Author Topic: New computer, advice needed (Read 720 times)

-ammo- · « **on:** July 16, 2003, 10:52:28 PM »

Hey guys, i am building a computer for my mother. This machine does not need in tense graphics capabilities, or sound either. She just needs a replacement for her 133 Mh Pentium. She does internet, and more internet. Lots of email, powerpoint, excel, loads lots of feminine type flowery websites..etc..

I want to build an AMD machine and dont want to spend alot of money. At a minimum, I will be buying a MB, processor, memory, and CPU fan and sink. I have a 32 Mb geforce 2 card to use, an ethernet card, CDroms, and a very small hard drive from her old machine.

can anyone suggest some reliable combos that are basic in nature, and will work well together? Are MSI MB's decent?

-ammo- · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2003, 11:25:57 PM »

Another question-

How much memory would she need do you think? Would 128 Mb be enough?

Roscoroo · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2003, 11:32:04 PM »

ECS K7S5A pro mb $69.00
any size/ amd cpu ( 1.0 ghz is around $30 ) and it will take up to a 2.0+
a stick of 256 ddr . this board will work with sdram or ddr.
a cheap sound card .(this board works with headsets though)
your gf2 video card.
toss your ethernet card into the spares pile.
And buy your mum a bigger HD, 20 gig or bigger.

out of my 3 pc's that went thru my house fire this is the only one to survive, its just alittle more then a year old and it plays AH just great, along with the C&C generals game.

one warning this mb takes a good size case to hold it, and not all mid stacks will work,

This is a great simple pc thats very cheap to build, and will exceed most expetations.

P.s 128 mb if your running win 98 , 256 or more for XP ,

ebgb · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2003, 02:48:50 AM »

AMD? The cooling requirements of the Athlons as compared to rival chips requires competent knowlege and maintenance of the fan and other dust collecting components to ensure long life. On the other hand, the Intel line of chips are more forgiving and are more suited for your type of computer owner. I'd be looking for a Celeron based machine with an integrated motherboard. You can build one of these and not worry a bit about it. Even the slowest CPU commonly available today will be quite excellent.
Most popular motherboards these days come with Network, Sound, and Video already on the board - not to mention 4 to 6 USB ports. Simple is best.
On cases, for functionality select a case with external usb ports on the front of the case. Why have her digging through the cables on the back to plug in her printer?

beet1e · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2003, 04:20:06 AM »

Ammo - some good questions, and if 20 people replied, you'd have 20 different sets of answers!

I have built three AMD systems, so I'll tell you what I would do/have done.

ebgb is right - AMD processors run very hot, so if you're scavenging components from an old system, I would be sure to use a decent tower case with plenty of cooling fans. I made the mistake of using an old desktop case which originally housed a P2-266 processor. My processor was running at 67°! By using a modern case with two fans drawing air in through the front and two fans blowing air out of the back, the processor now runs at about 50° + or - a few degrees depending on ambient conditions.

Click here to view the case I got - get one like it with the optional fans.

IMO, the best mobo you can get for an AMD processor is Asus - dsigned with AMD processors in mind. If I were to upgrade now, I'd probably get the AMD2100 CPU and Asus A7V8X mobo. I have been delighted with all the Asus mobos I've used, and their website provides excellent support. These components may not still be leading edge, but your mom won't mind. They'd even be good enough for AH. Some people have had issues with the VIA chipset and mobo drivers, and now err towards the N-Force chipset. All I know is that with my VIA boards, with correct mobo drivers installed, I've never had an ounce of trouble.

I use a dedicated SB soundcard in my PC, but my girlfriend and cleaning lady (two separate people - lol) have the Asus A7V333 board and use the onboard sound and say it's fine. Guess your mom would be happy with it too, so hold off the sound card purchase till after she's tried it out. As for the vid. card, the one I used for the cleaning lady build was the "64Mb ATI Radeon 7500 DDR AGP TV Out" - perfectly adequate, and inexpensive.

Asus A7V8X spec: Note, Asus supplies manuals for all its boards in .PDF format. Also available on the site are all BIOS updates. The new Asus boards have the "EZ flash" facility - BIOS flash program built into the BIOS, so no more buggering about with the DOS Aflash utitlity. You also get four USB2 sockets on this board. If I were building now I'd have USB joystick, mouse, keyboard - plus printer and modem of course. Optional USB expansion ports available.

One final note - it's vitally important to mount the AMD CPU cooling fan correctly! And they can be a squeak to get on. I use a screwdriver blade held between thumb and forefinger of each hand and press down the clip with the screwdriver blade. Don't mess this up!

ebgb - what would you use for cleaning dust off fans and other internal components?

straffo · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2003, 04:44:39 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by ebgb
AMD? The cooling requirements of the Athlons as compared to rival chips requires competent knowlege and maintenance of the fan and other dust collecting components to ensure long life. On the other hand, the Intel line of chips are more forgiving and are more suited for your type of computer owner.

