OK Buy list? And memory questions.

[James]

Hello. First new build. Wanted: Solid expandable unit for home-based
business and general home use. No specific demands - yet.

Comments gratefully received on anything serious overlooked..

Antec SX835 11 Workstation Tower - big enough to work in. Comes with 2 fans
and 350 PCU. Son fancies the window (later!) and coloured lights.

Mobo Intel D865GBF - 800FSB: On-board sound and video with 8x AGP for later.
Eight USBs: Two SATA and TWO PATA: Six PCI. Max 4GB memory: supporting up to
4 DDR SDRAM DIMMs - in 4 DIMM sockets (one Intel document) or 2 DIMM
channels (another Intel document). Can both be right?

P4 2.8 GHz 512k 800Mhz.

2 x Kingston 512MB 400Mhz DDR PC3200 ECC DIMMs - Not sure about this. Is
this the same as DDR 400 SDRAM? Chose this because everything else comes
from the same supplier - and they only do Kingston Memory (with lifetime
warranty).

2 x Seagate 80GB Barracuda 7200 SATA - for the SATA interfaces. One for OS
and Programs, one for storage.

Panasonic Floppy: Still got lots of old stuff I might want!

Plextor CD-RW Premium T3 8MB Nero SW - for small back-ups and Son's
music.

LG DVD +/- RW Multi Format : 8x DVD+ 4x -R/RW. For large back-ups (Should I
use - or + ?)

MS XP Professional. Expensive, seeing that I can only put it in one PC, but
hardly the area to skimp.
Would like to try Linux on a separate drive later.

Plus MS IntelliMouse and Keyboard and present monitor / printer / scanner
etc

Finally, I'm still puzzled by Intel's info on memory features. What does
this restriction mean? 'Double-sided DIMMs with x16 organisation are not
supported'?

And from the table of supported DIMM configurations I quote the following
line referring to the memory I've chosen. Is this telling me something I
need to know?
DIMM capacity:: 512MB.
Configuration:: DS.
DDR SDRAM Density:: 512 Mbit.
DDR SDRAM Organisation Front-side/Back-side:: 32 M x 8/32 M x 8
Number of DDR SDRAM Devices:: 16

All comments are welcomed and much appreciated as I'm hoping to order very
soon.

James

 

[Dave C.]

Hello. First new build. Wanted: Solid expandable unit for home-based
business and general home use. No specific demands - yet.

Comments gratefully received on anything serious overlooked..

Antec SX835 11 Workstation Tower - big enough to work in. Comes with 2 fans
and 350 PCU. Son fancies the window (later!) and coloured lights.

Mobo Intel D865GBF - 800FSB: On-board sound and video with 8x AGP for later.
Eight USBs: Two SATA and TWO PATA: Six PCI. Max 4GB memory: supporting up to
4 DDR SDRAM DIMMs - in 4 DIMM sockets (one Intel document) or 2 DIMM
channels (another Intel document). Can both be right?

P4 2.8 GHz 512k 800Mhz.

2 x Kingston 512MB 400Mhz DDR PC3200 ECC DIMMs - Not sure about this. Is
this the same as DDR 400 SDRAM? Chose this because everything else comes
from the same supplier - and they only do Kingston Memory (with lifetime
warranty).

2 x Seagate 80GB Barracuda 7200 SATA - for the SATA interfaces. One for OS
and Programs, one for storage.

Panasonic Floppy: Still got lots of old stuff I might want!

Plextor CD-RW Premium T3 8MB Nero SW - for small back-ups and Son's
music.

LG DVD +/- RW Multi Format : 8x DVD+ 4x -R/RW. For large back-ups (Should I
use - or + ?)

MS XP Professional. Expensive, seeing that I can only put it in one PC, but
hardly the area to skimp.
Would like to try Linux on a separate drive later.

Plus MS IntelliMouse and Keyboard and present monitor / printer / scanner
etc

Finally, I'm still puzzled by Intel's info on memory features. What does
this restriction mean? 'Double-sided DIMMs with x16 organisation are not
supported'?

