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Old 2007-12-01, 04:04   Link #1
teachopvutru
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Join Date: Feb 2007
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Age: 31
pre -building pc help and English lesson

So errr, I need to clarify on something



Is this what the English language called "carpet"?

EDIT:
Oh, forgot to explain. So I'm trying to learn how to build a custom PC and they seem to have something about this static electricity thing. A site I went through said that it's not recommended to build a PC on a carpet floor, and I don't know if the above is what called "carpet", hence the question...

Two more questions, when selecting components, what order should it be? Some sites recommend to select the motherboard first then CPU, while I have also seen the reverse (actually not sure about this one, though). Also, usually what do you do when you research & select the parts for a custom built PC?
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Old 2007-12-01, 06:20   Link #2
grey_moon
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Yes it does look like a carpet, or it could be a close up of a woolly sheep. Basically when people walk on fibres especially artificial ones you get a layer of static like when you rub a ballon on your head. So if you put a metal case on it, or even worse some of the electronic components it can short things out. Best do things on a table. And best ground your self and the PC before working. The easiest way is to touch something like a radiator. For the love of baby Dango please don't mess around with earthing your self via a power socket unless you really really know what you are doing.

In regards to what to select first that really depends on your personal choice. For example I wanted a Shuttle SN21G5 (because it was cheap), so I basically selected my mobo first, then I am forced to choose a CPU and memory that it supports.

But if you have free reign I recommend searching about mobo's first. Check out places like tom's hardware guide, they give you a good example. Check out the price differences between main components like AMD v Intel ones, that might be enough to push you down one path.

What ever you do research everything first before you buy. Look out for gotchas like the components not being supported in the near future. There are benefits like my Shuttle at the time was cheap for that reason.
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Old 2007-12-01, 07:12   Link #3
Fynal_Fyre
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tiachopvutru View Post
So errr, I need to clarify on something



Is this what the English language called "carpet"?

EDIT:
Oh, forgot to explain. So I'm trying to learn how to build a custom PC and they seem to have something about this static electricity thing. A site I went through said that it's not recommended to build a PC on a carpet floor, and I don't know if the above is what called "carpet", hence the question...

Two more questions, when selecting components, what order should it be? Some sites recommend to select the motherboard first then CPU, while I have also seen the reverse (actually not sure about this one, though). Also, usually what do you do when you research & select the parts for a custom built PC?
Always look for the Mobo/Chassis first, it's the chipset, along with what options your mobo offers you, that really counts when you want to get your PC set up, do you want AMD or Intel, as some of their CPU's only work on certain chipsets. As for the chassis, you need space to put everything, no?

Graphics-wise, AGP or PCIe?

RAM, well, unless you REALLY care about performance (Latency in RAM, DDR/DDR2) you don't need to worry much, most mobos nowadays have enough DIMM slots.

Oh, and yes, ground yourself, static can mess up RAM, CPU's, and Graphic Cards especially, just touch metallic objects before you work, and don't conduct your work on a carpet....please.
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Old 2007-12-01, 13:56   Link #4
hobbes_fan
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You avoid building on carpet because the fibres create static. Static = instant death for microprocessors.

CPU then mobo then ram for me. My reasoning for this is the processor is the brain. It has to do more. How do I choose a CPU? these are the things I look for

1. Price performance ratio. Out of the box what's a better performer
2. Overclocking potential (optional)
3. Power consumption.

As a note AMD processors and motherboards are cheaper than the intel counterparts and perform a little bit better out of the box generally for the dual core processors at the low end mid range bracket. Intel though has far better potential for a little more $ so if you're a tweaker better to get Intel.

How do I choose a motherboard?
1. Form factor aka size usually ATX or Micro ATX(ATX, MATX, ITX etc etc)
2. BIOS features required to tap into potential of CPU (optional refer to point 2 of previous list)
3. Number of SATA ports
4. Number of RAM slots
5. RAM Speed supported

If you choose an AMD platform make sure to buy DDR2 800 Ram, this basically works best with AMD processors. It doesn't really matter for Intel.

