Computer wishlist, how is it?

[I cant spell u]

should be getting $700 soon for a new build (i've never built one in my life)
how is it for $700? good? Also, can anyone provide a link to a good tutorial on how to build a pc?

Thanks.

Thermaltake VC3000BWS Black Chassis : 0.8mm SECC Front bezel : Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard

EVGA 256-P2-N765-AR GeForce 8600GTS Superclocked 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Thermaltake W0093RU ATX 12V 2.0 Version 500W Power Supply


AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA4600CUBOX

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400


Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive


SONY 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model DRU170C

[Captain]

All depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to play current games with decent settings, the 8600 might be fine. It'll barely run any of the newly-released games though. Of course I'm assuming that you'd be using this for gaming

I don't know much about AMD tech.

The RAM's a good choice and the PSU is adequate for the rest of the hardware.

As for tutorials, I never used one when I built my first. Let it flow naturally through hands-on experience
Basically the most important thing to look out for is E.S.D. (Electro Static Discharge), but grounding yourself takes care of that.

See if these help, although they might be a couple years old:

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step-1-materials-required/
http://uk.giga-byte.com/Support/Motherb ... TechID=100

[Scourge]

I have an 8600 GTS and it plays the new games just fine. Granted, I can't run them with 'everything' on high. I can run Crysis on high settings though. Ran the COD4 demo earlier and it ran smooth as butter. And that's with an old Athlon 64 3400+ single core.

[Captain]

Well if you play on smaller resolutions, such as 1024x768. 8600 cards struggle quite a bit with 1280x1024 and over.

But yes, I'm talking about all possible effects turned on in games

[Scourge]

Well if you play on smaller resolutions, such as 1024x768. 8600 cards struggle quite a bit with 1280x1024 and over.

But yes, I'm talking about all possible effects turned on in games

Just ran COD4 at 1280x1024, 4xaa, full effects and AF. Slight slowdown. I'm not saying the 8800's aren't better cards, just that the 8600 GTS isn't as bad as some think. If you're the type that has to have all the goodies turned on then yeah, get the 8800.

[Foo]

You shouldn't need a 500w psu for that kind of a setup. Also if you can use your current PC case instead, save the money there and improve the components. For the price of the case, you can prolly upgrade to an 8800GT and a legit copy of vista (you can buy OEM vista when you buy your components and it costs a lot less than retail for the same product)

[I cant spell u]

I really don't care how good the game looks, I just want it to run smooth, real smooth, with no hiccups. the only games I want to run atm are et:qw and ut3. Foo, the current case is total garbage, i'd like a nice upgrade from everything, and this setup seems to do it at a low cost. I really have no desire to run vista either, just linux.


I'd like to take the parts to a shop and have them teach me how to build it, but i'm sure they'll just try and rip me off.

[Foo]

TBH there's not that much to the process, just a few principles to follow... I'll try and dig you up a suitable guide.

[Foo]

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1444

[Foo]

BTW the things that consistently cause me the biggest problems are:

- Mounting the heatsink on the CPU (take this slow, don't use too much force, read the instructions like 8 times at every step)

- Plugging the case's front-panel plugs into the motherboard. These are always a bitch so use the diagram in the motherboard manual and only hook up the bare minimum if it's proving difficult. All you really need is the on/off switch and you can do the rest later.

Also as a general principle, build the PC a simple as possible. If you have 20 hard drive and a dozen CD-Roms and you're thinking they would all be good in the PC, fine... but add them in later. For the first build, just getthe PSU, 1 stick of RAM, processor and graphics inserted, then see if it turns on.

If you add all the other shit in on the first pass and it doesn't work, you're going to have a headache figuring out why.

[SoM]

i've really enjoyed installing my 64 x2 5200+, took me less then 5 seconds to snap on the heatsink

with my old barton 2500+ i've slipped and wacked the mobo with the screwdriver.

[Foo]

I snapped all of the mounting housing on my last AMD 939 motherboard. Instructions for it were crap.