PC project under way

Hi Thor:

Hope all goes well with setting up your fresh new system. Just thought I'd mention that since its "fresh", be a good idea to install some protection right away when youre ready to use the computer to keep your new system safe from outside intrusion. What anti-virus/adware etc.. program have you been using? I just installed SpySweeper 2.2 to clean out my system, a free version available www.webroot.com

B/F
 
Mid tower case with 350watt PS (window and light as well )

Abit IS7 Motherboard

P4 2.8 gig CPU

2 x 512 MB PC3200 Cas 2 DDR RAM

200 gig Western Digital Caviar 7200rpm HD

Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB Video Card

Soundblaster Audigy 2 Sound Card

Plextor 52x24x52 CDRW

Lite On 16X DVD

Misc. Goodies:

5 - 80mm blue LED fans

Vantec Silver Nexus NXP-205 Fan Controller

Rounded Cables
 
VH I was originally gonna try an Athlon PC but my buddy who is like the Captain Kirk/Bill Gates of computer nerds convinced me not to since in his experience (runs the system for a college) he said Athlons weren't as reliable. He also pointed out that I have has a PIII that has run overclocked for over 4 years and it's never even hiccuped. In my reading I have seen no indications that new Athlons have any problems but when spending a lot of dough like this in the end I went with what I know works from my own experience, ABIT mobos and Intel CPU's.

BF I use adaware and spybot, I don't use a virus program since I stopped opening strange emails years ago I have never gotten another virus. If I can find a free one somewhere I may throw it on just to be extra sure, but if youare careful of what you open and DL it's easy to not get viruses.
 
I am thinking that a certain someone thought similarly about tubes at one time? :p: I guess there's hope for that someone yet;)
 
what'd you pay for the cpu and mobo?
P4's aren't cheap, and combining that with a decent mobo i can't see how you fit it all in $800.

personnally if i were to build up an x86 compatible i'd be quite tempted to make a nice case out of wood and put an array of fans at the top (with a feeder fan at the bottom) to take advantage of convection.
 
he said Athlons weren't as reliable.
This right here tells me he's whacked.

Nothing wrong with a P4, but I build with 'bang for the buck' in mind. I haven't had an Intel processor in many years (I believe my last was a PIII 700 O'clocked to 933, and that was like 3+ years ago).

The problem was never the processor, but a lot of the early motherboards were kinda flaky. Mostly the Abit ones, and I swore off those POS a long time ago (sorry...)

Been using Epox mobo's for the last 3 years or so...solid as a rock.
but if youare careful of what you open and DL it's easy to not get viruses.
That is soooooo no longer true. You used to have to open something to be infected....I used to tell people that 'viruses can't just leap onto your system'. Well, now they can. You are asking (begging actually) to be one of those idiots that I want to pummel because you think that being careful with opening attachments will protect you...and my firewall in the meantime is hammered away at 24/7/365 with infected computers (like your's will be), trying to infect mine...all from people who are 'careful'.

Put this on your system, and please be a part of the solution to the crap flying across the internet, instead of being part of the problem.
:rant:
 
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...sorry...guess I sounded harsh...

I just don't want you to make the false assumption that because you're careful that your covered. There are sooooo many infected systems out there where the operator hasn't a clue, and it uses up valuable bandwidth over the web and reeks havoc with innocent systems everywhere. If you don't want to shell out for a full-blown pay-for virus program, then the AVG will do a nice job. Small memory footprint, uses almost zero resources, and it's free.
 
P4 2.8 Gig $187

Abit IS7 mobo $97

Where I made big savings was winning an auction for the case, HD, and CDRW for $155 ;) HD and CDRW NIB even. I also got the RAM for a good deal as well.

Oh my friend is not whack it is scary what a computer genius he is, but his ideas for reliable are 24/7 operation in the kind of environments he is used to, not really applicable for home use, and like I said I have read nothing about athlons being unreliable now. I just decided to go with what I know in the end.
 
I think a lot of it is in the MB's. I was running out of money so I bought a lower end MSI, what a joke. It won't even recognize the speed of my chip. It thinks it is a 1800+ instead of the 2600+ which seems to keep it slogging along at a relative snails pace. The thing that makes me not like Intel is that they are a bit dishonest in the way they rate the speed, maybe EW can back me up here as I am late and not quite awake yet. It has to do with the way they proccess compared to the Athlons, which with the 64 chip does so much faster it is nearly infinite in the amount of info it can process at a time. Very cool, though very spendy.
 
