Re: I wanna build my own Computer


"Brendon M. Troy" <brendon.troy@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1149691647.653640.174060@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
chendrikson@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I want the most powerful motherboard possible. After some introductory
research, Im gonna go with Dual Core Pent-D at 3.4 Ghz. I think this
about as fast as I can find. One brand name I found was Asus, who
provides a motherboard with these specs over at newegg.com. Is this a
reputable brand name ?

Definitely, IMO. My mobo from them has performed great over the last
1.5 years or so since I built my second PC. There are a lot of reviews
online, too (even right there at newegg) - check 'em out.

I also want a TON of RAM. Thank you for informing me that RAM comes in
different qualities. I honestly didn't think one memory chip could
differ from another, except for access speed. Im gonna try to shove 4
GBs in there.

Wow - awesome. If money's no object, go for the max RAM the mobo can
support, definitely. Get RAM from a reputable source that's sure to be
stable (not just the cheapest - common mistake), and perhaps think
about registered RAM. It can be slightly slower, but it's a lot more
stable, and in a system with 4gigs of it, that might be better.

Also think about getting one super-fast hard drive to put your OS on.
Friends of mine swear by the WD Raptors: http://www.wdraptorx.com/.
Don't be fooled by that "clear cover" BS on the front page - that's
just to try to reach out to modding kiddiez. They got their rep by
providing super-stable, super-fast hard drives to the server market,
and their 10,000 RPM, SATA hard drives are apparently worth drooling
over now. Don't worry about getting a huge one - just get a reasonably
sized one to put your OS, programs, and frequently-accessed files on,
and then get a huge secondary (or tertiary, too, for backup) HD for
most of your files.

I'm trying to think what else I discovered when myself and another guy
built a monster PC here at work (it runs an industrial-sized scanner
whose speed is only restrained - up to a point - by the processing lag
of the PC it's attached to). Be sure to get plenty of cooling in that
mother - with two processors and lots of other things going very fast
inside, it's going to get hot. Lots of fans - intake fans, exhaust
fans, CPU heatsink fans, side-of-case fans, etc. If you spend a lot,
that could even be quiet. But don't count on it - the women (they
happen to all be women) who do scanning on "my" monster PC always
complain about how loud it is, but I love knowing that it's being kept
a computer-monitored chilly temp inside for my processors and
everything else.


I love building computers.

It's fun!

The first step is really making sure that all your parts are compatible.
Sometimes the top parts sites like www.geeks.com and www.newegg.com do
deals on mobo/processor combos. Finding something like that can guarantee
your success. A very real mistake that a lot of people make is
mismatching these items to some degree. A good match between mobo and
processor can get you more speed and stability than buying the fastest of
each of those items and praying that the compatibility gods smile upon
you.

Also, you can run into compatibility issues between the power supply and
the mobo. Believe it or not, the power plugs fall into "styles" but the
actual wires within them can vary! This is a bit scary to think about, as
the result of a mismatch would probably be an expensive fizzle.

I also like round IDE cables, such as these. In my experience, they do
help with cooling, and they are available in all sorts of colors that
completely take the guesswork out of unplugging things.
http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=132

Read alt.computer.hardware for a few days to get a sense of the pitfalls
that could await you and how to avoid them. There are some true geniuses
that post over there that can answer even the most obscure questions.


Good luck!

~e.








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