*first timer*BYOPC help! (with almost everything)

[kram 2.0]

Hi,
This is my first time in PC Mech forum and it seems like a nice environment. I need help with my first new computer which I am trying to build and would appreciate any help.

I need help with the Hard drive component mostly and the others to a lesser degree. I just bought a Seagate 80 GB ultra-ata 8MB Cache and am looking for a motherboard that would support it. Can you guys tell me what type of motherboard i need to get in order to support this HD - would a IDE Motherboard do (as said in the previous thread)? Recommendation would be great .
Thanks - kram

[scott_d]

Welcome to Pcmech!
First off, to select a good motherboard for you, we need to know what you will want to use your computer for, what features you want, what type of processor your going to use, ect.
Two good boards are -
Amd processor - Asus a7v8x
Intel processor - Asus p4p800
HTH

[pam123]

Hi kram8806,
Welcome to PCMech.
Any IDE board, depends on your choice of AMD or Inte, will run it.
What are you building the comp for and what is your budget ?

[kram 2.0]

Well, here are the more specifics of my system -

-Intel P4 2.53 Ghz CPU (533 FSB)
-Motherboard for that possibly WITHOUT integrated Video but with LAN and sound (later disabling it)
-512 DDR-SDRAM PC2700
-Seagate 80BG 8MB Cache ULTRA-ATA
-CDRW or some sort
-Video card (ATI or Nvidia?)
-Sound card - disabling the one that comes with the motherboard (Turtle Beach or Creative?)
-Several Fans
-A kewl case from Xoxide.com

Tks! - kram
btw - you guys REALLY reply really quickly! Thanks you very much!

[kram 2.0]

yes- my budget is around 1200 dollars - if possible, less. Always Intel.

[scott_d]

For a motherboard, i reccomend the Asus p4p800, it will support that cpu nicely, has onboard lan and sound, but no video
Lite-on Cd-rw drives are tops, very good stuff...
Ati is my personal choice, but its up to you
HTH

[kram 2.0]

Tks - I took a look at the p4p800 motherboard - it seems to fit every one of my needs. I was wondering if the price could possibly get a little less - I'm not really thinking of spending that much money on a motherboard as I am thinking of buying a seperate video card and a seperate sound card (which can get costly if you get a good one). But it seems that the asus motherboards are not that bad in tech specs and customer rating.
I'm thinking somewhere around 70~80 dollars (possibly less - I think it could if there were no Integrated Audio...seems to be the absolute opposite though...).
Thanks - kram

[pam123]

I agree about the Asus board.
Price your stuff over at www.newegg.com .
It's alright to go a little crazy, when you post back we can help you fit it into the budget.

[kram 2.0]

Originally posted by pam123 It's alright to go a little crazy, when you post back we can help you fit it into the budget.

Does that mean I should go a little above my price range, maybe? Also, the price I looked for for the asus board was from Newegg, because they seem to have the best price out there. Also, since I will disable the sound card, I want the one integrated on the motherboard, if any, to be really inexpensive. So far, my computer look like this....
-Xoxide.com case ($70)
-Motherboard (possibly ~$70)
-P4 2.53 533 FSB ($190)
-ATI Radeon of some sort (~$90)
-Sound Card of some sort (~$90)
-speakers (~$60)
-Keyboard, mouse, monitor (~$200)
-Case Accesories ($70)

Which comes out to about $840.
Can you guys see anything that can go down in price?

