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New business build

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Hi Everyone :D 

I'm planning my first build. This system will be for business only (browsing, email, writing, billing/invoicing, etc). Nothing fancy. No gaming or heavy graphics on this system but I do want it to last a while. (I have a separate gaming system).

So here's what I'm looking at:
CASE: APEVIA X-Plorer ATXB8KLW-RD Black Body/Red Front Panel Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 1.3) LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
VIDEO: EVGA 256-P2-N412-LX GeForce 7100GS 512MB(256MB bn Board) GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E4300 - Retail
MEMORY: CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X1024A-6400 - Retail

Components from old system:
HD: WDC WD1200JB-00GVA0 [120GB 7200 rpm EIDE Ultra ATA/100]
OPTICAL: NEC NR-7800A 16x CD-R/RW
PSU: L&C Computer Co. Model LC-B450 E

Plus other miscellaneous stuff like sound card, network card, etc.

I basically have two questions about my choices here;
1) Do you see any compatibility problems?
2) Is the PSU total junk?

Thank you in advance for your advice and expertise. :D 

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I read that article on BadCaps.net, too. That's what made me wonder about this PSU.

Perhaps I'll go with this:
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply - Retail

Thanks for the help! :D 
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Someone correct me if I'm wrong - but I thought the GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 only had 1 IDE connector on it. If so that means you will have to have your old IDE HDD and your CD-R drive on the same cable. Possible but not recommended. You may want to add a new SATA hard drive and then buy an IDE external enclosure to put your old IDE drive in and use that for backups. Just a thought.

As per the specs listed on newegg:

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 1.3)
Storage Devices
PATA 1 x ATA100 up to 2 Devices
SATA 3Gb/s 6
SATA RAID 0/1

Realistically, I use my CD drive about once every 3 months, if that. My main concern is not having to transfer all of my data to a new HDD. Will I be safe having the HDD and CD drives on the same connector if the CD drive sits unused 99% of the time?

I would have to research having them on the same cable... I do know you will want to watch the jumper settings on both Hard and CD drive... Can't remember what you will want them at (Master, Slave, Cable select).

Are you planning on taking your old HD (with an OS - windows XP I assume) and hooking it up to this new system OR a fresh install of windows? You will have issues if you try to use an old install of XP on that HD as it was previously installed on a different computer with different hardware... There is a thread someplace here about that.

Actually, I found with the latest Windows updates that it actually still works when you change the hardware. But, I'd recommend a fresh install to get rid of the old drivers and just generally clean up everything.

I've run 4 IDE devices through 2 IDE sockets and had no problems at all. Especially if you're not using the CD drive much, you'll be fine. However, I would strongly recommend a DVD writer drive; they're pretty cheap and the standard now. Always useful to make some backups. And you can get SATA ones now.

Oh, and the Antec PSU is a solid choice.

AS long as you get the jumpers right, they will both run on the same IDE channel. Why they say not to run them that way is the speed factor. Transferring data between the two will be slower then if they were on seperate channels. Not a big problem in your case.

Not sure I'd be able to do a fresh install of Win XP. All I have is a recovery disc. Since this is my first build, I've never purchased an OS retail. I've always gotten them ready-installed on factory built systems so I don't think I have the capability to do a fresh install. (I have yet to find a computer store that gives you the install CD's.)

My current HDD was installed as an upgrade to the original HDD. When I did that upgrade, I did a full drive transfer from the old HDD to the new one. So essentially, I'm running on a copy of the original Win XP.

If I take my current HDD (the only running on a copy of Win XP) and plug it into the new MB, etc., will I have problems?

About the DVD drive. I do have a DVD burner on my other system, so if/when I ever need that I have it at my disposal. :D 

Well, hard to say if it will work, was it like a Dell or a custom build? If there is enough of a real XP on the recovery disk, you might be ok. You can also try Microsoft and say you had to replace the Motherboard because...Fill in the fib.

IF you have a windows key number, all you need is media. Thats easy to find. Anyone reasonably cool at a computer shop should make you a copy. It's not even illigal, the license is in the key number, not the media.

A fresh XP install is definately the way to go. I would do that once a year anyway, for your application. Keeps things running smooth.

Also, running both IDE devices on a single cable will work fine, even if you burn CDs every single day, or never use the drive at all. Even for DVD burning at 16x, this is fine. There really arent IDE devices that come remotely close to tapping the bandwidth on the interface.

I also agree with the recomendation of upgrading to SATA. The drives are cheap, plentiful, and crush IDE on performance. In fact, similar capacity drives cost about the same, these days, regardless of IDE vs SATA interface.

XP wont allow a mainboard switch. Maybe if the core logic were the same, but maybe not even in that case.

When I first went from my Gateway PC to a custom build, I had to reinstall XP. But, when I went from that build (Gigabyte motherboard) to my current build (Asus motherboard), XP still worked (although I reinstalled anyways). I dunno if that was just a one off, I'm not really clued up on Windows XP and it's ins and outs.

As stated above, you *will* have to reinstall Windows. A "repair install" may work, but to be safe, a full fresh install (reformatting the drive) is best. The reason is that Win XP installs a hardware-specific HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) at installation time. PC hardware is similar enough from MB to MB that the system may seem to boot OK without a reinstall; however, most likely small errors/corruption are accumulating due to the hardware mismatch. Not something you want to have on a business system!

I'd also suggest buying a DVD burner for $30, as much new software is now distributed on DVDs.

Consider spending $70 on a new Seagate hard drive, as your WD is probably well past its warranty period and would cause big hassles if it failed on you.

Frys.com has an excellent case/PS deal currently: Antec Sonata II case + 450w PS for $50 after rebate w/free shipping.
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