The Ultimate 'Build-A-PC' Thread. Complete With Pricings & Recommendations (06/06/10)

Damn, I just ordered mine. Sure it's only fifteen or so bucks but every bit helps. Will newegg honor this promo for orders that already shipped? I know I'm stretching here and I'm 99% expecting a big no on this.
 
So I recently purchased this graphics card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810
and it hasn't arrived yet but I saw this one for almost the same price after rebate and coupons and was wondering if it'd be worth the hassle to return and rebuy to get the new one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161276

They have the same specs except the one I ordered is a 512mb card and the one listed is 1GB (!). Just wondering if this is going to make a massive difference in between the two. Hopefully someone can post since I need to decide quickly about whether to keep.

And I'll have to probably pay something out of pocket to ship back I'm sure.
 
The xfx I posted is back in stock, arcturiang.
I got mine yesterday. Newegg ships so fast. I had just ordered it the day before and didn't opt for overnight shipping.
 
I am sure ill start providingin some info and looking through this near the end of the year.

My current build is still fairly new and there really hasnt been any new games or software that want to make me upgrade yet.

Did usb 3.0 and sata 3 get finalized already?
 
Noob question.

I'm using this motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387
It has a SYSFAN1, SYSFAN2, CPUFAN, AND PWRFAN input.

The cpufan I know is for the cpu fan..lol.

The sysfan is 4 pin, stating it can sense and "reserve".

sysfan2 and pwrfan are 3 pin. stating they can sense but not reserve.

So, 1)What exactly does reserve mean?

2)Should I plug my 2 case fans into sysfan 1 and 2?

3)and what do I do with pwrfan? From what I've read I should just leave it alone?


4) Should I just power the front and rear case fans from the PSU?

Edit:Also I'm going to opt for the arctic cooler 64 freezer pro for my cpu because I am going to OC a little. It comes with pre-applied MX-1, so, I won't need to apply any thermal grease to the CPU right?
 
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All the parts are here and the big day is tomorrow. How often should I "de-static" myself? I was going to do it at the beginning (by touching a grounded metal object) and figured that'd be good. I'm paranoid and in all the guides it is recommended so was just wondering. I figure just touching a washer would be fine.
 
Yeah an anti-static wrist strap is recommended, but not terribly necessary. You just want to make sure static electricity doesn't fry your components as you touch them, such as after you walk across a carpeted floor or something. I just rub my hands against the metal case for a few seconds and that's good enough for me.
 
[quote name='HowStern']Noob question.

1)What exactly does reserve mean? [/QUOTE]


The forth pin you see on the motherboard fan connector (
Image00031.jpg
4pin_or_3pin_fan_connector_on_m_b_362.jpg
) is for 'Pulse Width Modulation', or PWM for short. It is for the motherboard to control the speed of the fan by sending various voltages and is adjustable through software means (such as BIOS or desktop software). With the classic 3 pin fan connector, you cannot control the speed of case fan manually through software. You must use a PWM compatible 4-pin case fan or CPU fan in order to take full advantage of it.


2)Should I plug my 2 case fans into sysfan 1 and 2?
Click to expand...

Yes you can plug any case fan into any connector on the motherboard. PWM is not very important or useful if you're only gonna plug a case fan onto it.


3)and what do I do with pwrfan? From what I've read I should just leave it alone?
Click to expand...

You can still plug a case fan to it. Some power supply fans have an extra case fan connector for you to plug onto the motherboard so you can monitor the RPM. Many power supplies don't have this option, so that means you can pretty much plug any case fan onto the pwrfan as wel.


4) Should I just power the front and rear case fans from the PSU?
Click to expand...

I would take advantage of the fan connectors on the motherboard instead of using molex (
tutorial-4pin_molex_power_conn.jpg
) on the power supply. When you plug your case fans onto the motherboard, you get to see the RPMs each case fans spin at. With the molex connection you cannot monitor the RPM.


Edit:Also I'm going to opt for the arctic cooler 64 freezer pro for my cpu because I am going to OC a little. It comes with pre-applied MX-1, so, I won't need to apply any thermal grease to the CPU right?
Click to expand...

Most likely you won't need to apply any other thermal paste if your CPU fan already comes with some sort of thermal pad.
 
