Fix My Build Please!

[y4na]

I live in Canada, Ontario, and I am thinking of buying all my parts from BestByte because they offered free wiring and free Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit if I buy all my parts from there. I'm open to suggestion like where to get Windows Vista Home Premium for free and where I can learn how to wire like a pro.

Here is my build:

AMD Phemnom II X4 955 3.2GHz 8M AM3 Blk $259
Asus M4A78 Plus sAM2+ DDR2-1066 PCI-E MB $94
OCZ 2G8004GK 4G PC2-6400 Gold Edit Dual $64
Gigabyte HD4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 $235
WD WD5000AAKS 500GB 16mb 7200 SATA $60
LG GH22NS50 22x DVDRQ SATA BLK $29
OC Power Silencer 750W Crossfire Ed. $149.95
Coolermaster CM590 ATX Case BLK NO PS $80

Total: $970.95

This does not include tax which is %13 I believe in Ontario, Canada.


Other thoughts:

I'm probably going to go with the AMD build and the ATI graphics card due to pricing, and I am going to have this computer for the next 4 years, and I'll be upgrading my rig about every year with new ram and graphics cards.


Questions:

Would the Cooler Master NV690 work with my ATI and AMD build? Because I really like the colours and the design of the case.

Should I downgrade my graphics card to the Sapphire HD4850 1GB DDR3 HDMI PCI-E which is 139.95 which is almost a hundred dollars less?

Should I buy my parts elsewhere and build it myself? If so how should I wire it, I don't want to break the parts.

Where can I get Windows Vista Premium 64 Bit for free?

What monitor should I be looking at? I don't want those huge ones that can be passed as a widescreen TV, I was thinking of less then 23".

Should I downgrade my processor to AMD Phenom II X4 940 3.0GHz 8M?

[x88x]

Welcome to TBCS!


Ok, a few things here.

First off, what are you planning to do with it? Knowing this will help in guiding any recomendations as to what you should/should not buy.

@building it yourself, definitely. IMO it's always better to build your own than buy something pre-made. Completely aside from the experience gained, it gives you a much better understanding of how your computer works, and gives you a stronger sense of accomplishment and ownership.

@buying parts elsewhere, www.newegg.ca is a great source of parts. IDK about the Canadian portal, but generally the US has prices significantly lower than any brick&mortar stores I've seen.

@monitor, I'm not really sure what you mean by 'huge ones that can be passed as a computer'. Again it comes down to what you want to do with the system. For some things a large monitor will benefit you greatly. I think you might be thinking of CRT monitors in terms of their size; large LCD monitors take up very little desk space, and are truly worth every penny IMO (well, usually..depending on the manufacturer).

@getting Vista for free .. If I'm reading your meaning correctly, this is not something that we discuss here. Are you a student? There was a thread here a week or so ago about an open MSDNAA program that you could get a 1-year subscription for $20. ..actually, I'm not sure if that would work in Canada, come to think of it... Alternatively, you should look around for OEM copies. They'll be much cheaper than the retail copies.

If you decide to build yourself and you have any questions or problems that you run into, most of the people on here will be more than happy to lend a helping hand.

Good luck.

[y4na]

Welcome to TBCS!


Ok, a few things here.

First off, what are you planning to do with it? Knowing this will help in guiding any recomendations as to what you should/should not buy.

@building it yourself, definitely. IMO it's always better to build your own than buy something pre-made. Completely aside from the experience gained, it gives you a much better understanding of how your computer works, and gives you a stronger sense of accomplishment and ownership.

@buying parts elsewhere, www.newegg.ca is a great source of parts. IDK about the Canadian portal, but generally the US has prices significantly lower than any brick&mortar stores I've seen.

@monitor, I'm not really sure what you mean by 'huge ones that can be passed as a computer'. Again it comes down to what you want to do with the system. For some things a large monitor will benefit you greatly. I think you might be thinking of CRT monitors in terms of their size; large LCD monitors take up very little desk space, and are truly worth every penny IMO (well, usually..depending on the manufacturer).

@getting Vista for free .. If I'm reading your meaning correctly, this is not something that we discuss here. Are you a student? There was a thread here a week or so ago about an open MSDNAA program that you could get a 1-year subscription for $20. ..actually, I'm not sure if that would work in Canada, come to think of it... Alternatively, you should look around for OEM copies. They'll be much cheaper than the retail copies.

If you decide to build yourself and you have any questions or problems that you run into, most of the people on here will be more than happy to lend a helping hand.

Good luck.

Well I was planning to do FPS gaming and I might buy games in the future.

For the monitor I meant huge screens that could be passed as a widescreen TV.

[x88x]

Hahaha, ok, fair enough. What's your ideal budget?

