CAUTION: NEWBIE -- Just came upon this site: wow, what a resource. After reading about building a PC here I was ready to pull the trigger and clicked on the Newegg link. If I bought the components listed, would I receive everything needed to build the PC? Or do I have to research/buy internal wiring, cords, connectors, etc that aren't showing up in this list? Thanks in advance for your considered reply.

ohillary

Thank you all for your comments and insight. I'm a relative noob, at least I guess I am since this will be my first system build since the mid-1990's. NewEgg will have the pieces 'n parts of my own personalized "econobox" equivalent delivered Thursday afternoon - my bargain basement Antec w/380 PS for a mere $44.95 special delivered arrived Wednesday afternoon in pristine condition and speedy NewEgg fashion.

Anyway, I tend to let technology pass me by unless I'm looking to upgrade/buy new, so I have to re-educate myself with computerese from time to time. I lurk lots here on TR/forum, so thanks to all of you contributors, thanks a LOT!

Best wishes for a prosperous & healthy new year!

Warm Regards, All, DWB

In "The Sweet Spot" build, could someone verify that the Antec NeoHE 550W PSU supplies enough power for the components? I checked into this with a power supply calculator on newegg and it suggested that I use a unit that supplies ~700W.

Heh...chancy recommendation with vista there...while I agree...I'm surprised this hasn't turned into a flame war.

I always enjoy reading these guides...I tend to buy my computer parts a year or so later, when you can get them really cheap in clearance bins...so its kinda a preview of next year. Last Christmas I picked up a P-D 840 for around 75 bucks...not the best deal today, but a year ago it was unbeatable. Also note...thats in 2006 Canadian dollars...quite a bit different from today.

Would the 500W power supply of Antec Sonata III case in The Grand Experiment rig be sufficient for both a quad core (Q6600) and the 512MB 8800GT?

This motherboard also features four Serial ATA ports with RAID support, one eSATA port, two IDE channels, Gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire. The P5N-E SLI does have fewer Serial ATA ports than the latest boards based on Intel chipsets, but it makes up for that shortcoming with excellent overclocking potential. In our labs, we've been able to crank the P5N-E SLI up to a front-side bus speed of 470MHz—enough to push our recommended Core 2 Duo E6750 to 4.7GHz.

Is that right? 4.7GHz is amazing, unless that is a typo.

i typically dont read system guides.. as i tend to disagree with most things.. and always make my mind up based on past experience & other users luck with a product.

but in the spirit of the holidays i'd just like to say:
Creative SUCKS.

X-Fi XtremeGamer for all but one system? pft! shame!
people that are spending on a high-end system shouldnt short change themselves.

merry christmas.

However, AMD still makes the cheapest decent dual-core processors around (disregarding Intel's Celeron D series, which is based on the aging Netburst architecture).

Why mention the Celeron D series? They aren't dual-core.

Damn that front page pic looks sexy.

With monitors, most manufacturers used to list the "colors" and a monitor with 16.2 million (with dithering) usually referred to a 6-bit panel while 16.7 million colors referred to an 8-bit panel. Now, I notice almost all manufacturers list 16.7 million irregardless. Is there a better way to determine if a monitor is a 6-bit or 8-bit panel? I notice it is rarely listed...and only on certain occasions do they list the panel type (i.e., PVA, MVA, TN, S-IPS).

/edit Never mind, this was supposed to be a reply to something else.

How about a recommendation for a uATX board and matching case? I'd like to build my parents a small computer, but it seems difficult to find enough reviews of motherboards to help me decided which uATX board is actually worth it.

"Deciding when to pull the trigger on a new PC isn't easy, since new technology is always waiting just around the corner to spoil the party."

Not for my friend. I implored him to build his own, but he decided to get a prebuilt one over the Black Friday Shopping Extravaganza since it was cheaper. I even had all the parts laid out and such.

From Vrock on the 3850/3870 comments: "Even 1600x1200 or 1650x1080 is getting on the high side IMHO." Note that Vrock is not the only one who says this...just the first.
Please note the displays suggested by TR: 20.1" @16x10, 24" @19x12 and some 30+" displays. This isn't indicative of all monitors I know, but if TR says it...

You shouldn't recommend the dell 24" when there is the samsung 245 which is based on the newer panel (the dell uses samsung panels) and also cost less

Greetings!

Dont agree with discrete sound cards and Vista recommendations.

Unless you are a audiophile, well implemented integrated sound is more than satisfatory and Vista failed to deliver, XP is still THE OS of choice.

Why do you recommand the 8800GT and HD 3870? IMHO, supply issues disqualified them to be in this guide. They are soild choices, but next to impossible to obtain. Sadly, G80-based 8800GTSs should be the choices for this round. :(

IMHO, there should be absolutely no reason to recommand a floppy drive or a 32-bit OS for a new build.

Modern motherboards allow boot-up from optical and flash media. Vista and newer revisions of Linux can load third-party drivers without the need for floppy disks. Floppy drive is finally, completely obsolete! Damm unreilable technology refused to die.

64-bit OS are mature enough and get decent support for hardware that was build when x86-64 capable CPUs exist. The odds that if you need run a certain 16-bit and 32-bit application that does not work under x86-64. You wouldn't replace the system that it ran on anyway. If the application is a game, then I strongly suggest using DosBox 0.72. It can run any DOS-based fine game with a playable speed (Pentium-66 to 90 like) on modern rigs.

Is 2x2GB better for FSB overclocking than 4x1GB? Can you OC with 4x2GB?

edit: on P35/650i/680i - whichever works.

i went looking for a review of the Pentium E2160 on TR's forums, and all i managed to find was an argument between Shintai & flip-mode. ;)

Grr, meant to be a reply.

Those who bought a 640 GTS at launch sure got a lot of mileage out of their investment..... even now that card offers comparable performance to the current picks.

ha, one need but utter the devil's name

I think you under estimate the Gigibyte GA-P35-DS3L. This motherboard is a real overclocker. It may be a cheap motherboard, but I have put a Q6600 and PC2-1066 in this system and it flys. I added a SATA PCIe raid controller and the system gets a score of 5.9 in Vista, which according to microsoft is the highest score you can get. This board should not be in your econo system. I have been able to overclock the Q6600 to 3.6Ghz. The welcome screen in vista doesn't even have time to load, it goes right to the desktop.

All I have to say is I plan to build the second PC out of the Grand Experiment, nixing the soundcard and maybe fiddling with the HDD (I just don't use that much damn space). I like it! That sort of power for 1300 is just insane.

For a "discontinued" monitor, the Ultrasharp 2007WFP is still available at dell.com both by itself and in system configurations.

Has Dell said they're actually discontinuing this? It looks to me the 2008WFP is more likely meant to replace their cheap E207WFP (a $25 difference) than the Ultrasharp (a $130 difference).