Pages: 1

 

2005-11-17 08:48:40
Tyshalle83
Member
+1|6760|Raleigh, NC
You were all great about helping me out last time when I was wondering what computer parts I should buy for my first ever Do-It-Yourself computer. Here's what I ended up going with:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6819103539

Antec NEOPOWER 480 480W Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6817103924

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813131517

CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6820145450

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS GAMER Limited Edition 70SB035000013 Sound Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6829102171

eVGA Geforce 6800GT 256-P2-N376-AX Video Card  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6814130215

TWO NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6827152047

Thermaltake SHARK VA7000BWA Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6811133143

TWO Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6822144154

ZALMAN CNPS7000B-AlCu LED 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan/Heatsink http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6835118118

ZALMAN VF700-CU 2 Ball VGA COOLER http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6835118117

TWO SAMSUNG 915N-Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6824001185


I also got some arctic silver for the processor.

Now, being that this is my first ever computer that I'm building from scratch, it didn't exactly go perfectly smooth all the way. I spent probably a good five or six hours working on it last night, plus another forty five minutes this morning, and I'm still not done.

I didn't install the two Zalman coolers. I'll do that later if I feel like it. For the moment, the stock cooler is doing fine, and takes up much less space.

There are a TON of wires. Two or three times the amount of wires I see in Sony's and HP's and Gateways, there's just ridiculous amounts of wires. Mostly coming from the PSU, but some coming from the Shark case itself. At anyrate, I got the PSU fan and the two case-fans working, so that's good. The LED lights are all working, so good for them. The video card works, it took some doing but I got the DVD drives to work (at least one of them at anyrate). I'm not sure about the sound card, or the internet stuff, I'll figure that out when I load windows.

My problem is that I can't load windows. I bought two Hard Drives because somebody from here recommended that I set up a RAID 0 connection. I went into my BIOS and set it up, but when I go to load windows, it doesn't acknowledge any hard drives on the system whatsoever.

I checked the connectors... but there's three, plus that area that's for Jumpers. I didn't even really learn what Jumpers were until today. Since it's OEM, there's no manual for the hard drives, so I'm having troubles. I don't know for sure that I have it connected in all the right places. I'm at work right now so I'm trying to do this on memory, but I want to say that I've got them plugged into the SATA 1 and SATA 2 spots in the motherboard, or maybe SATA RAID 1 and 2 if that exists, it's hard trying to remember. That aside, I just went to Western Digital's website and they've got something called a RAID controller. Am I supposed to have one of these to set up the RAID? Because if so, I don't think I have one.

At anyrate, if I do need the damn controller, I'm just gonna say screw it and go without RAID, because I need this computer to run today, and I'm sick of UPS. I checked the hard drive sticker itself, and it said something about not needing it to be set up for Master/Slave, and I have no jumpers in the hard drives currently. Should I?

Also, I don't plan on doing any overclocking. I don't really plan on doing anything out of the norm with my computer except play Battlefield 2 with it, so if I decide not to go through the pains of  installing the two Zalman coolers right away, is that going to be a problem? I'm kind of worried because my PSU is only 480 watts, and according to the motherboard manual it says that the motherboard may require more than 500 for heavy loads. I don't really know what would be a heavy load, but I'm afraid that using those two coolers might take valuable power away from my PSU.

For now at least, I think that's all of my problems. For the most part it seems to have gone okay, just a bit frustrating and a lot of reading and trial and error, but that Hard Drive thing is kicking my ass.

I'm wondering if it might be something as stupid as something in my BIOS. I do have my BIOS configured for RAID 0, and maybe if a RAID controller is absolutely required to make it work, it's not recognizing my HD's at all because of that.
2005-11-17 09:02:56
Jodah3
Member
+1|6747
If you could, explain a bit more about what you mean when you say you "can't load windows".  You're connections seem to be fine if you're getting into BIOS and you can see the hard drives in there.  Is the windows install cd not loading or is it during the windows installation setup where you are stuck?
2005-11-17 09:07:43
IGT-:-Maverick
Member
+3|6783|UK
Have you got a SATA/RAID driver disk with the motherboard?  If not try this link:

http://support.asus.com/download/downlo … uage=en-us
Silicon Image 3132 Serial ATA Driver V1.0.0.9 for Windows 2000/XP/2003.(WHQL)

There is an option to select additional / external drivers at the start of Windows setup - you are prompted to press "F6" by a message on the bottom of the screen.  At this point you have your floppy disk in and select the controller at this point.

