Building A Computer

billenium · 12-02-2007, 02:35 PM

i DO NOT want to build an awesome crazy computer with a cool case and an awesome graphics card. I really only want a computer that has a lot of HDD space and a fast processor. The Graphics card doesn't matter to much to me. I have some ideas... Like this:

Code:

099.99 * Hard Drive - 500GB
030.99 * CD-ROM Drive - ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T OEM
139.99 * Processor -  AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Processor
~~~.~~ * Processor Cooling Fan - (comes with above)
092.99 * Motherboard - ASUS M2NPV-VM MicroATX Motherboard with nVIDIA GeForce 6150 (socket AM2)
044.99 * RAM - 2gb Kingston DDR II
039.99 * Power Supply - 400watt
448.23 * Total Price For Setup

Just some ideas

1. Budget: How much money are you willing to spend on the new build? 400-500 USD

2. Brands: Are there any brands of components you want or don't want? Well i kind of want AMD since they are cheaper.

3. Multitasking: Will you be multitasking with this computer and if so, how much? A LOT!

4. Gaming: Will you be gaming and if so, how much and how new are the games? Not very much... I will be using a Linux OS, so i cant play most games. Graphics card doesn't matter to me.

5. Calculations: Will you be doing any intense calculations or media encoding? Theres a probable chance i will be.

6. Overclocking: Do you plan on overclocking and if so, how much? Yes i may over clock, probably not that much though.

7. Storage: How much storage will you need and what will you be storing? I will be storing a lot of media files. Backing up files that where on a CD/DVD, ect. I am thinking around 320-500gb.

8. Legacy Support: Will you need support for older hardware like parallel, serial, or PS/2 devices? umm no

9. Operating System: Do you want Windows XP or Vista, or Linux compatibility? I will just use Linux.

10. Case: Do you want help selecting a case and if so, how big do you want it? Already have one.

11. Accessories: Do you want a keyboard, mouse, or other items included? No.

12. Recycled Components: Will you be reusing any components you already have? No.

13. Monitor: If you want a monitor, what size do you want and should it be widescreen? I already have one.

14. Stores: Do you have any online stores that you prefer to purchase from? Newegg and CompUSA.

15. Location: What country do you live in? USA

Thanks a lot if any of you can help me! I've been having a really hard time with this. THANK YOU!

**TheMatt** · 12-02-2007, 07:15 PM

Here is an alternate build:

GIGABYTE GA-P31-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P31 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128062

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030

mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146118

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive x 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148261

LITE-ON Black 20X DVD±R DVD Burner W/ 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106055

MSI RX2400PRO-TD256EH Radeon HD 2400PRO Support up to 512M(256MB onboard) 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127299

Antec True Power Trio TP3-430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply with Three 12V Rails
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103942

The main thing is the power supply. A $40 400W power supply will not give stable power and can put your computer at risk because if it fails it can fail and damage other components along with it.

I also went with an Intel build because the motherboard was higher quality and would last longer.

**beefers1** · 12-03-2007, 10:15 PM

even if you're not doing any gaming, you should still go for a basic video card, like a ge-force 7200 or 6800 (only $40!) it'll be really beneficial, not just to graphics, but it'll also take a load off the RAM.

**TheMatt** · 12-04-2007, 06:49 PM

Correct. Integrated video only has dedicated video RAM in a few cases. Intel never has as far as I know and nVidia only did in a few cases (I believe one of them was the 6150 but it depends on the motherboard manufacturer as well). The board itself that I chose also is better quality.

**beefers1** · 12-04-2007, 08:56 PM

many video cards can, in addition to dedicated ram, take memory from the main system ram, and i believe it's called turbocache for nvidia cards, and hypermemory for ati cards i think most of them have 256mb of dedicated ram, but can borrow up to another 256mb from main system ram. it's pretty good if you do light work, but performance is still not going to be as good as one with 512mb dedicated vram. and if you're doing light work, you probably don't need the extra memory. but they're pretty cheap. i think geforce 7200's start at $40 USD. btw matt, nice animation. can i borrow it plz?

