Need help with building budgeted gaming desktop (amateur)

[TidusZ]

Only the resolution affects the videocard output, 20" and 22" have the same max resolution so it wouldn't make a difference. I have an 8800gt which is the same as 9800gt, and all games run great at 1920x1200 on my 24" monitor except for crysis. You don't really need to worry about performance with the 9800gt for a little while.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Kenny536
Wait so the monitor size actually affects the video card output depending on the game? Are you sure? I was really looking forward to a 22". I think I will just settle for a 20" if that is the case.

The physical size of the display doesn't matter directly. What matters is the screen resolution. It's simple math - the graphics card has to calculate the color of every single pixel on the screen. The more pixels there are, the more work there is for the graphics card to get done.

Increasing graphics detail has the same effect for a different reason. It makes the graphics card work harder, but not because there are more pixels. Instead, there are more things to calculate for each pixel.

At any rate, 20" and 22" displays put the exact same strain on a graphics card because they have the same resolution - both are 1680x1050. You won't increase performance by stepping down to 20".

 

[Kenny536]

Alright ? I?m done ordering everything (except the speakers). Let me know how I did!
Here is the final order:
CPU: e8400 WolfDale

Motherboard: GIGABYTE UD3R

Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 4830 (I decided to change this from the 9800 GT ? some people say they are the same, some say the 4830 is slightly better, so I went with the 4830).

RAM: G.Skill 4GB(2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066

Power Supply: OCZ StealthStream 600W

Monitor: SAMSUNG 2233bw High Glossy Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 GB

DVD: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

Case: Antec 900 (great case, the blue looks sweet!)

Keyboard: Saitek Black USB Wired Standard Eclipse (this has illuminated blue keys ? matches the case!).

Mouse: Logitech MX518 ? I already had this.

OS: Vista 64-bit - I got this for free from a student organization that I am in.

The total for all this (minus the last two which I already had) turned out to be 830$ after all promo codes, discounts, and rebates.

Did I spend my money well? What do you guys think?

Thanks to everyone who has helped me ? I?ve learned a lot! Now it?s time to build lol ? this will not be fun.


Am I missing anything else? I don?t need a cooler unless I decide to overclock ? right?
The only other thing I need that I can think of are speakers. Is there anything you guys recommend that isn?t too expensive? Here are the two that I was looking at:
Logitech X-240 25 Watts 2.1 Speaker ? Retail
40.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16836121010

or

LOGISYS Computer SP6000-BK 32Watts 2.1 SOHO MULTIMEDIA SPEAKER SYSTEM
23.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16836157002


I don?t know which one I should get. The Logitech one is great because it?s Logitech? plus the black speakers will match my case? but its 40.99 ? on the other hand the other one has great reviews and is supposed to great for gaming but it?s some weird company called LOGISYS.. and the speakers look nice but they are more silver than black and they won?t match my case at all? but they?re only 23.99.

The crappy part is that either speaker will cost me an extra 15$ for shipping ? all the stuff I?ve bought so far conveniently had free shipping. Not sure what to do ? any other alternatives? Or maybe I should just stick with the monitor speakers? And then maybe just use a headset from the monitor speakers when I game? Or is that not a good idea?

Thanks!

 

[Kenny536]

Alright ? I?m done ordering everything (except the speakers). Let me know how I did!
Here is the final order:
CPU: e8400 WolfDale

Motherboard: GIGABYTE UD3R

Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 4830 (I decided to change this from the 9800 GT ? some people say they are the same, some say the 4830 is slightly better, so I went with the 4830).

RAM: G.Skill 4GB(2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066

Power Supply: OCZ StealthStream 600W

Monitor: SAMSUNG 2233bw High Glossy Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 GB

DVD: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

Case: Antec 900 (great case, the blue looks sweet!)

Keyboard: Saitek Black USB Wired Standard Eclipse (this has illuminated blue keys ? matches the case!).

Mouse: Logitech MX518 ? I already had this.

