Class Project (Pop Quiz) Feb. 04, 2010

Building My First Computer. Selecting All of the Parts and Components.

Here is the complete system:

Thermaltake Spedo VI90001W2Z Full-Tower Case - Clear side with 230mm Fan, Top 230mm Fan, Front USB x2, eSATA and Audio Ports, Black
Not only do I like the look of the case, but all of the amenities it offered made it very attractive. For example, It comes with7 external drive bays, 6 internal drive bays, 8 expansion slots, two front USB ports, and 3 fans included (120mm and 140mm.) It also comes with C.R.M.3 which stands for: Cable Routing Management 3 and it makes helps you arrange cables with exclusive plastic covers behind the motherboard, which makes it easier to organize your components and lets the air flow better. It can support up to 8 separate fans.
$209.99



Gateway HD2201 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 1680x1050 WSXGA+, 2000:1 Contrast Ratio, HDMI, DVI, VGA, Tilt Mount, HDCP

HDMI, and DVI w/HDCP video signals, flat screen. Tily picture. I didn't want a huge t.v. monitor, I wanted something that's a really nice size, but also something that looks nice on a desktop.

$199.99



Biostar TA790GXE Motherboard & AMD Phenom II X4 945 Quad Core Processor & Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 Video Card Bundle
I chose to purchase the Biostar motherboard bundle not only for cost, but mainly due to the components that it offered. Being fairly new the industry, I wanted a cutting-edge piece of equipment that allowed a lot of room for expansion but I also wasnt sure about all of the things that I needed to help it perform to its best ability or so I decided to go with a bundle of recommended products.
Some of the motherboard and processor features are:
This bundle not only came with a Quad Core Processor but it has a L2 Cache that runs up to 2MB and a L3 Cache that runs up to 6MB, with a Bus speed of 2000MHz. It comes with a fan that's extremely quiet. 1GB of Video built in, and up to a 1066MHz DDR2, but it supports up to DDR5, 16GB of memory supported, but it only allows 4GB per slot. 10 USB ports, a PCIe slot, and it also comes with PS/2 connectors for some older model mouse and keyboard connectors. It also comes with a IDE connector and 4 rear panel USB ports.
The Processor that comes with the bundle is a AMD. Even though I know Intel is the most popular brand of processors, I thought I chose a good procesor for the cost. The bonus feature of this bundle is the Video Card. It supports Windows 7, the Operating System I chose to install, and it also has HDMI support, and support for a highly scalable system.
$389.99


Seagate ST32000542AS Barracuda LP Hard Drive - 2TB, 5900 RPM, 32MB, SATA-3G
Low power consumption (reduced up to 44 percent over other desktop drives), but still delivers great performance. 2 Terabyte drive, SATA interface, transfers data up to 300MB per second.
$189.99


Logitech Cordless Desktop MK700 Keyboard - Mouse, Palm Rest, 2.4 GHz, Hyper Fast Scrolling
The keyboard and mouse bundle saved costs and it also saved space because I only need one USB connection for the two devices. It has a hyper fast scrolling feature which makes accessing game menus a easier and user friendly. It also comes with a built in keyboard rest that argonomically built for comfort.

$99.99





AMD Phenom II X4 945 Quad Core Processor HDX945FBGIBOX - 3.00GHz, 6MB Cache, 2000MHz (4000 MT/s) FSB, Retail, Socket AM3, Processor with Fan
(already included in bundle price)

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 32BIT Operating System Software - OEM DVD

I chose the Professional edition of Windows 7 because it gave me more bang for my buck. My computer set up is correct because I made sure the 32 Bit Operating System was supported with the system I built. The installation requirements were 1GHz or faster 32 bit processor, I have a 3GHz system, DirectX 9 graphics device which is supported with the Sapphire Video Card that i purchased, and lastly at least 1GB of RAM (32bit) or 2GB RAM (64 bit) and I have a dual channel 4GB of RAM so I knew I wouldn't max out my system but still be able to have a very functioning system that can handle all of my components that I've purchased.
$149.99

OCZ SLI-Ready Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2x2048MB)
800MHz speed, 4GB, Dual channel, DIMM socket, 240 pin count, DDR2 type.
$111.99

Complete System Price: $1351.93
***There were a lot of rebates out there on some of the items (components) I chose, but I put the original price instead of the sale price.***

I made sure all of the components I seleted fit the motherboard, space requirements, and design set up. If only I could afford such a thing. I think gamers would appreciate this set up, even though there were so many higher end models. I wanted to reach a little above my scope but not get unrealistic, since I was building this for me.

What do you think???