I Need Professional Help on my Build...

N

NeverB4Seen

Geek Trainee
I am trying to get the best value for a computer and I need experienced geeks to help me with it. I went to cyberpowerpc.com and set one up but I want to make sure I am getting optimum performance out of the machine I make with a $800 budget.

I want to order parts and build it at home but I need to know what parts to get (in relation to the parts posted below), if everything will fit properly, and where is the best website/local store to purchase said items.

I am going for "inexpensive" on things that don't matter such as the case and such, but I'm going for best value performance on things such as the CPU, Video Card, and all that is needed. So that means I will need help deciphering if the Radeon 4870 is worth the money or if I should go with a cheeper card but get just as good results. Also advice on overclocking if I need to get more powerful fans or not. Same goes with any other part.

So if you have ANY input I would appreciate all comments helping me out; and please feel free to debate with others advice, I feel that debates get the best result:

Case: Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case External 3 X 5.25; Internal 6 X 3.5 2*Usb2.0
CS_Fan: Extra case Cooling Fan (2 x fans)
Power Supply: Standard 420W Power Supply
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Quad-Core
Fan: AMD Athlon64 Certified CPU fan & Heatsink
Motherboard: GygaByte GA-MA74GM-S2 740G Chipset DDR/800 SATA RAID PCI-Express MBoard w/ATI 2100 Graphic, GbLAN, USB2.0,&7.1Audio
Memory: 4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
HDD: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0GB/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM
CD: LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + DVD-R/RW Drive Dual Layer
Sound: High Definition On-Board 7.1 Audio
Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 3
 
First is this build for you ? or a customer ? Next where are you going to buy all the parts from ? Most people seem to get there parts from newegg, Which is fine and i have ordered from them as well.. BUT there shipping is higher than all the rest. So ,do allot of looking before buying..
 
What one needs to know about...the relation of the negative effects of heat on the computer...That can be caused by the power supply.

Manufacturers test their PSU's at a set temperature...from this their rating is determined... for most this No. is 25 degrees Celsius...which falls short of the temperature that most computers are capable of achieving.

Given that a PSU will actually lose 2-5 watts per one degree of heat above the 25 Degree Celsius testing temperature...coupled with the fact that computers tend to run at 10 degrees higher than room temperature... In the summer time when the room temperature can easily reach 80 degrees F... your computer will be running at 33 Degrees C. or 90 Degrees F.

So the...math can make...your 500 watt power supply into a 460 watt unit.

In addition to this...what needs to be taken into account is that each degree that your computer components are operating at...under powered...adds more heat to the equation.

Consider also...the possibility...that ratings given by the manufacturer of single components...such as graphics cards...need to be treated with skepticism... Manufacturers may minimize support issues and under rate the power required...in order to make a larger profit.

The above has not taken into account...the issue of high quality vs poor quality units...Power supplies convert voltages from wall outlets to lower levels used by the PC. During this conversion, some power is lost as heat. The efficiency level of the PSU determines how much extra power must be put into the power supply to run the PC. A high quality PSU can help reduce the noise and heat generated within a computer system. The higher the efficiency rating the less heat the PSU has to deal with.

Therefore heat is the computers enemy...The hotter the temperature your PSU is forced to run at...the poorer the supply of power the rest of the components will receive...which has been known to lead to such things as crashes, freezing, rebooting, BSOD’s, and video distortion, as well as partial and complete failure of other components.

The fact is very few PSU’s are capable of producing the wattage that the companies advertise.

For a very good comprehension of recommended brand names, wattage, and models in listed categories...Plus much more...check out this link. Power Supply Information and Selection - Tech Support Forum
 
UPDATE ON MY BUILD:

Yes, this is my first build and first time doing really anything with my personal PC other than software stuff... I hear it's not that complicated and fairly fool-proof now-a-days so I'm pretty excited to get started.

Anyways, I've searched around and asked around to a lot of forums and here is what I've come up with:

Case: Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case External 3 X 5.25; Internal 6 X 3.5 2*Usb2.0
Power Supply: Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W Power Supply
CPU: AMD Phenom™II X3 720 Black Edition Triple-Core CPU
CPU Fan: Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX Gaming CPU Cooling Fan
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 Socket AM2+/ AMD 770/ DDR2/A&2GbE/ ATX Motherboard
Memory: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory
HDD: WD Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA HDD
CD: SAMSUNG Black DVD±R/±RW + DVD-R/RW Drive w/ DVD Burner
Sound: Onboard Sound
Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2c

Any comments or recommends?? I plan on Overclocking the CPU to at least 3.0 ghz and if I really feel overzealous overclocking the graphics card too... I don't really know how to but I can learn easily.
 
Memory: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Hey man why you buying a tripple channel kit? your board doesn't support tripple channel. It only supports dual channel so Invest in the same ram but Dual channel kit :) possibly 4gb but you will need 64bit operating system.
 
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