Make sure the motherboard supports DDR2. DDR1 is slower and ridiculously expensive, sometimes costing twice as much as DDR2.

Do not buy more than 3gb of RAM if you are running a 32bit operating system (99% sure you are). Why? 32 bit operating system cannot utilise anymore than 3gb of RAM

(NOte: Check what RAM speed your Motherboard supports. If it only supports 533 speed, if you put in DDR2 800 in there it will run at on 533 speed)

Forget about AGP, it's worthless now. Do not buy a motherboard with AGP or an AGP videocard. The technology is dead. It probably will be phased out in the next year or so.
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Old 2007-12-01, 16:55   Link #5
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Quote:
Do not buy more than 3gb of RAM if you are running a 32bit operating system (99% sure you are). Why? 32 bit operating system cannot utilise anymore than 3gb of RAM
Actually, the limit is 4 GB

A really really really important thing, since you've experimenting around with Linux: Buy supported hardware. Dig around and around and around until your intended PC is fully supported. Most Intel stuff is safe, for example, so if you can't find any details on a particular piece of hardware, have in mind that Intel will almost assuredly work.
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Old 2007-12-01, 17:21   Link #6
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The limit is 4, but you most likely won't see more than 3.25 due to how 32 bit addresses memory.
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Old 2007-12-01, 17:23   Link #7
teachopvutru
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So it looks like it isn't wise either to build on a table while standing on a carpet ground. In this case, it looks like I'll either have to invade the kitchen or the restroom... What about anti-static glove btw? Actually, it sounds inconvenient. As for touching metal before working, does that include kitchenware and things that usually zap me like door nob? Also, grey_moon, what do you mean by "grounding myself via a power socket"?

For processor, I think I'll go for AMD. It should be obvious that I don't know how to tweak stuff.

For case, I'll get ATX form since I've read that it's most common and most mother board support that size.

@hobbes_fan: Thank you very much for the information regarding 32-bit operating system can only put to use 3gb of ram. I think I'll either go with 2gb or 3gb. I don't know how to achieve the latter, however, since I only see 1gb, 2gb, 4gb, and 8gb on newegg. Do I go get a 1 gb and a 2gb?


Regarding looking for components on newegg, it looks like there are a lot of stuffs on there. Usually how would you all keep track of them? Do you use a spreadsheet (have never really used it before) or something alike to do that?

Just to making sure, for better price, it'd be best to wait until Christmas, right?

EDIT:
Actually, will go with Intel processor after seeing Wandering's post. For graphic card, maybe Nvidia. Usually what parts would you concern with for compatibility with Linux (or more particularly, the Ubuntu distro) and stuff?
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Old 2007-12-01, 19:42   Link #8
problemedchild
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Go 2 GB, very little point in going beyond that.

For a video card, if you're looking for a sub 200 dollar go ATI 3850. Above 200, it's a toss up between the 8800 GT or the ATI 3870.

If you're looking for a CPU that's priced above 140 dollars, go Intel, otherwise go AMD.
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Old 2007-12-01, 19:49   Link #9
teachopvutru
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Quote:
Originally Posted by problemedchild View Post
Go 2 GB, very little point in going beyond that.

For a video card, if you're looking for a sub 200 dollar go ATI 3850. Above 200, it's a toss up between the 8800 GT or the ATI 3870.

If you're looking for a CPU that's priced above 140 dollars, go Intel, otherwise go AMD.
Hmmm... there's actually a standard guideline of what a person should get depend on the specific price range? O.o

In that case, I'm back to getting AMD instead, I guess. I'm still deciding on 2GB or 3GB RAM since I still have a lot of time before I even go buy stuffs.

