Some of you may know of my old souped up gaming rig, which is still housed in a now-obsolete white Dell Tower from like 1999 or something. I've had this comp since before I came to CA, before I even signed on a username in 2000. It's taken me through countless games on PC and emu alike. It still has Windows 98, but currently supports an additional 60 GB of harddrive space to supplement the original 13GB drive. I gave it a scavenged Toshiba DVD-ROM drive and its SB Live!, while it doesn't support EAX, is still highly compatible with new and old games alike. The jewel in its crown is its Geforce FX 5900 Ultra 256 graphics card, which recently became second-rate due to the 6800.

It's like the Millenium Falcon- looks like a piece of junk, but it's got it where it counts. Still, I've never upgraded the processor. It's an old Pentium II that goes just under 600 mhz. Needless to say, this is not suitable for modern games, which require at least 1 Ghz and WANT you to have 3 Ghz in your tank. The RAM on the thing is 256 MB, and I put that in there myself (it used to be- get this- 32 MB, but it usually sputtered around at 16 MB). Now even the RAM is obsolete.

I've probably mentioned this before, but maybe not. I need a new processor. And frankly, I'm not sure if my old motherboard was made to handle a pentium 4. Hell, I don't even know how to install a processor. And as for RAM-- well, I'll need new RAM, too, because the kind I have is an old-skool design that won't fit in new motherboards.

So, in summation:

Windows 98 (I'm going to keep this.)
Pentium II that goes under 600 mhz
256 MB RAM (obsolete)
Geforce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB
SB LIVE! Value with SB 16 emulation (no EAX)
77 GB total hard drive
Old monitor (would upgrade except it'd cost too much money for little gain)
Toshiba 4.8x32 CD/DVD-ROM drive

That's all I can think of. I won't say I want to spend as little as possible, just that I want to get the most bang for my buck. It won't do me any good if I have to pay $500 just to get a game like Far Cry or Doom III on the processor alone.

God bless.


Fett seal of approval™

> So, in summation:
>
> Windows 98 (I'm going to keep this.)
> Pentium II that goes under 600 mhz
> 256 MB RAM (obsolete)
> Geforce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB
> SB LIVE! Value with SB 16 emulation (no EAX)
> 77 GB total hard drive
> Old monitor (would upgrade except it'd cost too much money for little gain)
> Toshiba 4.8x32 CD/DVD-ROM drive

Ok, your Ram is prolly EDO ram, its dead, gone, etc... you prolly missed SDRam completely ;) The PII is a Slot CPU (think snes cartrige) the P4 is a pinned chip, so you're definitely needing new cpu and motherboard to accept it now . GFX Card should be mostely ok. Soundcard (if used) should still be fine. Your Power supply is prolly shot tho for newer systems. You may even have a baby at in there if its pii era (you can tell the difference in that ATX shuts off the computer automatically when you shut down windows, Baby AT req's you manualy push the power button). Either or, a new atx psu is in order. Now, the case, HOPEFULLY is standard ATX then, but it might not be, so you may need a new case. Then for the CPU you'll need a new heatsink/fan and some semi decent thermal cmpd (don't buy radio shack they have shitty thermal cmpd, trust me :) Ok so that new cpu, hsf, ram, psu, case, thermal cmpd, and motherboard.

Anyway, i did some shopping for you and here are my suggestions. Like I say tho, only suggestions, you may not need/want everything on that list but it'll pretty much get you up to speed. The cpu should overclock nicely and with a decent hsf cooling shouldn't be a prob. The antec PSU has plenty of juice. I just picked the case cos i like it damnit ;) The ram is the cheapest name brand pc3200 they have and the mother board has plenty of extras (onboard Soundstorm sound =dolby digital out ot your home theater if you like, using winamp,games,etc..., dual 100mpbs lan, firewire, serial ata, 8x agp, dual channel ddr.) Overclocking on it is as simple as changing bios settings (its what i use personally to run my XP 2700 (originally 2.16ghz/333mhz fsb now at 2.3ghz/400mhz fsb). Other than that perhaps you should invest in a few extra case fans just to make sure.