Ok so four hours later of tinkering and it doesn't turn on. Awesome. Let me explain what I did and hopefully SOMEONE can figure this out. First want to say that I have a mouse plugged into one of the usb ports in the back and when I plugged everything in I get no response from the computer (no LED's light up, no fans, nothing) BUT the mouse's LED lights up for a second and vanishes. Clearly something is going through it just not what I need. I also have a three prong -> two prong power outlet converter so that could be affecting everything. (I am going to install a three prong-grounded outlet tomorrow.)

Ok, so installing the motherboard/cpu was easy enough and I made sure to rub a lot of metal surfaces before I got started and was not working on a carpet. Next up was the ram and that was also super easy and went without a hitch and I made double sure that out of the four slots available, I used the right ones.
Next up was the graphics card which took me a little while as to which slot to put it in (and a little difficulty making it slide in) but I felt like that also went pretty well and I screwed it in. Sliding the HDD and DVD drive in was also fairly easy (thanks to my case design). So now that everything is in, it's time to wire.
fuck I hate this part
I am almost certain this is the part I borked and I really feel like the guide on the front page was very general and was made for someone who knew where everything went already. If anyone knows a really good guide specifically for wiring or just one that has a good section on that let me know. Or if you see a massive problem up there that I am oblivious to let me know. I'll re-wire everything tomorrow and if problems persist, write a more detailed portion on that.
 
What you can do is, you should test everything outside of the case first, before screwing anything into the case. You really only need to plug the CPU, RAM, CPU fan, video card, and power supply to the motherboard in order to test for power and screen (see pic here). Make sure all power cables are plugged into the video card and motherboard (there should be at least 2, one is the big 24 pin one, and the other should be either a 4 pin or 8 pin near the CPU). Then you might ask, how do you turn the system on? Very simple, I supposed you have already found the 2 pins for power switch on your motherboard. To emulate a power switch, all you need to do is get a flat head screw driver and short those 2 pins like this picture. It might look a bit risky and shady at first, but you'll soon find out that when the 2 pins are shorted, the system will turn on. Of course, make sure your power supply is switched to on position.

You can plug your keyboard into the USB port on the motherboard if you see a boot screen. Turn off the entire test setup by switching the power supply to off.

I can't be sure if the 3-prong to 2-prong power adapter is affecting your system. I don't have one handy to test it out myself, but I would really try to find a 3-prong outlet and test the computer on that.
 
Awesome thanks for helping me with those questions, SOS. Yeah I'll definitely use the MB's fan plugs for the case fans. I think the BIOS on the motherboard has support for an alarm to sound if a fan fails if I do it this way too. Thanks :)
 
Question on case matching manual
So my case is pretty annoying in that the manual of course does not match up with what I'm working with. Example. The manual says that the usb 2.0 cord that plugs into the motherboard to active the usp ports has two usb 2.0 "cables" (I don't know the technical term for wires plugging into the mobo) and the first being very small (only a single lead) and labeled NC. (The other was just the standard USB mobo wire and I connected that fine) This is nowhere in my case and I was wondering if it was necessary. Trust me, I looked.
Question on leftover cords
The other thing I'm wondering about is how many cords left over are unnatached to anything? My case has three extra fans, all with cords that I would've assumed go into the mobo, but the holes for the pins to go in are giant like compared to mobo pins. And the psu has a ton of cords coming out of it that are the same, they wouldn't fit anywhere on a mobo. Just making sure this is normal but since my psu was pre-installed in the case, do these extra cords plug into some crevice of the psu I never saw since it was already in the case?
Response to sos
I'm pretty sure this is my big hangup right now and the problem with why it won't turn on. I can't identify which cable goes into that slot though. The LED cables all come from the front of the case and I figured since they plug into the same part of the mobo, the cord that activates that part would be there too. Unfortunately that part of my mobo looks way different from yours and is not labeled the same way (I know this may seem hard to believe since they're all supposed to look similarly but I am holding the manual, looking at the diagram, comparing it to your picture and the only similarity is the led's. It's labeled as 20-8 pin panel. They also never mention anything with screwdriver or what you suggested.
And my psu is 20-pin (mobo is 24) with another 4-pin cord that goes into what I believe is the atx 4pin molex connector.
In between the inaccurate manual and hard to find cords, I figure I might just go to craigslist (someone with references though) and see if they can wire it for me. Hoping it won't be expensive since I put most of it together but we'll see. I don't want to give up like this, but I don't know anyone who could do this for me.
 