**TheMatt** · 12-04-2007, 09:00 PM

Correct again. nVidia's TurboCache has shown to be a bit faster than ATi's HyperMemory but both are significantly slower than dedicated video RAM. The card I posted can use 256MB of system RAM via HyperMemory but you can turn this off. I would because the extra memory will not help the card.

The animation in my sig has no copyright info and I am not the owner of it so you can use it as you wish a public domain image.

billenium · 12-04-2007, 09:34 PM

this is what i am going for now

Code:

059.99 * Hard Drive:  Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
020.99 * CD Drive :  SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black IDE Model SH-S182M 
079.99 * Processor:  Intel Dual-Core E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E2160
067.99 * Video Card:  XFX PVT73GUGF3 GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card
091.99 * MotherBoard:  GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
049.99 * RAM: G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
039.99 * Power Supply:  FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX400-PN ATX12V 400W Power Supply
435.93 * Grand Total (No Shipping or Rebates Added)

**beefers1** · 12-04-2007, 09:44 PM

good choices, especially considering the budget. ram seems good, and vid card too. the only thing i would suggest is getting a core 2 duo, as it only costs slightly more, and can have performance benefits, especially in the long run. the 1.86ghz model is only around $100.

billenium · 12-04-2007, 09:59 PM

I read that this processor was better because it OCs VERY WELL. 3.1GHz i think it was.... so i might get a Core 2 Duo, but the people who wrote this article says it is better (money wise) to get this.

**beefers1** · 12-04-2007, 10:18 PM

if you want overclocking capabilities, it's possible to oc a pentium 4 at ridiculous speeds, over 5ghz i think. but then you'll have to watch out for heat issues, but i'm sure it's possible.

MoonShadow_1AU · 12-04-2007, 11:10 PM

If you are doing a lot of hard drive work looking into RAID 0 would be useful.

I am looking at a 320 Gb C drive for the OS and Programs, and 2 x 750 Gb hdd in RAID 0 (giving me 1.5Tb at twice the speed ... sort of)

If you added another 250 GB Western Digital for $60, you get twice the space and speed of data read / writes.

**beefers1** · 12-04-2007, 11:17 PM

i would recommend against raid 0, because if one fails, the other would fail as well. also, why don't you just put the 2 drives in seperate partitions? that'll be much easier.

MoonShadow_1AU · 12-04-2007, 11:26 PM

write speed with external backup ..... yeah we all have budgets. That is why I never RAID my OS drive. Data on the other hand ...

**beefers1** · 12-05-2007, 12:59 PM

like i said before, why don't you just keep them as seperate partitions?

**TheMatt** · 12-05-2007, 01:47 PM

I agree, look at RAID 1 since you get data redundancy and you still get double the read speed which is where you will notice most of the difference from any array with multiple disks.