Just transfer over your HDDS and hook up that old monitor and you should be set. BTW i thru in the lite on all in one drive because its cheap, lite on is quality, and it will burn and read just about whatever you need (yah yah, it ain't dual layered dvd burning, but blah, 8x = 8minutes for 4.3gb burn :) Anyway, these are just some pointers. I'm just suggesting amd because 1.) I know them, 2.) I'll only use them and 3.) they're cheaper than equivalent p4's. Good luck and enjoy shopping.

edit - damn, made a mistake and picked the a7n8x non deluxe, the A7N8X-E Deluxe for $84 is what you'd want (the -E is the one that has a built in port for a wireless network adapter from asus)

_ _ - - = = Pr3tty F1y = = - - _ _

Cool, man, thanks for taking the time to do that for me. I appreciate.

As for the case... whaddya think of THIS fucker?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-146-006&depa=1

Helluva thing, huh? Looks like it belongs on Transformers.

CD/DVD Drive: I don't burn CDs or DVDs, mainly because I use my laptop to access the internet, and thusly I never have any reason to transfer documents from one place to another. Not even to listen in the car. So I don't need one that writes, just one that plays.

I don't know anything about overclocking or changing BIOS settings. I know nothing about computers except how to turn them on, change some stuff, and put in new graphics cards. Aside from that, I'm clueless.

I'll use your suggestions wisely.

> > So, in summation:
> >
> > Windows 98 (I'm going to keep this.)
> > Pentium II that goes under 600 mhz
> > 256 MB RAM (obsolete)
> > Geforce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB
> > SB LIVE! Value with SB 16 emulation (no EAX)
> > 77 GB total hard drive
> > Old monitor (would upgrade except it'd cost too much money for little gain)
> > Toshiba 4.8x32 CD/DVD-ROM drive
>
> Ok, your Ram is prolly EDO ram, its dead, gone, etc... you prolly missed SDRam
> completely ;) The PII is a Slot CPU (think snes cartrige) the P4 is a pinned
> chip, so you're definitely needing new cpu and motherboard to accept it now .
> GFX Card should be mostely ok. Soundcard (if used) should still be fine. Your
> Power supply is prolly shot tho for newer systems. You may even have a baby at
> in there if its pii era (you can tell the difference in that ATX shuts off the
> computer automatically when you shut down windows, Baby AT req's you manualy
> push the power button). Either or, a new atx psu is in order. Now, the case,
> HOPEFULLY is standard ATX then, but it might not be, so you may need a new case.
> Then for the CPU you'll need a new heatsink/fan and some semi decent thermal
> cmpd (don't buy radio shack they have shitty thermal cmpd, trust me :) Ok so
> that new cpu, hsf, ram, psu, case, thermal cmpd, and motherboard.
>
> Anyway, i did some shopping for you and here are my suggestions. Like I say tho,
> only suggestions, you may not need/want everything on that list but it'll pretty
> much get you up to speed. The cpu should overclock nicely and with a decent hsf
> cooling shouldn't be a prob. The antec PSU has plenty of juice. I just picked
> the case cos i like it damnit ;) The ram is the cheapest name brand pc3200 they
> have and the mother board has plenty of extras (onboard Soundstorm sound =dolby
> digital out ot your home theater if you like, using winamp,games,etc..., dual
> 100mpbs lan, firewire, serial ata, 8x agp, dual channel ddr.) Overclocking on
> it is as simple as changing bios settings (its what i use personally to run my
> XP 2700 (originally 2.16ghz/333mhz fsb now at 2.3ghz/400mhz fsb). Other than
> that perhaps you should invest in a few extra case fans just to make sure.
>
> Just transfer over your HDDS and hook up that old monitor and you should be set.
> BTW i thru in the lite on all in one drive because its cheap, lite on is
> quality, and it will burn and read just about whatever you need (yah yah, it
> ain't dual layered dvd burning, but blah, 8x = 8minutes for 4.3gb burn :)
> Anyway, these are just some pointers. I'm just suggesting amd because 1.) I
> know them, 2.) I'll only use them and 3.) they're cheaper than equivalent p4's.
> Good luck and enjoy shopping.
>
> edit - damn, made a mistake and picked the a7n8x non deluxe, the A7N8X-E Deluxe
> for $84 is what you'd want (the -E is the one that has a built in port for a
> wireless network adapter from asus)
>
> _ _ - - = = Pr3tty F1y = = - - _ _
>



