Some computer questions

[Bigeme]

I'm planning on buying a new computer in the near future. I want a Built to order one because I feel like dell, hp, etc. are ripping me off a lot with their products. I can also get all the software I need for really cheap from my school so I want to get a no O/S.

Anyway my questions - first, is a quad core worth it? I read that its really only helpful in high power graphics processing and may actually harm performance of some applications. I intend to use it largely for gaming and perhaps some calculations of molecular orbits (i can give more details on this if necessary, but my current computer handles the software well if somewhat slowly. I don't know how far into the field I'm going so I don't think its that important).

Second, I don't really know anything about motherboards. I'm assuming that they wouldn't let me order a computer with hardware conflicts, but just in case I'd like to know of what kind of things to be aware.

Third, SLi I read a little about it on wikipedia. Is it useful/recommended?

Next, Should/could I buy it piece by piece and assemble it myself? All i have done is install ram, but i get the impression its not too difficult to assemble a computer. Are the cost savings worth the difficulty/risk?

Finally, are there any good websites to order from besides tigerdirect or newegg?

thanks a lot.

[h1ten]

Hey, first things first. Quadcore is useful depending but expensive i would try out a dual core machine first but i think it would be more than enough. If u plan on building the system yourself then u have got to find out about your processors (e.g socket types etc) and buy a MOBO accordingly but if u go through a company then they will sort it all out.
SLi is very useful for gaming as you can link two graphics cards together and you should look for a MOBO with this to future prove your system, (doesn't matter currently if u put one or two graphics cards in)
Third u can build it yourseld but as you have little expirence i would get a more knowledgeable friend to help. To see whether it is cost effect choose all the parts you want add up the total and compare it to others simple. But i am a little lazy and found that i can get it cheap on ebay plus it comes with warrently! Think carefully as if something goes wrong u can't just return the pc as u built it.
Just to help u out i would for about £350 / $700, i would get something like:
AMD Athlon 64x2 4600
Centurion 534 System Case
Inc 600w Silent PSU
Asus M2N4-SLi Motherboard
Ge-Force 8500GT 256mb
2 Gb DDR2-667 High Speed Ram
320Gb SATA2 Hard Drive
DVD-/+RW Drive
Hope it helps

[CWB]

if you're going to be doing a lot of number crunching , a dual core is worth the investment .

along the cpu lines ...
my preference thru experience is the intel line . a 3GHz processor will sever you well for quite some time to come . hyperthreading is great IF you have programs that utilize it .
buy an OEM cpu ... then get a decent heatsink/fan as a seperate purchase ... most of the factory combo units are not worth it , so you wind up with a chunk of aluminum for a paperweight .
cooling is very important , but you don't need to spend vast sums in this area .

motherboards : ASUS .

RAM : do not cheap-out in this area but beware of overpriced "gold plated unicorn dung" hawkers ... most users will never notice the difference in performance unless the are absolutely pushing a system to the ratty edge .

SWMPS : DO NOT buy a 600W. unit for 50 bucks ... save yourself some time and take a hammer to it right from square one ... then go out and buy a real power supply .
see the above about "hawkers" .

video cards : this area is similar to women ... what would you like , what can you afford , what do you really need , what would you realistically settle for , what will you wind up with , etc etc ... you get the idea .

cases : whats the difference between a $40 unit and $120 unit ? about $80 .

beyond the above ... find someone that is rational to help you build a system ... somebody that is hyped up on caffiene and wants to spend a ton of money on frivolous crap is not the person you are looking for .

[Bigeme]

thanks a lot for your help. I have a few more questions now though.

I remember reading something about AMD dual core processors not performing nearly as well as Intel's. Are there any problems with them at all or are they better than intel?

Second, if i use one card and then add another card thats not as powerful do I lose some power with the SLI? Would I be better off buying one card now (GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB) or buying two (GeForce 8600 GT 256 MB)? They are virtually the same price on newegg.

