building my first pc...

  • Thread starter Thread starter nukem911
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nukem911

Well, in the beginning i thought it was a good idea, and i still do.
but right now im in a difficult stage where there is 1 piece of
hardware (mobo) and i have absolutely no knowledge of this piece at
all. So far, i have my case, powersupply, cd-rom, harddrive, and a
video card. To my best knowledge all i need now is my motherboard, CPU
and RAM. So the next piece i want to get it my motherboard, because i
have no idea what kind of cpu's and ram is compatible with what. i
already took a risk by buying the video card first. the internet is so
cluttered these days with junk/ads i cant tell whats what. im totally
stuck on what i should do. any help/advice would be greatly
appreciated.

thanks
 
thanks but this doesnt help much. i still dont have a good
understanding about what im looking at/for. i understand what a
motherboard bundle is, but im not sure what im looking for =\ i
need something that will superb for gaming. preferbley with 512mb of
ram. my budget is unlimited so if someone could just link me to a
kick-ass bundle or just 3 components that would be compatible. that
would be good. :D
 
Well, in the beginning i thought it was a good idea, and i still do.
but right now im in a difficult stage where there is 1 piece of
hardware (mobo) and i have absolutely no knowledge of this piece at
all. So far, i have my case, powersupply,
Click to expand...

What power supply (or case)? Maker and model please.
cd-rom, harddrive, and a video card. To my best knowledge all i
need now is my motherboard, CPU and RAM.
Click to expand...

Those three should be coordinated. You're doing great IMO, with the
possible exception of having bought the power supply first. But any
modern power supply should run either Intel or AMD stuff.
So the next piece i want to get it my motherboard, because i
have no idea what kind of cpu's and ram is compatible with what.
Click to expand...

Tell us about your motherboard [kidding/playing].

What do you want to do with your system and what are you willing to
pay for it?
i already took a risk by buying the video card first.
Click to expand...

I think that's a very small risk. Probably at least a 95% chance your
video card is compatible with any mainboard you buy.
the internet is so cluttered these days with junk/ads i cant tell
whats what. im totally stuck on what i should do. any help/advice
would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

This is it.
 
Jarek said:
thanks but this doesnt help much. i still dont have a good
understanding about what im looking at/for. i understand what a
motherboard bundle is, but im not sure what im looking for =\ i
need something that will superb for gaming. preferbley with 512mb of
ram. my budget is unlimited so if someone could just link me to a
kick-ass bundle or just 3 components that would be compatible. that
would be good. :D
Click to expand...

Since you're into gaming, if you have not already, you might want to ask
also over at alt.comp.periphs.video.ati. Seems to be a lot gamers over
there and could probably make some recommendations on main board.

Bryan
 
power supply/case:

Raidmax ATX12v - 420w

i plan on doing alot of gaming, and i dont want to be slowed down at
all. i can pay pretty much any amount. thus not buying the absolute
best just because it is. i mean, i dont want something totally
overkill, i just need something very good and reliable.
 
Jarek said:
power supply/case:
Raidmax ATX12v - 420w
Click to expand...

Below, I assume your case can handle a full-size ATX mainboard.
i plan on doing alot of gaming, and i dont want to be slowed down
at all. i can pay pretty much any amount. thus not buying the
absolute best just because it is. i mean, i dont want something
totally overkill, i just need something very good and reliable.
Click to expand...

http://tinyurl.com/3sdvj

That is a full-size ATX mainboard. It is big and upgradable.

The dark color stinks IMO because you probably won't be able to see
any detail without a 500W floodlight, but oh well.

I am impressed with the Integrated Hardware Sound Blaster, as opposed
to software emulation sound. I use speech recognition and it works
just fine with the built-in hardware audio and an inexpensive headset
microphone. Voice through the microphone sounds great.

Apparently there is something wrong with the integrated LAN drivers.
The problem is a minor one except that it causes difficulty posting
to Usenet. The solution must be software but I don't know. So I am
using an inexpensive LAN card.

