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Upgrading


khunsanuk

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soongmak said:

And yes, I build desktops in a briefcase to overcome the laptop limitations, HD size, HD speed, Video card, DVD burner etc. Standard parts and desktop prices too. And I can Mod the heck out of the regular compnents as well.

 

If you want to post a picture of a briefcase PC, I would sure appreciate it. Sounds like a hack of a machine you're building!

 

I'll be happy to put up some pics once I get done... and get another camera....sold my last one as some may remember.

I'm really quite proud of this effort as it is designed as a Sanuker PC. You can show up with this in hand, plug into your hotel (or village) TV and watch DVDs, burn copies of DVDs from the latest street stuff, and have a full computer at your disposal. Modem and broadband are there, and all the normal toys. I have a small wireless keyboard and an 'air' mouse. That's right no need for a mouse pad, or even a hard surface. Great for presentation in powerpoint or freaking out the gf. ::

Since I use it a lot for a diagnostic machine, I run 4 operating systems and can back up other peoples hard drives, and I made a custom 'driveleech' that I can access your machine without it even being on, (or it's dead).

 

Unfortunately this case is a little to small to put a screen in (I'll get a bigger case for the next one), but I will bring a LCD screen along and monitors are cheap anywhere. Right now I am modding the power supply........ custom sizing all the wiring for this case, then shrink tubing it all and installed custom 'glow in the dark' connectors. A few LED fans and a bit of custom lighting and it should be mucho cool.

 

It's a lot more work than just shoving it in a small cube case, which works well too, but this is my personal machine, so I can fool araound a lot. :neener:

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I have been building PC's for years. You can't go wrong with ASUS motherboards, solid as a rock and built for overclocking, they also have excellent tech support. I would shy away from a Celeron chip, nothing wrong with it per se as it has been a workhorse for intel in the bargain chip category and has many generations under it's belt; I would simply avoid them because when you go to upgrade your MB it will be a pain in the ass to find a compatible newer generation MB for the chip. I am an AMD guy myself because they offer the best chips for the money. Don't forget to buy a decent fan becausechips runreally hot these days. Thermaltake is a decent manufacturer. I would definitely get at least a 350 watt power supply and a variable fan on it would be nice, if u plan on using alot of devices and power hungry cards. get a min of 512 DDr, if your running win XP and plan on doing a little gaming. Get a vid card with 128mb and that should hold you for a while. As far as HD's go I prefer IBM/hitachi, I have been using them for years with no problems, Western Digital is my other favorite brand.

You should be fine for a couple of years while we wait for manufacturers shift from ATX to BTX and PCI express becomes the norm. I wouldn't go investing in any fancy Lian Li or other high end cases until BTX becomes the standard. Just buy a cheap case for now and wait.

 

Remember to buy hardware for your software needs, I like to game so I use hardware ideal for gaming, some people just need internet and office apps so I would suggest getting the cheapest box you can.

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Hi,

 

"no such thing as 'too much' drive space.."

Dunno, I had 100Gb and only used half of that, and half of that again was homevideo from my parents' trip.

 

"Heck I got 15 gigs of stuff for you here that I downloaded for you. or did you forget already?"

Nah, not forgot and I'll find the space for it :)

 

"glad to see you got a decent system put together. and that clean install will be a blessing in the end........"

Yes, I know. It's just annoying having to go through it.

 

Sanuk!

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Timely post, KS - my own desktop is showing signs of imminent departure, after several years of successive upgrades.

 

OK, everyone else has had their say, so here's my 2 bahts worth :

 

1. What are your expectations of the system ? This should be the sole driver in determining the best config for *you*, not something the marketing guy at Dell thinks you need.

 

2. I will *always* pay for RAM and HD space, in that order, over CPU. Always.

 

3. I value *reliability* over overclocking capability and extensability - I now see PCs as a consumer item : if you can get 2 years out of it then hand it on to a school, thats a good deal IMO. Anything with a single return-to-local-shop warranty gets my interest, even if its not the fastest machine on the block.

