Ok guys, I decided to just build a new one and use my existing hard drives and dvd drives. If you guys get a chance, do you see anything wrong with the selections I have made? If so, could you suggest an improvement? http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-156-019&depa=0 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-144-309&depa=0 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-123-217&depa=0 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-116-174&depa=0 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-102-331&depa=0 Also, I am confused as to whether I need to buy extra fans or heatsinks? I don't quite get that. Thanks for the help. By the way, my old harddrives will work on my new mobo right?
Yes, you will have to reformat them though and install a new installation of your operating system. As for case fans and hsf, your links don't work so i can't tell you what HSF to get.. first off, how many case fans can the case you are going to use take? and what size are they? 80mm / 92mm / 120mm ? Most likely you will have room for one front case fan (bottom front) and one just below the powersupply at the back. I suggest that you buy two case fans that will fit these, i recommend: Zalman Quiet Fans or Vantec Silent Case Fans, i would recommend buying only one for the front and one for the back. To keep a good system temperature and regular airflow you should always try to have equal numbers of fans at both the front and back of the case, that are equal in power, this way you have a balanced airflow. The fan(s) at the front of the case should be intake fans (sucking air from out the front of the case, through and into the system) and the fans at the back should be exhaust fans. Also, try to keep good cable management, ie, wrap all your cables in sets of wires in wire loom, so that they don't obstruct air flow. If you are using IDE or UIDE hard drives, i suggest that you either fold the IDE Cables as small as possible then use cable ties to keep them that way, or buy some Rounded IDE Cables, and get one for your floppy drive as well. As for your HSF, i don't know what processor your getting but you want something HIGH CFM (CFM = Air Flow) with low noise, so i would recommend some of these: ThermalRight XP-120 (not compatible with some motherboards) ThermalRight XP-90 (compatible with most) ThermalRight SLK-800A ThermalRight SLK-900U (not compatible with some motherboards) Zalman 7000-7700B Series (fantastic HSF's) Some of these do not come with fans, if you have to get your own fan, make sure you get a Zalman/Vantec/Panaflo and get the biggest fan you can for your Heat Sink. Rounded cables cost you about $5 each, a good HSF will cost about $60-$100, and if you can afford it i highly recommend getting a Zalman hard drive cooler ($60 or so), as this reduces the noise of the hard drive almost to nothing, and cools it towards 25-30C, which will help your hard drive live longer, and last longer performance wise. I do not recommend having: 1 Intake Fan, 1 Exhaust Fan and 1 Side Panel Fan some people have: the side panel fan, intaking air into the case, this is not a good idea as you would have to have a more powerful case fan at the back exhausting.. otherwise the same air (hot air) is getting circulated through your system and heating your components up. Stick with front intake fans and rear exhaust fans and keep them the same model / make / size / power
Ok, the links didn't come across right let me try this again. Just wondering if anyone sees any problems with any of this before I order it. So, any input would be great, if you think an AMD setup would be better, please suggest one. I get confused with all of these different types of sockets and stuff. Someone suggested this setup and it appears to be great, but I just wanted to check. Also, do I need to buy more fans or something to cool this? Case Mobo CPU Video Card RAM
I would not get that case, i've dealt with the RaidMax series before, some of their more expensive cases are OK, but their cheaper one's like the one you have chosen are flimsy, loud, vibrate alot (causing lots of noise) and the cooling capacity is not very good. I would get for a similiar price a : Centurion 2 (Cooler Master), or a Chieftec case. Right as for your system I would change these things: Keep your CPU thats good 1.Change your motherboard to a motherboard that uses PCI-E instead of AGP 2.Change your memory from the value series of GeIL to the Golden Value series, its alot better for little more money, and i mean ALOT better. 3.If you get PCI-E (which you SHOULD!), you can't use an AGP graphics card, however PCI-E cards are very cheap at the moment, so get a: Nvidia 6600 128MB or ATI X700Pro 128MB Same price as 9600XT and yet they are almost double the power.. and make sure you get a good powersupply: ThermalTake Antec OCZ Tagan Enermax Be sure to get 420W or more from these brands, DO NOT, get a cheap powersupply.
Procal, As soon as I think I am on to something, someone will post a suggestion and I get all confused. Your post was great, but it just makes me think that it is going to take forever to get this computer bought. So I need to find a new mobo with PCI-E, different case, different RAM, HSF and Video Card. I know you have layed out your plan, but I feel like if I go buy all of this stuff, I am going to miss some crucial detail like some socket type or SATA hardrive thing or some little technical thing that I missed and I am going to have incompatible parts. If you ever get some time, do you think you could go out to newegg and find me a CASE, MOBO, VideoCard, RAM and HSF that you think would work great together. You said the CPU I picked is good. If you decide to do this (if you don't want to or don't have time, I understand, no big deal) just list the items so it is less of a hassle for you. Thanks for the help. I've got people telling me that AGP is going to be around for years and PCI-E is nothing special. Then I have got people telling me that PCI-E is the way to go and that AGP is dead. So you can see why this is confusing the hell out of me. I know it looks simple, but when you jump into this computer parts technical world for the first time, it is overwhelming.
The reason people tell you that AGP is dead etc is that they have different opinions on what technology is special and wether the new technology is worth the money. Personally I can agree with ProcalX on the PCI-E. I think that although getting an AGP mobo would be cheaper NOW I think they'll soon be out of date and you won't find many good cards that will be AGP in the future. Then you'll have to go out and buy a PCI-E mobo sooner or later along with another grpahics card. So to save money in the long term get a PCI-E mobo now and get a cheap PCI-E card like the GeForce 6600GT which should handle every game released with ease for at least 2 years.
