My first BIY PC, help please, my first/preliminary build.
August 15th, 2013http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3L60
second revision: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3MPc
I am very close to buying a build it myself PC so I am trying to get really close on picking each parts. Some parts such as the CPU and case I have researched and am very excited for while others I am not devoted to and am not sure if they are the right choice so I’d appreciate help there.
I am not a PC gamer, so this isn’t meant to be used for games, but I do like the idea that I COULD if I wanted to, play a game once in a while. Doesn’t have to be pretty. I am going to use this computer for just about everything, programming, HD video editing, Photoshop etc.
I also have a lot of questions, though any advice strictly on the build is much appreciated!
I currently have an older monitor that I want to dual monitor too, is that ok with my build? Is that what eyefinity is for? I also want to run an HDMI cable from the video card to my TV in another bedroom so that when I go to bed or just want to watch something I can stream it from my computer instead of a separate player/hard drive. The TV will likely be the only monitor being used when I’m actually in my bedroom, so I won’t be using all 3 monitors at once.
Is there any reason I should wait until Ivy Bridge comes out? Such as extreme price drop or anything? I’m fine getting Sandy Bridge because it has been out a while so there are not many issues, and an onboard graphics improvement won’t affect me.
With my laptop I have speedstep which can be annoying sometimes. I guess how it works is say I had a 2000 mhz processor, and I am utilizing something that doesn’t need 2000 mhz, it’ll go down to 1000 mhz to save power. Is this actually making things slower though?
I do plan on overclocking LATER on in the life of the computer as a cool way to upgrade but not right now. I’ll leave it stock/default. Do I need any kind of CPU cooler other than the one it comes with?
Do I need to buy any thermal paste or does it all come with it?
Do I need to buy any cables or should all these parts come with the necessary cables?
The monitor chosen has speakers so that would make it nice as a secondary TV if say a guest stayed over in that room. Is it possible to have a monitor without speakers builtin that can output to speakers? Say I plugged in a DVD player into the monitor for example.
Do I need an adapter to 3.5″ for the SSD?
When I am done building it, are there any settings I will need to set/change? Such as for the SSD?
Do all drivers come with the parts? Should everything be compatible?
How is the power supply? I really don’t know what to look for here.
How is the ram/memory? Is the latency ok? I see a few choices that are similar so I am not sure how to choose. This is a 4 pack, but should I buy 4 individually? 2 2 packs?
I am very excited about the SSD; it’s small but I will upgrade in a couple of years… which leads me to the question about the mechanical hard drive, how do I pick? Some have 4 star ratings but then I look at the reviews and a lot are DOA or “died after 3 weeks”… I don’t really care if it’s 500gb or 1tb or in between but I’d like reliability.
I read something about standoffs or spacers for the mobo, what are these?
Thank you! I really appreciate any help.
Don’t get the 6790. It’s a weak card. Get a GTX 550 Ti or a 6850.
I currently have an older monitor that I want to dual monitor too, is that ok with my build? Is that what eyefinity is for? I also want to run an HDMI cable from the video card to my TV in another bedroom so that when I go to bed or just want to watch something I can stream it from my computer instead of a separate player/hard drive. The TV will likely be the only monitor being used when I'm actually in my bedroom, so I won't be using all 3 monitors at once. You can run three monitors at the same time off any recent AMD card. Watch out for the cable length though HDMI and DisplayPort both will start deteriorating as you increase the length.
Is there any reason I should wait until Ivy Bridge comes out? Such as extreme price drop or anything? I'm fine getting Sandy Bridge because it has been out a while so there are not many issues, and an onboard graphics improvement won't affect me. Ivy Bridge wont have a lot of improvement in performance but it will be significantly lower in power consumption and it’s inbuilt GPU will be a lot better. The new motherboards will also have native USB 3.0 and a bunch of other features. You don’t really need to wait.
With my laptop I have speedstep which can be annoying sometimes. I guess how it works is say I had a 2000 mhz processor, and I am utilizing something that doesn't need 2000 mhz, it'll go down to 1000 mhz to save power. Is this actually making things slower though? It’s not making anything slower and you should keep it enabled.
I do plan on overclocking LATER on in the life of the computer as a cool way to upgrade but not right now. I'll leave it stock/default. Do I need any kind of CPU cooler other than the one it comes with? Stock one is trash. Get a cheap cooler like a Hyper 212+ they go for like $25.
Do I need to buy any thermal paste or does it all come with it? The cooler will come with some.
Do I need to buy any cables or should all these parts come with the necessary cables? Doesn’t seem like you’ll need anything else.
The monitor chosen has speakers so that would make it nice as a secondary TV if say a guest stayed over in that room. Is it possible to have a monitor without speakers builtin that can output to speakers? Say I plugged in a DVD player into the monitor for example. Some monitors have audio out but the monitor you’ve chosen doesn’t have it. A TV will definitely have that though.
Do I need an adapter to 3.5" for the SSD? The Phantom has support for up to 7 2.5″ drives out of the box.
