My first build, looking for advise.

Hello MajorGeeks forum, I have come to you today in search of council and to point out flaws I have made in the selecting of pieces for my new rig.

Since this is my first build, I just wanted to double check that I have everything I need and I want to wanting to kick my own rump when the stuff arrives!

I'm buying all the pieces of newegg.ca, and will supply links the actual page... all prices are in CAD.


Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel 119.99$

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P 174.99$

GPU: XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 214.49$

Power Supply: Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W 79.99$

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 119.00$

RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 200.49$

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 114.99$

Disk Drive: Sony Optiarc Black 2X BD-ROM SATA 65.49$

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64 159.99$

Fan/Heatsink for CPU: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 30.21$

Comes to a total of 1,481.24$ after EVERYTHING is said and done (SH, sales tax)

So, did I get it right? Did I accidentally get a piece that I'm spending far to much on, and a much cheaper side grade exists? Did I completely forget a piece (wouldn't surprise me).

The only thing I'm slightly confused was the CD Drive... is that the right piece? Does it really need to be around 100$?

Again, anything would be appreciated =). Thanks for the taking the time to help me out.

[EDIT] Also, I should note my price range... the most I'm looking to spend is 1600CAD after shipping and handling. If there is a better piece I can swap out for a little more, I'm all for that =)

 

Building a pc is not like assembling a lego kit. By that I mean that you should not expect the assemble all the components and expect it to work. Some components may not like each other full stop.

My advice on building a pc is firstly, get a shortlist of mobos that you are interested in ie 2 or max 3, then surf the relevant manufacturer's [and other mobo forums] to find out if they have any kind of issues. In so doing, you will also discover the most compatible make/type of ram, vga and any quirks in the bios or it's set up.

Once you have ascertained the above, then assemble bare bones system ie mobo, cpu+hsf, vga, ram and fire it up to see that it boots.

Similarly, the purchase of peripherals is also an issue to contend with eg HDD I know that Seagate had issues with their 1TB [i think] firmware and this caused issues ie crashed drives, etc

A good place to start in respect of all/any of this as regards feedback is Newegg customer reviews on products.

I remember building my first system some 10 years ago which I purchased on the basis of buying good components only to find out that the vga and mobo had issues.

Once you have overcome all the above, then comes the full software install and tweaking followed by system stability/stress tests.

It may well be that all the components for your new build are fine and will have no issues but nowadays, I always work on the basis that if I do the research and donkey work now, I have a much greater chance that the build will be glitch free.

Lastly, the issue of power eg psu and case/component cooling is also very important. As regards psu the issue is x1 12volt rail or multiple 12v rails. I steadfastly remain in the 1 rail camp eg the psu you have chosen has 2. The Corsair in the link below only one.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005#spec

As regards cooling, I have looked at the Antec case you have linked to and my only comment would be that more fans may not necessarily be best. I am not voicing an opinion of the Antec, I am just saying that many fans can cause conflict within a system and dead spots.

I am sure that other users will add their own personal comments.

Good Luck

 

The CPU cooler posted above is for Intel chips only. The one for AMD is the "Freezer 64" at this link. I recommend going with a different PSU, Rosewill is the Newegg "house" brand and they aren't all that great, not bad, but you can get better units for about the same price:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153077
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703016
I could go on and on... I just searched the Canadian Newegg site for power supplies in the $75-$100CAD range.... also, with the new Windows7 coming out in 2 months, you might not want to invest in Vista... use the free Windows 7 download for now, then buy the retail OS when it's available in October. The Windows7 RC is available for FREE from Microsoft at this link.