I know this is the case with my older socket A motherboard - hope this helps
2005-11-17 09:10:48
Goose1123
I hate stupid people.
+0|6788|Illinois
When you boot from the Win XP cd you will see at the bottom it says press F6 to install additional drivers. Press F6 before that message leaves, then after all the other drivers are installed, you will install the RAID drivers. Those are probably on the mobo cd, you most likely need them on a floppy drive.

As for the cpu cooler, I would go ahead and remove the stock one. Then, clean off all the excess thermal paste from you cpu. Do this using a soft cloth and cleaning alcohol. Just put a little bit of alcohol on the cloth and gently clean off the paste. Then use the Zalmann cooler since you have it and it is better.

With your hard drives make sure they are plugged into SATA ports on the same banks. They should be Ok on 1 & 2. When it boots, look for a message that says something like, press Ctrl + A for RAID configuration. (I cannot remember the exact command)  Don't use the Western Dig. RAID driver.

DVD drives should be plugged into the primary IDE channel. You can probably put those jumpers to cable select (CS).

If you need anything else, let me know. You can post it here or PM me. I am getting ready to go to work for the rest of the evening, so it will be later before I get chance to check back here.
2005-11-17 09:13:01
Tyshalle83
Member
+1|6760|Raleigh, NC
Well originally, when I first loaded up the BIOS, and went to setup, it acknowledged at least one of the hard drives. There's a small chance that it might've been the DVD drives that it was recognizing, but I doubt it. Once I set the BIOS for RAID 0 it didn't acknowledge the hard drive itself anymore, but it did acknowledge the RAID. Maybe it was just acknowledging the RAID settings, and not the hard drive itself, I'm not sure.

All I know is that I was having issues with the DVD drive, and finally I plugged it into a different port on the motherboard and the DVD started working, so I put in the windows CD and tried to boot it up. It started loading for like 5 minutes and then said that it couldn't continue because there's no Hard Drive. I went back to the BIOS, looked around, couldn't find anything about the hard drive anywhere. There was a list of IDE things on the main page of the BIOS and they were all blank, or disabled or something like that. Nothing worth mentioning was there.

Strangely the BIOS keeps talking about a 3.5 disk drive A, but I have no floppy drive installed.
2005-11-17 09:16:40
IGT-:-Maverick
Member
+3|6783|UK
The SATA drivers need to be loaded from a floppy disk at the beginning of XP setup - if you boot from the XP CD look for the "F6" prompt.

This will allow Windows to see the SATA disk drives.  Its not the HW just the SW.
2005-11-17 09:18:22
Tyshalle83
Member
+1|6760|Raleigh, NC
Err... I got no floppy disk drive.

Doh....
2005-11-17 09:18:25
Goose1123
I hate stupid people.
+0|6788|Illinois
Also, when you have RAID 0 successfully configured, it will appear as one approx. 500 GB drive.

EDIT: If you have no floppy and need one, try yanking the one out of your other PC just until you get the install done.

Last edited by Goose1123 (2005-11-17 09:19:40)

2005-11-17 09:21:13
IGT-:-Maverick
Member
+3|6783|UK
I know its a pain!  Have you got another PC you could borrow a floppy disk drive from for setup?
2005-11-17 09:23:33
Tyshalle83
Member
+1|6760|Raleigh, NC
Yeah, I do, but I haven't cleaned the inside of my other computer since the day I bought it... three and a half years ago.

It'd almost be worth the 15 bucks to go purchase a new one from best buy or something to avoid having to go in that metal dustbowl.
2005-11-17 09:26:50
ABURN
Member
+0|6789
You cut 2 crucial corners with your system 6800 and 1 gb ram? You went all the way and cut your self short. 

For the money you could of got two 4ms Samsung’s instead of the 8ms
The hard drives you could of went Maxtor and had 16 mb buffer instead of 8mb
You should have got 2mb of ram
and a better vid card 6800 good but, wow for the money you spent you went cheap on the Vid card -- kick yourself in the ass now...lol

You said you want to play BF2. Go get another 1 gb ram you will be amazed no more slow load time. or verifying client data

oh and the reason you can not load windows is when you start windows you need to hit F6 to load the Raid drivers a floppy came with it , if you did not get a floppy then go to a friends house and go to asus.com and make you a copy from there on a cd


Oh by the way I recommend buying a floppy just incase, they only cost 7 dollars


Also for all those thinking of building another system

www.zipzoomfly.com gives you free 2 day fed ex. I priced my system on new egg and zipzoom fly saved me $250 overall for all my parts

Last edited by ABURN (2005-11-17 09:39:11)

2005-11-17 09:40:49
Tyshalle83
Member
+1|6760|Raleigh, NC
I intend to upgrade to two gigs of RAM in the near future.

