New Stuff!

[HonestJhon]

Hello everyone!
i am planning on buying some new stuff to massively upgrade my computer (and my friends computer, so that is why the price is so high, i am buying two of everything):

Qty Product Item # Unit Price Qty x Price

-ENLIGHT EN-72370X3C4 MEDIUM ATX TOWER CASE - OEM Recommended by AMD and INTEL Pentium 4 Ready with 300Watts Power Supply, 4 5.25" Bays, 2 3.5" Bays & 1 Hidden 3.5" Bay (Click here for Cooling Devices) N82E16811116119 $49.00 $98.00

-ECS K7S5A SiS® 735 SOCKET A MOTHERBOARD - RETAIL with On-Board LAN Port and Sound 5 PCI Slots, 1 4X AGP slot, 1 AMR slot. 2 DDR DIMM sockets and 2 DIMM sockets support (can not be used simultaneously). Two 184-pin DDR SDRAM (DDR200, DDR266) or Two 168-pin 3.3V SDRAM (PC100, PC133). Maximum: 1.0GB (DDR or SDRAM) N82E16813135102 $62.00 $124.00

-AMD ATHLON THUNDERBIRD1GHz 266MHz FSB Socket A PGA PROCESSOR -OEM Version N82E16819103158 $78.00 $156.00

-CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM 184-Pin, CL=2.5-Unbuffered 2.5V Requires DDR supported Motherboard - Lifetime Warranty. OEM/ NOT RETAIL BOX. N82E16820145001 $36.00 $72.00

-Thermaltake VOLCANO 6Cu. Heatsink + Dual Ball-Bearing Fan, FAN Speed: 4550±10% RPM. Max. Air Flow: 32CFM. Pure Copper base & contact face. Interface Material: Bergquist 225U. Dimensions: 80x60x65 mm. (* According to Manufacturer, This fan is designed for AMD ATHLON 1.5GHz+, INTEL PIII 1.13GHz & TUALATIN, up to 2.0GHz.*) Mfr's P/N: A1139. N82E16835106010 $13.00 $26.00


Subtotal: $476.00
*Shipping and Handling Charge: $ 49.34

Grand Total: $ 525.34

------------------------------------------------------------
this quote is from www.newegg.com

anyone else got a quote for the same stuff, (i am willing to change cpu coolers if it performs the same or better for a cheaper cost)
if anyone knows a place that will be able to give me a better deal for this stuff, let me know!
or just post to say what you think about this stuff...and if that is a good deal.(when there is a price, there is two prices. the first is the unit price, and the second is the doubled price because i am buying two)

thanks in advance for any suggections!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[HonestJhon]

oh yeah, how long will the fedex saver shipping take???
this is kinda important because i need to tell my friend when to come over.

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[btvillarin]

That looks pretty good. I just wanna know how that Volcano 6Cu works for you when you get it. I heard it was pretty good...

Volcano 6Cu is $10 at <A HREF="http://www.coolerguys.com/cpucool/duron.shtml" target="_new">Coolerguys.com</A> Hope that helps!

Kernel32.dll error...aw, son of a....

 

[dhlucke]

Perfect, but let me save you a couple bucks on the memory by buying directly from <A HREF="http://www.crucial.com/evguide/" target="_new">crucial</A> and getting <b>15%</b> off.

Their shipping is free as well, and I don't think you have to pay any sales tax which is important if you are from CA

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

 

[HonestJhon]

WOW, sweet, i think i will get it direct from crucial because that will drop the shipping cost from newegg..
and sure, i will let you all know about that heatsink.
and if i dont have to, i would like to get all the stuff from one place, so that i dont have to deal with a bunch of places, and keep track of a bunch of different orders!
but i think i can deal with buying the ram direct from crucial!
thanks bro!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[HonestJhon]

