[PedroDaGR8]

As for the OCZ PSU, that is a decent PSU, definately not low quality but not as high quality as the COrsair. That being said, 600W should be enough. I doubt you would see ANY benefit at all for stepping up to 700W as you are not running SLI with ultrahigh-end cards.

As for the other video card I will let someone more in the know chime in.

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Alright – I’m done ordering everything (except the speakers). Let me know how I did!
Here is the final order:
CPU: e8400 WolfDale

Motherboard: GIGABYTE UD3R

Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 4830 (I decided to change this from the 9800 GT – some people say they are the same, some say the 4830 is slightly better, so I went with the 4830).

RAM: G.Skill 4GB(2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066

Power Supply: OCZ StealthStream 600W

Monitor: SAMSUNG 2233bw High Glossy Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 GB

DVD: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

Case: Antec 900 (great case, the blue looks sweet!)

Keyboard: Saitek Black USB Wired Standard Eclipse (this has illuminated blue keys – matches the case!).

Mouse: Logitech MX518 – I already had this.

OS: Vista 64-bit - I got this for free from a student organization that I am in.

The total for all this (minus the last two which I already had) turned out to be 830$ after all promo codes, discounts, and rebates.

Did I spend my money well? What do you guys think?

Thanks to everyone who has helped me – I’ve learned a lot! Now it’s time to build lol – this will not be fun.


Am I missing anything else? I don’t need a cooler unless I decide to overclock – right?
The only other thing I need that I can think of are speakers. Is there anything you guys recommend that isn’t too expensive? Here are the two that I was looking at:
Logitech X-240 25 Watts 2.1 Speaker – Retail
40.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16836121010

or

LOGISYS Computer SP6000-BK 32Watts 2.1 SOHO MULTIMEDIA SPEAKER SYSTEM
23.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16836157002


I don’t know which one I should get. The Logitech one is great because it’s Logitech… plus the black speakers will match my case… but its 40.99 … on the other hand the other one has great reviews and is supposed to great for gaming but it’s some weird company called LOGISYS.. and the speakers look nice but they are more silver than black and they won’t match my case at all… but they’re only 23.99.

The crappy part is that either speaker will cost me an extra 15$ for shipping … all the stuff I’ve bought so far conveniently had free shipping. Not sure what to do – any other alternatives? Or maybe I should just stick with the monitor speakers? And then maybe just use a headset from the monitor speakers when I game? Or is that not a good idea?

Thanks!

[Sk0rch]

Alright – I’m done ordering everything (except the speakers). Let me know how I did!
Here is the final order:
CPU: e8400 WolfDale

Motherboard: GIGABYTE UD3R

Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 4830 (I decided to change this from the 9800 GT – some people say they are the same, some say the 4830 is slightly better, so I went with the 4830).

RAM: G.Skill 4GB(2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066

Power Supply: OCZ StealthStream 600W

Monitor: SAMSUNG 2233bw High Glossy Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 GB

DVD: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

Case: Antec 900 (great case, the blue looks sweet!)

Keyboard: Saitek Black USB Wired Standard Eclipse (this has illuminated blue keys – matches the case!).

Mouse: Logitech MX518 – I already had this.

OS: Vista 64-bit - I got this for free from a student organization that I am in.

The total for all this (minus the last two which I already had) turned out to be 830$ after all promo codes, discounts, and rebates.

Did I spend my money well? What do you guys think?

Thanks to everyone who has helped me – I’ve learned a lot! Now it’s time to build lol – this will not be fun.


Am I missing anything else? I don’t need a cooler unless I decide to overclock – right?
The only other thing I need that I can think of are speakers. Is there anything you guys recommend that isn’t too expensive? Here are the two that I was looking at:
Logitech X-240 25 Watts 2.1 Speaker – Retail
40.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16836121010

or

LOGISYS Computer SP6000-BK 32Watts 2.1 SOHO MULTIMEDIA SPEAKER SYSTEM
23.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16836157002


I don’t know which one I should get. The Logitech one is great because it’s Logitech… plus the black speakers will match my case… but its 40.99 … on the other hand the other one has great reviews and is supposed to great for gaming but it’s some weird company called LOGISYS.. and the speakers look nice but they are more silver than black and they won’t match my case at all… but they’re only 23.99.