Fett seal of approval™

cool case, psu *should* be good enough. I just like antec being that it has a separate line for each voltage (instead of the 3.3v being derived from the 5v line) and its quality (=hella heavy). I haven't heard of that brand of PSU, but it really should do for what your using it for.

As for the other suggestions on CA, WinXP is a must. Dual boot Win98se to play older games if you must, but WinXP is superb for stability and usability. I once thought that I'd never give up Win98SE, but once I made WinXP look and work like the classic windows shell, its been nothing but smooth sailing.

As for itchynadz comment, if you want a full nforce, get the A7N8X-Deluxe or A7N8X-E Deluxe (same thing, only the -E has the ASUS wireless adapter port onboard). being that they are the only A7N8X's with IEEE1394 (aka Firewire), Serial ATA, and Soundstorm 5.1 surround sound as well as dual channel ddr support. As for ASUS/Newegg, if you want you can go refurb. I'm running 2 ASUS refurb boards (A7N8X Deluxe and plain A7N8X in this house) and the ASUS refurb quality is pretty much perfect (it works just as well as my retail A7N8X Deluxe I have in my PC). However, the IO Panel on the back for this style of motherboard is not normal ATX, the ports are kinda in different places, so the refurb one won't come with the io plate to fit it. However, I picked one up on ebay for $5 or so, if not, if you're good with a dremel tool or the like, you could grind out a regular atx ioplate to fit it ;)

Other than that 512mb is fine, 1gb is nice for some of the newer games tho.

_ _ - - = = Pr3tty F1y = = - - _ _

Okay, I'll use my case. But as for the mobo... now let me get what you said straight. If I buy the A7N8X, I'll need a "regular" plate to go on back? And what, by the way, did you mean by wireless adapter-- I... I don't think I need one of those, but what is it?

After the case and mobo, I'll need the CPU and shit, right?

And could you dumb it down just a tad for me next time?

> cool case, psu *should* be good enough. I just like antec being that it has a
> separate line for each voltage (instead of the 3.3v being derived from the 5v
> line) and its quality (=hella heavy). I haven't heard of that brand of PSU, but
> it really should do for what your using it for.
>
> As for the other suggestions on CA, WinXP is a must. Dual boot Win98se to play
> older games if you must, but WinXP is superb for stability and usability. I
> once thought that I'd never give up Win98SE, but once I made WinXP look and work
> like the classic windows shell, its been nothing but smooth sailing.
>
> As for itchynadz comment, if you want a full nforce, get the A7N8X-Deluxe or
> A7N8X-E Deluxe (same thing, only the -E has the ASUS wireless adapter port
> onboard). being that they are the only A7N8X's with IEEE1394 (aka Firewire),
> Serial ATA, and Soundstorm 5.1 surround sound as well as dual channel ddr
> support. As for ASUS/Newegg, if you want you can go refurb. I'm running 2 ASUS
> refurb boards (A7N8X Deluxe and plain A7N8X in this house) and the ASUS refurb
> quality is pretty much perfect (it works just as well as my retail A7N8X Deluxe
> I have in my PC). However, the IO Panel on the back for this style of
> motherboard is not normal ATX, the ports are kinda in different places, so the
> refurb one won't come with the io plate to fit it. However, I picked one up on
> ebay for $5 or so, if not, if you're good with a dremel tool or the like, you
> could grind out a regular atx ioplate to fit it ;)
>
> Other than that 512mb is fine, 1gb is nice for some of the newer games tho.
>
> _ _ - - = = Pr3tty F1y = = - - _ _
>



Fett seal of approval™

> Okay, I'll use my case. But as for the mobo... now let me get what you said
> straight. If I buy the A7N8X, I'll need a "regular" plate to go on back? And
> what, by the way, did you mean by wireless adapter-- I... I don't think I need
> one of those, but what is it?
>
> After the case and mobo, I'll need the CPU and shit, right?
>
> And could you dumb it down just a tad for me next time?