DUDE>>2nd day shipping for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
awesome
saves me like almost 20 i think!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[HonestJhon]

ok, i finally got everything.....
i didnt order online because my friend was getting anxious, so we just took a nice trip to fry's, and slapped down the dough...
here is what we bought, and it was in double...because two almost identical systems...
1. athlon 900 (200 fsb...in about a month or maybe two, i will be upgrading this i think!)
2. thermaltake volcano6cu (friend got the 6cu+, and the noise is insane.....i warned him...hehe)
3. 256 pc2100 ddr (not crucial, it is 2.5 cas tho...pretty sure...the generic stuff they had..)
4. k7s5a
5. generic case, with nice 350 watt psu...dont know brand, but it works great, and puts out juice to specs...
6. ms-831, installed without a hitch (had already)
7. usb optical intellimouse (had already)
8. 17" viewsonic .26 dpi (had already)
9. diamond monster sound mx-300 (had already)
10. linksys lne100tx (had already)
11. hauppage win tv pci (had already)

got home, put mine together, helped friend put his heatsink on, and showed him where to put the standoffs, and then i got to installing win98, and drivers...did it one by one, and disabled all the onboard things...lan, sound, modem...and all the com ports, since i dont have anything that uses that anyways...
anyways...my main concern is that the cpu is being reported at ~890mhz by most things...(3dmark2001, cpuid...the likes)
it is at the most 890....sometimes lower...i think...i just know that it hovers around there...
the temp isnt that bad...34-36...40 full load...so i suppose that means that the heatsink works good...
in the bios, i set the fsb to 100/133...
i am pretty sure that is what i have to do since the ram is 266, and the cpu is 200...and ddr...
in 3dmark 2001, it reports the fsb as 66mhz...
strange...any ideas on that one?
well, i seem to be happy, my video card is actually working..and i am getting constant 99fps on quake3...with everything turned up at 1024*768*32...so not too shabby...
but i would like to know what would cause this fsb thing to happen...
thanks for any info!


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[Crashman]

FSB is never exact. In order to make it fly I suggest you overclock to 133FSB (making it a 1200 "C"). The 900 should do that easily if it's a newer core revision.

Back to you Tom...

 

[HonestJhon]

could i find out what core it is, and how new with cpuid?
if this works..that would be great...more than what i paid for...hehe
also, for monitoring temp on this thing while in windows...what should i use?
on my epox, i had the usdm, which monitored the system stats, like the input/output voltage, fan speed, temp, so on...
i think motherboard monitor will do it, but just wondering if there is one that is made for the ecs...

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[Crashman]

Temp probe? Never heard of it! J/K, I don't know on that board. Not to say there's anything wrong with it, I like that board.
I don't think you'll find all the information you want in the way you propose, but you can try it. I would try just bumping up the bus speed and see how it works. You should be able to use the 133 setting in BIOS even without the special "overclockers" version.

Back to you Tom...

 

[HonestJhon]

yeah..i think i will try it, i just wanted to see how hot this thing gets under load...
i mean, i dont know if the bios is going to load a cpu like max payne or something...but then again, i am not sure..
alright, time to try this, and install directx 8
hehe
and i have been trying to download the latest agp drivers, but they keep timing out from ecs' site....
goes at like 280 BYTES, for about 10 minutes..then just craps out..
ok...i'll be back in a bit, hopefully with good news!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[HonestJhon]

eh..the 133fsb was a no go...unfortunately..
when i exited the bios, and restarted, i got a nice blank screen...so i had to reset the bios, and then re-set it up...
eh..oh well...
it seems to be working..and that is ok with me...
alright, time to go run 3dmark 2001 again..see if updating directx made my score go up at all...

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[Crashman]

Try getting them directly from SiS at <A HREF="http://www.sis.com/support/driver/index.htm" target="_new">http://www.sis.com/support/driver/index.htm</A>

Back to you Tom...

 

[HonestJhon]

well, i got motherboard monitor, and it says that in windows i am running 51*c....and the system temp in bios is like 41*c
that norm for an athlon 900?
seems to be stable...