I spent much time shopping for that. I do gaming but mainly I wanted
upgradability. I bought about the same thing but without a chipset
fan. It is much cheaper and I use a mainboard fan which covers the
chipset.

http://tinyurl.com/6o8ae

Much lower price and a lighter color, me like.

Many months ago, I bought a 2GHz CPU for $80, it is $92 now. You can
pick a CPU from this page.

http://tinyurl.com/7xc74

This might be a good value.

http://tinyurl.com/3uxk9

If you want cheaper, let me know.

This is faster.

http://tinyurl.com/6prw4

Please do not mess with OEM CPUs. Get a retail boxed CPU with the
included manufacturer approved fan and heat sink.

You can pick memory from this page.

http://tinyurl.com/44aby

This is a good deal, two of them.

http://tinyurl.com/6z9f6

If you want to be able to have a ton (3GB) of RAM later, get one of
these instead.

http://tinyurl.com/3mnth

Beware that "1GB kit" means two 512MB modules, not 1GB modules.

Have fun.
 
Well, in the beginning i thought it was a good idea, and i still do.
but right now im in a difficult stage where there is 1 piece of
hardware (mobo) and i have absolutely no knowledge of this piece at
all. So far, i have my case, powersupply, cd-rom, harddrive, and a
video card. To my best knowledge all i need now is my motherboard, CPU
and RAM. So the next piece i want to get it my motherboard, because i
have no idea what kind of cpu's and ram is compatible with what. i
already took a risk by buying the video card first. the internet is so
cluttered these days with junk/ads i cant tell whats what. im totally
stuck on what i should do. any help/advice would be greatly
appreciated.
Click to expand...

You really should have thought out the whole thing before diving in. I knew
what every component was going to be on my first build before I bought a
single one.

What CPU do you want to run? Pentium 4? Athlon XP? Athlon 64? What's your
budget? Is your video card AGP or PCI-e? Who made your case? Did it come
with a power supply? Who made your power supply? How many watts is it rated
for?
 
Well, in the beginning i thought it was a good idea, and i still do.
but right now im in a difficult stage where there is 1 piece of
hardware (mobo) and i have absolutely no knowledge of this piece at
all. So far, i have my case, powersupply, cd-rom, harddrive, and a
video card. To my best knowledge all i need now is my motherboard, CPU
and RAM. So the next piece i want to get it my motherboard, because i
have no idea what kind of cpu's and ram is compatible with what. i
already took a risk by buying the video card first. the internet is so
cluttered these days with junk/ads i cant tell whats what. im totally
stuck on what i should do. any help/advice would be greatly
appreciated.

thanks
Click to expand...


Well if you're interested in building a Pentium based system you can go to
http://indigo.intel.com/mbsg
 
...more information..

my video card is a BFG GeForce 6800 128mb AGP

so i just need a motherboard that is compatible with that.
i have a raidmax power supply 420w
 
i appreciate you all trying to help, but every reply has redirected me
to websites where i would choose different things that have to do with
the motherboard. I must again stress the fact that i have NO knowledge
of motherboards so when im sent to these sites i become more lost than
before.
 
i dont know anything about motherboards, so when im sent to a site
where i am able to totally costumize everything about what i need to
buy, im lost. i dont know what i need.
 
You are specifying components in a somewhat unusual order, but I'd guess
that you know that.

To get the big picture, you might wish to look at these guides:

low-end gaming system:

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MVGSBG/article.php/3435541

Extreme high-end (maybe ridiculous):

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/EGBG/article.php/3437441

In my own system:

I've hard good luck with Asus products, so my personal preferences were,
mainboard:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-510&depa=1

a "Newcastle" CPU (cheaper than the newer 90 mm chips):

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-463&depa=1

and some PC3200 memory that has been tested by Asus for this board:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-423&depa=1

My main concern with the system would be whether the power supply would be
up to the task. I was using a Thermaltake 420W supply that was limited to
18A on the +12V line; things seem to be better with a Tagan 480 W supply
(28A). The Raidmax might be adequate in you system, though; I have a 6800GT
graphics card rather than a 6800, and I've overclocked the CPU by 10% (2.42
GHz).