Thor...

The argument has been moot for quite some time as to whether to go with an Intel or AMD setup. No sense arguing the issue...if he claims that AMD sucks, there isn't anything that is going to convince him otherwise. I've built over 50 systems in the last two years using both P4's and Athlons, and had equal success and failures (the failures generally being crappy motherboards), and none were attributable to the processor.

IT guys generally gravitate towards Intel simply because that's what they've always used, and the additional cost is generally a non-issue since someone else is footing the bill. But the 'Intel RuLeZ' and 'AMD RoCkS' BS is best left to the pimply-faced teen fanboys. Educated and up to date IT personnel generally understand that it's all a matter of semantics nowadays.

VinylHanger....

Go into your BIOS and set the proper bus speed. The motherboard defaults to a lower speed to make sure that you can boot in the event of a failure, so if your processor is supposed to be a 133Mhz FSB, you will have to set it manually. It's a 2-min fix...
 
Originally posted by EchoWars
Thor...

The argument has been moot for quite some time as to whether to go with an Intel or AMD setup. No sense arguing the issue...if he claims that AMD sucks, there isn't anything that is going to convince him otherwise. I've built over 50 systems in the last two years using both P4's and Athlons, and had equal success and failures (the failures generally being crappy motherboards), and none were attributable to the processor.

IT guys generally gravitate towards Intel simply because that's what they've always used, and the additional cost is generally a non-issue since someone else is footing the bill. But the 'Intel RuLeZ' and 'AMD RoCkS' BS is best left to the pimply-faced teen fanboys. Educated and up to date IT personnel generally understand that it's all a matter of semantics nowadays.


Oh I definetely agree EW, he definetely has an Intel bias.

The prices were pretty close between the P4 2.8 and the AMD counterpart, only about a $40 difference so I just went with the P4. I ended up being able to spend more money on this PC than I thought I would be able to. In the beginning I was leaning towards an AMD one. But being able to spend the extra cash I went with the P4 since it is slightly faster than it's AMD counterpart in gaming. I had actually intended on getting a P4 2.4 gig and oveclocking it since people seem to be having great success with them but the word must be out cuz Newegg was sold out of them when I was ready to buy, the 2.6 gig ones too actually so I went with the 2.8 gig just cuz I didn't want to wait or pay shipping to buy it from somewhere else.

If money was no issue (or if I didn't buy that fancy tube amp ;) ) I would have definetely built an Athlon 64 system ;)
 
Intel vs. AMD - the war continues...

In my reasonably extensive IT experience there is no 'significant' difference between comparable Intel vs. AMD chips - except for the cost.

In the large organizations, they usually order the Pentiums and Xeon's wheras in the smaller (or self-owned) business they are usually smarter :D (just fooling with 'ya) and go with AMD.

Here at home in my modest 4 computer LAN I have 3 Intel and 1 AMD but mostly because I often buy lease returns and you take what you get :p: .

Paul
 
EW, it has a manual jumper and a bios setting and they are both set to the higher one of 266. But it won't see it, so the next free day I get I am taking the thing to the shop where I goot it and he said he'll check it out. I am thinking I will just get a better board, as this one has conflicts with my Hurricane extreme sound and is having some stability issues. What do I expect for 70 bucks:rolleyes:
 
Made a little progress last night.

Some people may install the parts differently, I know some may put the CPU/heatsink/fan and RAM on the mobo before putting it in the case but I like to install the mobo then put the stuff on it.

Mobo installed in the case, with CPU/heatsink fan and 1gig of RAM (I just get a kick outta saying that! My very first PC had 16MB of RAM and the last one I built 128MB RAM cost more than the 1 gig of DDR RAM I put in this one! Amazing!)
 
Then I installed the drives. Next up I will start wiring things, my goal is to make the wiring neat and clean, I want it to look like the underside of one of Wards DIY amps when I'm done ;)
 
Been working on it the last couple days on and off. Front bezel on and PCI cards installed:
 
Everything for booting up and install of OS installed, want to make sure everything works 100% before tying everything down and buttoning up ;)
 
Fanbus installed, allows the speed control of four of the fans, adds more wires to the mess I gotta make neat :confused:
 
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