I missed the party it seems, but congradulations that looks like a good setup for a good price.The one thing I was going to suggest might be a plus for a first time builder you already got. A motherboard with an onboard video chip, can save you a big pain in the ass of diagnosing if things don’t go smoothly at first. You can do a skeletal post test of PS, motherboard, processor, fans(don’t forget the fans, particularly the one on the chip) and one stick of ram.
(And the power button relay of course,:smack: we don’t need to go into how many times I have overlooked that detail for a few agonizing minutes) and then deal with the video card on it’s own with no other variables.
And your motherboard has onboard. I would suggest using it at first. Video cards can be finicky for some reason that makes no sense at all.
Yeah, I’m going to have to do a bit of research on putting this thing together properly. I’m also a newbie when it comes to that, obviously. I appreciate your suggestion about doing the initial set-up with the on-board video chip. It sounds like sensible advice.
Looks like you’ve put together a pretty good system (I have to admit, I’m kind of jealous… Wanna trade computers?) and you should be able do a few incremental upgrades to keep it fresh. If you ever want to get into overclocking, AMDs Black Edition processors have unlocked core multipliers, which makes it a breeze as long as your motherboard supports it.
Have fun putting it together and seeing how your favorite games now scream!
I’m serious about that trading thing…
so it happens that i need a new gaming rig too. since this thread is recent i thought i might as well post here instead of starting a new thread as pc hardware is even more alien to me. because of my location i will be buying from a local shop where they will assemble everything.
reading the thread, i’ve come up with questions and a tentative list following what the OP bought:
[ul]
[li]Antec Nine Hundred Two (902) Gaming Case…$259 (this is pricy, do i really need it?)[/li][li]AMD X4 635 Giga 890GPA-UD3H SATA3/USB3/FW…$363 (should i shell out maybe another $100 for a faster cpu? X2 and X4 is the same price? what’s the difference?)[/li][li]WD 1TB 64MB (Caviar Black) …$153 (what does “caviar black” means? the pricelist seems to say it costs another $2 for 1.5TB for a “caviar green”?)[/li][li]power supply?? … $100?? (no idea what to get)[/li][li]XFX HD5770 1GB (850M) DDR5 Dual DVI…$255 (is this the same as what has been recommended?)[/li][li]Asus DRW-24B1ST 24X DvDRW SATA…$52 [/li][li]RAM… $160?? (no idea here too)[/li][li]Windows Home Prem 7 (32bit or 64bit)…$160 (shd i get 32 or 64 bit? no hardware except for some usb stuff and ethernet)[/li][/ul]
total about SGD1502, that’s about USD1069.
my main concern is overheating as it is hot here and the pc will be in use throughout the day. also, my tv has HDMI ports. i have no idea what they are, would the above card use it? how good is this gig? i will be happy if i can max out the graphics on current games and the upcoming starcraft.
I don’t know your market so it’s hard to say if that’s a good deal or not. Those parts, even accounting for the currency differences, are more expensive than you’d see in the US, but it may be typical for Singapore. Nothing seems too outrageous.
The X2 vs X4 thing is how many cores the CPU has. How exactly that translates into extra performance is sort of complicated, but if you can get something in the same price range at roughly the same clock speed, you should go for more cores.
Caviar is a line of western digital hard drives. You definitely want a black edition as your main drive, since your OS/app/game performance will go a lot faster than using a green drive.
Get the 64 bit windows. No reason not to really.
Any reputable 450w+ PSU should work fine for you
You don’t need that high end of a case, but it would solve any concerns you have about overheating.
That’s a solid system and would have no problem with starcraft 2.
More video card, at the cost of less whatever, will get you more gaming bang. This is true for nearly any list of parts. Games are nearly always bottlenecked at the video card, and almost never at the cpu. I like to aim for a video card equal in price to the sum of the cost of the cpu and motherboard. It’s true you run into diminishing returns, but if you’re bottlenecked at the video card, then any extra spent on the cpu gets you no returns.
