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Home > Archive > Flight simulator > February 2006 > Building a PC
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| William 2006-02-27, 7:37 pm |
| Taking back my sons Gateway I have decided to venture into the world of
building or rather assembling a PC especially with FSX down the road. I am
quite literate about hardware but have never done this before. Sort of a
little hobby to hold of Alzheimer's :-)
Anyway I guess the first thing to look at is the motherboard. How can I tell
from the existing case what type of mother board will fit? Is it just a
question of yanking out the existing one and checking screw positions? I
guess once over this hurdle I can add the rest bit by bit. No rush. I will
also be looking to try the AMD this time
Any tips appreciated
Bill
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| Dakota650r 2006-02-28, 2:33 am |
| good for you dude. You will probably have to measure the current
motherboard. They come in several standard sizes but different
manufacturers place the mounting holes in different places so you'll have to
check about your case. (even if you have to resort to buying a new case,
they can be had for as little as $20.) [Don't forget to make sure you have
a decent power supply either] If you are going with AMD, I recommend the
NF4 chipset based boards. DFI makes great boards that allow for super high
overclocks. Get a couple of 512 sticks of ram or a couple of 1 gig sticks
of ram and you are set. I like PC4400 speed memory for super high
overclocks. The 3200 Venice core and the 3700 San Diego core are the best
bets for single core overclocking. If you want dual core, get the 3800
Manchester core. It overclocks very high as well. These suggestions will
be great for MSFS 9 and should be great for MSFS X as well. Top it off with
a couple of SATA II drives in Raid 0 and you'll be flying high.
Cheers,
Roy
--
system specs
http://www.dakota650r.com/system.htm
"William" <alone@home.com> wrote in message
news:vWJMf.63135$697.31989@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
quote:
> Taking back my sons Gateway I have decided to venture into the world of
> building or rather assembling a PC especially with FSX down the road. I am
> quite literate about hardware but have never done this before. Sort of a
> little hobby to hold of Alzheimer's :-)
>
> Anyway I guess the first thing to look at is the motherboard. How can I
> tell from the existing case what type of mother board will fit? Is it just
> a question of yanking out the existing one and checking screw positions? I
> guess once over this hurdle I can add the rest bit by bit. No rush. I will
> also be looking to try the AMD this time
>
> Any tips appreciated
>
> Bill
>
| |
|
| Unless the case is more than 9/10 years old or so, then
it is probably an ATX standard case, in which any ATX
style motherboard will fit. Atx has been the standard
for the past decade, so it is most likely that which you
will want to get.
There are a handful of websites out there I have run
into in the past which will tutor you on the entire
process. You shouldn't have any problems finding tons
of resources out there which can help you through the process.
Have fun!
AJ
William wrote:
quote:
> Taking back my sons Gateway I have decided to venture into the world of
> building or rather assembling a PC especially with FSX down the road. I am
> quite literate about hardware but have never done this before. Sort of a
> little hobby to hold of Alzheimer's :-)
>
> Anyway I guess the first thing to look at is the motherboard. How can I tell
> from the existing case what type of mother board will fit? Is it just a
> question of yanking out the existing one and checking screw positions? I
> guess once over this hurdle I can add the rest bit by bit. No rush. I will
> also be looking to try the AMD this time
>
> Any tips appreciated
>
> Bill
>
>
| |
| Dakota650r 2006-02-28, 2:33 am |
| And if the case is from a name brand system like Dell, Gateway, Compaq, or
HP then you may have problems using it. Holes may not match up and newer
power supplies may not fit.
Roy
--
system specs
http://www.dakota650r.com/system.htm
"AJ" <ajryan@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:_7udndxlnLR_dZ7ZRVn-vg@adelphia.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> Unless the case is more than 9/10 years old or so, then
> it is probably an ATX standard case, in which any ATX
> style motherboard will fit. Atx has been the standard
> for the past decade, so it is most likely that which you
> will want to get.
>
> There are a handful of websites out there I have run
> into in the past which will tutor you on the entire
> process. You shouldn't have any problems finding tons
> of resources out there which can help you through the process.
>
> Have fun!
