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Thread ID: 40304 2003-12-04 06:01:00 Will this Hardware combination work Brad H (738) Press F1
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197245 2003-12-04 06:01:00 I am trying to build a computer for the first time from scratch and I need some help just confirming that the hardware that I select will work together.

The case comes with a 300W PSU and floppy drive as well as two front usb ports

Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 400FSB Nvidia nForce2 400MHz AGP 8X ATA133
Athlon XP2800+ c/w AMD fan 3 years warr box Barton CPU
512Mb DDR 400 MHz PC3200
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80Gb Serial ATA150 7200rpm 8MB Cache
CDRW 52x24x52x Samsung OEM 2MB buffer c/w Nero 5.5 software
Leadtek FX 5200 128Mb AGP 8X TV-out + DVI

I am a student so would the best way of getting windows onto it would be to install 98 then get a academic upgrade to xp??

could someone please tell me if this will work together nicely, any pitfalls I should be aware of and any suggestions of hardware that might do a better job. Also is it worth putting in 1024mb ram instead of 512?
Brad H (738)
197246 2003-12-04 06:04:00 also will mandrake 9.2 work well on it?? along side xp Brad H (738)
197247 2003-12-04 06:08:00 well the more ram the better but 98 wont like over 512mb also if the system is running a hyperthreaded cpu it wont like that much either.......so you'd have to disable hyperthreading and set the max ram to 512 even if you have more installed....... drcspy (146)
197248 2003-12-04 06:14:00 all I plan to do is to install 98se so that I can do a academic upgrade to xp because that is cheaper than buying full version xp Brad H (738)
197249 2003-12-04 06:27:00 You are aware by purchasing key components to a computer (eg mobo, cpu) you are entitled to buy an OEM full version of XP from the supplier? Would be about the same price as getting an Academic upgrade version. Take a look at your suppliers website. Jen C (20)
197250 2003-12-04 06:32:00 Opps - hit post when I hadn't finished ...

> also will mandrake 9.2 work well on it?? along side xp

How will you be connecting to the internet? Dial-up or ADSL? Try and get a Linux friendly modem to start with so save a bit of trouble later. External serial dial-up modems are generallly loved by Linux.
Jen C (20)
197251 2003-12-04 06:36:00 The computer that I am building will be going into my room. The family computer that I am currently using has adsl using an alcatel speed touch usb but because of multiple computers i am looking at getting a router but because my room is upstairs i would need 30m of cat to get to the router so I am looking at wireless options but it is very expesive. Brad H (738)
197252 2003-12-04 06:37:00 > You are aware by purchasing key components to a
> computer (eg mobo, cpu) you are entitled to buy an
> OEM full version of XP from the supplier? Would be
> about the same price as getting an Academic upgrade
> version. Take a look at your suppliers website.

no didn't know that.
I am hopefully getting it from pcsale.co.nz they seem to have the best prices at the moment
Brad H (738)
197253 2003-12-04 06:38:00 Hi Brad

Looks fine and dandy to me. A couple of things though. Are you going to be gaming or into video on this machine because the FX 5200 isn't the best thing since sliced bread. A GF 4 Ti will do better. The Samsungs are fine but a 4 or is 8MB buffer will do better, although the burning software is better these days so the buffer is not so critical ASFIK. 512MB of ram will do fine unless you really want the latest games to wiz and intend doing the video thing. you can always slot some more in. Its preferable on those boards (nForce) to put two stcks of ram in to take advantage of the dual channel but if you intend to go to 1Gig later, 2 512's would be fine. BTW what version of the nForce 2 chip is it, I saw somewhere recently that one was superior in some way, may pay to check.

Cheers Murray P
Murray P (44)
197254 2003-12-04 06:41:00 Im going to be mainly into gaming but need it for some 3d modeling for my 7 form graphics and uni. I will do some video editing on it when I get a camera. Thanks for the suggestions and keep them coming because I want this computer to last me for a fair while Brad H (738)
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