Then again, the 5770 is such a good bang-for-the-buck card that it does make a sensible place to get of the diminishing returns train. You’ve got to jump pretty much to a 5850 to get significantly better performance.
Of the power supplies on that price list, I’d personally buy the Seasonic M12II-520w. Pity all the sub-500w ones look like el cheapo junk. Since they obviously carry Seasonic, you could ask about an S12II-430w but it’s not on their price list.
For RAM, 4GB (2x2GB kit), don’t worry overly about the manufacturer. Either it works or it doesn’t, and if the shop is building they should be verifying it works before you get it.
Definitely get 64-bit Windows. You can’t address more than 4GB of memory with 32-bit Windows, including the memory on your video card.
In Western Digital’s Caviar line, the Green drives are slower, quieter, and use less power, while the Black drives are faster at the cost of running a bit louder and hotter. I’d only use a Green as a secondary drive just for storing movies and such.
I’ve built the computer. I powered it up and all the LEDs and fans came on, including the CPU fan. However, nothing showed up on the monitor. I tried it at first with the discrete GPU, and then I removed it and tried a direct connection to the on-board GPU. I tried it in DVI and VGA, on two different monitors. I’m getting worried about shutting this machine down over and over again like this.
What could cause this?
One thing I should point out, most articles I’ve looked at about building computers mention a 4-pin CPU plug. I’ve found the CPU fan plug (as evidenced by the fact that it spins), but I saw nothing like a connector for a 4 pin CPU plug on the motherboard. The manual doesn’t seem to mention one either, unless I’m completely blind and/or stupid.
The noise/heat/power issue with hard drives is pretty much irrelevant. They are all practically silent, use less than 10 watts of power, and generate no significant heat. Always have a pretty fast one as your main drive.
If not an LED code, then a beep code - unfortunately for some strange reason the Antec 900 doesn’t come with a beep code speaker. You can scavenge one off an old computer or I’d imagine computer shops would have one.
As far as a 4 pin connector, you’re talking about the CPU fan connector? It should be 4 metal prongs sticking up somewhere near the CPU socket usually labelled CPU or CPUFAN. That may be the cause of your problems depending on whether or not your motherboard automatically stops the CPU when it doesn’t detect a CPU fan connected - that’s probably not the issue though.
Yeah, that’s it. I thought for a moment that’s what you might be referring to and I should’ve posted about it. You must be reading an older guide, back when the EPS connector was 4 pin. 8 pin has been standard for a while.
And… actually, the CPU fan would be 3 pins, wouldn’t it? Power, ground, and RPM…
Things are looking up. I got Windows installed. Now my only issue is that the USB ports in the back don’t work. I can only use the ones on the front panel. So, my keyboard is awkwardly hooked up to the front of the computer.
thanks SenorBeef, Gorsnak. that is helpful and i have only two questions left.
so the Antec case and Seasonic psu will set me back $378. that’s more expensive than the cpu and motherboard! :eek: is that normal? i’m tempted to just get a cheap case and just change the graphic card when it burns out 1-2 years after purchase. i dunno. the extra $150 i save might be used to get the Phoenom 2 Black 965 or X6 1055T to accommodate future cards? which is more important? a faster cpu, a better case or 3 new games? i guess i just need some nudging to pay for the case… to this layman a case is just a box you know, i could always place it near the fan?
the HDMI thing appears to be just a souped-up vga cable? i guess i don’t have to worry about it. my tv has it, the graphics card appears to have it. just connect…?
and Beeblebrox! hope you fix that usb port soon, and thanks for letting me butt in here.
Get the Sonata III with the Antec 500W Earthwatt supply included. It’s a good case and decent PSU. 500w is plenty for a lower-end CPU and a 5770. It’s only $269 if I’m reading your sheet properly.
I think you might have to drop some of the savings into an aftermarket heatsink and fan to deal with the heat though. How often does it hang around 40C in Singapore?
