# First Computer Build



## [K]oala (Jul 5, 2007)

Ok im going to be building my first computer, i was wondering if anyone could help me sort out what parts im going to use. i wont be starting the build until after the 22nd because of the price drop in c2d's. I want to try and work out the other parts before that.

Im a total Noob at building computers so i'll need some stuff explained to me 

budget will be around 700-800 Australian dollars which is about 600-685 US dollars.

and i wont be able to get stuff off newegg.com unless they ship internationally but i don't think they do.

It will be used for light gaming, hope that helps


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## Cuzza (Jul 5, 2007)

Ok. So you've got a few weeks until you intend to buy, here's my advice: Don't just buy what someone suggests you should buy, spend these weeks reading up on the net on everything you can. You will learn sh*tloads about computers just by looking at available products and, if you don't understand something, google it and read until you figure it out. Then you can look at the suggestions that someone may make to you here, and hopefully understand why they did. There's endless info out there for you, don't be afraid to get stuck in.


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## [K]oala (Jul 5, 2007)

ive been reading up a bit in the last few weeks, but i just need a bit of a starting point to go on. if someone could recommend what i should get, i can find out why and figure out if anything needs to be changed etc.


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## Cuzza (Jul 5, 2007)

Does your budget include software, monitor, peripherals or is it just for the computer itself?


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## [K]oala (Jul 5, 2007)

i have pretty much all the stuff i need other than the computer itself.


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## Cuzza (Jul 5, 2007)

Well, I'm not really an expert but I came up with a system for you. I've been looking on Aussie websites to get these prices:

Motherboard: Abit IL9 Pro $85
CPU: Core2 Duo E6300 $170
RAM: 1Gb Corsair DDR2-800 $95
Graphics: Nvidia 7600GT $115
Hard Drive: 250GB SATA $80 (whatever brand you fancy; they're all about the same price)
DVD drive: about $50 (you've got a billion options here)

That leaves you about $200 for a case and power supply. If i was you I'd try and pick up a half decent case second hand for about $50, and spend $150 on a quality power supply. And if the C2D prices do come down, you might have a bit left over for a better graphics card; it's probably the weak point right now.

You know, I don't reckon that's a bad system. I'm almost tempted to build it myself. But like I said, not an expert so someone will probably come along and shoot me down here.

-Cuzz out


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## [K]oala (Jul 5, 2007)

can you give me a list of the website please?

and do you reckon the prices are any good on here:

http://www.gamedude.com.au/


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## Cuzza (Jul 5, 2007)

[K]oala said:


> can you give me a list of the website please?
> 
> and do you reckon the prices are any good on here:
> 
> http://www.gamedude.com.au/



I used http://www.shopbot.com.au and http://www.pricespy.com.au . 

The prices at gamedude look reasonable to me.


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## [K]oala (Jul 5, 2007)

alryte mate thanks, ill check em out. im going to a computer market sunday and theres always some cheap stuff there.


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## Pinchy (Jul 5, 2007)

What part of Sydney are you around?

Good prices at:

www.itestate.com.au.

They are located at North Rocks, next to Parramatta, if you want to save on shipping costs. They ship out too though.

My price list:

Gigabyte 965-S3: $115
Intel Core 2 Duo, e4300: $145
2GB Rambo PC6400 (DDR800): $109
X1950GT 512mb: $176
250GB HDD: $75
DVD burner: $39

Leaves you $130 for case and PSU. Like cuzza's comp, with a better mobo and graphics card. RAM isnt such a good brand as corsair, but its got lifetime warranty, and it is 2GB .

EDIT - btw, (this is only a general statement from what ive seen in the past) but we (in Australia) dont see the price drops for a couple of weeks/months from USA.


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## [K]oala (Jul 5, 2007)

im from Toongabbie mate, that comp looks pretty sweet. are all those parts off itestate.com because north rocks isnt very far to go. 

thanks for your help mate.

and yeah that ram should be fine


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## Cuzza (Jul 5, 2007)

Pinchy said:


> RAM isnt such a good brand as corsair, but its got lifetime warranty, and it is 2GB .




