Help check for compatibility on my computer build?

[Invidious]

First let me say hello, my name is Fred, it is nice to meet you all. This is my first time at this forum. I appologize if this is a cliche thread I'm making X.X. To me, everything looks like it should be in order, but since this is my first time assembling a computer I would like to be sure I'm getting it right.

So, since this is my first time building a computer, I appologize for not knowing much about it. I studied a lot and learned a lot, and I think I have selected all of the items I want or need, and I think that they are all compatible. If anyone could just help me make sure I would be very thankful.

CPU
CPU Socket Type LGA 775?**
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops


Motherboard
CPU Socket Type LGA 775 **
(RAM info
Number of Memory Slots: 4×240pin *
Memory Standard: DDR2 1366+/1066 *)
(Case info
Form Factor: ATX ##)
PCI Express 2.0 x16: 1
PCI Express x 1: 3

Storage devices

• PATA: 1 x ATA100 2 Dev. Max
• SATA 3Gb/s: 8
• SATA RAID: 0/1/5/10

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards



RAM (four gigs)
Type 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM *)
Newegg.com - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Optical Drive
Interface SATA
Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

Hard Drive
Interface SATA 3.0Gb/s
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Hard drive cooling fan
Newegg.com - Rosewill RFHD-80BL Hard Drive Cooling 80mm Aluminum Fan - Hard Drive Cooling

Nvidia graphics card.
Interface PCI Express 2.0 x16
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Power Supply Unit (PSU)
Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Frame (tower)
Motherboard Compatibility: ATX Form Factor 12" x 10.5" or smaller
Newegg.com - RAIDMAX xB ATX-528B Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

These are all the parts I plan on using to assemble the desktop. I think they will all fit together but I'm not sure. The hard drive worries me for the PSU though because of the 3.0 gb/s I don't know what that means and if it effects anything. Please help me (an idiot) out here if anyone can. The PSU's compatiblity is really confusing me sadly.

I'm building this for mild gaming performance with a larger focus in just performance in general. I'm going to get windows vista for the OS, and I have a monitor on the way already. Newegg.com - Acer X223Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 2500:1 - LCD Monitors

So please if anyone can check to make sure they are compatible and if I'm missing anything important.

Thank you very much.

 

[saltynay]

Get the E8300 or E8400 if your going dual core. Modern games are supposedly going to support multi-threading so a Q9300 may be worth consideration.

1tb is a lot to lose in one hit you will reduce wear on the harddrive by getting a small 320gb for your OS and main programs and use the 1tb as storage. Windows has a paging file which means the drive is getting written to every minute so damages the drive. Although that drive is rated for 5 years usage its still a lot to bet on a warranty.

Why are you going to cool your Hardrive? they only run at about 50C and with a decent case the hdds should have a fairly consistant airflow

Personally I would pay an extra $50 and get the 4870

Nice powersupply it is one of the best brands you can get

That case is rubbish the airflow is pretty awful only 2x80mms and they are not working in a linear fashion. Look into the antec 900 its fairly similar style but better cooling.

Hdd uses the sata2 interface which has a theoretical speed of 3gb/sec but modern mechanical harddrives don't normally go over 100mb/sec in speed without breaking the bank and paying stupid money so the speed of the cable is much faster then the hdd which is a good thing.

You also need a hsf for your cpu the core contact freezer is cheap atm

 

[Invidious]

Get the E8300 or E8400 if your going dual core. Modern games are supposedly going to support multi-threading so a Q9300 may be worth consideration.

Is this what you're talking about? Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

I guess I could shell out the extra bucks it isn't that much more, however if the point is "multi-threading" (if that translates to hyperthreading) the site says it doesn't support hyper threading.

1tb is a lot to lose in one hit you will reduce wear on the harddrive by getting a small 320gb for your OS and main programs and use the 1tb as storage. Windows has a paging file which means the drive is getting written to every minute so damages the drive. Although that drive is rated for 5 years usage its still a lot to bet on a warranty.

Why are you going to cool your Hardrive? they only run at about 50C and with a decent case the hdds should have a fairly consistant airflow

Do you think this would be better while using the other as just storage(or just getting a new one for storage if I need it later in life)? Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD502lJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
(also can you direct me to something that explains how to set up one of them as storage?)

I was going to cool the hard drive because someone told me too, and it was like $5.

