# First Build



## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

Hey, im new to the site and am planning on buying a new comp (when money allows). I have been to a few different computer forums and have delt with some...less than courteous people. I found a site, VigorGaming.com, on which i build a comp with pretty impressive specs for only $2400, including a 3 year parts warranty. Is this a good deal? I have only read good reviews about vigorgaming.com, anyone heard different? well this is the setup, i want a powerful gaming setup that will run FLAWLESSLY, but i wont be loading the harddrive to the brim with games either, just want the few games i do have on it to run perfectly.

oh and, 2 video cards or 1? i think this board can run 1 with 16 bandwidth or 2 with 8 a piece

thanks

PROCESSOR Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Processor Q6600 at 2.40GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 2X4M Cache

RIG Vigor Cooler Master CM 690 Screwless Chassis



RIG STYLE Top and Side 120MM Fan w/Deep Blue Lighting

RIG COOLING Vigor MonsoonTM II LITE TEC Active CPU Cooling 
System

RIG POWER Tagan TG800-U25 EasyCon XL nVidia-SLI Certified 
800Watt Power Supply

MB CORE LOGIC Asus P5N-E-SLI NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI Intel Quad 
Core Ready

MEMORY 4GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO X 2 DDR2 800MHz 
Memory with LED (4 X 1024MB)

HARD DRIVE 1 500GB S-ATA II 7200 RPM Hard Drive

HARD DRIVE 2 None.

RAID SETTING None.

VIDEO CARD (SLI SLOT 1) nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB 
Xtreme Edition @650MHz, DVI and TV Out

VIDEO CARD (SLI SLOT 2) None.

OPTICAL DRIVE 1 SONY/NEC Internal SATA AD7170S 18X Dual 
Layer DVD+/- RW + CDRW Rewritable Drive

OPTICAL DRIVE 2 SONY/NEC Internal SATA AD7170S 18X Dual 
Layer DVD+/- RW + CDRW Rewritable Drive

RECORDING SOFTWARE Bundled DVD/CDRW Software

SOUND Digital High Definition 3D 7.1 8-Channel Sound

NETWORK PORT Onboard Gigabit (10/100/1000Mbps) PCI Network Card

WIRELESS NETWORK PORT None.

I/O PORTS 1 Parallel, 1 Game/Midi, 1 IEEE 1394 Firewire and 6 to 10 
USB ports (Varies by Motherboards)

MONITOR None.

SPEAKERS None.

KEYBOARD Standard Black Internet Multimedia Keyboard

MOUSE Standard Black Optical Wheel Mouse

FLOPPY DRIVE 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive

OPERATING SYSTEM Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit 
w/Original DVD

SERVICE Standard 3 Year Limited Parts and Life-Time Labor 
Warranty


Price: $2453.00


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## manic (Aug 2, 2005)

Havent heard good or bad from the company you refer. But that 
price sure it high. About 100% profit margin. You may want to look 
around some. Go here, friend of mine used these guys, had a great
experience. http://www.abscomputers.com/


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

I agree way to high of a price, what state are you from?


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

i find it hard to believe that is really that bad! I just configured a comp on the site mentioned by manic with half the ram and a few other differences and it was 2700!! not to sound like a jerk, but id like to see someone find the config i mentioned for less, because i cant.  so i guess my question still stands....if this isnt a good deal what/where is?


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## IAmNutsAboutPCs (Sep 29, 2007)

In my opinion... when you buy a prebuilt PC, they are just as bad as buying one from a shop.

You might as well call the thread 'First Buy', as that is what it really is.

Oh and one video card... you only get about a 30% increase in performance with 2 cards so it's not worth the £££.

Oh and don't get 4gb of RAM with a 32bit OS... XP 32bit only recognizes 3.5gb.

Mikey.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

I agree. ABS is probably one of the best system building companies IMO.

Also, I would definitely tweak the power supply and motherboard choices you have there (select higher quality components). Additionally, look at two 250 GB hard drive instead of 1 500 GB.


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## manic (Aug 2, 2005)

The best deal is to build it yourself. Go to www.pricewatch.com
Prior to that make a list of components you want. Dont go cheap
with the psu. Make sure mobo is compatible with vista. Some older
boards have a problem with that, no drivers and such. Add the list
up, and then you will see how much you will save. For 2400 bucks
you could almost build 2 machines. I can assemble a machine and
install the os in under 5 hours, barring anything stupid happening.


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## IAmNutsAboutPCs (Sep 29, 2007)

From Komplett.co.uk I can build a better machine for £1500.


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

okay lets start over. 

I definately want an 8800ultra video card. I definately want at least 2G of good ram. i want a NICE mobo, and a core 2 quad or nicer core 2 duo( whichever would be better for gaming ). Dont have any idea about motherboards, so can someone suggest a MOBO (vista compatible) and a processor? the other things im scared of is not knowing what/how many fans, where they need to go, do i need to buy cords? do these parts come with warranties, do i spend a bunch of money shipping from 1000 different places? if it will be close to half the price i will build it myself, i just cant seem to work it out any cheaper  any help appreciated.....oh and why 2 250G HD's? i thought raid didnt help with performance?>


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## IAmNutsAboutPCs (Sep 29, 2007)

*In theory* (espeically RAM) the higher the price, the better it is.


