# New fleet



## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alright so I have had a few threads about different things related to building my new fleet of computers.

Idealy I'd have $12,000 to do this, but... I don't. So, I have around $1500 in the first instance to get things shaking, ontop of recyling a number of existing parts from the two machines I have running. So basically this is what I currently have to work with:

*Current parts:*
ATI 9800 pro (agp)
200GB Seagate HDD sata
80GB WD HDD pata 
20GB Seagate HDD pata
GigaByte K8NS-Pro mobo
AMD 64 3000+ cpu 
Audigy ZS 2
1gb ram
and a case
to which I have around $1500 to buy some new guff.

_This is what I am planing:_

*Machine 1:*
Gigabyte K8NS-Pro Mobo
AMD64 3000+
20GB Seagate HDD pata
512mb ram
case
and a 32 or 64mb graphics card - or, depending on what mobo I buy for the next box, I may just install the ati 9800 pro (agp)

_And in the other corner..._

*Machine 2:*
AMD64 4000+ SanDiego
Abit AN8-ULTRA mobo (NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra)
200GB Seagate HDD sata (sataII/ 3gb/s?)
200GB hdd sata
80GB hdd pata
Some sort of PCI-E 16X graphics card prefferable 256MB  any suggestions?
1-2GB ram
Audigy ZS2
Antec 480w PSU
and a nice case with lots of cooling.
- buying all required parts for $1500  (almost possible!)

- of course both these machines will have optical drives of some sort. I have a CD-RW drive, DVD-Rom and a DVD-R drive, so somehow I will devide them up. I'd like to buy the latest Pioneer DVD burner.

*And the mac:*
I also have a G3 Powermac which needs:
new graphics card (ATI 32 or 64mb)
new processor (1ghz g3)
new ram (512mb)
dvd-rom
80GB hdd
= around $500

So I am looking at around $2000 for all of this, of which part will be covered by my parents who will be the primary users of Machine 1. I will be covering the rest of the parts for Machine 2 and the Mac.

*Machine 1:* will be running WinXP Pro SP2

*Machine 2:* will dual boot WinXP Pro SP2 and a linux distro

*The Mac:* will run OSX Tiger 10.4.2(3)

I will keep this updated so you can track my progress. 

Late,


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## loserOlimbs (Jun 19, 2004)

So, what are you using this fleet for? Just always wanted a network?


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## jawadshahzad (Oct 28, 2005)

keep up the good work .... the world needs people like you who can really do something with nothing.....


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

I currently have a 3 computer network running - My PC, parent's PC and the Mac.
My parentes current PC is about 7 years old though:

350mhz celeron
320mb ram
20gb hdd
currently running winxp sp2 pro

It is just too slow. So effectivley they are going to have my current PC and I will build myself a new one - I will just take certain parts that they don't need such as the huge harddrives, sound and graphics cards.

The new PC i will be building for myself is to be used for general use, as well as games and multimedia. And, if the upgrade of the mac goes well, I plan to shift my multimedia side of things onto it - otherwise I will just set it up for general use and keep the PC for high-end usage.

I will have a fourth machine out of all this, and that is my parent's old PC to which I will use as a linux box, and possibly turn it into a centeral file server or network gateway -> I have a few small hard drives and network cards lying around to do so.

In reality I don't NEED more than one machine, but I found the mac on the side of the road, and my parents old computer will just go begging so I may as well take advantage. Plus this is going to be loads of fun.

As for doing something with nothing - I have a few bits here and there which I use to my advantage, because I don't really have cash to throw around, and so mixing up parts to achieve this outcome is really just because I'm cheap 

Late,


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alright, here is the latest update on parts for the new Machine 2. I have done some changes - cost cutting - but it's still a nice system:

::To buy::
::Base system::
MoBo:: Abit-USA AN8 Ultra mobo || $162
CPU:: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 512kb 1GHZ FSB 939 || $229.00
Ram:: CORSAIR 1GB 2X512 DDR400 VALUE SELECT PC3200 KIT || $159
Graphics:: Abit-USA RX700 LE-Guru graphics card || $159.60
PSU:: Antec 480W ATX Power Supply "NEO480" || $138.00 
Case:: VB1000BWS Thermaltake Soprano, Black Color [Clear Side Panel] || $155
HDD:: Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200 8Mb cache SATA Hard Disk || $184
sub-total:: $1186
+
::With extras::
DVD-RW::	Pioneer DVR-110 || $69
sub-total:: $1255
+
TV Capture:: UltraView HDTV DVB-t Plus Digital TV Card || $143
sub-total:: $1329
=
Total:: $1398

::Already have::
HDD:: 80GB ATA133 Western Digital HDD
HDD:: 200GB Barracuda 200GB 7200 8mb cache SATA Hard Disk
DVD-Rom:: LiteOn DVD-rom
DVD-RW:: Pioneer DVR-108 DVD-RW
Floppy::	Floppy drive
Sound card::	Audigy ZS 2

Which is a fairly big and mean system. What you think?

