Homebuilt PC

Started by Circuit September 25th, 2010 2:44 PM
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  • 37 replies

Circuit

Wiring your Circuits

Age 27
Male
Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
4,815 posts
15.2 Years
I am planning on building my own computer, but am not sure who to go to for all the stuff. This is what I'm looking for.

A computer which I can sit at, with a good sound card, so I don't have to sit with headphones on for good sound. A lot of memory roughly a Terrabyte is wanted I guess. Possibly two. I wan't to put around four movies and six series' on it so, yeah. A nice Widescreen monitor so screen quality wont be an issue. The case I shall build myself. OS, Windows 7 Home Premium.

If I've missed anything important, please say. I'm just asking because I'm not sure what places would best to get each different part. Thanks for all advice given.

Purple Materia

Shape the future!

Age 28
Male
Seen April 12th, 2014
Posted August 20th, 2013
783 posts
12.7 Years
What would you want to accomplish? Would you be playing high-end games? Just watching movies? You'd need a good monitor and video card if you plan on watching movies in HD, but you can always get a low-end card that'll support HD if money is tight.

"I have fallen from the Land of Magic. I am Stardust Witch Meruru!"
Combat Arms | Raptr | Hummingbird | Last.fm

twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen

Age 32
Male
Michigan
Seen February 19th, 2023
Posted April 30th, 2021
4,307 posts
14.2 Years
Sound cards don't affect sound quality. They're mostly for specific things, like multiple audio output or output to specific devices. If you want good sound quality without using headphones, get good speakers.

When you say "memory," people generally assume you are referring to RAM, which is related to how many things the computer can do at a given time. You have confused the term with "disk space," which is how much data can be saved (such as movies or music).

This is a good site to use when it's actually working, otherwise just use Newegg. An H55 motherboard, an Intel i3 or i5 processor, a Spinpoint F3 terabyte hard disk drive or two, and 3 or 4GB of DDR3 RAM should be sufficient for your needs.
VNs are superior to anime, don't @ me

donavannj

Age 32
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'cause it get cold like Minnesota
Seen 4 Days Ago
Posted 1 Week Ago
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18.2 Years
Also, to add to what twocows said: get yourself a USB external hard drive that's at least as big in capacity as your system's hard drive is. Use a backup program to copy your data/back up your entire system on it.
whoops

Archer

NSW, Australia
Seen January 26th, 2020
Posted January 5th, 2020
3,956 posts
16.6 Years
Sound cards don't affect sound quality. They're mostly for specific things, like multiple audio output or output to specific devices. If you want good sound quality without using headphones, get good speakers.
I know a lot of people that would kill you for saying that. The sound card DOES affect quality, by a lot, it's just that the bottleneck is usually the speakers or headphones. I still don't think you need a sound card unless you're playing high fidelity music, though. As for speakers, you need to consider a few things - budget, free space and simplicity. Budget obviously defines what you can actually afford to get yourself, desk space lets you get bigger speakers if you want that, otherwise you can go with a 2.1 system (with a sub). If you have the right room setup and don't mind some extra cables, 5.1 can be great for movies and games. Logitech's 2.1 and 5.1 systems are great value for money.
This is a good site to use when it's actually working, otherwise just use Newegg. An H55 motherboard, an Intel i3 or i5 processor, a Spinpoint F3 terabyte hard disk drive or two, and 3 or 4GB of DDR3 RAM should be sufficient for your needs.
For movie uses, yeah, you'll be fine with the Clarkdale GPU, but you must get the dual-core i5-600 series. The i3s aren't as gutsy and don't have quite as good of a GPU, from memory. And the i5-760s (the quads) don't have the on-chip graphics. Keep in mind you won't be playing any recent games in the Intel graphics, though. They still cope fine with HD playback of movies. F3s are the best performing HDDs for the money, but the Warranty is shorter than most, so weigh it up into your choice. Just get a 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 kit. There's little point screwing around with 3GB, as you lose the dual-channel performance and it's just messy.

twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen

Age 32
Male
Michigan
Seen February 19th, 2023
Posted April 30th, 2021
4,307 posts
14.2 Years
I know a lot of people that would kill you for saying that. The sound card DOES affect quality, by a lot, it's just that the bottleneck is usually the speakers or headphones.
Nonsense, onboard sound these days is nearly identical to sound card output. Audiophiles are not a reliable source of information; many of them fail blind listening tests but still insist they can tell the difference between high bitrate lossy and lossless. As long as you're listening to well encoded music with good headphones or speakers, the sound card is usually irrelevant.
VNs are superior to anime, don't @ me

Circuit

Wiring your Circuits

Age 27
Male
Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
4,815 posts
15.2 Years
For movie uses, yeah, you'll be fine with the Clarkdale GPU, but you must get the dual-core i5-600 series. The i3s aren't as gutsy and don't have quite as good of a GPU, from memory. And the i5-760s (the quads) don't have the on-chip graphics. Keep in mind you won't be playing any recent games in the Intel graphics, though. They still cope fine with HD playback of movies.
What graphics card would be good for playing recent games on? I would like to be able to play some games on it too.

twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen

Age 32
Male
Michigan
Seen February 19th, 2023
Posted April 30th, 2021
4,307 posts
14.2 Years

What graphics card would be good for playing recent games on? I would like to be able to play some games on it too.
If you want to play recent games (as in, within the past year or two), you'll need to invest a bit more money. Go with a P55 motherboard instead of an H55 motherboard and consider investing in an Intel i5-760 processor.
VNs are superior to anime, don't @ me

Circuit

Wiring your Circuits

Age 27
Male
Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
4,815 posts
15.2 Years
Thanks. This is what I have so far;

Motherboard: EVGA P55 LE 123-LF-E653-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99
CPU:
Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 $199.99
Memory:
Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 System Specific Memory Model KTH-X3B/4G $166.99
Sound Card:
ASUS Xonar DS 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Audio Card $49.99
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N470D5-13I-B GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support $299.99
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x2 $149.98
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Speakers: Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers $99.99
Case: Homebuilt
Monitor: ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 (1000:1) Built-in Speakers $219.99

Total: $1336.91
So what do you think? Are there better values for money, or are there better systems I should probably get? Thanks for any advice again.

Archer

NSW, Australia
Seen January 26th, 2020
Posted January 5th, 2020
3,956 posts
16.6 Years
Nonsense, onboard sound these days is nearly identical to sound card output. Audiophiles are not a reliable source of information; many of them fail blind listening tests but still insist they can tell the difference between high bitrate lossy and lossless. As long as you're listening to well encoded music with good headphones or speakers, the sound card is usually irrelevant.
To be fair, I did say that the speakers and headphones are the bottleneck and still said that sound card wasn't worth it for the OP. I personally use onboard sound, so I was just getting at the fact that X-Fi sound cards DO become a bottleneck when you have .flac encoded music and $300 headphones. At this point, the headphones actually need a gutsier card to drive the bigger drivers, anyway. But yeah, that's more of a physical trait. In the right situation, they do make a difference, but it's pretty specific. It's still important to ensure that you have a decent on-board sound card, such as the HD Realtek ones.
Thanks. This is what I have so far;

Motherboard: EVGA P55 LE 123-LF-E653-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99 - Fine
CPU:
Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 $199.99 - Fine
Memory:
Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 System Specific Memory Model KTH-X3B/4G $166.99 - Fine (what I have, actually)
Sound Card:
ASUS Xonar DS 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Audio Card $49.99 - Waste of time
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N470D5-13I-B GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support $299.99 - Very nice, but hungry
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x2 $149.98 - Fine, just consider the short warranty
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium - Make sure it's 64-bit
Speakers: Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers $99.99 - Fine
Case: Homebuilt - Uh...??
Monitor: ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 (1000:1) Built-in Speakers $219.99 Save yourself some money and get a screen with integrated speakers? Asus, Dell, BenQ screens are all fine.

Total: $1336.91
So what do you think? Are there better values for money, or are there better systems I should probably get? Thanks for any advice again.
Okay, a few things. Firstly, despite my arguing with twocows, he's perfectly right that you don't need a sound card. That board will be fine.