HTH.

Bob Knowlden

Address may be scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
Jarek said:
..more information..

my video card is a BFG GeForce 6800 128mb AGP

so i just need a motherboard that is compatible with that.
i have a raidmax power supply 420w
Click to expand...

And the rest of the info I requested? CPU preference?

Okay, here's what I recommend:

Go with AMD Athlon 64. You can upgrade to Windows 64 when it's released and
should get about a 20% speed boost from it. Currently, an Athlon 64 3500+
is at least on par with a P4 3.5GHz. The P4 is better in some respects, but
the Athlon in others.

Overclocking gets the most out of your maching, but you're too new to bother
with it. However, there's an alternative - dynamically overclocking. MSI
was the fist to market with such technology, where you decide if you want
to overclock from mild to wild and it'll overclock your computer "on the
fly" when the system gets loaded. Otherwise, it resorts to ordinary
settings when idle so it runs cooler. Does this sound interesting to you?

If so, then check out this motherboard:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8T_Neo2-FIR&class=mb
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=241142

That's a bargain for what you're getting. Even if you don't want to
overclock at all, it's still a great board.

If you DO want to overclock, then you'll want faster memory than is needed
stock. So, if your board is built for DDR400, which this board is, you'll
want to go to something like DDR433 or DDR466 or whatever to wring out more
performance. You'll spend a little more for faster memory modules, but if
you game at all, they're worth it. If you're not into gaming, then a good
value line will work well enough, but don't expect the maximum performance
your machine is capable of. 512 MB should be enough, but 1GB is better.
However, you can go 512 now, and add another 2 sticks later to get 1GB. If
you plan to overclock and want performance memory, check out this:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85007-14

Corsair is my preferred brand, but I also like Crucial.

If you plan to get away cheap, and aren't interested in overclocking, look
at this:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80093-21

As far as processors go, get the fastest Athlon 64 socket 939 CPU you can
get with your budget. AMD packs pretty good heatsink/fan combos anymore
with their retail processors and you get a 3 year factory warranty with a
retail unit. I'd suggest going that route. With OEM processors, you get a
warranty from the supplier, not AMD. Take a look at the 3500+:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80717-R

That should fit your bill nicely. I won't spend more than $300 on a retail
CPU. Usually, I try to stay below $250, but I spend a little more if its
worth it. I refuse to pay more than $300, though. They just don't justify
the cost.

If you're _really_ budget minded, maybe the 3000+ will work better for you:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80699-2
 
i dont know anything about motherboards, so when im sent to a site
where i am able to totally costumize everything about what i need to
buy, im lost. i dont know what i need.
Click to expand...

Well maybe you shouldn't be building a computer then. It sounds like you're
not really not ready to handle such a task. Have you even worked on a computer
before doing things such as adding memory, adding new cards, adding new drives,
etc?
 
we all started somewhere at some time. However, I did tear apart an
old 8086 before building my first system..
 
Jarek said:
i appreciate you all trying to help, but every reply has redirected
me to websites where i would choose different things that have to
do with the motherboard.
Click to expand...

I guess you didn't read my reply.

Message-ID: <[email protected]>

In that message, I give you links to the exact parts you need.
All you had to do is click on "ADD TO CART".

I pointed you to choices for each of the three (mainboard, CPU, and
memory) but I also pointed you to the exact parts. All you had to do
is click on "ADD TO CART".

You do have to be able to read well enough to understand when I was
pointing you to choices and when I was pointing you to the exact
parts. Or you can tell by looking at the web page.
I must again stress the fact that i have NO knowledge
of motherboards so when im sent to these sites i become more lost
than before.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like maybe you have a problem using the Internet.
Another thing you will need to get used to is Internet browsing.
Lots of technical information on the Web. Lots of good deals on
computer stuff also.
 
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