12-02-2007, 02:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
billenium Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 45 OS: Ubuntu Linux	Building A Computer i DO NOT want to build an awesome crazy computer with a cool case and an awesome graphics card. I really only want a computer that has a lot of HDD space and a fast processor. The Graphics card doesn't matter to much to me. I have some ideas... Like this: Code: 099.99 * Hard Drive - 500GB 030.99 * CD-ROM Drive - ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T OEM 139.99 * Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Processor ~~~.~~ * Processor Cooling Fan - (comes with above) 092.99 * Motherboard - ASUS M2NPV-VM MicroATX Motherboard with nVIDIA GeForce 6150 (socket AM2) 044.99 * RAM - 2gb Kingston DDR II 039.99 * Power Supply - 400watt 448.23 * Total Price For Setup Just some ideas 1. Budget: How much money are you willing to spend on the new build? 400-500 USD 2. Brands: Are there any brands of components you want or don't want? Well i kind of want AMD since they are cheaper. 3. Multitasking: Will you be multitasking with this computer and if so, how much? A LOT! 4. Gaming: Will you be gaming and if so, how much and how new are the games? Not very much... I will be using a Linux OS, so i cant play most games. Graphics card doesn't matter to me. 5. Calculations: Will you be doing any intense calculations or media encoding? Theres a probable chance i will be. 6. Overclocking: Do you plan on overclocking and if so, how much? Yes i may over clock, probably not that much though. 7. Storage: How much storage will you need and what will you be storing? I will be storing a lot of media files. Backing up files that where on a CD/DVD, ect. I am thinking around 320-500gb. 8. Legacy Support: Will you need support for older hardware like parallel, serial, or PS/2 devices? umm no 9. Operating System: Do you want Windows XP or Vista, or Linux compatibility? I will just use Linux. 10. Case: Do you want help selecting a case and if so, how big do you want it? Already have one. 11. Accessories: Do you want a keyboard, mouse, or other items included? No. 12. Recycled Components: Will you be reusing any components you already have? No. 13. Monitor: If you want a monitor, what size do you want and should it be widescreen? I already have one. 14. Stores: Do you have any online stores that you prefer to purchase from? Newegg and CompUSA. 15. Location: What country do you live in? USA Thanks a lot if any of you can help me! I've been having a really hard time with this. THANK YOU! Last edited by billenium : 12-02-2007 at 02:57 PM.

12-02-2007, 07:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
TheMatt Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,693 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Building A Computer Here is an alternate build: GIGABYTE GA-P31-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P31 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128062 Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030 mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146118 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive x 2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148261 LITE-ON Black 20X DVD±R DVD Burner W/ 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106055 MSI RX2400PRO-TD256EH Radeon HD 2400PRO Support up to 512M(256MB onboard) 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127299 Antec True Power Trio TP3-430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply with Three 12V Rails http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103942 The main thing is the power supply. A $40 400W power supply will not give stable power and can put your computer at risk because if it fails it can fail and damage other components along with it. I also went with an Intel build because the motherboard was higher quality and would last longer. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

12-03-2007, 10:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
beefers1 Enthusiastic about TSF Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Surrey, BC, Canada Posts: 2,634 OS: Win XP Pro SP2 My System Blog Entries: 9	Re: Building A Computer even if you're not doing any gaming, you should still go for a basic video card, like a ge-force 7200 or 6800 (only $40!) it'll be really beneficial, not just to graphics, but it'll also take a load off the RAM. __________________

12-04-2007, 06:49 PM	#4 (permalink)
TheMatt Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,693 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Building A Computer Correct. Integrated video only has dedicated video RAM in a few cases. Intel never has as far as I know and nVidia only did in a few cases (I believe one of them was the 6150 but it depends on the motherboard manufacturer as well). The board itself that I chose also is better quality. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

12-04-2007, 08:56 PM	#5 (permalink)
beefers1 Enthusiastic about TSF Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Surrey, BC, Canada Posts: 2,634 OS: Win XP Pro SP2 My System Blog Entries: 9	Re: Building A Computer many video cards can, in addition to dedicated ram, take memory from the main system ram, and i believe it's called turbocache for nvidia cards, and hypermemory for ati cards i think most of them have 256mb of dedicated ram, but can borrow up to another 256mb from main system ram. it's pretty good if you do light work, but performance is still not going to be as good as one with 512mb dedicated vram. and if you're doing light work, you probably don't need the extra memory. but they're pretty cheap. i think geforce 7200's start at $40 USD. btw matt, nice animation. can i borrow it plz? __________________ Last edited by beefers1 : 12-04-2007 at 09:00 PM.