I really don't know about the case, so just run that by us. Also, with that graphics card, you're going to want to ensure that you get a decent (Corsair, Antec, Silverstone, Cooler Master, Thermaltake, Enermax) 650W Power supply.

donavannj

Age 32
Male
'cause it get cold like Minnesota
Seen 4 Days Ago
Posted 1 Week Ago
22,513 posts
18.2 Years
I really don't know about the case, so just run that by us. Also, with that graphics card, you're going to want to ensure that you get a decent (Corsair, Antec, Silverstone, Cooler Master, Thermaltake, Enermax) 650W Power supply.
I'd personally go for a 750W power supply just to be on the safe side. I also have had poor experiences with Cooler Master PSUs, but maybe it's just me.
whoops

Archer

NSW, Australia
Seen January 26th, 2020
Posted January 5th, 2020
3,956 posts
16.6 Years
I'd personally go for a 750W power supply just to be on the safe side. I also have had poor experiences with Cooler Master PSUs, but maybe it's just me.
650W is fine, providing it's a decent brand. And Cooler Master's own PSUs are fine. The ones they send out in low-end cases are generic rebrands and they're crap.
Are Fatal1ty PSU's worth it?
They're just rebrands, usually. Which reminds, me OCZ are a good brand, as well. Not too expensive, either.

donavannj

Age 32
Male
'cause it get cold like Minnesota
Seen 4 Days Ago
Posted 1 Week Ago
22,513 posts
18.2 Years
It is batter to google for some batter article about costume build PC.
Not when there's 5 or 6 people who have considerable experience working with computer hardware who regularly visit this board.
whoops

Circuit

Wiring your Circuits

Age 27
Male
Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
4,815 posts
15.2 Years
Thanks everyone. This is what I have changed;

Motherboard: EVGA P55 LE 123-LF-E653-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99
CPU:
Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 $199.99
Memory:
Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 System Specific Memory Model KTH-X3B/4G $166.99
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N470D5-13I-B GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support $299.99
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x2 $149.98
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Speakers: Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers $99.99
Case: Homebuilt
Monitor:
ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers $189.99

Total: $1256.92
What I mean by Homebuilt, is that I will build it myself, from scraps and stuff from home, and make it unique to me. W7 will be 64 bit, don't worry about that.
However, what do you mean when you say that my video card is hungry?
Thanks for all advice given.

Mr. X

It's... kinda effective?

Age 30
Male
London
Seen July 1st, 2022
Posted June 12th, 2019
2,389 posts
16.6 Years
He means that the video card will require substancal amounts of power. I don't follow Nivida hardware but i beleive a 700W psu will provide enough power.

I'd help out but since im a AMD/ATI fanboy the only thing i'd say is switch to a AMD motherboard and get a AMD Hexacore processor and get a Radeon 5xx0 series video card.

Archer

NSW, Australia
Seen January 26th, 2020
Posted January 5th, 2020
3,956 posts
16.6 Years
Thanks everyone. This is what I have changed;

Motherboard: EVGA P55 LE 123-LF-E653-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99
CPU:
Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 $199.99
Memory:
Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 System Specific Memory Model KTH-X3B/4G $166.99
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N470D5-13I-B GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support $299.99
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x2 $149.98
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Speakers: Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers $99.99
Case: Homebuilt
Monitor:
ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers $189.99

Total: $1256.92
What I mean by Homebuilt, is that I will build it myself, from scraps and stuff from home, and make it unique to me. W7 will be 64 bit, don't worry about that.
However, what do you mean when you say that my video card is hungry?
Thanks for all advice given.
You still don't have a Power Supply. That's sort of important.
He means that the video card will require substantial amounts of power. I don't follow Nivida hardware but i beleive a 700W psu will provide enough power.

