Building my own rig

[Tyler1989]

Well I'm planning to put together my own PC but I don't know where I'm to begin. Can you help me out with some recommendations on the actual Hardware to get? I can get everything slightly below factory direct or slightly below enployee discount because of my uncle's job so I plan to buy everything from him. Sorry for all the questions I'm more of a software guy than a hardware guy.

I'm looking for a nice 64bit system.

I'm not a big gamer at all but I do want a 128-256 meg ATI Raidon varient.

As for Hard Drives I hg 7200RPMave a 80gig 7200RPM, 120gi, and a 10gig at an unknown RPM. Can I get a large tower case to put all three of these in one PC? Also the 80 and 120 are IDE so is the 10 but it is from my broken Xbox I'm sure with some modification it's compatible for a PC right?

I got all the keyboard, speaker, and moniter junk so I just need the PC.

What are good NIC cards that come with a hardware firewall?

Do you think it's a bad time to build a PC now with HD-DVD, Blue Ray, and Windows Vista re-shaping computers in late 2006?

What is some of the better cooling fans you can buy for the tower, chips, expansion bays?

What is a nice floppy bay that supports multi media such as flash and floppy media?

What is a good type of RAM, I plan to have 2.5gig or 3 gig I know it's not really needed but when I can get the stuff cheap why not.

 

[Elbatrop1]

Can you help me out with some recommendations on the actual Hardware to get?

Sure

Can I get a large tower case to put all three of these in one PC?

You dont really need a large tower to such a thing. A regular Mid-tower will do just fine. As for the XBOX HD, I'm not really sure how easy it is to throw that in a PC. I know it is IDE still, though.

Do you think it's a bad time to build a PC now with HD-DVD, Blue Ray, and Windows Vista re-shaping computers in late 2006?

Haha, its always a bad time to build a computer if you are worried about new technologies around the bend Now is a good as time as ever to build.

What is some of the better cooling fans you can buy for the tower, chips, expansion bays?

Well, you said that you arent a big hardware guy, so I doubt that you will be overclocking. Just as long as you have at least 2 80mm case fans plus the PSU fan, then thats all you need. THe rest of the fans can remain stock.

What is a good type of RAM, I plan to have 2.5gig or 3 gig I know it's not really needed but when I can get the stuff cheap why not.

For your needs (still assuming you wont be overclocking), any kind of generic/valueram will be fine. Generic/valueram perform no differently than overclocking ram unless you overclock

 

[Grayfox]

Windows Vista will need a direct X 9 graphics card to run.
Ati radeon 9500 or higher or nvidia 5600 or higher. (if you go pci express just get a radeon x300se you will be set)

 

[timmer]

well if u want a radeon then go 9800pro for about 110 120$.worried bout being obsolete go with the intel 64 bit edition or go dual core.a 3.0ghz int64ed is 210 or 220$.for a cpu fan go with the cooler master hyper6+. received a 10 in maximum pc mag and its a kick ass product.55$.
and putting the hard drive into the pc is ez its going from pc to xbox which is hard. dvd birner 16x. and floppy will do.

 

[Elbatrop1]

Uhhh, a 9800 Pro is an AGP card. I forgot to recommend something for a vid card. It kinda depends on how much gaming you do. From ATi, I would recommend the X800XL. Its definitely one of the better priced vid cards from ATi. If you wanted a suggestion from Nvidia, perhaps you could consider a 6600GT.

 

[TheHeadFL]

Get an AMD64 based system, definitely, if you're concerned with running Vista x64 someday.

The current crop of Intel x86-64 chips seem to be a bit behind the curve when running 32 bit software.

 

[GuitarFreak1857]

what mobo do you plan on using??

 

[Tyler1989]

Not sure yet....

As for Vista there will be no X64 verson. The entire OS is 64 bit but offers 32 compatability.

 

[TheHeadFL]

It doesn't matter if they call it a separate edition or not, the fact remains that its a totally different platform.

That being said, the Intel 64 bit stuff right now isn't up to par with the AMD stuff.

 

[CJJohnson]

A full tower is good if you have the space. I have a Xaser III with plenty of airflow for multiple drives etc and plenty of "growing" room. Don't skimp on the power supply if you will be running a lot of drives.