Quote: Original post by Fiddler
No, it won't cost you more than a comparable pre-built system (it will cost you *less* if anything, provided you have some time to spare).

If you use Windows, building a computer yourself is almost always more expensive, because you have to buy it seperately.

Quote: Original post by DevFred

Quote: Original post by Fiddler
No, it won't cost you more than a comparable pre-built system (it will cost you *less* if anything, provided you have some time to spare).

If you use Windows, building a computer yourself is almost always more expensive, because you have to buy it seperately.

Honestly, the difference isn't much. Plus the fact that you save so much time and effort of getting an actual CLEAN install of windows more than makes up the difference. I had to help a friend at their work reinstall windows a few months ago because some software that came preinstalled with their copy of windows on the business machines decided to throw hissy fits and bring the systems down every day.

Besides, if all you need is the basic home editions, you can get them fairly cheap on sale if you shop around. Last system I priced out, a copy of windows was one of the cheaper parts of it.

Quote: Original post by LeChuckIsBack
If you insist in building it yourself, you should know that there are many things that can go wrong, like setting jumpers incorrectly and burn things out or even slight hardware incompatibilities that will cause random and unexpected crashes, blue screens, overheating etc.

Er what? Modern-day computer components are pretty close to idiot proof. You typically can't plug in parts where they don't belong or backwards. I haven't touched a jumper in 10 years too. Plus you'll have plenty of instruction manuals to help out.

Quote: Original post by LeChuckIsBack
Besides, buying piece by piece will actually cost you more.

Actually, no. I get far more hardware for less by building my own. Plus I know whats going in there, so I don't have to worry about substandard parts.

Quote: Original post by serioso
1. First and foremost, did I miss anything!? (I think I got everything covered, but keep in mind it's my first time.) Will I need to buy all the cables, or do those generally ship with the parts? Are there any other accessories I might need? I bought thermal paste, which I think is necessary to install the CPU cooler. Anything else?

Cables typically come with your motherboard and the various parts. If you have a lot of drives, you may need to buy extra, but you're safe with what you have.

Thermal paste is unnecessary unless you are re-seating your heat sink or bought a third-party heat-sink that doesn't come with it. Pretty much all stock heat-sinks have thermal transfer material pre-applied. I actually just built an i7 920, and this was definitely the case for its stock fan.

Edit: I just now noticed that you're buying a third party cooler. You may need thermal paste, but try to check out information on the cooler. The last time I bought a third-party cooler, it came with the paste.

Quote: Original post by serioso
2. Can someone briefly glance through the list to verify if these components are actually compatible? Again, I tried my best to make sure all the connectors and sockets match, but I wouldn't be surprised if I overlooked anything. I'm especially worried about the power supply because that is the component that I understand the least.

Everything looks fine to me. As another poster said, the power supply is a bit excessive, unless you're planning to pack your computer to the brim with high-end video cards (as-in, multiple video cards using SLI) and devices. As it stands, a 650W power supply is all you need. Actually, I'm running a similar build on a 550W power supply, with no problems, although my graphics card is a bit older (8800GT).

Quote: Original post by serioso
5. For people who build computers regularly: I'm just curious about how the nature of "upgrading" for you is different from the mainstream. For people who buy pre-built systems, doing an "upgrade" is something that is done perhaps yearly, and all at once. For people who buy components and do the building themselves, does upgrading tend to be a more "progressive" process where you might buy a component here or there when you see a good deal, swap components from one system to another, or perhaps even build an entire system from a stash of spare parts you've accumulated over the years? I'm not sure if this is a weird question or not, but I really am wondering...

I don't upgrade the core (proc+ram+mobo) that often. My current i7 was built after using my old computer for roughly 4 years. I'll typically swap out the hard drives every couple of years for bigger versions, and maybe replace the video card if games start running slow. Video card replacements usually only happen every 2-3 years.

Quote: Original post by serioso
6. I noticed there's a high variation in price for RAM as well as power supplies and many other components with nearly identical features. Do "brand names" play a role here?

Certain companies may have slightly higher quality and better latencies, but benchmarks tend to show that you don't get that much improvement by buying the pricier low-latency ram in a family. That is, if you're looking at DDR 1600, buying the $200 set of DDR 1600 is not going to give you that much improvement over the $100 set. Maybe 1%-2% at most.

As far as RAM is concerned, I stick to a couple of brands that offer "value" prices. Kingston and Corsair are typically what I get. What you *should* do is download memtest and run it for a couple of hours after you put together your PC to make sure that your RAM is defect-free.

Quote: Original post by serioso
7. I couldn't find the answer to this: if you want, say, 8 GB of RAM, is it better to buy 2 x 4 GB or 4 x 2 GB? Judging by price, I'm guessing 2 x 4 GB - is it just faster?

Most motherboards for i7 processors support triple channel RAM. What this means, basically, is that if you stick in three sticks of RAM, the memory controller will stripe your data across the RAM sticks to improve latency. Its sort-of like a RAID for RAM. Your motherboard supports this. You should get 3 x X GB of RAM for the best performance, where X is whatever size you want. For me, X = 2, giving me a total of 6 GB of RAM.

BTW, if you use over 4 GB of RAM, you may want to seriously consider getting a 64-bit OS. Windows 7, if you can hold out for that long, is my recommendation.

Quote: Original post by serioso
8. Many components come with optional $20-$30 warranties. Do you recommend buying some of these warranties, or are they pointless? If a component gets shipped to me "Dead on Arrival", I can return it without a warranty, right? And if a part stops working a month in through no doing of my own, I can expect to be able to return it also without a warranty, right?

Most parts have manufacturer warranties. I've had a couple of DOA parts from newegg before, and typically they were very responsive *without* buying the optional warranties. I personally never buy them.

Speaking of warranties, I'd like to say that EVGA had an excellent warranty policy. I had a nightmare scenario of getting a bunch of bad video cards from them before, and they stuck with me until I got myself a working card.

[Edited by - Rycross on October 13, 2009 11:45:52 AM]

Quote: Original post by DevFred
If you use Windows, building a computer yourself is almost always more expensive, because you have to buy it seperately.

It depends. If you're a student, you can typically get cheap copies. There's also MSDN, if you're working for a Microsoft shop. There's also system builder copies of Windows which are a good deal cheaper, although I'd heard that it may not be a valid license if you don't plan to resale the computer.

Quote: Original post by DevFred

Quote: Original post by Fiddler
No, it won't cost you more than a comparable pre-built system (it will cost you *less* if anything, provided you have some time to spare).

If you use Windows, building a computer yourself is almost always more expensive, because you have to buy it seperately.

Yes this is one major thing missing from what I can tell and an OEM version of Windows will set you back an average of $200 so you are actually over your budget unless you own a retail copy of windows that you wish to transfer to the new build.
Also, as other's have suggested I recommend holding off on building your own rig until you do more research since just from the above and question #7 shows that you have no idea that the i920 is optimized for triple channel memory unlike the older cpu's like my quadcore 9550 or the new cheaper i5 processor that were just released. People that buy an i920 usually buy 6GB or even 12GB not 4 or 8.
Another obvious mistake is getting a 260 for a i920 processor. That is way to much processor for that card. You need at least 2 275 cards in SLI to take advantage of that cpu which your research should've told you. If you are just going to stick with one card one of the new i860 would be good enough.

920
Pros:
- Triple Channel support (aprox 5-7% performance gain in some areas)
- Better/easier overclock
- Option of upgrading to Gulftown next year
- Better SLI/XFire performance

Cons:
- Price ($150-200 depending on ram/mobo choice)
- Less aggressive turbo mode (not a con if overclocking)

860
Pros:
- Price (cheaper ram/mobo)
- Aggressive Turbo modes

Cons:
- Slower SLI/XFire
- Dual channel ram
- no Gulftown support
- harder to oc

If you insist I recommend you visit EVGA forums since it has some of the most knowledgeable hardware folks I know of.

p.s. Also, just from the number or people arguing over jumpers I'd be wary of the advice being given since some of the higher end motherboard still come with jumpers in case you can't get into the bios or prefer it.PCI-E Slots Disable Jumpers come to mind.

Quote: Original post by daviangel
p.s. Also, just from the number or people arguing over jumpers I'd be wary of the advice being given since some of the higher end motherboard still come with jumpers in case you can't get into the bios or prefer it.PCI-E Slots Disable Jumpers come to mind.

Yes, there are jumpers, but they're clearly labeled and the manuals spell out what you need to do with them in every case I've come across in the last few years.

Not to mention you generally don't need to touch them.

Quote: Original post by DevFred

Quote: Original post by Fiddler
No, it won't cost you more than a comparable pre-built system (it will cost you *less* if anything, provided you have some time to spare).

If you use Windows, building a computer yourself is almost always more expensive, because you have to buy it seperately.

Unless you tend to upgrade frequently, in which case you want a proper license anyway. (Paying for one OEM license everytime you make a major upgrade is a huge expense for some people)

Quote: Original post by DevFred

Quote: Original post by Fiddler
No, it won't cost you more than a comparable pre-built system (it will cost you *less* if anything, provided you have some time to spare).

If you use Windows, building a computer yourself is almost always more expensive, because you have to buy it seperately.

Not if you have access to MSDN/MSDNAA or if you upgrade your hardware regularly (buying OEM licenses is more costly in that case).

Even if you don't, you'll make up the difference through better prices on individual components. For example, Apple is charging $200 for 4GB RAM - which I bought for roughly $60 a few months ago. That's the cost of a full-blown Windows license.

Actually I feel there is absolutely no way a computer engineer should buy a prebuilt PC. Building your own computer is not only cheaper (at least in India, its by far the best way), but you get to choose your parts. Seriously is there anything else you would want to do?

About a previous comment about jumper settings and all, let me tell you, the first time I built my computer some 2 years ago, I accidentally did not place the microprocessor correctly (forgot to check the golden triangle). But that did not make much of a difference. When I placed it correctly it worked just fine contrary to what could be a potential damage case.

[some edits]

I'm surprised by the replies suggesting you not do this. I've built two computers from parts ordered online, and I pretty much just dove in and did it. It isn't too complicated, as long as you makes sure everything you're buying is compatible/sufficient (CPU socket type, strength of PSU, etc.) which it appears you're capable of doing as well.

It's cheaper to build your own system component by component, especially since you can reuse stuff in future builds (like the operating system). Furthermore, as a tech enthusiast, it really is pretty cool and gives you a sense of pride when you're new rig shreds through the latest games.