When I am done building it, are there any settings I will need to set/change? Such as for the SSD? Yes but ask that question again later after you build it.
Do all drivers come with the parts? Should everything be compatible? Everything is compatible but you shouldn’t use the drivers that comes with the boxes. Download the latest stuff and install them.
How is the power supply? I really don't know what to look for here. It’s fine though there are better choices such as the Rosewill Capstone 450.
How is the ram/memory? Is the latency ok? I see a few choices that are similar so I am not sure how to choose. This is a 4 pack, but should I buy 4 individually? 2 2 packs? It’s fine.
I am very excited about the SSD; it's small but I will upgrade in a couple of years... which leads me to the question about the mechanical hard drive, how do I pick? Some have 4 star ratings but then I look at the reviews and a lot are DOA or "died after 3 weeks"... I don't really care if it's 500gb or 1tb or in between but I'd like reliability. Remember, for every negative review there’s around a 1000 satisfied buyers that don’t post reviews at all.
I read something about standoffs or spacers for the mobo, what are these? They will come with the case. Don’t worry about that.
JDX3DS replied: With my laptop I have speedstep which can be annoying sometimes. I guess how it works is say I had a 2000 mhz processor, and I am utilizing something that doesn't need 2000 mhz, it'll go down to 1000 mhz to save power. Is this actually making things slower though?
They bump up the frequency when it feels like it needs to. Not noticeable.
JDX3DS replied: I do plan on overclocking LATER on in the life of the computer as a cool way to upgrade but not right now. I'll leave it stock/default. Do I need any kind of CPU cooler other than the one it comes with?
Aftermarket coolers do perform better than the stock one.
More frequency and less noise.
JDX3DS replied: Do I need to buy any thermal paste or does it all come with it? The stock heatsink has thermal pad on it.
JDX3DS replied: Do I need to buy any cables or should all these parts come with the necessary cables? No unless you want to make the cables look good. Not required.
JDX3DS replied: The monitor chosen has speakers so that would make it nice as a secondary TV if say a guest stayed over in that room. Is it possible to have a monitor without speakers builtin that can output to speakers? Say I plugged in a DVD player into the monitor for example.
It would be a mess.
JDX3DS replied: Do I need an adapter to 3.5" for the SSD? Most cases these days come with a SSD compartment or the like.
JDX3DS replied: When I am done building it, are there any settings I will need to set/change? Such as for the SSD? Yes for the sake of lifespan some caching needs to be disabled.
JDX3DS replied: Do all drivers come with the parts? Should everything be compatible? The motherboard board support website has the latest drivers. The video card manufacturer AMD will have the latest drivers for the video card.
JDX3DS replied: How is the power supply? I really don't know what to look for here. The are better power supplies, some have fans as a backup while it runs passive most of the time. 80+ Gold Rated, good components and MOV chokes. Seasonic X series is one of the better buys.
JDX3DS replied: How is the ram/memory? Is the latency ok? I see a few choices that are similar so I am not sure how to choose. This is a 4 pack, but should I buy 4 individually? 2 2 packs? Latency doesn’t totally matter and is not noticeable. I’d get the biggest capacity per stick.
As its not quad channel, 2 sticks of the same brand/model will do.
JDX3DS replied: I am very excited about the SSD; it's small but I will upgrade in a couple of years... which leads me to the question about the mechanical hard drive, how do I pick? Some have 4 star ratings but then I look at the reviews and a lot are DOA or "died after 3 weeks"... I don't really care if it's 500gb or 1tb or in between but I'd like reliability. Once the system has been booted, the SSD won’t provide other major benefits. Some SSD’s degrade faster than others.
JDX3DS replied: I read something about standoffs or spacers for the mobo, what are these? All the cases you buy will come with these, you only need the standoffs, these are usually brownish gold that you screw in-place on the case which lifts the motherboard up and you screw the screw in after you place the motherboard in.
you may want to upgrade your choice of power supply. not sure what the specs are for your selected graphics card but for about 5 more dollars you can upgrade to a 650 watt from tigerdirect if its compatible with everything else. if not look around on here. tons of great quality at low price
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7195036&Sku=C13-2800
I’ll comment on this build. Hope I’m of some help.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3L60
I am very close to buying a build it myself PC so I am trying to get really close on picking each parts. Some parts such as the CPU and case I have researched and am very excited for while others I am not devoted to and am not sure if they are the right choice so I’d appreciate help there.
I am not a PC gamer, so this isn’t meant to be used for games, but I do like the idea that I COULD if I wanted to, play a game once in a while. Doesn’t have to be pretty. I am going to use this computer for just about everything, programming, HD video editing, Photoshop etc.
I also have a lot of questions, though any advice strictly on the build is much appreciated!
I currently have an older monitor that I want to dual monitor too, is that ok with my build? Is that what eyefinity is for? I also want to run an HDMI cable from the video card to my TV in another bedroom so that when I go to bed or just want to watch something I can stream it from my computer instead of a separate player/hard drive. The TV will likely be the only monitor being used when I’m actually in my bedroom, so I won’t be using all 3 monitors at once.
