My first PC build!

[WangoZ]

I'm hoping to pick up a few pointers for my first PC build! The knowledge here is awesome so hopefully I can pick up a few tips that will save me time, stress and complete a decent build...

What do YOU do when building a PC that has helped with all of the above?? Any tips are welcome...

Stuff I'm building with:

AMD Athlon 64 3200
MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R
OCZ PC-3200 DDR400 EL Dual Channel 2x512MB
Kingwin 450W 4 FAN psu
ATI 9800 Pro
DVD Drive
CDRW drive
floppy

Just some basics...But it's the physical build part I hope to get some pointers on....Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[nick1985]

seems to me you are way overpaying on RAM. a gig of regular $120 mushkin/corsiar/kingston value of RAM is just as fast as that expensive RAM you have. witht the saved cash you could get at least an x800XL or a 6800NU.



**EDIT**

i didnt see thats what you already had...

 

[mwmorph]

for your first build, use the stock thermal paste. nothing fancy like as5(capactive) or ceramique(hard to remove). also, unless you got the 9800pro fro something like $130, yuo might as well have bought a 6600gt. faster and at about the same price point(new). in this day and age, just buy 1 dvd+rw dl drive. not 1 dvd and 1 cdrw drive. will probably be cheaper too.

 

[ribbon13]

What components of those do you already have?

 

[WangoZ]

Already have this stuff...

AMD Athlon 64 3200
MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R
OCZ PC-3200 DDR400 EL Dual Channel 2x512MB
Kingwin 450W 4 FAN psu
DVD Drive
CDRW drive
floppy

The memory, should I trade "down" for lesser?? I haven't bought a video card yet and the xtra $$$ would help that's for sure!
I AM working with a tight budget, my wife doesn't quite get why I would spend what I have so far on a computer. !!!

Thanks for the responses so far, I should have come here before I bought what I bought!

 

[mwmorph]

it would be a good idea to trade up for a better video card and down fro worse memory. the memory matrixstickied at the top of cpu/processors forum shows that with a amd64, moving down to crap pc2100ram(from pc3200) dosent even affect performance as much as moving down to a 9800pro from a 6600gt in gaming. just get some pc3200 value ram and with the extra saved, buy the best video card you can afford.around 200: 6600gt around 300:x800xl(pcie) 6800nu agp around 400: 6800gt

 

[Rike]

mechBgon has an excellent guide for first time builders. It focuses on the process, walking you through the steps of building, and is a big help in avoiding n00b mistakes as you put your parts together. Link Highly recommended by many here.

 

[MisterChief]

I remember they days of the Timex/Sinclair 1000 and the Z80 processor. Good times, good times.

 

[gwarbot]

When you put the computer together.................. Dont' mess up.....l

 

[WangoZ]

Good stuff so far...Now I'll have tp post my memory for sale...buy new memory and get a vid card!

One more question, I have a 40 GB hard drive, 7200 rpms that works great and has all my "stuff" on it, what's the theory on using an older harddrive on a new build?

Also, I already bought the artic silver 5 ...bad thing? ($4.99 shipped, good deal!)

 

[Reckoner]

Do you generally download/install a lot of stuff? You may want to check out Newegg for some deals on a 7200rpm Western Digital HD in the 80-120 gig range. This'll get you a little more flexibility.


EDIT: Here's some pretty decent deals on hard drives if you don't mind waiting for the rebate check, (Link from Hot Deals: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...tid=40&threadid=1527950&enterthread=y)

 

[ribbon13]

So you need a case? The poster child for cheap & quiet
I'd also pick up an Evercool 120mm

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: WangoZ
Good stuff so far...Now I'll have tp post my memory for sale...buy new memory and get a vid card!

One more question, I have a 40 GB hard drive, 7200 rpms that works great and has all my "stuff" on it, what's the theory on using an older harddrive on a new build?

Also, I already bought the artic silver 5 ...bad thing? ($4.99 shipped, good deal!)

as5. hard to remove for newbies(with the superpi, and the twisting and the speed removal). also, capacitive so if it touches a the contacts, will fry your board/chip.

no problems using a old hdd.

 

[Rike]

Something to keep in mind with your old hard drive is that it really should be wiped for a new build. All of the stuff you have on that 40 GB drive should be backed-up on something else while still installed in your current system. When you boot your new build for the first time, boot with the XP disk and tell it to reformat your old drive. Once you?ve installed all your drivers and programs, you can dump all your stuff back on.

If you do decide to get a new HDD, Seagates are fast and quiet with a 5 year warranty.

 

[WangoZ]

Thanks for the info Rike, problem is that I have removed the hard drive from my old system...Heck, removed everything!

 

[Rike]

If you want the data on that drive, you have two basic ways to go about it.

1. Buy a new HDD for the new system. Then when you have your new system all set up with the new drive (OS and drivers), plug in your old drive and dump your data only, no programs and certainly no system files, on to the new drive. Then format the old drive and use it for data storage.

Warning: If you do it this way, be very careful that the system boots with new drive at not the old one.

2. Plug your old drive into a friend's system and dump your data on to CDs or DVDs. The same warning as above applies.