NJPaint
08-04-2005, 11:23 AM
Alright, this post aims to be a useful guide for AO computer users. This post is also aimed to convince more people to build their own computers. Of course this isn't for everyone, but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to do this. First off, why would you want to build your own computer? For a variety of reasons. First, it gives you direct control of what goes in or out of your computer. Nothing you don't want, nothing extra, just what you want. Higher quality parts. Brand name computer vendors like to use name products for the big parts so they can advertise and generic parts for the small parts. This has many problems on many levels. Namely that if one small thing goes, the entire system can be inoperable. Its easy, and its also much cheaper than buying an equivolent Brand PC. You also will understand your computer much better after you build, even just one computer. Heck you might end up making some money because you can do simple things like swapping out parts for people and helping them out. Anyways, here it goes. Note: this thread is aimed at the high end gamer who is on a budget. That means a high performance computer at a good price. This is not meant for just "e-mail/word processing/ internet". Note: as I am writing this, it is August 4th, 2005, keep in mind that things change daily in the computer world.
There are a few basic components to your computer.
Motherboard
CPU (Processor)
RAM
Hard drive
Video Card
Sound Card
Network Card
Opticals
Case
Powersupply
If you have all of the above, you pretty much have a full computer. Lucky for us, most motherboards now come with an integrated sound and network cards. While most gamers cringe at the sound of "integrated", do not be afraid. This isn't the video realm that we are talking. Most modern motherboards come with very very good sound and network cards. So, lets start with those. I have limited myself to AMD64 systems. I have built 200+ rigs from PIII 733 machines up to a 256 node beowolfe cluster based on AMD64s and in my mind for the gamer or value person, AMD64 gives you the best results at a good price. (I'll post about Intel vs AMD later.)
Motherboards
Just about every company makes a high end AMD64 motherboard. They are all extremely high quality and are even becoming aesthetically pleasing. As of this moment, these are some of the choices you have.
ASUS A8N
Asus A8V Deluxe
BFG BFGRNF4U
ECS KN1
ABIT Fatal1ty AN8
All of these are high end AMD 64 Boards and will serve you well, they are all about $100 some a little more.
CPUs
AMD64 chips can be confusing, even for someone like me that basically lives around them (while I write this, I actually have 8 AMD64 chips in 6 different machines in the same room as me) But here are some basic pricing as of this writing (courtesy of newegg):
AMD64 Venice 3000+ ($146)
AMD64 Venice 3200+ ($190)
AMD64 Venice 3500+ ($265)
AMD64 Venice 3800+ ($339)
AMD64 San Diego 4000+ ($474)
AMD64 San Diego FX55 ($819)
AMD64 San Diego FX57 ($1,100)
These are the main line flagship gaming CPUs. Even the lowest end CPU, the 3000+ will run high end games at medium/high settings. They are great CPUs and all of them (these are all retail prices) come with heat sinks and fans.
RAM
Some might yell at me for this, but in my mind, "good ram" is seriously over rated. Yes, it is true that quality does matter, but not to change prices by a factor of 2. Generic sticks of RAM work fine with normal systems, although I think that it would be not only stupid, but pointless to build an FX55 system and stick in generic ram. That having been said. DDR on AMD64 systems should be bought in packs of two, ie two sticks at a time to utilize the dual channel memory. Technical mumbo jumbo aside, always by your ram in two sticks, unless you see yourself upgrading very very soon. Its faster and hey if one stick fails, you will still have a working computer. That having been said. Your best bet is to pick up two sticks of 512mb DDR400 PC3200 ram. It is flooding the market and is dirt cheap. It isn't THE fastest, but it is more than adequet for gaming standards now. I've seen my favorite brand, Crucial or even Corsair Ram, two sticks of 512mb go for $90 on newegg! Thats a gig of ram for $90 total.