The crappy part is that either speaker will cost me an extra 15$ for shipping … all the stuff I’ve bought so far conveniently had free shipping. Not sure what to do – any other alternatives? Or maybe I should just stick with the monitor speakers? And then maybe just use a headset from the monitor speakers when I game? Or is that not a good idea?

Thanks!

[PedroDaGR8]

Alright – I’m done ordering everything (except the speakers). Let me know how I did!
Here is the final order:
CPU: e8400 WolfDale

Motherboard: GIGABYTE UD3R

Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 4830 (I decided to change this from the 9800 GT – some people say they are the same, some say the 4830 is slightly better, so I went with the 4830).

RAM: G.Skill 4GB(2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066

Power Supply: OCZ StealthStream 600W

Monitor: SAMSUNG 2233bw High Glossy Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 GB

DVD: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

Case: Antec 900 (great case, the blue looks sweet!)

Keyboard: Saitek Black USB Wired Standard Eclipse (this has illuminated blue keys – matches the case!).

Mouse: Logitech MX518 – I already had this.

OS: Vista 64-bit - I got this for free from a student organization that I am in.

The total for all this (minus the last two which I already had) turned out to be 830$ after all promo codes, discounts, and rebates.

Did I spend my money well? What do you guys think?

Thanks to everyone who has helped me – I’ve learned a lot! Now it’s time to build lol – this will not be fun.


Am I missing anything else? I don’t need a cooler unless I decide to overclock – right?
The only other thing I need that I can think of are speakers. Is there anything you guys recommend that isn’t too expensive? Here are the two that I was looking at:
Logitech X-240 25 Watts 2.1 Speaker – Retail
40.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16836121010

or

LOGISYS Computer SP6000-BK 32Watts 2.1 SOHO MULTIMEDIA SPEAKER SYSTEM
23.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16836157002


I don’t know which one I should get. The Logitech one is great because it’s Logitech… plus the black speakers will match my case… but its 40.99 … on the other hand the other one has great reviews and is supposed to great for gaming but it’s some weird company called LOGISYS.. and the speakers look nice but they are more silver than black and they won’t match my case at all… but they’re only 23.99.

The crappy part is that either speaker will cost me an extra 15$ for shipping … all the stuff I’ve bought so far conveniently had free shipping. Not sure what to do – any other alternatives? Or maybe I should just stick with the monitor speakers? And then maybe just use a headset from the monitor speakers when I game? Or is that not a good idea?

Thanks!

Logisys is a low end peripherals maker. They also make PSUs that are complete garbage. As for headphones for gaming. I know a lot of people like the headphones with the built in microphone a) because they can chat to other players on their teams and b) there is no huge boom when the bass hits of an explosion which keeps from disturbing everyone at night.

That being said if you are going to need to use speakers say to play music etc. Since you are not getting free shipping on the speakers. Try looking at some of the other sites.

EDIT: If you don't mind refurbished, I checked geeks.com and they have the logitechs for $24.99 I have ordered bulk networking cable and things like that from geeks.com multiple times and have been very pleased with them (just incase you hadn't heard of them). Shipping runs about the same, @ $12.00

[=OSS*ROID=]

Sorry I haven't been on...wow looks like a lot has happend. Alright, first things first. Whoever told you that the 9800 would NOT support a 22" moniter was obviously not thinking correctly that night, because the 9800 will support a 22" moniter quite well. Although the GTX 260 is much more prepared to handle games now and games in the future, and for only 50 dollars more I would go for it. Here is a few testing results I am gonna share with you on the 9800GT.

1. Crysis, DX10, High Details, 2xAA, 1280x1024 - This card has an average of 34 FPS. This is right up there with the 9800GTX and the 4870 512-MB.
2. Call of Duty 4, Highest Details, 4xAA, 2560x1600 - This card got an average of 39 FPS. This is also right up there with the 9800GTX and the 4850 512-MB.
3. World in Conflict, DX10, Highest Details, 1289x1024 - This card got an average of 38 FPS. That is right up there with the 9800GTX and if the get the Asus 9800GT Ultimate edition, it PASSES the 9800GTX!!

