Building a Computer for my sister!

[bm]

Evening all!

[Delta_]

Yeah that looks good.  Make sure you get OEM windows XP Home it is a lot cheaper.  Also you often get a manual with the motherboard giving you detailed instructions on how to do it.  One other thing make sure you double check that the heatsink for the cpu is put on the right way around, it is amazing how often it is not and it will over heat if you don't.  Have a look at OEM cpus aswell and buy a silent cpu heatsink and fan with it they are much better.

[bm]

Thanks Hyvry1_Delta for your reply, I was thinking of getting some of the kit from overclockers as 4_Series_Scania reccomended them I think:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

I had planned to get a retail CPU - I think it comes with both a heatsink and fan. Is that not the best thing to do?

Im not at all sure about the Motherboard! On the list of supported CPU's it missess out the barton 2600+. Will it work?
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/ ... hp?UID=456

Barton (0.13u) 166/333MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache
AthlonXP 2500+ 166 Auto OK
AthlonXP 2800+ 166 Auto OK
AthlonXP 3000+ 166 Auto OK

Im also not sure about what sort of Hard disk to get, what sort would be compatible with the motherboard?

Sorry about all these dumb questions!

[Delta_]

I don't know if the HSF with the retail 2600+ is quiet.

[bm]

The third one down on this page:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ ... arton.html

Unfortunately they don't seem to offer an OEM Barton XP2600+. Perhaps I could try the retail one and if the fan is too noisey I could replace it with another one.

Alternatively I could get the OEM Barton XP 2500+ with a 3rd party HS/HSF. such as this Akasa AK-821 2Q Silent CPU Cooler (Socket A) (HS-003-AK)
http://www.akasa.co.uk/akasa/coolers/ak ... 821q-1.htm

What would you go for? or can you recomend something else?

[bm]

Grrr! What is the difference between all these drives!

Am I right in thinking that any IDE drive will work with the motherboard? I just don't understand what the difference between ATA-100 and -133 is!

I think the motherboard stats say it supports ATA-133 but then it goes on to say something about  Ultra DMA???? Im beffuzled.....
[quote]

[Delta_]

ATA-100 has 100mb/s transfer
133 has 133mb/s transfer.
Any of the above are compatible with that mobo.

[Jared]

A 2600+ just for school? WHy don't you head over to the for sale forum, and check out the 1800+ that I have for sale with a bunch of other stuff...

I'm about ready to take the best offer right now..;-)

[bm]

Thanks for the info Hyvry1_Delta! That has been extremely helpfull!

Other side of the pond I'm afraid Jared! And by the time its been shipped over here 64bit CPU's will be as cheap at this rate of computer developement (obsoletement)! Thanks for the offer though.

I am currently drawing up a motherboard and Harddisk comparison chart to see which ones are best, they are all the same to me! (different colours though - that may well be the deciding factor if my sisters got anything to do with it!)

[4_Series_Scania]

Birdman, why give the gal a high performance car with skinny tyres?  ;)

An XP2600 with a GeForce MX ! - You cruel sod!  ;D

Joking apart, seriously just for a mo, you'd be far better with a cheaper cpu but slightly better GFX card Say an XP2500 with an FX5200 or do you think she'll just play Solitare? C'mon, she'll never get the best from her PC if she can't take an occasional break from the mundane Uni work & get some quality gaming time ,even if it isn't FS related, (You pre-installing a copy of FS may just get her interested...  :-/ )

As for the hard drive, This Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB 7200RPM ATA100 - OEM (HD-001-SE) (Overclockers)  I've got one, I'd happily get another.....  8)
Beware the I.B.M. / Hitachi (one in the same) Deskstar HD's, they have had poor reliability - my brother in law has had two fail on him! http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2003/debian-user-200308/msg02682.html - An interesting read about the "DeathStar" drives as me & my mates call 'em.  ;)

My little sister (28!) has gone from a work-related pc user to an avid GTA Vice City fan following my upgrade of her PC - an XP2500 with 512MB PC2700 and a GeForce FX 5200 128MB (Asus 9520) and an Asus A7N8X-X mobo, previously, she did'nt even bother with Solitare, now I doubt she works as much as she games!!!

Sisters eh?  ;D

Paul.

[bm]

[quote]Birdman, why give the gal a high performance car with skinny tyres?

[Delta_]

Unlike you two i actually like and respect my sister.

[bm]

Right! - how are maxtors for reliability?

I have 4_Series_Scania recommending Seagate and Hyvry1_Delta recommending Western digital! So I thought I'd better go for niether.............

Seeing as the Maxtor has the best specification and good price (but its only a few quid in it!) is there any reason against them?

The description Overlockers.co.uk gives seagate is tempting though:

Seagate's Barracuda ATA V disc drives deliver 7,200-RPM performance for desktops and entry-level ATA servers, with capacities up to 120 Gbytes. The products feature all FDB motors for the quietest acoustics in the industry, superior reliability and the Ultra ATA/100 interface. These drives include Seagate's exclusive 3D Defense System and a one-year limited warranty.

Does the cache make a difference to performance? - Although I doubt that my sister will be using even 50% of its potential!

Any thoughts on the motherboard? I have heard that Nforce2 is better but does it really matter?

[Delta_]

Larger cache means better performance, however i dount your sister will use its full potential.  NForce are the best ones but that is really for a high-end gaming system and your sister may not see the benefit.

[Jared]

I can atest for the quality of the Seagate barracuda drives, they work really swell!

and recently (Since christmas) I have added the 120 Western digital caviar drive, and it seems to be workign really well so far...:-)

Both are 7200 RPM with the 8Mb buffer...;-)