http://ask.metafilter.com/tags/partslist Questions tagged with 'partslist' at Ask MetaFilter. Tue, 18 Oct 2005 19:08:26 -0800 Tue, 18 Oct 2005 19:08:26 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://ask.metafilter.com/25759/Should%2DI%2Dbuild%2Da%2DPC%2Dand%2Dhow PC building 101 So it's time for my bride to have a new PC in time for Civ4, and I (we?) thought it might be fun to build a machine to order. I have not built a whole machine before, but have done the usual adding memory, drives, cards, etc. I freely admit that I am mostly just nervous and want some hand-holding. I am eyeing these parts:<br> <br> Chip: Athlon64 3700<br> RAM: 2x1GB<br> HD: SATA 160--250GB (favored brands? ones to avoid?)<br> Video: Nvidia 6600GT or 6800 (is the 6800 $30 better?)<br> DVDR: NEC 3540<br> <br> And then the Likely Scenario:<br> Case: Antec Sonata2 w/450w psu<br> Mobo: Biostar NF4UL<br> <br> Other possibilities are the SFF Aspire X-Qpack case/psu, or the Antec Aria case/psu, with a FoxConn microATX board and a video card that'll live with a 300w psu.<br> <br> So... is that reasonable? Should I favor an SFF box?<br> <br> More to the point, am I getting myself into a real hassle here? I expect this to be about an evening of pain in the ass, with a couple of trips to the net to figure problems out and get ancillary things (onboard 1394, etc) working. Is that laughably low for a newbie?<br> <br> What do you wish someone had told you before you built your first machine? tag:ask.metafilter.com,2005:site.25759 Tue, 18 Oct 2005 19:08:26 -0800 building newbie partslist pc ROU_Xenophobe