Late,


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alright, now that I have my parts list fairly finalised - I am making a change to the case most likely due to cost. Anyhow I have one question:

I have NEVER built a computer before. My hardware experiences consists of replacing parts such as hdd's, optical drives, pci cards and pulling appart old systems for fun. So now that I have to put together the whole machine, I am somewhat nervous about procedure especially when it comes to hooking up the mobo and installing the cpu. Do any of you know of some good online tutorials whith pics the guide me through some of these processes? Cheers.

Late,


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alrighty, thought I'd do some updating to this post:

I found this Q+A about building a computer with a link to a fantastic guide from AMD. I will be using that.

Secondly, I am now looking at also building a new budget/student pc for my bro for when he goes to TAFE next year. Looking to spend as little as possible - I am estimating $550AUD (could do it cheaper, but I wont to give him something that will last)

Secondly, I have been going over my parts list, and have a few changes:
CPU:: AMD 3700+ 939 socket SanDeigo - this is the cost effective way to get the most advanced cpu available to me. (gotta love 1mb of L2 cache)
CASE:: Coolermaster Centurion V (no psu) - a nice simple case saving some cash
Graphix: I am currently looking at a Gigabyte 6800 256mb pci-e card or the Gigabyte x800 256mb pci-e card both at $329AUD (over $100 more than I originally budgeted, but I think worth the expense).

I wont be getting the capture card or new dvd burner just yet. So all up I am looking at around $13-400AUD.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Just some new/old/updated info:

:arts to buy::
MoBo:: Abit-USA AN8 Ultra mobo
CPU:: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1mb 1GHZ FSP 939
Ram:: CORSAIR 1GB 2X512 DDR400 VALUE SELECT PC3200 KIT
Graphics:: Abit-USA RX700 LE-Guru graphics card
PSU:: Antec 480W ATX Power Supply "NEO480"
Case:: Cooler Master Centurion 5 (CAC-T05) No psu
HDD:: Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200 8Mb cache SATA Hard Disk
DVD-RW::	Pioneer DVR-110
TV Capture:: Fusion HDTV DVB-t Plus Digital TV Card

::Already have::
HDD:: 80GB ATA133 Western Digital HDD
HDD:: 200GB Barracuda 200GB 7200 8mb cache SATA Hard Disk
DVD-Rom:: LiteOn DVD-rom
DVD-RW:: Pioneer DVR-108 DVD-RW
Floppy::	Floppy drive
Sound card::	Audigy ZS 2

::From MSY::
CPU:: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1mb 1GHZ FSP 939 || $348
Ram:: CORSAIR 1GB DDR400 single stick	|| $152
Graphics:: Gigabyte Radeon x800 256mb pci-e || $275
HDD:: Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200 8Mb cache SATA Hard Disk || $143

Additional::	18inch FDD rounded cable || $15

sub-total:: $918
::From CPL::
MoBo:: Abit-USA AN8 Ultra mobo || $159
PSU:: Antec 480W ATX Power Supply "NEO480" | $155
Case:: Cooler Master Centurion 5 (CAC-T05) No psu || $95

sub-total:: $409

Total:: $1327

::Full system specs::
Case:: Cooler Master Centurion 5 (CAC-T05)
PSU:: Antec 480W ATX "NEO480"
MoBo:: Abit-USA AN8 Ultra 
CPU:: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1mb 1GHZ FSP 939
Ram:: CORSAIR 1GB DDR400 single stick (To be upgraded to 2GB total <$152>)
Graphics:: Gigabyte Radeon x800 256mb pci-e
Sound card::	Audigy ZS 2
HDD:: 80GB ATA133 Western Digital (To be replaced with a WD 160GB SATAII 8mb <$125>)
HDD:: Seagate Barracuda 200GB 7200 8mb cache SATA
HDD:: Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200 8Mb cache SATA
DVD-Rom:: LiteOn DVD-rom
DVD-RW:: Pioneer DVR-108 DVD-RW (To be replaced with a Pioneer DVR-110 DVD-RW <$68>)
Floppy::	Generic FDD


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Urgh, alright pain in the butt, the Abit AN8 Ultra board is either no longer produced or no longer available in Australia (or very easily) so I have looked for an alternative - an Asus board. I hear they are good and read up on this particular model and found they are pretty good. I have also opted for an nvidia graphics card and also changed case and psu. So here is the updated specs list:

Case:: Antect P180 Advanced Super Mid Tower
PSU:: Antect NeoHE 500
MoBo:: Asus A8N-E
CPU:: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1mb 1GHZ FSP 939
Ram:: CORSAIR 1GB DDR400 single stick
Graphics:: Gigabyte nVidia 6800 256mb pci-e
Sound card::	Audigy ZS 2
HDD:: 80GB ATA133 Western Digital
HDD:: Seagate Barracuda 200GB 7200 8mb cache SATA
HDD:: Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200 8Mb cache SATA
DVD-Rom:: LiteOn DVD-rom
DVD-RW:: Pioneer DVR-108 DVD-RW
Floppy::	Generic FDD


