Building my own new PC...

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006

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Jan 10, 2005
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Ok, I have decided to build my own new PC. With the latest problem with a Dell, there is absoultely no way I'm going to buy a pre-built machine or whatever you want to call it again. So, any PC tech savvy guys please jump on this thread because I need some help with a couple of things.

I use to build custom PC's with my dad a few years ago, but when Compaq and eMachines started doing an entire system with printer, lcd monitor, and keyboard/mouse all bundled together for $400, we couldn't compete with that, so he stopped doing it a few years back.

Anyway, I want an ASUS mainboard, 939 socket so I can put an AMD 64 x2 4200+ (dual-core 2.2) chip on it. I have 4 sticks of 512mb RAM (2gb total) that I have from my Dell, and it's decent memory. I also have a DVD-R drive from the Dell that I would like to put in the new PC. I was thinking about something along the lines of one of those cute little cube cased deals. Using a micro ATX board, I think it would be cool. I've been looking for everything to put it together on tigerdirect.com. Any thoughts/arguments?

~006
 
Go for it, man! You might want to think about adding a separate hard drive for your audio work, as well.

Stay the hell away from RAID configurations, though. You're not going to get any real speed benefit, and if you go with a stripe, you're only asking to lose stuff. Take it from someone who's been there..... Spend weeks working on a project, then *poof* the drive array loses sync and your files (to paraphrase that mac video) ARE FUCKING GONE!!! Man, was that ever fun, explaining to clients that we had to track everything all over again. I yanked my RAID system & haven't had a problem since.


-0z-
 
i'd be careful that the ram is compatible, and also check out www.epcbuyer.com they are generally quite cheap on things, ordered a lot o stuff from here, they are reliable.

Edit - o shit your not from the uk, nevermind dude
 
Lol, thanks anyway though cobhc. I've been looking on newegg.com and tigerdirect.com, newegg.com is a bit difficult to navigate...lol. Also, I found an eBay store from this company called Techwell Solutions, they sell barebones systems on eBay all the time. Here is pretty much EXACTLY what I'm looking for:

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Athlon-64-X...4718QQcategoryZ114192QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

I think it would be a great start. I already have an LCD display, keyboard, mouse, dvd-r drive, western digital 250gb hard drive, video card, sound card, and ram. So this is essentially all I need to buy...unless the RAM won't work, so what...another $200 for new ram? Big deal, hehe. Still a lot less than my Dell was...and probably kick the shit out of it too. Opinions?

~006
 
I personally use the Asus A8N-E (nForce4), but if you need SLI and Gigabit LAN, get the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, which is about 50 euros more expensive.

A few notes though:

- Do not install the Nvidia IDE driver ("Storage driver") on the nForce driver kit
- Do not use the included Nvidia Firewall
- Do not install Nvidia Network Access Manager

The IDE driver is infamous for corrupting HDDs and files, plus it's slower than the standard Windows driver (installed by default). The Firewall and NAM (Network Access Manager) corrupt your downloads and makes website loading unreliable, to say the least. You don't need them for the built-in LAN to work.
 
Fuck, I bought myself some months ago a SATA hard disk. I had many problems with it so far (crashed once due to sync problems and it never works at first, need to restart the computer so it will make the big discover that there's a disk attached to that fucking RAID slot) - but never lost any data.

It's a real threat? There's no way to make a RAID situation reliable?
 
I'm not sure what's stripe, but RAID is a protocol that can be used to use two discs as storage simultaneously, supposedly to increase speed.

I use a SATA drive for the system and current projects, and two IDE drives for storing. Am I fucked?
 
well, you have raid 0, raid 1 and raid0+1. either 0 is two discs as one and 1 is one mirroring the other. or vice versa. 0+1=four discs, one pair mirroring the other.

from what I've learned mirroring should be a really safe way to insure that no data is lost if a harddrive failure occurs.

but I've got no experience with raid.
 
0+1 is fastest/safest.

whoever said RAID0 will not show performance boost is crazy.

i run RAID0+1 (4 x 160GB sata).

the nero speed test for my single 160GB ata133 drive is 47mb/s

the raid rates are 104mb/s

but yes.. if your raid0 array breaks, you ARE fucked unless you use a raid rebuild tool which is not too bad.

you want to haul crazy ass? pick up 2 37gb wd raptors and run em in a raid0.. that shit is ridiculous.
 