Oh yeah? You used Rambo? is it good stuff? Your system looks pretty good to me.

koala, 2gb is definitely a good thing, especially if you want to run vista. one last tip don't skimp on your power supply; thats the one thing that has given me the most serious issues in my time with computers. and buy a nice DVD drive. read some reviews because they're very hard to choose by specs. cheap clunky ones piss me off just with the noise they make, thats just MHO.


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## ex_reven (Jul 5, 2007)

cuzza said:


> Oh yeah? You used Rambo? is it good stuff? Your system looks pretty good to me.
> 
> koala, 2gb is definitely a good thing, especially if you want to run vista. one last tip don't skimp on your power supply; thats the one thing that has given me the most serious issues in my time with computers. and buy a nice DVD drive. read some reviews because they're very hard to choose by specs. cheap clunky ones piss me off just with the noise they make, thats just MHO.



Ive never really had any problems with DVD Drives. As long as they have the features and they are of a reputable brand your pretty much set. At least you know you can take it back and they probably have decent warranties.

With PSUs, same with the brands thing. There are plenty of brands better than Antec, but they arnt the worst by any means. Finding a powersupply of quality build to suit your needs isnt hard, but its good to shop around of course


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## [K]oala (Jul 5, 2007)

alryte, so i'll get a nice power supply and dvd burner.

can you give me a link to that ram you suggested pinchy?


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## Pinchy (Jul 5, 2007)

Its all from itestate besides the RAM/Graphics card.

Link to RAM:
http://www.shoppingsquare.com.au/p_855_RAMBO_2GB_2_X_1GB_DDR2_800_PC26400_RAM

Ive bought off them on eBay before; they got pretty fast shipping time. (That RAM has actually gone up, 2 weeks ago it was $94 (and I assume around $15 shipping).

X1950 GT link:
http://www.mtechcomputers.com.au/pr...=1583&osCsid=d3234d098c8f49d3d297b86ddf94e1ac

Ive also bought from them. Excellent customer service .

I only ever recommend shops ive bought from .



cuzza said:


> Oh yeah? You used Rambo? is it good stuff? Your system looks pretty good to me.
> 
> koala, 2gb is definitely a good thing, especially if you want to run vista. one last tip don't skimp on your power supply; thats the one thing that has given me the most serious issues in my time with computers. and buy a nice DVD drive. read some reviews because they're very hard to choose by specs. cheap clunky ones piss me off just with the noise they make, thats just MHO.



Never used Rambo personally. Got a friend that uses it, works fine for him. (He doesnt OC though). The actual brand is not as good as "good brands" (Mushkin, Corsair, G.Skill, OCZ, etc), but not as bad as generic. Plus, its got a lifetime warranty, so you cant really go wrong .

Cant agree more, get a good PSU .

Im going to get the DVD burner I listed above tomorrow for a friends computer (http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004783). His older drive just died. Its only $39, with Nero. Ill tell ya how it goes .


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## [K]oala (Jul 6, 2007)

alryte mate thanks for all that. im going to go out and buy all this stuff so i can start building next week.


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## Cuzza (Jul 6, 2007)

[K]oala said:


> alryte mate thanks for all that. im going to go out and buy all this stuff so i can start building next week.



LOL. I thought I told you NOT to buy what we tell you to!