As for graphic card, I'm not a gamer (I rarely play game now plus the games I play tend to be not demanding), I'll go with low- or mid-one. I'm sticking with Nvidia though until ATI driver for linux gets better.
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Old 2007-12-01, 20:17   Link #10
Zero Shinohara
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Quote:
So it looks like it isn't wise either to build on a table while standing on a carpet ground. In this case, it looks like I'll either have to invade the kitchen or the restroom... What about anti-static glove btw? Actually, it sounds inconvenient. As for touching metal before working, does that include kitchenware and things that usually zap me like door nob? Also, grey_moon, what do you mean by "grounding myself via a power socket"?
I've never had a component fail on me because I was working on my computer in a carpeted area. However, I'm always using an Anti-static Wrist Wrap. It gives you freedom of movement and is known to help preventing static discharges.

Quote:
@hobbes_fan: Thank you very much for the information regarding 32-bit operating system can only put to use 3gb of ram. I think I'll either go with 2gb or 3gb. I don't know how to achieve the latter, however, since I only see 1gb, 2gb, 4gb, and 8gb on newegg. Do I go get a 1 gb and a 2gb?
If you want 3GB, then yes. You can achieve this by either 3 1GB sticks or one 2GB stick and one 1GB stick. However, 2GB sticks tend to be priced much higher than 1GB ones, since they're the "top" of the line at the moment. If you want to go past that, you'll need a 64-Bit OS and a 64-bit Processor - which there's a %99.5 chance that you'll get one, seeing as you're going with recent Dual Cores in mind. If I'm not mistaken, 64-bit processing can have way over a trillion gigs of memory Anyway.

Quote:
Regarding looking for components on newegg, it looks like there are a lot of stuffs on there. Usually how would you all keep track of them? Do you use a spreadsheet (have never really used it before) or something alike to do that?
I'd build a computer and save it into a separate wishlist. Then I'd build another and save it on another wish list. Or you could add each component (GPU, CPU, HD, etc) into a different wishlist and pick from each of those as you go. Considering you want to go the Linux way, why even pay much for a video card anyway? I'm not sure how Gaming goes when it comes to Linux, but seeing as it's definitely not DX10 compatible, you should probably get a good Video Card that's 1 or 2 gens behind. A 7800 or X1600 could probably do the trick for you.

And yes, forget AGP. PCIE 2.0 is coming out with the newest MOBOs and GPUs anyway. PCIE still packs a punch, though.

Quote:
Hmmm... there's actually a standard guideline of what a person should get depend on the specific price range? O.o
No, but you should keep in mind that your computer will only be as fast as its slowest component. ( A dramatization, but come on, it was a nice analogy wasn't it? ). Depending on the application, having a fast CPU is more important than having a lot of RAM. In other applications it's exactly the contraty, and when GPU speeds and HD writing speeds, cache and all of that crap get into play, things get quite confusing. Getting a fast Memory and a slow CPU will create bottlenecking, and it happens with all sorts of components either.

What I think problemedchild meant with that is that, the way things are right now between Intel and AMD is that Intel is the performance choice of the market, while AMD is the one that holds the better price. You won't find a C2D processor under 140 bucks under normal circumstances, but you will find AMD 64 X2s for sale, and some fairly good ones under that price range.

Edit:

A nice little guide on 64-bit technology, and at the bottom, he explains why you can't have exactly 4 Gigs of ram even if x86 processors support it. Pretty interesting stuff.
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Old 2007-12-01, 20:23   Link #11
hobbes_fan
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The e2140 rocks in the budget sector mainly because of its tweakabiility. The E4300 is probably the best buy in the midrange Intel, followed by the e6750 in the high end. Quads are ok but really IMO are a waste at the moment and at least the next year or so. The software just isn't there to take full advantage of it only now are we seeing software utilising dualcore.

