Building my very first computer- Would like some feed back

[Fire Phoenix]

Oh. Well now that you mention it >.>

What exactly is SLI? I've been hearing a lot about it. Especially from my friend. And yeah, i've been just going with it.

 

[Smith|]

http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_learn.html

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_howtobuild_1.html

 

[Ravendust]

If you want two of these, go ahead. I personally don't see how you could use 500GB of space =p.

That's what I thought when I bought a 400GB Western Digital...it got filled. I'd go for two.

And 2GB of RAM is highly reccommended like Smith said, 1GB is the norm now for pre-built systems but for gaming (here's looking at you, F.E.A.R) i'd strongly reccomend 2GB.

 

[Fire Phoenix]

That's what I thought when I bought a 400GB Western Digital...it got filled. I'd go for two.

And 2GB of RAM is highly reccommended like Smith said, 1GB is the norm now for pre-built systems but for gaming (here's looking at you, F.E.A.R) i'd strongly reccomend 2GB.

Yeah. F.E.A.R runs awsome on my current PC. But when I get into major fight scenes especially those bots that shoot rockets at you- it's lags to no end. So I'm deffinately going for 2 GB. I notice the max is 4 gb on the mobo. So... what's that like?

As for 2 500's. Yeah, I'm deffinately going for 2, I have 190 GB of games ALONE on my PC. Then I have everything else. I only have like 50 GB left on my 250 GB hd. And that's only because I can't keep it all on my computer. I could easily fit 300 GB on this computer if I had the memory for it.

Thanks Smith for the links, I'll be sure to read them.

::EDIT::

WHoA! Jesus christ. Are you saying that with SLI I can take 2 7800 GTX's or any other SLI compatable gfx cards and put them together? Wait wait wait. So can a computer even handle that? Like will it actually DO something? I'm guessing it cuts the work load for a gfx card in half right?

I remember putting a brand new 9800 Pro into my old dell. It was AGP and it had an AGP slot, so i did it. But I didn't get crap for FPS- Wouldn't doing this be like the same thing? That's amazingly cool though.

 

[Smith|]

Yes, it'll give ~90% more power, not performance though. You'll probably be heavily bottlenecked by the CPU at lower resolutions, but higher ones, you'll see SLI shine.

 

[Fire Phoenix]

This is bugging the crap out of me, so I have another question. Once this computer is built. Completely built. All the parts are in. Everythings put together. And I want to turn it on and use it. (obviously I can't do that) I need to install all the drivers, and XP and everything. Well, what do you do first? How do you start it. How does the computer know what the CD drive is reading to install everything? ETC. What do you install first?

 

[Smith|]

You turn it on and it'll boot. Go into BIOS and set to boot from your dvd-rw drive with the Windows XP install cd in it. Save and exit and let it boot from the Windows XP cd and it'll go through an extremely easy instruction/question thing from there, like to format your HDD, set the partitions, etc, etc. Very easy. Then once you get through a few screens of that, it'll start installing. Then, just boot into windows. It'll probably detect the majority of your hardware off the bat, but that's not good enough. First, you'll want to download your motherboard's chipset drivers, then your video card drivers, and then anything else you may need.

 

[Fire Phoenix]

AHHH so you do have to download mobo drivers etc. My friend said that it comes with drivers and you intall them.

Bios. How do you get there? I believe I only got there once. I pressed like F11 or F12 or something similar to that. Or was it F8? Haha, something like that. Cool, I'm learning a lot thanks

About RAID. I was reading up on it via the link you gave me Smith|. Two questions came up- 1. If I were to get 2 500 gb's (which I am) do i have to RAID them? 2. If so- which one should I use. I noticed level 5 is the most popular to use. 3. How do you RAID something.

Also I hear that if you get a HD, say a 250 GB HD. And when you turn on your computer it will say that the hd can hold a max of 247 (or something like that). I heard there is something you can do to max out your HD to 250. If you can what do you need to do?

 

[Smith|]

AHHH so you do have to download mobo drivers etc. My friend said that it comes with drivers and you intall them.

Bios. How do you get there? I believe I only got there once. I pressed like F11 or F12 or something similar to that. Or was it F8? Haha, something like that. Cool, I'm learning a lot thanks

Mine requires pressing DEL when the motherboard flashes its little advertisement.

About RAID. I was reading up on it via the link you gave me Smith|. Two questions came up- 1. If I were to get 2 500 gb's (which I am) do i have to RAID them? 2. If so- which one should I use. I noticed level 5 is the most popular to use. 3. How do you RAID something.

You don't have to RAID them. If you want, just hook them up as you would normally and Windows will detect them both as two individual HDDs, where you can install to either of them. I don't know much about RAID at all, as I've never had to use it, so I've never really read up on it. You have to take into consideration that it's used mainly for servers, and a lesser amount of people who want speed. I'm guessing the level 5 "most popular" statement is based on how many people who run servers use it as it's probably more secure/better at backing up.

Also I hear that if you get a HD, say a 250 GB HD. And when you turn on your computer it will say that the hd can hold a max of 247 (or something like that). I heard there is something you can do to max out your HD to 250. If you can what do you need to do?

I'm pretty sure that the manufacturers are just rounding out to what they like the most. My 80 gig gets only ~75.

 

[Fire Phoenix]

Ohhhh, okay good so you don't have to RAID them. That's cool. I was hoping that it would recognize them as like A:\ and B:\ or something like that.

