Help building my first PC, I’ve already started!!!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Jun 27, 2003 11:24 am

Thanks very much, and yes, this is the way... The more we do for each other, the more we do for ourselves as well, this is the rule to life. I really feel at home. Thanks again...

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Jun 27, 2003 4:56 pm

As I got fed up trying to plug my last 5 little plugs and fond no solution yet… (but I will of I promise myself), I decided to modify certain things that needed a change anyway:

One of them is the case itself; one connexion coming from the case was wasting uselessly an important space on the back of it. I decided to make a hole into the case, so I did, and put the cable through it, covered with some metal I cut to match the hole. It was a god idea I can see now, cos I have a free slot. P4PE has so many features, that if you are not careful, you fill up lots of space with all those little additional cards.

The holes of the back of the case did not match either, the components of the motherboard, so I cut it too, so it matches. It was a good thing as well.

Finally, and meanwhile I receive an answer from Asus and Thermaltake, I have added some “expanded polystyrene” to dampen a bit more any possible noise. (Yes, I did it Immanuel, I too want a quiet system) Due to the fact that the case has 5 fans, I’m sure it’s not going to get warm. Anyway, the Japan Steel is so very cold in itself, that it’s difficult for it to get easily warm, I understand why Thermaltake has chosen this material for their cases. My only concern about this is the material itself. I’m asking myself is it is in fact appropriate to be into a case… or not. Well… let me explain you better why. I just had a rest of it into my hands for about 5 minutes, and suddenly I had a very strong static electric discharge into my hands… fortunately, without touching any of the components. That is why I thought it may be not suitable for the case… What do you know about this?

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Sat Jun 28, 2003 11:35 am

I know nothing much about it, but my initial thought was that this may have some electric properties, witch are unwanted - no knowledge just a thought.

If this is the stuff, that comes in a spray can, and expands extremely and is yellow and gets quite hard as it dries and is usually used by people building/reparing houses - especially around windows, then I have to warn you. A friend of mine is a pro in that business, and he told me, that in Denmark to be alowed to use this stuff as a pro, you need to go to a full week work shop (I think that was the duration). The problem is, that untill it dries it sends out quite toxic gasses

I don't think you die from it

After all, it is awailable without a reciept, but people working with this a lot need to take care. And therefor I think, that the rest of us should do so too. If you want to use such stuff, I recomend doing it outside, when possible.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Jun 28, 2003 8:38 pm

Oh yeaa, I know what you’re talking about… this is spread through a special compressed mechanism, pushing it as a liquid in fact, that gets fatter and fatter when in contact with air. It’s a fantastic product but extremely toxic, I will never use it cos I think it would damage the components anyway… Don’t worry Immanuel, I’m certainly not using this one…

I’m talking about a very light, soft product that always comes in white colour and is used for keeping the cold in portable fridges and the so, like the ones used for can sellers in the street. It is made of quite tiny little bolls joined each other. Also used for isolation in roofs to keep the sun’s hit out of your rooms. You could easily take 20 cubic meters of it with your owns hands, and still is quite light…

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Jun 28, 2003 11:30 pm

When I went to buy the video card, I espected to find a Matrox, but there was nothing at all... Well, I've got the IMS FX5600, but this is and 8X card, and the P4PE supports only 4X, did I do something too bad? Hope that not...

rrominet4 · Post by **rrominet4** » Sun Jun 29, 2003 4:22 am

for joint I think bathroom joints can be used (soft plastic, remains soft when dry, and can be removed easily, check your bathroom). You can get a lot less noise if your case doesn't vibrate...

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Sun Jun 29, 2003 8:35 am

Is that a Geforce FX based card Nestor? FX chips produce extreme amounts of heat and are not very suitable for building a low noise PC. If you have opened the box, you can check the manual to see, if the card runs in 4x mode too. I guess it will, but I am not upto date in gamers grafics cards. If a Matrox card is the only thing you can not get in Chile, maybe that is the single thing to get from another country?

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sun Jun 29, 2003 2:46 pm

There’s no problem with the card… it was just lack of information from my part. The first Gforce cards, were extremely noisy, and they were also very warm, the FX5600 is one of the quietest cards in the market, and it has a very good hitsink spreader so there is no problem with that. What most serious reviewers had enjoyed most from the card, is the low noise, so no problems.

In regard to 8X, no problems cos this kind of cards work at 2X, 4X and 8X respectively. I just thought it could be a problem but it’s not at all. Reading all about, on the contrary, I’m very pleased of the card I’ve chosen.

The problem was that I had to choose a card on the fly, without reading anything about it, just through intuition if you like… so talking with the salesman, I have been given this one. Everything should be alright, and IT DOES support for two monitors… Fortunately!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 9:24 am

I’ve just connected the last wire, the system is done! I’m so happy, can’t believe did it myself alone, well, I mean, WITH PLANET Z HELP!

It’s so regarding doing it yourself. Now I finally know what’s inside the case, and how things are connected, and why…

I’m going to do the test soon, please, give me any suggestion you may have before doing so.

The only thing missing is the RAM Sticks, coming today or tomorrow I guess…

What I’m for sure going to do is to double check all the connexions before powering up for the fist time, I think somebody like me, doing it for the fist time, should always double check the double checked checks…

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 10:29 am

And... what should I use for my drives: FAT, FAT32, NTFS? Any suggestion?

snoopy4ever · Post by **snoopy4ever** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 10:45 am

No doubt to me (IMHO) you should use FAT32, that's the file system format speciall audio harddrives use from factory, take a look at Glyphtec.com. It's the ideal format for long secuential files like audio or video.

Cheers

Snoopy

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 4:18 pm

NTFS if you are a chicken.
FAT32 if you want to live fast.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 6:52 pm

Does it imply any restrection to the use of programs, or kind of programs, if you use FAT?

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 5:28 am

No - the only restriction can be, if winXP can not run the program, but that is not related to the file system. You can not controll a winXP NTFS system with other operating systems (maybe win2000?) - including DOS.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 7:23 pm

Hey Immanuel, thanks for your answer...

Well, you know? It's the fist time I'm going to get into XP, I've never used this one, I've worked with 98SE for ages and it was time for an upgrade... But... Doing everything for the first time:

building the PC myself
formating HDs
configuring it from scratch, etc...

Whatever anybody can tell me, poiting me out about links and so, would be very much appreciated. Even if you think it is TOO basic, It will not be for me... Thanks...

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 11:32 pm

Well, the first step is done, the computer is build and all the cables connected to their right place, as long as I believe…

Thanks very much to all of those who have helped me to rich this.

Now, I’m going to open a new thread for the following step…

Cheers...