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## manic (Aug 2, 2005)

If you shop around, you will usually get free shipping. Fans are 
pretty basic. The case you choose will have a fan on the side, and 
most of the time one in the back, no big deal. Warrantys will differ
depending on if you buy oem, but even oem there are still in most
cases warrantys. Raid striping is faster afaik. I dont like real big 
drives, I would rather have 2 small drives, back up on one, and the 
other as the main, so if theres a problem you still have a backup 
drive. And I go one step further by having a external usb drive for
double redundency. Go to pricewatch, or use newegg, there trust
worthy, tiger direct, zipzoomfly. All good sources. This forum has
all the tools you need for you to do it yourself. You must be patient
though. The mobo manual will help you alot, it may seem overwhelming
but its really not. If you lived close to me in florida I would do all the
ordering, and put it together for 200bucks. But as mentioned I do like
abs.


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

i tried to read mobo 101 and i got completely lost. All i really need is to know which intel core 2 quad/duo would be decently top of the line, and which mobo is compatabile with the CPU and vista...the rest i believe i can figure out  besides the whole hard drive issue :/


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Right now I would be looking at the E6750 or E6850 and a board with the X68 chipset for future compatibility with 1600 MHz FSB/45nm CPUs.


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

Cooler Master Case

GIGABYTE GA-p35-ds3r

MSI GeForce 8800ultra (factory overclocked)

Arctic Colling Freezer CPU cooler

Rosewill 750w PSU

2 RD Raptor 150G 10,000rpm in RAID0

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM 

CORSAIR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN3X2048-1333C9 - Retail 

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping Kentsfield 2.40GHz 8MB L2 LGA 775 Processor OEM HH80562PH0568M SLACR

whats the difference between an OEM core quad and a Retail core quad? why the price difference?

anyways this comes to about 1900 or so, including shipping , without rebates. what do you think?


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

okay, just saw thematts post. what is performance difference between those 2 duo's you mentioned and the core quad? isnt the quad better?


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## manic (Aug 2, 2005)

Pretty pricey components, I'll say that. You've done well in the pricing,
I did a rough estimate and came in a little higher. With oem cpus you
dont get the 3 year warranty, or whatever it is nowadays, most of 
the time you will get a hsf, but generic. With retail you get the 
warranty, original box with genuine heatsinkfan. Most places will
give you a 30,60,or 90 day warranty on cpus. For me if the price is
just a few bucks extra I will go for retail, but if its a good chunk o'
change I will buy oem.


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

eh, so ram wont work with mobo, only mobo i found supporting it got bad reviews about its raid capabilities... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131181


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

It is very good for the most part.

I would change out the power supply to a high quality unit. Rosewill is notorious for making low quality power supplies. Look at something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009

Also, don't spend your money on overpriced DDR3 RAM that no system will be able to use for many years. This RAM will future proof your system for Intel's upcomming 1600 MHz FSB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

I think this is the final setup. Changed the Mobo, RAM, PSU (as suggested) and added a 3.5 floppy. But the floppy says its compatible with windows 2000/XP/ME/98 , but nothing about vista. does this mean it is NOT compatible? couldnt find any on newegg that stated they were. well anyways, build is still at about 2000


Cooler Master Case


MSI GeForce 8800ultra (factory overclocked)

Arctic Colling Freezer CPU cooler


2 RD Raptor 150G 10,000rpm in RAID0

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM 

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping Kentsfield 2.40GHz 8MB L2 LGA 775 Processor OEM HH80562PH0568M SLACR

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-8500C5DF - Retail 

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 

ZEROtherm BTF80 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler - Retail 

ZEROtherm GX815 Gamer Edition 2 Ball VGA Cooler - Retail 

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Black) EPS12V 750W Power Supply - Retail 

SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Avoid the eVGA motherboards because the low quality capacitors they use will reduce the board lifetime. Also, look at this RAM as an alternative. I wasn't quite correct about DDR3 RAM in my above post. Additionally, you will need either the P35 or X68 for DDR3. If you aren't going with an SLi setup in the future, then I would look at a board with the X38 chipset.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231149


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

thanks for the info, but what about the 3.5 floppy compatability?


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

That board has a floppy controller.


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

i dont know what a floppy controller is, i imagine it reads the floppys presence but i was talking about the fact that the floppy drive i had listed didnt list vista as a compatible OS...


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

>.< sorry, moved to RAM section


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## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

They're matched dual-channel kits (RAM), so the motherboard will pick them up and run them dual channel once you have them installed in the color matched slots. Corsair XMS2 are compatible on all motherboards I know of.

The motherboard will support that floppy drive you listed, they're plug 'n' play.


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## Wakaba >.< (Oct 18, 2007)

thanks, that helps alot


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## joytime360 (Oct 9, 2007)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ 3.2GHz 2 x 1MB is a cool cpu .


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## IAmNutsAboutPCs (Sep 29, 2007)

joytime360 said:


> AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ 3.2GHz 2 x 1MB is a cool cpu .


Please read all of the thread.


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## wintersnow (Aug 30, 2007)

I think the final setup is much better .


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