Thread: Building a new PC from scratch. Suggestions welcome.

I have been at Tigerdirect most of the day and I would like to know if all of these products will work together. I really skimped on the Graphics card as I'm not much of a PC gamer, but once I have more money to spend then I'll upgrade.

Mother board and CPU. $229.99

Code:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3433136&CatId=1599

CPU Heatsink. The site recommended the Ultra-X Wind fan, but one of the reviewers said it wouldn't sit properly so I opted for this one. $29.99

Code:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2844210

Memory. I am completely lost when it comes to memory, but this is $5 cheaper than a special they where running. $54.99

Code:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2569050

Hard Disk Drive. I have always sworn by Western Digital, but a couple have died on me so I am trying a Seagate instead. $119.99

Code:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2273393

Graphics Card. Like I said, I skimped on it for a later purchase but this seems good for the money. $54.99

Code:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2512228

I already have a 600 Watt PSU, 2 LG DVD Burners and a Sound Card. Will this setup work with the listed parts and am I missing anything?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

If you don't mind spending extra on a cooler, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835109140 is the BEST cooler you can get for money, even surpasses a lot of water coolers. The mobo/cpu is good, the cpu may get outdated but that's what the cooler is for, it's easy overclocking with an E4500. Just make sure it fits in your case, it's f**ing big... and installation can be a bit tricky, on mine I had to bend the heatsink holder a bit, attach to heatsink, attach to board and bend it back.. bending it back is the hardest... but shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Graphics: You probably won't be able to play anything with a GF 7100.. if you're going to be getting a cheap card temporarily cos you want too upgrade, http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...228&CatId=1560 is ideal.

HDD: is good, reviews are good (except access time, but read/write speed makes up for it) and seagate give a 5 year warranty (compared to WD's 3 yr)

RAM: if you don't mind paying a bit more http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144069 is the best way to go. It overclocks well and there's a big jump in performance from the other ram. For about $30 more.

Hope you don't mind some on newegg... but it's the best way to find the best price combinations :-\ but they do have free shipping

Your old 600W psu should be more than enough, but post it's specs. They should be listed on a sticker on the side of it in a table (e.g. 12V, 20A or something like that) or post the manufacturer and model.

Think we've covered everything..
EDIT no we haven't, you'll need a controller card for your 3 ide drives, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816124001 is cheap and good.

That cooler might be good, but from reading the reviews it might be a bit more trouble than it's worth.

As for my PSU, here are the specs off the box. Sorry, it's a 520W and not a 600 Watt.

Voltage: +3.3V l +5V l +12V l -5V l -12V l +5Vsb l +12Vsb

Max. Load: 38A l 40A l 20 l 1A l 1.5 A l 2.5A l 4.2A

Min. Load: 0.2A l 0.2A l 0.2A l 0.2A l 0.1A l 0.1A l 0.1A

Total Output: 200W l 250W l 5W l 18W l 12.5W l 50W

Max Peak: 520W



Looking over the other stuff now, will edit.

You should be fine but if you get slowdowns in games and want to overclock or even just generally stress out your hardware (e.g. games on max settings etc) you might need a new psu For now though you should be fine.
How old is the psu?
And the cooler is SUPERB, it's cooling my quad core to ambient temperature! I say it was worth the hassle. But that's just me.

Like I said, I'm not much of a PC Gamer. I'm going to use my old case and just take everything out of it. And the 2 Hard Drives I have (120 Gig each) are almost dead. I'm starting to get CheckDisk startups every other time I start the thing and I can fit everything from my 320 Gig onto my 500 Gig External Drive. They are Western Digital and I used to swear by that company but now I'm turning to Seagate for a change. That 500 Seagate plus my External is plenty of room for now.

And yeah, I switched the Graphics card. I'll buy a better one when I have the money but it's not an important piece right now. The motherboard I am getting doesn't have onboard video, so I NEED a card. The cooler is still right out. If I go with a faster processor later I can always upgrade.

I guess that's it. What do you think of the motherboard / CPU combo? Saving $50 is sweet and it's gotten great reviews. It's not the newest one, but I think it will do. I was checking out the Asus P5K3 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=3208223 but that is just way too much, DDR3 isn't a practical choice yet and to me the Quad Core just doesn't have enough speed yet to be "all that". Sure it's fast, but next year they will be much faster.

So this will get me up and running and it's way faster than my rig now. Thanks for the suggestions bro, much appreciated. I just hope the motherboard isn't too outdated for future upgrades.

No offence but that's BS about the quad core. If there were only, say 2 cores cut out of the quad core then in apps that use 2 cores, it'd perform the same in the quad core as it would in the quad core-but-in-half. They're the same speed/faster than dual cores The power isn't shared by the 4 cores but on apps that use 4 cores it's multiplied by 4. But for non gaming and casual use a dual core is more than enough. Quads now will give enough juice for maybe 7 years before it gets out of date.

No gaming and not wanting the ultra 120 extreme, that thermalright cooler should be enough. But I'd look into and if the price is cheaper (remember shipping) I'd get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ezer%2b7%2bpro since it's simply bigger and willl cool better. They both have the same number of heatpipes so that isn't competitive, but the freezer 7 is bigger.

