Buildng my own PC - I have questions - any advice?

[Dowding]

Ok, my computer is not very good, so I'm going to get another. But I'm not buying a system, I'm instead going to build one from scratch. Probable specs:

Athlon 1.2 T-bird
Abit KT-133 Raid MB
256 Mb 133Mhz RAM
46 Gb UDMA100 HD
Prophet II Pro 64 Mb

Basically, I remember reading once that having more than 128 Mb actually SLOWS your computer down (since there is more memory to address). Anyone know if this is true with modern systems?

I've looked into the cooling aspect of the PC, and I little concerned that I might not get enough fans for the set-up. Basically, I know that a fan is needed for the CPU (and one comes with the Prophet) - do I need another for the case? Or maybe two case fans?

Does anyone have any tips on building a PC, like things to avoid? I bought 'Building a PC for Dummies', but it wasn't particularly enlightning.

Thanks for any help, I'm very grateful.  

[WarChild]

Youve got a good plan there. As for your cooling issues, i go by the motto: "Too much air is never a bad thing"  Do some research on CPU fans.. most stock cpu fans blow chuncks.. you'll want at least a dual fan heatsink unit. also i run an additional 2 case fans + the power supply fan.  depends on the case u buy how many fans you cn mount... u can also leave the case siding off if you dont have kids or pets to get in there.  no matter if u have an open case or close siding.. u should dust at least every 2 months or so.



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WarChild
VMF-323 ~Death Rattlers~
"Where's the Charmin!"

[Cleaner]

Buy the best pc133 Ram you can afford, make sure it test's out to a minimum of 150 fsb in CAS 2 setting. ABIT makes a great board, you made a fine choice there. Also, look around for BIOS install guides for the board you are using. They will give you tested BIOS setting so you dont have the rack your brain finding the right settings yourself. Please make sure you have a huge case, the bigger the better and a 400 watt power supply minimum. The best part of building your own system is you know what you have in it and can always upgrade for a pittance of the cost. Have fun and if you have any questions let me know, I have built four of them now.
               Cleaner

P.S. You can never have enough fans....    


[This message has been edited by Cleaner (edited 12-13-2000).]

[Camel]

Just built my first a couple of weeks ago, it basicaly was alot easier than I expected.

Here's a few links; http://www.coolerguys.com/  

http://www.heatsink-guide.com/  

http://www.madonion.com/performance/  

http://www.tweakfiles.com/  

http://www.tomshardware.com/


[This message has been edited by Camel (edited 12-13-2000).]

[TheWobble]

This is how I made alot of money, building Comstom PC's for people who wanted what in affect is a personal arcade, people get really sick of having all that extra crap dell and gateway puts on their machines.  I would never buy a "clone" form any of them places, building yer own is the way to go.

[SKurj]

nm that 128mb ram crap
128mb ram gonna be recommended minimum any day now....
IMO you can never have enough, and its soo damn cheap now... remember the last price hike?! ouch!!


AKSKurj

[bloom25]

The Athlon is a GREAT choice.  You will have one major problem though.  The 1.2 Gig has a heat dissipation requirement of 72Watts!  The prophet Geforce 2 is probably another 50+ watts. (72 Watts is more than a standard light bulb consumes.) You will need to buy a top of the line heatsink and fan for the Athlon.  Check out the new heatsink article on Tom's Hardware guide:  www.tomshardware.com

(Be very careful when installing the heatsink and fan on an athlon thunderbird, you can bust it if you aren't careful.)

You MOST DEFINATELY need a case fan.  I'd even add extra fans and a 300W power supply is a must. Make sure you get a good (Athlon Certified) one.  Antec and Sparkle are two good brands I've used before on systems I've built.  

I've found a great little solution to the GeForce2 with Athlon systems heat problems is a slot fan.  These fans can mount in the slot right below your AGP slot.  They cost about $20 and will dramatically lower the temperature inside your system and of your video card.



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[Dowding]

Thanks for the advice guys!   I guess some of you probably charge by the hour for the advice you've offered.  

I thought about waiting for the Pentium 4 price to come down, but it's still likely to be too expensive for the performance trade off. The Pentium 4 motherboard also needs a special case and power supply, which are selling at stupid prices over here at the moment.

I'm terrified of building a machine that costs so much, only to smell that tell-tale smoke after a few minutes.  

Guess I'll have to have more noise if I'm going to cool the whole thing down.

