Help! New Computer Builder Part Verification

[lmaonade80]

Hi, everyone. I am building my first PC, and have compiled a list of gear that I want in my Gaming PC. I was hoping any veterans could take a look and make any recommendations, or let me know if I overlooked anything. I know absolutely nothing about building a computer, and everything I have found here has been independently researched.

Mid Tower case 119.99 (http://www.xoxide.com/nzxt-tempest-gamingcase-black.html)

Power Supply 44.99 (http://www.xoxide.com/logisys-550w-pcix-acrylic.html)

CPU 279.00 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214)

ATX Motherboard $149.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131601)

RAM 79.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260)

Graphics/video card 164.99 (http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=795679010)

Hard drive 80.00 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337)

Speakers (I have soundsticks/headset)

Screen (LCD) 319.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236091)

Keyboard 52.99 (http://www.xoxide.com/saitek-ii-eclipse-illuminated-keyboard.html)

Mouse 130.00 (http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.220156700/categoryId.35208800)

DVD burner x 2 22.00 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106334)

Wi-Fi 14.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166021)

I believe it comes out to something around $1500. (That includes a ridiculous screen and mouse tho) Thanks for anyone's help in advance!
Thanks in advance!

[Deneb]

I would go with the case below. I just bought one and I love it.

AeroCool BX-500 Black 0.8mm SECC Super Mid-Tower Computer Case 109.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196037

read reviews on the power supply selected at Newegg. It’s probably more like a 300 W power supply.

Check out the two below.

Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V version 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply $89.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007&cm_re=EarthWatts-_-17-371-007-_-Product

Or

Antec EarthWatts EA-500D Green 500W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $69.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035&cm_re=EarthWatts-_-17-371-035-_-Product (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035&cm_re=EarthWatts-_-17-371-035-_-Product)


Good on the CPU
Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7860 $284.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214)

The mombo is ok but I like the one below for $30 less.

GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $119.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128425

You will probably want an aftermarket CPU heatsink cooler. I like the one below.

ZALMAN CNPS9900A LED 120mm 2 Ball Low-noise Blue LED CPU Cooler $74.99
120 MM FAN (5.98 in tall X 5.16 X 3.70 in) 1.609 lbs
with RC33P resistor cable 800rpm ~ 1,300rpm ± 10%
without RC33P resistor cable 1,000rpm ~ 2,000rpm ± 10%
with RC33P resistor cable 18dBA ~ 28.5dBA ± 10%
without RC33P resistor cable 19.5dBA ~ 38.0dBA ± 10%
4-Pin Connector (PWM Control, Auto Restart)
730g

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118046 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118046)

http://www.zalman.com/eng/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=356

I definitely would not go with Corsair RAM at the current time. Read the reviews at Newegg.

I would go with:
Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) X2 = 8 GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT25664BN1337 $200.00
7-7-7-24 1.65V Dual Channel Kit 9-9-9-25 backup settings
800-336-8915 Phone1-208-363-5790

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148323

http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=BL2KIT25664BN1337


the graphics card looks good.

EVGA 768-P3-1362-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130563&cm_re=GeForce_GTX-_-14-130-563-_-Product (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130563&cm_re=GeForce_GTX-_-14-130-563-_-Product)

I would not recommend a Seagate drive at this time. All of them seem to have too many problems. Any of the five below should be fine. The first two had the advantage of having 64 MB of cache. The third one is the one least likely to fail and is appropriate for raid arrays. The fifth one also should have a very low error rate and is designed to run cool.

Other thoughts: Do not order a hard drive from Newegg or Amazon. I got mine from buy.com. The aforementioned sellers do not package their products well. I.e. they do not use peanuts. Also try to get a seller who uses Federal Express for shipping rather than UPS or God for bid United States Postal Service. Any hard drive that gets dropped from enough height will arrive DOA or die shortly after arrival. I purchased the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ and it tends to run a little hot. But since somebody uses 3.5” two 5 ¼ inch bracket and put the drive in a 5 ¼ inch drive, it should be fine. Also before you load up a new OS do a full format with a Windows XP disc if you have one or get the appropriate diagnostic software from the hard drive manufacturer into a full diagnostic of the hard drive. When these procedures should check all the blocks or sectors the mark any bad sectors as bad.

