$800 Christmas Build - Hardware & Software

I'm being given $800 to build a computer. I would like a gaming set-up. The only parts I am re-using is my headset. I will need all of the tower components, prefer Windows 7 64-bit, a monitor, and a not so fancy keyboard and mouse. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

how about this sorry, I know it's $30 over your budget [img]http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/577/cart.png[/img] links: [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.546483.11-119-233[/url] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.563914[/url] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.543697[/url] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396[/url] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015[/url] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130290[/url] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039[/url] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181[/url] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236077[/url]

Hmm, that might just work, thank you. As monitors go, would this be alright for a 22"? [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236078[/url]

yeah, I would say go for it, if you can afford to go that much over budget actually, this is $20 cheaper, and has a higher resolution [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009275[/url]

Thanks

[QUOTE=Jaehead;26495979]yeah, I would say go for it, if you can afford to go that much over budget actually, this is $20 cheaper, and has a higher resolution [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009275[/url][/QUOTE] Go with this one, it's almost always better to have a higher resolution than a bigger screen. More usable screen space that way and things look sharper the smaller the screen is.

Ordered the parts, wish me luck with my first build.

make sure you read/watch a lot of tutorials

I think I have installing the parts down alright, I'm just more worried about software installation and I don't accidentally want to fry a part due to static. Any tips on either of those?

for software just pop in the DVD, set boot priority to DVD drive and install as for static don't work on carpet (obvious) and ground yourself before working on the computer [editline]wefwef[/editline] by 'grounding' yourself I mean touch something metal

Any order I should install the software? I assume OS would be first?

I guess OS then drivers then whatever you want

Alright, thanks.

Is it too late for me to suggest a build?

[QUOTE=poopsicle;26536810]Is it too late for me to suggest a build?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=RedBlade2021;26511400]Ordered the parts, wish me luck with my first build.[/QUOTE]

Yea, it's a little late.

Oh god I need help with the HAF's front wires. I wish it told me what was positive and negative for the H.D.D. LED, Power SW, and the Reset Sw. I assume the colored wires are Positive? [editline]8th December 2010[/editline] Also what is AC'97? I see nothing on my motherboard for it or in my book. It's attached to HD AUDIO.

iirc you just plug in HD Audio

And so it turns out I need one more SATA cable for the Disc Drive.

well that sucks. I thought motherboards usually come with 2. Do you have an older computer that you can take a SATA cable off from?

Sadly no, but I'm going to go to Radioshack tomorrow after school. I was surprised the hard drive or the disc drive didn't come with one.

OEM products just come by themselves. I'm more surprised at the fact that the motherboard only came with one.

Ah, I didn't know that. But hey, I'm surprised that my monitor came without a power cable. Thank goodness I have a few spares.

Uhh, correct me if I'm wrong, but this should load up the bios right? All I'm getting when I start it up is the black cmd screen with a flashing _. Anything I press just makes it go down the page, and pressing "ctrl+alt+del" like my book says for set-up mode just makes it restart. Also, the book says that it should enter some POST mode and then display a message with "press <Del> to continue", but that hasn't happened yet.

as soon as it boots press like f10, del or something and it should load up into the BIOS

Didn't work.

so the situation is that as soon as you press the power button, it goes straight to the blinking "_" with nothing in-between?

Some company logo comes up first, it beeps like it's going to start, then it goes to that.

during the company logo there should be a button that if pressed, takes you into the BIOS and as far as I know if a computer beeps there should be a section in the manual that tells you what those beeps mean [editline]wefe[/editline] you do have your RAM sticks in the first two slots, right? (the black ones)

Yea, they're in the black slots. And as far as I can see, there's nothing in the motherboard's book about the beeping noise. Also, the screen that flashes up is of the motherboard. [editline]9th December 2010[/editline] Reseated the Biosbattery and reset the CMOS and it actually booted up to a screen that told me to press F2 for setup and f12 for something else. I'm pretty happy, but I'm going to wait until after school when I get my Sata cable before trying anything else.