Need advice on building a machine.

[wenis]

I plan on building a new machine this year. I want to do over time to because of limited cash. I've decided on an AMD 64 chip but not the model or motherboard yet. It will be built from the ground up with no leftover parts because I want to transition to SATA and PCIe. So after i buy the case (Antec P160 ) and a V2.0 power supply what components should I buy first keeping in mind it will take some time to build and the parts will be laying doormant until then. I'm kind of stuck.

Do I buy the CPU
The motherboard
Hard Drives
RAM
Video Card


Help I'm lost!!!!

[RDL]

Well, if you're not planning on integrating parts with your old pc to start with (i.e. upgrading the old one bit by bit and just disregarding the pieces as they come out) then I suggest buying the Hard Drives, RAM, case, PSU, DVD/CD drive first. The CPU will hopefully be cheaper when you get it, as would be the motherboard and the videocard.

What is your budget right now to start with? And also what is your final budget going to be?

[Taz]

Hello mate. I'm kind of doing the same thing. My thinking is as follows for buying bits in batches.

First off, the case, PSU and disk drives are the most 'non-changeable' components. So, i've finally (after much research on Hexus) decided on:

- Thermaltake Tsunami case
- Tagan 480W PSU (SATA, PCI-E and BTX ready)
- Western Digital Raptors 74GB HDD (1 or 2 depending on how much money i've got available as these are expensive)

These three components will survive a while as others around them are changed. Also, it's a lot of hassle replacing a disk in a few months time so I wanted to start off with something I won't have to change for a long time.

On my next buying round I bought: Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, Akasa TIM-Clean CPU and Heatsink Cleaner, speakers, Thermalright XP-90 heatsink and Panaflo fan for the heatsink.

Next i'll buy: Monitor (looking at ViewSonic VP912s - 19" TFT), Wi-Fi PCI card and memory (Corsair TwinX 1GB DDR XMS3200XLPT).

Finally, i'll buy motherboard (AMD Socket 939, PCI-Express, not decided on one yet), CPU (probably Athlon 64 3500+) and graphics card (probably XT800 XT or XT850 XT depending on funds).

Hence, i'm leaving the most expensive bits towards the end in the hope that they'll be a bit cheaper and, more importantly, actually available from retailers! The whole process will be spread over a couple of months.

Obviously, various bits will be lying around for a few weeks but that's unavoidable if you're spreading the purchases over a few weeks or months.

Hope that helps!

Taz

[wenis]

Well, if you're not planning on integrating parts with your old pc to start with (i.e. upgrading the old one bit by bit and just disregarding the pieces as they come out) then I suggest buying the Hard Drives, RAM, case, PSU, DVD/CD drive first. The CPU will hopefully be cheaper when you get it, as would be the motherboard and the videocard.

What is your budget right now to start with? And also what is your final budget going to be?

To start about about $500.00(USD). I am not sure what the final budget is it will probably be pretty high.

[nvening]

well how hight ish cause we could recmend u a $50 hdd or a $300 hdd etc u get me?
and what is that $500 for? I would start any build by getting the case first, just to cheak its gunna fit!

[wenis]

well how hight ish cause we could recmend u a $50 hdd or a $300 hdd etc u get me?
and what is that $500 for? I would start any build by getting the case first, just to cheak its gunna fit!

I can spend $500.00 initially over the next few months. The WD Raptors sound good, but 74 gig is just not enough space. I have that much now and I am all but out of room. Doesn't Maxtor have a 300 gig SATA drive with a 16 mb buffer and NCQing?

Hardware is in such a flux right. Is there anything exciting on the Hard drive front worth waiting for?

[wenis]

Hello mate. I'm kind of doing the same thing. My thinking is as follows for buying bits in batches.

First off, the case, PSU and disk drives are the most 'non-changeable' components. So, i've finally (after much research on Hexus) decided on:

- Thermaltake Tsunami case
- Tagan 480W PSU (SATA, PCI-E and BTX ready)
- Western Digital Raptors 74GB HDD (1 or 2 depending on how much money i've got available as these are expensive)

These three components will survive a while as others around them are changed. Also, it's a lot of hassle replacing a disk in a few months time so I wanted to start off with something I won't have to change for a long time.