 

I admit that I've broken two of these rules for one purpose only - games :: - but I've never messed around with any of the machines that I needed to use on a daily basis. As I said, your mileage may differ.

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Hi,

 

Just ran the monitoring software that came with the motherboard and while the voltages are now all showing as okay, the CPU A temp is still too high (68C). When I reduced the bus speed from 166 to 133, it did bring this down to 64C (still too high), but of course also dropped the speed of the PC. So, should I keep it at 133 or doesn't it make much difference with regards to the heat problem.

 

There is also no fan on the graphics chip, just a heatsink. Should I add one there?

 

Sanuk!

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Not a big deal, but I'll throw in my 2 satangs as well... I hope it's not too much off topic.

 

"And I see no reason to buy a 64bit CPU at this moment as there are ZERO programs that can take advantage of it"

 

Linux has full 64 bit support and has had it for quite some time.

 

Windows XP has a long-standing public 64 bit beta that seemed to be ready to be released quite some time ago. Apparently MS is holding it back to coincide with the new Server 2003 update, which is running behind schedule due to security issues.

 

I'm not saying that there are a lot, just saying that there are more than ZERO.

 

I'm buying the 32/64 bit MPUs now so that I can take advantage. And they don't cost anything extra than the 32 bit MPUs. An Athlon 64 3200+ is around $250, maybe even cheaper by now.

 

I think that Intel already announced that by the end of this year most of their P4's will have the 64 bit extensions.

 

64 bit should help database and CAD/CAM apps.

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It seems like I could have written your post, almost word for word.

 

One addition. I've had excellent recent experience with Seagate drives. Seem rock solid and quiet. I've also had great luck with IBM/Hitachi.

 

And after some bad experiences a few years ago, I stay away from Maxtor.

 

As for power supplies, the new Video adapters are power hungry, so I'd go with a 400 Watt PS to give some room.

 

As an aside, I've had about 4 power supplies blow in the past 4 years. Different machines. When one of them died, it fried the MoBo and a couple of my adapters.

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Hi KS,

 

fine that the voltages show ok. Are they still shown out of range with the little program you used first?

 

For the chip that has no fan you want to say it's the chipset that does only have a fanless heatsink without a fan. Can see it in the manual. No problem, Gigabyte knows what they are doing. This way the fan can't die on you, right? Many mainboards arounf with fanless heatsinks for chipsets, favored by many for reliability and less noise.

 

Your CPU temp still worries me. Did you get a new heatsink with the CPU or did you use the old one? 68°C is way to high for normal use.

When you reduce the bus speed from 166 to 133 you reduce the overall speed of the CPU. The 2500+ is specified for 333MHz (2x166Mhz), multiplier 11. So it runs with 11 x 166Mhz = 1830MHz (please don't check the equation). by setting it down to 133Mhz you get 11 x 133MHz = 1463MHZ which is about a 1600+ (so no wonder heat goes down). No problem, switch back to 166Mhz for the front side bus.

 

So temperature, what's the room temperature where your computer is? Then after the computer runs a few minutes, is the air coming out of the power supply warm or hot (can check that with your hand). But really, you got a new heatsink specified for an AMD 2500+? Important!!! Who installed the heatsink, you or the technician? You know if thermal grease (just a little, not too much) was applied to the CPU before mounting the heatsink?

 

Sorry, so many questions again.

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I upgrade every couple years or so, usually wait until I can triple the clock speed of my current machine. And as someone mentioned, a notch or two down from the very latest hardware will save you a bunch of money with little loss in performance.

 

Currently, I?m in the process of building a new machine from scratch. I went with the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe MB with a 3.2 GHz P-4. And so far, I?m very happy with the performance improvement. Recommend two DDR3200 512 mem modules and two serial ATA 10,000 RPM hard drives running in a RAID stripe cfg for your main drive.

 

Wouldn?t be too concerned about upgrading the display card unless you are a power gamer. Anyway, you can always do that later if necessary. I?d opt for a new case with a stronger power supply first.

 

ST

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