attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

[craigwatanabe]

Okay you computer techies out there. I've finally decided to attempt to build my own computer. Actually it's for my 15-year old boy who also wants to learn how. We've decided to start with a very modest investment (about $350 for a barebones system/HD/Memory/Processor) with plans to upgrade the processor and video.

The goal is to make an easy computer to understand what we're doing. If we fail miserably well it's only $350 down the drain and lots of spare parts to use for our next project, buying one ready made.

Okay I bought the parts and am waiting for FedEx to deliver them to me. Here's what I bought and all from NewEgg.com:

Intel Celeron 2.26 GH with 256 L2 cache
Roswill DDR400 (PC3200) 184-pin 256Mb x 2 ram
Maxtor ATA133 7200rpm 40GB hard drive
SOYO Barebone System for Socket 478 at 400/533/800 FSB Intel CPU, Model SY-A45A0 (this includes a SOYO Mid tower ATX case and power supply)

The barebones is a special going on right now at
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...157-001&depa=0

It includes the Mid-tower design case in black and silver, an ATX Motherboard socket 478 and 350-watt power supply. The price after $40 rebate for this barebones system is $50.00 Yeah no joke!

Now I don't think this project is going to be as easy as it seems so I may be on this message board asking for a lot of advice when everything comes in and nothing boots up.

As for optical and floppy drives, I got three burned out computers to cannibalize from all P3's.

Right now if we can get this project to fire up then we'll drop in another couple of hundred for a Radeon graphics card and another few hundred for a P4 with HT since the motherboard with the barebones system can accomodate a P4 with HT and a FSB of up to 800. Now all this jargon I just learned from painfully reading PC Modder and PC Builder magazine and trying to understand what the hell they were writing. I finally figured what Hyper Threading was and Front Side Bus but when it comes to configuring the BIOS, I think I'll be prepared to load a gun and shoot myself if I can't figure that part out.

Is building a computer like this fairly easy? I really want to understand how to build this thing because my closet is filling up with desktops that won't boot up and I want to fix all of them and donate some to some of the neighborhood kids who's families are too poor to buy one themselves.

Thanks for any help.

[Konaguy]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

It should be fairly easy . Just remember before you power
the computer up, you have everything connected properly. I fried
my last computer by not letting the static discharge.

[j3rr3y]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

Putting together a computer is easy IF you have all the right parts. Its sorta like putting legos together lol. BTW, the barebones you showed there has NO CPU or memory included... you do know that yeah? If you run into problems while putting it together, just post here, I should be able to help you out

my main job is to put together computers for the army

[craigwatanabe]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

you know all the PC Modder fans are bent on maximum cooling so....I was thinking...I'm building this computer for my teenage boy with room for gaming upgrades. The mobo (motherboard) can accomodate a P4 with HT. It can also accomodate processors with a FSB of 800MHz and DDR400 memory of up to 2Gb.

All that tech jargon aside, cooling seems to be the "cool" mod to do to your case/processor with fans and water cooling, even dry ice!

Now I have this spare 12vdc auxillary cooling fan I bought but didn't need for my BMW. This sucker pushes in some major CFM, enough to cool a decent automobile engine in bumper to bumper 90-degree weather. I'm thinking of cutting a major hole in one of the access panels (as a joke) in this SOYO steel case and mounting this fan in it (14-inch diameter). The noise will be unbearable but when it comes to cooling, it'll be the envy of all the gamers at my boy's next LAN party when he turns on that thing.

Maybe I should mount an automobile oil-cooler and run it as a water cooler for the CPU. Can you imagine that small radiator device bolted on the side of his gaming computer?

I'm learning a lot from building my kid's computer for the first time. I did buy a cheapo Celeron-D processor at 2.26 MHz with a 256Kb L2 cache and running at 533 for the mobo's FSB. I also purchased some memory, DDR400 (PC3200) 512Mb ram and an ATI Radeon 9200SE graphics card because this mobo doesn't include video. I also purchased a 40-Gb ATA/133 hard drive as opposed to a SATA because of cost (the HD cost me $40).