Personally I would pay an extra $50 and get the 4870

This? Newegg.com - ASUS EAH4870 DK/HTDI/512MD5 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards I think I agree, it seems pretty good.

That case is rubbish the airflow is pretty awful only 2x80mms and they are not working in a linear fashion. Look into the antec 900 its fairly similar style but better cooling.

I'm looking at the antec 900 only it doesn't have a spot for the cd/dvd opticle drive. Here is one I think might be good. Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases It has a 120mm Fans 1 x 120mm rear fan
140mm Fans 1 x 140mm top fan
instead. I'm just worried about the dimensions because I don't understand them. 18" x 18.3" x 8.1" Although it says ATX, will it fit this size of ATX motherboard... Dimensions 12.0" x 9.6"? I should probably keep looking for a case since the reviews say this one is too loud.

Hdd uses the sata2 interface which has a theoretical speed of 3gb/sec but modern mechanical harddrives don't normally go over 100mb/sec in speed without breaking the bank and paying stupid money so the speed of the cable is much faster then the hdd which is a good thing.

Oh, so that means any SATA compatible connector can be used?

You also need a hsf for your cpu the core contact freezer is cheap atm

Do have a reccomendation on which one is a good idea or will pretty much any heat sink do?

Thank you for your help Saltynay =)

 

[Trotter]

Multi-threading = using multiple cores for the same thing, such as a game.

You install you operating system on the smaller drive and format the larger drive. For me, I would install the smaller drive, get your computer up and tunning with everything installed, and then add in the second drive. The smaller drive will be your C: drive, and the other would be D:. Just make sure you install any other programs on the D: drive. I use the same setup.

The 900 has three 5.25" bays for optical drives.

 

[saltynay]

Multi-threading is not hyperthreading (which was a P4 technology originally). Most programs/games now a days only use a single core or thread to do there processing so one core is left idle (normally doing background tasks) if a game has multithread support it can use all cores at the same time and split the processing between the four cores (more hands make light work philosophy).

Little point cooling a hdd they normally die because of mechanical motor failure or contamination, not heat.

I generally just prefer to have two drives it leads to ease of use and better life out of the drives, its personal choice and you can keep adding harddrives after building until you run out of sata ports on the motherboard and even then you can get addon cards to add more. My pc atm has 5 hdd's in but my case can hold upto 12 if needed.
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives <--- for Operating system and programs. With the 1tb for storage although the 500gb may suit you better as a 1tb is a lot to fill. I am not you so don't know how much data you get through.

Yeah thats a good 4870 as it has the extra large cooler on it (as all 4870's gpus are made exclusively by ATI and then shipped to the various brands where they then stick a sticker on it and sell it on. The rule of thumb is to choose the cheapest or the one thats the cheapest with the most gimmicks like a free game, or a better cooler, or longer warranty).

It will fit a motherboard is long and wide not tall if its rated as atx an ATX board will definately fit in that case. The antec 300 is good as it has a linear airflow (front to back) with the addition of the top fan for extra cooling. If you like it aesthetically aswell then you should be good its you who has to live with it. If its too loud just buy some better fans that are more acoustic for you reviews are normally quite anal about noise levels but as soon as the graphics card gets going the fan is quite loud anyway so isn't too much to be bothered about. Average ambient noise is around 30db whilst the fans in that case probably run around 25db. The antec 900 is also a good mid-tower

Yes any sata connector can be used and you should get a big stack of the cables with your motherboard.

Already said the core contact freezer is good by sunbeam Newegg.com - Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120mm "Core Contact Freezer" CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

Once you have installed windows I can walk you through formatting a harddrive for storage use.

N.b. **** you trotter for sneaking in there

 

[Invidious]

The 900 has three 5.25" bays for optical drives.

Ah ok, I was reading that wrong, then I think I will go with that then.

Multi-threading is not hyperthreading (which was a P4 technology originally). Most programs/games now a days only use a single core or thread to do there processing so one core is left idle (normally doing background tasks) if a game has multithread support it can use all cores at the same time and split the processing between the four cores (more hands make light work philosophy).

Oh, ok that is good information to know so I don't look stupid later on heh.

I generally just prefer to have two drives it leads to ease of use and better life out of the drives, its personal choice and you can keep adding harddrives after building until you run out of sata ports on the motherboard and even then you can get addon cards to add more. My pc atm has 5 hdd's in but my case can hold upto 12 if needed.
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives <--- for Operating system and programs. With the 1tb for storage although the 500gb may suit you better as a 1tb is a lot to fill. I am not you so don't know how much data you get through.