For AMD once you go past the x2 4800 processor, I'd be strongly recommending Intel. As much as I like my processor it's only worth it because it overclocks like crazy

My thoughts on this are if you are primarily gaming, spend less on the cpu and more on the videocard. Most recent games are more dependent on the gfx card than the CPU. (an 8800gt paired with a e2140 will perform better in almost all games than a e6750 with a 8600gts). If you are doing video/photo editing mainly spend more on the CPU than video card. I was always taught for a gaming rig to spend a 2:1 ratio (I have black edition x2 5000 $140USD and an ati 2900xt $300USD on my gaming rig). For your purposes a 8600gts (130USD) or its cheapo brother the 8600gt(100USD) looks like a good buy. Also worth considering is the 7600gs (80USD) but for $20 more the performance of the 8600gt looks like the better buy

You can get really technical with ram, there's dual channel which gives a little more performance (dual implying two sticks of ram same size and same speed). 2x1 gb is fine. You can go with a 1x2gig + 1x1gig or whatever combination you feel like but at the end of the day it's the law of diminishing returns. past the 2-3gig mark on 32bit o/s the performance gain isn't worth the expense.

Keep in mind that your video card also has RAM and that also plays into the total calculation AFAIK as well.

I find the anti static wrist straps to be annoying. The cable gets in the way when you're doing the assembly. The Zap you get is the process of discharging your self. Hence the zap.

Personally you may get a bit better price over Xmas, but personally I'd just pull the trigger now. The prices aren't going to be much cheaper (if any) as Intel and Nvidia and AMD and ATI have just released their latest and best stuff over the last month or so. Particularly if Newegg is offering rebates on a product. Their next product releases won't be until the end of the first 2008 quarter. In my experience its these times when prices drop. XMas is less of a factor as they're not like TV's and stuff where returns and other factors play a part in the price drop.

Also I hate to keep repeating myself but buy a decent powersupply with enough power. Just because it says 500w it doesn't mean it can supply 500w continuously. Most Antec, All Zalman, All OCZ, All Silverstone, Some Coolermaster and some FSP/Fortron models make good affordable powersupplies that meet or exceed their claimed specs. Don't bother with the cheap stuff. When a Psu craps itself it tends to take some other hardware with it. I learnt the hard way.

(PS I;ve never heard of a recent processor being incompatible with recent software, video cards and the like yes but CPU's every time I've seen it claimed it was debunked)

Whenever I order stuff I always budget a set amount for each component out of my total budget. I always order the most expensive things first usually Vid Card, CPU, Motherboard, powersupply. I can always cut back on things like the case, fans, DVD burners by using cheaper stuff.
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Last edited by hobbes_fan; 2007-12-01 at 20:54.
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Old 2007-12-01, 20:50   Link #12
Ledgem
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With regard to the carpet (also known as a rug), it depends on the material making it up. Generally, the longer and more frizzy the strands on the carpet, the worse off you are. My apartment has a carpet that's extremely flat, and I've never had static build up. The carpet in your picture is a bit hard to tell since you took it looking down, but it seems to be similar to the carpet in my girlfriend's apartment, which isn't quite flat but the strands are still very short (as fun as it'd be to show each other pictures of our carpets, I'm not breaking out my camera for this one ;P ). That's OK to work on. By comparison, my father's house has this awful green carpet, which is also referred to as a shag carpet. You can't walk more than five steps without generating enough static to shock yourself every time you touch something metallic. Absolutely do not do any computer activity on that rug.

As for grounding yourself, the first time I opened my computer, I used one of those anti-static wristbands. I don't really buy into it anymore. Assuming your computer has a three-prong plug (I'm pretty sure that this is standard in countries outside of the US as well), leave it plugged in, but shut off the power supply. To ground yourself, simply touch anything metal on the computer case. Before using any metal tools, touch them to a metal part of the case. That grounds them.

For laptops it gets a bit trickier. You're expected to unplug them and remove the battery - grounding is then accomplished once again by touching anything metal on the case. I get nervous about that because the computer isn't connected to a ground source, so in theory if you transferred enough energy to the case you'd still experience static among some of the components.

