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My System Build

Started by yokosi, September 01, 2004, 13:39 hrs

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yokosi

Hi all, im going to finally build my new pc.  I gathered this info quickly, so I hope everything is compatible with eachother.  What do you all think?

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 333 Barton Socket A w/fan ( Retail )
Enermax CS-30881TA-MW LC-B350ATX (TSP/BlueLight CF&TD)  
Asus A7N8X-X nForce2 400 AGP/S/L
PC3200 400MHz DDR 64x64 "512MB" 184 pin DIMM
WD 800JB 80G 8M UATA100 / 7200rpm

Im using my Geforce 4 mx420 Vid Card

BTW, does anyone know if this board supports SATA?

Thanks for looking
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

pat

Here?s a couple of links for you.
A7N8X-X
Does not have SATA
A7N8X-E Deluxe
Has SATA

Looks like a nice system.
If you use two identical ram modules instead of one you can take advantage of the dual channel ram feature.
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

yokosi

#2
There we go, thanks for the links.  Im sort of on a semi tight budget so im not sure if I can get that board.  I can live without SATA.  
Thanks a lot for the dual channel feature I forgot about.  Here's the new setup

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 333 Barton Socket A w/fan ( Retail )
Enermax CS-30881TA-MW LC-B350ATX (TSP/BlueLight CF&TD) w 350 PS
Asus A7N8X-X nForce2 400 AGP/S/L
PC3200 400MHz DDR 32x64 "256MB" 184 pin DIMM (2)
WD 800JB 80G 8M UATA100 / 7200rpm


Think im going to order it tomorrow after im 100% possitive about it.

Thanks for the reply and advice Pat :)
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

Carskick

What are you going to do for optical drives?
Athlon64 X2 3800+ Machester@2.45Ghz, 4x1GB A-DATA PC3200@204(2.5-3-3-6), XFX 8800GT, ASUS A8N5X NF4, Antec 300 case, Antec EarthWatts 650w, 640GB 16MB and 200GB 8MB 7200RPM SATA WD HDDs, NEC3540, NEC3550, Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate<br />Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/Carskick

yokosi

#4
I already have the rest from my old pc.  I got an LG DVD ROM and a Pioneer DVR-107 DVD +- Burner.  The motherboard has built in sound, but I can use my other sound card.  Floppy I got, vid card I got, monitor, keyboard and mouse as well.

BTW what do you guys think about the
AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 266 Thoroughbred Socket A w/fan ( Retail )
CPU.  I can save a chunk of change if I grab this cpu over the 2800.  Is there a huge difference between the two?

Thanks
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

Carskick

Yes, there is a huge difference. The 2200+ has a slower FSB, less cache, and a lower clock speed. It will be noticably slower. Unless the price difference is huge, it's not worth it. You could get away with the Barton 2500+ or Barton 2600+, as they still have the 333FSB and 512KB L2 Cache.  
Athlon64 X2 3800+ Machester@2.45Ghz, 4x1GB A-DATA PC3200@204(2.5-3-3-6), XFX 8800GT, ASUS A8N5X NF4, Antec 300 case, Antec EarthWatts 650w, 640GB 16MB and 200GB 8MB 7200RPM SATA WD HDDs, NEC3540, NEC3550, Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate<br />Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/Carskick

pat

Agreed, I had a 2500+ in my old system and this one has a 2800+ there is no discernable difference in day-to-day computing.
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

yokosi

Thanks guys.  Unfortunately, my local wholesaler only has the athlon xp 2200 and 2800.  Im just going to spend the extra dough on the 2800.  The difference in price was around $100 cdn which I wanted to put towards a 120gb hd instead of the 80 I have listed above.  
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

Whizbang

#8
I would also go the retail packaging route on the CPU.  You get a full three year warranty, as opposed to one year and a respectable fan/heatsink, although not a great one.  It costs only $10.00 or $15.00 more.

