Noob question, what are the sockets on motherboards

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 31 Dec 2005, 07:59

only two words: not bad

make sure you don't buy excess stuff. for example, check to see what onboard capabilities your motherboard has (sound card, graphics card, etc.) and decide if you're satisfied or not.

power cables should come with the case, and IDE ribbons should come with the motherboard, so no worries there. screws and mobo supports should come with the case as well.

when buying RAM, first decide how much you want and how much you're willing to spend. 512 MB is fine, but if u have the money, go for 1 GB. after you've decided, check the highest speed your motherboard supports (usually PC3200). then, check to see if your motherboard is dual channel (this is very important). if you have dual channel, you might want to think of buying Dual Channel RAM. Single Channel will work, but Dual Channel will be much faster if you ever decide to upgrade or use two sticks.

if you're planning to buy a hard drive, buy one that your motherboard supports (e.g. IDE). IDE is way cheaper anyways, and gets the job done. also, you'll need a Windows CD in order to install. i dont know if you can find an OEM version online. if not, you'll have to crank out at least $150 for a full version of Windows.

since you'll need to do a fresh install of Windows, a CD/DVD Drive is also recommended when you're first setting it up.

also, i recommend using a PS/2 mouse and keyboard before you have windows completely installed. some motherboard BIOS's are quirky and wont recognize USB keyboards, and thus will stop loading cuz the system can't find a keyboard. PS/2 keyboards are really cheap, and are available almost anywhere. if you can get your hands on one, buy it, use it for installation, and then return it if you have no more use for it.

when assembling, first and foremost, make sure all the packages contain all that they should. have a screwdriver handy. and also set aside at least two hours of time. trust me, you'll need it. also make sure to keep your manual handy, especially the one for your motherboard. you'll really be thankful if u do that.

there's some post-assembly stuff that you need to take care of, but that's after you've assembled. PM me if you need any help or have anymore questions, i'll be glad to help. i've build computers before, so it shouldn't be a problem.

EDIT:
Sir_Ibi beat me to it

btw, good luck!

Sir Ibi · Post by **Sir Ibi** » 31 Dec 2005, 08:01

Ye, but you seem to have a lot more detail in your post that will probably help him even more

NFSBLUECIVIC · Post by **NFSBLUECIVIC** » 31 Dec 2005, 08:29

thank you very much prince, that will be very usefull, i already have a copy of xp home edition, so i dun have to worry about that! Hey on ram, the dual channel thing you were explaining, so dual channel, is that just ddr2 instead of ddr? or what is difference besides speed?

Sir Ibi · Post by **Sir Ibi** » 31 Dec 2005, 08:33

I think the Dual Channel is faster that One channel being twice as many channels, but I maybe wrong... Btw is your existing copy of XP new or has it already been installed. If its already in use then you can't use on a new PC, it just let you install it.

NFSBLUECIVIC · Post by **NFSBLUECIVIC** » 31 Dec 2005, 08:41

u shure, because i have installed it on 2 different comps of our familys and they both work

donaldgladden · Post by **donaldgladden** » 31 Dec 2005, 08:49

NFSBLUECIVIC wrote:thank you very much sir ibi, greatly appreciated, btw have you ever built a pc? i wont be building one for about a month or half a month, well just as soon as i can get enought money for all the parts, ill probobly buy the motherboard/cpu combo, case, cooling, and ram first.
hey hows this case look eh?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... u=D15-1015

just get a Antec case. they are really cheap and they use the best PSUs. dont make the misyake i did and buy a cheap case. i brought a Dynatex case with a 350W psu and lets just say building the comp was a LIVING HELL!!!!!

Sir Ibi · Post by **Sir Ibi** » 31 Dec 2005, 08:55

NFSBLUECIVIC wrote:u shure, because i have installed it on 2 different comps of our familys and they both work

That's strange. I thought Windows XP only work on individual PCs. That's what happened to me. I used a previous version of XP on my new PC and it kept saying, that I needed to buy a new license as my comp has changed consedirably...

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 31 Dec 2005, 09:04

Sir Ibi wrote:I think the Dual Channel is faster that One channel being twice as many channels, but I maybe wrong... Btw is your existing copy of XP new or has it already been installed. If its already in use then you can't use on a new PC, it just let you install it.

here's the deal with Dual Channel:

1. Dual Channel is NOT DDR2. if the RAM stick supports Dual Channel, it'll say "Dual Channel" somewhere in the product description/name.
2. Dual Channel memory has to be supported by the motherboard. only the motherboard description can tell you if it is.
3. Dual Channel is most effective when using more than one RAM stick. basically, two Dual Channel RAM sticks that are EXACTLY the same will double the bandwidth on a Dual Channel system by acting as one unit. more bandwidth = faster =D. however, the RAM sticks have to be exactly the same, e.g. same manufacturer, same size, same speed.