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## quasar923 (Jul 6, 2007)

QTY	Item Code	Item	Price $	Sub Total	.
	casICqh05_black	iCute BLACK Mini Tower Case Front USB Audio Power Meter WINDOW Model: QH05-4GA-BB	89	89.00	UpdateRemove 
	psTH430w_oem	THERMALTAKE 430watt Power Supply Model: W0084	59	59.00	UpdateRemove 
	mbASp5b	ASUS P5B Intel P965 Dual Channel DDR2 6x SATA GBLan 8 Channel HD Audio PCI-E	159	159.00	UpdateRemove 
	hddSA250_sata2	SAMSUNG 250 gig SATA-2 8meg Cache 7200rpm Model SP2504C	79	79.00	UpdateRemove 
	cpCDe6320	INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6320 1.86Ghz 4m CACHE 1066FSB LGA 775	229	229.00	UpdateRemove 
	memBRso1g_667	1 gig DDR2 667Mhz (PC2-5300) SO-DIMM TOP QUALITY VARIOUS BRANDS	75	75.00	UpdateRemove 
	viALx_8600_gt_256	Albatron 8600-GT 256meg / 128bit DDR3 Dual DVI TV-Out Engine Clock 540 Mhz Model: 8600GT-256	175	175.00	UpdateRemove 
Total	865.00	.
Update = Update Remove = Remove


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## Cuzza (Jul 6, 2007)

what?


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## Flamingsupernova (Jul 6, 2007)

I would go with the e6300

are you going to the comp. markets at north rocks? theyre the bomb, i got so much from there.

www.itestate.com.au , Their prices are literally unbeatable.


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## [K]oala (Jul 7, 2007)

Flamingsupernova said:


> I would go with the e6300
> 
> are you going to the comp. markets at north rocks? theyre the bomb, i got so much from there.
> 
> www.itestate.com.au , Their prices are literally unbeatable.



yep, im going to the ones at North Rocks, do they have a good range of stuff there?


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## Pinchy (Jul 7, 2007)

[K]oala said:


> yep, im going to the ones at North Rocks, do they have a good range of stuff there?



Yeah, ive been a couple of times. Great prices and a whole lot of different shops.


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## Ehstii (Jul 7, 2007)

my company can build one for you, and ship it to you.


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## [K]oala (Jul 7, 2007)

hmm....how much?


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## Pinchy (Jul 7, 2007)

Wouldnt it cost too much to ship to Australia ?

Aussie prices are actually pretty good in comparison to American prices. Besides hardware with price cuts, the hardware can be actually cheaper here in Aus (once you perform currency conversions).


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## [K]oala (Jul 7, 2007)

yeah, i dont think i'll go with that, sorry Ehstii. Is ITESTATE a normal shop where u can just go and buy the stuff or is it online?


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## Ehstii (Jul 7, 2007)

it would cost 40 bucks to ship it to australia.


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## [K]oala (Jul 8, 2007)

$40? thats not too bad at all. how much would the rest cost?


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## Pinchy (Jul 8, 2007)

Yep, ITestate is a normal shop where you can walk in and buy whatever you want .

You can also buy online and get it shipped if you like. They are very efficient.


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## [K]oala (Jul 8, 2007)

nah shipping wont be necessary. i live like 15-20mins away so it'll be better to pick the stuff up.

and ive been looking at the hard drives on itestate, any good ones there?

http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00003792

thats one i was thinking about getting.


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## Ehstii (Jul 8, 2007)

ill price out some stuff and PM you.


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## Pinchy (Jul 8, 2007)

[K]oala said:


> nah shipping wont be necessary. i live like 15-20mins away so it'll be better to pick the stuff up.
> 
> and ive been looking at the hard drives on itestate, any good ones there?
> 
> ...



Yep, that hard disk is good, especially b/c of the 16mb cache. You can always get the 8mb cache Seagate for $75 though (if you wanna save a bit of money).


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## [K]oala (Jul 9, 2007)

nah, i think i can afford it. ive worked 5 out of 7 days this week so i have more to spend on this computer.


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## [K]oala (Jul 9, 2007)

Ehstii said:


> ill price out some stuff and PM you.



thanks man.


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## FOXCONN1115 (Jul 9, 2007)

Pinchy said:


> Yep, ITestate is a normal shop where you can walk in and buy whatever you want .
> 
> You can also buy online and get it shipped if you like. They are very efficient.



and also very pricey from what i see..