Enough rambling - your rug is likely fine (you can post back a picture of the rug more from the ground level if you want us to check the carpet length), just follow good grounding practices and you should be fine. Note that you should be following good grounding practices no matter where you're working.
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Old 2007-12-01, 21:02   Link #13
hobbes_fan
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I just had a horrible thought that he ran off and tried to "ground" himself by sticking something in an electrical socket
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Old 2007-12-01, 21:38   Link #14
teachopvutru
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Wahhh, the pace is too fast @_@

Anyway, I think I'll go with this Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128059

So that means I'm going with Intel processor after all. (Not sure if this Motherboard is good or not, but I admit I mostly decided to get this one because of high customer review). Also, how come all AMD mobos I have seen so far have integrated graphic card? o.o;;

Only things I find out about Linux for this motherboard in User Reviews are stuffs I mostly don't understand:

Quote:
Pros: I haven't had any issues with this board running newer linux kernel or M$ products. Clock for clock(CPU and ram), it's a very strong board with Gigabyte doing a good job with the internal chipset timings if you leave most ram settings set to auto and overclock. Overclocks memory very well.

Cons: Watch out for the JMicron SATA/IDE controller if you have devices of each type. It is hard to get it working in mixed mode, especially in Linux.

Other Thoughts: If you install the ethernet driver in Windows, it will be disabled in linux unless you go into the Windows device manager and enable "Wake-on-LAN after shutdown," after which they coexist perfectly. Other hardware: Antec 900 Intel E6750 2.66 GHz Antec Earthwatts 500 watts Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 MHz BFG Geforce 7900 GS WD 500GB Sata II BENQ 16x DVD-RW IDE
I think I'll get the 8600GT for video card as hobbes_fan suggested... but there are many devices using the same card...

For processor, I was convinced (for some reason) to get E4300. Sadly, it's out of stock when I check on newegg ;_; After a little digging, I thought I may get this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115031

And here's my chosen RAM part: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227124

For harddrive, I think I'm going for this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262
There's another harddrive similar to this one except for having 70 more GB and worth $15 more with another $5 for shipping. It's this one.

For CD/DVD drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151153

Quote:
Originally Posted by hobbes_fan View Post
I just had a horrible thought that he ran off and tried to "ground" himself by sticking something in an electrical socket
Oh, so that's what grounding means. I took it literally and have been thinking it meant "standing with part of your body touching the ground" XD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zero Shinohara View Post
No, but you should keep in mind that your computer will only be as fast as its slowest component. ( A dramatization, but come on, it was a nice analogy wasn't it?)
Indeed (to the quote)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zero Shinohara View Post
Depending on the application, having a fast CPU is more important than having a lot of RAM. In other applications it's exactly the contraty, and when GPU speeds and HD writing speeds, cache and all of that crap get into play, things get quite confusing.
You're describing exactly what I'm feeling. I'm also getting familiar with the ports there... and the numerous specs that's in one component.


@Ledgem:


I think the carpet length is pretty short I also went through the trouble of rubbing my feet against the floor for 10 seconds, and tried a few times but no zapping when I touch the door nob, although I guess that wasn't a long enough time.

EDIT:
My choice on Power Supply. (I don't even know how much power I need or what connectors it has, mainly pick it because I see good User Reviews)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153023

PS: My head feels like exploding right now @_@
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Last edited by teachopvutru; 2007-12-01 at 23:07.
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Old 2007-12-01, 23:07   Link #15
grey_moon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hobbes_fan View Post
I just had a horrible thought that he ran off and tried to "ground" himself by sticking something in an electrical socket
Hoo hoo since I raised it and Ledgem basically explained one of the safe ways of doing it, let me clarify what I mean about the no no method of doing it.

One of the safest methods for the components and yourself is as Ledgem said to leave the computer plugged in and make sure that the power socket is switched off. Make sure that the socket is off because most power supplies are never off and supply power for things like wake up by lan/kb etc. This only works as Ledgem said earlier if you country has 3 pronged plugs, where the 3rd prong is the ground. Finally you earth your self to the case by touching it, or by connecting yourself to it with a anti-static cord. <- The case and frame will act like a faraday cage (correct me if I am wrong please scientists) and travel through that and the PSU into the earth. I agree with Ledgem about not buying into the band. I just ground myself and I don't shuffle around rub my body as I walk.

So where people go wrong are they try this with power sockets with no earth, or even worse they try to jam the metal connector into a power socket and they don't know which one is the earth.

