First Compy Build, Please Help

[IndependentArt]

Hello,

I am looking to buy the components to build a new computer for my job. This will be my first build from scratch, so I was wondering if someone could help me out by reviewing the parts I have picked already and telling me if there will be any compatibility issues. Also, since I could only find some components OEM instead of Retail, I was wondering if someone could tell me what cables and other hardware I will need that won't be included with these products. Any and all information you could give me to help make sure that I will have everything I need to build this computer would be GREATLY appreciated. Here are the products I plan on purchasing:

MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal USB 2.0 digital card reader with Floppy Drive - OEM
ASUS Combo Drive Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model CB-5216AG - OEM
ATI 100-435805 Radeon X1900XTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX - Retail
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2006 - OEM
Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2 - OEM
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Platinum System Memory Model OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K - Retail
Rosewill 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model RW400/1024KITDP - Retail
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLUE ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail
SAPPHIRE PC-A9RD480Adv Socket 939 ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 CrossFire ATX AMD CrossFire Motherboard - Retail
ViewSonic VP2030b Black 20.1" 8ms gray-to-gray (avg); 16ms black-white-black (typ) LCD Monitor - Retail
Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
BenQ 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With LightScribe Black ATA/ATAPI Model DW1655 - Retail
GENERIC 8" 4-Pin Power Cable Splitter Model 11W3-01208 - OEM



Also, I wanted to set this up in Raid 0 but I don't exactly know what I would need to do this. I still need to figure out how to do it, but if you could help me out with any specific components I might need, it would be fantastic. Thank you so much in advance for all of your help. I look forward to hearing from you soon and getting this build going.

 

[DonNagual]

Looks like you are building a machine to take over the world with. Always fun!

A few comments:

-You are getting two sticks of 1Gb ram and two sticks of 512mb (and from different companies as well). Not recommended. Motherboards often have a hard time when you try to run different sized memory sticks. Not to mention that the timings of the two types of ram you are looking at are probably different as well. What do you use your computer for? Do you NEED that much ram? Seems like a bit of an overkill. 2GB should be PLENTY for most people.

-Aspire PSUs have a bad reputation in the industry. I'd recommend an Enermax, Antec, Seasonic or some other company. Have a look through this thread before making your mind up: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=792566

- You are only getting that 74Gb raptor hard drive? I would run out of room fairly quickly with that amount of space. Or were you planning on using that disk for programs and OS only, and that is why you are asking about RAID later in your post? In order to set up raid, you are going to need two more hard drives that are the same size (i.e., two 100Gb drives, or two 250Gb drives for example)

-Recommend staying away from Norton Antivirus. It is extremely heavy on the system resources and slows your system down.

 

[IndependentArt]

Thanks, and let me clarify

I forgot to mention I had 3 of those hard disks in my cart... Sorry. Also, what would you recommend for security in place of Norton? I would like to know more about what is out there that may be more efficient. As for the RAM, I shouldn't have put the Rosewil on there, that's for my existing computer, but I will be doing a ton of HEAVY multi-tasking, so I would rather get it all now and it be overkill than to not have enough somewhere down the road. I will also look into a better power supply. Thanks so much for all of your help, and if anyone sees anything else PLEASE point it out to me. Thanks again! :grinthumb

 

[mailpup]

The AMD retail processor comes with a heatsink and fan as you may know. The heatsink already has a thermal pad attached so if you are planning to use the Arctic Silver you listed, remember to clean off the original thermal pad before applying the new Artic Silver thermal compound.

Since you are looking long-term, consider getting Raptors with a larger capacity such as 150GB. Also, for extra storage you can get a 300GB or larger SATA (I or II) hard drive. in the long run you might run out of space even with three 74GB hard drives.

When looking for power supplies, pay attention to the amps specification on the 12V rail(s), not just total watts.

 

[DonNagual]

Also, what would you recommend for security in place of Norton? I would like to know more about what is out there that may be more efficient.

Well, the favorite among many users in this forum is AVG's free software. I currently have it installed in my system after years of being a Norton fan. I can tell you that my system speed is noticably faster after getting rid of norton.

