Building a Computer

[mornal]

I'm looking to build a computer this summer and as it's to be my first, I was hoping the lovely people of the escapist could help me out.

Right now I'm looking at:
CPU-i5 2400 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074

GPU-Radeon HD 6870 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161349

Storage-Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

Memory-8GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311

Motherboard-Biostar TH67B http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138308

Power-Antec 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026

Case-Antec http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Disk Drive-Asus http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Any recommendations that could be made would be appreciated. Also, will I need to buy any cords or cables or are they usually included with the appropriate parts?

*Edited to accommodate suggestions.*

 

[Fbuh]

If it's your first, I would suggest playing around with old spare parts, to see if you can actually build a running PC. You don't want to fuck up with all those nice new parts.

 

[Avaholic03]

1000W is probably a bit overkill for that system. For less money you could get one that's ~800W which is better quality. I've always had good luck with coolermaster PSU's, but that's just personal preference.

As for the case, I've got the older generation of that case and my only complaint is the lack of room. It's pretty cramped and tough to route cables to keep good airflow. My computer has never overheated or anything crazy, but if I could do it again I'd go for a slighty bigger case.

 

[mornal]

If it's your first, I would suggest playing around with old spare parts, to see if you can actually build a running PC. You don't want to fuck up with all those nice new parts.

I didn't think to do that. I have an old desktop I can practice on while I'm waiting for the parts to arrive. Thanks for the advice.

1000W is probably a bit overkill for that system. For less money you could get one that's ~800W which is better quality. I've always had good luck with coolermaster PSU's, but that's just personal preference.

As for the case, I've got the older generation of that case and my only complaint is the lack of room. It's pretty cramped and tough to route cables to keep good airflow. My computer has never overheated or anything crazy, but if I could do it again I'd go for a slighty bigger case.

The only reason I chose the 1000W power supply is in case I want to upgrade, but seeing as that's probably not in the near future, I think I'll take your suggestion.

As for the case, I'm not that attached to it. I chose it mainly based on price and reviews.

 

[darkcommanderq]

go AMD, it will be cheaper in the end.

 

[BigTortoise]

Okay.

Your power supply is overkill on the wattage. It's not 80+ either so it's efficiency may not be so hot. When your build was put into a power calculator it recommended around 470w. So here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

It's from Antec, one of the best brands around. It's also 80+ and has 550w in case you ever have money and want to upgrade in the future. This will give you a little room for it. Plenty cheaper than your 1000w also.

Now for your case, it seems okay and if you want to keep it that's fine. But I'd like to recommend the Antec 300.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Got to be one of the best cases out there. It also has a bottom placement for your power supply (good for different sized PSU's). It's $10 more however but you're already saving on the PSU.

Oh, and this drive's the same size+rpm as yours for -$20:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433

 

[yundex]

What type of monitor do you have? That's actually one of the most important things for gaming. LED monitors are pretty much the best. The ram is slow, 1366 and cas speed 9. You can get a faster 6GB setup for the same price. You'd have to change the motherboard though.

Honestly it's a fine rig, I just tunnel vision on certain parts. Unless you're hardcore I wouldn't really worry about what I said.

 

[synobal]

You should change the power supply, go down some and be sure to get a modular power supply they really improve air flow in your case and reduce cable clutter. I'd recommend more than a single drive for a PC, I typically install my OS on a smaller drive and then my games and other media on a larger drive. If you don't get two drives at least use two different partitions. Also I notice you've not listed any sort of operating system. You'll need one if you want to do anything with it. What ever operating system you get be sure to go 64 bit if you want to utilize all your ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042]

Got to be one of the best cases out there. It also has a bottom placement for your power supply (good for different sized PSU's). It's $10 more however but you're already saving on the PSU.

This case is very good, I bought it's big brother 4 years ago on a black monday sale from new egg and I'm very happy with it. As far as I'm concerned Air filters for your case are a must.

 

[mornal]

Okay.

