One for you Quantum et-all

[Quantum]

Apparently the drive is the WD3200AAKS-00B3A0, you can read about it here: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3236

[texasboy]

Got the mobo Gigabyte 775 Intel GA-8I865GME-775-RH 865G/ICH5 FSB800 8xAGP onboard VGA 2xDual CH DDR 400 6Channel Audio Micro ATX Motherboard
 locally for £35 at MPLEX, plus a reasonable case for £25. Now all I have to do is find the time to start putting all this together.

The case was from Aurora, and little did I know that it came with 450 WinPower PSU installed .25amps max on 12v.
Anyway ,installed Mobo (so much smaller in case than the PCI-E one.) Installed P4 and Akasa heatsink. 2x120mm fans. Had to stop for tonight as writing on mobo is so small to connect led/switch leads etc. Mobo came with Sata leads so may go with similar HD. Max 2gb ram on mobo so will check out this week for decent cards on special. It wont be a gamers machine ,but a very big improvement on the old family HP 710.
cheers
ps, if anyone has any suggestions ref memory cards to suit Mobo.

Again I am hearing that this PSU is not stable(why do they sell them if they dont do the job??) Can probably check out better unit including the 400w you mentioned earlier.

[Quantum]

Double check if you've read my last post on the previous page, especially about hard drives and stuff.

As for PSUs, they try and make them as cheap as possible and they can be real bad, this is very very common, there's the ones mentioned here in this thread so far. Also as for other budget PSUs I've had good experience with, Trust's Low Noise Big Fan series seems pretty good, e.g: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TRUST-520W-Pro-Noise-PW-5550/dp/B000J5U0ME

[texasboy]

Sounds reasonable. Have been looking at http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/Corsair+450W+VX+Series+PSU+?productId=28332.
Specs are good and would last a while. Your thoughts?
cheers

[Quantum]

Sounds reasonable. Have been looking at http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/Corsair+450W+VX+Series+PSU+?productId=28332.
Specs are good and would last a while. Your thoughts?
cheers

Corsair are a really good brand, specs unfortunately mean nothing for a PSU.

Either it's a good brand, it has lots of good user feedback or there is a good review on it and the only people I know who actually do reviews worthwhile reading for PSUs are Anandtech and they only started this year and haven't got round to budget PSUs.

As for this PSU, a single power rail, while somewhat questionable on safety (no one really knows with this sort of stuff) does appear to provide better performance.

[texasboy]

Right , here we go. Stuck 1 stick of ram 512 ddr 184 pin into mobo . Also old Rade0n 9250 AGP card. cleared cmos etc.
Hit start button .all fans running,(at this stage no HD/Monitor/or HIS AGP card). Would not switch off with start button,so switch off power at back of tower.
Next took HD(IDE) out of WINXP sli pc and put in new rig. Gigabyte mobo box supplied 34 pin ribbon IDE connections even though both connections on HD and mobo are 40 pin. Used ribbon from other pc 40 pin and hooked up to pc. Also carefully installed new HIS AGP card and hooked up 6 pin power for card. Hit start button, nothing! Also hooked up to Acer monitor instead of CRT 19". Removed 2 wire power lead from mobo and lightly touched the 2 pins with screwdriver. All started up ,fans/card fans and LED lights. But monitor  not getting signal ..Switched off again ,cleared CMOS and re-instated 2 wire power switch connector. Still nothing.(screwdriver still works)
Will the 34 pin IDE ribbon still plug in(until SATA HD arrives later).
Will now go back to old Radeon card and see if this lot fires up again to monitor.
Probably something simple.Plenty of power to ,mobo,cd  external drive ,ethernet broadband lights on etc.
Will add to this later.
cheers

[Quantum]

Need to be more specific about start-up problems like that. Does it turn on at all? Does it briefly make any sounds? Is it on but nothing outputting to monitor? etc...

These kinds of problems I hate most, but I do know most common causes for them.

[texasboy]

Right basically I have pc out on table. Not connected to monitor.
All I have connected to mobo is.
1)Radeon 9250 AGP card
2)512 ddr ram card (new)
3) 80 GB Hard drive from PCI-E computer running winXP, hooked up with 40 pin IDE ribbon cable.

When I hit the power button at front of case everything starts. CPU fan, 2x120mm case fans, PSU fan etc.
Power button when held down does not stop or turn off PC (have to turn off manually at back of case)
Hooked up speakers (green line out ) to back of mobo but no beeps. Card is fully seated.
I have another Pentium 4  processor available same specs if needed.
Checked all the + and - connections on the F Panel for HD and reset switch.
Only thing I can think of is that when installing mobo I made  some double thick paper washers. Can pull mobo out again and use plastic inserts for these spaces in case there is a possible short.
Taking the pc over and adding mouse/keyboard and monitor connections. Monitor has no signal/screen.
Is HD compatable and should it not be able to fire up winXP
PS 34 pin ribbon is for floppy.
cheers

[Quantum]

Hmmm, unlucky problem...

To be it sounds like it's a motherboard problem, if there are components you can test, go through them 1 by 1.

[texasboy]

Quantum, Horrible thought just occured to me. Have we miss matched the Gigabyte mobo for the HIS graphics card? Got everything powered up Power button is switching on and off now, all fans including card fan running normally. Installed the 2GB ram (2x1 GB PC3200 CL3 184 pin DIMM.) still no signal to monitor.
Then I looked at the hand book from HIS for the card.

Features at a glance.
256/512MB-256 bit 8 channel GDDR4/GDDR3 memory. Different mem type? http://hightech.com.hk/html/product_ov.php?id=296&view=yes

Any thoughts ??
cheers

Looking through the web,the HIS card is indeed GDDR3 memory and much better card than expected( on par with Radeon 3850 model) So need to look for new Mobo.?

[Quantum]

The only thing that matters between a mobo and graphics card is the specific slot they use / have.

[texasboy]

Many posts on computer/tech forums show that the new GDDR3 in latest cards incorporated into the older AGP boards/slots will not work, and assuming that the Gigabyte mobo has been out for some time,may have a problem.
cheers

[Quantum]

Many posts on computer/tech forums show that the new GDDR3 in latest cards incorporated into the older AGP boards/slots will not work, and assuming that the Gigabyte mobo has been out for some time,may have a problem.
cheers

I've never heard of this...

You need to post on the manufacturers support forum or something.

[texasboy]

Have ongoing e-mail with Gigabyte. Will call it a day for now and let you know tmw. Many thanks
cheers

[texasboy]

Went through everthing again. It was a faulty processor. Changed over to the spare P4 and have signal to monitor . spend my spare time installing WinXP to SATA hard drive/drivers etc. Will let you know in next few days.
cheers