On my next buying round I bought: Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, Akasa TIM-Clean CPU and Heatsink Cleaner, speakers, Thermalright XP-90 heatsink and Panaflo fan for the heatsink.

Next i'll buy: Monitor (looking at ViewSonic VP912s - 19" TFT), Wi-Fi PCI card and memory (Corsair TwinX 1GB DDR XMS3200XLPT).

Finally, i'll buy motherboard (AMD Socket 939, PCI-Express, not decided on one yet), CPU (probably Athlon 64 3500+) and graphics card (probably XT800 XT or XT850 XT depending on funds).

Hence, i'm leaving the most expensive bits towards the end in the hope that they'll be a bit cheaper and, more importantly, actually available from retailers! The whole process will be spread over a couple of months.

Obviously, various bits will be lying around for a few weeks but that's unavoidable if you're spreading the purchases over a few weeks or months.

Hope that helps!

Taz

I was wondering is 480w going to be enough to push the next round of Graphics cards and everything else?

[Taz]

I'm only ever going to have a single card in there. 480W should be plenty. Also, (perhaps the ATi guy could confirm or deny this) the X850 uses slightly less power than the X800. If that trend continues then there's nothing to worry about.

[Raggy]

I would personally go:
Case
PSU
HDD
Mother board (mobo)
RAM/memory
Graphic’s card

Why, well for the most part it’s all about price. The factors are going to affect the price of the last three things one the list: PCI-e (affecting mother boards and graphics cards), DDR2 (RAM and Mobo), and the X850XT-PE (mobo’s (because of PCI-e) and graphics cards). Funny how everything affects everything, also these are the most expensive components and time (and availability) may just take it’s toll.

HDD note: Regarding wanting the Raptors but them being to small it should be noted that you could always have one 76gig Raptor, and say a 100gig SATA drive and have plenty of storage while having all the speed of a Raptor.

PSU note: It’s not how many watts, but how they’re split up. Your going to be looking for more amps in the 12v area I would think.

[nvening]

The only new hdd technology is SATA 2/300 but u not need to worry abt thatthere wont be much performance boost, anyway, nforce4 supports it wen it comes out, its good to have 1 raptor especially if u do gaming.

[wenis]

The only new hdd technology is SATA 2/300 but u not need to worry abt thatthere wont be much performance boost, anyway, nforce4 supports it wen it comes out, its good to have 1 raptor especially if u do gaming.

Thanks for the input everyone. Is there a larger raptor in the works?

[RDL]

Actually Sata 300 will go significantly faster, but there are no supporting drives yet. I'm not sure about the Raptor, although the 74gb has been out for a while.

[nvening]

i heard otherwise, like pci-e, the extra bandwidth wont be used that much

[Rave]

Buying your bits a bit at a time is silly if they're just going to be sat around your house gathering dust for a while. The price of computer hardware nearly always goes down over time, whereas money can go into a savings account and earn interest. By the time you come to buy your last batch of parts, a newer and better version of something you've already bought might be out. Finally by buying all in one big batch you can save on shipping costs.

If you're upgrading your machine a bit at a time then fine, but just buying parts that you know you're not going to use for months is daft.

Rich :¬)

[wenis]

Buying your bits a bit at a time is silly if they're just going to be sat around your house gathering dust for a while. The price of computer hardware nearly always goes down over time, whereas money can go into a savings account and earn interest. By the time you come to buy your last batch of parts, a newer and better version of something you've already bought might be out. Finally by buying all in one big batch you can save on shipping costs.

If you're upgrading your machine a bit at a time then fine, but just buying parts that you know you're not going to use for months is daft.

Rich :¬)

Sorry if its "daft" but I have no choice. I have always built my new machines with leftover parts to make the upgrade cheaper while still getting the best when I buy new. Unfortunately, PCI-e, SATA, new 64bit chips and motherboard power supplies have made that a no option. Besides sure some of the stuff I buy will get cheaper, but like another poster said putting the CPU, Motherboard and graphics card on the back end gives time for prices to fall.

[Rave]

Why do you not have a choice to put the money in a savings account until you're ready to buy it all? You will end up with a better computer for the same amount of outlay, and you won't have a bunch of boxes sitting round your house.