First Attempt at Building my System

hey, the dell dimension series is BTX layout, this means that your case is not suitable because everythings in the wrong place lol. for a case i would reccomend the antec 300 or the cm 690. for psu i would reccomend a corsair, 600w should be enough, although get bigger if you plan to add more stuff etc. for a mobo- i would say get the p5q pro if you dont plan on sli, dont know much about the nvidia chipset mobo's so afraid i cant heelp there. also, unless you are set on a 9800, an ati 4870 or 4850 may be a better option.
hope this helps
Philip

Try to get a Velociraptor 150GB, not a Raptor 150GB. It's a lot faster.
If you get the P5Q Pro (Crossfire motherboard), get a HD 4850 card instead of the 9800 because the 9800 doesn't do Crossfire.

650TX
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CM [...] 915&sr=8-1

Sapphire HD 4850 dual-slot
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAPPHIRE-T [...] 936&sr=8-1

Velociraptor 150GB
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149434

Storage disk: WD6400AAKS
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Di [...] 090&sr=8-1

The P5Q Pro and E8500 and Antec 300 are very good choices.

You'll also need Vista Premium 64-bit for DirectX 10 playing.

I'd get 2x2GB RAM. It make a huge difference in games over 2GB. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2 [...] y-better/5
Mixing RAM brands is risky. I'd try to add the existing 1GB over a new 2x2Gb kit for a total of 5GB, but take it out if the combination is not stable.

The PSU depends primarily on the vga card. Quality is very important for the PSU. Don't scrimp there. Quality units come from Corsair, Antec, Seasonic, PC P&C, to name a few. A PSU from any of these vendors with the requisite number of 6/8 pin pci-e connectors will do the job. A 9800GT needs one 6 pin pci-e connector, while at the high end, the 9800GX2 requires a 6 pin connector and a 8 pin connector. Which 9800 did you have in mind?

I would agree with aevm on getting a 4gb kit in a 2x2gb configuration. Mixing ram can cause problems. Some motherboards are very sensitive to ram types. 4gb is definitely worth it.

Onboard HD sound is very good. Sound cards can sometimes have driver problems. I suggest that you keep it simple and try onboard sound. You can always add a sound card later.

The E8500 retail box will come with a heat sink. It will do the job, but it can get noisy when the cpu is under load and the fan ramps up.

---good luck---

I was talking about the 9800GT or 9800GTX, in your OP you only said 9800. Yes the 4850 is an ATI card and it is better and cheaper than either the 9800GT or 9800 GTX.

aevm is a wise man and I would agree with all his suggestions except I would substitute the Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB or the Seagate ST3640323AS for the Velociraptor he suggested. It's really a matter or personal preference and I prefer spending less money on more storage but if your going to be doing things that cause you to move large files or you do a lot of encoding or decoding then the Velociraptor might be something you want.

This is the RAM I would suggest.

I actually didn't see that aevm had suggested the WD6400AAKS as a storage drive I think that's the drive you should go with as your boot drive. It's a fast drive and very inexpensive, much cheaper than a Velociraptor. If you decide down the road that you want a faster drive you can always buy something else and use the AAKS as storage.

Everything looks good, it should be a very good system. Enjoy, if you have any questions getting it together just ask.

Sorry for the double post but it wont let me edit.

Would it be work with Vista Home Ultimate 64bit? Will all games work with 64?

What do you mean a non standard cooler? Specifically for the Video Card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814131112

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125237

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814261027

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127370

Take a look at these. The first has the reference cooler and the others use non-standard coolers. There are also aftermarket coolers available for video cards but in some cases they void your warranty. Look at some reviews and see what people say about the effectiveness of the different coolers the different companies are using. There are ways to make the factory (Reference) cooler perform better and buying a card with an aftermarket cooler will likely cost a little more but the choice is yours.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102770

This is a link to the same card on Newegg. Read the reviews (and take with a grain of salt). Generally the card gets positive reviews and looks like a good choice.

