newegg

[cr6564]

so is newegg really that great? i was looking at their return policy for most of my parts, and they are not refundable. they are only replacable. so what happens it turns out some small miscompatiblity causes the computer not to post, and part must be returned? what is up with this? are all stores like this?

[The Wise Monkey]

Pretty much - the whole point about building your own PC is that you need to be sure that everything will work together before ordering it. They are usually pretty good with RMA requests though, as far as I know.

It might be worth checking out Tiger Direct or ZipZoomFly to see if they have different refund policies.

[zburns]

I have quick (I hope) comments in three areas. Wise Monkey's advice is correct. You need to know that your parts list is "all compatible". Provided your parts list does in fact "work", I do not think you will have any problems with Newegg. Their rules cover the obvious, but they build their reputation on pleasing customers; I have dealt with them one time over a three month period and I found there cooperation superb in all respects. I will use them in the future, no question.

Parts list question. I went back to March on your posts under "Build your own PC". I did not see a 600 watt PSU called out but Ricky Tick alluded to it; so if it is there, I just missed it! A 600 watt PSU is important because the Evga recc. is for 500 watts. If it were my build I would prefer a 200 watt spread from the Evga recc. to my PSU max output.

There is a problem with the Evga reccomendation and that is that they call out for a 500 watt PSU, rather than stating the requirement for the video card specifically. We as the consumer do not know the actual PSU req for the Evga card. For myself, I would want to know the watts for the graphics card and then add the watts for the rest of the system. I know this paragraph is a curve ball but their recommendation is "unclear".


If you have not listed out your complete parts list including the used ones, I would suggest you do it since you are trying hard to be absolutely certain everything works!!

Graphics card energy!! This was an earlier subject of my post! If you simply turn on your computer and are using Word or Word Perfect, have a 20" monitor, an antivirus, malware, etc., your graphics card will call out for a certain minimum amount of wattage (ie. amps from the 12 volt supply); if your monitor is 22" or 24", more wattage the larger the monitor.

Add games to the above (some have more stringent requirements than others) and the wattage keeps going up. Main point is you will only use high wattage at maximum video usage and maximum wattage with only high demand video games. Now the same thing "may" be said about other "demanding apps", but to make a definitive statement, you have to know what those apps are!

This last comment may conflict with others, particularly WM and Ricky, but I myself did not choose to overclock because it was my first build. There was more than enough to learn and get used to without taking on "overclocking". When I was building, it was my opinion and still is that there was not enough readily available "instructional info" to "specifically support" any overclocking effort I might make. Like anything else, once you do it, you learn from it and keep learning the more you mess with it. My goal was to "learn" my basic computer, hardware and software, and it is still a work in progress, but certainly a "project" I would recommend to anyone with interests in this area.

[RickyTick]

This last comment may conflict with others, particularly WM and Ricky, but I myself did not choose to overclock because it was my first build. There was more than enough to learn and get used to without taking on "overclocking". When I was building, it was my opinion and still is that there was not enough readily available "instructional info" to "specifically support" any overclocking effort I might make. Like anything else, once you do it, you learn from it and keep learning the more you mess with it. My goal was to "learn" my basic computer, hardware and software, and it is still a work in progress, but certainly a "project" I would recommend to anyone with interests in this area.

I'm not a big overclocker either. I only messed around with my cpu after it was a year old. I did oc my video card some too, but nothing drastic at all. I think overclocking should be used only after you notice that your old sytem isn't running quite as snappy as it used to.

Newegg is a great place to buy pc parts. I've also bought a good bit from zipzoomfly. Like was said earlier, just verify all your parts are compatible and go with it.

Here's the post that mentioned a 600 watt psu

AMD Phenom X4 9650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103288&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Processors+-+Desktops-_-AMD-_-19103288



Zalman ZM600-HP

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817379003&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Power+Supplies-_-Zalman+Tech+Co.++Ltd-_-17379003

Asus M4N82 deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131383&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Motherboards+-+AMD-_-ASUS-_-13131383

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130433

Is it all good (im using old hd, optical, and case)

[zburns]

Hey Ricky, you know a lot of us when they see the name Zalman immediately think, "nice fan". So I missed it. Rob, in another post, says he runs the 260 on the Antec 500 watt with no problem.

When Evga states as part of the spec 500 watt minimum power supply, they are taking into consideration the 260's peak power consumption plus the extra wattage beyond the graphics card. This extra wattage necessary should be well known by them; so when they say 500 watts for a PSU then this should be ok, even with a Q core CPU. So certainly, one can reasonably assume 600 watts is more than enough and does include some "cushion".

[RickyTick]

Same here Z. I missed that Zalman first time around too.

I think you're exactly right about power supplies too.

[cr6564]

well i solved i guys.

I ordered from circuit city (they have great return policy)(and yes they are still around. Tiger direct bought them, but they are under different managment, so they have better returns).