OS: Vista 64-bit - I got this for free from a student organization that I am in.

The total for all this (minus the last two which I already had) turned out to be 830$ after all promo codes, discounts, and rebates.

Did I spend my money well? What do you guys think?

Thanks to everyone who has helped me ? I?ve learned a lot! Now it?s time to build lol ? this will not be fun.


Am I missing anything else? I don?t need a cooler unless I decide to overclock ? right?
The only other thing I need that I can think of are speakers. Is there anything you guys recommend that isn?t too expensive? Here are the two that I was looking at:
Logitech X-240 25 Watts 2.1 Speaker ? Retail
40.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16836121010

or

LOGISYS Computer SP6000-BK 32Watts 2.1 SOHO MULTIMEDIA SPEAKER SYSTEM
23.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16836157002


I don?t know which one I should get. The Logitech one is great because it?s Logitech? plus the black speakers will match my case? but its 40.99 ? on the other hand the other one has great reviews and is supposed to great for gaming but it?s some weird company called LOGISYS.. and the speakers look nice but they are more silver than black and they won?t match my case at all? but they?re only 23.99.

The crappy part is that either speaker will cost me an extra 15$ for shipping ? all the stuff I?ve bought so far conveniently had free shipping. Not sure what to do ? any other alternatives? Or maybe I should just stick with the monitor speakers? And then maybe just use a headset from the monitor speakers when I game? Or is that not a good idea?

Thanks!

 

[Kenny536]

Wow I am really mad right now - I spent like 12 hours reading so many websites and manuals and stuff and I think I finally figured out where everything goes.. so I plug the power supply cord in to the wall and flip the switch and try to turn on the computer and what happens? nothing..


I think the PSU is defective or something... sometimes when I'm flipping the switch and I lean in real close I hear a slight hissing sound, not sure if its the PSU or the motherboard, but I'm guessing the PSU.

I dont know if its just because I am new at this.. but I really think I plugged in everything where it belongs.. this really sucks

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Kenny536
Wow I am really mad right now - I spent like 12 hours reading so many websites and manuals and stuff and I think I finally figured out where everything goes.. so I plug the power supply cord in to the wall and flip the switch and try to turn on the computer and what happens? nothing..


I think the PSU is defective or something... sometimes when I'm flipping the switch and I lean in real close I hear a slight hissing sound, not sure if its the PSU or the motherboard, but I'm guessing the PSU.

I dont know if its just because I am new at this.. but I really think I plugged in everything where it belongs.. this really sucks

Well you should do an explanation of the problems so we can help you out.

 

[Kenny536]

I'm not sure what is there to explain -

The hissing sound only occurs when I have the system plugged in, it is flipped on, and I am holding the power button on the case.

There are no extra standoffs. I tested the system individually with each stick of RAM.

I think I'm going to go insane!! I really hope I am missing something and it's not that there's something defective.. but I just don't know what I am missing..

 

[DSF]

I take it you didn't test everything on the motherboard outside the case first? That's a good habit to get into.

First, go to bed if you haven't already. The computer will still be there tomorrow. You're not going to fix it properly when you're tired and frustrated.

Woke up, read the paper, enjoyed the smell of Christmas Eve and had your coffee? Good. Take the motherboard out of the case and rest it on a nonconductive surface like the cardboard box it came in. If that means disconnecting some of the wires to make the transfer easier, then do so.

Reconnect anything that needs to be reconnected and double check ALL the connections. The only things you need right now are motherboard, CPU, heatsink, one stick of RAM, the power switch and the PSU. Make sure the CPU fan is connected! Leave drives and such disconnected. Try turning it on. If there's still no go you've narrowed it down to one of the components that's sitting on that cardboard box, or the PSU.

If nothing else you could always try shorting the power pins on the motherboard with the head of a flat screwdriver just to make sure that the case power switch isn't defective. I doubt that's the problem.

