Rebuilding a Computer: Use this as an example...?

[Naten]

New Post:

Time passed, crap happened, it didn't work, and I quit for a while.

Then, new hopes and stuff happened, and I fixed it.

New setup:

HP 2311x Monitor

Rocketfish USB Mouse-Keyboard Combo

Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 v2.0

Some cool looking case

Some 750-watt power supply (idk lol '\_(0_o)_/')

A pink chassis fan that came on the case: A fan that's clear and PIIIIIIIIINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111one111

Asus Radeon HD 7790 PCI-E @~2.2 gHZ or so (2.2GB GDDR3*)

Asus Micro-ATX Motherboard (F2A55-M)

AMD Athlon X4 Trinity @3.7 gHZ [or so ] (Quad-Core APU) (2 processing cores, 4 logic core units*)

*or whatever X is X'd. (again, idk lol '\_(0_o)_/')

4GB Crucial Ballistix RAM (@1333 Hz) *2

Seagate Barracuda (Spinning Disk) ~1TB

Windows 8 32-bit (I know, and I don't care. T_T)

Well, thanks for all of the support. It's about time this thread gets locked, but I'd think it would be a good example to not give up to people like me. I can run KSP so fast. I love it.

If it could please, I'd love it if this thread doesn't get locked, but instead becomes more of a monument, and what is said here: ^^^

Thanks.

Cheers,

-Naten

Old "Archived" Section

Hey guys. I've been working on an old tower I got. (see below: the old section's below)

I've been told I'll need a new motherboard, etc. So here's my current specs, and what I'd like to get:

CURRENT SETUP

Intel Compaq dx7500 Microtower

Intel Motherboard

4-slot RAM space, 2 1-GB strips. (2gb, about 1.96 usable)

Windows XP (OS) 32-bit

Intel G45 integrated graphics.

2 PCIE-1X Slots

2 Hard-drive Shelf

160 GB HDD

(+sorta dead 40 GB HDD, my pet)

PLANNED SETUP

items marked with * are ordered/bought/owned. Items marked with ** are installed.

Intel Compaq dx7500 Microtower

ASUS Micro-ATX AMD Motherboard

2 Intel 1GB RAM strips**, 1 4GB Strip

AMD Athlon X4-740 Trinity Quad-core

ASUS Radeon HD-7790 PCIE*

Seagate 1TB Hard drive Disc

Windows 8 32-bit*

How do I replace the hard drive, though? I want to upgrade to Windows 8, but since the hard drive disc once belonged to a work computer, I have been attacked by vicious rewrite protection from the depths of Microsoft! D:

I've did some tests, and this thing can actually run Minecraft like a new gaming computer, or what I think it'd be like. I did a test, and as long I'm not using Fancy graphics and/or smooth lighting, everything runs GREAT!

So, anyone know how to fix this? I don't have a physical disc of Windows 8, only a digital upgrade for XP, etc..

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Naten.

-----------------------------//OLD SECTION//---------------------------------------

Hey, guys. I got something as a gift.

An old tower for a desktop. I opened it up and started messing around.

It had a pretty big main bus, I guess it's big. Its fan was all dusty and dirty, so we vacuumed it out and used pressurized air from a can to clean the rest. I unscrewed the fan, and behold: a CPU.

It's an Intel Core 2: Duo. I assume it has 2 cores.

It's about 1.98 or so gHZ. Oof.

By the way, it says "Windows Vista" on a sticker on its front, but runs on XP.

This thing is old, but I'm determined to fix it up. I already cleaned it up, (files wise,) and now I'm wondering about things.

Moderators, I wish for this thread to remain independent from the computer building thread. I like the more personalized aspect of this. Thanks.

This Ol' Tower's Specs

Intel Compaq dx7500 Microtower

4-slot RAM space, 2 1-GB strips. (2gb, about 1.96 usable)

Windows XP (OS) 32-bit

Intel G45 integrated graphics. Oh, crap; integrated graphics? NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...

Or is it such a bad thing?

I installed DirectX 9.0c on it.

isJebWorthy = false

isChuckNorrisWorthy = false

Monitor I use for it: HP 2311x

I want to--no, I will,... *psst, Jeb? Can you just tweak space and time a little?*... make this thing a good-ish-better...psuedo-intermediately minor-change... computer.

Okay, questions.

Intel G45?

Is it integrated?

A: Yes

Heat gel stuff...?

What's with that heat gel on my GPU? The thing that transmits heat from the GPU to the heat sink?

A: Answered, confirmed.

Windows 7 or 8?

Which OS to get?

A: 7.

I am using it now. It's OK, but it's a downgrade (almost) from my laptop.