Hard drives
This is another area that we consumers are lucky in. The market is flooded with good, brand name, cheap hard drives. Just a quick search at www.slickdeals.net or www.bensbargains.net will show you the number of cheap, large hard drives that are on the market now. I think the last one I saw was a 160gb drive for $40. While size does matter, for most people, the difference between a 160gb and a 250gb or 400gb drive is very little. Very very few people have music collections or movie collections that big (although, if one looks at my storage server, they will see that I have over a terrabyte of storage space and it is 70% filled ;)). Anyways, to the hardware. There are two routes with hard drives, the "old" IDE and the "new" SATA. IDE are ribbon cables (the grey ones that go to hard drives and CD drives) where as SATA use thin cabling about a 1/4 of an inch wide. Besides being faster, SATA drives also have the smaller cable profile making them much much more attractive in a crampped case. SATA drives are noticably faster, not huge, but noticable. But here is the thing. The price differential between a SATA drive and an IDE drive is staggering. Sometimes as much as 5-6 times as much for a SATA drive (with all of the new internet deals)! So I usually recommend finding the best deal within your budget.
Video Cards (oh boy... here we go...)
This is the absolute hardest section to write, because there isn't a simple answer like most of the other sections. It would be hard to find a computer enthusiast who disagreed on major issues with the other sections, but when it comes to video cards, there will always be a huge debate, and that is a good thing. Why? Why is it good that it isn't simple? Because video cards are the single biggest variable with high end gaming. This means that companies are going to always fight to give you the best card possible at the lowest price to beat out the rest of an extremely competative market. Now, this is MY take. I stand by it as a basic outline, but this is never as simple as it seems. Two companies to consider, ATI and Nvidia. Now, I was an ATI fan boy, then went to Nvidia for a while and now I actually own both of their high end cards. This is the BEST outline for video cards that I have ever seen, just numbers, nothing else.
http://users.erols.com/chare/video.htm
Nothing is as simple as it seems, the numbers don't tell you the whole story, but in the simplest terms, the higher the Bandwidth (BW), the better the card. This is not a coorelation = cause thing!!! This is a coorelation that happens to work out well with video cards. What this does do for us is immeadiately illuminate the value level cards and the performance cards.
Performance cards (look at the names here then go to that spreadsheet and see if you can see the pattern for yourself)
ATI
9600XT
9800, 9800Pro, 9800XT
X800, X800GT, X800Pro
Nvidia
GF6600GT
GF6800 (all varieties)
Note that not all of these cards are the tip top of the line from each company, they are simply the performance cards. It should be noted that AGP slots are being phased out and any new gaming or performance computer will be using PCI-E (PCI express). If you need more explanation it can be for another time.
Opticals
I didn't think that I actually was going to write a section like this, but hey I was amazed when I actually did the research.
Options:
CD-Rom --> $15
DVD-Rom --> $20
CD Burner --> $21
DVD Burner --> $35
I mean wow! You can get a DVD-Burner for $35 now... I remember buying my CD Burner for $200 way back when. I would seriously consider what you need before you buy. Not many people have a REAL use for a DVD burner and while it can't hurt to have it, it can be a complete waste of money. I generally use my network to transfer files or my 2gb USB drive and not CDs, but thats just me.
Cases and powersupplies
This section has too much variety to put into words. Quality in the powersupply does matter for high end systems, but I'll save this for another day if people need the help :)
Cliff Notes:
1) Building your own computer isn't hard and can be very rewarding/cheap
2) Lot of good motherboards to choose from
3) AMD64
4) DDR400 PC3200 (1gb)
5) Cheap, good hard drives all over the place
6) Lots of good video cards to choose from
7) Opticals have come way down in price
The actual building.
A few starter tips, again, not the end all advice, but what I've learned:
Wash hands -- Sounds trivial, but it limits the oil/grime that gets on your components
Always think through any move that you make with any component before you move it. -- Again, sounds trivial, but the worst feeling in the world is picking up a delicate component and then not having a place to put it.
Parts are hardy. They are meant to sustain use, but not abuse. Its as simple as that. Don't worry about if you accidentally bump the motherboard when you are putting it in. Its really hard, I've been doing it for a long time and I still sometimes bump it on the powersupply or the back of the case.
Tip- identify all the holes that attach the motherboard to the case. Make sure that every single one of them has a raised nut on the inside of the case (where the screw goes into). You can't put the raised nuts in with the motherboard in there.