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

So will I get this from you in time for Christmas


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Haha. If I had my wish I'd have this system right now. Sadly, it will have to be in mid January at the earliest that this actually happens. I am just spending the current time researching every part to make sure I get exactly what I want/need. This last computer I bought has been a mess from the beginning so I want to do it right this time with much better knowledge. Even though it will still be a few weeks until I actually start buying, I am keeping a close eye on all parts, prices and changes and making notes.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Oh no you have to wait till NEXT Year. Lets hope all the knowledge pays off and you get a super system that is trouble free.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Well this is my theory, too much knowledge is better than ignorance. When I bought my current machine I walked into the store and said "look, I want a fast machine to play games and do movie editing. I need a big hard drive, good sound card, alright graphics and about 1gb of ram." I ended up with a reasonable system, but I was unlucky and got faulty parts, alright, but then the custmer service was shocking. I ended up with a motherboard replacment, followed by a complete rebuild followed by a replacement stick of ram (they replaced the original Kingston with generic ram...). So I am really cheesed off with those guys and so I am looking at building this machine myself. I have read manual after manual, guide after guide, tutorial after tutorial, review after review, comparison after comparison, spec sheet after spec sheet, and so now I feel confident to pick the best parts for my budget and out them together. I would like to point out that the case I have chosen is a monster, check it out:
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81800


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

> 11 Drive Bays:
> - 4 x 5.25" external drive bays
> - 1 x 3.5" external drive bays
> - 6 x 3.5" internal drive bays


Whoa!..........:up:


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

It is an absolute beast! It is VERY heavy too, 31/36 lbs 14.1/16.3 K. I love it having so many drive bays, and separated into little compartments. The whole construction is great, separating airflow and having loads of fans. I'm happy to spend a lot of money on a good case and psu, as I want a cool, quiet and reliable system. I am sick of generic cases/psu's. And the psu I have chosen is modular so I can limit the cable clutter, I will also use rounded cables, and hopefully be able to cable tie it all out of the way nicely.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wow one very nice case there I know your love. :up:


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Now to ehnance cooling, I am thinking of getting a Zalman CNPS7700-Cu:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/view.asp?idx=145&code=005
It's a very nice piece of equipment:
http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041213/index.html


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

WOW Look like one great fan.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Ok, been reading up more and more (can never have too much info) and been doing a bit of thinking. I will be buying in the 3rd or 4th week of January (hopefully) and talking to a friend who writes for theinquirer.net, says that prices will probably drop between the 6th and 8th of January as new stuff is announced. So I have had a look at current offerings, and figured that I could actually let loose and get something much better (based on the idea that prices should drop a little):

Asus A8N-SLI Premiu
AMD San Deigo 3700+
Gigabyte 256mb 7800GT
Kingston 1GB(2x512mb) value ram
Antect P180 case
Antect NeoHe 500w PSU
WD Raptor 74GB HDD

Currently this would cost just under $2000AUD. I know prices wont fall THAT much, but we shall see. In anycase, I *could* stretch it out to this much (my budget). I will be getting work fairly soon, so I will try and buy some of these parts ASAP such as the Raptor and Ram which I can use in my current system. And then buy the other major bits in late January.

I have been planing, reading, waiting and salivating for the past 2-3 months over this project, so I am getting very keen to see it finally fall into place. No doubt things will change again from what is planned (I think my parts list has changed about 5 times in the course of this thread, not to mention originally dreaming of a dual processor rig - I'd go for dual core now, but still too expensive).


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

dude, that case looks awesome. Looks like something that was designed for the military. "we need it to be frozen, melted, run over by a tank, dropped from a low earth orbit, and still work".

kudo's to you. I will be watching this thread closely as I plan on learning quite a bit.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Yeah, it is a beheamoth! But I like it a lot. I had problems with my current generic case/psu so I thought I would invest in something VERY nice. And this one has great cooling options. Although I have heard it is a little tricky building (and this is my first build too!).

Anyhow, I have sat down and done my research reading the manuals for every part I have chosen (all of them to date, so 4 or so mobo manuals etc), I will also document the build, I'll talk photos with my bros new camera he will be getting for xmas from his gf. So hopefully any of this will be handy to anyone else planing their first build. I am feeling confident. I have basic experience with parts repalcement (pci cards, hdd's, optical drives), I was also big into my lego as a little kid and this is just an extension of that 

Just a couple of notes about the new parts list: The mobo is $110 more than the A8N-E, the graphics card is $280 more than the 6800, and a raptor is about $100 more than the other hdd I had planed. So as you can see it is a fair steup up, but I am keen on making this machine semi future proof, in that I get a fantastic graphics card, an insane hdd and a mobo which should last a while.

