Building my first computer

[IknowLITTLE]

so basically ive been saving for about 6 months and im about 50$ off. so here i ask, is their anything specific i need to know before i buy the parts. for example "that parts a pain in the ass to put on that case" *Parts at bottom* along with any common knowledge i should know, tips tricks, whatever. anything you would tell someone who's going into a build with little knowledge. also, youtube videos you might have seen and you found very descriptive are great. Oh, and if you want to suggest a different part or something thats holding another part back, feel free. Parts:

Case: Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Power: Newegg.com - Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply (is this enough? i dont need it destroying my whole system)

Hard drive: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Mobo: Newegg.com - ASUS M4A78LT-M AM3 AMD 760G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Ram: Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced SP 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 998586

Possessor: Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

Graphics: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...#38;_Video_Devices-_-Daily_Deals-_-14-102-878http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130591&Tpk=N82E16814130591

I appriciate all your time and any responses are great.
-Will

 

[Chipeater]

You might consider a larger hard drive for the same cost: HITACHI Deskstar 1TB While the SATA interface is 3.0Gb/s, rather than 6.0Gb/s that your listed drive boasts, you probably won't see any difference in speed due to the hard disk itself being the bottleneck.

What operating system are you planning to use? As far as RAM goes, you really don't need more than 4Gb and you won't be using much more than 3Gb of that if you install a 32 bit operating system. Even with a 64 bit OS, I suggest 4Gb in two dimms. The motherboard that you list has 4 dimm sockets. If you install two dimms, then you could always install two more later if you need more RAM. I suggest G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) This RAM is slightly faster than what you have listed, although 4Gb rather than 6Gb.

One thing that I don't see listed is a DVD ROM, the ASUS Black 24X DVD+R is worth considering.

The motherboard and processor look good to me, the video card I'm not familiar with so I won't comment on it. I'm sure you will get others with video display adapter suggestions.

Let us know what OS you are planning to use...

 

[IknowLITTLE]

im planning on using a windows 7 64 bit. i guess 4 gb of ram is ok. ill add that to changes. also, that dvd drive is fine. ill get that. and for wifi i plan to use a usb wifi adapter. i also plan on getting a usb splitter. saw one for like 10 bucks. and is that hard drive going to make that much of an improvement to loading times?

 

[Chipeater]

[...]and is that hard drive going to make that much of an improvement to loading times?

In actual use you won't see any difference in loading times. Reading the data from, and to, the actual drive platters is slower that 3Gb/s, so a faster interface doesn't really help. The advantage of the hard drive that I listed is that it's 1000Mb as opposed to the one you listed at 500Mb for the same price. It's your choice, but I would consider the extra space much more important.

 

[IknowLITTLE]

yeah, when i looked at that post i didnt actually click on the link because like today, im at school and cant get on new egg. i didnt realize they were the same price. thanks. Also, anyone else who wants to leave any other suggestions im happy to read them over. like i said before, your the experts. is their anything i should be worried about when putting this thing together?

 

[~Darkseeker~]

Looking good Will

You can get 6GB of Corsair XMS3 1600 for a bit more than your original RAM Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C9

Can't really think of much else that does mimmick what Chipeater said.

 

[IknowLITTLE]

thanks, if i do go with the 6gb ram ill choose the corsair seeing as how its trusted. Just realized im now $100 off -_- i need a job... being 15 sucks.. im thinking this will work (Newegg.com - Rosewill RHB-220W 4-port USB Hub - White) for all the usb devices that will occasionally be plugged in. now can anyone point me toward a good usb network card? (i think thats what its called)

 

[~Darkseeker~]

If you do need more USBs in the future, you can get PCI/PCI-e x1 USB cards

And also, the motherboard obviously has Gigabit Ethernet capability onboard, but if you need wireless capability, 90% of cheapo cards will do the job as well ass the more expensive ones. You've got two main options with Wireless adapters:

PCI cards, for example Newegg.com - StarTech PCI555WG IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Adapter Card with Separate Antenna Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, WPA

or USB adapters, like Newegg.com - Rosewill RNX-EasyN1 IEEE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wireless-N 4.0 Dongle (1T1R) Up to 150Mbps Data Rates WPA/WPA2 (AES, 64,128-WEP with shared-key authentication) WPS PIN, PBC (Hardware WPS Button) QoS-WMM


and i know what you mean - I spent all my education funding on computers, now im 17 with no cash again ^_^

 

[IknowLITTLE]

ill probably go with the usb one seeing as how the wifi spot is downstairs. and for the usb's i think the i choose will be fine seeing as how its cheap and theirs already 5? on the mobo. plus its one less thing for me to plug in and mess up