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## [K]oala (Jul 9, 2007)

FOXCONN1115 said:


> and also very pricey from what i see..



those are Australian prices. did you convert the prices from AUD to USD?


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## Pinchy (Jul 9, 2007)

FOXCONN1115 said:


> and also very pricey from what i see..



Lol, after you convert, you will realise that some prices are actually cheaper than newegg .


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## FOXCONN1115 (Jul 9, 2007)

indeed. sorry, thought it was USD.


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## [K]oala (Jul 11, 2007)

http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004566

i like the look of that case. its got a 450W power supply and its only $55.


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## Pinchy (Jul 11, 2007)

Ive bought that case for a friend before. Really easy to install the parts. Also comes with a side vent, so you dont need a side fan .

The PSU wasnt too bad, it powered the computer I built for him with no problems (c2d), but that comp only had an 8500GT . Still, I reckon it can handle a pretty decent rig.


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## [K]oala (Jul 12, 2007)

yeah i really like that case so i think ill get it. it comes with a psu so thats a bonus.

tell me if ive missed anything:

$115-Gigabyte 965-S3: 
http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004033

$145-Intel Core 2 Duo e4300:
http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004496

$115-2GB Rambo PC6400(DDR800):
http://www.shoppingsquare.com.au/p_855_RAMBO_2GB_2_X_1GB_DDR2_800_PC26400_RAM

$99-ATI X1650Pro IceQ 256MB:
http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004733

$88-Seagate250GB HDD:
http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00003792

$49-Asus DVD Burner: 
http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004784

$55-6004D ATX 450w psu: 
http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004566

All those parts cost $666. thats about how much i want to spend


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## Cuzza (Jul 12, 2007)

hey man good to see you're getting along with this project. Looks OK though I still think you could do better in the video card stakes; that said ITEstate don't have much of a selection at that pricepoint. I see they have the 8500GT for $95 you might want to check it out, I don't know if they're any good. You seem to be keeping the price down well, I still reckon you want to spend more on your PSU.

Gee, seeing people put together cheap systems makes me question why I'm planning to spend $2k on my next one. lol


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## [K]oala (Jul 12, 2007)

the thing with the video card is that im not a heavy gamer. that graphic card should be fine for what i want to do.


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## Pinchy (Jul 12, 2007)

Looks really good man. Only thing is with the graphics, you can get a 7600GT for around $20 more (after (assumed $10) postage). The 7600GT compares with the X1650XT (just slightly slower in some games), and the X1650XT is a lot better than the PRO.

Its X1650 Pro is a good choice as well, if you only do really light gaming.

(Link to 7600GT if interested: http://www.atcomputer.com.au/cart.php?pid=3942&do=Add)

Other than that, it looks like a nice build!


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## Cuzza (Jul 12, 2007)

[K]oala said:


> the thing with the video card is that im not a heavy gamer. that graphic card should be fine for what i want to do.



sweet as. important thing is you can always upgrade later. good luck with the build!


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## [K]oala (Jul 13, 2007)

cuzza said:


> sweet as. important thing is you can always upgrade later. good luck with the build!



thanks mate, im going to a computer market and see if i can pick up any parts cheaper than itestate, after that i'll go to the shop and get the rest of the parts.

oh yeah im building an dual core xeon 2.4ghz but my mates got all the parts for it so it'll just be a matter of building it 

and should i go with generic RAM?

http://www.itestate.com.au/products_detail.asp?code=PD00004408

(i saw the ram you suggested Pinchy but its not available and i dont know how long it will take. ill have a look at the comp. markets for some cheap RAM aswell)


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## Pinchy (Jul 13, 2007)

That RAM doesnt look too bad, besides not having a lifetime warranty. Still, ive never seen it THAT cheap before at itestate (nice find ).


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## [K]oala (Jul 14, 2007)

when i went there today they said the E4300 was discontinued so i got the E6750 2.67ghz.

i built it and its all working perfectly. thanks to anybody who helped with this project


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