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Hmm sotc do you have a pdf of your mobos manual? Or if you give me the model number I could find one on the web I'm sure. I could take a look. It sounds like you need a power supply with a 20+8 (or 4+4)pin for the mobo, maybe? Because you mentioned 20-8..I'm sure SOS will be of better help.

But if you give me the link to your psu and the link to your mobo I will take a look and see if i notice any problems or solutions.
 
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Case/psu manual:
www.raidmax.com/Manuals/smilodon.pdf
Mobo manual (can't get this to download but I have a print copy):
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=KX5kXQSmyaQaXVEP

And here's a poorly shot youtube video on the insides of my computer. It's kind of all over the place but I pause when I need to. Took some pictures and I'll edit the post to put them in here. In the video I guess the main thing I wanted to look at where the 24pin and 4pin parts of the mobo. I'll post pics of what I plug into that in a sec.
Pics
This plugs into the 4pin part of the mobo:
http://img146.imageshack.us/i/16825191.jpg/
20pin that goes into 24pin
http://img20.imageshack.us/i/20pin.jpg/
This is what SOS was talking about I believe, the LED board.
The LED cords were tethered to a bunch of other cords, whose "plugs" for that were too big for any parts on my mobo.
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9331/lede.png
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnDILC_TqeE
 
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Hmm, so when you plug the 20 pin into the 24 slot on the mobo there shuold also be a 4 pin extra available from the psu to plug into the remaining 4 of the 24 on the mobo.

Then the psu should have a seperate 12v 4pin for the 4pin input of the mobo.

Does the psu have two 4 pin plugs? The first 4 pin should be connected to 20 pin of the psu. Those 2 go into the 24 pin on the mobo. The second one will be your 12v atx that goes into the 4 pin outlet near the cpu.
 
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Ok that did it. I figured the 12v 4pin would go in the 4 pin slot not in the 24 pin. Thanks. Only now I have a new problem. The monitor won't get a signal from the computer. What would case that? everything is plugged in right from monitor to the computer...
 
You mean your video card is properly seated and is getting enough power and is properly hooked to the monitor and it still won't give you video?
 
My mobo has two pciex16 slots so I intalled in the one labeled "PCIEX16_1" (rather than _2) and I think the installation went ok. It could've fit in either one but the mobo or the graphic's card manual didn't specify and they were labeled the same. As far as power, am I supposed to plug anything into the mobo or the psu after installing the card? No manual said that.

http://www1.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=245&grp=3
Product page.
 
If you have a higher end card, it most likely requires more power than just given from the motherboard. My GTX 260, for example, requires two more 6-pin cables from the PSU.
 
That card takes two 6 pin pci-e connectors. Most PSUs have at least one. If yuo don't have 2 you can get a molex to pci-e adapter. That should fire it up.
 
And we have
LIFTOFF
Thanks for the help guys. Seriously, I was so beaten by this thing and it wouldn't have happened without you.

Only problems now was that some of the led's (like the power button) didn't have a place on my mobo and there are a lot of extra fans that I couldn't figure out how to power. Is this a big deal?
 
As long as you have an intake and an exhaust going I wouldn't worry about the extra fans for now. Glad everything worked out :)
 
Aw I missed all of your fun while I had some of my own.

Got my new rig up and running after a few days of problem solving, using the same mobo as HowStern. In order of problems faced: Forgot the 4-pin 12v to the mobo, had to get adapters for the coolermaster pack of 4 extra case fans, had to get the right adapters for said case fans... Had my old IDE hdd jumper set wrong (apparently master when there's no slave can really really slow down startup to the point I thought my mobo was a bit borked), and finished with having to unplug my HDMI cable for Windows 7 to complete its install (actually borrowed a friend's CRT monitor to find this out unnecessarily).