Tip2- Always use common sense. If something isn't working, put everything down, take a step back, wash your hands again, sit down and think. Nothing in computers needs to be forced (unless its a windows 95,98 or ME machine that needs to be hit with a baseball bat). If something is being stressed that means that its not supposed to be that way.
Tip3- If you don't already have them, get a bunch of cable ties. Either the twisty kind (used on garbage bags) or the zipper kind, found at any hardware or department store. There is nothing like a highly organized case. There really isn't. Debugging a broken computer is always easier if you can see what you are doing.
Tip4- Always have good lighting. If you have a headlamp (I have one because I ice climb and I need it in the early mornings), use it. If all else fails, a good desk lamp or floor lamp will work. Two light sources is always better than one. Cases aren't huge and your hands will cast shadows, do not try to work in the dark, you will hurt yourself or the computer.
Tip5- Things always take 3 times as long as you expect and rarely does a computer boot up perfectly the first time around. If you do everything and you boot up and nothing happens. Don't panic. There is always a logical reason for these kinds of things. If you run through it several times and can't figure it out, ask for help. Most computer techs are pretty friendly.
Edit: one last thing. Get your tools all set. You will need a philips screw driver for sure. Having two isn't a bad thing. I find that using a small driver for something is much easier than a bulky large one, and yet for case work or for the motherboard, using a small screw driver is much too tedious. A pair of needlenose pliers will also be handy in case you drop a screw into the computer (it happens, them things are really freakin small).
Okay, now the building.
Building up the motherboard
Take out the motherboard, ram, CPU and heatsink/fan. All of them should be layed out before you start working on anything (in their casing is fine, but available, this should be easy to do with out leaving your chair). First, lay out your motherboard ontop of the foam insert that it came in, or the thick static bag that it came in. This will protect not only the motherboard, but your table surface, some soldering can be pretty rough on the underside. Locate where the CPU and RAM will go and release the clamps on the RAM slots and the heatsink/fans. Apply pressure, but do not force anything. everything should slide in with applied pressure, but not your full weight pushing it. Follow the directions that came with your individual Heatsink/fan, they are a better guide than anything I could tell you online.
Assembling the case
Place the Case on its side so that the open side is facing up. (see the first tip) Place the motherboard striaght down into the case, lining up the nuts that are in the case. Using a philips screw driver screw the motherboard tight into the case. Do not over tighten!
After putting in the motherboard, take a look at the front panel of the case. Plan out where your optical drives will go. I like to put mine at the top of the case, but that is just me. Remove the aluminum, plastic, or acrylic covers off of the 5.25" drive bays where you want your drives to go. Some motherboards use rails to mount your optical drives. Others have you screw them directly into the case. Consult your case manual, or just simply look at it, it should be pretty simple. However, before you actually screw in your drives, take a quick look at their jumper settings. Every drive has a jumper setting, this includes hard drives. Every IDE cable (the flat ribbon cables) can have one master, and one slave drive on them. This means that before you screw in your drives you need to decide how your computer will be set up. I would recommend keeping your hard drive on a seperate IDE cable from your opticals if you can just to keep things simple.
After the opticals are in place, put the Hard drive in. This is very similar to the opticals except that the hard drive will go into the 3.5" bay instead of the 5.25" bay. Again check your jumper settings.
Last thing to do in this section is to add your PCI and PCI-E cards. Knock out with a screw driver the back panaling where you want your PCI/PCI-E cards to go. A couple of light taps will be more than sufficient. Then place the cards into the motherboard and secure them to the case with a screw.
Your First Boot
Re-orient your computer upright and plug in your monitor, keyboard, mouse and network cable. Turn on the computer. You should hear the whiring of the fans as it turns on as well as the hard drive spinning. Watch the monitor closely. Several diagnostic message should flash infront of you and then the computer will stop because there isn't anything to boot to yet. If you get this far, congrats, you have the hardware setup at least for the most part. Before shutting down, take your Windows XP, 2000, 2003 etc CD and place it into the CD/DVD drive. Then reboot the computer. After rebooting a screen should pop up saying "Boot to CD? Press any key", press any key and go through the installation, its pretty self explanatory. If you do NOT get this message, do not worry, it is a simple fix. Reboot the machine again and this time when the first screen comes up with your motherboard information on it, press F2 (sometimes its Del) it should say "Press F2 to enter setup" or bios or something of that nature.
