Building my own PC -- hardware advice needed

[Paul]

I think SP1 needs to be installed for it to recognise
more than 137mb properly. And there is a writeup
on the MS site about some kind of registry fix

You may not have to do BOTH of the one. SP1
maybe enough. I haven't actually tried it. The biggest
hdd here atm is only 120GB

 

[John Blaustein]

Paul,

Thanks for both messages -- this one and the other regarding using EIDE and
SATA drives at the same time.

I'll look at the MS site. My thinking is that 120GB is large enough for any
one drive. In case of a crash, I'd hate to lose more than that at one time.

John

 

[Shawn Barnhart]

Are you planing to buy the P4 3.0C (northwood core) or the new P4 3.0E
(prescott core)? The ASUS P4C800 does not support the new prescott chips.
The P4P800 (865PE chipset) will support either.

Just a point of clarification, the P4C800-E Deluxe does claim to support the
Prescott core CPUs, at least according to the specifications section of that
motherboard on Asus' web site.

Whether you were referring to the P4C800 or the P4C800-E, I'm not sure.
It's mildly annoying that Asus uses such similar model numbers for boards
with some significant capabilities differences, especially when trying to
research them on the 'net and hitting sites/threads that refer to them in
shorthand form.

 

[Paul]

No worries John. Hope you get one up and running
soon!

Cya

 

[David Rance]

Just a point of clarification, the P4C800-E Deluxe does claim to support the
Prescott core CPUs, at least according to the specifications section of that
motherboard on Asus' web site.

Whether you were referring to the P4C800 or the P4C800-E, I'm not sure.
It's mildly annoying that Asus uses such similar model numbers for boards
with some significant capabilities differences, especially when trying to
research them on the 'net and hitting sites/threads that refer to them in
shorthand form.

According to the information on the Asus website, all three of the
P4C800 series (P4C800, P4C800 de luxe and P4C800-E de luxe) support the
new Prescott CPUs. In fact, I spent an hour or two earlier today trying
to work out just what the differences were between the models and was
going to post a question about it.

As far as I can see, the difference between P4C800 and P4C800 de luxe is
that the latter adds a Promise 20378 RAID controller. The P4C800-E de
luxe adds, on top of that, an Intel Ethernet controller (as opposed to a
3com in the other models).

Can anyone confirm that this is a reasonable summary? Have I missed
anything out?

David
--
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet: (e-mail address removed) | writing from |
| Fidonet: David Rance 2:252/110 | Caversham, |
| BBS: telnet://mesnil.demon.co.uk | Reading, UK |
+-------------------------------------------------------+

 

[Paul]

According to the information on the Asus website, all three of the
P4C800 series (P4C800, P4C800 de luxe and P4C800-E de luxe) support the
new Prescott CPUs. In fact, I spent an hour or two earlier today trying
to work out just what the differences were between the models and was
going to post a question about it.

As far as I can see, the difference between P4C800 and P4C800 de luxe is
that the latter adds a Promise 20378 RAID controller. The P4C800-E de
luxe adds, on top of that, an Intel Ethernet controller (as opposed to a
3com in the other models).

Can anyone confirm that this is a reasonable summary? Have I missed
anything out?

David

There is a summary at the bottom of this web page.

http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq117_P4X800.htm

Paul

 

[David Rance]

There is a summary at the bottom of this web page.

http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq117_P4X800.htm

Many thanks for that, Paul. Yes, I missed out the Firewire facility on
the de luxe models.

What is the value of having an Intel Ethernet controller on the -E
version as against the 3com. Does it make the extra cost worth it?

David
--
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet: (e-mail address removed) | writing from |
| Fidonet: David Rance 2:252/110 | Caversham, |
| BBS: telnet://mesnil.demon.co.uk | Reading, UK |
+-------------------------------------------------------+

 

[Shawn Barnhart]

What is the value of having an Intel Ethernet controller on the -E
version as against the 3com. Does it make the extra cost worth it?

My understanding is the Intel controller is on a seperate/private bus. I
don't know how much that means for performance, though. For single-PC
setups with broadband, probably zero, for LAN users pumping around a bunch
of data to the network while they process info, maybe some.

 

[Freddie Clark]

According to the information on the Asus website, all three of the
P4C800 series (P4C800, P4C800 de luxe and P4C800-E de luxe) support the
new Prescott CPUs. In fact, I spent an hour or two earlier today trying
to work out just what the differences were between the models and was
going to post a question about it.