Not completly true actually,former motherboard where unable to shut down an overheating Athlon it leaded to badly burned CPU.
Now they can shut the CPU and except if you are an hardcore overclocker(*) the risk is pretty small and IMO equivalent of an Intel CPU

(*) you know the risk and you have to know what you are doing.

Quote

Originally posted by beet1e
ebgb - what would you use for cleaning dust off fans and other internal components?

A simple Vacuum cleaner nothing more fancy is needed.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2003, 12:52:59 PM »

my amd runs at 40 deg C at the most when its hot day .(90 deg F)
the most ive seen it run at is 45 deg C . while playing a intensive cd game . most of the heat was caused by the cdrom.

My Pent 3 933 mhz use to run at 47 deg C just idling during the winter months. bolth pc's were matched w 2 case fans and same size cpu sink -n- fan .

In my opinion an AMD machine is cheaper to build then a = Pent machine. but i have seen some great deals on 2.0 ghz celerons and would not hessitate at buying one of those.

boxboy28 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2003, 01:11:34 PM »

Beetle i have the A7V8X i suggest if your getting that board you make sure it has the latest revison so it will have the VIA 400a chipset which supposrts the dual channel DDR the original version doesnt!

And make sure that the CPU you have runs at a 333FSB (i.e XP2500)
my AMD 2200 is set at 266 so im not getting the most out of my board + it doesnt support the dual channel DDR

I suggest if your getting an ASUS board go with the A7N8X withthe NVidia chip, Every one i here loves that board.

if you want to read up on problems and OCing advice got these forms and choose either board.
http://www.amdforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=218464

beet1e · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2003, 01:30:44 PM »

Thanks for those tips, boxboy. I was going to upgrade about 6 months ago, but was still getting 60+fps in AH, so didn't bother. Still running A7V133 with Athlon 1.2GHz and Elsa Gladiac Ultra GF2. I'll bear in mind what you said about the A7N8X.

boxboy28 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2003, 03:22:18 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by beet1e
Thanks for those tips, boxboy. I was going to upgrade about 6 months ago, but was still getting 60+fps in AH, so didn't bother. Still running A7V133 with Athlon 1.2GHz and Elsa Gladiac Ultra GF2. I'll bear in mind what you said about the A7N8X.

Like i said i have that board A7V8X
DDR3200
2200 AMD XP
ATI 9700 pro.
and your getting the same fps as i am as i have to run it @ 266 FSB and memory timings:rolleyes:

Pfunk · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2003, 03:53:46 PM »

Do NOT buy that ECS motherboard, K7S5A pro I went thru four of them from newegg that had varying problems on each one. The first worked fine for about 2 months then would lose the CMOS settings and go back to default on everything. The 2nd one wouldnt recognize the floppy, 3rd one the IDE interface would turn off for no reason. I RMA'ed them 4 times and finally said F it and got a Asus A7N266-VM AA (AMD Assured Version) NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard Micro ATX- Retail. This board is ROCK solid and has had zero issues in the 5 months it has been in use. Newegg has it on sale for $65.99 shipped, combine it with an AMD Athlon XP 1700+/266 FSB Thoroughbred Processor CPU 1700+/ 1.47GHz -Retail, AXDA1700BOX for $60 shipped and you have a killer combo $126. Retail boxed CPU comes with heatsink/fan/3yr warranty.

Pfunk · « **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2003, 03:55:38 PM »

Oh yeah sell the GF2 at ebay or someplace like it for $20-$30 and make up some of the cost as the ASUS Nforce board already has a GF2 integrated. No need for a soundcard or network card either since it has both integrated.

Pfunk · « **Reply #12 on:** July 17, 2003, 04:02:12 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by -ammo-
Another question-

How much memory would she need do you think? Would 128 Mb be enough?

Depends on which operating system you plan on using. If you have XP 256MB is a bare minimum. Win98 128 MB would be fine, but you can NEVER have to much memory in a system. Do not be concerned with heat as other people have mentioned, it is not necessary to go out a buy a new case with 2-4 fans. The supplied heatsink/fan combo is more than adeqate for an XP1700. Hell I have an "special" XP1700...one that had a special stepping/die that was able to overclock to 2.2Ghz and all I have is 2 fans and a retail fan/heatsink combo and it has yet to get over 47C.

-ammo- · « **Reply #13 on:** July 17, 2003, 06:47:02 PM »

I do appreciate the advice fellas. I lean toward the AMD because of the amount of power you get for the money. I have a athlon XP 1600 processor that runs fairly hot as well, so I put a loud, hi-revving fan and copper sink on it to cool it off.

I ordered the following today from newegg..

Got all that for about $150

Pfunk · « **Reply #14 on:** July 17, 2003, 09:48:16 PM »

Good choice on the mobo, it has everything you'll need and more. It has onboard dolby digital as well, via a riser card but seeing how its mainly for internet surfing you probably wont need to install it. It is an extremely easy board to set up. One thing to note however if you plan on using XP you need to install service pack 1 BEFORE you install the Nforce drivers or else it wont pick up the network card correctly. After you install nforce drivers it will pick up all the onboard stuff. Good luck with the build!