Ok, I gutted my Dell. I have the mainboard (still attached to the metal mounting bracket thing) with my Intel chip still attached, my Creative Audigy2 sound card, nVidia video card...which is AGP so I will have to find a new one for the ASUS mobo. I also have 1) peice of shit maxtor hard drive, a CD/DVD-ROM drive from Samsung, and a CD/DVD-R/RW from TEAC. Unless the frequency of the memory I have doesn't work with the ASUS board, it's perfect, it's PC3200 DDR @ 4x 512mb sticks. I'm pretty sure it will work though. If not...memory is cheap nowadays anyway. So, besides the case, mobo, and cpu, all I need to buy extra is a video card then.

Anyone want to buy a Pentium 4 3.2gHz with HT technology (socket 478 I beleive)? Or a DVD-ROM or DVD-R/RW drive? Hehe.

~006
 
Yeah I'll be using a microATX ASUS board. The A8N-CSM:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1638024&CatId=0

AMD 64 x2 4200+ dual-core 2.2gHz, 2,000mHz FSB, 2MB cache:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...-details.asp?EdpNo=1446873&Sku=CP1-A64-4200 E

In a cube case...probably this one:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1543946&CatId=1508

I found this exact setup on eBay here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Athlon-64-X...4718QQcategoryZ114192QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Which is probably what I'll end up doing instead of building it all from scratch. I'm going to sell my Pentium chip on eBay or to anyone who wants it so I can cover the cost of either another WD Raptor drive (probably 74GB) for my OS drive, and I need a new video card since my old one is AGP and there is only PCI and PCI-E slots on the ASUS board. I'm also getting rid of one of the cd drives, I don't really need a dvd-burner...but I could use it...they both read cd's and dvd's...so I dunno what I'm going to do with them just yet. I also won't really need my Audigy 2 since I'll be getting a MOTU 828mkII and using it with FireWire for all my audio...

Which brings me to the point of me doing this new PC. I want a PC hosted project studio. For fun. I'm going to have Sony Vegas 6.0 and Cubase SX3 running on it. I'll have Drumkit From Hell 2 and Drumkit From Hell Superior on it. I'll be getting a MOTU 828mkII, a PreSonus DigiMax LT, Dynaudio BM-5A monitors, Mackie Control Universal, and a few other goodies in a rack. Anyway, this should be fun to see how a custom built PC with some money behind it will perform against my dual 2.0 G5. Hehe.

~006
 
006 - That asus deck has onboard video, that is what the Nvidia 6150 is - so you wont have to worry about vid card.

Your PC3200 memory will work but you'll have to run a memory divider if you plan on overclocking.

I'd suggest going with an Opteron 165 instead of the X2 4200. Monarch has retailed boxed 165's for $325 right now. People have been hitting 2.7Ghz per core on air cooling with those chips. In any event, you are pretty much guaranteed a 2.4ghz per core overclock on that bad boy and stock voltage or a tad higher (1.425v or so).

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=120338
 
Ah, but I'm not into overclocking my components. If I were, I'd definitely go that route, but I would rather have the power with the chips being stock. Ok, so I just need to worry about a new hard-drive dedicated for OS and one for dedicated audio.

The AMD is good enough, I mean...4.4gHz of processing is fine for me. I was using that Intel @ 3.2gHz and it was more than enough really. Is that not any good? My G5 is dual 2.0 (4.0gHz) and it's way over the top...but then again it is a Mac. I dunno, I don't want anything too fancy, I'm sure the chip I found will be fine for what I'll be using it for.

~006
 
Besides, what is the difference between Opteron and the x2 4200? Anything *major*, or is it mostly personal preference?

~006
 
Hey man... no harm done in not wanting to overclock - i can totally understand your reasoning. I'm on the other side of the fence and push the shit out of my PC's =) I upgrade every 6 months anyways so what's a little vcore and heat gonna matter?! =)

Anywho... just different cores between the opteron and the x2's - the optys overclock like mad, the x2's are not quite as tolerant and run hotter...

btw - you do realize that the 4200 X2 only has 512MB cache per core, right?! you'd have to step up to the 4400 to get dual 1mb l2 cache.

or.. get an opty 165. =)
 
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