As mentioned at the start of this thread (I think) I am already building a new PC after only one year of having this one. I want it to last a bit longer! So the extra expense is worth it. And I will easily be able to upgrade the proc to a dual core later on if I NEED it, and always throw in a second 7800GT for SLI (but I'll only do this when this card is on the way out of production). I am also wanting to upgrade to 2Gb total ram. I was thinking of 4Gb but nothing I'd do would NEED that, even if and when I decided to run Vista. 2GB will be fine for my video editing needs, and its cheaper to buy twin 512mb modules than 1Gb sticks.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

AvvY,

Wishing the best for you. I know this is your own Christmas gilf to yourself and your be getting it after Christmas but it will still be a great gift to have no matter what the date is you get it.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Haha, yeah. I don't really do xmas (as far as I know my parents aren't buying me anything) and this as you know has been in the works for some time. The reason I haven't done it sooner was because I know I will be running into a bit of money around March, so my parents can loan me the money until then. I suppose waiting a bit longer couldn't hurt, I'm not getting impatient, the longer I wait, the more prices will fall, the better equipment I can buy.

And Vista will be out around the end of next year, so I need to make sure my machine is will up to it  (That's if I haven't abandoned to Linux)


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Well never hurts to wait. Also it never hurts to pay cash. Even if the loan from your folks is free you still have to pay that back. So if you save up all the money on your own then you will not need a loan and like you said the prices may even be lower so your come out ahead with having a new PC that is all paid for and no money to pay back.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

One more week until the computer store reopens from the xmas break, they will release their update price list, a week later most anouncements should be made regarding future tech/parts and prices should fall a little, a week later to settle in and then, THEN I should finally be buying parts. Oooh I'm excited!


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Oh the wait is killing you so I hope the prices come down so you can get you new PC.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Heh, well I have been keeping tabs on all the news from the Consumer Electronics Show through my friend from theinquirer.net and judging how things will pan out. Fingers crossed it goes well. I am only really keen for this store to get in some decent graphics cards. The ones they offer are alright, but they mainly offer lots of 6600 or 7800 cards, and few 6800's (which is what I'd probably end up buying), so either they get rid of their 6600 stock and have a few more 6800's around, or they drop prices on the 7800 base models.

In other news, I have one word: WOW Heh.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wishing you the vey best on your new upcoming PC.

I looked at the site but can not see any of the images because my hosts file blocks "common.ziffdavisinternet.com".


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alrighty, everything is on track for the new build next week. I have checked the price list, not much has changed, but it all looks good - and finally a decent midrange graphics card on offer. Here is what I'll be buying:
(all in AUD)
AMD Athlon64 3700+ 939 $348
Asus A8N-SLI Premium $255
1GB (2x512) Kingston value ram $138
Gigabyte 256mb 6800GS $315
Antec P180 $216
Antec NeoHE 500w $155
Seagate 200GB Sata $140
= $1567

I also will be buying parts to build a comp for my bro. Here is the list:
AMD Athlon64 3000+ 754 $180
Gigabyte K8VM800M all-in-one $77
WD 120GB Sata $102
Kingston 512mb value ram $73
Thermaltake Mambo $99
=$531

Hopefully I will score a discount if buying that much stock. We will have to wait and see. Either way, all looks good, and things look fairly final (for once). Just waiting for my dad to get back next week so we can go buy it all! Then comes putting it all together and making it work... Should be interesting!


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wow a week away so I know your in dreamland now waiting to touch everything and putting it together and then having fun using it all. 

Going to have to get pictures of it all to for us.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alrighty, tomorrow is the day! Haha, sorted it all out, and we are going ahead for buying all parts tomorrow. Very exciting!


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Man why are you telling me this? You know I need to get my sleep.   I hope you can get some sleep because your going to need it to put it all together.:up:


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Ooh, one slight change, my bro didn't like the Thermaltake Mambo case, for for a handful extra dollars we are getting him the CoolerMaster Centurion 532 I always wanted a Centurion 5 myself (and I was going to get it for this current build until I discovered the Antec P180 which is around $100more!)


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alright, T minus 20mins until we are off to buy the gear. One thing I forgot was to get my brothers Fuji Finepix 5600 camera to take pics, so for the first build will be done with my video camera (so not as good/clean shots), hopefully I can get his camera off him, otherwise just have some lower quality shots. Not to worry.

I have figured out in what order to build, and looks as though I should have the first system done today (with Windows installed and so forth). Lucky I bought 100 blank CDr's so I can ferry accross all manner of setup programs without having to set up a tempoaray network. I will post back updates of it all with pictures attached (and possibly cries for help  )


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wow a busy day for you.

Maybe a ext usb hard drive would be better the 100 CD to move things around from one drive to another and one PC to another. Then when your all done you can hook it up as a backup drive to your new PC. 