As far as I can see, the difference between P4C800 and P4C800 de luxe is
that the latter adds a Promise 20378 RAID controller. The P4C800-E de
luxe adds, on top of that, an Intel Ethernet controller (as opposed to a
3com in the other models).

Can anyone confirm that this is a reasonable summary? Have I missed
anything out?

David

No Thats pretty much spot on David. The only thing to note with any of these
boards is that you MUST have Bios ver 1014 or above. If not then the board
will not even POST as I found out. The only way around it if you have
recieved a board with an earlier rev and wish to use a Prescott, is to
install a Northwood/Clereon and flash the bios up ( As I did).

Regards
Freddie

 

[John Blaustein]

Hello...

I'm the guy that started this thread, and I'll repeat that I really
appreciate all the good information shared here.

I ended up buying the following from newegg:

P4P800-E Deluxe
P4 3.0c, 800 FSB
Mushkin RAM -- 4x512
WD120GB SATA (other drives to be added later from existing system)
Antec SLK3700-BQE case w/extra 120mm fan
Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu CPU cooler

Unfortunately, the Antec case arrived damaged, so I've not been able to put
it all together yet -- newegg said a replacement will take a week. However,
I've got the MB ready to go -- mounting the CPU, fan and RAM was easy, even
though this is the first time for me.

I've got a few questions...

Once the hardware is all assembled, I will do a clean install of XP Home
onto the new SATA drive. Am I correct that all I have to do is set the BIOS
to boot from my CD drive, boot from the XP disk and it will walk me through
formatting the new SATA drive and installing XP? The drive I got is OEM, so
it didn't come with any documentation or installation disks. I looked at
the WD web site and it looks like I won't need any WD software since I'm
formatting from scratch and doing a clean XP install. Correct?

Once the system is running, I'd like to do as thorough a diagnostic test as
possible. Can someone recommend a solid, free, diagnostic program? In
particular, I want to thoroughly test the RAM. A while ago, I had a bad
DIMM on my PIII system and it caused data loss of some Photoshop files. (My
main use of this PC is Photoshop work.) The bad DIMM seemed to be
intermittant, but I finally nailed down the problem by testing the RAM.

I know I need to install the ASUS drivers from the ASUS CD once Windows is
installed. Should I go ahead and load the ASUS utilities for monitoring the
MB, or is there another (free) utility that you would recommend? Do I have
to monitor it at all?

I do not plan to overclock the system or to use RAID. Am I correct that I
can leave all the BIOS settings at their default? Can I leave all the MB
jumpers at their default settings?

John

 

[Phil Thompson]

Am I correct that all I have to do is set the BIOS
to boot from my CD drive, boot from the XP disk and it will walk me through
formatting the new SATA drive and installing XP?

XP doesn't do SATA out of the box so you will need to add SATA drivers
for your motherboard by hitting F6

Goggle for F6 SATA XP and you'll see what to do.

Phil

 

[Edward]

I have read that the P4P800-e does is not compatible with Antec power
supplies for some reason. When you do receive your case replacement,
please post a message about whether or not it works. I am considering a
similar system. Thanks,

Edward

 

[John Blaustein]

A colleague of mine has a P4P800-E Deluxe, P4 2.8, Antec SLK3700-BQE, Zalman
CNPS7000A-AiCu and he says it works perfectly. In fact, it was on the basis
of his experience (and all the posts here) that I decided on my system.

John

 

[John Blaustein]

Phil,

Will do. Thanks. I sure hope it's not too complicated.

John

 

[John Blaustein]

Phil,

I haven't been able to assembly my system because of a damaged Antec case.
However, I researched the SATA/XP issue you raised. On the ASUS CD that
came with the motherboard, there is a Makedisk.exe program in the
drivers>promise>387ata folder. I ran that and it put a set of drivers onto
a floppy. In the WinXP folder on the floppy, I have the following files:

ptipbm.dll
ulsata.cat
ulsata.inf
ulsata.sys
vssver.scc

Now... do you think this is the disk I will need when I power up my P4P800-E
Deluxe board with the one WD SATA drive attached and start to install XP?
Will it matter that the XP files are not in the root folder on the floppy?
I can always copy the XP files to the root folder on the floppy and delete
everything else. Should I do that?

One of the links I followed when searching Google for "F6 SATA XP" led me to
a posting somewhere (can't remember where now) which said that Western
Digital SATA drivers are recognized by Windows XP, whereas other
manufacturers aren't. That sounds fishy to me. What do you think?