And from what I can tell, the video card is fine. I spent close to 300 on the card, and I just flat out did not have the money to spend another 250 to get something truly top-of-the-line. From what I read on newegg, everyone who owns this card can play BF2 at its highest settings perfectly smooth. I mean, honestly, what is a more expensive card going to allow me to do, when the only thing I'd use it for is playing BF2.

I'm not the type of guy who flat out HAS to have all the top of the line equipment. Two years ago I bought a RADEON 9800 Pro and that card has lasted me ever since, and I'm still able to play BF2, FEAR, DOOM 3 and anything else I want. Not at the highest settings, obviously, but still, I've been able to play the games I want to play without being forced to upgrade every other month.

As for the RAM, I originally was going to go with two gigs, but then I was talked down to one gig. By the time I went back here and everyone said I'd need two gigs I had already purchased the RAM. I'll upgrade in a month or two.

And prior to buying the computer parts I asked as many people as I knew, online and off-line, including a pair of guys who build computers for a living. Nobody said anything, and the one or two times somebody did, there were three other people to disagree with them.

So all in all, I'm pleased with my choices. The RAM will be switched, and I'll give it to my girlfriend. The video card I'm sure will be beautiful.
2005-11-17 09:55:29
ABURN
Member
+0|6789
Well when you do get the money buy you another 6800 and throw it into the other slot, your board will support 2 vid cards and 2 6800 would be sweet. Most gamers build there own system since this is your first we all go through the learning curves. The one thing to remember next time if you are building a gaming system the 3 main components are
RAM (more the better)
Vid card
Processor
the rest is not near as subtanticial ,

but i do have to say nice system 2LCD's nice

One more thing you may not know your board has built in sound and a sound card is not needed.
2005-11-17 09:56:24
IGT-:-Maverick
Member
+3|6783|UK
I upgraded from a Radeon 9800Pro to a 6800 purely for money reasons (I do plan to upgrade again soon as my wallet allows) and I must say the 6800 is a great card for what it is and made my BF2 experience a lot better.

Good luck with loading Windows 
2005-11-17 09:57:03
Tyshalle83
Member
+1|6760|Raleigh, NC
I read in a book that onboard audio takes away from system resources and having a sound card is better because it does the sound stuff itself, and it also makes the audio sound better.

Is this not true?
2005-11-17 10:06:11
ABURN
Member
+0|6789
Dont get me wrong 6800 is a great card but it is on a decline ( tell me a computer part that is'nt)
just saying i would of waited on the dual LCD and spent that on a better card. then when i got the money bought another LCD easier to upgrade a lcd then vid card. less work involved

SOUND card really depends i have built 2 systems and have not put a sound card in either, and both are very fast and have 0 lag. with the system you built you would not of see a diffrence. Now if you want to buy the mega speaker system for surround sound  then i would have one but you said it was for gaming only. not needed at all

THis is only assuming you use a head set?

Last edited by ABURN (2005-11-17 10:35:43)

2005-11-17 10:16:42
ABURN
Member
+0|6789
go to
http://gameadvisor.futuremark.com/gameadvisor/service/

Slect the game advisor tab and then run the program

and see where your system ranks among the top computers.

I'm going to guess top 7%

Last edited by ABURN (2005-11-17 10:34:17)

2005-11-17 10:20:39
atlvolunteer
PKMMMMMMMMMM
+27|6779|Atlanta, GA USA

Tyshalle83 wrote:

I read in a book that onboard audio takes away from system resources and having a sound card is better because it does the sound stuff itself, and it also makes the audio sound better.

Is this not true?
I think this is true.  Onboard audio relies on the CPU for sound processing, whereas an Audigy card does all of the sound processing itself.  By using the offboard card, you should get somewhat better performance, especially if you have your sound settings turned up.
EDIT:  Of course, I use a Plantronics DSP500 USB Headset, so I don't need a soundcard at all

Last edited by atlvolunteer (2005-11-17 10:22:01)

2005-11-17 13:01:22
tuskbs
Member
+0|6744
Go to WWW.PLANET3DNOW.DE

Its the best AMD Support Forum on the net. It is German but You can post in english and you will be helped. Trust me, their Forum ROCKS!!!

Last edited by tuskbs (2005-11-17 13:01:43)

2006-01-04 18:59:24
aib73412
Member
+0|6738|im from idaho but liven in MD
i just built my computer and i working the softwarekinks out right now, this to is my first build from scratch and i bought an ASUS P5N 32 sli delux and it kick butt , but still need to work some software kinks out
2006-01-04 22:50:19
=SA=VaSSiLi
Member
+2|6779
Just curious, why did you buy 2 monitors?  Maybe you explained somewhere above but I might have missed it, so I'm curious.

 

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