Chucknbass

I haven't posted for almost a year, but am now ready to order my components for a new machine. I plan to re-use my monitor, keyboard, etc.. I plan to use my existing hard drive, an ST330630A (29 Gb, 7200 RPM, Ultra ATA/66) that is coming out of my old Dell XPS. I will add a HD when this one gets too full.

PLease look this parts list over and tell me if you see something wrong, un-wise, incompatible, etc.. All comments appreciated. BTW, this is mostly a gaming machine.

PSU - Enermax EG701AX-VE-SFMA Noisetaker 600W
Case - Gigabyte GZ-FSCA!-ANS Aluminum full tower ATX
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Skt 939
MOBO - Asus A8V-E Via K8T890 Athlon 64(FX) Athlon 64 X2 Skt 939 DDR ATX
MEM - Corsair TWINX2048-3200PRO 2048MB DDR400 (recommended for mobo)
VIDEO - ASUS EN7800GTX GeForce PCI Express 256MB
CD-RW - Asus CRW-5232A3 52x//32x/52x E-IDE/ATAPI CD-RW
CD ROM - Asus CD-S520B 52X IDE/ATAPI

The bill at ZipZoomFly comes to $1,704.28 with free 2nd day shipping.

What am I overlooking ?????????????? Am I ready to place the order ???? Does ZipZoomFly maybe have a service to make sure my components are all compatible?

Thank you in advance
Chuck

linderman

Your system specs look fantastic !! should be one hellva smoker

CPU cooler = ??????? i would imagine the retail cpu comes with heatsink and fan ???????

the hard drive is going to be your VERY weak link.

I would look on ebay for atleast an 80gig Western Digital ATA 100 with 8meg cache / they can be bought NEW cheap ~~ $40.00

that ATA 66 is going to crawwwwwl in that system !!

Congrats on a fine system / you have done your homework well A+++

you EVEN got the right high quality PSU needed to run your beast.

regards & enjoy / expect to hear some input when you get her together

PS >> PM me when you are ready and I will explain how to eaily add service pack 2 to your Win XP CD (burnable update !!) / so they load together on install day.
OHHHH YEAH you wont be able to just pop in your old drive and boot into windows unless you run SYSPREP before you pull it from your old system !!

regards

joe

whodat

no dvd burner?

kodi

I agree with Joe 100%, get a new HDD and use the old one as a slave if you have data etc that you want to keep.

Chucknbass

whosdat - yes, the cd-rw burner is there. Thanks for checking.

linderman - Thank you for your comments, Joe. I added a Western Digital 200GB serial ATA to the order, which is on the way. Monday I should begin building.

Question - Is there a recommended way to begin assembly? Like maybe to first assemble the case, psu and cpu, then startup and add all else one item at a time, or????
The main reason I had planned to re-use the old HD was to avoid buying another Windows XP CD. I guess I could always load the new HD with my Win 98 SE CD, then run my XP update CD. Bad idea??

Thanks again
Chuck

Chucknbass

The new CPU does come with fan and heatsink, but I didn't order any Arctic Silver. Will I need AC for the athlon?

Tx agn
Chk

linderman

I would strongly encourage you to use artic silver 5 / you bettcha !!!!!

I doubt you will find anyone to disagree with that !! AS5 is the undisputed champ !!


regards

joe

linderman

Chuck:

YUCK dont load win 98 and then an XP upgrade Ewwww!!

thats nasty useless registry snarl for nothing !! OS upgrades are a performance killer !!

and the sequence of assembly:

I like to start with a bench test. (dont install anything in the case yet)

1) put new mobo on the mobo box
2) install new cpu-thermal grease heat sink and fan
3) connect psu connectors (both of them 20 or 24 pin long connector and also the 12V cpu power connector)
4) install video card / leave the edge of the mobo hanging off the mobo cardboard box enough the video card riser can seat correctly
5) install one stick of ram (check mobo manual to see if there is a special slot for single stick config)
6) use a paper clip or other object to jumper the two pins on the mobo normally occupied by the case switch (power on & off button)
Now cross fingers and power the PSU switch / if you get to a bios screen ~~ he have reason to toast two glasses of wine !! :)

but more importanly / the key elements of the system have passed the pre-launch test

after this repeat the same steps except install the componets into the case and fire up again / if this is succesful to a bios screen ~~~~ YUP More wine !!! LOL

after the above pre-flights
just keep adding one thing at a time / and restart
the more you add at once the more the mudd will get deep when trouble starts

finally after hard drive is installed and cd-rom etc / load the OS / then load the chipset drivers, video card drivers, etc anything with a yellow exclamantion mark in the device manager

you arent gonna digest this all in one shot / dont hesitate to post as many questions as required to gain confidence

I would personally run the SYSPREP on your old hard drive / then install that drive with your OS on it

SATA drives can be a real pain in the tush all by themselves getting the controller to recognise the drive and boot from it / IDE drives are FAR easier / I would get your system up and running with the old IDE drive / then after a couple days of test driving / change to the new SATA drive

here is a sysprep "how to" its ultra easy !!!

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=772307


regards

joe >>>> feel free to PM me if needed

katherine23

it s a real dream!! hope you can find those parts!! bye ;)

Bulldog UK - Sheet metal machinery supplier