And from the table of supported DIMM configurations I quote the following
line referring to the memory I've chosen. Is this telling me something I
need to know?
DIMM capacity:: 512MB.
Configuration:: DS.
DDR SDRAM Density:: 512 Mbit.
DDR SDRAM Organisation Front-side/Back-side:: 32 M x 8/32 M x 8
Number of DDR SDRAM Devices:: 16

All comments are welcomed and much appreciated as I'm hoping to order very
soon.

James

First glaring error . . . (don't feel bad, almost everyone makes the same
mistake) . . . ditch the generic (included) power supply. Your budget is
obviously not that stretched that you can't upgrade to a decent power supply
that will help your system run reliably and STABLE. If your vendor doesn't
offer something decent, get your power supply elsewhere. What you should be
looking for is Fortron / Sparkle, Seasonic, Vantec, Thermaltake, or one of
the Antec "True" series, but 400W OR MORE.

OK, I'd interpret what you wrote about the mobo to mean that the motherboard
supports DUAL channel memory, and has two banks of dual channel memory (4
slots). So the specs you found for it are not conflicting, just confusing
the way they worded it. (!) Also, I don't know why you chose ECC RAM.
Even if your motherboard supports it (I'm not sure it does, so you'd better
verify that), you do not need ECC RAM. That is, unless your motherboard
REQUIRES ECC Ram, but I doubt that. Does the motherboard manual specify ECC
RAM? If not, get the non-ECC RAM.

OK, what the manual is saying is that you can't have 16 chips on one side of
a RAM board. On each side of the DIMM, your motherboard can only
communicate with up to 8 chips, and each chip can only be a maximum of 32MB.
Thus, if you want to use a 512MB DIMM, it has to have (8) 32MB chips on each
side as opposed to (16) 32MB chips on one side. Not a big deal. Again I'd
recommend you ditch the ECC RAM unless it's REQUIRED, but as far as other
aspects of choosing RAM go, you are thinking too hard. (!) Any reputable
vendor should warn you if the RAM you chose will not be compatible. If they
don't, they should have no problem exchanging it for something that is
compatible. AND, I'd be surprised if your vendor even carries DIMMS with 16
chips on one side. If they do, the price would likely scare you away.
Kingston is very reliable, stable stuff. It's also very compatible with a
wide range of hardware. Just ditch the ECC. -Dave

 

[Wes Newell]

Hello. First new build. Wanted: Solid expandable unit for home-based
business and general home use. No specific demands - yet.

Comments gratefully received on anything serious overlooked..

MS XP Professional. Expensive, seeing that I can only put it in one PC, but
hardly the area to skimp.
Would like to try Linux on a separate drive later.

Why not try it first and save yourself a few thousand bucks. What you
would spend for MS apps that come with Linux for free.

 

[Matt]

First glaring error . . . (don't feel bad, almost everyone makes the same
mistake) . . . ditch the generic (included) power supply. Your budget is
obviously not that stretched that you can't upgrade to a decent power supply
that will help your system run reliably and STABLE. If your vendor doesn't
offer something decent, get your power supply elsewhere. What you should be
looking for is Fortron / Sparkle, Seasonic, Vantec, Thermaltake, or one of
the Antec "True" series, but 400W OR MORE.

Oh, BS.

That case comes with an Antec SL350. Very solid, standard, respected,
name-brand PSU. And I don't see anything to indicate he needs more than
350W. If you disagree, please add up the requirements of his components
and compare them to the SL350 spec.

 

[Charles]

If you give us the prices we can tell if you are getting ripped off.

Personally I only purchase Crucial RAM because I have had good luck
with it. I have seen some complaints against the Kingston Value RAM.
Some RAM retailers have different qualities levels for RAM so be
advised. If a retailer will not give you the RAM part numbers so you
can go to the manufacturer and look it up that may mean bad news and a
general untrustworthyness. They do not want you to know how much of a
mark-up they are marking up their RAM. I have seen some companies
like Dell and IBM overcharge for RAM Upgrades. They do not like to
change any of the basic options on their PC's because they are
manufactured overseas in sweatshops.

I recommend going to the individual manufacturers site and then seeing
what RAM they guarantee will work for a specific motherboard. You do
not have to figure this out on your own.

Most people I know are purchasing Lite-ON Optical drives. Asus also
makes very high quality optical drives.