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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 12:24 pm
by Troy
So I have worked my butt off this summer and I finally have enough to start designing and ordering parts for my new computer...
I plan on buying everything from newegg.com and me and a buddy of mine are gonna do the installation ourselves. Here is what i have put together so far Here.
I already have a wirless keyboard and mouse, 19 inch LCD monitor, speakers, DVD rom drive, a stick of corsiar 512 3200 RAM and windows professional, office, norton, roxio and a few other necessary software components.
Please feel free to make an suggestions or observations of the parts I plan on getting.
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 12:44 pm
by 71-1085092892
Just glancing, you need at least 1 80mm case fan. They're cheap, so I'd get 2... and if you have an open drive bay, get a drive bay fan, too.
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 12:45 pm
by 71-1085092892
Wait, nm, I just noticed they come with the case.
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:11 pm
by Paul
Speakers?
I'm not an audio buff, so if it were me I'd skip the SoundBlaster card for now and see how happy I was with the on-board sound. If the on-board sound sucked, then I'd go ahead with a sound card.
The processor/fan combo will probably come with a thermal pad stuck to it, which is generally good enough. I'd skip the thermal paste. Of course, I have a tube of thermal paste at work that I can always use if I was unhappy.
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:34 pm
by 71-1085092892
Yeah, I'm happy with my ASUS mb onboard sound.
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:02 pm
by Cakedaddy
I always skip the sound card too. Use to always be into the high end sound cards and stuff. Till one time I skipped it to save some money with the intention of getting it later. Built in sound worked fine. The current ones support Dolby 5.1, etc. So, I dunno. If it's for gaming, I'd run with the built in first. If you are doing composing or something, upgrade later.
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 4:43 pm
by Troy
Yeah the sound card was just something i added at the last second, and i might still get a drive fan for some extra cooling pleasure 
I'm still not sure what video card to use, my price range is in the 200 dollar range and the one on the list is more of a place holder, because since i have a tv, there is really no reason for my computer to function as one, smaller screen and all. Some of the new Radeon 9800xts had caught my eye...
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 5:08 pm
by 71-1085092892
Last 2 times I built PC's, the entire cost was $1,200ish... but the video cards were $400.
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 9:50 pm
by Leisher
New video cards should be hitting the stores now, should you might get a price drop there. Keep an eye out on pricewatch.com to see if they do drop. If that Radeon 9800 XT card gets down into your price range (and only into your price range) its worth the upgrade.
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 9:54 pm
by 71-1085092892
If I were building a new PC today, I'd buy the video card that Half Life 2 was supposedly optimized for. I can't recall which one it was, offhand.
Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 12:51 pm
by mbilderback
I'm still an Nvidia die hard. I've had waaaaay too many problems with ATI cards.