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $89.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533)

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $119.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136592 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136592)

Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $129.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136313 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136313)

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$74.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $69.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136534

[Deneb]

keyboard and mice are personal choices. I like the 101 key keyboards myself.

Honeywell 101RX43S 2E J At Keyboard Clicky 101Rxe

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=honeywell+101+key+keyboard+purchase&hl=en&prmd=ivsb&resnum=3&biw=939&bih=635&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3736968414791902403&ei=XZvZTPvEKIPGlQei7oyQCQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CD4Q8wIwAA# (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=honeywell+101+key+keyboard+purchase&hl=en&prmd=ivsb&resnum=3&biw=939&bih=635&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3736968414791902403&ei=XZvZTPvEKIPGlQei7oyQCQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CD4Q8wIwAA#)

Dell E03417 PS/2 Keyboard 101 Key KEYTRONIC E03417218

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&biw=939&bih=635&q=keytronic+101+key+keyboard&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=2081021664069462185&ei=vZvZTMeVCoXGlQfbl7CHCQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CEYQ8wIwAA#

Mitsumi KPQ-E99ZC-13 101 Key Keyboard FCC ID CMYKPG6987

http://www.kpsurplus.com/mitsumi-kpq-e99zc-13-101-key-keyboard-fcc-id-cmykpg6987.html

On mice it depends what the shaping your hand is I have a relatively short fat hand so I like the one below.

LX 6 Cordless Optical Mouse, Black/Silver

http://www.amazon.com/Cordless-Optical-Mouse-Black-Silver/dp/B001R3QNDM (http://www.amazon.com/Cordless-Optical-Mouse-Black-Silver/dp/B001R3QNDM)

Good on the burner
DVD/CD BURNER:
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer $21.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106334 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106334)


Good on the wireless card.

Rosewill RNX-G300LX IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA, WPA2, AES, TKIP with 2 dBi Antenna $14.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166021 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166021)

For the case above you may want the fan controllers below to quiet down the case.

ZALMAN FAN MATE 2 Fan Controller 4 = $43.88

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118217&cm_re=ZALMAN_FAN_MATE_2-_-35-118-217-_-Product (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118217&cm_re=ZALMAN_FAN_MATE_2-_-35-118-217-_-Product)

You may want to bracket below so you can mount the hard drive and a 5.25 inch drive.

StarTech BRACKET Metal 3.5" to 5.25" Drive Adapter Bracket $8.10

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811993004&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Accessories+-+Case+/+Rackmount-_-STARTECH-_-11993004

If you need a second NIC card check out the one below.

NIC card
Intel EXPI9301CTBLK 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express Network Adapter 1 x RJ45 $34.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033&cm_re=NETWORK_ADAPTER-_-33-106-033-_- (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033&cm_re=NETWORK_ADAPTER-_-33-106-033-_-)

Windows 7 PRO 64 Bit System Builder 1pk $140

http://www.amazon.com/Windows-PRO-Bit-System-Builder/dp/B002NGQLIE

and last but not least you may want Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. Zalman coolers come with their own high-grade thermal paste that Arctic Silver is a tad better.

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound – OEM $9.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007&cm_re=Arctic_silver-_-35-100-007-_-Product

Good luck on your buildand hope you enjoy your new computer.

[Deneb]

ASUS VE276Q Black 27" 1920X1080 2ms Full HD HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor w/Display Port & Speakers 300 cd/m2 100,000 :1 (ASCR)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236091

Unless you going to mount this monitor on a wall it’s going to make you nearsighted. I got 24 inch and now my vision is 20/60. For a desktop I think the sweet spot is a 22 inch.

Check out the ones below. I personally bought a NEC monitor. One of the reasons is that they have a zero dead pixel policy. Also I am into digital photography.

ASUS VW224U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 5000:1) Built in Speakers $169.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236050


NEC Display Solutions E222W-BK Black 22" 5ms height pivot tilt & swivel adjust Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 1000:1
$199.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002495 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002495)

[lmaonade80]

Hey Deneb thanks so much for that part by part analysis. You really saved my ass let me tell you. I have a few noob questions if you wouldn't mind.

First, How do I know how large of a power supply that I need to keep my computer safely powered?

Is the light on the heatsink the only internal LED I need to make the computer look cool?

Are cases more of a personal choice than necessity, for instance what are the main differences in cases?