Again thanks for your help

[h1ten]

I would have AMD but there's no need to get into that arguement, both are equally as good, i suggest u choose the one that gives u the best deal. BTW cnet agress with me http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7....html?tag=lnav
I think u can only use sli with cards of the same series together but i am NOt sure someone will know, i would suggest just one super card and then in the no to distant future buy another but one will last a long time before u need 2. Does this mean u are going to try and build it yourself?

[Bigeme]

I'm thinking about it. I was going to go for a built to order from tiger-direct, but they don't seem to offer the same options that they did like a month ago (no O/S, etc).

As far as the sli goes I'm kind of confused. If you have to cards which one do you take the video out from?

And roughly how long does it take to assemble a computer from scratch? Is there much risk of me breaking something? Do hardware drivers come with BIOS or is there something else you have to do besides hook everything up and put in an install disk?

[h1ten]

Ebay is really good for systems without o/s, what are u planning to spend?

If u have two pci-e graphics cards u put them in and connect them, u only need video from one, i don't think it matters but it could depend on your MOBO, u will find out anyway, just plug it in and see if it works.

Assembling a computer isn't too difficult but it has to e done in the right order, u can't just put everything together and expect it to work it will take time and a lot more for a first timers, u have to put things in the right order, but there are lots of sites to help u. I personally gather all the bits i need and put it together on one day, for me it does take that long because once working u have to install all other programs and fix any problems. Breaking something is not really the issue but try to be caucious and preperation is the key, a little satic electricity and your expensive MOBO is gone so please please think twice before doing something. With one brought of the self it plug in and go. However the expirence of building a pc has taught me a lot and is very valuable. I am from u so i can't really recommend any site for pc's but i'm sure someone will be able to help. BTW what u can do before putting it together get an old one from the 'scrap yard' and take it too bits and put it together again. it will help.

[Bigeme]

What exactly do you mean by have to put it together in the right order? Is it just because I won't be able to access other areas on the motherboard once I put certain components in?

I have reformatted a computer before is it the same as when you start from scratch or does the reformatting leave some info on the hard drives?

[h1ten]

When doing it i like to do it step by step and check everything works when doing it like the cpu and fans. There are a lot of compents to put in, but it farly simple just do it logically. There are many ways of doing it i like to install just the bare compents needed then the o/s and then everything else like graphics cards etc, installing o/s on new hard-drive is just as simple no worries there just pop the cd in and boot it up.

[yellowfish]

the first PC i put together from scratch was a mess
wireing everywhere but worst of all i blew the motherboard
so ya its gonna be a learning experience

[CWB]

heh ...

like i said ... find someone (locally) to help you build it .

actually it is not a herculean task ... watch what you're doing , read the instructions . do not "armstrong" anything ... you aint tightening the track rollers on a cat . the most of what is needed is common sense ... familiarity helps too (this is where someone helping you comes into play) .

the two most critical things , that i have seen others screw up , are the power supply cable connection on the motherboard and mounting the cpu/fan .
make sure that you use heat sink compound/grease between the cpu and the heatsink ... and absolutely no more than is required ! you don't have to use silver bearing grease (high dollar and electrically conductive) if some of it oozes out into the wrong place you're screwed . i use my fingers to form an even film about .005" thick on both parts .

static electricity is not hard to deal with ... make sure that you , the comp and the cpu , ram and cards you install are at the same potential ... avoid synthetic clothes and carpet .

good lighting is a must (read that again) ! sufficient ambient and a "movable" light of some kind will help .

once you get it all together (video card installed and the monitor hooked up and turned on) double check everything .
fire up the machine ... you should get a boot up screen ... you may have to go into the bios and tell it to boot from the cdrom/dvdburner first . slip in the os disk and restart the machine ... windows will walk you thru the rest .

[Bigeme]

thanks a lot. I've got a few more questions, but I'm gonna post them in a new thread with my build.

[CWB]

you're welcome ...

fine business on the parts research .

when you get a list together , post it . keep it on one existing thread .
i have some business to take care of but i am an early riser and will check in the morning (about 0530 cst) .

laters .