Help with building a P.C

[demonic angel]

Hi,
I've just found this excellent site and forum and since all u guys seem to know what ur doing I thought maybe u could help me. Sorry this is gonna be a long post so please bear with me.

After days of browsing and comparing prices I've just ordered the following bundle from komplett: Onboard Kit AMD XP1800+ 1,53GHz, 128mbDDR, MSI mobo,nForce420 VGA,Audio,LAN onboard.
I now need to find a case..my budget is max £300 altogether and I still need to buy a hard-drive. So I was considering one of the £25 300W ATX cases from ebuyer..would this be suitable for my components? The other items I will be using will be: DVD drive, cdwriter, either 40GB or 60GB HDD (haven't decided yet) at 7200rpm and FDD. I will upgrade the case in about a year or something ( I really fancy the ones with the windows and coloured lights ) so really it will be only a temp situation.

Also I've been reading up on the processor and mobo and it is known for over-heating. I take it I would need to cut the case to fit in external fans? Also I have 2 cockatiels in my room which produce a LOT of dust..so anything that u can recommend to stop it clogging up my system..I noticed u can get filters to cover fans..are these and ideal solution?
Umm, I think that's about it..I've been browsing non-stop for hours and my brain has turned to mush!

So thanks for any information/help you provide


edit:Sorry!! I was supposed to post this in the support forum not the general! I told u my brain has turned to mush! :roll:

 

[muckshifter]

Hello again ... sorry for the long reply.

Thank you for those kind words and welcome to PCR.

I know what you mean about the Cockatiels, have two myself, when they 'stretch their wings' the feathers go flying.

You've just given me an idea.

Anyway, back to your needs ... Not sure on the nForce420, but if it's an MSI then it's a good stable board. I would also get another stick of 128 RAM or swap it/exchange it for 512 ... 256 would be a minimum in MY book for Win XP and for your system anything less than Win XP would be a waste.

Also, don't waste your money on "a temp solution" ... I would not go for a "cheapo" case & PSU but invest in a good case that will last you some time. The same goes for the PSU. Don't cut corners and you wont get power/cooling problems.

May I suggest you have a look at Overclock.co.uk for a case/PSU ... I have dealt with these 'nice' people in the past and can highly recommend them ... check out the Cheiftec range of cases. (just follow the link) I have the Cheiftec Dragon. No need to "cut holes" as they ALL come with 4 fan bays (no fans) and you could always buy the side panel already cut & fitted. Nice touch Chieftec.

Non of these cases come with a PSU or fans, just how I like it as I prefer to buy/put my own in. Get 4 good bearing fans with the 'moulinex' (spell?) fitting; don't run these off your MB headers.

Cheiftec also make dam good PSU as does Enermax and I would strongly suggest you get a 350-400watt at least, that way you'll have plenty of 'spare' power for other "add-ons". Just make sure that the PSU you do purchase is AMD/Intel approved.

HD ... get the 7200rpm whatever ATA/UDMA it is is actually less important than the "speed" of the HD. Needles to say ATA/UDMA 100 would be my minimum. 40gig, again a minimum in my book, you can always buy another HD if money is tight now.

You bring up a good point with 'filters' ... do you fit or not ... as I said before I too have Cockatiels, but NO filters, I want unrestricted airflow and because the side panel of my case is so easy to remove (Cheiftec ) I just get a vacuum cleaner in once a month.

Yes, a vacuum cleaner, don't be tempted to use those air cans to 'blow out' the case you just "ram" the dust (and feathers) into all the nooks & crannies of your CD/Floppy/CDRW/HSF.

If you need more help then just give us a shout.

Mucks.

 

[demonic angel]

Hi, Thanks for your reply, it was very helpful
I couldn't resist temptation this morning (5am) and I ordered a heap of stuff from ebuyer (including the cheapo case ) But when my student loan comes through in September, I'll get a more expensive case. It will be OK to use the cheapo until then wont it?
Also during my shopping spree I ordered the IBM deskstar 120GX 80GB. I read company reviews of this product and they all said it was good..however I was reading the consumer reviews just now and there is a very high number saying that the drive is extremely unstable and breaks down within months which has really frightened me. Any precautions I can take to maintain it's short life? I only really use my P.C for internet and some strategy games..the sims, theme park world etc. My recent game and most 'power consuming' game is black and white.

One last thing. My system just now is Pentium II, 128MB Ram, 9GB HDD, FDD, 52x CDROM. How much do you think I'd get for it, just with the case..no monitor. I was gonna sell it to my mum for £150..but I feel kinda guilty charging such a high price. But she's selling her 486, 75mhz for £100!? But I don't think it will sell!

Thanks again for your help

 

[muckshifter]

Selling to your Mum.

Oh boy, that doesn’t cut any ice with this Granddad, shame on you. :roll:


Ok kidding aside ... I see you couldn’t wait well I do hope the PSU is up to par for your system. Don't panic it should do.

You should have no problems with the IBM Deathstar, err, I mean Deskstar, if you do, IBM's have at least a 3 year warrantee.

Going back to conning your Mum, drat there I go again, what I mean is ... if She's willing to part with the money at least tell her "She's a great Mum" ... what would we do without them.


Let us know how you get on with the build.

Mucks.

 

[demonic angel]

Hi, Thanks again for your reply
All the components arrived today and I started building it together. Problems started to arise when the holes on the Mobo wouldn't match up to the ones in the crap case, a bit of gentle movement sort-of fixed that. After my mobo and cards were installed, I tried to install the dvd..I couldn't get it in because the back of the cdrom was stopped by the capacitors on the mobo, and the front of the drive is sticking out
So now I'm back to my Pentium 2, I haven't tried my 'home made' one yet. I should learn to contain myself and wait for advice before i buy things! anyway. I've decided to go and buy a chieftec like you've suggeste..plus i'm gonna make sure it's long enough to hold my drives with out them sticking out!

Thanks for your advice I feel really stupid..but we learn from our mistakes! (sort-of )

 

[muckshifter]

We ALL learn ... every day.

... and I can assure you the Cheiftec is plenty long enough.

Mucks.

 

[floppybootstomp]

wotcha

A few points:

Sound advice from Mucks about the case but sometimes you gotta stick to a budget, I understand that.

Nice choice of components, Black & White should run sweet.

Shame your DVD don't fit. Is the case you bought the 'Nokia' style one? If it is, I've used one of those myself and had a similar problem getting a Disk Caddy in, it hit the onboard capacitors of the mobo I was using.

I got round it by realising the top 5.25" panel in the case was actually removable. I took it out and then the disk caddy was above the mobo and fitted OK.

If there's absolutely no way you can get the DVD to fit your case the only solution would be a new case. As for returning your old case to ebuyer, don't expect a quick response. In my experience, they're slow at exchanging/accepting returns. About 9 months ago it took them 3 weeks to exchange a 128 faulty stick of RAM for me.

Other than that they're good and their prices are excellent.

I agree with Mucks on the RAM, minimum 256 for XP.

Good luck