First post, by HunterZ
- Rank
- l33t++
Well I finally got what I thought was the last components of my new system (specs at the bottom of this post) today - a motherboard and CPU combo. By getting them I mean that I had to drive to the next town over to pick the damned package up from the UPS sorting facility because they didn't follow my instructions to leave the package with my next door neighbour in the (100% likely) case that my roommate might be sleeping too heavily to hear the door.
Once I got the package home and opened it, I saw that they put the CPU in the motherboard but didn't put a fan on it. I was pissed because I assumed that not paying the extra $5 for a fancier fan would mean that I would get a no-frills stock fan. I would have assumed at that point that I had just made a stupid assumption (cue Snover's reply), except that they listed the following on the invoice:
MB-KIT AMD MOTHERBOARD & COOLER FAN 1
MOTHERBOARD & CPU,APROVED FAN BY AMD
MBGA/7N400PRO2GA-7N400PRO2 nFORCE2 ULTRA ATX 1
I went to my local CompUSA (yeah I know - the better place had already closed) and picked up their $15 Intel/AMD fan. I put some of my roommate's Arctic Silver thermal compound on the CPU and put on the cheapo cooler, only to discover that it wasn't a snug fit (we didn't need a screwdriver to put it on or remove it, for example). I'll be taking it back tomorrow and buying a better fan+heatsink combo from CompuCare (www.compucare.com) across the street. I'm not planning to overclock, so I just want something as close to the stock AMD as possible - no LEDs or super-high fan speeds - just something quiet and not ugly that will keep the CPU cool.
I went back to the web site of the place I ordered the mobo+CPU from (www.unitedmicro.com) and pretended to start ordering another CPU/mobo combo, and decided that it was dumb after all for me to assume that I'd get a fan, as I explicity chose the OEM version of the CPU (because the retail was $75 more expensive). I don't feel too bad now though (other than the wasted time) because I could get a much-better-than-stock fan for $75.
Anyways, here is the system I'll have when it's assembled:
- Case: Black Super-Flower SF-561 ATX Mid-Tower Case http://www.directron.com/sf561t.html
- CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200 (Barton core, OEM, 400MHz FSB)
- Motherboard: GigaByte GA-7N400 Pro2 (Rev 2.0) www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/ ... 202.0).htm
- Video Card: Sapphire RADEON 9800 PRO ATLANTIS 256MB 256-bit DDR AGP8X TVO/DVI (Lite Retail) http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?pid=9984
- RAM: PC3200 1GB(2x512MB) Dual-Channel Optimized 400MHz - CAS 2.0 (2-2-3-6) http://www.hardcorecooling.us/index.asp?PageA … PROD&ProdID=462
- Optical drives: Samsung 52x CD-RW/DVD combo drive (only reads DVDs), Ricoh 32x CD-RW
- Hard drives: Seagate ST3160023A 160GB IDE, Maxtor 4D080H4 80GB IDE
- Displays: Samsung SyncMaster 700IFT 17" flat CRT, Cornerstone Color 21/75fp 21" CRT (old and weighs like 100 pounds, but it's big and does 1600x1200x70Hz)
- Input: Generic $5 PS/2 keyboard (the kind that CompUSA sells I think) and old Microsoft Intellimouse w/Intellieye 1.0 USB optical mouse (removed the weight and it still works well)
- Sound: Going to try on-board sound first. Might have to buy new speakers as I'm currently using a custom 4.1 system cobbled together from old home stereo and computer speaker systems, and without the kX drivers I might have to do either 4.0 or 5.1. I also picked up an Altec Lansing headset for use when playing UT2004 (with TeamSpeak for voice chat) on the LAN with my roommates
- LAN: Going to use on-board Ethernet port to connect to Linksys WRT54G router (which my roommates connect to via Netgear wireless 802.11g cards)
- Power supply: Got a generic 550W supply from directron.com that was on sale for like $25. I'll probably get a fancier-looking one later, as I have a window in the top of my case that would show off a pretty PSU
- Floppy: name-brand (don't remember which) 3.5" floppy (white, unfortunately - I should paint it)
- OS: WinXP SP2
I'm using the RAM and video card in my current system - they work great. I can even run the video card at 8x AGP in this old VIA motherboard (which wouldn't run my roommate's Radeon 9700 Pro at higher than 4x without locking up in 3D apps).
I should mention that the main reason I'm upgrading now is because my current computer is comprised of a significant number of components being borrowed from my roommate, who really wants to build a second computer out of them. Plus, I finally have a job that provides enough income for me to be able to afford to upgrade. I'd rather have waited a year, but I've planned ahead and got parts that will make a great server (or "data whore" as my roommate calls them), such as dual IDE controllers on the mobo, for a total of 4 channels (and an SATA controller with 2 ports as well, of course) - this way, I can upgrade again in a year or two and use this as a good second computer for serving files and running other non-game apps.