Hey a picture is a picture so don't worry.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alright, I'm rather busy but thought I'd post this now:
Built the first system, and currently building the second. It's fairly easy and straight forward. Only 2 parts needed to be changed due to availability. I'll upload pictures later (will probably be offline for a couple of hours now).


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

All systems are go! Litterally  (such a bad pun).

Anyway, got MY system built, and I dub it "the hummer" because the case is such a beast yet so slick like a hum-v. Plus it purrs like a kitten with all the fans (but not too loud).

I will post pics later (just getting myself online and reinstalled at the moment). Also, for s&g's i'll run a benchmark on it and see how it goes. So far it's running nicely. I haven't had any major problems with building either system (although setting the HSF on this one was slightly tricky for some reason).

I must finish installing the basics, then off to bed. its been a long day!


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Happy AvvY, 

Now why did I know you would be posting?  
Wow that is great building two PC's in one day. 

Sounds like you need wheels on the bottom of your new case. Glad to hear all the fans are not to loud. 

Get all installed and updated and then do a defrag.

Look forward to the pictures.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alright, here is the pics and a few comments: (NOTE: not for dialup users)

Here we have the first machine, specs:

CASE/PSU::	Thermaltake Mambo
MoBo:: Gigabyte K8VM800M all-in-one
CPU:: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ S754
RAM:: Samsung 512mb DDR400 
HDD:: WD 120GB SATA

Open case:








The parts:








Installed MoBo/CPU:








With drives installed:








The first boot:








Hooking up the drives to the MoBo:








Testing with Knoppix:








Installing Windows:








Finished box:









So all fairly painless really. The instructions for all the parts were very clear and only took me an hour or so to put together (I was taking lots of time + installing Windows). Everything went together easily with no problems at all. One problem did occur:

Sata drives. Urgh, they will be the death of me. I tried finding them on the mobo CD before setting everything up, but I couldn't find them anywhere. I find some SATA/RAID drivers, gave them a go; no luck. So I went to the Gigabyte website, all they had were installers for Windows (nothing for a boot diskett). So then I trawlled through the VIA website and finally came across some drives, matched it to the chipset on the board and we were good to go. I find this rather annoying. If you are going to provide SATA on a mobo (and WinXP being the standard) you should provide a floppy with them or make them easily accessable on the CD so you can make your own. Apart from this all was easy.

I named this one "Rogue" Maquarie dictionary: "a playfull mischivious person; rascal".

Continued...

Now, for the BEAST. I was kind of scared when I realised the true size of the case. The box with the case must weigh in around 15KG compared to the lightweight Mambo.

Specs:
Case:: Antect P180 Advanced Super Mid Tower
PSU:: CoolerMaster RealPower 550W
MoBo:: Asus A8N-SLI Premium
CPU:: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1mb 1GHZ FSP 939 
Ram:: Kingston 1GB (2x512mb) Value Ram DDR400
Graphics:: Gigabyte nVidia 6800GS 256mb pci-e
Sound card::	Audigy ZS 2
DTV Card::	Twinhan DVB-T
HDD:: 80GB ATA133 Western Digital
HDD:: Seagate Barracuda 200GB 7200 8mb cache SATA (x2)
DVD-Rom:: LiteOn DVD-rom
DVD-RW:: Pioneer DVR-108 DVD-RW

IT's GONNA EAT ME!: (I shot this one against the dishwasher so you could see how damn big it is)








PSU installed, mobo/cpu installed, Graphics:








Drives installed:








The extra PCI cards from the old machine:








Installing Windows:








Front look (checkout the blue LED power on and the blue LED from the PSU:









This one was more of a PITA. First of all, I had to change the PSU due to availability, thus it wasn't a modular PSU so I had to deal with all these cables. Second, the case instructions are only written, no diagrams. This made things very confusing at times. I found the whole "tool-less" instilation thing a backwards idea. I figure it's designed to save time? I found the opposite. It took me much longer to figure out how to insert these drive rails/clips and get it all to hold and lock into position. As it is, the floppy drive isn't installed properly and I can't figure out how.

The other major problem was limited space for ribbon cables. I still have one PATA HDD, two optical and a FDD, so getting that all to fit within about 5cm squared, is quite difficult. This will also reduce some airflow, although not major. Also, the case comes with a special vent shaft for the GPU card, but I removed this because it seemed too crowded with it (and not really needed).

Overall this one took longer, simply because it was a much bigger project and I had to steal hardware from another machine to put into it, and also the inconveniences mentioned above. Did I mention the box (with everything installed) weighs 20kg's? My conclusions on this one:

Tool-less instilation is useless (at least in this case - the Mambo had some of it, and much better designed). Modular PSU would have been MUCH better although I got through it.

Because of the HUGE case which is very sleak and the gentle hum from the GPU fan (it's the noisiest of all the fans in the case) I dubbed it "The Hummer".

I will post some more pics of this one with better lighting (I was still building at night) later today. Today's project is finishing off the last machine (which is just assimilating two machines together), and this machine is known as "The Pirate Ship".