If none of that helps you're down to the point of swapping out components to find the defective one. First I'd try each of your RAM modules independently in each slot of the motherboard just because that doesn't require running out for a new part. After that I'd go for the PSU and then motherboard. Dead CPUs are possible, but less common than dead motherboards, RAM or power supplies.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Don't have much to add to DSF's comments, except that you can also test your PSU by shorting a couple wires on the ATX connector. There are videos available if you Google. At least that way you could tell if your PSU is completely dead.

 

[Kenny536]

I think I may have found the problem - as I was taking everything out of my case - when I unplugged the MAIN power supply wire that goes from my PSU to my mobo (the 20+4) wire... the 4 wire was fine .. and so was 19 out of the 20 holes on the wire of my PSU - but one hole was empty ... do you think this is the reason for the lack of power??

The missing pin is #10 (+12V) ... that sounds important.

EDIT : Nvm, I wasn't looking at the pin alignment close enough and I had it backwards, the missing pin is #17 - which is GND - so that should not matter right?

 

[Kenny536]

Help!

I made some progress.

Here is what I did.

I followed this guide exactly - http://www.pcmech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132409

and it didn't work - then I decided to follow the guide exactly AND plug the power switch from my case onto the MOBO - this lit up the mobo, i heard the fans spinning and everything was great! it stayed on for about 5 seconds, shut off, and then did it all over again a few seconds later.. it was a cycle. I'm not sure what this means but I think I have made some progress - what should I do from here?

 

[Kenny536]

I think the problem is something related with the CPU. I unplugged the PSU cables (CPU1 and CPU2) so that there is no power to the CPU and I also unplugged the CPU fan. I then turned on the computer and now the power stays on. I left it on for about 30 seconds on two separate occasions without any interruption in power. I did not leave it on for more than 30 seconds because I'm not sure if it is safe to do so without having power to the CPU and the CPU fan not being on. Is that safe? Does this mean that the problem is CPU-related?

Here is what the situation is:

I have the everything out of the case.. the mobo is on top of the box it came in .. I have the PSU connected to the mobo, I have the case power switch and the other front panel cords connected to the mobo, one of the case fans connected to the PSU.. the CPU is on the mobo with the heatsink installed. I also have one stick of RAM in there.

That's it.

 

[Kenny536]

It still may be power supply because every time the power turns off the PSU still makes that hissing sound.. i have the PSU separated from the mobo now so I know for sure that hissing sound is the PSU. Maybe it just does not have enough power to stay on? Although I'm unsure why it stays on continuously when I unplug the CPU power. Maybe because it is defective it does not have enough juice to continually power the CPU and mobo? This would explain why I had absolutely no power when I had everything connected like the hard drive and the DVD drive. The PSU couldn't handle it all. So maybe it is the PSU. I already ordered a new, different PSU from NewEgg (Corsair), they gave me free next day shipping so it is scheduled to be here Friday, but may probably get here on Monday because of the holidays. They are going to refund me on this OCZ.

But if it's not the PSU then what? I tell NewEgg that the mobo may be defected as well? If that doesn't fix it I call NewEgg again and say the CPU is defective?

 

[jae]

sounds like defective psu or motherboard.. did u try to power the mobo with just cpu (no ram, video card, etc) did it beep?

 

[Blain]

> Time for a PS tester <

 

[Kenny536]

Yes - I tried taking the RAM out .. same result. There is no video card or anything on there anymore.. its just the PSU, Mobo, CPU, and RAM.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Kenny536
Yes - I tried taking the RAM out .. same result. There is no video card or anything on there anymore.. its just the PSU, Mobo, CPU, and RAM.

You'll need to have the videocard plugged in to POST. It won't POST without some type of video output.

 

[jae]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: Kenny536
Yes - I tried taking the RAM out .. same result. There is no video card or anything on there anymore.. its just the PSU, Mobo, CPU, and RAM.

You'll need to have the videocard plugged in to POST. It won't POST without some type of video output.

but if he took the ram out he sould have gotten some beeps. He needs to state if he got the error beeps or not when he did that.