And not many people can afford DDR3 ram at the moment for obvious reasons.
If you're not gaming, the mobo/cpu combo and the GF8500 I linked is fine. The 8500 will outperform the 7100 at the same price. Even if your not a gamer you can still play games with minimum settings if you ever want to on the 8500.
And I think DDR2 ram wil stilll be around for a long time DDR3 is just too expensive to justify even if the performance is much better.

Thanks once again bro! And I think I was actually looking at that fan on tigerdirect... or one very similar to it.

And the cheapest Quad is $290! That's more than the CPU, MB and HSF I'm getting combined, lol! Money isn't really a problem for me right now, but I'm not going to blow it on one single piece of hardware. Hell I even took out the cost of the HDD at one point, but realized it was the cheapest in it's class for the money. Sure I could go with the 320 Gig... but the 500 gig is just a better bargain for now. And technology comes down in price on an almost monthly basis. This same setup will easily cost $30 or $40 less in a month or 2.

(damn I'm starting to sound like a cheap@$$)

So after I check out the fan, I'll order the parts. I would like to stay with Tigerdirect because of the prices. I was doing some comparisons on newegg and they might be only slightly cheaper because of the rebates. I hate rebates... with a passion. Plus the MB/CPU deal and the Video Card is just too good to pass up. Shipping is going to be about $20 for everything, I can live with that.

Down the road I want to get a decent case, better vid card and an extra hard drive. But that will be next year sometime.

Thanks again bro, +Karma as always.

You think your getting it hard on the quads? In the UK an "average" performing C2D costs the same as a quad. And the quad is expensive (about £180/$360) :P

And newegg has more products. For the products not on tiger direct you really should go newegg. And they have free shipping. Yah I'm all for saving $20 on newegg of course, don't go for the ultra 120 extreme if you don't want to but I really would get the ram on newegg I linked to :-\ it really is superb, on my friend's rig it overclocked OVER 1.1ghz (it's 800mhz stock) and for $30 more. For $30 more you can't really complain.

I'm putting a purchase of a gfx card off and off and off (my old one died and sapphire refused to replace it cos of "manhandling" issues. remind me never to purchase a sapphire ati card again...). They're way too expensive. The 8800GT is what I'd get but in the uk they're about £70 ($140) over their MSRP.

A new case isn't really needed but make sure you get at least 2 fans. With that hardware they don't need to be particularly good ones that move a heck of a lot of air. Cheap ones will do.
Extra HDD - good idea but it's more of a luxury than anything else. That can wait if you don't feel like it now.

Ok, since the price of the Motherboard and cooling fan came down, I FINALLY got the stuff I need. Here is the run down of what I got. Remember, I already have a decent case and I will not be using my old hard drives here.


XFX nForce 680i LT SLI Motherboard

The motherboard may not be the newest, but I've been eying it for awhile. It came with a bundled CPU, but if bought separately it saved me $10!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?Sku=P450-9102


Intel Core2 Duo E4500 Processor

The cheapest CPU for the speed it gives. It can be overclocked, but I'm probably not going to overclock it for awhile. Really good price compared to others.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...=CP2-DUO-E4500


Thermaltake Silent 775D Heatsink

It came down by $3, been eying it and reading the reviews on it. I think it will cover me for a long time. Sorry T D... maybe I'll get a better one when I upgrade the CPU later on. ;D

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?Sku=T925-2034


XFX GeForce 8500 GT

Thanks for recommending this T D! I just filled out the rebate, and it's 10 times better than my current NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 256 mb.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?Sku=P450-8668


Corsair TWINX Dual Channel 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz

I know I know... there is better RAM out there. But since this came down in price and it seems better than what I originally posted and it had the highest reviews... I figured I couldn't go wrong. I know some guys at PC Mags swear by Kingston and Corsair, so I think it's a pretty good deal.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...p?Sku=C13-3022


Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB HDD

Between this and my 500 GB storage drive, it will hold everything I need it to with a few hundred Gigs to spare. For the price... you can't go wrong.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Sku=TSD-500AS2



Well that's it, here's the total cost.

Net Product: $506.94
Sales Tax: $0.00
P & H: $24.02
Total Shipment: $530.96


To think I only wanted a motherboard, CPU and fan for no more than $300 when this project started. I can't justify spending more than $500 with the Christmas season coming up. And yes I said CHRISTMAS... screw your "Happy Holidays" or "Merry XMas" nonsense. It's Christmas, get over it. ;D

The only other thing I wanted was a case, but the shipping was way too much for it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...8&Sku=ULT31824

$40, but shipping was going to be $24.49 just for the case. I know it was originally $100... but I'll wait and pick up one at CompUSA or another store sometime later on.


So what do you think? This will be my third full system I'll build.

For a non gaming rig, that's decent. For a gaming rig it's still fairly decent. I know you said you weren't gonna game on it but the point is you CAN, you might wanna in the future.
I'd have still got the ram, after underclocking mine to 740mhz from 800mhz (the cpu speed to ram speed ratio is a bit dodgy in my opinion) word 2007 took about 5 more seconds to load. It was noticable... grrr. And you bought 667mhz ram. Just hope you don't run into any problems like that :-\

Overall for that price, it's excellent. GG. I wish stuff was that cheap in the uk (e.g. the E6600 Dual is the same price as the Q6600 Quad... it's a no brainer which one I should have gotten but it's sad that the E6600's price went up to match the Q6600's than the other way round )