Sorry for asking a lot of favors- I really really appreciate it.
-kram

[kram 2.0]

add a 512 DDR-SDRAM to the above price
which is about 80 bucks...(total = 920)
Thanks so much!
-kram

[pam123]

That's actually a good price I haven't seen a board without on-board sound in a long time
Never skimp on the motherboard. Get a slower CPU, skip the case modding, delay buying a soundcard but always get a good mobo. The headaches it will save you later are worth it. You're hearing this from someone who had to replace a flakey motherboard that she shouldn't have bought in the first place. I'd wanted something less expensive.
On board sound had a really bad rep and for good reason but if you still think that's so you're in for a very pleasent surprise. On boards like the Asus it rivals the Soundblaster Audigy.
If you have a purpose for the comp requires a sound card then of course you should buy one, but , is this is a general use computer, hold of on the sound card till you try the on board.
Get 2 sticks of 256mb ram instead of one 512mb stick.
What power supply comes with that case and did you decide on the lite-on cd-rw ?
Last, but not least, did you include an OS in your calculations?

[lil Jimmie]

Why the P4 2.53B 533 FSB @ $190 when you can get the P4 2.4C 800Mhz for $170?

[kram 2.0]

First, thanks pam123 for all your help. Yes, you are probably right, I forgot to include WinXP (which could cost a lot of money) which I should eventaully partition with Redhat Linux.

Get 2 sticks of 256mb ram instead of one 512mb stick.

hm - most mobos (I presume mobo= motherboard) have a limited amt of Memory slots (DIMM, I believe I'm looking for) and may want to go to 1024 once I get settled down for upgrading. I'll do what you said about the sound card - seems logical if it is that good. I may save the sound card for later. I will go with lite-on CDRW (tks for that recommendation - by the way, is that a brand name?) and decided to buy from SVC Compucycle and the case like this:

It has a 350 Watt Power Supply. Also, do you agree about the Video card about getting a good one right now?
Thanks - kram

[kram 2.0]

Originally posted by lil Jimmie Why the P4 2.53B 533 FSB @ $190 when you can get the P4 2.4C 800Mhz for $170?

Is this better? I'm not too sure what the FSB does but I know the faster, the better. Also, what's the deal with the A, B, C stuff after the clockspeed number?
Thanks - kram

[lil Jimmie]

Yes the P4 2.4C 800Mhz is the better deal and the the 400/533/800Mhz FSB is the speed in which the cpu processes data.

A- 400Mhz
B- 533Mhz
C- 800Mhz

[pam123]

Unless you want XP Pro you can spend less that $100 on the OEM of XP Home or, if you have a 9X disk, you can get the upgrade for around $80. With the previous OS disk to act as an ID you can do a clean install with it and save even more money.
A good place to check, believe it or not, is Amazon in addition to Newegg.

Yes, Lite-on is a brand name.

Given your budget I'd most likely recommend a Radeon 9600 pro and suggest you look for a 9500 pro if you have a few more bucks left.
If you're a very moderate gamer you could skip the "pro" and just get the 9600 or 9500.

[kram 2.0]

So if I have a 98SE full edition right now, I can just load that and then upgrade...smart idea.

Also, as i now think that the 98se may have been an upgrade edition, I looked at Amazon and tried to search for the Win2000 and Win98SE but they seem to not be in sale....any suggestions?


Thanks - kram

[raftero]

the case looks good on the outside ,i didn't find a picture of the innards,but it's probabably ok.i also couldn't find what brand power supply,thats important,maybe someone here knows or you could request the info.from the company.a poor power supply could mean bad trouble.more than 2 fans on intel are not needed except for looks.

[kram 2.0]

Thanks - I'll try to look for the powersupply and see if it is reliable. Another thing I would like to ask - I'm thinking of partitioning. I haven't done it before so I may need some help. Is there some type of tutorial I could follow from somewhere? Or could you guys just fill me in? I want to make a partition of XP Pro and a partition of the open source OS Redhat Linux. Also, can you do it without a software?