Normal levels of static in my experience doesn't jump very far from one body to another. So the risk is actually putting components on the carpet. I would be more worried about it being a dry day and wearing synthetic clothes. You can tell because if you touch a door handle or something you get a zap. Humidity is bad for PCs but being too dry causes static, you can't win!

I'd like to give a little more detail why I pick mobo first. HF gives really detailed and good advice and I'm not arguing against him, just clarifying why I said mobo as first choice.

In my experience of my PC, I have always found I tend to upgrade the GPU, the memory and the CPU. I do this when prices drop or new components come out. I don't upgrade my mobo unless it no longer supports one of the above and I really need it. So when I pick the mobo I check that it is PCI-e, that it does have some future proofing for the CPU socket etc. Nothing more annoying then seeing the latest line of cheap, energy efficient CPUs come out and not only do you have to buy a new one of them, but you have to buy a new mobo too. Then if your mobo supported the older type memory you might need to buy that as well!

Of course researching every component is very important.

Off topic, but favourite static shock was when I kissed a girl and she didn't quite get what static was and she seemed to think it was some magical connection between us. I didn't have the heart to burst that bubble. I might have shuffled a little more when I was with her
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Old 2007-12-01, 23:11   Link #16
teachopvutru
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Join Date: Feb 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grey_moon View Post
One of the safest methods for the components and yourself is as Ledgem said to leave the computer plugged in and make sure that the power socket is switched off. Make sure that the socket is off because most power supplies are never off and supply power for things like wake up by lan/kb etc. This only works as Ledgem said earlier if you country has 3 pronged plugs, where the 3rd prong is the ground. Finally you earth your self to the case by touching it, or by connecting yourself to it with a anti-static cord. <- The case and frame will act like a faraday cage (correct me if I am wrong please scientists) and travel through that and the PSU into the earth. I agree with Ledgem about not buying into the band. I just ground myself and I don't shuffle around rub my body as I walk.

So where people go wrong are they try this with power sockets with no earth, or even worse they try to jam the metal connector into a power socket and they don't know which one is the earth.
So erm... do I turn off the power socket or turn off the Power Supply when doing this? And 3 prong plug as in 2 parallel lines and a circle under them? Also, does the Power Supply has to touch the case I touch in this process?

Quote:
Originally Posted by grey_moon View Post
Normal levels of static in my experience doesn't jump very far from one body to another. So the risk is actually putting components on the carpet. I would be more worried about it being a dry day and wearing synthetic clothes. You can tell because if you touch a door handle or something you get a zap. Humidity is bad for PCs but being too dry causes static, you can't win!
.................................................. .. Well, I don't even know how to check the inside house humidity, and outside the house's humidity shouldn't affect the inside, yes or no? I live in the basement, not sure if it makes any difference. As for the clothes part, may you give an example of a synthetic cloth?

Quote:
Originally Posted by grey_moon View Post
Off topic, but favourite static shock was when I kissed a girl and she didn't quite get what static was and she seemed to think it was some magical connection between us. I didn't have the heart to burst that bubble. I might have shuffled a little more when I was with her


Quote:
Originally Posted by grey_moon View Post
Of course researching every component is very important.
I feel fingers pointing at me that say "U PHAILED!"

Anyway, here's the list of what I came up (except for the PSU, I'm kinda sure they work together [hopefully]):
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128059
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115031
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227124
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153023
Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262
Optical drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151153

the E4300 hobbes_fan suggests is already out of stock, that's why I didn't get it.
For graphic card, I see several devices for the same 8600GT so I'm at a bit of loss.
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Last edited by teachopvutru; 2007-12-01 at 23:51.
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Old 2007-12-01, 23:19   Link #17
grey_moon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tiachopvutru View Post
I feel fingers pointing at me that say "U PHAILED!"
Oooo I didn't mean it in that sense, but that checking everything counts. I've been so guilty of it myself. I've done the investigation and everything seems fine, but I didn't check for Linux compatibility, and then in the future when I decide that I didn't like windows I find half the components are not supported easily by Linux and I cry.