OK, just make sure your case has a removable ioshield, beacuse the a7n8x (no matter if its the Deluxe, -E Deluxe, -VM, or -X) will need a special one.

You will still need a new atx power supply then, because a PII era power supply still isnt' evnough today.

and for the A7N8X-E Deluxe's special wireless adapter, its not that it comes with a wireless network adapter, it just has a special asus proprietary port for Asus's special wireless adapter. Thats the only real difference of the A7N8X Deluxe (lacking the port) and the A7N8X-E Deluxe with the port. Either way, you'll want the Deluxe version as it has all the bells and whistles like the Dolby Digital Encoding/Decoding via the Soundstorm built in sound (comes with a coaxial 5.1 digital out), the Serial ATA hard disk interface (still has ports for the old parallell ata which your hdds are, too), it has Firewire, and dual channel ddr support (which isn't really that big of a deal, but it does boost your mem's performance slightly).

As for over clocking in the bios, basically you pres the DELETE key on boot up (has a msg about it at the bottom of your screen when you first turn on the pc, for older pc's it may not be DELETE, it maybe F1 or if its a Dell/Gateway/etc... they may mask it with a logo so you don't see it). Anyway, it brings you to a configuration screen and with the nforce2 you can just pick the cpu fsb, memspeed, and fsb multiplier to get whatever speed your cpu can handle. Any other questions or things i didn't explain well enough, just ask.

_ _ - - = = Pr3tty F1y = = - - _ _

Well, I've already gone ahead and purchased a refurbished "X" model, which has a Realtek ALC650 audio codec with 6 channels, not as good as a Dolby. It comes with USB 2.0, but I dunno about 1394 (not that it matters- I've grown used to installing my own stuff). As for the other stuff... it doesn't sound like it's THAT much better-- I'm just using it for games.

The price was right for the refurb ($30), as opposed to like $80 for retail. Now let's see if it'll work. If it don't, I'll send it back.

Oh, yeah. HOW DO YOU INSTALL A MOTHERBOARD?! I don't think you can just plug everything in and expect it to boot up, can you? Surely configuration is part of the game, correct?

Can you link me to an article?


> > Okay, I'll use my case. But as for the mobo... now let me get what you said
> > straight. If I buy the A7N8X, I'll need a "regular" plate to go on back? And
> > what, by the way, did you mean by wireless adapter-- I... I don't think I need
> > one of those, but what is it?
> >
> > After the case and mobo, I'll need the CPU and shit, right?
> >
> > And could you dumb it down just a tad for me next time?
>
> OK, just make sure your case has a removable ioshield, beacuse the a7n8x (no
> matter if its the Deluxe, -E Deluxe, -VM, or -X) will need a special one.
>
> You will still need a new atx power supply then, because a PII era power supply
> still isnt' evnough today.
>
> and for the A7N8X-E Deluxe's special wireless adapter, its not that it comes
> with a wireless network adapter, it just has a special asus proprietary port for
> Asus's special wireless adapter. Thats the only real difference of the A7N8X
> Deluxe (lacking the port) and the A7N8X-E Deluxe with the port. Either way,
> you'll want the Deluxe version as it has all the bells and whistles like the
> Dolby Digital Encoding/Decoding via the Soundstorm built in sound (comes with a
> coaxial 5.1 digital out), the Serial ATA hard disk interface (still has ports
> for the old parallell ata which your hdds are, too), it has Firewire, and dual
> channel ddr support (which isn't really that big of a deal, but it does boost
> your mem's performance slightly).
>
> As for over clocking in the bios, basically you pres the DELETE key on boot up
> (has a msg about it at the bottom of your screen when you first turn on the pc,
> for older pc's it may not be DELETE, it maybe F1 or if its a Dell/Gateway/etc...
> they may mask it with a logo so you don't see it). Anyway, it brings you to a
> configuration screen and with the nforce2 you can just pick the cpu fsb,
> memspeed, and fsb multiplier to get whatever speed your cpu can handle. Any
> other questions or things i didn't explain well enough, just ask.
>
> _ _ - - = = Pr3tty F1y = = - - _ _
>