So as you can see, the 9800 is no joke of a card. It is equipped with a lot of muscle and will be perfect for a 22" moniter. I just wanted you to know the facts.

Also, your question about the PSU. A 600-Watt PSU will be fine for your system. The only reason you should get a PSU over 600-Watts is if you wanted to brag to your friends about it or if you wanted to do SLI or in your case Crossfire.

But all-in-all, your system looks great and you should be very happy with it. Goodluck with your build!

Cheers
ROIDO

[=OSS*ROID=]

Logisys is a low end peripherals maker.

Very true my friend, very true. Go with Logitech, they make great speakers. I have the Z-5500 and I am still waiting for a company to release a set of better computer speakers.

Cheers
ROIDO

[Sk0rch]

Thanks for the feedback.

Keep in mind though that I did not buy the 9800 GT - I bought the 4830 instead - but I hear they are very similar.

I bought some other stuff on NewEgg today:

Mousepad: steelseries 63005SS QcK mini.

Speakers: Logitech X-240 25 Watts 2.1

Router: LINKSYS WRT54GL IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g Wireless-G Broadband

Games: Battlefield 2: Complete Collection and Counter Strike: Source

The above games are sort of old - I also want to buy a new game that will really challenge my system - but at the same time I want the game to be multiplayer and fun. Do you think my system would be able to handle Crysis?

[=OSS*ROID=]

You system looks great. As for Battlefield 2 and Counterstrike, they might be a little old but they are some of the best games for PC. Battlefield 2 definitly has the best multiplayer known to man! Look up my profile name on the Battlefield 2 leaderboards, =OSS*ROID=, you will be surprised

As for your system running Crysis. It will be able too. You have a great gaming processor, and a perfect amount of RAM, more than you need for the game. The graphics card is also very good and it has good benchmarks in Crysis. So your computer will be able to run Crysis, and run it well.

Goodluck with everything and I hope it comes out to the way you imagined it!

Cheers
ROIDO

[Sk0rch]

Wow I am really mad right now - I spent like 12 hours reading so many websites and manuals and stuff and I think I finally figured out where everything goes.. so I plug the power supply cord in to the wall and flip the switch and try to turn on the computer and what happens? nothing..


I think the PSU is defective or something... sometimes when I'm flipping the switch and I lean in real close I hear a slight hissing sound, not sure if its the PSU or the motherboard, but I'm guessing the PSU.

I dont know if its just because I am new at this.. but I really think I plugged in everything where it belongs.. this really sucks

[Sk0rch]

I think I may have found the problem - as I was taking everything out of my case - when I unplugged the MAIN power supply wire that goes from my PSU to my mobo (the 20+4) wire... the 4 wire was fine .. and so was 19 out of the 20 holes on the wire of my PSU - but one hole was empty ... do you think this is the reason for the lack of power??

The missing pin is #10 (+12V) ... that sounds important.

EDIT : Nvm, I wasn't looking at the pin alignment close enough and I had it backwards, the missing pin is #17 - which is GND - so that should not matter right?

Edited by Sk0rch, 24 December 2008 - 01:07 PM.

[Sk0rch]

Help!

I made some progress.

Here is what I did.

I followed this guide exactly - http://www.pcmech.co...ad.php?t=132409

and it didn't work - then I decided to follow the guide exactly AND plug the power switch from my case onto the MOBO - this lit up the mobo, i heard the fans spinning and everything was great! it stayed on for about 5 seconds, shut off, and then did it all over again a few seconds later.. it was a cycle. I'm not sure what this means but I think I have made some progress - what should I do from here?

[Sk0rch]

I think the problem is something related with the CPU. I unplugged the PSU cables (CPU1 and CPU2) so that there is no power to the CPU and I also unplugged the CPU fan. I then turned on the computer and now the power stays on. I left it on for about 30 seconds on two separate occasions without any interruption in power. I did not leave it on for more than 30 seconds because I'm not sure if it is safe to do so without having power to the CPU and the CPU fan not being on. Is that safe? Does this mean that the problem is CPU-related?

