new rigga - build advise

[sk8er]

Hi guys,
Just ordered my new rigga, need some advise on

1. what more would I need to build it except a philip, flat head screw driver and coffee filter (lint free cloth) for spreading the arctic sliver 5 paste??

2. And advise on what plastic device I would use to erode the thermal compund on the gigabyte fan?

3. Let me know if I could have done this cheaper

4. any issues people have faced with a pentium d. I know x2 are way better but I dont have that kind of dought to afford them :-(. Also I dont plan to overclock the processor y et.

Linkworld 3210-04-C2628 Black/Silver Metal ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
GIGABYTE GA-8I945P-G Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
JetWay X3SE-ED-256C Radeon X300SE 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Intel Pentium D 820 Smithfield 800MHz FSB LGA 775 Dual Core, EM64T Processor Model BX80551PG2800FN - Retail
kingston ddr 2 533 1 gb ram 1 stick
Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
GIGABYTE GH-ED521-MF 108mm Ball Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
ARCTIC SILVER 5 PREMIUM SILVER THERMAL COMPOUND 3.5 GRAM (RECOMMENDED FOR ALL OF PROCESSORS)


Build it for around 700 bucks (including s&h and tax) from mwave and newegg. Just wanted your t houghts if it would be considerably cheaper around thanksgiving ? maybe by 50 bucks or something.

 

[Fern]

Hi sk8er and Welcome to the Forums!

I cut a piece of plastic (like from a cpu box) and use a spatula to spread the as5. Some peeps use a abggy, put your finger inside and then spread.

I often use a magnifying glass (like for ready the really small print on the mobo to identify the correct header). Also a tweezers is helpful for connecting the little wires onto the mobo header.

Sometimes a little flashlight etc. (shadows inside the case).

To remove thermal compoun I use an old credit card as a scrapper if needed, but mostly just clean it off with Iso alchohol and cloth.

As far as your rig's components. I much prefer AMD and would build a system around one of their a64 CPU's.

Also I'm a gamer and that gfx card is way too weak for me

 

[Zebo]

... for around same price you build a much better system...all at mwave or newegg too...


Motherboard - ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX $ 65
Video - ATI All-In-wonder 9600 $100
Processor- AMD X2 3800 $325
Memory - Ballistix PC3200 2x512MB $120
HDD - Samsung Spinpoint 160GB $73
--------
$683

kingston ddr 2 533 1 gb ram 1 stick

And you need 2 sticks of ram for dual channel even is you decide to go intel.

 

[ayabe]

I use an exacto knife for AS, I can get a very thin even layer that way, but to each his own.

 

[carlosd]

What Zebo said. There is no reason to buy the crappy 820. Price is not an issue as Zebo demostrated.

 

[sk8er]

Originally posted by: Zebo
... for around same price you build a much better system...all at mwave or newegg too...


Motherboard - ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX $ 65
Video - ATI All-In-wonder 9600 $100
Processor- AMD X2 3800 $325
Memory - Ballistix PC3200 2x512MB $120
HDD - Samsung Spinpoint 160GB $73
--------
$683

kingston ddr 2 533 1 gb ram 1 stick

And you need 2 sticks of ram for dual channel even is you decide to go intel.

Yeah I know. But I like DDR2, for the future. Secondly, isnt x16 twice as fats as agp 8x. Also I think your system would be around 50-60 bucks more expensive atleast including s&h and tax. My number includes s&h and tax which is around 60 bucks. Anywayz, I am not a huge gamer at the moment . I could have upgraded to the x600 for 15 bucks more but cheaped out I know... Secondly, I heard rumors of having the TV tuner on the same card makes it run hotter etc etc .. Secondly I already have an ATI TV tuner which I rather use seperately then have everything on 1 card.

But nevertheless, your system is extremely good too. I though a pentium D with all the lastest features (expcept video card) would be around 550 but cost 150 more 9including s&h and tax).

 

[Zebo]

I just suggested the All-in-wonder because it's a great card if you want to play around with making and recording movies.. watching TV..listening to radio and it's about 3x faster than the card you picked for a future too.

Your motherboard is better. Gigabyte and intel chipset are both top notch.

The AMD chip is much faster.. You can see 3800 even beating the 840D in majority of benchmarks.

I suggest the Samsung Hard drive because they are quietest and have great 3 or 5 yr warranty (i forget which)

Ballistix ram - nothing better IMO. Most stable, most compatable and runs super low latency with low volts. At that price it's hard to buy value ram. But I understand wanting a future with DDR2.. even though no future exists really beyond about a year..year and a half due to DDR3 someday.