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[Crashman]

Seems OK to me, I think it's reading a little higher than reality. Athlons are fairly heat tolerant, as long as it's stable you can take it as far as maybe 65C under full load.

Back to you Tom...

 

[HonestJhon]

ok..
good...as long as it isnt running too hot...
eh...i downloaded the agp drivers from sis directly..and thanx for the link!
what was strange was that there was two different download links there, and both are the same file...but one is listed as being 7 megs, and the other is like 2...strange...the one i downloaded unzipped itself, and i ran the setup.exe that it unzipped...
oh, it also gave me about 15 more points on 3dmark2001...hehe
so now i am getting 3024 points with everything running at stock speeds...
now it is time to go to sleep!
thanks for the info!
i will post back here if i come up to something good, or bad, but i hope good..
and i think that this board was very very worth the money...it is stable...and everything was compatible with it...my mx-300 is not having problems, like it sometimes did in my old epox...when i watched all the drivers install, and windows boot up without any problems the first time, i was extremely pleased, and anyone who reads this, and was thinking about getting this motherboard, i would say to get it...unless you want to pay extra for the leadtek....
but i have to say, for roughly $70 with tax, this thing is rockin...and is very fast!
go 735!!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[Crashman]

That's a BIG bonus with the 735, that it supports Vortex2 cards, with all their awesome sound!

Back to you Tom...

 

[kdogg]

Does your temps ever fluctuate?? Sounds like you need to get the patch at the MBM site for the ECS board, MBM will always read 51C untill you properly install the patch... If you look closely you will see that almost everything else in MBM is not working properly (unless you used the patch that is)

 

[HonestJhon]

what is the patch called...and do you have a link..because i downloaded the program from their site, and it seems to be doing what you are talking about...
sisoft sandra reads my temp different...
it is at 41 right now..


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[btvillarin]

41°C using MBM? Is that how good that Volcano 6Cu runs? That's pretty darn good. Is it pretty quiet too?

(Man...I wish I could build another one. Anyone wanna donate $500? j/k)

Don't pay any attention to my chickenscratch.

 

[HonestJhon]

it is 41*c in sandra....mbm doesnt seem to be actually monitoring anything...
and the thing is quieter than my old golden orb...
my friend got the 6cu+, which is the same heatsink, with a 7000 rpm fan on it...and that thing is untolerably loud...i dont know how he stands it...
mine is about as loud as a powersupply fan...
and the system is stable..
it wasnt that hard to install either...the hardest part for me was getting the thermal grease spread evenly on the die.....
but that is a different story...
i dont understand why it is hard to install a heatsink on a socket a....if it has those pads, and you install it the way that you are supposed to...then there should be no problem...
i like the volcano6cu...and it was only 14 at fry's...and online it was 13, plus shipping....the base is clean, smooth, and shiny....
very good deal for the money...



-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[btvillarin]

I was looking at the website for Motherboard Monitor. Did you configure it to your motherboard? Here's the settings:
<A HREF="http://mbm.livewiredev.com/comp/elite.htm" target="_new">http://mbm.livewiredev.com/comp/elite.htm</A>

How is it hard to install? Just the amount of pressure you have to put?

Anyways, I'm glad that it's working great. If it's as loud as a powersupply fan, it sounds pretty good to me. I just wouldn't have any case fans, and my system would be pretty quiet.

Alright...have fun! (I hope that link helps you configure, because I believe MBM is better.)

Don't pay any attention to my chickenscratch.

 

[HonestJhon]

ugh....
changing it to that, it made it read as -1*c...
hmm...i doubt it is that cold...
i dont know...maybe i will just assume that the cpu is running at a safe temperature, and not worry about it...
i might e-mail the programmer or something, see what they say...
and this board is somewhat new, and i dont know if they made mbm5 to monitor the k7s5a RIGHT...but i dont know since i cant get a temp to compare to...
and the spring wasnt hard to put on the slugs of the socket..the thermal grease was hard to spread evenly without getting it on other things on the chip....
thanks for the info tho anyways


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-