Help a stranded Shadow Chaser out

[Chilli]

My computer vid card went poof.  I am stuck with onboard graphics and no AH.  I recently bought a new motherboard and chip combination and of course it is like the worst configuration I could have possibly invested in 

If anyone can help with suggestions, please feel free to PM me or post here.

Only specs that I have so far are intel D94Fpsn http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=intel+d945psn&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=8912737524968207121&sa=X&ei=8g9nTYrvGobGlQeaz4H_AQ&ved=0CDkQ8wIwBA#

Problem:

I need to build a system around it rather than replace it as a component:  Need everything else:

Tower, Cooling System, Hard Drive, CD rom Drive.

Current towers won't fit.  The monster has the main component that I need PCIe slot placed in an odd location.

[TheBug]

[CAP1]

My computer vid card went poof.  I am stuck with onboard graphics and no AH.  I recently bought a new motherboard and chip combination and of course it is like the worst configuration I could have possibly invested in 

If anyone can help with suggestions, please feel free to PM me or post here.

Only specs that I have so far are intel D94Fpsn http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=intel+d945psn&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=8912737524968207121&sa=X&ei=8g9nTYrvGobGlQeaz4H_AQ&ved=0CDkQ8wIwBA#

Problem:

I need to build a system around it rather than replace it as a component:  Need everything else:

Tower, Cooling System, Hard Drive, CD rom Drive.

Current towers won't fit.  The monster has the main component that I need PCIe slot placed in an odd location.

you ain't that far....what kind of tower do you need? i have a few things in the back room that i might be able to help ya out with.

[jimson]

Something along the lines of an Intel E8400 might work on this motherboard, if you have to go lower budget than that perhaps an E6750.

What type of ram will you be needing?

[gyrene81]

not really an odd place for the pci-e slot...just have to be careful what type of video card you buy...the pci slot next to it won't be useful

standard mid tower atx case will work with that...gonna want one that is deep so you can use one of the bigger video cards...don't buy a raidmax tornado case...too small interior.

a case like this might work...fairly deep front to back...case fan looks like it might be in the right position to augment cpu cooling

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156230

[grumpy37]

you ain't that far....what kind of tower do you need? i have a few things in the back room that i might be able to help ya out with.

watch out, cap will put a remote controlled crash to desktop switch in the tower he gives you......

[Chilli]

Scrounging around my buddies' spare parts came up with a huge Dell 5100 tower and the sucker is completely backwards for that.    Got me to thinking about just rebuilding the 5100 and scraping the new motherboard and chipset.

I have to be careful there because, not sure of what shape the Dell mb is in.  I also got a geforce 210 PCIe 512 mb card for a few beans.  None of this stuff may sound kickaz to you all but believe me they are upgrades for me.

The RAM according to the specs was DDR2 533, 600 ... ummm I forget if the other speed was 400 

  The Dimension 5100 atm has no power supply or any drives other than floppy drive.  I have the heat sink, but not the fan and assembly.  If I get a hold of my buddy will do some more scrounging.

[gyrene81]

the documentation on that dell is a bit sketchy...the mobo has a 945g express chipset which, depending on when it was manufactured could take an early dual core cpu (pentium d series)...which is the same as the retail mobo you bought...the fact that it's a dell mobo with a dell bios...you may be stuck with using just a single core pentium 4 cpu up to 800 mhz fsb 2.4 - 3.6 ghz... 

the pci-e x16 slot is a v1.0...to get decent performance out of a video card you would want to buy something in the upper mid range at least...1gb of video memory for sure...if it were me i'd grab a minimum ati 4850 or 4870 1gb video card...that would get you ok performance from that motherboard...

good news is that mobo will handle 4gb of ram...400-533 mhz ddr2...not great but not shabby if you max the memory out...

for the power supply...grab a minimum 700 watt single 12v rail unit...

keep in mind if that mobo will not handle a dual core cpu, you won't be able to run a 64bit os and with a 1gb video card, 2gb of system memory will be wasted...and with a single core cpu/32 bit operating system...once you get the operating system on there you are going to want to trim the active processes waaaay down...as in make it strictly a gaming system with minimal active processes and it will get you fair performance...no email, no itunes, no anti-virus, etc...

[TequilaChaser]

keep in mind if that mobo will not handle a dual core cpu, you won't be able to run a 64bit os

is that something specific to just Intel single core processors?

Dad's PC is a single core AMD Athlon64 3500+ cpu and is running win7 64 bit without problems, with only 2 gigs of ram

[Chilli]

I think it is specific to Dell TC.

Also there was a typo on my mb specs, it should be Intel D945psn.

[TequilaChaser]

ah, ok Chilli, thanks........

what other things do you need Chilli?
 I have some
-different Ram Sets: 533mhz ,  DDR1, DDR2 ( different sizes and speeds 512 sticks, 1 gig sticks, etc )
-a couple ATI 3870 512 meg 4GDDR PCI-E videocards,
-some Case Fans 90mm , 120 mm,
-PSU
-SB soundcards   Live & PCI512 models  PCI slot type

and some other things..... I might be able to help you out with

TC

[NormH3]

for the power supply...grab a minimum 700 watt single 12v rail unit...

The problem with Dell is that their cases will not necessarily accept just any power supply. In the past, I have had to alter them so that one might fit. 700 watts seems a bit of overkill for this PC. 500w should be acceptible. Might be easier to find one in the configuration he needs.

[Dichotomy]

Before you start building if you use that Dell case you might want to enlist the services of an exorcist to break up the bad ju ju associated with all things Dell  

[gyrene81]

tc, i'm pretty sure it's specific to the intel single core cpus...i've heard rumor that vista64 was possible if using a mobo with intel 945 chipset and a p-4 extreme edition with ht...

The problem with Dell is that their cases will not necessarily accept just any power supply. In the past, I have had to alter them so that one might fit. 700 watts seems a bit of overkill for this PC. 500w should be acceptible. Might be easier to find one in the configuration he needs.

you're probably right...depends on the case design...if he uses an ati video card, a 500watt psu would be adequate but mid/upper range nvidias have a high 12v power requirement that most 500w psu's aren't capable of...

Before you start building if you use that Dell case you might want to enlist the services of an exorcist to break up the bad ju ju associated with all things Dell  

lol...dork...i'll have you know there is very little dell can break that cannot be made useful... 

[NormH3]

Before you start building if you use that Dell case you might want to enlist the services of an exorcist to break up the bad ju ju associated with all things Dell  

aww..come on. Dell is no worse than any of the other big manufacturers. I manage a complete Dell shop, except for one offbrand server that will most likely be replaced soon, and have had little or no problems with the hardware. I do understand that people have issues with their phone support, but if you tell them up front all the things you have already tried it is usually a bit easier to get to the real solution.