd agree doesn't make sense at current price points. Still, he's spending only $200 on a graphics card and getting a very nice card, no? You seem to always help people find the best bang for the buck. Maybe he just wanted to save a little money!

For the record, I have almost this exact system, except that I have two of the same 7200.7 drive, an Enermax 600w PSU, different optical drive choice, and more expensive RAM (which if I'd gotten your expert opinion earlier on, I would've changed). I even have the same case. It's sitting assembled on the kitchen table, waiting for me to finish the wiring when I get home; last night I saw it POST just before I had to crash.

In my case, I bought the Leadtek 6600GT in error; I was really intending to get an AGP 6600GT for my girlfriend's machine, and start with a 6800GT for me. After the card came, though, I figured wtf, it's probably more than enough for me right now! Nine or twelve months from now, if I really feel like an upgrade, I can sell the card and get the latest mid-high-end card similar to the 6800GT, or I can pick up another 6600GT for seventy bucks. Either will make me happy. I understand that for gaming, the video card will be the bottleneck, but this machine is for more than gaming anyway.

 

[jterrell]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: figfiddle

Originally posted by: nick1985
please dont say you are planning on getting 2 6600GT's for SLI.

you are officially banned from my post. Go away naysayer.

are you upset that SLI 6600GT's are not your the money, and you should have gotten 1 6800GT?

Can he buy 1 6800gt for 200 bucks?
Stop thread crapping and unless youplan to offer him the extra 150 he needs to go 6800gt just stfu.

 

[oreoleo]

Did he make a good ram choice, I mean I am tempting to buy 2-2-2.5 memorey probebly from G-Skill or pqi.Also why did he get an SLI if he's not gonna dual card the thing now, I mean think about it in a year there is probebly going to be nforce 5 or whatever and you would want a whole new mobo, I think he would've been fine with just a nForce4 Ultra type mobo.
Just my 2c

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: jterrell

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: figfiddle

Originally posted by: nick1985
please dont say you are planning on getting 2 6600GT's for SLI.

you are officially banned from my post. Go away naysayer.

are you upset that SLI 6600GT's are not your the money, and you should have gotten 1 6800GT?

Can he buy 1 6800gt for 200 bucks?
Stop thread crapping and unless youplan to offer him the extra 150 he needs to go 6800gt just stfu.

no retard, he cannot.

but what he can do...

tone down his case to something in $100= $15 saved
Buy an antec true 480 = $50 saved
buy an athlon 64 3000 = $150 saved

by simply cutting back on a couple things, he could easily get a 6800GT. not only would he have a 6800GT, the cutbacks, especially on the PSU and Case, would not affect performance at all. And i think most would agree that 6800GT + 3000 > 6600GT + 3500.

there, i explained where he can EASILY get 200+ more bucks to make a better purchase, now why dont you take your own advice and "stfu".