Building a computer, am I overlooking anything vital?

[Jurollo]

Am I looking over anything for this?
-Barebones kit w/power supply, motherboard, CPU
-200GB HD
-DVD-RW & CD-RW
-1GB RAM
-256MB Video Card (AGP)
-Ethernet Card

Am I forgetting a glaring need here?
~Justin

[Nathan183]

Sound card?

[splashpot]

monitor if you don't already have one

[Wyers]

A tip:

Check out the wattage of the power supply. I recently had to replace mine (went with a 425W).

The new video cards (9800 PRO and up) suck up a lot of juice and some of the moderate powers supplies (300W) won't be able to run the more powerful cards.

[Jurollo]

[ QUOTE ]
monitor if you don't already have one

[/ QUOTE ]
Adding a 2001FP or the 21" Philips or Viewsonic to this system.
The wattage is 300W, maybe I will go with the barebone system that include 425W instead.
~Justin

[BradleyT]

You're missing an AMD 64 X2.

[ZimbuTheMonkey]

I'm sure the mobo has onboard sound, nowadays the onboard sound on good mobos is getting pretty decent.

[krimson]

[ QUOTE ]
You're missing an AMD 64 X2.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, and 2 SLI GeForce 6800 GT Ultra's.

[obsidian]

Most motherboards also have onboard ethernet. You might also want a floppy drive. 300W should be fine for your system.

[Wyers]

[ QUOTE ]
Most motherboards also have onboard ethernet. You might also want a floppy drive. 300W should be fine for your system.

[/ QUOTE ]

300W will almost certainly not be sufficient if he upgrades his video card and other components ( I run 3 HDs in mine). I use my system for video editing and a small amount of gaming. I had to upgrade my PS in order to install the new video card.

Not to mention, if you go crazy and install an X800, it will require its own connector directly from the PS - the motherboard alone cannot supply this card.

Now, if your system is primarily for poker, surfing the net, and checking email and you don't run any graphics intensive apps or plan to upgrade, then yeah, 300W is more than enough juice.

[Jeff W]

Is this computer for gaming? If not, a 128 MB Video card like the 6600GT will be fine. If you don't need DVI you can drop even lower.

Why are you getting a barebones kit instead of buying the parts separately? It's not difficult to install the motherboard and CPU.

If your mobo has integrated ethernet, then you don't need a card.

Why do you have both a DVD-RW and a CD-RW? A DVD-RW burns CDs.

You should post all of your parts to get better comments.

[skoal2k4]

intake/exhaust fans!!!! cooling system is very important

[radar5]

Does the barebones kit have a tower? All that stuff looks silly siting on the floor. And, whenever the bf puts a computer together, he gets a heatsink (sp?).

[Lucien Jacky]

I read a post a couple of months ago sugesting a second hard drive only for poker tracker. This leaves your main hard drive free when auto importing. I am about to build a computer and this sounds like a really good idea since auto import really slows my laptop down.

Cheers

[o0mr_bill0o]

[ QUOTE ]
Am I looking over anything for this?
-Barebones kit w/power supply, motherboard, CPU
-200GB HD
-DVD-RW & CD-RW
-1GB RAM
-256MB Video Card (AGP)
-Ethernet Card

Am I forgetting a glaring need here?
~Justin

[/ QUOTE ]

if you care about music at all, you will buy a good sound card. i wouldn't call myself quite an audiophile, but i can't stand the way music sounds coming off of the onboard sound i've seen on every motherboard i've ever bought.

[o0mr_bill0o]

[ QUOTE ]
I read a post a couple of months ago sugesting a second hard drive only for poker tracker. This leaves your main hard drive free when auto importing. I am about to build a computer and this sounds like a really good idea since auto import really slows my laptop down.

Cheers

[/ QUOTE ]

if i were to go the two hard drives route, i'd get a 10-20 gig SCSI hard drive and run my OS/pokertracker off of it, then use the 200 gigger just for mass storage. but SCSI is expensive...

[o0mr_bill0o]

i'm sure that the case will come with pretty adequate cooling as long as he's not overclocking. if he is overclocking, god help him, because i swear to [censored] god it turns into an addiction.

[KingMarc]

Get at least a 450W power supply.

Get a regular case fan, and what I did for the computer I'm building is I got another PCI slot fan right next to the video card (256mb ATI All in Wonder x600 pro).

I got 2gb Ram, for $100 or so extra, its definitely worth it.

That said, if your a procrastinator like I am, you may not want to build a computer...one month later I'm still only half way done ;-p

Oh, and you may want to get an antistatic wrist strap..its a pain in the ass though.

[o0mr_bill0o]

[ QUOTE ]

That said, if your a procrastinator like I am, you may not want to build a computer...one month later I'm still only half way done ;-p



[/ QUOTE ]

are you serious? it takes me like an hour, hour and a half tops, to put together a computer...