All help is appreciated.

Thanks.

Naten

Edited February 2, 2014 by Naten

[DaveofDefeat]

Yes

Helps with thermal conductivity

Windows 8 sucks.

[minerman30]

If you have some money to spare I would just chuck the thing and build your own computer. It can be done starting at about $500 including the OS: Here:

If you want something better than that, I built my own rig a couple months ago, and so far I have had zero issues with it. It can run a 1000-part KSP craft at about 7-8 FPS, has a well-rounded component selection, and is a general good mid-high level gaming computer.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/27mpa

I put in 16GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 650, not 660, graphics card, and a 1TB hard drive in my machine, but I optimized it for you.

If you buy the parts at Micro Center is will cost you about $950.

[3_bit]

You came to the right place. I just built my second rig, with an FX-8350, R9 280X, and dual 500GB HDDs a few weeks ago.

Where to start...

Regarding the OS: I wouldn't go with 7 nor 8, but if you are getting 7 (my personal favorite), you can get a cheaper one (called "OEM", which I got for my build, which includes no tech support

for the most part. If you want to spend more money on upgrades and don't mind the lack of windows software, I suggest using Ubuntu, which does have games like TF2, Garry's Mod, and other popular titles. I use it on my lower-spec machines, and it runs fast. It sounds like you'd get decent performance on there, and I can assure you that it runs a lot faster than Windows 7, as it's "lighter" on memory and processor usage.

Graphics: With a ~$40 graphics card, you can get away with running games such as KSP (I do have some experience playing it on a notebook version of the Core 2 Duo, which wasn't too bad), as well as some other games you might want to play. Make sure your motherboard has a slot compatible with the graphics card, however. Most graphics cards are PCIE-3.0 nowadays, which is backwards compatible, so you shouldn't have any problems. PCI is another way of doing it, but I don't recommend it. It's more commonly used by lower-end Wifi adapters.

Other stuff: RAM is pretty cheap grabbing, and 2 more 1GB sticks wouldn't hurt your wallet very much (~$20), but make sure they're DDR3-1300 Mhz. I believe, with the information given, that it *should* AKA almost certainly be compatible.

As for the G45, it's part of something called a chipset. This is what essentially helps out the processors, and allows them to use memory, and has other various things so the socket your CPU is in can fit other similar ones. BE WARNED: Your motherboard will not support any processor you go out and buy. Make sure it is compatible if you plan on upgrading it. I personally wouldn't bother if I were you. It's pretty poor graphics-power wise, but if you plug in a new card and hook up your monitor cables to it, it should automatically switch to it and leave the G45 to sleep.

Heat Gel stuff: You shouldn't worry about it, as any graphics card you buy will 99.99% of the time have all this taken care of. If you buy a fan for a processor, it will likely have a paste on the bottom, which does just as you described.

Windows7/8? I already talked about that earlier, but I've heard rumors 8 is faster than 7. I know from experience using windows 8 with a trackpad is a recipe for a bad day, since if you track in from a side (something most people do) windows 8 will see it as a gesture and bring up a menu, or switch apps, which could really ruin your day. If you're familiar with Windows 8 or are a quick study, then by all means take it. On the other hand, if you're productive with Windows 7, you should note it has support until January 14, 2020. That's a long time. As I see it, you can really go either way.

If you're planning on replacing the processor, I recommend the FX-8350. It's the best value and power processor around, and you could get one and a motherboard that supports it for around $250. But if your hard drive has a bunch of wires coming out of it, that means it uses the older PATA interface, so you might need an adapter (which are very cheap) for it to work with a newer motherboard.

If you have any questions, or if you want me to design you a gaming PC (Something I do for free because it's kinda fun for me) feel free to leave me a PM with your budget/question.

[Seret]

A 2GHz Core 2 Duo well run KSP fine, but you'll need to slap in a graphics card. Doubling the RAM to 4GB well help too.

I run KSP on a 4GB Core 2 Duo and it runs well. You don't need an uber machine.

With those little upgraded it should be perfectly good. Ditch XP, Win 7 is a better bet. If you really want to get the most out of it, including 64 bit KSP I'd install Ubuntu, either instead of Windows or as a dual boot.

[Naten]

Okay, okay, okay. Thanks for the feedback!

I did more research on the G45, and it's integrated, which sux. Although, I found some good PCIE GPU's. I also won't start from scratch, this thing is pretty good for its age (4 years old or so!). It just needs a new OS. I also am looking at getting some RAM, how much should I get? I have 2 empty slots and 2 1GB modules using up the other two. I love the computer so far, it was full of dust and stuff when I started, but it is great when I'm surfing the inter-web-fi-nets.

