The makings of a PC? 2

[MrAsparagus]

Hi,

I'm thinking of building py own PC which would be a new experience for me and would appreiciate it if some of you experts could give me a helping hand.

If I was to purchase the items bellow, would it be possible to create a PC from them? Do you think I'll need to buy any cables or fittings that wouldn't be included with the items? Are there any tools I should consider purchasing?

Thanks in advance for your help .

- Mr Asparagus


MOTHERBOARD: AOpen SoA VIA KT400A ATX A L

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=2R62

http://english.aopen.com.tw/products/mb/AK77-400GN.htm

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 512Kb SoA Box

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=2CYP

MEMORY: Crucial Technology 512MB 184Pin DIMM PC2700 DDR RAM Non-Parity CL2.5

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=28PJ

HARDDRIVE: Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 160GB UDMA100

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=2PHM

GRAPHICS CARD: DabsValue GeForce 2 MX 400 64MB AGP RP

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=10MN

DVD/CD-RW DRIVE: AOpen COM5232 IDE 16xDVD 52r52w32rw

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=3367

MODEM: DabsValue 56k PCI Software Modem Conexant Chipset

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=14X9

CASING: DabsValue Black Window ATX MidiTower400W

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=30L4

 

[Jeff1994]

The first tool you should buy and always use is an anti-static wristband. Other tools needed to assemble a PC are pretty standard - phillips-head screwdriver, assorted small screwdrivers, etc. Just make sure they are NOT magnetic tip. What you have listed should get you up and running. Most of those components come with the necessary cables. Dont forget an OS! Also may want to consider a floppy drive if you want to create rescue diskettes, etc.

Jeff C.

If all else fails, read the directions.
If that fails, REBOOT!

 

[paparazi]

Hi MrAsparagus, you need:

1) 1 extra standard IDE cable (so that the CDroms can be connected seperately to the hard drive) on the secondary IDE channel.

2) I extra 80mm case fan (it is not clear if this case comes with any case fans but I would take it that as extra fans are not mentioned you should order 1 or even 2 standard 80mm case fans) the XP3.0+ CPU is a hot beasty and will need good air flow through the case to keep everything cool.

Tools: Medium Phillips head screwdriver and a paiy of pliers to tighten the brass standoff mounts to the case's backplate.

Wear a short sleaved shirt (natural fibre, cotton etc)
if you don't use a antistatic wrist band then keep earthing yourself on a known earthing (grounding) point ie cold water tap, central heating pipes.
Place everything on newspaper or similar non synthetic material.

Don't forget to remove the protective tape that protects the thermal pad on the heatsink base (CPU cooler)

Make sure you mount the heatsink on the CPU with the recess in the base positioned over the raised cam box of the socket.

Only mount the brass standoff's in the 6? places on backplate that line up with the motherboard mounting holes (identified by the bright solder rings around the holes.

Extra fan/fans: if one extra fit below the power supply exhausting (blowing out) warm air, if a second fan is fitted then this one needs to be front lower drawing IN cool air.
Be careful to get the front USB connection orientation correct (this is a live connection)

Set your front side bus on the motherboard to 166 to match your XP3.0+ 333fsb CPU.

Remember the motherboard remains live whilst the power cable is connected (even when turned off) so remove cable when working inside the PC.




Best of luck.
Martin


Start by questioning and soon you will be anwering.
So please take but remember to return and give when you can.

 

[VacuumTubeEra]

There are different ideas about the need for the front case intake fan. Page 19 of this AMD document says that they are not essential:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/23794.pdf

Other documents, including some on the AMD, website suggest using an intake fan.

Why not try it without the front intake fan - you can always add it. On both of the computers that I built, all the front fan seemed to do was make noise - there was absolutely no effect on either the processor or case temperature when I shut them down (and then permanently removed them).

 

[paparazi]

MrAsparagus
True,the front lower intake fan doesn't have the same impact on cooling as one fitted to the top rear exhausting, but it does help and more importantly, in my opinion it provides vital air movement around the hard drives and supplies the graphics card area with a substantially lower temperature air supply.
Although a percieved benefit I feel that placing a fan in this lower position has to improve the longevity of the hard drive particularly and lower operating temps generally of addon cards.
Martin

Start by questioning and soon you will be anwering.
So please take but remember to return and give when you can.