Here is what the situation is:

I have the everything out of the case.. the mobo is on top of the box it came in .. I have the PSU connected to the mobo, I have the case power switch and the other front panel cords connected to the mobo, one of the case fans connected to the PSU.. the CPU is on the mobo with the heatsink installed. I also have one stick of RAM in there.

That's it.

[Sk0rch]

It still may be power supply because every time the power turns off the PSU still makes that hissing sound.. i have the PSU separated from the mobo now so I know for sure that hissing sound is the PSU. Maybe it just does not have enough power to stay on? Although I'm unsure why it stays on continuously when I unplug the CPU power. Maybe because it is defective it does not have enough juice to continually power the CPU and mobo? This would explain why I had absolutely no power when I had everything connected like the hard drive and the DVD drive. The PSU couldn't handle it all. So maybe it is the PSU. I already ordered a new, different PSU from NewEgg (Corsair), they gave me free next day shipping so it is scheduled to be here Friday, but may probably get here on Monday because of the holidays. They are going to refund me on this OCZ.

But if it's not the PSU then what? I tell NewEgg that the mobo may be defected as well? If that doesn't fix it I call NewEgg again and say the CPU is defective?

[PedroDaGR8]

I'm gonna guess it was the mobo not the PSU. PSU's don't cycle. They shut down once until you pull the plug from the outlet. Thats it. Just my personal experience. I have had several bad mobos that did the behavior you mentioned. THe amount of time would vary but they would power cycle. Of course others would not start at all, or in some cases weird problems.

Edited by PedroDaGR8, 25 December 2008 - 10:24 AM.

[Sk0rch]

Yeah - so it was the motherboard that was defected.

The new PSU came from newegg this afternoon - same result.

I drove to tigerdirect and bought a new motherboard, and now it's staying on! I'm glad that's over... hopefully I don't run into anymore problems. Thanks for your help.

I do have one more question though - the motherboard I bought from tiger direct was this one: Asus P5Q Green Motherboard - Intel P45, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, S/PDIF, Gigabit LAN, Firewire, USB 2.0, SATA, RAID

for 129.99 + 12$ tax... the P5Q-E was not in stock.

So my question is - is this motherboard fine? Because if it is not - what I could do is just use this one and tell Newegg to refund my defected motherboard and buy a new one from newegg and after it arrives in 2-3 days, I'll return this one to TigerDirect. Should I do that or this mobo fine? Here is the link to it.

http://www.tigerdire...e...&CatId=3790

Thanks.

[PedroDaGR8]

Yeah - so it was the motherboard that was defected.

The new PSU came from newegg this afternoon - same result.

I drove to tigerdirect and bought a new motherboard, and now it's staying on! I'm glad that's over... hopefully I don't run into anymore problems. Thanks for your help.

I do have one more question though - the motherboard I bought from tiger direct was this one: Asus P5Q Green Motherboard - Intel P45, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, S/PDIF, Gigabit LAN, Firewire, USB 2.0, SATA, RAID

for 129.99 + 12$ tax... the P5Q-E was not in stock.

So my question is - is this motherboard fine? Because if it is not - what I could do is just use this one and tell Newegg to refund my defected motherboard and buy a new one from newegg and after it arrives in 2-3 days, I'll return this one to TigerDirect. Should I do that or this mobo fine? Here is the link to it.

http://www.tigerdire...e...&CatId=3790

Thanks.

That asus is similar but not quite the motherboard that the Gigabyte is. The main areas I see wit the asus is that you have ONE less PCIex1 port on the board, 2 less USB ports on the back, 1 less mini-firewire port on the back and the Power Supply plug in is located in the WORST position I have ever seen.


The gigabyte places the PSU plugin (the wide one) by the ram modules where it will not get in the way of airflow.

Otherwise they are similar, though I remember you saying you wanted to do SLI or crossfire and neither of these boards support that. Maybe you decided against it or that it was too costly.