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alrighty, here is some more pics:
Here is my old machine which was gutted for parts for The Hummer, and is to be rebuilt:








The old machine to be scrapped:








We did buy a new printer too:








What's in the box?:








Salvaged drives:








Cleaning up the new/old box:








Clean, with drives in place:








Isn't it purrty?:








The left overs:








Installing Windows (again):









This was all very easy, just cleaning it up and refitting some drives, no need for installing a mobo/cpu. Now my parents will have a decent computer to run.

The Pirate Ship system specs:
MoBo:: Gigabyte K8NS Pro
CPU:: AMD Athlon64 3000+ (754)
GPU:: PowerColor 9800 Pro (128mb)
RAM:: 1GB generic ddr400
HDD:: 20GB Seagate pata
HDD:: 3GB WD Fireball?
CD-RW:: LG

I now give you, The New Fleet!:
















From left to right: The Shell, The Pirate Ship, Rogue, and The Hummer


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wow they both look great. Time wise I say you did great too. That one box is as big as the dishwasher so that shows off the size of the case good. 
Glad you was able to get the drivers you needed too. You would thing the give you then too.
So is that the PS at the bottom of the case on your PC with the blue light?


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wow great showing off the cases. I was going to say that that one looks deeper and it sure is deepe.
They keep getting bigger and bigger. Wonder how big your next PC case will be?


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Yep, the Antec P180 is a rather odd case with the PSU at the bottom of the case. Now you'd think heat would be an issue, so what they did was separate the PSU from the rest of the case with metal and a HUGE fan. The great thing about the CoolerMaster PSU I have, is it is VERY quiet and VERY cool.

I will get my brothers camera later this week and get some high res images to really show it all off.

On PSU's though, the PSU in The Pirate Ship needs to be replaced. It is an oven of a case. I always knew it was warm, but it is rediculus -> not to mention the amount of noise it generates. So I will do that in a month or so (maybe even just buy a new case -> a Mambo with 430w PSU only cost $99). Oh, and the old PSU from The Shell is/was only 90wats!??!?!?! It is a tiny little thing (that case is so NOT ATX) but could come in handy for something (maybe go the revserse and start on an mini-ITX  > as for how big is the next system? Well, maybe a rack with some server cases, UPS and a file server  ... Haha, well, only once I have a wireless network with computers in all the rooms in the house and I am keen enough to run some LAN partys with mates. Heh.

I just finished patching up Rogue and installing everything on The Pirate Ship, just need to wait till I can sit down with my brother and finish configuring Rogue to his needs/wants/desires.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Well as long as you have the PS suck out it's own heat then your ok and it is like you said closed off in it's own space and yo have a big case fan on the back too so I say it runs cool. Nice to have a good VERY quiet and VERY cool PS. 

Ok better pictures later. 

Yea a small case and 95 watts is asking for trouble because you need more power then that. Turn it into a hardware firewall. 
He hee I seen a big server case that was on wheels that you need to move it around with and that was a empty case still. Once you start adding everything to it your talking about a lot of pounds. Hard drives all the way down one side. 

Have you checked the PC temps?


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

PC temps are nice:
CPU: 39c (under regular usage down to 35/6c idle
System/MoBo: 40c
GPU: 45-50c

Which is better than The Pirate Ship which CPU runs around 45-50c idle and 55c underload - I attribute this to the PSU overheating though and lack of exhaust fans (both of which I will solve soon).


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wow down to 6c is really good. Mine runs hot at 125 F to 145F underload.
Was post on this really big case that had a place at the top and bottom for a PS but it was also made so you could add the water cooler to the bottom spot and then put the PS at the top.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Well, running into all manner of problems with The Hummer see> http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/435362-very-slow-boot-new-build.html
I have also posted this on the Asus website. Urgh... this is usually the time I run to the computer store but because I did it myself, I gotta fix it myself... It's a good and bad thing. I just want it resolved! But not getting too stressed over it (yet), I have more important things happening this week such as enrolling in university!


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Well, it just looks as though my comp takes ages to boot. I can't figure out what it is, but maybe solve it later on. The system works fine aside from that.

I have started putting it through its paces running some games:
CounterStrike
GTA: SA
Civilization IV
so far, running at max resolution, very nice  although the machine started to get warm GPU at 61c and CPU 45c (but its 40c in Melbourne today!) Either way I am happy with it.

late,


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

I see your have lots of not so much fun with the boot up.

Getting over my head on everything here but maybe after the drive change you need to format and start over.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

I did that, but that isn't it. It isn't anything to do with Windows. It is BIOS itself.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Well maybe a bad MB then.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Yeah, I'm thinking it could be, but I am scared to return it :S


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Aha! Well, all is well. I have solved the problem. Turns out my WD hdd was "incorrectly" set in regards to jumpers. Anyway, the machine boots as it should now. So the machine is 100% up and running smoothly now! YAY!