XP has a new feature called activation... on a brand new install, it will require itself to be activated. there's nothing i can do to help you with that.

as for the case, what you have is fine. it has enough power supply, it has LEDs, it's good. as long as it's what YOU'RE wanting, it's good. the only trouble i see you running into is installing the LEDs and getting them to work right. but, if it's truly what you want, then you'll be dedicated enough to figure it out

EDIT:

about WinXP on multiple systems: there is a way to trick windows. google for that. you may also have a copy that allows multiple installations, although with Home Edition, it's very unlikely... it's very strange

...

NFSBLUECIVIC · Post by **NFSBLUECIVIC** » 31 Dec 2005, 09:56

thanx everybody, ok now hard drives, where can i get them cheap, 80 gig will do me just fine, people complain that it isnt enough, but i think its plenty, know where to get it cheap?

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 31 Dec 2005, 19:04

http://www.newegg.com

NFSBLUECIVIC · Post by **NFSBLUECIVIC** » 31 Dec 2005, 20:18

site looks gooe enough, but the prices are cheaper on http://www.tigerdirect.com (if you didnt know im a fan of them) they sometimes have ridiculas sales, like this one time they sold 512 mb ram for 10 bucks! it was like for 3 days, and now its back at 30 bucks, but they sometimes do crazy sales like that you can get good stuff. ya now that i look at it, that site is quite a bit more than tiger direct, compare.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148065

to this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148065

tiger direct is cheaper, and another comparison

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822144132

to this

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... pNo=714102

not to much difference there, but still just a tinge cheaper.

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 31 Dec 2005, 20:48

you do realize that the first two hard drives there are SATA hard drives, which are considerably more expensive than regular IDE hard drives?

NFSBLUECIVIC · Post by **NFSBLUECIVIC** » 31 Dec 2005, 21:14

o sorry, didnt notice that, btw what is the differene between ide and sata?

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 01 Jan 2006, 01:46

the type of cables they use and the data transfer speed. SATA is obviously better and faster than IDE, but it's also expensive. SATA hard drives are usually used in enterprising systems, or mainframes. compared to an IDE, SATA transfer speeds are crazily fast. usual IDE hard drives operate at 33MBps. SATA drives operating speeds are at 150 MBps. but you pay a hefty price for that speed.

here's some more info:

http://geeks.com/pix/techtips-010605.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_T ... Attachment

and of course, the motherboard has to support SATA. unfortunately, the one you're going for doesnt.

EDIT:

it seems that there's a new type of SATA that allows up to 300 MBps data transfer. supported only on the nVidia nforce4 chip, however.

NFSBLUECIVIC · Post by **NFSBLUECIVIC** » 01 Jan 2006, 02:06

what you, mean "the motherboard has to support sata" if i get an ide it wont matter right?

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 01 Jan 2006, 02:08

almost all motherboards support IDE, so it wont matter.

EuroRacer · Post by **EuroRacer** » 01 Jan 2006, 02:14

the type of cables they use and the data transfer speed. SATA is obviously better and faster than IDE, but it's also expensive. SATA hard drives are usually used in enterprising systems, or mainframes. compared to an IDE, SATA transfer speeds are crazily fast. usual IDE hard drives operate at 33MBps. SATA drives operating speeds are at 150 MBps. but you pay a hefty price for that speed.

the fastest type of IDE has a speed of 133MBps, SATA is 150 or more MBps and the prices of cheap SATA hard drives are almost identical to IDE drives, although there are some expensive (and really fast) SATA hard drives available. (WD Raptor for example)

what you, mean "the motherboard has to support sata" if i get an ide it wont matter right?

A motherboard that supports SATA also supports IDE, but a motherboard that supports IDE doesn't always support SATA.

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 01 Jan 2006, 02:18

not necessarily. i've seen some motherboards that don't support both (Micro ATX MoBo's)

kinda wierd that Micro ATX mobos will have SATA hard drives though....

EuroRacer · Post by **EuroRacer** » 01 Jan 2006, 02:34

prince1142003 wrote:not necessarily. i've seen some motherboards that don't support both (Micro ATX MoBo's)

kinda wierd that Micro ATX mobos will have SATA hard drives though....

Could you give me a link? I really want to know which stupid company did even think of making such a ridiculous product

Micro-ATX is supposed to be cheap, so it should be compatible with cheap parts instead of more expensive ones...

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 01 Jan 2006, 02:42

hmm.. i'd have to search for that... which i really dont feel like doing...