[This message has been edited by Dowding (edited 12-14-2000).]

[Maverick]

I'm one of those who are concerned with heat in the puter box. Shortly after I got my current system I put my hand on top of the box and was surprised how warm it was. After that I opened the side panel and put a small (6") fan about 2 feet away and blowing into the open box. No problems with heat any more.  

Mav

[Dowding]

Hehehe Mav.  

I've found the perfect case - I've asked them to include a 300W PSU to a Chenbro Blando (full tower), with a 6cm fan and an 8cm fan built into it. The Athlon will be cooled by an AMD approved fan.

Including the fan on the MB and the Prophet II, that's FIVE fans in one box! Maybe six including the PSU fan. I hope it isn't too loud!  

[StSanta]

Strap props to those fans and you have a flying superfortress with escorts  .

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StSanta
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"

[Starbird]

I have a t-bird 1.1ghz system, and got a fop38 heatsink for it.

It works great. Before the FOP, my cpu would heat up to about 43C under high stress, now it generally doesn't go above 33C or so.

Also used arctic silver cooling compound on the cpu to help transfer heat to the heat sink. The reviews say it can help reduce another few C.

Bought 2 7200rpm fans to put on the back of the case, to help cooling (got a case that doesn't have much for ventilation). They're awful loud, but they do a great job at cooling.

I've been able to clock my processor to 1.25ghz, but its too unstable. Actually, it starts to get unstable above 1.1ghz. I think it has to do with other factors (memory maybe).

I also have a hercules geforce2 ultra, and have clocked that to 275/490. I might get a blue orb for it (tho it seems to have a good heatsink now, and its blue, not sure if its as good as a blue orb).

In AH, at 16x12x32 I get around 40-70fps. down to 20 in heavy smoke. Not much noticable slowdown in large bomber formations.

Heres the specs:

t-bird 1.1ghz w/global win fop38 heat sink
abit kt7 (non raid)
hercules 3d prophet2 ultra
256megs PC133(NEC)
40gig maxtor 7200rpm HD
among some other things (sound, network)

[Skuzzy]

Guys,..cooling a computer is a science.  More fans do not equal better cooling and can actually serve to create dead spots in the case.

The best way to prevent a cooling problem is too make sure the CFM matches the incoming and outgoing rates of the fans in your computer.

If you have too much outgoing air, you create a negative pressure in the case, which can create dead air spots, and also creates air that will not dissipate heat as quickly as zero pressure air.

If you have too much incoming air, and not enough outgoing, you create a positive pressure case, which is the worst, as the air then dissipates less, and can generate more heat in areas of the case.

Simple solution.  If the fan is to be used for pulling air in or pushing air out of the case, then make sure the CFM ratings all add up to cancel each other out.

So if you have a 600 cfm intake fan and only a 300 cfm exhaust fan, you better make sure there is openings in the case to allow at least 300 cfm of air to flow or your case will be pressurized.

Component fans do not effect the equation much, unless there is insufficient areas around the component to allow the air to flow at the rated cfm of the component fan.

Hope this helps.


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Roy "Skuzzy" Neese
President, AppLink Corp.
http://www.applink.net
skuzzy@applink.net

[qts]

Two points:

1 - Memory: 256 MB is now less than £100 from MicroDirect

2 - Do think about the noise level. Go to QuietPC for a whisper PSU and fan

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qts

[putz]

Man you dont need all them fans that one dude talking about,  just the normal cooling stuff will do , i've been tweaking puters since I twas a child of 11 unless your crank the cpu up any cooling problems you will have will come from your pci/isa layout as in how you lay your additional boards out in the box get a fat board so the spacing is greater and keep the video to a single fat AGP board none of that dual stuff & stick a 5 dollar cpu fan on the side of your pci line by using a hole saw and a couple of cheap screws to hold it in place if ya paranoid about heat. forget dat 20 fans in the freakin box bs,only if you crank up the v's and x's on your chip/board do you worry about heating. even then i've got chips running at 163% with just the box open and no problem for months now. If you gonna have a heating problem it will come out in the first 20 mins you burn your system in. So only a pwrsup/fan and frontbox fan will do the job fine and a port potfan if ya paranoid. or spend 25 bucks for a stupid pci slot fan with 1/2 the flow rate and worse yet it draws really crappy across the board. (we tested it with cool smoke to ck the flow pattern)