Dual monitor is fine and will work fine with this build. I’ve got another monitor running VGA and my main monitor is HDMI. Eyefinity is basically running multiple screens (e.g. 6 screens) and having the entire picture using all screens as one big screen. A bit like a projector. Running a HDMI cable from one room to another will work perfectly. I believe the GPU you are getting has 2 HDMI ports. So one for your normal monitor and one for the screen in your other room. VGA will work good for your second monitor.
Is there any reason I should wait until Ivy Bridge comes out? Such as extreme price drop or anything? I’m fine getting Sandy Bridge because it has been out a while so there are not many issues, and an onboard graphics improvement won’t affect me.
No one knows yet how well they will be in terms of pricing and I’m sure performance will be great as expected from Intel. At this moment in time, the second generation iCore processors seems to be fairly cheap compared to when the first generation was out. Pricing has dropped/been quite low for a while.
With my laptop I have speedstep which can be annoying sometimes. I guess how it works is say I had a 2000 mhz processor, and I am utilizing something that doesn’t need 2000 mhz, it’ll go down to 1000 mhz to save power. Is this actually making things slower though?
If the processor was applying 1000MHz to everything that you do and not going back to the full 2000MHz, then yes, it will be slower. Its great for power saving and you will not notice much difference if you are only surfing the internet or doing simple tasks. You will see a difference in performance when applications demand more resources.
I do plan on overclocking LATER on in the life of the computer as a cool way to upgrade but not right now. I’ll leave it stock/default. Do I need any kind of CPU cooler other than the one it comes with?
At the moment, since you’re not overclocking, you will be perfectly fine with the retail cooler. Intel’s coolers for the second-gen of iCores are a lot better and you can actually overclock the CPU a little bit without having to spend more money on an aftermarket cooler. When you do overclock though, it is recommended to get an better heatsink/fan as the retail will struggle to keep the CPU cool enough.
Do I need to buy any thermal paste or does it all come with it?
From the looks of your PC list, it seems to be retail, which means that the thermal paste is already applied to the heatsink. All you have to do is take off the protective cover and place on top of the CPU.
Do I need to buy any cables or should all these parts come with the necessary cables?
Your power supply will come with all you internal cables. Nothing to worry about in that sense. I believe your GPU package should come with a set of cables although I would double-check with the seller as some products sold do not come with all the cables.
The monitor chosen has speakers so that would make it nice as a secondary TV if say a guest stayed over in that room. Is it possible to have a monitor without speakers builtin that can output to speakers? Say I plugged in a DVD player into the monitor for example.
Only as long as the monitor has a port where you can plug in external speakers. Otherwise you will have to plug in the sound via the PC and have long enough cables to move them into your other room.
Do I need an adapter to 3.5″ for the SSD?
When I am done building it, are there any settings I will need to set/change? Such as for the SSD?
I don’t have an SSD. Hopefully someone with an SSD can shed some light on this for you.
Do all drivers come with the parts? Should everything be compatible?
RAM, HDD and PSU do not come with drivers. They are not needed and will be detected automatically by windows.
How is the power supply? I really don’t know what to look for here.
PSU looks ok, although a little low if you want to overclock/upgrade later on. Maybe worth spending a little more getting 600w-700w and not have to spend later on, say if you wanted upgrade CPU/GPU/HDD.
How is the ram/memory? Is the latency ok? I see a few choices that are similar so I am not sure how to choose. This is a 4 pack, but should I buy 4 individually? 2 2 packs?
RAM is fine although my only question is, do you really need 16GB? Seems like super-overkill to me.
I am very excited about the SSD; it’s small but I will upgrade in a couple of years… which leads me to the question about the mechanical hard drive, how do I pick? Some have 4 star ratings but then I look at the reviews and a lot are DOA or “died after 3 weeks”… I don’t really care if it’s 500gb or 1tb or in between but I’d like reliability.
Reviews are often from people who have been unfortunate and picked up a dodgy HDD. You will find that with many products. More often than not, look at speed, reliability and respected manufacturers such as Western Digital, Samsung etc.
I read something about standoffs or spacers for the mobo, what are these?
No idea. Hopefully someone can help you with this.
Thank you! I really appreciate any help.
Add second revision, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3MPc
JDX3DS replied: Add second revision, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3MPc
I would recommend a better video card, and a TX750 so you can later do SLI if you choose.
what is that?
The PSU you’ve picked out for the second build isn’t really a good deal. There are better performers available for less.
Yeah not very sure what to look for
Yeah not very sure what to look for Here’s a superior PSU
$90 after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341051
Here’s a slightly lower build quality version of the above PSU with slight differences.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182132
If you’re fine with non modular PSUs this PSU is impossible to beat under $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182071
If you’re fine with spending $120 as you initially planned this PSU is the best you could get and is 100% modular.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256059