I put a lot of music on my computers, and I play WOW atm, though right now I'm only using the free trial, which I think actually expired today, I intend on playing WOW and WAR, so I mean I need a good amount of space but I think you're right a TB might not be exactly the most prudent choice.

More importantly than games I'm going to college where I plan on studying computer science soon, and I while I know a "high end" computer isn't necessary for that I still want a good computer that I can use to explore all the uses of computer programs etc. During this summer I plan on doing my best to learn a bit about C++ and finish that book I have on Java. Not that that java or C++ are related that much to me wanting a good computer.

Yeah thats a good 4870 as it has the extra large cooler on it (as all 4870's gpus are made exclusively by nvidia and then shipped to the various brands where they then stick a sticker on it and sell it on. The rule of thumb is to choose the cheapest or the one thats the cheapest with the most gimmicks like a free game, or a better cooler, or longer warranty).

It will fit a motherboard is long and wide not tall if its rated as atx an ATX board will definately fit in that case. The antec 300 is good as it has a linear airflow (front to back) with the addition of the top fan for extra cooling. If you like it aesthetically aswell then you should be good its you who has to live with it. If its too loud just buy some better fans that are more acoustic for you reviews are normally quite anal about noise levels but as soon as the graphics card gets going the fan is quite loud anyway so isn't too much to be bothered about. Average ambient noise is around 30db whilst the fans in that case probably run around 25db. The antec 900 is also a good mid-tower

I guess I'll go with the 900, I had misread some of the specs earlier.

Already said the core contact freezer is good by sunbeam Newegg.com - Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120mm "Core Contact Freezer" CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

Oops, stupid me I missed that when you said it, my appologies.

Once you have installed windows I can walk you through formatting a harddrive for storage use.

Wow thank you, that will be a while probably a week or more, I think now that I have all this down I'll order all the pieces today. I don't go back to my home until wednesday anyway, visiting family right now.


Thanks for all the help guys.

Just some background information if anyone cares heh.

What prompted me to get a new computer was the fact that the laptop I'm using now is broken so that I would need a new motherboard. When I got the laptop I knew I was sacrificing real upgrade capabilities (at least with this laptop and my limited knowledge) but I figured it didn't matter, I didn't realize I was also sacrificing cheap fixes to hardware failure. The motherboard needs to be replaced in order to fix the charging issue it has (everything runs fine except the laptop refuses to charge and after purchasing two new adapters we decided it had to be the computer and got a professional opinion), but I figured it would be better just to get a desktop.

 

[saltynay]

With that usage you probably will be fine with just the single 250gb until you get upto about 150gb of used space then buy a new storage drive of around 500gb.

My old laptop has the same problem although it is 5 years old (of battering college/school usage) so understandable that something was going to give. I still use it though its my linux testing pc and I also use it as the kitchen computer for looking up recipes and playing tunes. If you wanted to be really inventive you can turn your laptop into a projector

 

[Invidious]

With all those parts I added up the cost, it is $1003.82. However, there is a a total of $110 in mail in rebates. So it is really going to cost me $893.82 bucks, so I mean 900 bucks is pretty good for what I'm getting.

That is about 100 dollars cheaper than the "gaming" computer at dell. Though that one has 3.0ghz for its cpu, it isn't a quad. I decided to build it because I've been told building it yourself is far cheaper than having it shipped premade. What do you guys think, cheaper than purchasing premades?

I still need to get the OS though, I'm planning on getting Vista. I think I'm going to just get the premium one.

 

[saltynay]

Well I am in the UK when I built my pc it cost £1,600 I went on the dell website that day and tried to configure a system with identical specs (bit of a challenge) There version was £3360 and that was without spending extras on accesories or a better warranty. When you self-build you can overclock so that 3ghz processor with get upto about 3.4ghz-3.6ghz and not cost any extra money.

 

[Invidious]

Well I am in the UK when I built my pc it cost £1,600 I went on the dell website that day and tried to configure a system with identical specs (bit of a challenge) There version was £3360 and that was without spending extras on accesories or a better warranty. When you self-build you can overclock so that 3ghz processor with get upto about 3.4ghz-3.6ghz and not cost any extra money.

Yeah, the quad that I picked only has like 2.5 ghz but that should be fine for my purposes. I don't know anything about how to overclock but if necessary I'm sure I could always learn.