[y4na]

Hahaha, ok, fair enough. What's your ideal budget?

I was thinking up to $1500 including the monitor, the monitor being around $200. I'm going to grade 9 high school and have around $400 right now. My dad said he will help me pay most of it at Christmas and my grandparents usually give me around $200. So I'm thinking of buying my computer like this:

Save up all the money and go to bestbyte and buying the whole thing.

Buy online if there is a sale, part by part.

[x88x]

Well, given the intended use, I'd say the components you picked are a pretty good fit. A couple things to consider:

IDK how much you care, but there is a 95W version of the Phenom II X4 945 that is a bit cheaper than the 955. It will give the same performance as the 125W version, but consume less power. The 945 should give you more than enough performance for what you're saying you want to do.
NewEgg: 955: $220
NewEgg: 945: $200

The MBB is a good, solid board that should do anything you want. This is the oddity in your chosen hardware, in that it's actually cheaper at your local source than on NewEgg.
NewEgg: $110

For RAM, I would highly recommend that you order it off NewEgg. They have a wide variety of models, including my personal recommendation:
OCZ Blade Series 2x2GB kit: $57 DDR2-800, 4-4-4-15 timings
These are incredibly good timings for DDR2.
I would also recommend considering an additional 4GB kit. Make sure you get a 64-bit OS, and the additional 4GB will add a very nice performance boost.

The GPU may or may not be overkill; it depends on the monitor resolution that you decide on. What resolution monitor are you used to using now? Have you ever used a high resolution monitor (ie, 1680x1050, 1600x1200, 1920x1200, 1920x1080)? Do you have a preference of wide-screen or non-wide-screen?

For the HDD, there's a couple things. First, the drive you listed is a WD Blue series drive. This is their value line, and honestly the price difference between that and the Black series (their performance line) is only ~$15 or so. The main difference is that the Blue series has a 16MB cache, whereas the Black, Green, and RE lines have 32MB cache's. The additional cache truly does provide a significant performance boost (I can explain why if you want, I just don't want to ramble too much here). Also, the model you mention is an old model. That's another benefit of using NewEgg; they get new model lines much faster than local stores can. The last thing I'll mention about the HDD is the capacity. On NewEgg.ca, the 500GB WD Black runs $75, but bump up to $105 and you can get the 1TB WD Black. Twice the storage for an additional $30. Like so many things, it really depends on how you'll be using it, but I know personally I just can't justify buying a 3.5" HDD smaller than 1TB anymore.
500GB WD Black
1TB WD Black
There are, of course, a couple intermediary capacities as well, the 640 and 750GB models, but personally I would recommend the 1TB.

The PSU you mention, I assume is the PC Power & Cooling 750W Silencer? (PC Power & Cooling is owned by OCZ now) That is an exceptionally good PSU, IMO, and a pretty good price for it too, so I would definitely recommend going ahead with that one. This is another component that at the price you listed, might be better to get locally; PSUs are heavy (ie, expensive to ship), and that is a very popular PSU (ie, often out of stock).

The case is a very good case; I've worked with other variations of the Centurion line before, and I was pretty impressed with the quality of construction. This is another piece I would recommend getting locally. The cost of shipping, and the physical toll that shipping takes on the case more than makes up for any difference in price.

The NV960 case you mentioned will work just fine for your build. The only reason that it's marketed as an nVidia edition is because of the colors. I've worked with the CM960 (same case, but all black), and I would highly recommend the 960 model. It is a very well made and well laid out case.

For the DVD drive, there's not a whole lot to say; DVD burners are pretty homogeneous nowadays. LG makes good drives, though the trays sometimes feel a little cheap. If you want to look at different drives; Samsung, NEC, Sony and Lite-On all also make high quality drives.

You mentioned wiring earlier. If you're just talking about basic wiring together of the components, it's really quite simple. Check out wikipedia or various places around this site, and I'm sure you'll be able to pick it up. Basically, if it fits without forcing, that's usually where it's supposed to go If you're talking about wire management, again, I would say look around at some of the projects here to get a feel for it, but really when it comes down to it, it's your box. It needs to go together how you want it. Make it your own, and decide for yourself if it's good or not

EDIT:
Completely forgot OS.

If you're not building this till Christmas, I would definitely say get Windows 7, NOT Vista. It's not that Vista is really bad anymore, it's just that 7 is so much better.

Also, here a link to the MSDNAA thread. I would definitely recommend at least trying to get into it; I'm not sure if it's open to high school students or not. But it's definitely worth a shot.

[y4na]

Thank you! I've learned so much and found a good tutorial on wiring on wiki. The TBCS is such a nice community +rep