But, take a look at these reviews of the various software packages put out by PCWorld. It has shaken my confidence in AVG. As you can see if you read the reviews, AVG did not do as well as I would have hoped in catching all the nasties. I am considering making a switch myself, but here is the article for you to have a look over:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124475,00.asp

 

[IndependentArt]

Keep 'em Coming

These tips are great, and invaluable to me since this is my first build and an expensive one at that, since my company is paying for this art machine as a gift to me, I would REALLY hate to break or screw-up anything. One thing I still am not clear on however, is what cables and such do not come with the OEM parts. If anyone has any idea what I'm talking about, help me please. I have read on newegg that since these parts are OEM they don't come with cables and mounting screws and stuff like that, so if anyone can tell me specifically what I will need in that area, please do so. I am very grateful to recieve any and all help. Thanks again to everyone.

 

[DonNagual]

One thing I still am not clear on however, is what cables and such do not come with the OEM parts ..... so if anyone can tell me specifically what I will need in that area, please do so.

All the cables you will need for your OEM parts (optical drive, floppy, hard drive) come with your motherboard, so no worries there. All the screws you need to mount them usually come with the case, so again, no worries there.

I think the next step is to pick your PSU, then we can confirm whether or not it has all the right connectors for your parts.

 

[mailpup]

Western Digital SATA hard drives have an optional cable that you can consider. It's called SecureConnect and provides a stronger connection to the back of the hard drive than the smaller generic SATA data cables. As you may know, WD hard drives have a dual power connector setup. That is, you have a choice of using a SATA power cable, like all other brands of SATA drives, or the common legacy molex 4 pin connector. If you use the SecureConnect cable, you have to use the molex power connector since the SATA power connector will be covered. Not a problem really as I use the SecureConnect cable myself.

For a recent internet review of the WD SecureConnect cable click here (Legit Reviews.

The cable is supplied with retail versions of the hard drive but for OEMs you have to get it separately.

 

[hewybo]

Anti-virus

Regarding an anti-virus program: I highly recommend BitDefender. PC World gave it the highest rating in a recent review. I have tried Norton (OEM on my first system), and, as stated above, it is NOT system friendly. Eats up resources. I tried Panda Platinum, which was OK, then "upgraded to Titanium, and it never ran properly, plus Panda's support went from decent to non-existent. I then tried PC Cillin, which was OK, but very slow, and did not use heuristic regimen.

I purchased Bit Defender9 a couple of months ago, on the recommendation of the PC World review, and it is excellent. Scans are fast, system resource usage is low, regular, unobtrusive, automatic definition updates, and their support has proven to be prompt and thorough.

You should consider it, IMHO>

 

[IndependentArt]

Alright, so here's the newest shopping cart info for this machine, and this time I'll make sure everything on the list is specifically for this machine...

(1) BenQ 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With LightScribe Black ATA/ATAPI Model DW1655 - Retail
(1) ASUS Combo Drive Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model CB-5216AG - OEM
(1) Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
(1) MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal USB 2.0 digital card reader with Floppy Drive - OEM
(3) Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive -OEM
(1) ViewSonic VP2030b Black 20.1" 8ms gray-to-gray (avg); 16ms black-white-black (typ) LCD Monitor - Retail
(2) Rosewill 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model RW400/2048KITDP - Retail
(1) SAPPHIRE PC-A9RD480Adv Socket 939 ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 CrossFire ATX AMD CrossFire Motherboard - Retail
(1) Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail
(1) AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX - Retail
(1) ATI 100-435805 Radeon X1900XTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
(1) Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2 - OEM
(1) Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

So there it is. The machine to help me take over the planet.

A couple of notes...

a.) I know it's still a small hard drive capacity, but I have a 300 Gig portable external HDD, and most of my work will be saved to DVD
b.) I still haven't decided totally what security system I'll choose, but I'm looking into it.
c.) Eventually I will be getting the ATI X1900 Crossfire Edition to stand next to it's brother and fight the evils of bad graphics and lag.

I think that's it, but as always if anyone can see anything to improve on, or if I have made some other moronic mistake with this, PLEASE let me know. Once again, thanks so much to everyone who's helped me out with this, I can't tell you how cool that is.

 

[mailpup]

Since you are looking ahead to when you will be adding a second graphics card for Crossfire, consider getting a more powerful power supply. At 550W and 38 combined 12V amps, the Antec you listed is right at the recommended amount for Crossfire. I mean, it should be okay because that is what is recommended but I like to have a bit of extra margin. Maybe that's just me though.