Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Hmm, maybe I could double it up as an airing cupboard then .... :)

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

OK, getting close to making the final decision :) :Yikes: !!

And what I'm thinking of is:

• Case: Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W
• Mobo: Asustek A8V-E/Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 PCI-E ATX
• (though that seems to be in short supplyat the mo; as an alternative I'm thinking of Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-E)
• CPU: Athlon 64 Vencie 3500+ (yep, you convinced me!)
• Memory: Corsair 2GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT400C3)
• Graphics: Gigabyte GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E DVI-I
• (and again as alternative Sapphire RADEON X800 GTO 256MB PCI-E)

Plus I may stick in a hard disk (probably a 300GB Seagate) and DVD writer if I've got any money left over!

Credit card's getting itchy ;)

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Is that your max spend? Could I tempt you to spend an extra 100 quid and throw a dual core 3800 x2 at it instead ? I am now running this and can very very strongly recommend it :)

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Had to grit teeth to get up to the 3500+ !

What's the real world speed difference? And will my other components be up to it?

Credit card now has a horrible rash :erm:;)

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Real world speed difference in single app running = 0(single threaded some apps run multithread now)
overall difference due to multitasking = imo priceless

I can run a full AV scan and play my games.I can re encode dvd and play games.I can encode audio and you guessed it play games.The only thing it does not like is opening apps whilst burning a dvd.On all other tasks ive found you can run 2 cpu intensive apps at once with no lag to either,or 1 cpu intensive app and any combination of lesser tasks lag free.
Yes all other componants will be fine(may need to update board bios but all come with easy apps to do this now,and update cpu driver which is availabe from AMD)

If your upto budget the 3500 will be sound :)

EDIT I bought my X2 from Dabs its cheaper ;) EDIT to my EDIT OC have reduced there price this week

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Thanks Zing - I did seriously think about it - but according to Asus 'Due to VIA K8T890 chipset limitation, A8V-E Deluxe and A8V-E Deluxe NW does not support AMD Dual-Core CPUs.' :(

I suppose I could buy a flashier mobo, flashier graphics card, quicker memory etc etc to go with the dual core, but I couldn't really justify it. :erm:

I'll leave that for the next build maybe ;)

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Just buy an nforce board instead of a via

According to Amd that information is incorrect http://www2.amd.com/us-en/recmobo/Re...~73649,00.html

Also the A8N is only £6 more as is the gigabyte K8N

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Good point.

And I've also found on Asus' site that the A8V -E Deluxe does support dual core:

[edit - pasting the table in doesn't work properly ]

Taiwanese techies eh ??;):erm:

[edit edit - except that the BIOS number needed stated for the A8V -E Deluxe is given as 1013 - and the highest one available to download is 1010 :rolleyes::confused:]

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

AFAIK all skt939 mobos with up to date bios will run a dual core cpu.My motherboards a nforce 3 with an AGP slot and it works a charm :) Sorry to have bought confusion to your day ;)

EDIT bios version 1009 is only 2 days old http://support.asus.com/download/dow...Language=en-us

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

I think it's ASUS bringing confusion to my day :)

I've now found a page on their site (a different one, natch) listing compatible processors.

It refers to

• Athlon 64 3800+ (CG version) (Socket939) ALL
• Athlon 64 3800+ (rev.E3) (Socket939) ALL
• Athlon 64 3800+ (rev.E6) (Socket939) ALL

which I thought at first meant the dual core. BUT:

The page for the A8N SLI Premium mentions those plus others specifcially called 'dual core' - so it looks as though this board WON'T support dual core.

To make things even more confusing, the A8V E deluxe has a CG and a D version with ALL bioses support, and an E3 and E6 supported by versions 1005 and 1008 respectively :confused:. Do they expect people to understand what on earth they're on about?

There must be thousands of people who give up building their own faced with this kind of lunacy :erm:. Don't these companies want to sell their products?

I'll stick with the 3500+ - though now I'm not convinced that even that'll work ;)

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Dual core cpus have E6 stepping. The newest bios on either board would support this :)

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Hi,

I think 2GB of Ram is way way overkill for what you want/need. 1GB should be plenty. Windows was designed for PCs with 128 to 512 megs of RAM. At a certain point, adding more RAM doesn't really get you much performance.

Also, the only DOA RAM I've ever had was Corsair Value Select.

I'd strongly recommend buying from Crucial instead. If you put in your motherboard make and model, their website will select RAM that they'll guarentee will work without error.

Also, just some advice from a long time PC builder:
1) Statis shocks will kill your nice shinny new CPU in an instant. Get a wrist strap, or at least make sure you touch something metel (and grounded) before you touch the CPU

2) Install the Motherboard, CPU, CPU Fan, RAM, video card and either a floppy disk or CD-rom drive. Then run memtest86+ for a few hours to make sure the RAM is working. Memory errors will cause random crashes and be very difficult to track down. If memtest86+ (http://www.memtest.org/) finds any errors, return the RAM as defective.

3) Go SLOW. Get set for a long time. If you feel yourself getting impatient, stop and take a break. This is particurly important when you are installing the motherboard, CPU, CPU fan, and RAM.

4) Make sure you use the right screws for the right parts. The case will come with a huge number of screws, motherboard stand-offs, drive mounting screws, etc.

5) Don't force anything. If something won't slot in, step back and take a look at it. Connections and RAM sockets are keyed, so they'll only go in the right way.

6) Don't be tempted to try the computer before installing the CPU fan. Modern CPUs have thermal protection to prevent an absolute meltdown, but don't test it. Running a CPU for even a minute without a heatsink/fan will cause it to overheat.

7) Make sure you've got good light and, and did I mention, take you time.

:) Good luck.

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

Thanks melevittfl :)

I'll think about what you've said about the memory - and then probably make my mind up at the last minute ;)

I'm definitely not going to rush this; I'll set aside a whole day to stick everything together, and I've got a wrist-strap from when I changed the heatsink on my current PC - and yes, I did remember to reconnect the fan ;)

To be honest, given the time I've taken planning the bits, and will take putting them together (plus the potential cost of buying extra stuff if anything goes wrong) it'd be cheaper just to go to Mesh or wherever and get a ready made one. In fact, I'm still 1/2 thinking of doing that. But I do want to try building it myself - just don't ask me why :)

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

windows 98/me worked with a max of 768 meg of ram windows 95 64 meg. xp addresses a lot more.And 64 bit xp addresses a rediculas amout of ram.Saying windows only works with 512 and reaches a point where it does not address more is im afraid out of date information.Standard 32 bit xp can address 2 gig of ram per application and xp64 4 gig

Re: I'm going to build a PC
 

I wasn't saying it only addresses a max of 512 meg, just that there's a point of deminishing returns were adding more RAM dosn't add a noticable increase in performance.

The difference between going from 1 gig to 2 gig is going to make a much smaller difference in terms of performance than going from say 128 megs to 512.