Do i need fan controllers for all of my fans? How do I control them?

What is the difference in the Computer Builder's version of 7 and others?

Thanks so much for all your help, I want to run Civ V in Ultra settings :D.

[Deneb]

On the size of the power supply it’s partly guesswork. But most people seem to think somewhere in the 500 to 800 Watt range is good for game boxes. If you buy a good case and power supply I don’t see any reason why you can’t run them for say 10 to 15 years unless you want to give your computer away when it gets old. The next time around you will be just rebuilding the system rather purchasing all new parts. If you run a powerful video card or two video cards you need a lot more wattage than if you run say a low-end fan less video card. High-end sound cards use a little more wattage than low-end sound cards do.

The Antec EarthWatts EA-500D Green 500W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified is the PSU I purchased. It’s nice and quiet. Between 20% and 80% utilization it is 82% efficient. So if I use 400 Watts of electricity to calculate what the PSU will actually be pulling do the following. 1.18 (118%) X 400 watts = 472 watts. If I get up into that range between 400 and 500 Watts the power supply becomes less efficient and the system costs more to run. If you’re going to run two powerful video cards you probably want to go with a 800 Watt or bigger power supply.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_PLUS

I’m not into cool light as far as computers go. It just so happened that cooler comes with a blue light and frankly really isn’t that bright.

There are a whole bunch of considerations when it comes to computer cases. The first job of the computer case is to hold all your parts and keep any electromagnetic radiation from leaking out. In other words a computer without a case will blowout the whole AM radio band for 100+ hundred feet. For people who overclock and/or install high-end video cards cooling is a major issue. More fans are not necessarily better. People have some pretty strange ideas about fancy computer cases. Generally you want negative pressure, in other words more air going out than coming in. fans and fan speed and dust are related in a negative way. The more air you suck into your case the faster the case gets dusty. A dusty case gets hotter. If you have a filter to keep the case clean then air flow is restricted and the case runs hot. On the other hand, having lots of large fans turning slowly provides good cooling without sucking in dust too fast. With any enthusiast system and computer case you’re going to have to blow the dust out of the case at least every three months or so. I recently worked on E-machine where the only fan was the PSU fan. But that system consists of just the motherboard and one small daughtercard. The system had no other cards. So that system could go its entire life without being cleaned.

Having the PSU mounted in the bottom allows for a nice big exhaust fan in the top back. With a side angle CPU cooler aimed directly at the exhaust fan, the 120 W worth of heat from the CPU goes right out the back rather than getting blown around inside the case. Then having a nice blow hole exhausting air out the top is always nice. Then cable management and ability slide components in and out sideways can be a nice plus. One thing I like about the case I recommended is that it has a mounting point where you can connect the power wires for the four case fans. Then you can power that mounting point with a single Molex connector from the power supply.

The picture of the fan controller doesn’t show it, but the fan controller comes with fan wires that will go between the end of the regular fan wire going to the fan and were ever you power the fan. Then you can stick the fan controller to some Interior part of the case with Velcro. The controller comes with the Velcro. Then you can adjust the fan speed and hence the noise level of each fan individually. For example having the front intake fan running at maximum speed will not help much with the cooling and therefore the noise coming from that fan would be unnecessarily loud.

Case cooling posative vs negative pressure

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/238184-31-case-airflow-positive-negative-pressure


PC airflow and heat – a cooling guide

http://tech.icrontic.com/articles/pc_airflow_heat_cooling_guide

Computer Builder's version is Microsoft’s way of saying (OEM) original equipment manufacturers. It costs less. I suppose it means that it would cost more to call Microsoft for help but we had a forum member here who did call and receive help with that version of the software. He did not mention whether or not he paid for the help. Frankly the Windows 7 home premium 64-bit will do the same thing for $30 less. The major feature in the Pro version for the home premium is Windows XP compatibility mode. If you don’t have older programs that might have a problem running a Windows 7 but that did run okay on Windows XP, then you don’t need the Pro version.

Windows 7 PRO 64 Bit System Builder 1pk $140

http://www.amazon.com/Windows-PRO-Bi.../dp/B002NGQLIE


Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit System Builder 1pk $100

http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Home-Premium-System-Builder/dp/B002NGJO4M/ref=sr_1_3?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1289508422&sr=1-3