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halo45121
October 27th, 2009, 02:51 AM
Hey. I was thinking of doing some extra work around the neighbourhood and stuff so I could buy a bunch of parts and build my own desktop. I want to set up a dual boot with Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I was wondering if anyone knew how much desk space Windows 7 took up off the top of their heads, so I'd know how big a hard drive I'd need.

If anyone has any parts related recommendations or anything else I should know, please tell me. Thanks!

Matt


PS) I think this is the right section, if not feel free to move it if your a mod.

HappyFeet
October 27th, 2009, 03:21 AM
An 80gb drive would be enough for both. But since you are probably going to get a bigger one, I would not worry about it.

Tip: buy an Nvidia video card.

earthpigg
October 27th, 2009, 03:29 AM
An 80gb drive would be enough for both. But since you are probably going to get a bigger one, I would not worry about it.

Tip: buy an Nvidia video card.

agreed in full.

given the ridiculous sizes of hard drives, i'd focus more on speed and price than size. set a minimum (80gb is fine) and beyond that just go for the most speed-per-dollar.

if you are going to be using SATA2 mobos and come across a sale or cheap set of 2.5 inch SATA2 (aka ATA-7) laptop hard drives, don't shy away.

my primary desktop (that i built) has a 2.5 inch laptop hard drive in it because that happened to be the best speed-for-the-buck that ai could find at the time.

you may need some large storage space somewhere, of course... my vote is redundancy over size. i am not a huge fan of the giant 1TB hard drives - i'd rather have two 500gb drives, so i can have copies of my super-important stuff in case one fails.

earthpigg
October 27th, 2009, 03:35 AM
another suggestion: unless you have money to blow (does not sound like that is the case), if it aint on this list (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/), dont buy it. period.

dont forget the thermal paste between the cpu and heatsink. if you ever aren't sure how to do something, there is almost certainly a youtube video that will walk you through it.

install the ram, cpu, and heatsink on the mobo before you put in the case.

make sure to protect the computer against static at all times. im a fan of the static wrist straps: how many other $10 computer investments will never go obsolete?

http://www.softpianola.co.uk/wriststrap.jpg

its a pretty simple concept, you can make one yourself if you wish: wire of some sort from the garage or something, twist one end of it around a metal part of the case and tie the other around your wrist. as long as its a continual 'chain' of metal that is touching both your skin and the case, you are good.

:D

HappyFeet
October 27th, 2009, 03:55 AM
make sure to protect the computer against static at all times. im a fan of the static wrist straps: how many other $10 computer investments will never go obsolete?

http://www.softpianola.co.uk/wriststrap.jpg

:D
I've never used a wrist strap. New computer parts can withstand higher voltages than older parts. Besides, I'm always touching the case anyway, so there is no need.

Btw, that's one hell of a small mobo in that pic. Wow.

Frak
October 27th, 2009, 04:06 AM
install the ram, cpu, and heatsink on the mobo before you put in the case.

+1

You'll save yourself a lot of headaches. It's easier to mount them in the open than it is in a cramped space. Luckily, my case has a tray.

Grifulkin
October 27th, 2009, 05:14 AM
I would personally use NVidia if you get an Intel cpu if you get AMD cpu, you should get ATI seeing as they are owned by the same company and go well together, also the drivers aren't that terrible are they?

HappyFeet
October 27th, 2009, 05:31 AM
if you get AMD cpu, you should get ATI seeing as they are owned by the same company and go well together, also the drivers aren't that terrible are they?
That's not true. I have a mobo with with ATI chipsets and an AMD cpu and I use an Nvidia card with no problems.

Grifulkin
October 27th, 2009, 05:56 AM
That's not true. I have a mobo with with ATI chipsets and an AMD cpu and I use an Nvidia card with no problems.

I didn't say NVidia didn't work I just suggested ATI if you guy AMD, that way your chipsets, video card, and processor all mesh well. That is not saying that NVidia and AMD don't mesh well but AMD and ATI mesh better.

earthpigg
October 27th, 2009, 06:00 AM
source on this meshing stuff?

not calling you a liar, but i would like the nitty gritty details if possible. :D

HappyFeet
October 27th, 2009, 06:04 AM
source on this meshing stuff?

not calling you a liar, but i would like the nitty gritty details if possible. :D

Yeah, enlighten us.

Frak
October 27th, 2009, 06:06 AM
source on this meshing stuff?

not calling you a liar, but i would like the nitty gritty details if possible. :D
AMD Spider and AMD Dragon.

Meshes the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics along with AMD Phenoms to produce the best performance possible.

oobuntoo
October 27th, 2009, 07:59 AM
Hey. I was thinking of doing some extra work around the neighbourhood and stuff so I could buy a bunch of parts and build my own desktop. I want to set up a dual boot with Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I was wondering if anyone knew how much desk space Windows 7 took up off the top of their heads, so I'd know how big a hard drive I'd need.

