Help:Perfect custom built computer

[ZeeLex]

HI. This is my first time building a PC and I need your advice to build it. The hard part is choosing the right parts witch as compatible with each other. I am going to use this PC for web designing, photo/audio/video editing and some Adobe CS3 products.
So far I choose these parts from TigerDirect.com

1.Case:Ultra Black Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB, Firewire and Audio Ports And Ultra X2 550-Watt Power Supply .

2.Motherboard:Intel 975XBX2KR Intel Socket 775 ATX Motherboard / Viiv Ready / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID

3.Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz / 4MB Cache / 1066MHz FSB / Conroe / Dual-Core / OEM / Socket 775 / Processor

4. RAM: I want 4bg or ram. but I don`t know what to choose.(need advice)

5. Video card: (need advice).

6. other Parts: (need advice).

Thanks for advice

[turboxchaz]

RAM: look for a 2gb dual-stick (meaning 2, 2gb sticks). in my opinion, thats too much gb but if ur planning ahead thats good. but then again, its way expensive compared to a 2 x 1gb ram.

video card, check that sticky with the graphics card rankings. 8800 is very new so if u want to spend loads of money, u can go for that.

u might want a powersupply because i've been hearing that power supplies that come with cases are not that great in quality.

other than that, you'd need a hard drive, and cd or dvd drives if u prefer. (or floppy)

the other stickied guides are pretty useful too.

btw, not sure but newegg has been recommended by many users over tigerdirect..??

[turtile]

Motherboard:
Newegg.com - ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Stick with E6600

Memory:
Newegg.com - OCZ Vista Upgrade 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Drives (I would get a Western Digital Raptor plus a Seagate 7200.10 320GB for storage) A cheap SATA NEC DVD RW will work well

Any cheap video card will do. (get a fanless) Ex. 7600GS or GT

Case:
Newegg.com - LIAN LI PC-7B plus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

PSU:
Ultra Quiet Silencer 470 ATX Power Supply

[ZeeLex]

Thanks for your reply turboxchaz and turtile. I never heard about Newegg.com actually CompUSA recommend me tigerderect.com.
I am planning to spend around 2000$ for this PC.
turtile if you show me something cool looking case
how would you build your PC for 2000$(Let`s say you need it for video/photo/audio editing
Actually I never build it myself and I have no idea how to build it even I`ll get the parts. Do I connect all the part to each other and turn the PC on ?

[mrfluffles]

People really don't recommend TigerDirect. Newegg and ZipZoomFly are considered much better.

Anyways, if I had $2000 to spend, I would get something along the lines of this:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE 3D Aurora 570 GZ-FA1CA-*** Silver 1.0 mm Aluminum body ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail (very nice case)

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (might need more space but only you can know that)

Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 KO Video Card - Retail (don't know the extent of your video editing, but this should do fine. You don't need an 8800 since DX10 won't do anything for ya for video editing. If you do some really extreme stuff, you need to look at the pricey Quadro cards)

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (Some of the best RAM. I don't think you need 4GB but again I don't know the extent of your video editing.)

Newegg.com - ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (great mobo. You could go with your original though, it's also very good)

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail (Buying anything more powerful right now isn't worth it even with a 3-4k budget)

Newegg.com - Scythe SCNJ-1100P 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail (Will help cool your cpu a lot especially if you overclock which you really should)

Corsair HX Series CMPSU-520HX 520W Power Supply at ZipZoomfly (One of the best. Plenty of power)

You'll also need a sound card but I don't what kinds are recommended for audio editing.

Without a sound card, this is only around $1200 (before tax/shipping.) If you really want to spend $2000, the part you should look at upgrading first and foremost is the RAM (if you really think you need 4GB), the video card, and the hard drive (you might want more space or faster ones for video/audio. If you want faster, you can either get Raptors or RAID0 two hard drives. RAID0 is fast but also has a higher chance of failing. If one drive fails, all of the data is lost.)

Building isn't too difficult. It is mostly, like you said, just connecting all the parts. The only thing that's not just connecting the parts is applying the thermal grease but that isn't too difficult either.

The build you see is perfect for overclocking which you GOTTA do. It's not that hard and it won't put any of your parts in danger as long as you do it carefully. You will however need to research it a bit and ask for help though. It will increase your performance by a HUGE amount.

Also, you'll be able to get an E6600 for $220-$240 after April 22nd.

[TheEnd187]

for vid/audio editing it would be better to get a quad core, raid0, and more ram, benchmarks have already proved that

[mrfluffles]

Getting a quad core with this budget is just dumb. Only if he waits till Q3 when the Q6600 is $266.

[TheEnd187]

whoops forgot about the budget but you could get 2 wd raptors in raid 0 and a larger sata drive or network drive/protable hd if you work a lot

[fade2black2004]

i would just get 2 sata 2 hdds and raid them
i dont like raptors that much and for the performance you gain imo its not worth the price
and a core 2 e6600 should do you really well but like otehr say if you buy after the price cuts then go with the quad core

[ZeeLex]

Here is some of the parts I have added to my wishlist.

Case: NZXT Apollo BLACK NP Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

CPU:Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600

RAM: G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ

Video Card:EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP

HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive( I think it should be okay, I`ve got an external driver anyways)

And still don`t know which MOBO, PowerSupply and CPU cooler to choose
An advice will be helpful
Thanks