Building a new computer
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I need a new machine at my home. I want to run Vista (CTP as well as the final one whenever it comes) and Visual Studio 2005. The requirements: 1. I should be able to run VS 2005/Vista CTP/SQL Server 2005 at a decent speed. 2. The hardware should not get outdated when Vista ships.:) I have decided to use AMD Atlhon64x2. I have zero experience in building a complete system from scratch. What components should I buy motherboards, cooling, NIC, Video Cards etc.? Where should I buy them from (recommendations)? What problems should I anticipate? The budget is around $1200. (Within $1000 that will be great). Thanks
My Blog -- modified at 12:41 Tuesday 28th March, 2006
I have been built a couple of the amd 64's so far this year so here is what I have found. Get good memory the extra few bucks makes a difference not all DDR is the same. I choose the MB first and then researched the memory that matches its requirements which has made a difference (I think you will find the DDR2 is becoming less expensive). Don't get cheap on the powersupply or cooling. I have found that the "Gamer" cases tend to have higher quality powersupplies(450W min) in them as well as quality fans. The bargin basement fans do not have good quality bearings in them and tend to fail. Here is a link to MS about the quailty of card [http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/support/faqs/presentation/default.aspx](<a href=)a> make sure the video card has it's own fan it helps. I enjoy building new toys so I am not as concerned about building my own but if you need help don't hesitate to ask it is kind of a hobby (my wife calls it a bad habit). The other replys have identified all of the main vendors that you will need so have a good time with it.
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Joe Woodbury wrote:
EDIT: Buy the AMD Retail CPU with Fan and use it and the mounting gear it comes with. It will be sufficient to cool your CPU and will not void the warranty
Is there a combo that come in the box? I have not seen it anywhere so far. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103547#Combo[^]
That's the retail version and should come with heatsink + fan. It's the OEM version that doesnt have the combo. I highly recommend you to visit some PC enthusiast forums because they always have threads made by people seeking advices on new builds to learn from. forums.anandtech.com, tom's hardware etc, or silentpcreviews if a quiet machine is your thing. I just built a machine myself and I can barely hear it when it's on despite it being powerful enough for even the latest games :)
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One word - PriceWatch[^]. Search for motherboard combos, or motherboard/CPU/Memory combos for an easy jump-start, or even look for complete barebones systems. You can build a, X2 with 2GB of RAM for well under $1200 (and even under $1000, too). Peace! -=- James
If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Avoid driving a vehicle taller than you and remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
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I'll third the recommendation on NewEgg. And as for video cards, I'd stick with nVidia cards.
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Amen to that. I've had nothing but problems with the crappy ATI card we use at work :( And I've had good experiences with Newegg too. ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
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I need a new machine at my home. I want to run Vista (CTP as well as the final one whenever it comes) and Visual Studio 2005. The requirements: 1. I should be able to run VS 2005/Vista CTP/SQL Server 2005 at a decent speed. 2. The hardware should not get outdated when Vista ships.:) I have decided to use AMD Atlhon64x2. I have zero experience in building a complete system from scratch. What components should I buy motherboards, cooling, NIC, Video Cards etc.? Where should I buy them from (recommendations)? What problems should I anticipate? The budget is around $1200. (Within $1000 that will be great). Thanks
My Blog -- modified at 12:41 Tuesday 28th March, 2006
I recommend you using www.zipzoomfly.com or www.neweggs.com too. This is an example of one peaty stable configuration from www.zipzoomfly.com (there are thousand possibilities): $458 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Processor Socket 939 Retail $164.99 Asus A8N-SLI Premium nForce4 SLI Athlon 64(FX)/Sempron/Athlon 64 X2 Skt939 DDR Motherboard w/Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail $97.40 ($25.00 Mail-In-Rebate) Kingston HyperX KHX3200AK2/1G 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Memory w/Heat Spreader Retail ***Free Shipping*** $101.99 Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 250GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer ***Free Shipping*** 26.99 Liteon SOHD-16P9S 16X IDE DVD-ROM Drive (Black) $37.5 Logisys PS500MSGN 500W Meshed Green LED ATX/BTX Power Supply Retail $52.75 Asus Extreme AX300SE-X Radeon X300 SE PCI Express 128MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out & DVI TOTAL 939.62 You need also case, keyboard and mouse. You can save some money form the MB, CPU or you can buy cheep case + Power supply Good luck! Ivan Vasilev
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I Recently bought this[^] cooler. Nice feature - it defelcts some air down to the voltage regulator area which is often ignored i ncooolign requirements. Aslo this case[^] is very quite. Bulky but worth it. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
a standard cooler that blows down will send exaust air that way. the MOFSETs are typically rated for ~125C so they don't need much. MY stock cooler's exaust did ~30C cooling for them, discovered when I installed an h2o cooling system this weekend. I ended up cabletieing a small fan onto the hoses to get a bit of air on them.
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I have been built a couple of the amd 64's so far this year so here is what I have found. Get good memory the extra few bucks makes a difference not all DDR is the same. I choose the MB first and then researched the memory that matches its requirements which has made a difference (I think you will find the DDR2 is becoming less expensive). Don't get cheap on the powersupply or cooling. I have found that the "Gamer" cases tend to have higher quality powersupplies(450W min) in them as well as quality fans. The bargin basement fans do not have good quality bearings in them and tend to fail. Here is a link to MS about the quailty of card [http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/support/faqs/presentation/default.aspx](<a href=)a> make sure the video card has it's own fan it helps. I enjoy building new toys so I am not as concerned about building my own but if you need help don't hesitate to ask it is kind of a hobby (my wife calls it a bad habit). The other replys have identified all of the main vendors that you will need so have a good time with it.
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afaik, DDR2 is still only used with intel mobos. A64's have the ram controler on chip instead of the northbridge, so there's no room for a 3rd party to roll thier own interface.
You are absolutly correct Dan I have yet to see a ddr2 AMD board. I heard rumors though that the next chip out mid 2006 that will use ddr2 but from everything I have read I am not sure there will be any performance difference. I did read a few weeks ago that due to some manufacturing processes improving that the DDR2 market will start to see some major increases in supply and hopefully(for me) drive the prices down. I am kind of partial AMD so I cannot make a fair assesment but I have been very satisfied with the performance. Have you had experience with Intel 64bit boxes?
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a standard cooler that blows down will send exaust air that way. the MOFSETs are typically rated for ~125C so they don't need much. MY stock cooler's exaust did ~30C cooling for them, discovered when I installed an h2o cooling system this weekend. I ended up cabletieing a small fan onto the hoses to get a bit of air on them.
It's the electrolytics you need to watch. The tigress is here :-D
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be careful about brands though. The one time I looked they were almost all bundled with garbage grade mobos and cheap generic ram to get as high on the price listings as possible.
Of course - but you can get decent ASUS MBs with Ultra-brand memory (which is not too bad). Peace! -=- James
If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Avoid driving a vehicle taller than you and remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
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