Eventually my kid wants to upgrade the processor to the mobo's max: P4 3.4GHz w/HT and 1Gb onboard cache at 800FSB, 2Gb of ram and a 128bit graphics card (the one I bought for him is only a 64-bit but it should suffice for now with the Celeron processor)

But I will probably be searching for help once I'm ready to do the initial boot up and configure the BIOS which should be sometime early November when the graphics card arrives (it's backordered). Thanks for the help!

[j3rr3y]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

Yeah... it certainly would be impressive, however, the noise would be as you said unbearable, making it completely impractical, IMO. The celeron Processor is not a high performance cpu, and doesnt generate too much heat. However, if you wanted to do some extreme cooling for the purpose of looks... I would recommend cutting a window out of the side panel, and ordering a good water cooling kit, with clear water tubes. You can then get some UV Sensitive dye, put it in the coolant, slap some UV CCFL lights, and you have a glowing water cooling system. This generally gets good results for a simple mod.
Good choice on the graphics card btw... ATI is definately the best in most price ranges.

My current system:

AMD Athlon 64 (bit) 3400+
ATI Radeon x800 Pro
2GB Geil Dual Channel PC3200 C2.0
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe Motherboard
Samsung 160GB SATA x2 HDD
--\
Its currently in the process of being painted by my friend who does auto body stuff. I will post some pics when its done being modded. It should be pretty cool.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

I wanted to go Athlon (for the pricing) but I've been a bit leary about AMD regarding SP2 and just the compatibility issues with applications.

I'm slowly learning the different name brands and ATI was recommended to me. What's the purpose of dual channel memory? As for the CPU, if this build is successful (with the help from you folks out there), I'm planning on another build when my boy decides to upgrade to a P4. I'll take the Celeron and build myself a decent host computer for my network (that I'm also learning to understand).

I eventually want to build a computer that will handle all of my multi-media home theater stuff and network it to all computers in the household wirelessly. It's ambitious but I'm taking classes on networking and it seems like a decent project to keep my retired ass busy.

I'm learning a lot from those PC magazines and hopefully from this message board thread. Suddenly desktop computers are gaining my attention again. Should be fun!

Thanks for your input and help, I'll be hitting you again for more info as I proceed with this project.

[easTTriver]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

Eventually my kid wants to upgrade the processor to the mobo's max: P4 3.4GHz w/HT and 1Gb onboard cache at 800FSB, 2Gb of ram and a 128bit graphics card (the one I bought for him is only a 64-bit but it should suffice for now with the Celeron processor)

1GB cache?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

yeah come on stay current man...nah I meant to say 1Mb of cache, sorry.

Gee I was reading CPU magazine and realized that my ATI Radeon 9200SE 64Mb AGP graphics card is passe now and that current gamers are working with 256Mb PCI-E cards on the newer 915-chipset motherboards. I'm so obsolete before I even build this computer and even if I decide to upgrade to a P4 with HT, my socket 478 mobo is also obsolete even with the capacity to run an 800MHz FSB processor because it doesn't have the newly released PCI-Express bus that's supposed to run circles around AGP and PCI.

And just when I determined that motherboards that have integrated graphics built onboard was a bad thing because it robs ram and processor speed, the new 915G mobos are turning heads on the hardcore exclusive graphic card motherboard users because those boards are outperforming their wildest expectations on what integrated graphics shouldn't do.

So much to understand! And I thought a P4 with HT was enough to be current...Hah was I wrong! Then there's cooling, fragging and what else do gamers indulge in, oh yes silent running boxes.

I need help wading through all this stuff!

