Build a great PC on a budget with these parts and procedures

Build a great PC on a budget with these parts and procedures
by George Ou More from George Ou 2/22/07
Tags: Windows Vista Personal computers Pricing Computer components
Article http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-55720-2.html
Comments: 148 0 NEW View all
Rating: 4.7 (out of 5) Rate it
Save to my Workspace
E-mail Article
Print Article
Takeaway: A Vista-capable system with quality components at a reasonable price can be yours--if you' 5262-6257-0.html?link="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+" techrepublic.com.com http:>This article is also available as a PDF download and a TechRepublic photo gallery.
A lot of people don't realize that it's possible to build a dual-core workstation with good 2D graphics and even some decent 3D performance that's fully Vista capable for a reasonable price. In fact, you can do it for around $1,133. That price includes a massive 22" LCD and Vista Home Premium OEM software, as well as the cost of shipping. For that kind of money in the retail sector or mail order, you wouldn't get close to these specifications and you'd probably end up with lousy embedded graphics chipsets. The only catch is that you actually have to build it. But in this tutorial, I'll explain the parts you need and show you how to assemble it all. Not only do you get the satisfaction of knowing you've put in good components, you also get the satisfaction of giving the PC life with your own hands. I can't think of a better hobby to have. We'll start with the parts list. Note that the pictures shown aren't necessarily the same parts in the list, but they're close enough for the purposes of this tutorial.

Parts list
Mainstream home or office dual-core workstation
Cost
Biostar TForce965PT with Realtek gigabit LAN and 7.1 audio *
$105
Intel dual-core C2D E6300 (can clock very high) **
$184
Stock Intel retail CPU fan (included with CPU)

Seagate 400 GB SATA II HDD
$120
Cooler Master CAV-T03-UW
$70
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 PCI-Express with 256 MB (w/HDTV out)
$70
Patriot 1 GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2-667 RAM ***
$72
SeaSonic silent/efficient 330 watt PSU
$60
Lite-on 16x SATA-based dual-layer DVD burner
$36
Dell 22" widescreen 1680x1050 LCD monitor
$296
Vista Home Premium Edition OEM 32-bit (64-bit same price)
$120
Total (shipping included but not taxes)
$1,133
*You will need Vista drivers found on Realtek's Web site for LAN and audio. This is especially true if you get Vista 64-bit edition, since the sound drivers included won't run correctly without the updated drivers. All other hardware should run fine on a fresh Vista install, though it's recommended that you use the latest 32-bit NVIDIA drivers (64-bit).
** This CPU can typically safely overclock 25% over the stock speed with minor voltage increases to keep it stable in Vista and permit SpeedStep power saving mode to function. Some more aggressive overclockers have been known to push this to 50% and even beyond, with high voltage increases and massive cooling fans. Do not attempt more than 25% with the stock Intel CPU fan and stick with modest voltage increases if you want your system to be stable and without error. You can read more on how this type of hardware works with Windows Vista. This type of a mainstream system isn't meant for massive overclocking and a free 25% boost in performance (bumped up to 2.33 GHz) is very safe and doable. Also note that you'll need to bump up to DDR2-800 if you want to clock the CPU any higher.
*** 1 GB in Vista will offer good performance. If you double the RAM to 2 GBs, it will offer premium performance and allow you to work with much larger graphics files or run multiple virtual machines inside the free Virtual PC 2007.


Assembly instructions
We'll start by taking the PC chassis out of the box. The chassis shown is the Cooler Master CAV-T03-UW, which is solidly built and relatively cheap at $60. There's usually a small bag or box that contains screws you need to put the system together. In Photo A, it's lying on the chassis on top of the drive bays. I've also taken the power supply out of the box and laid it inside the chassis, shown in the upper-right of the photo Note how the power supply has the fan grill exposed toward the motherboard. That is the orientation you want.
Photo A
Next, we need to find the following kind of screw to hold down the power supply shown in Photo B.
Photo B
Now, we need to use four of those screws to screw in the power supply. Note the location of the four highlighting circles I drew in the bottom left of Photo C.
Note on the power supply: I'm using a SeaSonic S12-330 330 watt power supply, which can be had for $55. I swear by these power supplies, and I own five of them because they're super efficient at above 80 percent, they're dead silent, and they're very affordable. Most power supplies make much more noise and are typically in the 60-70 percent energy efficiency range. Many people spend upwards of $100 on a higher power supply, citing the myth that you need at least 400 watts and higher on a modern computer. That's utter nonsense even for a high-end PC. Even the highest-end PCs peak out at around 250 watts. The measured power consumption at the plug for the PC in this tutorial idled at around 73 watts and peaked out at around 110 watts during intense CPU loads. The high wattage power supply proponents will often cite video card manuals specifying that they need a 400 watt power supply, but those numbers were just pulled out of thin air and aren't based on actual power consumption measurements. 330 watts happens to be one of the smallest ATX power supplies you can find, and it's more than enough for what we're building here.
Photo C
Next, we have to find the following types of screws, shown in Photo D, to mount the motherboard in place. You'll usually need nine of them.
Photo D
You can mostly put these screws in with your finger, but you'll still need something like the tool shown in Photo E.
Photo E