Pc upgrade - need help

[ikkitousen]

Okie moving house so my dad asked me to make him a pc ect and upgrade my sisters and my pc while i am at it anyway upgrading my system and giving my sister parts i have now lol anyway i just need advice on the stuff i am getting if there will be any conflicts with each other or if i should get something esle.

Asus AN78X DELUXE - the MB i will upgrade the stuff on

AMD *Retail* Athlon XP 2800+ *333 FSB* Barton 2.08 GHz

2xSeagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB SATA150

Corsair XMS3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB PC3200 32Meg x 8, CAS 2-3-3-6-T1, 400MHz, 6ns

Thermaltake (VA3000BWA) MicroATX/ATX Tower Case
Thermaltake Silent Boost HSF - A1889-01
Thermaltake Total Watt View 480w ATX PSU - can't bloody find em anywhere yet

I am also building a wireless networking but dunno if i should get the
WAG54G-UK from linksys

I am giving some parts to my dad making him a pc as well but he needs a wireless keyboard and mouse and also a tft / lcd so if anyone has any tips on em tell me he'll be using his pc in the living room surfing on the net mainly.

Thanks guys!

[mike_w]

If you fancy a bit of overclocking, you're better off with a Mobile Barton 2400+/2500+ (from CPUCity). These don't have their multipliers locked so you have more freedom to change the speed of the CPU, and they run at stock at a lower voltage. This means that there is more room to safely overvolt them, which means that you can overclock it more.

Also, for the motherboard I would recommend an NF7-S, but I think the board you've got there is nForce2 anyway, so it should still be pretty good.

Will you be overclocking at all?

[ikkitousen]

no i won't be overclocking i don't know how to i think its just risking it might burn to death lol

[mike_w]

no i won't be overclocking i don't know how to i think its just risking it might burn to death lol

As long as you're sensible and don't do anything stupid (like trying to overclock your CPU to double its speed straight away) its fairly simple. Just ask on these forums if you change your mind!

[BenW]

you might as well get an OEM Processor if you're buying an after market Heatsink

[mr_anderson187]

yeah ben wade is right, go for oem and the thermaltake slk 900a, and t emn maybe oveclcok, hurrah, that would be nice

[ikkitousen]

yea but the thing with that is i want retail becasue i would like the warranty so if anything goes wrong could send it back ect and get a replacement and also how easy is it to overclock?

[mike_w]

yea but the thing with that is i want retail becasue i would like the warranty so if anything goes wrong could send it back ect and get a replacement and also how easy is it to overclock?

Easy peasy! Just go into the BIOS and change a few settings! The CPU speed is determined by two things: FSB (Front Side Bus) times by the multiplier. The FSB also controls other things such as the speed of the RAM, while the multiplier just affects the CPU. You just need to increase and decrease those things in the BIOS, while keeping an eye on temperatures (I prefer to stay below 55C) and testing for stability (Prime95 is handy for that). You can also up the voltage - that helps you overclock the processor more.

The thing to remember is to do it in small steps, raising the FSB as high as it will stably go followed by the multiplier, while watching temperatures and stability every step of the way. Do that, and you can't go too far wrong!

[ikkitousen]

how much have you clocked your cpu by? and what temps are you running when its not idle?

[mike_w]

how much have you clocked your cpu by? and what temps are you running when its not idle?

I'm still overclocking my CPU since it is still fairly new. At the moment I have it running at 175x11.5 (I think), which is about 2ghz. Under load, it goes up to about 45C, which is in the very hot weather we're having at the moment. I intend to overclock more (hopefully at least 2.4ghz), probably when it starts to get cooler again.

[ikkitousen]

well i'll be gaming with this system so i don't think i can risk take i aint really with that kind of overclocking stuff so i will have to go for the cpu i already have tho now not sure about if i should get OEM or get retail and also if i should get the heatsink i posted from reviews its good but i want a heatsink and fan that can make the cpu temp low

[mike_w]

well i'll be gaming with this system so i don't think i can risk take i aint really with that kind of overclocking stuff so i will have to go for the cpu i already have tho now not sure about if i should get OEM or get retail and also if i should get the heatsink i posted from reviews its good but i want a heatsink and fan that can make the cpu temp low

If you're not overclocking, then the retail fan would probably be adequate. If you want quietness, then I recommend a Zalman heatsink. There's no point spending loads of money on a heatsink that cools really well unless you're overclocking in my opinion. At stock, the temperatures shouldn't be very high as long as you put the heatsink on properly.

[ikkitousen]

i've had bad experience with stock heatsinks so i'll look in to the zalman heatsink thanks for the tips mateand also is serial ATA really that fast do you notice it? or is IDE up there near the speed with it?

[BenW]

i think SATA is the same speed as IDE in the real world!

The only real advantage is that the cables are much smaller so you get better air flow

[Apex]

The retail heatsink is fine if running at stock, with good air flow (that doesn't mean 16 fans at full whack btw ) it can cope with a small overclock.

The rest of the system looks fine to me.

Regards ram, have you thought about the Corsair Value ram ? it's just as good

[ikkitousen]

hmmmmmmm no not thought about i was thinking it won't provide me with my online gaming but have you tried value ram before and what are the normal temps that i should get with the retail heatsink? also i might get serial ata might just get good seleved ide cables but not sure yet