What's the best PCIE graphics card to get for KSP and other 3D games? Thanks.

[KvickFlygarn87]

I run a Core 2 Duo E8400 clocked at 3GHz, and KSP + 16 mods works fine for me.

[Lohan2008]

Nathan, gratz on saving the computer parts. You can not call yrself a n00b if you bother to clean out the guts first and then make a plan of attack.

[Brabbit1987]

Despite what others have said, I do have to mention Windows 8 does perform better then 7. The only reason you wouldn't want to get 8 is if the new Metro thing is undo-able for you. I feel the overall increase in performance and usability out weighs the down sides.

Last but not least, you can pretty much disable metro using a 3rd party program.

Anyone who recommends 7 over 8, really is being highly biased because of the UI. If you want, I can post sources of benchmarks to prove that 8 is better.

[3_bit]

Regarding good PCIE Graphics cards, it really depends on how much you want to spend.

Anything above 1,000 will run KSP on pretty high settings for most vessels on this benchmark system: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html

That page doesn't give you the highest performance numbers, BUT it gives you the value. As of this post, the Radeon 7790 is the highest value graphics card on the market. It comes in both PCI and PCIE formats, and most computer parts shops will no doubt have them. It's $100, by the way.

[Naten]

As of this post, the Radeon 7790 is the highest value graphics card on the market. It comes in both PCI and PCIE formats, and most computer parts shops will no doubt have them. It's $100, by the way.

Okay. Adding that to my parts list.

because of the UI.

I don't understand. The UI doesn't bother me. (I can deal with the XP UI, so lolz)

Nathan, gratz on saving the computer parts. You can not call yrself a n00b if you bother to clean out the guts first and then make a plan of attack.

Thank you very much.

P.S., it's very hard to deal with the fact that you're using a tower with a fan that has dust coating the falling edge of the blades and has strings of dust and dirt that connect between the blades. I'd imagine it's spraying my CPU with dust and dirt as it runs. Eeeaugh.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

[Seret]

P.S., it's very hard to deal with the fact that you're using a tower with a fan that has dust coating the falling edge of the blades and has strings of dust and dirt that connect between the blades. I'd imagine it's spraying my CPU with dust and dirt as it runs. Eeeaugh.

That's easy enough to sort. I might be teaching your grandma to suck eggs here, but if you do crack the case and start cleaning and installing new bits make sure you've put an anti-static wrist strap on your shopping list and take correct precautions for handling the components. A lot of people building PCs seem to think that because they can't see ESD it doesn't exist. Wearing a wrist strap and handling boards by the substrate is simple, and can prevent your shiny new components from a premature death.

What's your budget? Have you considered an SSD?

[Camacha]

Anything above 1,000 will run KSP on pretty high settings for most vessels on this benchmark system: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html

That page doesn't give you the highest performance numbers, BUT it gives you the value. As of this post, the Radeon 7790 is the highest value graphics card on the market. It comes in both PCI and PCIE formats, and most computer parts shops will no doubt have them. It's $100, by the way.

Yeah, value for money is important, but you should be careful with that. Having something that is incredible value for money says exactly nothing about the performance you are going to get. Without some proper research, the chances are you are going to get something that doesn not fit your needs at all.

[Naten]

I have now ordered and now own an ANU--erm, ASUS Radeon 7790 HD PCI-E insert cool words here!

And I'm getting an AMD Athlon X4-740 3.2 GHz CPU, I think.

the Intel motherboard probably won't handle it, so I'm going to get an ASUS Micro-ATX AMD motherboard, to fit my HP microtower.

Also, how do I get Windows 8, exactly? I've bought the upgrade digital version for XP. But the hard drive is work protected from a rewrite, as this ol' thing was once a work computer.

do not take the following statement seriously.

So, I've deleted System 32 and downloaded some more RAM, now what?

resume taking it seriously.

Seriously, now what? How do I get a new hard drive, start it up, and put the Windows 8 upgrade on it (I put it on an SD[HC, I think] 8GB [looks HC to me. ] card, and my tower has lotsa card slots.

Any help?

Thanks so far,

Naten

[dharak1]

Are you using a local shop or online? Bestbuy and futureshop will have a HDD and Windows 8 almost guaranteed.