This may be irrelevent, but if you plan on using more case fans than that motherboard has headers for, and need 3-pin to 4-pin molex adapters to hook them straight to your PSU, make sure you get the right voltage (12v in my case, and you can tell by where the two wires [one should be yellow] go in the socket). Now I have to try and return these stupid opened 5v ones somehow, be weary of trusting Fry's associates. Oh yeah, and I'm loving Windows 7, having skipped over Vista entirely.
 
What's optimal temperature for a pc? I think mine was 40 degrees Celsius.
My sound isn't working either, but I'll type up a big thing about that later.
 
40C for CPU is fine. As for your sound, make sure you install the drivers that came with your motherboard. If you're using Windows XP or Vista then you'll need to install the chipset drivers, maybe the network adapter drivers, sound drivers, etc. If you're using Windows 7 RC, then maybe the website will have some updated drivers.


*Edit* Hmm is it just me or has Newegg been running out of stock of those SATA DVD burners really fast? Seems like there is no sub $30 SATA DVD burners right now. How weird.
 
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Yeah I'm trying to re-install some new drivers. And about the temp, well after about fifteen minutes of use it starts climbing up and these are the speedfan specs.
Temp1: 47C Temp2: 49C Temp3: -128C (?) and core: 43C. Is that still good? How do I plug in the extra fans if they have molex connectors and there are none on my mobo?
 
Temp3: -128C (?)
Click to expand...
That's probably because the Speedfan is not truly compatible with your motherboard. It does that on my Shuttle XPC. As for your temperatures, those are very normal.

How do I plug in the extra fans if they have molex connectors and there are none on my mobo?
Click to expand...
Then you'll have to plug those to the molex connectors on the power supply.
 
Case ( Tuniq 3 Gaming Tower Case Black )
Power Supply ( [= Gaming Edition =] 1000 Watt Extreme Power Supply [Gaming Series] --- Quad SLI + Active PFC + 80 Plus Ready )
Processor ( [New !!] Intel® Core™ i7 950 Processor (4x 3.06GHz/8MB L3 Cache) )
Processor Cooling ( Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ 120mm Radiator )
Motherboard ( Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire Supported w/7.1 Sound, Triple-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Triple PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module Corsair XMS3 Dominator w/DHX technology )
Video Card ( 3x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 1GB w/DVI + TV Out Video -- running 3-Way SLI )
Video Card Brand ( === High Performance === eVGA Brand Video Cards [SLI enabled] Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 320 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
CD/DVD Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Keyboard ( iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard w/ 18 Internet Hot /Multimedia Keys Black )
Mouse ( iBUYPOWER 1600 dpi High Sensitivity Internet Mouse Black )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Operating System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Advanced Build Options ( Professional wiring for all cables inside the system tower Achieve exceptional airflow in your chassis )
Advanced Build Options ( Tuniq TX-2 High Performance Thermal Compound The best interface between your CPU and the heatsinks )
Advanced Build Options ( iBUYPOWER Specialized Advanced Packaging System Protect your investment during transportation! )
Warranty ( Standard Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

Sub Total: $2931 Shipped.

What do you guys think?
 
[quote name='Moxio']Why a Core 2? If money is truly no object, go for a Core i7 Extreme. :cool:[/QUOTE]
This isn't for me. Just buying it for someone.

Also the i7 950 can be OC'ed, so no need for the Extreme.
 
Motherboard ( Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire Supported w/7.1 Sound, Triple-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Triple PCI-E MB )
Video Card ( 3x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 1GB w/DVI + TV Out Video -- running 3-Way SLI )
Click to expand...


That motherboard does not support 3 way SLI, not even 2 way SLI, you have to upgrade to the Asus Rampage board, which will cost $150 more.
 
[quote name='SOSTrooper']Hmm is it just me or has Newegg been running out of stock of those SATA DVD burners really fast? Seems like there is no sub $30 SATA DVD burners right now. How weird.[/QUOTE]

I know they were a few weeks ago when I got mine, I'd bookmark one then it'd be out of stock a couple days later.

That $2900 does seem a bit extravagant, but some people have a right to spend their money how they want. What's "USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )"? And aren't you kinda skimping on the hard drive? I'm not suggesting solid state or anything, but a terabyte's pretty reasonable now, like $100 for a seagate w/same speeds and double the cache.
 
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