New Egg is hard to beat for overall service and shipping time.

yokosi

Yup, I am getting the retail packaging for the CPU.  I think newegg only ships to the states, im in Canada.  Plus, I get my costs a bit cheaper on all of their parts plus I save even more b/c I buy locally and save  on all shipping costs.  Still good prices though.  Im probably going to order my system any day now.  It's tough forking out all of this money when you've got so many debts :(
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

yokosi

#10
We'll, I just got my system :D

Im going to build it tomorrow b/c im off to work now.

One thing I didn't notice is that there's no bios or chipset drivers or anything with the mobo.  Don't they usually come with the mobo?

I just wen't to the Asus site and downloaded the bios.  It's just a bin file.  Do I just burn it to cd and boot it up on my machine after I build it?

Thanks
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

Chandler

The board will already have the BIOS so you don't need to do anything.

What you will need are the chipset drivers, and these are installed immediately after installing Windows.

Buffalo2102

#12
The .BIN file is not a CD image.  You have two options for updating the BIOS on the A7N8X-X.

1. Copy the BIOS file to a floppy disk and make a note of the name of the file.  Reboot the PC and press ALT and F2 during POST.  This will bring up the built-in BIOS flash utility which will prompt you for the name of the new BIOS file.  Put the floppy disk in and type the name of the BIOS file and press ENTER.  The utility will ask if you want to back-up the existing BIOS and I recommend that you do - just call it oldBIOS.bin or something like that.  The utility will then back-up the old BIOS to the floppy and flash the new BIOS.

2. Create a bootable floppy disk and copy the BIOS file to it.  You will also need to download AWDFLASH and copy that to the floppy as well.  Leave the floppy in the drive and restart the PC.  The utility will come up as above and you should just follow the same steps.

Hope this helps.

PS  Try the BIOS that is already in the board.  If there are no problems - leave it alone.  Don't flash to the latest version unless you have problems and a newer version fixes them.  Updating the BIOS can be disastrous if anything goes wrong.
Vista x64 Home Premium. Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Abit IP35, 4 Gig Kingston HyperX PC8500C5 DDR2, GTX260, Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer, Antec 900 Gaming Case.

yokosi

Thanks a lot guys for clearing that up
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

yokosi

Hey guys, im building it right now.

Im having troubles with the heatsink though.  Does anyone know how to properly install and lock it.  There's 2 arms/hooks on each side and both of them can't be locked in at one shot.  Only one side, and when that side is in, it's impossible to get the other one down.

Anyone know how to properly lock it and support it onto the cpu?

Thanks
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

pat

#15
Take a look at these AMD building guides.
In particular the one for attaching the heatsink.
It does take a fair amount of pressure to attach the clip. Just be sure of proper placement of the heatsink beforehand.
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

yokosi

I was affraid to apply too much pressure on the heatsink, but I got it in without any problems.

Im on the machine right now and it's excellent.  Huge difference going from the pc in my sig, p3 garbage.

I'll try and get some pics up later on.

Thanks for the help guys
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

pat

Great, looking forward to some pictures.
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

yokosi

Here's some pics, I put the urls so the page doesen't take ages to load.

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

yokosi

haha. just noticed I forgot to snip that tie strap on the first pic :p

Only thing is the dual channel isn't working, im guessing the modules aren't placed correctly.  I'll fix that :)
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

Hoot

#20
Fantastic. This is exactly what I had in mind for system builders to post when i  first suggested a system builders forum. Now you admins see what i'm talking about, and that there is nothing wrong with pics from real builders with real rigs (as long as they are sized down well). No overhyped, overpriced flashy $3000.00 systems. We have an everyday guy with an everyday system here But it's not just "everyday". On all of the other web sites you see higher end water coolerd rigs. I don't want to see that stuff anymore. I can see that in any magazine, and on any tech website. I wanted to see rigs just like that one. I can look at those all day. Must be the inate builder in me.  Way to go  yokosi. Keep us unformed. By the way list all of the specs on that bad boy, including your sound card, power supply and all. Even if cheap (PSU that is).  Need some rear fans for air exhaust though. Nice pics and glad its running well.

