I would like to build a new computer from scratch. I haven’t done this before but I do know a bit about computers and have replaced/added cards, drives, RAM in the past. If there is something wrong or missing with the setup below please let me know. This is a list I have created of EVERYTHING that I need.
I plan on using Windows Vista/7 64bit Ultimate for this computer. I have already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers. I am going to place this in one big order that should be ready to assemble without any other trips to the store. What’s missing?
LG GGW H20L Super Multi Blue – Disk drive – BD-RE / HD DVD-ROM combo 6×2x6x/3x
Transcend 2.5″ Solid State Disk – Solid state drive – 64 GB – internal – 2.5″ -
Antec Sonata III – Mini tower – ATX – power supply 500 Watt ( ATX12V 2.2 ) -USB
Antec – Thermal paste
AMD Black Edition – Processor – 1 x AMD Phenom II X4 940 / 3 GHz -Socket
AM2+ -
Crucial – Memory – 4 GB ( 2 x 2 GB ) – DIMM 240-pin – DDR II – 1066 MHz /PC2-85
Diamond Viper ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 – Graphics adapter – 2 GPUs – Radeon HD 4870
24 Month Replacement Plan
MSI K9A2 Platinum – Motherboard – ATX – AMD 790FX – Socket AM2+ -UDMA133, Serial
Update: Getting GREAT answers here. I don’t want to mess with over-clocking at this point. Once the CPU and board are a few years old then I’ll start with that to save some dollars then.
Advice taken: more/better fans and larger power supply.
Advice taken: second drive for storage
Choosing best answer was tough on this one, all of you gave great and helpful answers. I’m choosing the one that told me something I completely missed (bus speed)
Thank you all!
Paultech
May 13, 2010 at 3:26 pm
power supply is to low i would advise getting a 750watt power supply, and a 2nd hard drive sata, for extra store. since if your doing lots of downloading this will quickly used up by applications, etc
the rest of the machine is good
Wooooo
May 13, 2010 at 4:06 pm
First you have your case. Sonata 3 is an awesome choice.
#2 install the processor onto the motherboard and then put the motherboard into the case. Both the motherboard and processor you have chosen are good.
#3 Install ram and graphics card into the motherboard. The graphics cards are good but your Power supply is going to struggle with it. The Ram brand (Crucial) I have never heard of, hence would reccommend a brand more like Kingston or Corsair.
#4 Install your HDD and DVD drive
#5 Plug in all the power cables and start her up.
Jacob
May 13, 2010 at 4:58 pm
That case sucks for air flow. For your setup it will be putting off some heat under full load…you need a good case that has at least 2-3 120mm fans for good cooling. As stated above that 500W PSU will barely get you by and since it comes with the case it probably won’t be that good. I’d buy the case and PSU separate. I have the Antec 900 case and it is amazing at staying cool. Also, I’d look into an aftermarket CPU cooler too…and get Arctic Cooling MX-2 or OCZ Freeze for thermal paste.
geek-in-training
May 13, 2010 at 5:54 pm
You may want to consider a larger power supply. That video card will suck up power! The minimum requirements are 550w.
kevin
May 13, 2010 at 6:10 pm
your cpu is fast but the BUS speed on it is slow it’s only 1800mhz and your motherboard is 2600mhz you should get a processor with a faster BUS speed like this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4171789
it has a BUS speed of 2000 mhz and is only .4ghz slower. but that can easily be fixed with the overclocking program that comes with the CPU
(you probrably already know about it though) also, it’s cheaper!
you might also want a better case fan and PSU…
other than those little things, that’s AWESOME and you’ll love that solid state drive, i want to get one in the near future..
Appleguy
May 13, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Great choices! Just make sure you get the parts from a good online vendor like Newegg. Also check out their Daily Deals:
http://killer-dealz.com/newegg
And, great choice on Crucial RAMs, getting RAMs from them are a breeze as well:
http://killer-dealz.com/crucial