Pc Help for novice

[itswesty]

AM2...interesting, I think I would go along the AM2 line myself, something I am tempted to do instead of getting an opteron 144 and a 939 mobo.

[letshavesome]

thanks for all your help guys, im still confused on what to get in terms of motherboard and graphics card.

I think ill go for the;

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
I want 2gb Ram is possible but if its 1gb ill get that instead.
LN14408 530W Hiper HPU-4M530 SLi Ready Black ATX2.2/BTX SATAx4 PCI-Ex2

thanks

James

[MantisCSS]

u cannot go wrong wit the 7600GS, they have been rated very highly, also if u get a SLI Board such as the Asus SLI SE there is alwasy the option to get anothe rint he future

[letshavesome]

thanks

just wondering if i could have the links for the motherboard (if i haven't already got it). Was wondering whether 2gb would be an affordable option to go for and would the 550w psu be powerful enough? Just wondering, i have a Coolermaster Aero 4 Lite, DI4-7J74F, P4, Socket 478, 23.6 - 37.5 dBA, would that be useful on my cpu?

What would be better, the 7600GS 512mb or 7600GT 256mb

thanks

James

[Smokey21]

Gt.

[letshavesome]

I just wanted to know the difference between OEM and Retail for the CPU?

Also, will the POV 7600GS 512mb be suitable for my needs.

thanks

James

[killkoy]

oem 1 yr warranty, no heatsink and fan
retail 3yr warranty with heatsink and fan

[MantisCSS]

go OEM m8, get it cheaper.

[letshavesome]

thanks, still unsure what graphics card to get? Also, got one question about my current pc, i cant seem to get any sound from it. When i play sounds they wont play and windows sounds are "beep" which sound like there coming from my computer not speaker?

[MantisCSS]

do u have a sound card?

[amjedm]

I've Googled the mobo and it does have integrated sound.

I think YorkieBen deserves an award for that spec

[FatalSaviour]

It could be a number of things then.
Start from the silly things.
1. You're speakers are definitely on?
2. Is the speaker cable DEFINITELY plugged into the right port on the motherboard...most motherboards nowadays have at least 3 ports into which the 3.5mm stereo jack will fit. Only one of these will work for outputting sound. If they're colour coded, it should normally be plugged into the green port.
3. Are Windows or Wave sounds muted?
4. Is Onboard Sound disabled? This is toggled in the BIOS. If you need help with any of the above, don't hesitate to ask

[FatalSaviour]

Forgot one thing....drivers for your sound might not be installed...
If you right click on My Computer, and click "Manage".
Then go to "Device Manager"...
Are there any items with a yellow question mark, or a red cross by them?

[letshavesome]

ive check the device manager and on sound on controllers there are;

Audio Codecs
Creative Game Port (has a red cross)
Creative SB Live! series (Yellow exclamation mark)
Game Port for Creative (Yellow exclamation mark)
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Drivers
Media Control Devices
Sound Blaster 16 or AW32 or compatible (WDM) (Yellow exclamation mark)
Sound Blaster 16 or AW32 or compatible (WDM) (Yellow exclamation mark)
Video Codecs

thanks

James

[letshavesome]

How could i tweak YorkieBen spec to add up to £450?

[this_is_gav]

Personally, I'd swap out the case/keyboard/mouse/PSU combo for something a bit more robust. The following to be precise:

LN5845 - Microsoft Black Optical Value Pack V2 - Multimedia Keyboard & Intelli Optical Mouse £17.85
LN9857 - Asus TA-210 Black Midi Tower Case £36.41
LN11602 - 430w Seasonic S12-430 aPFC PSU Silent ATX2.0 £41.00

Solid as a rock. Take away the £26 for the combo posted, and add the above, bringing the total to £445 including delivery.

You might want to consider a better graphics card instead, but I've always been of the opinion that what you interface with (keyboard, mouse, monitor and any other frequently used peripheral, such as wheels and joypads) are the most important of all.

I'm also a strong believer that the most important internal component of the lot is the PSU. I'd never use a budget one, ever, even in the cheapest of PCs. The cost of losing your PC is just too big a risk to consider in my book, especially if you're on a budget, as warranties don't cover a hard drive, mobo, CPU, RAM, etc if they get taken out by a cheap PSU, leaving you with £400 of scrap metal and silicon, and no money to replace them.