yokosi

Hye, thanks for the reply.  It's been running great so far except the first couple of days I browsed the net for a bit without a firewall and got like a bunch of viruses and spyware.  So I reformatted already a few days back and installed service pack 1 and 2 for xp and all of the updates, plus norton antivirus 2004, spyware search and destroy, adaware, etc

So far it's been excellent, it's a hundred times quieter than my old one, you can barely hear it.  Great machine :)

Here are the specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 333 Barton Socket A w/fan ( Retail )
Enermax CS-30881TA-MW LC-B350ATX (TSP/BlueLight CF&TD)  
no name ps (power up)
Asus A7N8X-X nForce2 400 AGP/S/L
PC3200 400MHz DDR 64x64 "512MB" 184 pin DIMM
Samsung 800JB 120G 8M UATA100 / 7200rpm
Geforce 4 MX420 Vid Card
LG DVD ROM
Pioneer DVR-107 8+- DVD Burner
MOBO has built in sound, so I decided to keep my old sound card in my other machine.
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

iansl

Now put it in youre sig ;). Great job!
Dell Inspiron e1505, Core Duo T2050, 1 GB DDR2-533, 160GB WD Scorpio 5400RPM HDD, 8x DVD+\-\DL burner, GMA 950, WXGA panel, Windows Vista Ultimate, Office 2K7 Pro (thx M$)

iMac Aluminum 2.4GHz 20" w\4GB RAM, LP1965 LCD, OS X 10.5.2 + WinXP Pro
Macbook Air 1.6GHz 80GB HDD, OS X 10.5.2 + WinXP Pro, SuperDrive addon

The man, the mac user, the cell phone

yokosi

thanks man.  yea I got to update that sig :)

oh and Pat, I just found out that my mobo doesen't support dual channel memory :(

So im probably going to g out and grab a 512 stick for my third slot.

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/faq/qanda.aspx?KB_ID=84593&SLanguage=en-us
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

iansl

Quote
oh and Pat, I just found out that my mobo doesen't support dual channel memory

Quote
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 333 Barton Socket A w/fan ( Retail )

Athlon XPs don't support DC either.
Dell Inspiron e1505, Core Duo T2050, 1 GB DDR2-533, 160GB WD Scorpio 5400RPM HDD, 8x DVD+\-\DL burner, GMA 950, WXGA panel, Windows Vista Ultimate, Office 2K7 Pro (thx M$)

iMac Aluminum 2.4GHz 20" w\4GB RAM, LP1965 LCD, OS X 10.5.2 + WinXP Pro
Macbook Air 1.6GHz 80GB HDD, OS X 10.5.2 + WinXP Pro, SuperDrive addon

The man, the mac user, the cell phone

Carskick

Quote from: iansl on September 19, 2004, 19:37 hrs
Quote
oh and Pat, I just found out that my mobo doesen't support dual channel memory

Quote
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 333 Barton Socket A w/fan ( Retail )

Athlon XPs don't support DC either.

They don't have built in Dual Channel Memory controllers, but if the mobo/Chipset support it, you can still reep the benefits. Currently, only the highest end CPUs have built in dual channel controllers, such as the FX51 and FX53.
Athlon64 X2 3800+ Machester@2.45Ghz, 4x1GB A-DATA PC3200@204(2.5-3-3-6), XFX 8800GT, ASUS A8N5X NF4, Antec 300 case, Antec EarthWatts 650w, 640GB 16MB and 200GB 8MB 7200RPM SATA WD HDDs, NEC3540, NEC3550, Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate<br />Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/Carskick

yokosi

ah i.c, thanks for the updates on that.  
I built the system quite fast so I guess I didn't do enough homework on my part.  

Not a problem though, it's not that big of a deal.  Im just going to go out and grab a bit more memory b/c I need it with the work I do on it, so i'll have 1024 mb of ram.

Still very happy with the system though, performs really well.  
Asus A7NX-X motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2800 processor, 1 GB MB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 4 MX420 Vid card and crappy sound card

pat

Oops.
Sorry I was looking at the regular x not x-x.
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64