Fett seal of approval™

here and here have relatively good how to's. just remember, to line up the mounting holes for the motherboard right (some pc's have raised mounting holes and some have screw in hexagonal pegs, that are usually copper colored, just line them up as best you can with the mounting holes on your mother board). Screw the board in firmly, and don't use screws that are too large or go over the little grounded area otherwise it could short (and it would be a damn big screw too ;) He're prolly want you're going to want to do in order:

1.) Disassemble case as best as possible (depending on how it comes apart, you'll have to get to the left and right sides of the case to remove some screws)
2.) remove old pci/agp/isa cards
3.) Remove all cables from board as best possible.
4.) remove old hdd's and optical drives (have screws on both sides of the case usually) & cables
5.) remove old cpu/ram
6.) Unscrew old motherboard, remove
7.) Remove old powersupply

Now the thing should be pretty much hollowed out. Usually for me thats the easiest way of dissassembling a pc, and putting it back together i usually do the opposite order.

Now before you get all gung-ho and put the new mobo in, replace the io shield in the back with the one i linked to on ebay if the refurb doesn't come with one (which it prolly won't, since i bought an a7n8x-dx refurb and a7n8x refurb and neither came with it, all that comes in the box is the motherboard and perhaps a manual) Which leads me to my next point, if it doens't come with a manual, goto asus.com and print the pdf for it because once your comp is apart, with no manual it can be trick to get the pc to work again.)

Anyway, once you line up your mobo with the mounting holes (which basically equates to you holding the mobo over the emptied out case and eye-ing up what holes are the closest for your boards, being that not all boards use all holes and if you have a mounting post in the case thats not for a hole, it may touch an electronically sensitive part of the board cosing a short.

Over all its not too tough. once the board is mounted. Once thing about the heat sink/fan. When you are puting the thermal compound on the cpu, only put it on the little metalic rectangle (aka the core) in the middle of the chip. A dab about the size of a small piece of rice should do, no more than that tho. Put your finger inside a plastic sandwich baggy and smear the rice sized piece around the top of the core to spread it evenly. The baggy will retain some of the cmpd, but as long as a THIN layer is spread on the core its ok.

Next, up is the Heatsink fan itself. You'll notice on one side, above the 3 holes they normally have, there is an outward notch (this is usally closer to the side on the bottom of the heatsink that is indented to fit around the upper part of the cpu socket). What you want to do is line up the side with the 3 holes that do not have a notch first and then on the opposite side that does have a notch, use a small flat head screw driver to apply a good bit of pressure to clamp down the other side (it sounds rather complex, but if you do it once in your life you should be good forever. Its kinda hard to explain, but you'll have to be careful here, you have to push pretty hard to get it down, but not too hard so your screw driver flies of and knicks something important on the board).

After that its smooth sailing. The RAM Dimms can only be inserted one direction due to notches on the bottom. The power supply should be able to be slipped in and screwed back into place. PCI/AGP cards should fit right in and now since everything is mostly assembled you can put your hdd and optical drives back in. The final part (besides plugging in the eide cables, perhaps the analog audio cable if you still use it, plugging in the fans and the psu, is plugging in the LED's on the front of the case and the power switch. This is what you NEED the manual for. The board may have some markings as to what goes where, but trust me the manual makes things much easier to make sure you hook up the HDD LED to the right place, the reset switch, the power switch, the pc speaker and what ever else your case comes equiped with (per haps a sleep button or a keyboard lock, etc... not much stuff has it now adays but some cases do.) Other than that, you should be able to fire it back up and Win98 will crash and shit all over you due to all the changes. So be prepared to reinstlal the os :-D

_ _ - - = = Pr3tty F1y = = - - _ _