[adrian]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

- Go with the AGP video cards for now. Unless you'll be locking up the computer and won't be upgrading it for 2 years, then PCI video cards are useless untill the other technology won't bottleneck the performance (and they haven't used up all of the bandwidth that AGP offers, so just wait a few more years).
- Stay with a 128mb video card, unless your son will be doing CAD work or running some extreme setup that requires a lot of video memory.
- 512mb of RAM is all you need.
-*Looks at the first post* NOOOOOO!!! NOT A CELERY!!! That's the worst move you could have made. I know that you have a low budget, but if you look around, then you can get a faster P4 or even an Athlon for that price, and it'll probably kick the behind out of that celery.

Choose a crappy mobo, a highend video card, just don't choose a crappy processor.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

But I don't understand the major differences in the P4 and the Celeron other than speed.

The Celeron D has a rated FSB of 533 and an L2 cache of 256k, same as certain P4's. The only difference I could see is that the P4 has hyper threading.

I know there must be an advantage by going P4 but what is it? Otherwise anyone wanna buy a brand new Celeron-D with 256k L2 cache, 533 FSB, heatsink and cooler fan for a fair price?

[adrian]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

But I don't understand the major differences in the P4 and the Celeron other than speed.

The Celeron D has a rated FSB of 533 and an L2 cache of 256k, same as certain P4's. The only difference I could see is that the P4 has hyper threading.

I know there must be an advantage by going P4 but what is it? Otherwise anyone wanna buy a brand new Celeron-D with 256k L2 cache, 533 FSB, heatsink and cooler fan for a fair price?

Its just that there's some instruction changes between those two, and IMO, the P4s are good for gaming, multitasking, or future upgradability (you can do that with a celeron, but you'd have to get a good motherboard to guarantee that).

If you want help in building the computer, then PM me and probably we can make an appointment where I can show you the ropes.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

IT'S ALIVE!!!! IT LIVES!!!! Oh crap had to reset the BIOS...BUT IT LIVES AND BREATHES WINDOWS XP HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (efx of maniacal laughter echoing in Keaau......)


Actually the build was the easy part, simply slapping everything together, even the BIOS resetting was a piece of cake. After loading in Windows XP, Norton Anti-virus and Open Office (great freeware that emulates MS Office) and Office 2003, I began the tedious process of updating drivers, OS and Anti-virus software.

Now that may seem duck soup but try downloading 10.7Mb of data at 30.2Kbs (dial up with a 56k v92 modem and crappy telephone lines). It took six hours just to update Norton anti-virus! I'm still not done!

My first computer build was a complete success! Amazing, even my wife couldn't believe it. I can't even put together a friggin TV stand from WalMart but I was able to throw together all the stuff needed to make this computer fly. Next step is to upgrade the cpu to a P4 with HT technology and use the Celeron-D 2.26ghz cpu for my home entertainment audio media center computer that's my next project.

Thanks for all the support!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

Right on Craig! Don't forget the anti-spyware software, too.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

Eh Glen I got em installed and updated already. Ad-Aware SE loaded and cleaned out the system and ready for installation of SP1 and SP2. That's another all nighter on the internet. I have to do this after midnight when my wife logs off from her online classes at Chaminade. They do this all night chat discussions on Child Development and earn credits while the instructor follows the chat and chimes in occasionally.

That chat room is soooooo boring.

Today I'm painting the monitor black to match the SOYO gaming case I bought to house everything, it's a Sony Trinitron 17" flat screen that I picked up at a computer recycling store (Community Technology Center Hawaii: 934-7748 in Hilo) for $29. It had a year 2000 manufacture date so it's still pretty recent. All it needed was a focus adjustment and that thing is razor sharp now. Tomorrow I finish the project with a trip to Office Max and pick up a decent matching (black) internet keyboard and optical mouse. For sound I'm using my existing Altec Lancing three piece system with subwoofer and another Altec Lancing set of computer speakers for the surround. This PCI sound card is a 6-channel board.

I just may end up keeping this one and build another more powerful monster for my boy. This build was a test to see if I could do it and keep the cost under $600.

[adrian]

Re: attempting to build a computer with no knowledge base...help!

Wait, why are you installing Open Office and MS Office?

Congrats on your build! Don't forget to update XP and install SP2!