Once you are in the setup you need to change the boot order of your drives so that the CD drive will be looked at before the hard drive. Consult your motherboard manual if you have trouble doing this, although it should be fairly simple and straight forward.
There are a few basic components to your computer.
Motherboard
CPU (Processor)
RAM
Hard drive
Video Card
Sound Card
Network Card
Opticals
Case
Powersupply
If you have all of the above, you pretty much have a full computer. Lucky for us, most motherboards now come with an integrated sound and network cards. While most gamers cringe at the sound of "integrated", do not be afraid. This isn't the video realm that we are talking. Most modern motherboards come with very very good sound and network cards. So, lets start with those. I have limited myself to AMD64 systems. I have built 200+ rigs from PIII 733 machines up to a 256 node beowolfe cluster based on AMD64s and in my mind for the gamer or value person, AMD64 gives you the best results at a good price. (I'll post about Intel vs AMD later.)
Motherboards
Just about every company makes a high end AMD64 motherboard. They are all extremely high quality and are even becoming aesthetically pleasing. As of this moment, these are some of the choices you have.
ASUS A8N
Asus A8V Deluxe
BFG BFGRNF4U
ECS KN1
ABIT Fatal1ty AN8
All of these are high end AMD 64 Boards and will serve you well, they are all about $100 some a little more.
CPUs
AMD64 chips can be confusing, even for someone like me that basically lives around them (while I write this, I actually have 8 AMD64 chips in 6 different machines in the same room as me) But here are some basic pricing as of this writing (courtesy of newegg):
AMD64 Venice 3000+ ($146)
AMD64 Venice 3200+ ($190)
AMD64 Venice 3500+ ($265)
AMD64 Venice 3800+ ($339)
AMD64 San Diego 4000+ ($474)
AMD64 San Diego FX55 ($819)
AMD64 San Diego FX57 ($1,100)
These are the main line flagship gaming CPUs. Even the lowest end CPU, the 3000+ will run high end games at medium/high settings. They are great CPUs and all of them (these are all retail prices) come with heat sinks and fans.
RAM
Some might yell at me for this, but in my mind, "good ram" is seriously over rated. Yes, it is true that quality does matter, but not to change prices by a factor of 2. Generic sticks of RAM work fine with normal systems, although I think that it would be not only stupid, but pointless to build an FX55 system and stick in generic ram. That having been said. DDR on AMD64 systems should be bought in packs of two, ie two sticks at a time to utilize the dual channel memory. Technical mumbo jumbo aside, always by your ram in two sticks, unless you see yourself upgrading very very soon. Its faster and hey if one stick fails, you will still have a working computer. That having been said. Your best bet is to pick up two sticks of 512mb DDR400 PC3200 ram. It is flooding the market and is dirt cheap. It isn't THE fastest, but it is more than adequet for gaming standards now. I've seen my favorite brand, Crucial or even Corsair Ram, two sticks of 512mb go for $90 on newegg! Thats a gig of ram for $90 total.
Hard drives
This is another area that we consumers are lucky in. The market is flooded with good, brand name, cheap hard drives. Just a quick search at www.slickdeals.net or www.bensbargains.net will show you the number of cheap, large hard drives that are on the market now. I think the last one I saw was a 160gb drive for $40. While size does matter, for most people, the difference between a 160gb and a 250gb or 400gb drive is very little. Very very few people have music collections or movie collections that big (although, if one looks at my storage server, they will see that I have over a terrabyte of storage space and it is 70% filled ;)). Anyways, to the hardware. There are two routes with hard drives, the "old" IDE and the "new" SATA. IDE are ribbon cables (the grey ones that go to hard drives and CD drives) where as SATA use thin cabling about a 1/4 of an inch wide. Besides being faster, SATA drives also have the smaller cable profile making them much much more attractive in a crampped case. SATA drives are noticably faster, not huge, but noticable. But here is the thing. The price differential between a SATA drive and an IDE drive is staggering. Sometimes as much as 5-6 times as much for a SATA drive (with all of the new internet deals)! So I usually recommend finding the best deal within your budget.