Thanks for your help.

John

 

[Kylesb]

I use memtest86 (www.memtest86.com) for memory/cpu testing on initial
boot (special boot floppy test disk is made from the d/l). If I have
several passes, I then proceed to install OS on HD. Once up and
running (the OS that is), use prime95 to give you system a heat
headache.

There are other free memory testers, docmem is one I also use, but
memtest86 finds things the other test SW does not find.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| Hello...
|
<snip>
|
| Once the system is running, I'd like to do as thorough a diagnostic
test as
| possible. Can someone recommend a solid, free, diagnostic program?
In
| particular, I want to thoroughly test the RAM. A while ago, I had a
bad
| DIMM on my PIII system and it caused data loss of some Photoshop
files. (My
| main use of this PC is Photoshop work.) The bad DIMM seemed to be
| intermittant, but I finally nailed down the problem by testing the
RAM.

 

[John Blaustein]

Kyle,

I downloaded memtest86 and ran it on my current system. That's just what I
was looking for. I'll check out docmem too. Prime95 looks like more than I
really need.

I appreicate your help.

John

 

[John Smith]

Hi,

I am going to build my own PC -- first time I've done this. My main use of
the PC that requires power and speed is Photoshop CS. I will not do any
gaming or anything else that requires 3D graphics.

Having had two PCs with ASUS motherboards that worked very well, I will
stick with ASUS.

Here's what I'm planning:

Intel P4 3.0 Ghz CPU
Matrox G450 graphic card (perfect for Photoshop)
2 -- Western Digital WD1200JB EIDE drives (I have these already)
1 -- Plextor CD/DVD burner (I have this already)
Floppy drive
Faxmodem
LAN and Audio built into MB
USB and Firewire ports
Antec case w/350w power supply

My questions concern choice of motherboard and RAM.

The motherboards I'm considering are:

ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe -- 875C chipset -- $169 (at newegg.com)
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe -- 875C chipset -- $163
ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe -- 865PE chipset -- $116

The specs of these three MBs seem almost identical, so I'm wondering if
anyone has experience with these boards who could give me a reason to select
one versus another. I'm not clear on what I'd get with the $169 board that
the $116 board wouldn't give me. In other words, is the extra money worth
spending? (I don't need WiFi which the P4P800-E Deluxe has included.) I am
not clear about the differences between the 875C and 865PE chipsets, and
what those differences, if any, will mean to me as the end user. Also, I
can't tell the difference between the P4C800-E Deluxe and the P4C800 Deluxe.

RAM:
I will buy PC3200 RAM, 1GB or 2GB of RAM -- all of the MBs above will hold 4
DIMMS. Checking Kingston RAM prices on newegg.com, there are several
choices of 1GB (2x512) packages, ranging from ValueRAM at $194 to HyperX at
$282. I know I need to buy matched pairs of DIMMS. I'm not clear on the
difference between the ValueRAM and the HyperX, other than the price. Both
have very similar specs. I want good, fast, stable RAM, but I don't want to
spend any more than I need to. Any help or recommendations?? (I used
Kingston as my example, but Crucial and Corsair have the same range. These
three brands have been recommended to me.)

Thanks for any help, recommendations and comments.

John

Is that Antec an aluminium case? If you're building your own PC, you
might consider a good quality ALU case with plenty of room inside,
case fans, and easy to remove drive trays.

Don't forget to savour that moment when you flick on the PC's power
button for the first time and everything loads up like a dream.

 

[John Blaustein]

John,

The Antec case is very sturdy, but I'm not sure it's aluminum. It has all
the other attributes you mention. Unfortunately, it arrived damaged, but
I'm expecting a replacement any day and look forward to the moment of truth!

John

 

[John Blaustein]

Hi,

Having started this thread three weeks ago, I wanted to end the thread by
thanking everyone who helped me along the way. My system is now assembled
and it booted perfectly the first time. After installing Windows, the sound
and LAN didn't work, but then I remembered I had to install the ASUS
drivers. After doing that, along with the supplied Intel driver, everything
was fine. Also, I had to disable the Promise RAID driver since I'm not
using RAID.

The system is as follows:

P4P800-E Deluxe
P4 3.0c, 800 FSB
Mushkin RAM -- 4x512
WD120GB SATA (other drives to be added later from existing system)
Antec SLK3700-BQE case w/extra 120mm fan
Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu CPU cooler
Diamond/ATI Radeon 7000
-- another video card, fax/modem and another HD will be added later from my
existing system.

John