Am new to this game and finally plucked up the courage to build my first computer. I found this site really useful for pulling together my first build and a special thanks to Shaffaa for his spec threads.
For anyone in the same position as me I thought you might like to know how I did:
I completed my build last weekend and it took me over 4hours which I know for the experienced builder is a very long time but I was very careful and learning throughout.
To be honest most of the time was spent pratting about with operating systems as I initially tried laoding XP Pro from a DELL disk I had but code did not work, I then tried moving my HD from old machine to new but again seemed slow and activation process was a pain. I finally loaded Vista 64 into a new partition on my HD all went well (should have done this straight away - doh!).
I have recently received a job promotion so spent a little more than envisaged (mainly on the 4870 as opposed to 4850) and a slightly bigger case. The Antec 900 is nice although I wish I had the ability to plug some of the case fans into the motherboard (without having to replace the entire fan). I may have made a mistake but my machine does not make a beep when booting - I did not find a speaker.
I have been very pleased about how quiet the whole setup is especially compared to my previous desktop. One of the fans seems to wind up to max revs when starting - not sure which one but assume it is just part of the start-up process as it quickly settles down.
I procrastinated about whether going for Vista 32 or 64 and indeed initially bought 32 before swapping it for 64. Several people advised me about the limited driver support for 32 but as I already have a laptop with Vista 32 and indeed a very old desktop with XP I thought I would try an use something that will utilise all my RAM which is one aspect I might upgrade in the future. I like the idea of using everthing although is practice understand there may be little practical difference.
I have been very pleased with the graphics (using a 24" monitor 1900 * 1200) but not really stressed the system as only played Far Cry and Supreme Commander. I intend trying Crysis in the future but want to tinker with overclocking first. I also bought a Saitek Eclipse 2 keyboard which I think is great - love the lights
With overclocking I have had less success as you can see from my signature but will try to improve. I will post in the relevant forum as I still have a long way to go.
Once again thank you for all your contributions without which I would be throwing more cash at DELL for a less bespoke system. I know it is naff but am feeling quite proud at the moment.
For anyone in the same position as me I thought you might like to know how I did:
I completed my build last weekend and it took me over 4hours which I know for the experienced builder is a very long time but I was very careful and learning throughout.
To be honest most of the time was spent pratting about with operating systems as I initially tried laoding XP Pro from a DELL disk I had but code did not work, I then tried moving my HD from old machine to new but again seemed slow and activation process was a pain. I finally loaded Vista 64 into a new partition on my HD all went well (should have done this straight away - doh!).I have recently received a job promotion so spent a little more than envisaged (mainly on the 4870 as opposed to 4850) and a slightly bigger case. The Antec 900 is nice although I wish I had the ability to plug some of the case fans into the motherboard (without having to replace the entire fan). I may have made a mistake but my machine does not make a beep when booting - I did not find a speaker.
I have been very pleased about how quiet the whole setup is especially compared to my previous desktop. One of the fans seems to wind up to max revs when starting - not sure which one but assume it is just part of the start-up process as it quickly settles down.
I procrastinated about whether going for Vista 32 or 64 and indeed initially bought 32 before swapping it for 64. Several people advised me about the limited driver support for 32 but as I already have a laptop with Vista 32 and indeed a very old desktop with XP I thought I would try an use something that will utilise all my RAM which is one aspect I might upgrade in the future. I like the idea of using everthing although is practice understand there may be little practical difference.
I have been very pleased with the graphics (using a 24" monitor 1900 * 1200) but not really stressed the system as only played Far Cry and Supreme Commander. I intend trying Crysis in the future but want to tinker with overclocking first. I also bought a Saitek Eclipse 2 keyboard which I think is great - love the lights
With overclocking I have had less success as you can see from my signature but will try to improve. I will post in the relevant forum as I still have a long way to go.
Once again thank you for all your contributions without which I would be throwing more cash at DELL for a less bespoke system. I know it is naff but am feeling quite proud at the moment.
Log-on process was not entirely smooth and there was some ghosting that has appeared on my desktop but have started prime95 to see if this will be stable.
I can hopefully start building in 2 weeks and im really really impatient and looking at these threads dont help 
