My first build! Seeking advice!

[notyetr8ed]

I am hoping to build my first custom pc this week and have been told newegg.com is probably going to be the best/cheapest place to get all my stuff. I'm shooting to spend $$ only on the parts where it will actually pay off (this pc would be used for gaming and some small amount of 3d modeling). I'm struggling in trying to figure out which motherboard and RAM to buy, as some motherboards seem to be thought of as "cheap" and I believe I need a motherboard w/ built in sound as I don't care as much about sound quality right now (i'll buy a nice soundcard at some future point)... I'm also not sure if the power supply i've chosen is too much for this build... Here's what I've got...

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM = 27.99

XCLIO A380BK Fully Black High Gloss Finish SECC 1.0mm thickness ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail = 95.99

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM = 74.99

ASUS EAH4870/HTDI/1G Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail = 289.99

Combo:
OCZ OCZ700MXSP 700W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail = 254.98 combined

Total so far = 743.94

I've got a friend who will hook me up with Windows XP, and I think my final question is how do USB ports work? Does a motherboard that says something like "up to 8 usb ports" require anything extra for each usb port? I've never thought about this until today (hoping to order all parts today)... Thanks in advance to anyone who feels like throwing me a tip or two!!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Sounds pretty good, check that PSU, see if it has enough connectors for your video card now, and possibly enough for a crossfire rig in the future. 700W should be enough for crossfire, just make sure it has enough plugs.

For the USB ports, count the ports on the back side in the I/O panel cutout, and then the rest of the USB ports are supplied as headers on the mobo, that you can plug front-panel USB ports onto. So generally, total usable USB ports = ports on the back, plus ports on the case. Usually that number is lower than the total number of USB ports available. If you need more, you can buy brackets that fit into an I/O expension card slot, that provide USB ports, and plug onto a mobo USB header.

I would look into getting a good-quality P45 board (some of them support up to 16GB of RAM, with a 64-bit OS), or an X48 board, if you game a lot and will definately be going Crossfire in the future. (Only X38/X48 have PCI-E 2.0 x16/x16 crossfire support.)

 

[notyetr8ed]

Thanks for the advice! I'm looking at this motherboard:

MSI P45 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

and am thinking about just going with some gskill ddr2 800mhz (4 gb)... anyone think this wouldn't work?

 

[Concillian]

Wll you definitely don't need a 700W power supply, even if crossfire, but it doesn't hurt to have a little extra in the tank.

If you look at newegg, they'll usually show a picture with everything that comes in the box. Some boards will have extra USB headers. Usually you get whatevers on the back + your case will have 2 in the front and you plug those into the mobo. Typically there are 2-4 more potential ports that are headers on the mobo and you need something else to take advantage of. But then, who needs like 10 USB ports? And who needs that many and doesn't have a hub to add more?

Mobo and RAM:
Get a crossfire mobo if you think you'll use it. P5Q Pro or The gigabyte equivalent EP45-DS3R or UD3P are probably the most popular options for inexpensive crossfire. If you don't think you'll need crossfire (and most won't) you can step down to a single slot mobo like UD3R for a few bucks in savings.

Every motherboard has built in sound these days.

Most brands are okay, as long as they have the overclocking options you need. Mostly the ones that aren't okay, don't have those options anyway. But you should expect to spend around $100-$125 for a decent P45 mobo.

Just pick one and get some decent DDR800 RAM. If you're considering seriously overclocking that E8400, you might need some 1000 to give a little headroom (4.2GHz on E8400 wants 933). Most DDR2-800 will overclock a little beyond 800.

 

[OCChronic]

I think MSI sucks as far as mainboards and they always have RAM compatibility problems. ASUS has the best reputation for relaibility and they usually avoid the pitfalls that other mnufacturers encounter as far as design and implementation. The P5Q PRO or the Gigabyte boards mentioned by 'Concillian' are your best hassle free bet for a good build.

I like ASUS, Gigabyte and DFI but only go with DFI if you really are up on your BIOS tweaks. They are tough boards to set up and the learning curve is pretty intense for 'noobs' to handle.

 

[hans007]

i really dont think you need a 700 watt power supply.

you could save some money say buying a sonata III that includes a 500 watt or something. other than that its not a bad build.


one other comment . you might not need 1gb of video ram, i'm not sure its of real benefit. if you are paying $289 for a video card, you might be better off getting 2 4850 512mb in stead of 1 4870.

 

[o1die]

I would download the motherboard manual before ordering, and check the default memory voltage setting. There's alot of ddr2 on sale at closeout right now; some of it may not post at the normal default voltage of 1.8. You can also go to the manufacturer's website and see if a bios flash is required for your cpu. Avoid fry's combo specials and some ecs boards which do require a bios flash for the latest Intel cpus unless you can get the vender to flash it for you.