Video Cards (oh boy... here we go...)
This is the absolute hardest section to write, because there isn't a simple answer like most of the other sections. It would be hard to find a computer enthusiast who disagreed on major issues with the other sections, but when it comes to video cards, there will always be a huge debate, and that is a good thing. Why? Why is it good that it isn't simple? Because video cards are the single biggest variable with high end gaming. This means that companies are going to always fight to give you the best card possible at the lowest price to beat out the rest of an extremely competative market. Now, this is MY take. I stand by it as a basic outline, but this is never as simple as it seems. Two companies to consider, ATI and Nvidia. Now, I was an ATI fan boy, then went to Nvidia for a while and now I actually own both of their high end cards. This is the BEST outline for video cards that I have ever seen, just numbers, nothing else.
http://users.erols.com/chare/video.htm
Nothing is as simple as it seems, the numbers don't tell you the whole story, but in the simplest terms, the higher the Bandwidth (BW), the better the card. This is not a coorelation = cause thing!!! This is a coorelation that happens to work out well with video cards. What this does do for us is immeadiately illuminate the value level cards and the performance cards.
Performance cards (look at the names here then go to that spreadsheet and see if you can see the pattern for yourself)
ATI
9600XT
9800, 9800Pro, 9800XT
X800, X800GT, X800Pro
Nvidia
GF6600GT
GF6800 (all varieties)
Note that not all of these cards are the tip top of the line from each company, they are simply the performance cards. It should be noted that AGP slots are being phased out and any new gaming or performance computer will be using PCI-E (PCI express). If you need more explanation it can be for another time.
Opticals
I didn't think that I actually was going to write a section like this, but hey I was amazed when I actually did the research.
Options:
CD-Rom --> $15
DVD-Rom --> $20
CD Burner --> $21
DVD Burner --> $35
I mean wow! You can get a DVD-Burner for $35 now... I remember buying my CD Burner for $200 way back when. I would seriously consider what you need before you buy. Not many people have a REAL use for a DVD burner and while it can't hurt to have it, it can be a complete waste of money. I generally use my network to transfer files or my 2gb USB drive and not CDs, but thats just me.
Cases and powersupplies
This section has too much variety to put into words. Quality in the powersupply does matter for high end systems, but I'll save this for another day if people need the help :)
Cliff Notes:
1) Building your own computer isn't hard and can be very rewarding/cheap
2) Lot of good motherboards to choose from
3) AMD64
4) DDR400 PC3200 (1gb)
5) Cheap, good hard drives all over the place
6) Lots of good video cards to choose from
7) Opticals have come way down in price
The actual building.
A few starter tips, again, not the end all advice, but what I've learned:
Wash hands -- Sounds trivial, but it limits the oil/grime that gets on your components
Always think through any move that you make with any component before you move it. -- Again, sounds trivial, but the worst feeling in the world is picking up a delicate component and then not having a place to put it.
Parts are hardy. They are meant to sustain use, but not abuse. Its as simple as that. Don't worry about if you accidentally bump the motherboard when you are putting it in. Its really hard, I've been doing it for a long time and I still sometimes bump it on the powersupply or the back of the case.
Tip- identify all the holes that attach the motherboard to the case. Make sure that every single one of them has a raised nut on the inside of the case (where the screw goes into). You can't put the raised nuts in with the motherboard in there.
Tip2- Always use common sense. If something isn't working, put everything down, take a step back, wash your hands again, sit down and think. Nothing in computers needs to be forced (unless its a windows 95,98 or ME machine that needs to be hit with a baseball bat). If something is being stressed that means that its not supposed to be that way.
Tip3- If you don't already have them, get a bunch of cable ties. Either the twisty kind (used on garbage bags) or the zipper kind, found at any hardware or department store. There is nothing like a highly organized case. There really isn't. Debugging a broken computer is always easier if you can see what you are doing.