>
> AJ
>
> William wrote:
| |
| William 2006-02-28, 2:33 am |
| Yes I believe its ATX
Thanks
Bill
"AJ" <ajryan@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:_7udndxlnLR_dZ7ZRVn-vg@adelphia.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> Unless the case is more than 9/10 years old or so, then
> it is probably an ATX standard case, in which any ATX
> style motherboard will fit. Atx has been the standard
> for the past decade, so it is most likely that which you
> will want to get.
>
> There are a handful of websites out there I have run
> into in the past which will tutor you on the entire
> process. You shouldn't have any problems finding tons
> of resources out there which can help you through the process.
>
> Have fun!
>
> AJ
>
> William wrote:
| |
| William 2006-02-28, 2:33 am |
| Yes its a Gateway which is what I am a bit concerned about, but I think its
ATX based. Will have to check
Thanks for your advice Roy very informative
Bill
"Dakota650r" <nospam@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:QRRMf.1899$O25.664@fe02.lga...
quote:
> And if the case is from a name brand system like Dell, Gateway, Compaq, or
> HP then you may have problems using it. Holes may not match up and newer
> power supplies may not fit.
>
>
> Roy
> --
> system specs
> http://www.dakota650r.com/system.htm
>
>
>
> "AJ" <ajryan@adelphia.net> wrote in message
> news:_7udndxlnLR_dZ7ZRVn-vg@adelphia.com...
>
>
| |
|
| On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:15:05 -0500, "William" <alone@home.com> wrote:
quote:
>Taking back my sons Gateway I have decided to venture into the world of
>building or rather assembling a PC especially with FSX down the road. I am
>quite literate about hardware but have never done this before. Sort of a
>little hobby to hold of Alzheimer's :-)
>
>Anyway I guess the first thing to look at is the motherboard. How can I tell
>from the existing case what type of mother board will fit? Is it just a
>question of yanking out the existing one and checking screw positions? I
>guess once over this hurdle I can add the rest bit by bit. No rush. I will
>also be looking to try the AMD this time
>
>Any tips appreciated
Hi Bill
Cases are not that expensive so I would opt for a new one.
Make sure you have a GOOD BRAND NAME power supply of
at least 350+ watts. If you are planning on going SLI you had best
look at 500 watt supplies.
Somebody mentioned overclocking as a newbie pc builder I would avoid
overclocking at this point. Asus is my brand of choice for a
motherboard. I also like the Nvidia GF4 chipset based boards.
As far as processors go AMD wins hands down in the Bang for the Buck
race. Try to go for an Athlon64 X2 (dual core) processor.
Ram.....buy as much ram as you can afford. 2 gig of brand name ram is
where I would be headed.
Video cards??? Man oh man....toughest question of the bunch. Most
guys are caught in the old Ford vs Chev argument when it comes to ATI
vs Nvidia cards. I've owned both....ATI has always run MS FS slightly
better that Nvidia in my opinion but ATI drivers have been more
temperamental. Recently Nvidia hardware has jumped ahead while ATI's
drivers have improved a lot! So it's really what you can afford. The
Nvidia 7900GT cards are an excellent value.
| |
| William 2006-02-28, 7:33 pm |
|
"Fill" <not@this_time> wrote in message
news:t2g802hssvkedh1ldjkbjt36iiob27efst@4ax.com...
quote:
> On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:15:05 -0500, "William" <alone@home.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Bill
>
> Cases are not that expensive so I would opt for a new one.
> Make sure you have a GOOD BRAND NAME power supply of
> at least 350+ watts. If you are planning on going SLI you had best
> look at 500 watt supplies.
>
> Somebody mentioned overclocking as a newbie pc builder I would avoid
> overclocking at this point. Asus is my brand of choice for a
> motherboard. I also like the Nvidia GF4 chipset based boards.
>
> As far as processors go AMD wins hands down in the Bang for the Buck
> race. Try to go for an Athlon64 X2 (dual core) processor.
>
> Ram.....buy as much ram as you can afford. 2 gig of brand name ram is
> where I would be headed.
>
> Video cards??? Man oh man....toughest question of the bunch. Most
> guys are caught in the old Ford vs Chev argument when it comes to ATI
> vs Nvidia cards. I've owned both....ATI has always run MS FS slightly
> better that Nvidia in my opinion but ATI drivers have been more
> temperamental. Recently Nvidia hardware has jumped ahead while ATI's
> drivers have improved a lot! So it's really what you can afford. The
> Nvidia 7900GT cards are an excellent value.
>
Thanks for the input.
Bill
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