Thanks - kram

[pam123]

Here's the link to OEM edition of Home from newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...102-141&DEPA=6

[kram 2.0]

Thanks for the link - looked at it. Probably what I'm going to get. This is how I look right now as of the system -
---
-P4 2.4C 800FSB (~170)
-Asus P4P800 800FSB Model (~130) [btw - is this with wireless networking? - 802.11b sound more than familiar...]
-CRUCIAL 512MB PC 3200 DDR RAM (~95) [or two 256 MB for 100]
-Seagate 80GB 7200RPM 8MB cache Ultra ATA 100
-ATI Radeon (still trying to find the right price - probably a 9600 123MB)
-Viewsonic 17' lcd (~400 - ALREADY HAVE IT)
-SVC X-Dreamer case LtdEd Blue/Silver with 350 watt (~65)
-Microsoft Internet Keyboard (~20)
-Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse (~20)
-Win XP upgrade from 98SE (~100)
-Lite-On CDRW with 16X DVD Black
Total =~ 800
Tell me what you think :-)
Thanks - kram

[pam123]

It has a WIFI connector for a wireless upgrade yes, but it does not come with WIFI built in.
So far, great.
Just try and get as many things as possible from the same reseller so you don't get killed by shipping cost.
If you're not using newegg or mwave as your reseller you might want to check them out at resellerratings .

[kram 2.0]

I just bought the LITEON CDRW 52x32x52 from CircuitCity for 15 bucks. It has a ATAPI/E-IDE interface. Now would that be supported by the highly recommended Asus p4p800 for a p4 2.4c system?

Thanks - kram

(I didn't want to start a new thread so I used my old one)

[brassman]

Yes. The Lite-on will work just fine with that MOBO.

[Glaive]

The vast majority of hard drives and optical drives (CD, DVD, CDRW, etc.) use an IDE interface. This means they connect to your motherboard using those big flat ribbon cables that you've probably seen inside computers before, although they do now have rounded versions of these same cables.

As long as a hard drive or optical drive says IDE somewhere on it, you can hook it up to pretty much any motherboard. There are a some more expensive hard drives that use SCSI or Serial ATA interfaces, which not all motherboards support, but these will always be clearly labeled as such.

And I second the thought on checking out the power supply on that case. You want a good quality PSU, like the ones from Antec, Enermax, Sparkle, Thermaltake, etc. Also, what kind of cooling does that case provide? Intel chips run fairly cool, especially if you're not overclocking, but video cards can get rather hot, as can some hard drives. Since that case is so cheap, I would check out how many fans it has. The more the better.

[kram 2.0]

Thanks - I'll do that. The case seems to be fairly decent besides the question on the power supply which I'm sure can be bought seperately if needed. How much power would you say I may need? I'm thinking maybe go extreme and maybe go with a ATI Radeon 9800 instead of the original 9200 and an SB AUDIGY 2 Plat. instead of SB2. Hey, nice game graphics require nice graphics cards, right?

[imbest123]

Well if anything dont go for the Radeon 9200. It is a good card overall but if you want to go all out then buy a 9500pro or better.

[glc]

You don't necessarily need a sound card - some of the onboard sound systems are excellent. These days I recommend you try the onboard sound first before buying a sound card.

[FLG]

About the power supply in the case your are getting, i have the same case exept in sliver the PSU that was in mine was L&C (deer) their power supplys are known for failing prematurly and usually taking something with it, MOBO,Ram..ect so you will need to get a new PSU, unless you want to take the risk wich i wouldent recommend. I replaced it with a 360w enlight. Just get a name brand psu like, Antec, Enermax,ENlight,Sparkle,Thermaltake, just to name a few.

[DarkHorse]

I'm thinking of partitioning. I haven't done it before so I may need some help. Is there some type of tutorial I could follow from somewhere? Or could you guys just fill me in? I want to make a partition of XP Pro and a partition of the open source OS Redhat Linux. Also, can you do it without a software?

Depending on how you are installing your OS's you will encounter different scenarios. You will have to partition whenever you install your first OS, which from the sound of things will be 98SE or such. If you manage to get a Full install (not an Upgrade) of any windows version it should handle things for you, but you might want to do it yourself with fdisk, especially if you're starting from 98.

If you haven't yet, read through the excellent guide on pcmech.

If you still need help post back with your questions.