Your power supply is overkill on the wattage. It's not 80+ either so it's efficiency may not be so hot. When your build was put into a power calculator it recommended around 470w. So here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

It's from Antec, one of the best brands around. It's also 80+ and has 550w in case you ever have money and want to upgrade in the future. This will give you a little room for it. Plenty cheaper than your 1000w also.

Now for your case, it seems okay and if you want to keep it that's fine. But I'd like to recommend the Antec 300.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Got to be one of the best cases out there. It also has a bottom placement for your power supply (good for different sized PSU's). It's $10 more however but you're already saving on the PSU.

Oh, and this drive's the same size+rpm as yours for -$20:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433

Thanks for the advice. I'll be taking all these suggestions.

What type of monitor do you have? That's actually one of the most important things for gaming. LED monitors are pretty much the best. The ram is slow, 1366 and cas speed 9. You can get a faster 6GB setup for the same price. You'd have to change the motherboard though.

Honestly it's a fine rig, I just tunnel vision on certain parts. Unless you're hardcore I wouldn't really worry about what I said.

I plan on using a 22 inch monitor I currently have hooked up to my Xbox (it has HDMI so I figure that'll be simplest).

Thanks for mentioning the RAM speed. I'll look for a faster set that hopefully won't require a different motherboard.

 

[synobal]

I plan on using a 22 inch monitor I currently have hooked up to my Xbox (it has HDMI so I figure that'll be simplest).

Thanks for mentioning the RAM speed. I'll look for a faster set that hopefully won't require a different motherboard.

Make sure it's a monitor and not a TV that's 22 inch. If it's just an HD TV you won't beable to read text on it. A lot of people seem to think TVs are just big monitors they aren't.

 

[octafish]

I agree with previous posters about the PSU, use an online PSU calculator to get a ball park rating to buy, you can set-up the virtual system to have two 6870's in crossfire so you know you can upgrade later. Also 80+ certification is very desirable.

About that motherboard, if you're not buying right now, look at the new Z67 boards, they will be the new 1155 standard. You will be able to upgrade to a k series cpu and overclock later if you need to.

 

[mornal]

Make sure it's a monitor and not a TV that's 22 inch. If it's just an HD TV you won't beable to read text on it. A lot of people seem to think TVs are just big monitors they aren't.

It is indeed a monitor. Only reason it's being used by the xbox is my laptop is not in need of a monitor (by virtue of being a laptop ).

You should change the power supply, go down some and be sure to get a modular power supply they really improve air flow in your case and reduce cable clutter. I'd recommend more than a single drive for a PC, I typically install my OS on a smaller drive and then my games and other media on a larger drive. If you don't get two drives at least use two different partitions. Also I notice you've not listed any sort of operating system. You'll need one if you want to do anything with it. What ever operating system you get be sure to go 64 bit if you want to utilize all your ram.

I have a spare copy of Win7 lying around so that's covered. I also like the idea of partitioning. I'm trying to keep this somewhat cheap while maintaining quality so a 2nd hard drive isn't quite in line with my goal. Otherwise I probably would have had that from the start.

 

[yundex]

Okay.

Your power supply is overkill on the wattage. It's not 80+ either so it's efficiency may not be so hot. When your build was put into a power calculator it recommended around 470w. So here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

It's from Antec, one of the best brands around. It's also 80+ and has 550w in case you ever have money and want to upgrade in the future. This will give you a little room for it. Plenty cheaper than your 1000w also.

Now for your case, it seems okay and if you want to keep it that's fine. But I'd like to recommend the Antec 300.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Got to be one of the best cases out there. It also has a bottom placement for your power supply (good for different sized PSU's). It's $10 more however but you're already saving on the PSU.

Oh, and this drive's the same size+rpm as yours for -$20:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433

Thanks for the advice. I'll be taking all these suggestions.

What type of monitor do you have? That's actually one of the most important things for gaming. LED monitors are pretty much the best. The ram is slow, 1366 and cas speed 9. You can get a faster 6GB setup for the same price. You'd have to change the motherboard though.