On another note, The Pirate Ship is to get a new PSU in the next week. My parents are unhappy with the sound and heat it is producing (which was always one of my complaints and a fair enough one) so I will be sorting that out. I probably will get a Thermaltake 430w PSU the same as in Rogue (which came with the Mambo case) for around $50. I was really impressed with how quiet Rogue is and how little heat it seems to produce, so I will be happy to buy a stand-alone PSU for the case.

Like I said, I will get some better images happening, just need to get my brothers camera (him being a chef/shift worker and me being rather busy at the moment doesn't leave much oppertunity to see him).


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wow great to hear it is all running right and fast now. 

Yes a new PS will make the folks happy too. 

Have fun on your new PC now.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Oh I'm bored now with it. I want a new one now. Like an Asus A8N-32SLI with an AMD FX60 4GB ram, two 7800GTX 512mb cards.... RAWR!

No not really. Things are now just back to normal. I am now just working on future upgrades to this machine - I already have them planed somewhat since before I built this machine because there was stuff I just couldn't afford to begin with, so here is a rundown of things:
a second 1GB of ram
a new primary hdd (sata of some sort)
This would come in at around $400ish (if I get a Raptor  ) but probably only $300 will do it

I will be going to buy a new PSU for the folks tomorrow, a 400w Thermaltake for $40.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Yes you do really want a new one but your also very happy with the new one you just got. 
Like me when I got mine. I had been using a old IBM Aptiva P-200 with slow EDO memory and only had 64 MB of memory and 2 MB video memory. But I keep putting it off and it was like Oct, 2001 before I got a newer PC. Once I got it I said why did you wait so long because all was so much better. I could of gotten some better then too but I am happy with what I got now but now with the other image programs I could use something with a lot more power and up to date. 
Now if I had room room I would do things sooner and could have more PC's running but I don't have the space.  Boo hoo 

Sounds like some nice upgrade to your new PC.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Just installed a CoolerMaster eXtreem Power 430w PSU into The Pirate Ship. That should do nicely to reduce heat. One thing I noticed, that now the PSU is very quiet I have realised that a lot of noise comes from the VGA card (9800pro). I am going to investigate some passive cooling for the card -> because it won't be used for gaming for a while, it shouldn't require anything fancy for cooling.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Alrighty and just like I promised, I have some highres images! Only a few because there is only so much to show:

The case in situ (not sure where its permanate home will be yet):








The guts:








On closer inspection:








Lets see that again from a different angle:









Hope that does it justice.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Yea with the new PS not making all the noise now your hear the other fans. 

Great picture. Wow for a really big case it looks filled up with the wires. Just think if you had something in each slot and the added wires.

Wish they come out with a better way to deal with the wires.

Did your new PS have all the wires coming out of it or was it one of those you plug only what you need into it. That can sure cut down on all the added wires you don't use so they are not hanging there taking up space.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

The PSU I wanted for The Hummer was a modular PSU where you only connect the wires you need, but alas it wasn't in stock when I was buying so I had to buy one with all wires attached. This was a bit of a pain, but what else could I do? The main problem is the IDE cables for the DVD, HDD and floppy. I will be getting rid of the IDE hdd soon and using only sata. I will investigate getting a round cable for the floppy drive, not sure I can get one for the dvd drives... If only they were sata or something.

The reason why the cables are all squished together is because of the size of the GPU card, it is very long - about the same width as the mobo. So it leaves very little room around the area for floppy/dvd/hdd cables.

In hindsight, I'd probably have gone a CoolerMaster stacker hdd case which is so big it sits on wheels and has 15 possible external drive bays. A real monster. This would have given heaps more room inside the case. But, even though there is some cable clutter, it will clear up, but there is enough airflow to keep temps very nice.

I am also thinking on picking up http://www.tdk.com.au/product_S150R.asp . I have speakers, but I'd like some new ones, and use them for next to my comp so I don't have to have my whole sound system running.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Ok sorry you did not get the PS you wanted.
But like I said if you filled up all the drive bays you would still have all the other cables to deal with. Guess a wider case can make it more easy to move them back more out of the way but they still take up to much room. 

The CoolerMaster stacker looks like one very nice case. 
Never heard of those speakers but it sure looks like a great speaker setup.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

The speakers aren't anything TOO special, but they would be fine for the usage I'll put them to and they are fairly inexpensive. I could get a pair of Creative or Logitech ones, but they don't look as sleek and I'm not sure they are really too different. I only need stereo speakers as I don't need 5.1 in my bedroom! Although I am hanging to listen to Dark Side Of The Moon (30th aneversary edition) in 5.1 surround sound! That would be amazing (it was originally recorded in some hightech audio style but was always released as stereo).