Anyway good luck - be sure and get two sticks of ram though. 2 x 512MB if you want a gig.

Another thing you may want to wait for a DELL deal.. they have smokin deals on 820D's with a LCD for what you're paying. Check gottadeal.com periodically as they pop up every other week.

 

[leigh6]

Glue stick.
Tweezers.
Magnifying glasses.
Flashlight.

 

[sk8er]

no zeba, i never meant to disagree. just my IMO.
Hey leighy why do we need the gluestick?

 

[Fern]

isnt x16 twice as fats as agp 8x

Only on "paper". The AGP 8x bus isn't fully utilized/satsurated(sp?) at this time. Although I'd definately suggest a PCIe mobo for you.

But hey, I just wanted to add zippy-ties to list of stuff you might want with you when doing the build. I find zippy-ties real handy for "cable mangement" purposes.

Good Luck with the build!

 

[sk8er]

hey guys, need some more advise .... apprantly the case sucked. Hence I am trying to find some screws which are supposed to insulated which keep the motherboard attached to the case. The ones which came with the case really suck and wont be able to hold anything there for longer. Any suggestions what thos screws are called and where I could buy some?

Thanks.

 

[sk8er]

basically can someone give me some good standoff pics. I am not sure how to use them ? Like my case has only come with 2 dome shaped plastc thingy and one screw shapped plastic thing and some screws. Just a stupid piece of b/w paper with instructions too...

 

[Fern]

Hey sk8er

Check this SITE for some pics. It's done by AT member mechBgon and has lots of photo's

Fern

 

[Markfw]

Don't forget to add $10 each month to your electric bill with that 820 ! and a $50 HSF if you mild OC, and even more AC in the summer,etc...

The 3800+ is cheaper in the long run, believe me, I bought one just to see all the advantages or disadvantages...

 

[sk8er]

hey,
I do know about that site and my standoffs look like the third KIND (except the lower part is plastic instead of metal) but I only have two of them and dont where to connect them in the case. Each standoff has a plastic portion which and metal screw poertion which goes on top. But I am not sure of which hole i tis supposed to go into. Secondly t here are 6 places where we are supposed to put the motherboard insulators so as the motherboard not shock itself. BUt these inuslators cover nothing but a small hole on a protruding thing (6 of them which align with the mobo). I think i might use some tape to cover the parts where the mobo touches the case.

 

[Hard Ball]

Originally posted by: sk8er
hey,
I do know about that site and my standoffs look like the third KIND (except the lower part is plastic instead of metal) but I only have two of them and dont where to connect them in the case. Each standoff has a plastic portion which and metal screw poertion which goes on top. But I am not sure of which hole i tis supposed to go into. Secondly t here are 6 places where we are supposed to put the motherboard insulators so as the motherboard not shock itself. BUt these inuslators cover nothing but a small hole on a protruding thing (6 of them which align with the mobo). I think i might use some tape to cover the parts where the mobo touches the case.

The most you have to worry about is accidentally flexing the mobo while installing RAM/Expansion cards, try to get everything aligned, otherwise the real risk of breaking some of the connections between layers of the mobo PCB exists. Try to find a mobo and case that fit well together, and you will be a lot less likely to have potential problems, such as shoring out the mobo on the back-plate or HSF touching one of those capacitors and such.

By the way, your system is going to be REALLY, REALLY slow on single-thread applications with the slow CPU and high latency DDR2 RAM; compared to most of the systems that are being sold out there; are you sure you want to do this?

 

[Markfw]

sk8er, not trying to troll, but see my thread on the 820 vs 3800 X2. You are really making a mistake. I just got another 3800 because I am so happy with my first one. Please listen to everyone on this one or you WILL be sorry. I am, but I can afford to be.

 

[sk8er]

well guys, I do appreciate all the concern, but the system was ordered back when I started this thread. So there is not much I can do about it.... HOwever, I just put everything together and it did not start; I have double checked the connections, the power supply fan wont even start... so that addresses MArks concern to some extent. I am googling for the reply and would like to see you guys throw some pointers too.

 

[sk8er]

LOL, I am such a dumbass. In my excitment and tireness of putting the damn thing together, I forgot that you have to hit the power button on the case to start the computer. And I did.... and it started... Well now next steps include, setting the computer to dual core and SATA 2 in the bios. Anything else I should be looking at.

 

[sk8er]

also, i installed the gigabyte cd sw like a control center (called easy tune 5) and the computer temp (normal load) is running 32 C / 89 F. I didnt even use the Artic Silver paster because they didnt ship it. I guess it is the gigabyte fan. WIll run some more tests and keep you guys posted.

 

[sk8er]

anyone out there with this comment