You know how sometimes when you touch another person or a door knob, you get a shock. That is the current you need to get rid of before you touch your electronics. Some people swear by grounding straps but I've never used one and I've never had a problem. The biggest thing is to touch something metal before you touch any of your components to release any built up charge.

You will need TIM (Thermal Interface Material). If you are planning on using the stock heatsink then there will be a small patch of it already on it that will melt, and fill and voids, when you first turn on your computer. Most aftermarket TIM is more efficient at transferring heat and arguably the best of those is Arctic Silver 5.

All the cables you will need should come with your motherboard. If you are using the stock heatsink then there will be TIM already on it but if your using an aftermarket cooler then you will need to buy some. If you use aftermarket TIM like Arctic Silver 5 with the stock heatsink you will need to wipe the factory applied TIM off before using it. AS5 with a stock heatsink would decrease your temps by a couple degrees but the only real reason to use it is if your overclocking and using an aftermarket cooler.

The Hard Drive I've ordered is SATA2 I think. I don't mean to be a muppet but will that still work with the SATA cables? or will I need others?

Ok so most of the parts have arrived (Except the RAM) and I'm trying to put it together.

Everything is in the correct place in the Case but I'm having one major problem. The Wiring, because I'm new to this I don't know where all the connecting wires go and how to make the Hard Drive slave or master. Can anyone tell me? or point me to a website that helps?

Thanks

Yeah but I don't know which is which, where all the cables go on the Motherboard. In other words I've got the Corsair PSU and all the appropriate cables and wires but I don't know where they connect to the motherboard and to each other.

I think I've got the motherboard power supply right, the VGA power supply right and possibly the Hard Drive. But as the for the rest of it I'm totally lost. Help!

The psu will have more cables than you need. Just tuck the unused ones away. Connectors are keyed so that they only fit one way. Don't force anything. The motherboard should need a 24 pin conector, and a second 4/6/8 pin power connector. The sata devices will need a sata power connector(thin flat ). You can use several sata connectors on the same lead if you want. A sata signalling cable needs to connect the device to the mobo. The ends are the same, and plug them into any of the sata ports on the mobo. Read the case directions carefully to see how the front panel connectors are labeled. Match that up to the mobo documentation.

Damn... Don't try to force it in, you'll just damage the RAM and/or the MB.
Return it.

You need something with 240 pins. Here are some examples:

G-SKILL - PC2-6400 CL5 2 x 2 GB DDR2-800 PC Memory £49
http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-SKILL-PC [...] B000RJH32C

Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered £40
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130429

I'm not sure how much each charges for shipping. I suspect the second one will be cheaper anyway. I tried to pick something reasonably priced, rather than overclocking RAM. If you're interested in overclocking there are more expensive types that will help with that, like this one:

Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 DHX Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12) £62
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142433

It will often work, but it's risky. If both types work well at the same voltage, it should work. I guess you can try it. Download memtest86 and let it run for a night. If mixing produces instability at least you'll know right away.

I don't think so. Your day might be ruined though, if the PC reboots before you saved your document or in the middle of a game. Anyway, if memtest86 manages to run for several hours and doesn't cause a reboot and it doesn't find errors then you should be safe. TBH I wouldn't bother, but RAM prices are lower where I live.

You need to be sure that not only is your optical (CD) drive first but that you have your hard drive listed right after it in the boot order. Also if your board has an onboard RAID controller, make sure it's disabled otherwise the board will be looking for a RAID array to boot from. You should also have an option in the BIOS for choosing your hard drive order. I don't know how many drives you ended up using but just make sure that the drive you intend on using as your boot drive is first on the list. Also some motherboards identify flash drives under the hard drive list in the BIOS. If you have a flash drive plugged in and if it's on the list of hard drives then just make sure it's last.

You should be using the OS disc at this point, not the disc that came with the motherboard.