[Nuke]

as long as ive been building my own computers i have maybe bought 3 cases. each case saw at minimum 2 sets of parts. my oldest case (that i bought, i had earlier ones but they were either proprietary or ones i got for free) is running an i5, it originally used to house an old athalon 64 (one of the earlier models), it was one of those microatx cubes. kind of a hard config to build (you have to be carful about part dimensions), but they have great cooling properties and are small.

my second case was a behemoth (one of those xclio monstrosities that looks like it has a jet engine out the front), for a performance build on a core 2 duo, it got upgraded to a core 2 quad and has seen the most mobos out of any case of mine (i went through like 4 of them), not doing that again. the case is a monstrosity, my parts fill up a fraction of the case, but i suppose it would make a good fridge (if the door was easy to close, its not). its been used and abused and thrown. its been dremeled, hacksawed, glued, rewired and unwired. i hate the thing. id toss it if it didnt contain a reasonable backup machine.

my current case is just a nondescript all black steel mini tower, it was very cheap. it had some annoying quirks, like the hard drive brackets, but it does its job.

one thing i noticed over the years is how much empty space is in a modern pc case. i mean back when i started building my own machines, you had at least 4 add on cards and a couple drives, and most people had 2 cd (and eventually dvd) drives all strung together with ribbon cables. so its space you used. but over the years motherboards have been soaking up the cards, and optical drives are becoming less useful (death to 5-1/4 inch bays!). i think i only have a video card and a tiny pcie1x wifi card, i have a tiny ssd and an older hd for backup (which i can easily make external), i have a dvd drive but i never use it, and even my flash card reader falls to disuse. so my next rig will be a mini itx build. as much performance as i can cram into it though, just less cruft.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Nuke

[Seret]

(death to 5-1/4 inch bays!)

5 1/4" bays are great! You can get little drawers that you put in them, and keep all your USB sticks and knicknacks in. Super useful.

[Nuke]

if my computer were 2 inches thinner id have room for another cabinet.

[VirtualCLD]

5 1/4" bays are great! You can get little drawers that you put in them, and keep all your USB sticks and knicknacks in. Super useful.

Plus how are you going to use your 5 1/4" disks?! I don't think they make external USB 5 1/4" disk drives, but even my latest Haswell Core supporting Z87 motherboard has a parallel floppy drive port for me to plug in my 5 1/4" floppy drive! The real pain in the butt is the fact that my 8" floppy drive doesn't fit in the case since they don't make cases that support 8" drive bays anymore. I have to feed the cable outside the case and use a custom mount to operate the 8" floppy drive.

Okay, on a serious note, while I am amazed that the latest Z87 motherboards can still support floppy drives, I do not have my 5 1/4" disk drive plugged into it and running on my Win 7 machine... That's what me 486-66 and Pentium-90 machines are for!

[Naten]

Are you using a local shop or online? Bestbuy and futureshop will have a HDD and Windows 8 almost guaranteed.

I'm using Newegg. (#GpuShipping4dollars)

I need to get a hard disk, clone Windows XP onto it with my current, old drive, and use the upgrade on that one. The current one is domain protected...

[Nuke]

if you got one of those winxp oem stickers on your case you can probibly legally download the image from ms and instal it. upgrade editions kinda suck.

That's easy enough to sort. I might be teaching your grandma to suck eggs here, but if you do crack the case and start cleaning and installing new bits make sure you've put an anti-static wrist strap on your shopping list and take correct precautions for handling the components. A lot of people building PCs seem to think that because they can't see ESD it doesn't exist. Wearing a wrist strap and handling boards by the substrate is simple, and can prevent your shiny new components from a premature death.

i always instal the psu first. plug it in, but keep the mains switch off. at this point the case is grounded to the ground pin of the outlet (and make sure the outlet is wired correctly), and no voltage should be coming out of any of the psu connectors. keep a hand in contact with any unpainted metal on the case whenever you are handling a bare board. these days there are so many heat sinks and spreaders on parts that its hard to touch any of the solder points or contacts on a pcb, and drives have always had little or no exposed pcb.

wrist straps are more trouble than they are worth. ive lost more parts because they got tangled in the strap wire and fell on the floor than i ever lost to esd.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Nuke

[Naten]

|:[

It has a Windows Vista sticker.

):[

>:[

>8[

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

[Naten]

Wait a sec.

What if I...

Boot the computer on the old drive

Clone XP onto the new drive

Shut down

Boot the computer on the new drive

Insert SD disc with Windows 8 upgrade

Upgrade Windows

????

Profit (a little late)

How about this?

Will this work?

Thanks, bye.

Naten.

[Nuke]

i think windows upgrade can only step up to the next version. it would be nice if you could instal vista and upgrade to 8, but i dont think that would be possible. i usually avoid upgrade editions like the plague, just because of quandaries like this.

[Naten]

But I bought an upgrade from Microsoft, for XP and Vista users. What's this do, then?