I am also setting up multiboot on The Hummer now that boot doesn't take 4 minutes! I am installing XP x64, not because I NEED it, but because it's their if I mess up my 32bit install and to test x64 applications. - on a note, In the thread I posted about xp x64 I mentioned that games ran better and some games that wouldn't install on 32bit worked fine in x64. but on The Hummer everything works perfectly, or with minor work arounds.

I am also setting up Ubuntu linux aswell. I am very fond of this distro and I like having linux on call. These guys (the Ubuntu devs) have awesome projects for the next release and I really want to be involved. I haven't used the current release much due to not having time to install it, so now I will take advantage (after all I did order and get my official cds!)


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Well, I went about setting up multiboot, but then I figured I wouldn't bother with XP x64. I don't need it enough to bother installing it and taking up disk space.

So I went to install Ubuntu, but it freaked out (display) so I'm not sure whats up with that, guessing it doesn't support my graphics card.

So just using WinXP 32bit now. I may consider multiboot later on, not sure. I'd like to have a linux installed so I can do some BASH and not have to use cygwin.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Well they look like nice speakers and you get a remote. 
I have listen to the Logitech ones and they are not to bad and I think better then Creative.

Maybe get a rack setup so you can remove the main drive. 
If you going to have a 2nd drive you can put your data on it and keep that drive in the PC.
Then swap out the main drive to another OS. 
That way you don't get all the added junk added to the drive for each OS and if you don't want whatever newer OS your trying out format the drive and start over.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

I got Ubuntu installed! I think xorg was having a fit with my card, so I installed it all very sneakily, manually edited xorg files, installed the nVidia drives and bingo! All done. I am now just doing a few more tinkers with system files such a fstab and the grub boot setup. I have installed most programs/libs/plugins I need for the moment, so I am rather happy.

I will use Windows as my primary OS, but I love Ubuntu and I have a ball playing with the terminal and using commands (now that I'm not scared of it and kinda know what I'm doing)


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Well, riding on the back of the recent sucess of building these three machines, my friends are now asking me about providing the service of building them computers too!

So far a mate has asked to price up a new machine for $1000AUD. He is a medium gamer, and so I had to be careful with parts on a *limited* budget. It is pretty much a slimmed down version of what I am running:

MoBo::	Asus A8N-E
CPU::	AMD Athlon64 3200+
RAM::	Kingston 1GB (2x512)
GPU::	Sapphire x800GT 256mb
HDD::	WD 120GB Sata
DVD::	Pioneer 110d
Case::	CoolerMaster Centurion 5

I have always wanted to use this case, so now that I have another oppertunity I will! (even though it wont be mine  ) I went for an ATI card because it was either a 128mb 6600GT or 256 6800, and the later was just a bit too expensive, and I felt the former was just a bit lacking, so this ATI card should be perfect for his needs (plus being "256mb" will mean everything to him as he knows little about computers). I've chosen WD over Seagate because I don't see the need for the slight premium on Seagate hdd's, and only 120GB due to budget (and to be honest he'd probably only need an 80GB but big specs sound good).

AMD of course (even though he didn't know what it was!), Asus again as they seem to be great, same with Kingston. And I am a fan of Pioneer drives. My 108 has been fantastic, and I will be glad to replace my spare Liteon drive (its very loud).

This should make him happy. I will see what he thinks and we can organise the finer details. I am yet to set a price for my labour, but because it is all fairly easy and will only take 4hours I might not bother - just as long as he pays for the chips, pizza, vodka and burbon!


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Now that you have done ll these things have you made a backup image so if anything happen you can restore things?

Hey that is great. You can build systems for you friends and get some money out of it for your work and use that money on your new system.  :up: 

So I bet the more systems you put together the more friends you be getting too.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Well, I originally bought myself a second 200GB hdd so I could either setup a RAID5 and mirror the primary data, or use something like Acronis to backup data.

On The Pirate Ship it still has the original 3GB hdd that came with the Gateway which is used for backups - need to install some software for it probably just use Nero's BackItUp as it's fine for their usage.

Hah, well, I will be going to uni in a month so perhaps I will get more orders that way.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Sounds like you know what to do on everything.


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## AvvY (Oct 8, 2004)

Heh yeah, got it all worked out. Ubuntu is now set up perfectly. *using it right now*. I can use it for about 90% of my normal usage, hence why it is a real possibility that I will switch to it full time in the near future, and with the improvements Ubuntu is coming up with, I just love this distro!- not to mention the help on their forums is excellent (already used it 3 times to double check things).

I still need win for a few things, but if I can figure out how to use WINE I could soon be done with it.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Good to hear. I tried the Ubuntu but I did the Live cd version so I woud not have to install anything. Took forever to boot up and it was very slooooooooooooooooooow so I gave up on it. Plus the screen setting was so very small I could not see and I could not find out how to make the screen setting smaller. It looked like it was at 1600x1200 or bigger. Then I could not find out how to shut down so had to use the power button to shut down. 
But I bet the install version works better and I would have use of my setting for the screen etc because it would now about all the hardware.


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