I speak of my friend a lot because he built his computer has a good background on computers. He says that you have to make a boot disk or w/e when you first start up the computer, will i have to do that? Or can I just do what you said?

Go into BIOS and set to boot from your dvd-rw drive with the Windows XP install cd in it.

is this hard to do? To tell it to boot from the dvd-rw? Is it just something you have to press or is it like a command?

::EDIT::

Also it looks like I'm building this computer from scratch, that way we will have 2 computers. So no scrapping parts. My dad want's a flat screen. I'm a CRT fan, only because I love games. I know you can get flat screen (LCD) and have good refresh rates and all that. But I'm not too keen on it. I hear that the smaller the ms (8 ms, 6 ms, 5 ms) is good. So what should I look for in a LCD monitor?

::EDIT2::

Also what should I get for a DVD/CD player?

I want something that can burn both DVD's and CD's but at the same time. To the best of my knowledge (which shown above isn't a lot -.-) DVD/CD burners can also play DVD's and CD's correct?

 

[Smith|]

Ohhhh, okay good so you don't have to RAID them. That's cool. I was hoping that it would recognize them as like A:\ and B:\ or something like that.

I speak of my friend a lot because he built his computer has a good background on computers. He says that you have to make a boot disk or w/e when you first start up the computer, will i have to do that? Or can I just do what you said?

He's probably speaking about the installation CD.

is this hard to do? To tell it to boot from the dvd-rw? Is it just something you have to press or is it like a command?

Not hard at all. It'll have them clearly labeled, all you'll have to do is put the DVD-RW first in line and it'll boot from there first =).

Also it looks like I'm building this computer from scratch, that way we will have 2 computers. So no scrapping parts. My dad want's a flat screen. I'm a CRT fan, only because I love games. I know you can get flat screen (LCD) and have good refresh rates and all that. But I'm not too keen on it. I hear that the smaller the ms (8 ms, 6 ms, 5 ms) is good. So what should I look for in a LCD monitor?

Going LCD has both its ups and downs. The ups are that you'll never get headaches from flickering, it's light, and it's skinny, along with how awesome its colors will be compared to the majority of CRT monitors. The downs are that it can't use as high refresh rates, its blacks aren't exactly black, and if you go back to CRT, you will see flickering compared to before. I'd go for a 19" 8ms response time LCD monitor with a high contrast ratio, for better blacks.

Also what should I get for a DVD/CD player?
I want something that can burn both DVD's and CD's but at the same time. To the best of my knowledge (which shown above isn't a lot -.-) DVD/CD burners can also play DVD's and CD's correct?

Anything that matches your case color will probably be fine .

 

[Fire Phoenix]

Going LCD has both its ups and downs. The ups are that you'll never get headaches from flickering, it's light, and it's skinny, along with how awesome its colors will be compared to the majority of CRT monitors. The downs are that it can't use as high refresh rates, its blacks aren't exactly black, and if you go back to CRT, you will see flickering compared to before. I'd go for a 19" 8ms response time LCD monitor with a high contrast ratio, for better blacks.

My dad wants the LCD monitor mainly for gaming. He was telling me about some new dell LCD that's good for gaming or something like that. But I have had a bad experiences with them. I'm just afraid that it will look really blurry when i move around like last time

As for the DVD burner and stuff. I'm going to take that as, anything that burns dvd's and CD's also play them

Thanks again

 

[|Overlord|]

My dad wants the LCD monitor mainly for gaming. He was telling me about some new dell LCD that's good for gaming or something like that. But I have had a bad experiences with them. I'm just afraid that it will look really blurry when i move around like last time

As for the DVD burner and stuff. I'm going to take that as, anything that burns dvd's and CD's also play them

Thanks again

Dell don't manafacturer the monitors themselves you know, so if I were you I would look around at different offerings in pc stores and do your research on them. They use lcd monitors as a marketing gimmic over here in australia, people go "OH LOOK AT THIS THEY GIVE YOU A 19inch LCD WITH THIS PC", and it's happening with there cheaper, slower & "trying to get rid of" machines.

 

[Fire Phoenix]

Dell don't manafacturer the monitors themselves you know, so if I were you I would look around at different offerings in pc stores and do your research on them. They use lcd monitors as a marketing gimmic over here in australia, people go "OH LOOK AT THIS THEY GIVE YOU A 19inch LCD WITH THIS PC", and it's happening with there cheaper, slower & "trying to get rid of" machines.

Well it's on the Dell website, or w/e. My dad gets like a 10% discount on dells. And so he checks the site frequently and he told me about it.

LCD's are alos (from my knowledge) more expensive than CRT's. Which is why I want to go with a CRT instead. I figure what better monitor than one with a high refresh rate. I also view things in like 1600x1200 or w/e that setting is. So yeah.

I guess I'd like an opinion. Because Zeonix plays ESF with an LCD monitor and he's really good. So I know there are monitors out there that don't do what my LCD did.

 

[Smith|]

Dell has some very nice LCD monitors (I mean extremely nice). I think they're called 2405FP and they're widescreen. Expensive, but high quality. Of course, if you just want a normal, decent monitor, you could also look on newegg for what you need.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001192

 

[Fire Phoenix]

Okay, seeing as this is pretty much my "help Fire Phoenix because he doesn't know anything" thread. I'll just ask this here. Lately my printer won't print. It's like XP isn't recognizing it. And what's pissing me off is I've used it on this computer before. It recognizes it on my dad's laptop, but not on my computer. I've used it on this computer before but not lately

Any suggestions?