Tip4- Always have good lighting. If you have a headlamp (I have one because I ice climb and I need it in the early mornings), use it. If all else fails, a good desk lamp or floor lamp will work. Two light sources is always better than one. Cases aren't huge and your hands will cast shadows, do not try to work in the dark, you will hurt yourself or the computer.
Tip5- Things always take 3 times as long as you expect and rarely does a computer boot up perfectly the first time around. If you do everything and you boot up and nothing happens. Don't panic. There is always a logical reason for these kinds of things. If you run through it several times and can't figure it out, ask for help. Most computer techs are pretty friendly.
Edit: one last thing. Get your tools all set. You will need a philips screw driver for sure. Having two isn't a bad thing. I find that using a small driver for something is much easier than a bulky large one, and yet for case work or for the motherboard, using a small screw driver is much too tedious. A pair of needlenose pliers will also be handy in case you drop a screw into the computer (it happens, them things are really freakin small).
Okay, now the building.
Building up the motherboard
Take out the motherboard, ram, CPU and heatsink/fan. All of them should be layed out before you start working on anything (in their casing is fine, but available, this should be easy to do with out leaving your chair). First, lay out your motherboard ontop of the foam insert that it came in, or the thick static bag that it came in. This will protect not only the motherboard, but your table surface, some soldering can be pretty rough on the underside. Locate where the CPU and RAM will go and release the clamps on the RAM slots and the heatsink/fans. Apply pressure, but do not force anything. everything should slide in with applied pressure, but not your full weight pushing it. Follow the directions that came with your individual Heatsink/fan, they are a better guide than anything I could tell you online.
Assembling the case
Place the Case on its side so that the open side is facing up. (see the first tip) Place the motherboard striaght down into the case, lining up the nuts that are in the case. Using a philips screw driver screw the motherboard tight into the case. Do not over tighten!
After putting in the motherboard, take a look at the front panel of the case. Plan out where your optical drives will go. I like to put mine at the top of the case, but that is just me. Remove the aluminum, plastic, or acrylic covers off of the 5.25" drive bays where you want your drives to go. Some motherboards use rails to mount your optical drives. Others have you screw them directly into the case. Consult your case manual, or just simply look at it, it should be pretty simple. However, before you actually screw in your drives, take a quick look at their jumper settings. Every drive has a jumper setting, this includes hard drives. Every IDE cable (the flat ribbon cables) can have one master, and one slave drive on them. This means that before you screw in your drives you need to decide how your computer will be set up. I would recommend keeping your hard drive on a seperate IDE cable from your opticals if you can just to keep things simple.
After the opticals are in place, put the Hard drive in. This is very similar to the opticals except that the hard drive will go into the 3.5" bay instead of the 5.25" bay. Again check your jumper settings.
Last thing to do in this section is to add your PCI and PCI-E cards. Knock out with a screw driver the back panaling where you want your PCI/PCI-E cards to go. A couple of light taps will be more than sufficient. Then place the cards into the motherboard and secure them to the case with a screw.
Your First Boot
Re-orient your computer upright and plug in your monitor, keyboard, mouse and network cable. Turn on the computer. You should hear the whiring of the fans as it turns on as well as the hard drive spinning. Watch the monitor closely. Several diagnostic message should flash infront of you and then the computer will stop because there isn't anything to boot to yet. If you get this far, congrats, you have the hardware setup at least for the most part. Before shutting down, take your Windows XP, 2000, 2003 etc CD and place it into the CD/DVD drive. Then reboot the computer. After rebooting a screen should pop up saying "Boot to CD? Press any key", press any key and go through the installation, its pretty self explanatory. If you do NOT get this message, do not worry, it is a simple fix. Reboot the machine again and this time when the first screen comes up with your motherboard information on it, press F2 (sometimes its Del) it should say "Press F2 to enter setup" or bios or something of that nature.
Once you are in the setup you need to change the boot order of your drives so that the CD drive will be looked at before the hard drive. Consult your motherboard manual if you have trouble doing this, although it should be fairly simple and straight forward.