 

[Kenny536]

Well the antec 900 does not have a speaker cable to plug into the motherboard, and the motherboard does not come with one either...so I cant hear the beeps anyway.

 

[Kenny536]

Yeah - so it was the motherboard that was defected.

The new PSU came from newegg this afternoon - same result.

I drove to tigerdirect and bought a new motherboard, and now it's staying on! I'm glad that's over... hopefully I don't run into anymore problems. Thanks for your help.

I do have one more question though - the motherboard I bought from tiger direct was this one: Asus P5Q Green Motherboard - Intel P45, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, S/PDIF, Gigabit LAN, Firewire, USB 2.0, SATA, RAID

for 129.99 + 12$ tax... the P5Q-E was not in stock.

So my question is - is this motherboard fine? Because if it is not - what I could do is just use this one and tell Newegg to refund my defected motherboard and buy a new one from newegg and after it arrives in 2-3 days, I'll return this one to TigerDirect. Should I do that or this mobo fine? Here is the link to it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...pNo=3940037&CatId=3790

Thanks.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Kenny536
Yeah - so it was the motherboard that was defected.

The new PSU came from newegg this afternoon - same result.

I drove to tigerdirect and bought a new motherboard, and now it's staying on! I'm glad that's over... hopefully I don't run into anymore problems. Thanks for your help.

I do have one more question though - the motherboard I bought from tiger direct was this one: Asus P5Q Green Motherboard - Intel P45, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, S/PDIF, Gigabit LAN, Firewire, USB 2.0, SATA, RAID

for 129.99 + 12$ tax... the P5Q-E was not in stock.

So my question is - is this motherboard fine? Because if it is not - what I could do is just use this one and tell Newegg to refund my defected motherboard and buy a new one from newegg and after it arrives in 2-3 days, I'll return this one to TigerDirect. Should I do that or this mobo fine? Here is the link to it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...pNo=3940037&CatId=3790

Thanks.

The mobo is fine. If you already have it then just keep.

 

[Kenny536]

I have another problem.

I hooked everything up and the computer runs fine - but the first thing I do is run BIOS right? I cannot get to it.

According to my mobo manual - I just power it up and hold DEL.

I don't know why I can't get to it, it can be for one of three reasons:

1. The USB function is not working on the motherboard - the keyboard I bought is an illuminated one, so it turns blue when it is powered, but when I plug it into the USB, it doesn't turn blue - when I plug it into my laptop, it works perfectly fine. However, on my new build, if I plug in the USB halfway, at just the right amount, then it will illuminate.

2. Am I setting up the monitor wrong? From what I understand, I do not plug in the analog cord right? Only the digital? The monitor seems fine, the light is on and on the top left corner it keeps saying "Digital" and then "Analog" and keeps cycling through like that.

I don't know if the problem is that I cannot access BIOS because of my keyboard.. OR that I actually AM entering BIOS but I cannot see it because I am doing something wrong with my monitor.

I have no idea how I access BIOS.. i tried holding down DEL but it did not work. I tried using a PS2 keyboard also (although I think it is broken because none of the lights turn on).

 

[Kenny536]

It clearly says in my Mobo manual.. hold down DEL key to access BIOS... but the thing is that the keyboard is not working.. at least I don't think it is.

As I said before, it will only light up if the USB cord is halfway in the USB Port.. but I don't believe that means it is working... I just went to wal-mart and bought a PS/2 keyboard.. I plugged that in and the keyboard still didnt light up.. however.. the PS/2 Keyboard lights (numlock, scrollock, etc.) stay on for a split second when I have the PS/2 plug HALF way in there.. just like the USB.. so whatever is wrong with the USB ports is also what is wrong with the PS/2 ports.

But I don't know if the USB/PS/2 ports are the problem... someone on another forum said "When your computer posts correctly, you will see text on your screen. It will tell you when to hold down the del key. "

 

[jae]

Try clearing the CMOS.

 

[Kenny536]

I tried that as well.