Tag: motherboard

Playing with new Computers!

My last post was about me playing about with old computers, the update is that I have reverted back to Puppy Linux as Zenwalk Linux kept throwing up “Disabling IRQ #10 – Nobody cares” and that was the IRQ the network card was using so I would lose the network!

This post is about me playing with new computers, or more specifically, I was building a new computer for my mum.
The computer I built is loosely based around my computer, its got a similar motherboard, the same memory and power supply, and its got my processor!

I brought myself a faster processor and a heat sink and I put my old processor in my mums computer!

Here’s a handy hint for trying to remove the heat sink from a processor, make sure the processor and heat sink is warm, because when the thermal paste is cold, it sticks like super glue!

Yes, I did manage to pull the processor out of its socket just by trying to get the heat sink off 😳 lol!
I also had trouble putting the new heat sink on to the new processor, I applied the thermal paste alright, I just could not get the clips to clip into place! And I swear all of the thermal paste has squeezed out of the sides!
I’ll find out when I next try to remove the heat sink! 😀

Till next time
Happy building!

New Computer Built

If anyone has been keeping an eye on my Flickr account, you may have noticed pictures of my new computer being built have appeared!
They are the best of the ones I took, and unfortunately don’t show every step I took in building the computer.

I started the build on the fourth of March (Tuesday) by fitting the power supply, motherboard, cpu, memory and DVD drive inside the case.
Then on the eighth (Saturday) I fitted the two hard drives, and connected all the cables!

The build went quite well, I brought a few extra bits that I didn’t actually need, but at the time thought I did need! Lol!

I found a few limitations with the case during the build, one of them being the extra hard drive bay in the bottom of the case right behind the power supply, I feel it was a little cramped, and that there was barely any room for the cables coming out of the back of the power supply!

There is practically no cable management built into the case!

And finally the external drive bays, only one side of the case can be opened, which means that only one side of any drive fitted is attached, but there is some support provided to hold the drive up.

There is also the problem of the blanking plates on the front. I found I could not remove the plastic blanking plate from the outside of the case, and I couldn’t push it out from the inside because of a metal plate that had to be broken off first.
Having the metal plate there may help with the cooling, or keeping the system quiet, but maybe there should be some easier way to remove it?

That’s all I have time for in this post, but I’ll post more details when I get another chance!

Till then,
Happy computing!

I’ve Finally Done It!

Way back in September I posted details about my new computer wish list, well I’ve gone and ordered the main parts of it, thats the CPU, Motherboard, Case, Memory, and PSU!

Processor: AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core BE-2350 2.10GHz (Retail AM2) £46.95
Product Details: http://amdqrg.getspringbox.com/gb-en/desktop/details.aspx?qsearch=true&opn=ADH2350IAA5DD

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H AMD 690G Socket AM2 Motherboard £34.95
Product Details: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2579

Memory: Corsair 2GB PC2-6400 C4 XMS2 (2x1GB) £49.95
Product Details: http://www.corsair.com/products/xms2.aspx

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 RX W0146 450W Modular PSU £29.95

Case: Nexus Caterpillar – Silenced ATX case £41.95
Product Details: http://www.nexustek.nl/NXS-nexuscaterpillarsilentsystem.htm

Thats a total of £203.75 exc VAT
Delivery was an extra £11.86
The VAT came to £37.73
Which brings the grand total to £253.34

It should all be delivered tomorrow (Tuesday), I hope it does, it was an extra £4 for next day delivery!
When I receive the parts I’ll take some photos and upload them to my Flickr account.

Till then,
Happy computing!

New Computer Specs/Wish List

I have been doing a lot of research over the past couple of days, and I have some of the final specifications for my new computer all sorted out!

Processor: AMD 64 X2 3800+ – About £40

Motherboard: MSI K9N SLI-2F – £44.25
Its a motherboard using the NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI chipset

Memory: Corsair 2GB PC2-6400 XMS2 (2x1GB) – £49.99
Its just 2GB of memory!

Graphics card: ATi Radeon X1950 PRO 256MB PCI-Express – £69.95
I know it’s not top of the line, but it is going to be way more powerful than what I have at the moment, and what I will b using it for!

Total: £204.19
The price doesn’t include a Hard drive, PSU, CPU cooler, case, or an optical drive (DVD/CD drive), but it is the base system, and gives me an idea of how much it will all come to!

I am stuck on what case to get, I could do with one that puts the motherboard on the opposite side of the, which would mean the motherboard is upside-down!
This is because the computer will be sitting on my right, and the left side (looking at the computer) will be up against the side of the desk
At the very least I don’t want any vents or cooling fans on the left side!

The missing components for my computer will be:

  1. A 200GB SATA hard drive – About £30
  2. A 450W – 500W PSU – About £50
  3. A combo DVDRW and CD-RW SATA drive – About £20
  4. CPU Cooler – About £20
  5. Case – About £50

Total: £170

Total1: £204.19
Total2: £170.00
Total: £374.19
VAT @ 17.5%: £65.48
Total: £439.67

Nearly £450 for a computer, some of the figures are estimates, but post and packaging hasn’t been added to the total, so it could be more!
I don’t think the specifications for the computer are that bad, it will mainly only be used for web browsing, and general home use, I wont be playing games on it!

One thing that is on my wish list that I haven’t added is a TV card, but I’ll add that at a later date!

I will create a separate post when I get more details on pricing for the other components

Until then,
Bye

The prices for the above were taken from the Aria website

I didn’t decide to stay on holiday!

I should start this with a link to my holiday photos on flickr.
I know that its been over a month since i got back off holiday, and i haven’t posted anything on my blog!
But I’m going to now!

I was going to start this post with details of our holiday, but I’ll now leave that for another post!

What has caused the long delay on posting? I don’t know really, but I think its time!
Ive been busy at work, and when I’m not at work I’m with my girlfriend, and I just don’t seem to have the time left to do anything else!
But I have managed to build myself a second computer! I am going to be using as a file-cum-web-cum-print-server.

A couple of years ago I brought a Via EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard from www.mini-itx.com which I was intending to put inside my old radio alarm clock.
I did put it inside the radio alarm clock, but I never got around to actually installing an operating system onto it, and ever using it, so its been sat on my desk gathering dust.

I’ve been wanting to change my main computer for something a little faster, and I thought now would be a good time to do something with the little computer!
So I brought a case, installed Fedora 7 onto it, and now I’m just trying to get file sharing going between it and an aging Intel Celeron (333MHz) via wireless, and two other relatively old computers (both AMD’s, a K6 500MHz and an Athlon 850MHz)

I’ve just brought 1Gb of memory for it, as when I initially got i, I only brought 256Mb for it!

I’ve already got the web server running, and webmin, now I just need to install the printer, and its practically done!

I’m typing this post up using the new computer!

I’ll post more details soon!
Until next time!
Bye!

Edit: I’ve fixed the type of my Mini-ITX motherboard to a VIA EPIA series motherboard, and I have updated the link to point to the correct url (http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/motherboards.jsp?motherboard_id=21)