 

[zbnet]

It's an interesting debate, whether a front intake fan is necessary or not. I agree with paparazi that extra air flow around the hard disk and vdu card is A Good Thing. But there is more to consider here:

Without an intake fan, and with the powersupply (and possibly an additional rear fan) exhausting air, this will lower the air pressure inside the case. The effect of this is to suck air into the case through any and every small hole, crakc, etc in the case. As the air is drawn into the case, the dust that is carried in the air is sucked in too. Some of this dust accumulates inside the case, some is exhausted through the power supply fan (over time you can see it clinging to the fans blades everywhere). Some of the dust gets stuck in the holes and cracks that are drawing air in, making it harder to draw air though these gaps. Plus your whole PC gets gummed up everywhere with dust.

Put an intake fan in the front of the case, and the theory is that the air pressure inside the case is neutral (because you're intaking as much air in the front as you're exhausting out the back). Therefore the cracks and crevices all over the PC are less likely to suck loads of air and dust in (although they will still get a bit of dust anyway, due to the air movements). But most of the dust gets trapped by the dust filter that you have in front of the intake fan... and if you don't have one of those filters, you should get one, and then clean it regularly.

 

[jrbarnett]

Only comment I would have is that the GeForce2 MX 400 graphics card, while it would work fine, is outdated compared to modern budget cards such as the FX 5200 for not much more.

http://www.dabs.com/uk/ProductView?quicklinx=2GM9

The GeForce2 MX 400 will have no problem if all you run on the machine is office software, but if you are going to be running 3D games or other 3D graphics applications, I would get something a little more powerful.

John

 

[ceh4702]

I would prefer to use an Nforce2 Chipset motherboard myself. I do not like VIA chipsets. They have caused me lots of pains in the past with their finicky 4-in-1 Video drivers. I have used A-Open motherboards before and found them to be good, bot lately I have used only Asus and found their quality to be extremely High. Other high rated motherboards are Abit and Gigabyte.

Hitachi Deskstar is actually an IBM Death Star! Avoid these drives at all costs. Western Digital is my choice.

The description on the video card claims it is a GForce2. That is really old and junky technology. You should be using an 8X AGP Video card. I prefer a Sapphire or ATI Radeon 9200 as a low end video card. A Radeon 9600SE is slightly better.

The descriptions on this site are not very precise. I prefer to know what kind of Power supply is in the case and what the configuration of the fans and the drive bays there are. My case is an Antec SLK3700AMB. It has a 350 watt Antec power supply, a 120mm exhaust fan, and the hard drives mount right infront of the air intake near the bottom of the case for good air flow around the hard dirve. This makes the hard drive last longer. There are some power supplies that are to be avoided that can damage a motherboard or the dirves when it burns out like the deer power supply.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[Jmhm17]

ya get a better video card thats really old get like atleast an nvidea geforce4 or an ati radeon8500

 

[Jmhm17]

not to be rude but how are you a programer and not know this stuff about pc's??

 

[ceh4702]

I would like to suggest some reading for you to look at. Try these websites for hardware information:

http://www.tomshardware.com

http://www.anandtech.com

http://www.newegg.com

(Computer parts)

http://www.pcmech.com

(Computer building site)

At the website

http://www.anandtech.com

there are some guides that suggest some components one might use to build a computer. They do or redo a guide every week. They have 4 different guides: Low-Budget, Midrange, High-End, Overclocker, that you can choose from.

This specific website compares video cards by models and not brand:

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html

This is a good general comparison that explains what kind of performance you can expect from a video card.

If you are not too interested in playing games an integrated motherboard might be good for you.



If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[paparazi]

ceh4702
We all have opinions, mine tend to be based on experience in the present and not heresay of the past.
I'm sick to death of people rubbishing IBM (now Hitachi) hard drives, true, they did get themselves a bad reputation with two ranges of their products several years ago 2001?(the GPX60/75) things have just moved on now.
Toms actually awarded the new 7K250 range "best mainstream hard drive range" only a few months ago, have you had any personal experiences with this drive? NO! i dought it or are your opinions just based on this old defunk range of drives from 3 years ago?
I also have to point out that although slower, one thing the via KT400a chipset has going for it is supreme stability and a mature driver set not to mention the much lower price tag than an Nforce2 based mainboard, it is a very good budget choice together with the slightly newer KT600 chipset if the budget will stretch.
I must agree that if there is a similar priced but more modern graphics card option then MrAsparagus should change his video card choice but for just plain display work the GF2 MX400 is quite adequate.
Martin





Start by questioning and soon you will be anwering.
So please take but remember to return and give when you can.

 

[MrAsparagus]

Hi,

Just to say thanks for your expert advice - it is very musch appreciated. I now feel confident I can make my PC!

I have given paparazi a star as I deem his post most helpful, but thanks to all of you.

Cheers,

- Mr Asparagus