If anyone has any parts related recommendations or anything else I should know, please tell me. Thanks!

Matt


PS) I think this is the right section, if not feel free to move it if your a mod.

I've just installed 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate on two systems. It took up about 14Gig of hard drive space without additional applications installed. If you're planning on installing a lot of apps on Windows 7, I would recommend that you make this Windows partition at least 30Gig in size. Those empty space fill up fast especailly if you do a lot of audio/video encoding.

halo45121
October 27th, 2009, 09:09 PM
Wow... Lots of good info here. I'll probably go with a 120 or so gigabyte drive for extra games and stuff.
Hackitoshes only work with NVidia cards right? If so I'll probably have to get one of those, seeing as I might go down that road someday.

earthpigg
October 27th, 2009, 09:58 PM
hackintoshes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osx86) are percieved by many around here (notably, some of the Forum Staff) as illegal.

asking for advice about how to potentially break the law is a very effective way of getting your thread closed, halo45121.

Frak
October 27th, 2009, 10:04 PM
Wow... Lots of good info here. I'll probably go with a 120 or so gigabyte drive for extra games and stuff.
Hackitoshes only work with NVidia cards right? If so I'll probably have to get one of those, seeing as I might go down that road someday.
They work with ATi, Nvidia, and Intel, but it's NOT something to discuss here.

LowSky
October 27th, 2009, 10:34 PM
AMD offers the best bang for the buck, the new Athlon 2 line is kinda awsome. A four core chip for $99 bucks, and basically beats everything at its price. Then there is the newer tri core chip for about $70 which supposedly overclock like crazy. DDR3 RAM is getting cheaper, I just got 4GB of DDR3-16000 for $85, but 2GB can be had for about $40.

My experience is buy a ok case something you like and can stand for a few years, but get a great power supply, dont skimp on that. Buy a motherboard with plenty of ports, and a CPU can always be replaced if you want sometihng faster and it works on the same mothboard. Hard drvies and ROM drives can be bought at low prices, just find one with good reviews.

earthpigg
October 27th, 2009, 10:40 PM
ill add to what Frak and I said above:

Free Software is indeed partially about turning flawed laws upon themselves to create, protect, and preserve what are considered the Four Essential Software Freedoms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Free_Software_Definition#The_definition)... that is pretty much how the GPL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_GPL) and Copyleft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft) work.

...but not about breaking the law. Changing the laws, yes. Lawfully Hacking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28hobbyist%29) the laws to hell and back, yes.

But not overtly breaking them. In fact, the GPL relies on current laws being enforced for it to work.

Cultural nuance that should be understood :D

halo45121
October 28th, 2009, 01:16 AM
Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I'm fairly sure that my possible method was legal, but I'll just drop that, no need to cause any unnecessary harm.

3rdalbum
October 28th, 2009, 02:40 AM
EDITED WHOLE POST: Sorry, I misunderstood - I thought you were building computers as a job.

Don't bother looking around for a 120gig hard drive. The butter zone in terms of value-for-money is 500 gigs to 1TB. And 1.5TB hard disks are coming down in price (luckily so, my home server is already at 600 gigs :-) )

For Linux, you *must* buy Intel (not GMA500) or Nvidia graphics. I'll clarify that: You can buy ATI, but don't expect good performance, and definitely expect to have to turn off Compiz to use a video player. And, of course, Intel graphics are very low performance anyway, so I should just summarize the whole lot by saying that you should buy an Nvidia graphics card.

Grifulkin
October 28th, 2009, 03:20 AM
source on this meshing stuff?

not calling you a liar, but i would like the nitty gritty details if possible. :D

Well I am just making it on assumption, because like I said AMD and ATI are owned by the same company. Even if graphics cards are made to work with any processor wouldn't you think just maybe there might be an advantage using a processor and graphics card from the same company? Just saying.

gtr32
October 28th, 2009, 03:32 AM
Also, if it's running Linux, you *must* have either Intel or Nvidia graphics.

ATI's do work with Linux. (not my recommendation)

Just like many have said, don't worry about how much space an installation takes, big HDD's are cheap and will fit a dozen different OS installations easily.

Xbehave
October 28th, 2009, 04:41 AM
If you going to dual boot and do your gaming in windows AND desktop effects arn't that important to you? Then ATI opensource drivers are (in my experience) more stable than nvidia closed drivers, so i would go with ATI.

ATI drivers will get desktop effects running at good speeds soon (either 9.10 or 10.04) (compiz fussion rates (http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/RadeonProgram) as platinum/gold on 7.6/7.7 depending on chipset, I don't know if 7.6 made it into ubuntu 9.10)
ATI drivers don't support the latest ati chipsets yet (evergreen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_%28GPU_family%29), used HD 5400 (and later) cards)