I actually think what you are doing is great, you don't know something so you are taking the time to research and learn new stuff, so in my books you win! (I wish some of the techies I have worked with were this proactive )
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Old 2007-12-01, 23:50   Link #18
teachopvutru
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Location
Age: 31
Quote:
Originally Posted by grey_moon View Post
Oooo I didn't mean it in that sense, but that checking everything counts. I've been so guilty of it myself. I've done the investigation and everything seems fine, but I didn't check for Linux compatibility, and then in the future when I decide that I didn't like windows I find half the components are not supported easily by Linux and I cry.
Now that you mention it... I haven't check them for Linux compatibility either. (except for the motherboard when I was still having energy)

While I'm at it, I select them by seeing how the User Reviews goes, the price, whether they are compatible or not (this part I don't even know if I get it right), and their specs (only look at the parts I understand though, those that I don't [which is a lot] I just see how high the number is comparatively XD)

So please grade the components two posts above
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Old 2007-12-01, 23:54   Link #19
Zero Shinohara
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Join Date: Jan 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tiachopvutru
I feel fingers pointing at me that say "U PHAILED!"
Nah, don't think that. It's NOT an easy job to put a computer together, so be proud of yourself if you manage to make it run as expected. It requires a lot of research and a lot of knowledge about what goes where. Trust me, before building my own custom machine, I had no idea DDR2 was physically different from DDR, and that CPUs had different sockets. I learned 90% of what I know about hardware during those short 3 weeks of planning my purchase.

Now onto your components.

Your Mobo looks fine. It supports the CPU you picked, supports DDR2 800 and has one PCIe slot - Since I'm a bit picky on this, I tend to preffer Mobos with at least two, but they tend to be much more expensive. Since you're not planning on gaming hard, as you said, then you might not have a problem with that - and trust me, 95% of people don't. 4 ram slots and 4 SATA connectors - which I think is the norm. I have 6, and I bet I'll never use all of those - it's overkill. It has GLan and the Audio card built-in into it smells good quality. Can't go wrong with a product with that many high reviews, IMO.

Your CPU looks fine as well, but maybe you would consider the E6550. For about $40 more, you get 133 MHZ more AND stock 1333MHZ FSB, not forgetting the 4 megs of cache that may make a difference. Just overclock it - C2Ds are happy with mild OCs anyway. Besides, it's a much newer processor.

My suggestion for RAM is the Patriot Extreme DDR2800.. They're the ones I use and slightly cheaper after rebates. They also have better ratings than the OCz you posted. Besides, these are low-latency sticks.

Definitely get a bigger PSU. 430W nowadays is just not enough - especially if you're thinking on going the 8-Series way, although I'm sure the 8600 uses less power than the 8800s, but more on that later. Thermaltake is good, although I think I've heard hobbes_fan saying he doesn't like their PSUs all that much in the past. ( Not sure if it's Thermaltake, it's been a while, so correct me if I'm wrong. ). I'm not good on that section, so I'll leave suggestions up to the other guys. I'm pretty sure you should consider over 500W, with 600W being the "Sweet-spot" for the moment.


Hard Drive. It sounds good. Seagate is trustworthy, and I have a couple of HDs by them as well. Never had problems. However, for about $10 more, you could get the WD 320 7200RPM. It's definitely worth it in my opinion.

Optical Drive. ARE YOU NUTS? Are you really considering getting a DVDRW for $31 when you can get a Blu-Ray burner for only $445?! ( Obviously this is a joke, the optical drive looks fine. )

Now the GPU. You commented you had plans on buying a NVidia 8600, right? Well, I know the 8800 series kicks butt, but the 8600 and below were actually a big disappointment in my opinion. The 8800GT is about 150 more than what you would get a mid-range 8600, but it performs DOZENS of times better. Heck, it almost matches a 8800 GTX, and that should tell you enough. That would be my suggestion. If you don't want to spend money that way and just need the video card for display drivers and daily anime-watching, then maybe you should consider the Nvidia 7900 GS instead. It's not DirectX 10, but since you're going the Linux and non-gaming way, it shouldn't matter. It's a high performer, and at $119, should beat the 8600 fairly well.