12-04-2007, 09:00 PM	#6 (permalink)
TheMatt Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,693 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Building A Computer Correct again. nVidia's TurboCache has shown to be a bit faster than ATi's HyperMemory but both are significantly slower than dedicated video RAM. The card I posted can use 256MB of system RAM via HyperMemory but you can turn this off. I would because the extra memory will not help the card. The animation in my sig has no copyright info and I am not the owner of it so you can use it as you wish a public domain image. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

12-04-2007, 09:44 PM	#8 (permalink)
beefers1 Enthusiastic about TSF Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Surrey, BC, Canada Posts: 2,634 OS: Win XP Pro SP2 My System Blog Entries: 9	Re: Building A Computer good choices, especially considering the budget. ram seems good, and vid card too. the only thing i would suggest is getting a core 2 duo, as it only costs slightly more, and can have performance benefits, especially in the long run. the 1.86ghz model is only around $100. __________________

12-04-2007, 09:59 PM	#9 (permalink)
billenium Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 45 OS: Ubuntu Linux	Re: Building A Computer I read that this processor was better because it OCs VERY WELL. 3.1GHz i think it was.... so i might get a Core 2 Duo, but the people who wrote this article says it is better (money wise) to get this.

12-04-2007, 10:18 PM	#10 (permalink)
beefers1 Enthusiastic about TSF Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Surrey, BC, Canada Posts: 2,634 OS: Win XP Pro SP2 My System Blog Entries: 9	Re: Building A Computer if you want overclocking capabilities, it's possible to oc a pentium 4 at ridiculous speeds, over 5ghz i think. but then you'll have to watch out for heat issues, but i'm sure it's possible. __________________

12-04-2007, 11:10 PM	#11 (permalink)
MoonShadow_1AU Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 106 OS: Win Vista Ultimate	Re: Building A Computer If you are doing a lot of hard drive work looking into RAID 0 would be useful. I am looking at a 320 Gb C drive for the OS and Programs, and 2 x 750 Gb hdd in RAID 0 (giving me 1.5Tb at twice the speed ... sort of) If you added another 250 GB Western Digital for $60, you get twice the space and speed of data read / writes. __________________ MoonShadow Dell 2405FPW, BenQ 17", D-Link DI524UP, Epson CX5100, Epson R310 + CIS Kit Vista Ultimate, P4 3.2ht, ASUS P4C800-E Dlx, 3Gb RAM, XFX 6600GT 128Mb AGP8x, 700Gb HDDs, DVD-RW, DVD-ROM, SoundBlaster X-Fi

12-04-2007, 11:17 PM	#12 (permalink)
beefers1 Enthusiastic about TSF Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Surrey, BC, Canada Posts: 2,634 OS: Win XP Pro SP2 My System Blog Entries: 9	Re: Building A Computer i would recommend against raid 0, because if one fails, the other would fail as well. also, why don't you just put the 2 drives in seperate partitions? that'll be much easier. __________________

12-04-2007, 11:26 PM	#13 (permalink)
MoonShadow_1AU Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 106 OS: Win Vista Ultimate	Re: Building A Computer write speed with external backup ..... yeah we all have budgets. That is why I never RAID my OS drive. Data on the other hand ... __________________ MoonShadow Dell 2405FPW, BenQ 17", D-Link DI524UP, Epson CX5100, Epson R310 + CIS Kit Vista Ultimate, P4 3.2ht, ASUS P4C800-E Dlx, 3Gb RAM, XFX 6600GT 128Mb AGP8x, 700Gb HDDs, DVD-RW, DVD-ROM, SoundBlaster X-Fi

12-05-2007, 12:59 PM	#14 (permalink)
beefers1 Enthusiastic about TSF Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Surrey, BC, Canada Posts: 2,634 OS: Win XP Pro SP2 My System Blog Entries: 9	Re: Building A Computer like i said before, why don't you just keep them as seperate partitions? __________________

12-05-2007, 01:47 PM	#15 (permalink)
TheMatt Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,693 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Building A Computer I agree, look at RAID 1 since you get data redundancy and you still get double the read speed which is where you will notice most of the difference from any array with multiple disks. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides