samutzCom

After a couple of exchanges and about 2 weeks of waiting for parts, my new computer is complete.
Originally, I wanted a small, simple linux box to sit next to my TV and act as a media center, but later decided that wasn’t the best choice due to my TV being a low resolution SDTV. But I still had the “I need a new home computer” mindset, so I ended up building a gaming computer.

Before building this computer, I only had 2 computers. One is an old 1.8 Ghz AMD Duron box running Kubuntu. Over the years it had become a server, used for file storage, testing website stuff locally, and running an irc bot and bnc. The other is my 1 and a half-year old laptop that used to be one of the best for mobile gaming and now can’t even run Bioshock on the lowest settings without having framerate problems. Plus the laptop is owned by the school district I work for, so it’s not technically mine. But I do have a lot of freedom with it, such as installing games, music, etc. I could even run linux on it if I wanted to. As long as I can do my work on it.

I’ve gutted old computers and put together working ones from the parts, but this was my first experience putting together a brand new one from the ground up. Everything was bought from Newegg.

The parts list after the jump:

• Case: APEX TU-163 ATX Full Tower
  Not much to say about it. It says “Full” tower, but everyone else says its only Mid. I honestly don’t know the difference, but everything fits in it nicely and doesn’t feel crammed in, so I like it.
• Motherboard: MSI P6N Diamond ATX, nForce 680i SLI Chipset
  I almost got a more basic motherboard until I decided to go with SLI.
  Only problem I have with it is that it refuses to play audio out to my basic vanilla speakers through its read audio-out port. Audio-out on the front of the case works fine though. I’m guessing this has something to do with it being HD audio, which I have zero experience with.
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 Allendale 2.4GHz
  I chose this early on because it was cheap and had a combo deal to get $25 off the Rosewill cooler. I know there’s Core 2 Extremes or whatever, but I haven’t seen a big enough difference on benchmarking websites to warrant the extra cash for one.
• CPU Heatsink/Fan: Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX 92mm 2 Ball PWM CPU Cooler
  The CPU did come with its own heatsink and fan, but I’ve learned that those aren’t always the best ones to use.  Also, this was a major pain in the ass to attach to the motherboard. I was afraid that I was gonna end up breaking the motherboard trying to get it on. It also doesn’t help that to push 2 of the pegs in, you have to stick your finger between heat pipes. My finger barely fit, and I don’t have fat fingers, but I could only push them down with the tips of my fingers, which was virtually imposible. I had to use the round end of a long screwdriver bit to push them down.
  But the cooler does atleast do it’s job… I think. The ATX case has a little tunnel/vent thing on the side panel just for the cooler’s air to vent out, and everytime I stick my hand in front of it, it’s always blowing out cool air. I’m not sure if that means it’s not doing its job, or if it’s just that the rest of the fans in the case are keep it cool enough.
• RAM: A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800
  Simple, effective, and cheap (in price, not quality). I use A-DATA ram on my linux box as well and it works great. I know I could have upped it to 4GB or eve 8GB, but I’m running Win XP Pro, and according to everything I’ve read, XP will only use up to 3.5 GB or something like that. And everyone says 2GB is plenty.
• Graphics Cards: PNY GeForce 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 (x2)
  I did originally buy 2 8600GTs because they were cheap, but I immediately sent them back and ordered these instead after I saw the benchmarking chart on Tom’s Hardware.
  SLI is completely new territory for me, but so far I love it. It’s expensive, but atleast I won’t be replacing the cards for a very long time.
  I had to get the single-slotters becuse the 2nd PCI-E slot is at the very bottom of the motherboard/case, and thus a two-slotter will not fit.
  I’m also a bit peeved that I can’t do dual screen mode while SLI mode is enabled. So I have 4 DVI ports and can only use one. But atleast that means I only have to have one monitor taking up space on my desk instead of two.
• Power Supply: Rosewill 950W, SLI Compatible
  I’m told you need high wattage to run 2 GeFoce 8800s, so I went for one of the best I could find. Rosewill has proven to be a reliable brand. Comes with a ton of extra cables that I don’t need though. I though about going with a modular PSU (removable cables), but I read that they don’t work as well. I ended up with room in the empty 5in bays to stuff the extra cables anyway. Includes the 2 cables needed to provide the 8800s with extra power.
• DVD Burner: Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner IDE
  Basic DVD burner. I have no need of a blueray burner.
• Harddrive: Western Digital Caviar 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
  For $100 more, I could have gotten a 1TB, but I don’t see the need for it yet. I still have plenty of room on the linux box to store the games and movies that are not in use. And I still have room to add more drives in the future anyway.
• Card Reader: Rosewill 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader
  This was a no brainer purchase since I have a PSP (uses MS Pro Duo), a Cyclo DS Evo (uses MicroSD), a digital camera (uses standard SD), and a Wii (can use standard SD). Plus it was cheap. Also fits into 3in floppy drive bay, which is nice.
  Only problem with it is that even if there’s no cards in it, the drives show up in My Computer all the time. That’s a minor annoyance though.
  Also, when I installed Windows, it took over drives C, D, E, F, and the DVD drive took G, so Windows ended up installing on H:. I ended up reinstalling Windows anyway, so I left the card reader unplugged during that time.
• Keyboard & Mouse: Microsoft Wireless Optical USB RF Wireless Standard Keyboard & Mouse
  I had no USB keyboard and only one decent USB optical mouse, and I wanted to go wireless, so I got this. The mouse works great. However, the keyboard only seems to work fine with the receiver is directly next to it. When I had it about a foot away, on top of the same desk, it wouldn’t respond to some keypresses. So being wireless is almost pointless. On the plus side, it’s nice that I can easily pick it up and set it aside to set my laptop, a plate of food, or something else on the desk. It’s also comfortable and seems to have a good battery life so far.
• Gamepad: Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows
  I already have a few 360 controllers, which I like, so I figured this should work well. And it does. Only problem is that when I sync the controller with the receiver, it turns on my 360 because you have to hold down the home button after hitting the sync buttons.
• Monitor: Acer 20″ Widescreen LCD Monitor
  I didn’t want to spend more than $200 on the monitor, and this was the best I could find for about $200.
• Video Capture Card: Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 1062 MCE Kit Tuner Card w/MCE Remote
  I had been wanting to do video capture for a long time. And this was one of the first things I wanted to look for when I decided to build a new computer (even during the media center plan). So far the card does what I need it to do. My 360 connects to the TV using component connections and the same cable also has the composite cable, which goes unused. So I have that cable extended to the capture card along with the audio (split from the RCA using normal Y splitters) so that I can record the 360. I can also record from the PS2 or Wii, but I’d have to swap the component cables for the composite, or buy more converters.
  The software that comes with it looks like it was designed with Windows 95 in mind, but it does it’s job. The quality isn’t high def, but I don’t need HD for uploading stuff to YouTube. The files it outputs are huge. Like over 1GB for 15 mins of footage. It comes with video editing software, which is also old, so I don’t use it.
  Windows Movie Maker will detect the card as a valid capture device, but won’t recognize the RCA audio inputs as an audio device, so you have to redirect the audio to a standard microphone or line-in port if you want to capture directly with Movie Maker. I gave up on using Movie Maker to edit anyway because it kept having graphical problems while I was trying to edit.
  At the moment, I’m using Ulead VideoStudio, which is working good so far. It has a capture feature too, but it always says my capture device is “offline” or something. So I just record with the software that came with the card and then use VideoStudio to edit.
  I haven’t tried using the remote so I have no comment on it yet.
  You can see some of the stuff I’ve already recorded with this on my YouTube profile. Or check out some of my earlier blog posts.
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional
  At first I was going to go with Kubuntu, for the media center plan, but then decided to go with Windows since I was going to go the gaming way. I considered Vista due to being able to use more RAM, but then remembered the bad experience I had with it at work. So I’m sticking with what I know best. Besides, I already had a license from when I had XP on my old computer (now linux box).

So far I’m very happy with the result and hope I won’t be spending so much money on a computer again anytime soon.