I'd help out but since im a AMD/ATI fanboy the only thing i'd say is switch to a AMD motherboard and get a AMD Hexacore processor and get a Radeon 5xx0 series video card.
I am too, but I also think it's important to let the buyer choose the brands that they want to. You could probably save a little bit of money by going with a similarly specced 785GT board/Phenom X4 970 CPU/5850 setup, but the OP's system is just fine in that regard, as the cheaper system would be slightly slower. Fermi's basically caught up with the 5000 series, now that prices have dropped.

As for the Graphics card, it should be fine with a good 650W.

Circuit

Wiring your Circuits

Age 27
Male
Berlin
Seen January 6th, 2021
Posted July 29th, 2020
4,815 posts
15.2 Years
Motherboard: EVGA P55 LE 123-LF-E653-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99
CPU:
Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 $199.99
Memory:
Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 System Specific Memory Model KTH-X3B/4G $166.99
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N470D5-13I-B GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support $299.99
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x2 $149.98
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Speakers: Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers $99.99
Case: Homebuilt
Monitor: ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers $189.99
Power Supply: Thermaltake EVO_Blue W0307RU 650W ATX 12V 2.3 / EPS 12V 2.91 CrossFire Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $119.99

Total: $1376.91

Hopefully that looks ok. I was wondering though, I want it to look stylish, so that's why I chose that power supply, but if I got a better one, could I make the same effect on it myself?

Mr. X

It's... kinda effective?

Age 30
Male
London
Seen July 1st, 2022
Posted June 12th, 2019
2,389 posts
16.6 Years
And im not so sure about this but you might want to get a psu that is SLI certified instead of Crossfire certified. SLI and Crossfire are both for video card which lets you connect 2+ video cards of the same type and run them at the same time through one monitor. Basicly if you run dual Fermi's in SLI you will get twice the preformance compared to running a single Fermi. But Crossfire is for ATI while SLI is for nividia. It won't make a diffrence for using just one card but if you ever decide to run SLI it would be better if the psu was certified for SLI use.

But generally speaking you don't want a psu that looks stylish. You want a psu that is reliable. Although it might be a good psu i would recommend getting a psu that has 200+ reviews.

In this case i would recommend this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-139-005&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=3&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=%28keywords%29&Page=1

Before i forget what do you plan to construct the case out of and what do you plan on making it look like?
Age 29
Male
Time Traveler
Seen November 13th, 2016
Posted December 9th, 2013
740 posts
13.9 Years
Motherboard: EVGA P55 LE 123-LF-E653-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99
CPU:
Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 $199.99
Memory:
Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 System Specific Memory Model KTH-X3B/4G $166.99
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N470D5-13I-B GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support $299.99
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x2 $149.98
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Speakers: Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers $99.99
Case: Homebuilt
Monitor: ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers $189.99
Power Supply: Thermaltake EVO_Blue W0307RU 650W ATX 12V 2.3 / EPS 12V 2.91 CrossFire Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $119.99

Total: $1376.91

Hopefully that looks ok. I was wondering though, I want it to look stylish, so that's why I chose that power supply, but if I got a better one, could I make the same effect on it myself?
You do realize that this built performance wise is more then you will need for what you want to do?

Also I suggest to take a look at the Samsung 2233rz 120hz monitor.

donavannj

Age 32
Male
'cause it get cold like Minnesota
Seen 4 Days Ago
Posted 1 Week Ago
22,513 posts
18.2 Years


You do realize that this built performance wise is more then you will ever need for what you want to do?
Not true, honestly. Consider how big the leaps in typical file sizes and computer capabilities have been the past 10 years, and how much more resources applications consume just to run. Then consider what could happen in the next 5 years. Now do you still say that it's way more than *Firestar* will ever need?
whoops
Age 29
Male
Time Traveler
Seen November 13th, 2016
Posted December 9th, 2013
740 posts
13.9 Years
Not true, honestly. Consider how big the leaps in typical file sizes and computer capabilities have been the past 10 years, and how much more resources applications consume just to run. Then consider what could happen in the next 5 years. Now do you still say that it's way more than *Firestar* will ever need?
Actually, I meant to say that for what he wants to do this is build is more then he needs for now.

My build is nowhere close to this and I do all of it fairly okay.

In other words, I didn't meant to say "ever".