Honestly it's a fine rig, I just tunnel vision on certain parts. Unless you're hardcore I wouldn't really worry about what I said.

I plan on using a 22 inch monitor I currently have hooked up to my Xbox (it has HDMI so I figure that'll be simplest).

Thanks for mentioning the RAM speed. I'll look for a faster set that hopefully won't require a different motherboard.

Your motherboard only supports DDR3 1333/1066. But like I said, unless you're hardcore I wouldn't sweat it. You won't really notice much of a difference with the video card you have.

I would stick with the advice of BigTortoise. Also make sure you get CPU and GPU temperature monitoring software when you build it. Something like speedfan or realtemp. I know that the stock cooling that comes with intel processors is shit, I bought an i7 and had to swap the stock fan for a liquid cooling system because the temps were over 100c. I had plenty of airflow too.

 

[ResonanceSD]

For the HDD, check out the Samsung Spinpoint F3/ F4. They're much better value for money.

And a 550W PSU will *just* be enough for a 6870 with all of the other stuff. I have a Silverstone Strider Gold-Rated 850W which is awesome.

 

[synobal]

Word of warning most video cards come with a thin layer of plastic over the heat sinks, to keep them from getting scratched, make sure you remove them before turning it on. They can damage your system if you forget to remove them and start trying to game. I had this happen to a friend.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Okay.

Your power supply is overkill on the wattage. It's not 80+ either so it's efficiency may not be so hot. When your build was put into a power calculator it recommended around 470w. So here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

It's from Antec, one of the best brands around. It's also 80+ and has 550w in case you ever have money and want to upgrade in the future. This will give you a little room for it. Plenty cheaper than your 1000w also.

Now for your case, it seems okay and if you want to keep it that's fine. But I'd like to recommend the Antec 300.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Got to be one of the best cases out there. It also has a bottom placement for your power supply (good for different sized PSU's). It's $10 more however but you're already saving on the PSU.

Oh, and this drive's the same size+rpm as yours for -$20:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433

Thanks for the advice. I'll be taking all these suggestions.

What type of monitor do you have? That's actually one of the most important things for gaming. LED monitors are pretty much the best. The ram is slow, 1366 and cas speed 9. You can get a faster 6GB setup for the same price. You'd have to change the motherboard though.

Honestly it's a fine rig, I just tunnel vision on certain parts. Unless you're hardcore I wouldn't really worry about what I said.

I plan on using a 22 inch monitor I currently have hooked up to my Xbox (it has HDMI so I figure that'll be simplest).

Thanks for mentioning the RAM speed. I'll look for a faster set that hopefully won't require a different motherboard.

Your motherboard only supports DDR3 1333/1066. But like I said, unless you're hardcore I wouldn't sweat it. You won't really notice much of a difference with the video card you have.

I would stick with the advice of BigTortoise. Also make sure you get CPU and GPU temperature monitoring software when you build it. Something like speedfan or realtemp. I know that the stock cooling that comes with intel processors is shit, I bought an i7 and had to swap the stock fan for a liquid cooling system because the temps were over 100c. I had plenty of airflow too.

Stock cooling systems on the Sandy Bridge line of processors are amazing, what were you doing with it?

 

[yundex]

I didn't get the new sandy bridge. I had originally planned to buy one but before I could order they had the recall, so I could not get a compatible motherboard new.

 

[BigTortoise]

I would stick with the advice of BigTortoise. Also make sure you get CPU and GPU temperature monitoring software when you build it. Something like speedfan or realtemp. I know that the stock cooling that comes with intel processors is shit, I bought an i7 and had to swap the stock fan for a liquid cooling system because the temps were over 100c. I had plenty of airflow too.

A good program to check your temps (and other specs) would be HWMonitor:
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

The stock cooling with Intel CPU's is indeed widely know to be shit. If it ends up being a problem, get a good Heatsink and fan for about $30 like this one here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

(Oh and I'm glad I could be of such help ^_^)