[krimson]

[ QUOTE ]
i'm sure that the case will come with pretty adequate cooling as long as he's not overclocking. if he is overclocking, god help him, because i swear to [censored] god it turns into an addiction.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, nothing better than spending $500 on low-latency Ram to get your 3dMark score up a few hundred points.

[Jurollo]

Ok, so I could make a decent PC on newegg for like $700.

Rosewill TU-155 Black Steel/Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: TU-155 $49.99

BenQ Black IDE DVD Burner Model DW1620 PRO BLK BONUS - Retail
Model #: DW1620 PRO BLK BONUS $54.00

Foxconn 655A01-FX-6LRS Socket 478 SIS 655FX ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: 655A01-FX-6LRS $36.00

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: ST3250823AS 139.50

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
Model #: VS1GBKIT400 $77.00

intel Pentium 4 3.0E Prescott 800MHz FSB Socket 478 Processor Model BX80546PG3000E - Retail
Model #: BX80546PG3000E $182.00

NETGEAR GA311 10/100/1000Mbps PCI Network Adapter - Retail
Model #: GA311 $24.50

Rosewill Geforce FX5200 128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
Model #: RW5200-128D3 $52.99

Might ass a sound card as well... but any suggestions? Sites with better prices? Places I have gone overkill? Thanks all!

P.S. I will be adding a 2001FP to this system.

Total Price w/o monitor: $615.98

[Jeff W]

Antec makes good cases and solid power supplies:
Antec SLK3700AMB (http://store.yahoo.com/svcompucycle/antc-slk3700s-77.html)
SilentPC Review (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article76-page1.html)

I think that case is a better deal than the Rosewill.

That motherboard comes with onboard LAN. You don't need a network adapter.

You may need extra cooling for the P4.

The HDD and Memory are solid choices. The DVD Burner is probably fine.

Check out anandtech.com and tomshardware.com and look for your mobo, video card and processor before you make your purchase. Also be sure to look at the roundups they have(i.e. Socket 478 Mobo round-up: Reviews a group of 478 mobos) and look for the best value.

[Jeff W]

Guide to Building and Securing your PC (http://www.omnicast.net/~tmcfadden/guides/build/benchtest.html)

Guide to Choosing Components (http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=1520618&enterth read=y)

Anandtech Entry to Mid Level PC Guide (http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2378)

[KingMarc]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

That said, if your a procrastinator like I am, you may not want to build a computer...one month later I'm still only half way done ;-p



[/ QUOTE ]

are you serious? it takes me like an hour, hour and a half tops, to put together a computer...

[/ QUOTE ]

And I've only spent about 20 minutes ;-P

[34TheTruth34]

[ QUOTE ]
Guide to Building and Securing your PC (http://www.omnicast.net/~tmcfadden/guides/build/benchtest.html)

Guide to Choosing Components (http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=1520618&enterth read=y)

Anandtech Entry to Mid Level PC Guide (http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2378)

[/ QUOTE ]


Those links provide a lot of good information. But, as someone who knows almost nothing about computers, how do you know what to look for? For example, let's say I wanted to build a computer from scratch just to play poker on (which I do, soon). What would be the important things so that I don't go overboard?

Also, how about the video card? I wouldn't need anything real special, right? Just enough to support the high resolution?

Thanks,
Mark

[Jeff W]

I selected components for a new pc and assembled it from scratch last week. I read reviews for 3 days and searched through forums. Prior to that I had very little knowledge of PC hardware.

My approach to building the PC was to obtain maximum value. I looked through newegg, svc and monarch computers for turning points in the prices of equipment. If it costs $10 to move from 2.4 Ghz to 2.6 Ghz and $50 to move from 2.6 Ghz to 2.8 Ghz, then I would buy the 2.6 Ghz processor. It may be more than I need, but I am purchasing the extra .2 Ghz for a small premium relative to the cost of the processor.

Once I identified a product that I was interested in purchasing, I looked through reviews on various hardware websites and determined if the hardware was appropriate for my needs.

It's pretty simple, but it may take you some time to decide on the best components. Make sure you don't skimp out on the case, power supply and motherboard. Make sure you don't go overboard on processing power or video card quality.

Video Card: I use the XFX GeForce 6600GT because it has dual dvi, so I can plug in two LCDs with maximum image quality. Some have said that there is little difference between DVI and VGA, so you may be able to get by with a a 1-DVI card. If you are thinking about running 3+ monitors, then get a card with multiple graphics card ports. An example would be the DFI Lanparty(non-SLI) for AMD64 processors which sports two PCIe x16 slots.

Hope this was helpful. Also search Subject Only: -re: and Author: Red Rain in the General forum for more recommendations.

[Ringo_Mojo]

You forgot The best case EVAR. (http://www.baber.com/cases/doggie.htm)