Edit: Looks like the information above doesn't proceed as I thought. Even though the Bus speeds are different, it looks like the 8600 GS does perform better in most cases than the 7900 GS ( at least most benchmarks ). The 7900 does overclock better, but I don't think that's such a great reason to buy it over the 8600. It'll really come down to your own choice this time.

Edit 2: Well, it looks like I got the wrong GPU in mind there. Looks like the one being on-par with the 8600 GT would be the 7600 GT, which does perform better than it's newest sister card. Although 3dMark scores are lower, it performs better in almost everything else. Read here.

It'll all come down to what you'll want out of this computer, so it's your choice. Hope these will help.
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Last edited by Zero Shinohara; 2007-12-02 at 00:09.
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Old 2007-12-02, 00:20   Link #20
teachopvutru
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Join Date: Feb 2007
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Age: 31
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zero Shinohara View Post
Nah, don't think that. It's NOT an easy job to put a computer together, so be proud of yourself if you manage to make it run as expected. It requires a lot of research and a lot of knowledge about what goes where. Trust me, before building my own custom machine, I had no idea DDR2 was physically different from DDR, and that CPUs had different sockets. I learned 90% of what I know about hardware during those short 3 weeks of planning my purchase.
What I meant by "failed" was that I was thinking maybe I haven't research my parts enough. But honestly, I'm not lying when I say I'm feeling quite worn out right now.


Quote:
Your CPU looks fine as well, but maybe you would consider the E6550. For about $40 more, you get 133 MHZ more AND stock 1333MHZ FSB, not forgetting the 4 megs of cache that may make a difference. Just overclock it - C2Ds are happy with mild OCs anyway. Besides, it's a much newer processor.
I haven't really considered overclocking since it'll be my first attempt at building a custom PC. I would be required a different cooling solution as well, right? (And from what I've heard, the default cooling thing that comes with Intel processor sucks anyway)

Quote:
My suggestion for RAM is the Patriot Extreme DDR2800.. They're the ones I use and slightly cheaper after rebates. They also have better ratings than the OCz you posted. Besides, these are low-latency sticks.
I didn't look at the latency and the timing since I don't know what they are. And for RAM, I have read that I should buy one with the same FSB as CPU, as lower FSB than CPU won't work and higher just means wasted. But when I look at the spec, I don't see FSB listed anywhere. But I'll definitely get that one instead. I probably missed it since I was pretty much looking for low and/or mid price range components to buy, lol.

Quote:
Hard Drive. It sounds good. Seagate is trustworthy, and I have a couple of HDs by them as well. Never had problems. However, for about $10 more, you could get the WD 320 7200RPM. It's definitely worth it in my opinion.
I'll consider it.

Quote:
Optical Drive. ARE YOU NUTS? Are you really considering getting a DVDRW for $31 when you can get a Blu-Ray burner for only $445?! ( Obviously this is a joke, the optical drive looks fine. )
lol... you got me.

Quote:
Now the GPU. You commented you had plans on buying a NVidia 8600, right? Well, I know the 8800 series kicks butt, but the 8600 and below were actually a big disappointment in my opinion. The 8800GT is about 150 more than what you would get a mid-range 8600, but it performs DOZENS of times better. Heck, it almost matches a 8800 GTX, and that should tell you enough. That would be my suggestion. If you don't want to spend money that way and just need the video card for display drivers and daily anime-watching, then maybe you should consider the Nvidia 7900 GS instead. It's not DirectX 10, but since you're going the Linux and non-gaming way, it shouldn't matter. It's a high performer, and at $119, should beat the 8600 fairly well.

It'll all come down to what you'll want out of this computer, so it's your choice. Hope these will help.
I think I will go with 7900GS then. I'm not really concerned with DX10. Looked at tomshardware and I see 7900GS ranks above 8600 GT (only went through 2 benchmarks though)
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