Double check my computer build!

daystcity · #1 05-01-2009, 05:21 PM

Hey guys, I've spent the last couple weeks shopping for my first build-it-yourself computer and I think I've got it down. Keep in mind I am fairly tech-oriented and have access to two teachers and many students at school who will help me. I just want to run it by this community and see if you have any suggestions for me, whether you think I could cut costs somewhere, or a different X would be last longer, anyway, thanks a lot!

Also, feel free to run questions by me if you're too lazy to look stuff up, seriously, I've spent many hours doing that already!

**john turner** · #2 05-01-2009, 05:23 PM

so. what's your setup?

daystcity · #3 05-01-2009, 05:23 PM

and the rest:

fitbass3p · #4 05-01-2009, 05:36 PM

What were you planning on using it for? Under what OS?

Selective stuff:
--Audio editing: Invest in a good sound card.
--Gaming: Spend the money on a better graphics card. It will last you longer for a smaller investment now.

Things I would do in any case:
--Harddrives are cheap, but there's no reason to buy two right now. Save the money and get another one if/when you run out of space on the first 640GB in the future.
--8 GB of RAM? That's quite a bit of overkill for today's programs.

daystcity · #5 05-01-2009, 05:49 PM

A better video card? What would you recommend? I plan on dual booting vista for games and Ubuntu for everything else, 8 gigs is so I NEVER have to worry about ram issues for the current programs and the near future. I am considering running raid 0 for the dual drive point, but I have considered going to just one as I can not see filling up that much space anyway like you said and simplifying the HD setup is appealing.

I will use it for the family powerhouse, video editing when necessary and general heavy lifting, my own personal for schoolwork and gaming. I'm not that hardcore of a gamer, just would like to have a pretty and smooth running gaming system to play on my free time with my buddies and not worry about whether it will work or lag or not.

Regarding the video card, I've been told that Nvidia works best for linux and is more performance oriented than ATIs which are prettier, and this is really the most B.A. one for the price I've found, will I really have performance issues for moderate gaming?

machine gewehr · #6 05-01-2009, 06:29 PM

640 gb 7200 RPM?I'm loving your hdd.

daystcity · #7 05-01-2009, 06:37 PM

Yeah, that's the low end of the spectrum today also! You can buy some at 10k, and with a special connector 15k rpm!

I should also mention that I already have a soundcard lined up from my brothers older computer. Regarding the video card, I'm pretty sure it will do fine. I am more shocked that gamers are purchasing higher-end cards than wanting to improve upon it.

kanonfodr · #8 05-01-2009, 07:23 PM

ooh...a linux/vista box. Make sure all those toys have supporting drivers for linux.

The 1240gb raid stack sounds nifty, and will not run out any time soon.

I can't view your setup on my govt. internet connection, but I have found that Seagate has a 1.5 TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive link .

IMHO, it would be better to run that monster slaved to a SSD serving as your boot/program drive. That way your multimedia (songs, movies, etc.) and personal files (pics, word docs, and such) aren't clogging your boot drive which would give you some amazingly fast boots but still keep your capacity rather high. It may cost more, but the performance increase may be worth it to you.

My god it's been forever since I've built a desktop, been using laptops only since 2006 (Alienware Aurora for the big dogs, HP for wifi/traveling). They're so much funner.

Peace,
Greg

Kenbuntu · #9 05-01-2009, 07:42 PM

yes man, Linux for the win!

daystcity · #10 05-01-2009, 09:03 PM

If only I had an extra couple hundred for a ssd... As for linux/windows, I love linux to death but windows can't be beat for companies conforming to one operating system. Pah. That OS is for when you just want a program to work and don't really care how or why or what it looks like on the inside as long as you can join the rest of the world, but I'm not happy about it! You hear that! That's all your good for! (and publisher)

I actually don't hate windows all that much, just am ticked that I need to spend money on an operating system. Who does that any more?

I've become addicted to knowing my computer inside and out and messing with it, sometimes that lacking in windows drives me crazy!! Having a backup is a must on my linux partition however!

On a more on topic note, is raid 0 really a large improvement? Would it be worth it or would I be ok with just one drive right now. I'm typing this on an 8 year old base model laptop so anything is a huge improvement

.Is there anything you guys can see incompatible or weird please let me know! When you've looked at something too long it's much appreciated to see another perspective.

fdeck · #11 05-01-2009, 11:36 PM

Don't forget a power cord.

FreaqyFrequency · #12 05-01-2009, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdeck

Don't forget a power cord.

So many ways an Amps [BG] dweller could respond to this......ah.........

Let's not go there.

Stumbo · #13 05-02-2009, 01:10 AM

Card Reader?
Speakers?
Keyboard?
Sound Card? I like: http://www.soundblaster.com/products...&product=17813
Mouse: Logitech Trackball are good

I like dual hard drives. Use the second to backup your data.

You can always add memory later. Most of the time when I overkill on something, by the time it's usable, I'm already on to another system.

daystcity · #14 05-02-2009, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Don't forget a power cord.

Power supply comes with one

Quote:

Card Reader?
Speakers?
Keyboard?
Sound Card? I like: http://www.soundblaster.com/products...&product=17813
Mouse: Logitech Trackball are good

Check on all of them! A question about vista 64 bit though, I've heard it has backwards compatability issues... How big of an issue is this, my big concern is windows movie maker as that is what the family will be using my comp for. After seeing the prices for vista, I'm really glad I know an ex-employee, that's ridiculous!

MJ5150 · #15 05-02-2009, 02:51 PM

Phew......that looks like a lot of work. Head over to Dell.com or Apple.com. The only choice you have to make there is color of the keyboard. Then, you get this big box in the mail and all you gotta do is plug it in.

-Mike

Nappa · #16 05-02-2009, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Phew......that looks like a lot of work. Head over to Dell.com or Apple.com. The only choice you have to make there is color of the keyboard. Then, you get this big box in the mail and all you gotta do is plug it in.

-Mike

Don't forget the effort of trying to justify to a family member why you would spend a lot of money on something (especially Apple) for a little gaming and video editing.

TOOL460002 · #17 05-02-2009, 03:59 PM

Buy one small, high-rpm hard drive to run applications and another large one for your data storage.

ehque · #18 05-02-2009, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOOL460002

Buy one small, high-rpm hard drive to run applications and another large one for your data storage.

Agreed. Raid 0 seems twice as fast but you could easily run windows/linux off individual 80 GB harddrives and use something larger for your data. Almost as fast, and a whole lot easier to format/upgrade.

I personally would go with a beefier PSU as well.

Muusers · #19 05-03-2009, 04:28 AM

Get a GTX 260, should be about the same price but it's a lot better. AND, 1GB dedicated for your videocard is a total waste. It'll only have effect if you're playing games on bigger screens (from 24" and up). And even 24" run fine on 512MB. Besides, the GTX xxx series start at 896MB, which is plenty for bigger screens too.

Absentia · #20 05-03-2009, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOOL460002

Buy one small, high-rpm hard drive to run applications and another large one for your data storage.

+1
damn straight