Building a New Computer

[phosphide]

Yes, build your own computer thread # 1232454656. This is my first computer to build from the ground up and I plan to run multiple virtual machines so I need alot of RAM and a fast processor. I don't care how ugly it looks, I want a beast.

What I know I do want:
AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor (Don't mind downgrading to a Six-core or Quad-core either)
Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

What I can't decide on is:
SSD - should I get small SSD to boot Ubuntu but add a 1 TB Hard Drive to mount the /home folder? Or just do one hard drive?
Motherboard? There are some decent AM3+ FX boards out there but can't decide.
Power supply?
Graphics Card? HDMI or DVI?
Case?
Wireless or lan?

Convince me.

[Stratego]

That is not building from the ground up, that's just putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

You don't say I'm building a lamp when you screw in a lightbulb.

[eric]

No Ubuntu, unless of course you want to constantly tinker and fix your computer, which to me is just lame
lan b/c it's not a laptop
power supply = investment, bigger is better over long run as components need more and more power
gpu = depends on your monitor, hdmi is probably best with a converter if necessary (if that exists)

also I'm an Intel/Winvidia fan, don't see the appeal in amd so no suggestions on that stuff from me
case - I've heard Lian Li is where it's at, friend has one and he loves it

512 SSD is plenty, hell even 256 is.

[phosphide]

[phosphide]

[eric]

Ya you don't have an issue yet, wait till you try and put all that stuff together. Have fun is all I can say.

If you're going to be running virtual machines and stuff I just don't think you want to be running that on wireless. I would [i]definitely[/] make an effort to put your computer next to the router.

I don't see what the issue is with virtual machines. But then again I guess if you're worried about the size of them than it demonstrates my lack of knowledge. I connect to a VM using VMWare at the university to do stuff occasionally, but nothing else.

I would get HDMI because you want to be future proofing, unless there is some other reason that I don't know about to not get HDMI.

[uebermann]

What do you plan on doing with it exactly?

SSD on its own isn't big enough if you are planning on gaming or doing anything really besides messing around. I'm doing video editing right now and running into problems on my SSD - basically just having to use my 1tb external and run it from there which takes a while.

You don't need more than a $50-$60 GPU at most unless you are gaming. So for a normal rig, 500w ps ought to be plenty.

But again depends on what you are wanting to do.

LAN is best unless you can get a good, solid wireless N. I never could get my wireless N router work with a shit so I just did wired to my computer and set the router to G for laptop, linux box, and printer.

[uebermann]

I haven't had a problem with wireless on several Linux installs. Unless you get some funky no-name brand wireless card, you should be fine. But LAN is superior in every way =P

[Spider]

[uebermann]

Oh and graphics card - depends if you are going dual monitor or not and how you want to set that up. I had a problem finding a dual output card that was cheap and had HDMI. So I just got a dual DVI output for our office computers for the dual monitors. Was way cheaper.