any recommondations for a noob?

[carterarce]

I'm thinking about getting an Aspire turbo case x-sonic. It has 2 80cm fans, 350 wpower supply. I'm going with a p4 mb. I am attempting to build a machine for gaming and music. I've built houses but this is my first computer. Any advice or suggestion would be appreciated.

 

[Frintin]

Great looking case that Aspire Turbo X-Sonic! Make sure you get as much air cooling as ya can because they are small cases and it will be cramped in there!

 

[DerwenArtos12]

be more careful building the computer than the house. If something falls off a house you can always put it back on with a few more nails or some duct tape, computers are much less resistant to damage, lol. what are the stats of the computer to come.

 

[nageov3t]

stay away from the P4

P4 heatsinks are the devil. heh. I dread having to install or remove them.

 

[fireontheway]

Intel or AMD? its a matter of personal preference. i like AMD myself but im not gonna tell you to stay away from intel nor say
anything the might mislead a first time builder. as for the chassis, i would recommend something that is rock solid and good
quality such as the antec cases. goodluck on your first build .

 

[carterarce]

 

[carterarce]

I don't know why but looks are important. i want a case that looks super modern.Mebbe it is too small?
I'm not sure on the specs yet, I've heard the p4 is more upgradable but i like amds price and the fact they give pentium some competition. I was thinking something with nforce2 for the mb.
Stupid question:what are heatsinks?
I will look at antec cases again alothought the ones i saw seemed like there wasn't a lot of choices for colors and such.
I thank all of you for your responses and advice and i look forward to more.



They say the measure of a good carpenter is how well he/she fixes their mistakes

 

[fireontheway]

for me there is no such thing as a stupid quesiton . a heatsink is used to dissipate heat, the heat sink fan combo is one of the most commonly used cooling solution. heatsinks are usually made out of aluminum, copper or composite.

 

[carterarce]

The heatsink fan combo sounds like a winner. ThanksThe case I am going to get comes with two fans but I think I will get some high end fans instead. i want it quiet. Thanks for the info, I probably could have found definition online somewhere but it's more fun to talk to people. You have been a great help.

 

[psiu]

The power supply is important (you find this out when a power supply goes poo and your motherboard smokes and flames--I found out the hard way). What it claims as far as wattage isn't as important as what it can really deliver. The Antec cases generally come with a an Antec PSU (power supply unit), and Antec is fairly univerally regarded as one of the best PSU vendors.

Look around for case and power supply reviews, both here (Anandtech) and some other sites. Tom's Hardware is good site as well. Generally something that rates good at both sites is actually good. Check in the forums over at broadbandreports.com as well, there's some knowledgeable folks there.

Personally, I just did a build for someone with the Sonata case by Antec. Nice looking (in a....refined manner), fairly quiet as well. The Overture is it's little brother, pretty sleek looking as well. If you're looking a little more over the top, my best bet would be to be one of the fairly dull looking Antecs (maybe with the window already in) and look around the modding sites and do your best (or worst) to it. That way it won't just be the same "extreme unique" case that everyone else has.

Good luck and don't push that hard, if something isn't going, take a step back and make sure you're putting it together properly. Oh, and leave the side-panel off when you power it up the first time. I guarantee if you don't, you forgot something, and half your front panel connectors are plugged in wrong.

:beer:

 

[Zepper]

The PSU that comes in most of the Aspire cases is L&C (look for LC in the model no. as they are often rebadged). Not very reliable from all reports - but will probably work OK for a lightly loaded system. Personally I would buy a better PSU to go with the case ana sell or keep the LC for backup.
.bh.

 

[tracerbullet]

Hopefully this works - I've cut and pasted my standard "checklist" of parts I consider when I build a machine. A lot of this stuff may be built-in, a lot you may not want. But it's food for thought as you get parts together:

Case
Case Fans
Power Supply
Motherboard
Chip
Heatsink & Fan
RAM
Cables
Hard Drive
Floppy Drive
CD / RW Drive
DVD / RW Drive
Modem
Network Card
Sound Card
Video Card
USB add-ons
Keyboard
Mouse
Monitor
Speakers
Shipping Cost

 

[fireontheway]

after your first build, given your carpentry skills. why not embed a fully working pc into a computer desk? (enuff of that).so, since you want an ultra modern look you might wanna check this out.

 

[carterarce]

 

[carterarce]

Funny you should mention the building into a desk top, Fire on the Way. i was thinkin the same thing. it would make an interesting convo piece but you couldn't drink near your desk any more.(well i couldn't if you know what i mean).How about stackable acrylic boxes with different hardware in each?anyway, Thanks for the info.you guys are re-affirming my faith in the kindness of mankind.

 

[carterarce]

that antec silver aluminum case is nice looking. I was wondering , it says it comes with 1 fan, I couldn't tell from the pictures if there was room for more. seems like it has more drive bays than i need. It kind of looks like a dishwasher but it is pretty.

 

[fireontheway]

yes, you can mount 1 more 120mm fan in the front. click here for more info and pics...

 

[sharkAttakk]

I have one of the Aspire cases that comes with that 350W PSU. This PSU is PS, mine came DOA, but I was planning on replacing it anyway. I recommend that you either buy an Antec case with an Antec PSU or that you replace the one that comes in the case with a model from Fortron/Antec/Enermax.

I got an Antec TrueBlue 350W for $49 shipped from accupc.com. Very nice PSU.

 

[smahoney]

I would suggest taking a trip to a local computer store such as CompUSA where you can look at a few case options to get an idea of what you might want before buying one. I ended up getting mine there after browsing the web for a while looking for an aluminum case. there are several sites that offer less expensive components than what you will find in the store. Remember that while you have to pay tax at a store you don't have to worry about shipping charges which can be high for case shipping or damage during shipping which can be very frustrating when ordering an aluminum case. I would also say look at coolcases, newegg or xoxide to see what some of the options are. bestbyte.net has some of the least expensive case fans and lighting mods. There are several different heatsink manufacturers that make some excellent products in the $30 to $50 range. Since this is your first time building a system I would recommend having someone with experience go over your selections before purchase and your design before assembly. Always remember to bundle parts for cheaper shipping.

PS - Add Thermal Paste to the list above.