Hello all, (even young Jakg, as long as he doesn't call me names :razz

Ok, my current PC is just about ready for the glue factory, so, after much deliberation I've decided to go for an upgrade rather than be slapped with the expense of a completely new system. Here's what i'm planning:-

I'm building it around an E6300 (got it cheap :tilt
Thinking of going for the Asrock 4CoreDual (so i can transfer my drives/memory/AGP card from my old system, then upgrade to SATA/DDR2/PCI-e as finances allow)
Probably going for 550W or 600W psu (don't really care if it's cheap, but it has to be quiet)
Probably going for stock Intel Heatsink and Fan or something from Arctic. (as above, dont care if it's cheap, just needs to be quiet)
Gonna try to fit it all into my current case. (i'm fairly sure it's ATX compatible ? (see below))

The E6300 loves to be OC'd by all accounts, but, unfortunately the Asrock board doesn't. It would be a shame not to let this CPU show what it can really do, so, my first question:

Does anyone know of a board with a similar spec to the 4CoreDual that is happy to overclock ? Initially i'll be using DDR400 PC3200 which will be a limiting factor, but, if i can nudge the CPU up to 2.4/2.5Ghz i'd be more than happy.

The next question is a really dumb one but, how can i find out if my current case is ATX ? It's about 4 or 5 years old now, so i'm guessing it's good to go, but....? (It's nothing special, just a generic butt ugly block of tin and plastic)

Thirdly, damn M$ Windows activation. I've already run out of "free" activations (tend to format my PC every few months to keep it clean and (relatively) speedy. If i change this many major components will M$ think i'm trying to install it onto a different PC, will they refuse me an activation and force me into buying another version of XP ? I'm currently using hassle free Linux Mint on one HDD and WinXP for my games on the other HDD. I would go Linux full time if it wasn't for the M$/DirectX monopoly, and Wine wont ever be able to handle FSX.

Ok, thats all the questions that i can think of at the moment, but i'm sure i'll have a few more later on.

[Edit] i can hear Mr Green's teeth grating as he's just about to type one of his soon to be officially recognised catch phrase's...."Budget ?" (at least it's not..."There's a link in my sig" )

Seriously, my budget involves sitting up time 3 in the morning looking for oddly listed and misspelt items on eBay, then trying in vain to send out negative thoughts so no-one else finds it and bids. (don't laugh, thats how i got a DFP for £2.50) And perhaps more importantly.....i'm skint and half Scottish.

So, if you have any suggestions for the motherboard (or anything else), just give me the name and number and i'll go and track em down.

nice post, covers a lot of things i was going to ask...

Chances are you've got an ATX case.

The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is a great quiet S775 cooler.

The ASRock board will overclock, but only to about 2.2 as a guess...

There aren't many (read - any!) boards that take DDR1 that are good overclockers.

What's your current GFX card? A new PSU will set you back £45-£50.

Thanks for the reply Jak.

The BIOS for the Asrock board doesn't allow voltage change (at the moment) and it has a VIA PT880 chipset, which in my experience of VIA gear they're next to useless for overclocking. A couple of sites have only managed to kick the E6300 up to 2.03Ghz how crap is that ! I realise there are ways of modding the board to up the voltage, but it seems as though that chipset it the real limiting factor.

So, because of that (and if there arn't any good OC boards with the same spec as the Asrock) i won't really need a fancy heatsink/fan so i was actually looking at the Arctic 7 Alpine, it's only a fiver from ebuyer.

Lol, I'm almost embarrassed to mention my "GFX" card.... it's an FX5500 ... however, there's still a bit of life left in the old girl, and that board allows AGP and PCI-e to work side by side, it's not quite SLI, and it's only a PCI-e x4 but it does work.
To be honest this is where i start getting out of my depth, GFX cards are a bit of a mystery to me, the naming and numbering doesn't seem to follow any logic to my eye and how certain 256mb cards can be quicker than some 540mb cards makes no sense ??? So i was kinda gonna leave this until i was ready to buy one, but any advice is welcome....would hate to miss out on an eBay bargain just because i didn't understand what i was looking at !

I was planning a bit of a rotation system with the upgrade stretching over a year or so, i.e : SATA drives>DDR2 memory>Vid card >case (not necessarily in that order) Then---->new motherboard>OC the 6300 to at least 3Ghz> better vid card>better memory... and so on....

I'm fairly certain it is an ATX case, if not i've got junior hacksaw and a drill lying around somewhere, i'll make it fit

As far as the PSU is concerned, any names i should be looking out for ?, just something cheap but reliable would do. I don't push my PC too hard, only a few hours of LFS a week and a little bit longer on FSX, (and i drive and fly really really slow, so the PC isn't being taxed to much) other than that it's mainly used for looking at whatever useless crap i can find on the net.

Cheers, much appreciated

p.s. any advice on the windows activation ? it'd be a real bummer to have to fork out another 60quid for something i already bought. And It'd be a real pain in the arse to have to re-format every 30 days

Windows will activate fine ONCE you ring them up and do an activation

Memory is not the most important feature - you don't need 512 MB on a 7300, 256 is fine on a 7600/8600, 512 MB is nice, but 256 MB will do on a 7900/8600 and an 8800GTS 320 is a good buy, but it's really worth the extra for a 640 is possible...

Hi Mazz

I quite recently built me a new gaming PC around E6400 and 4coredual-sata2, using my old DDR400 memory and Radeon 9700 Pro. I'm not overclocking it at all, since it's fast enough for LFS.

But what I wanted to say was that it works ok now after I learned a few things about this mobo. Before I could have everything at default /auto settings in bios and graphics drivers, but with this new mobo I have set memory timings manually in the bios and I had to disable write combining for the Radeon. Otherwise there were some serious instability. Well that's what I wanted to say, I'm pleased with how it works now, it serves well as an simulator PC.

Hi Romus, i've only just noticed your post.

Actually, i've just been reading about the memory timings issue on another forum, so it's good to know it's not too much of a problem.

The board arrived this morning and i'm starting to get really excited now, but i'm still undecided which PSU and heatsink/fan to get ? My old system has a 330w psu so i'm guessing thats not enough. A 500W should be ok ?. And i'm split between the stock Intel heatsink/fan or the Arctic Alpine 7, but the arctic looks a bit wider, and looking at the board some of the components seem a bit close especially around the fixing holes.

Anyway, i can't wait to throw FSX at this thing to see if i can get more then 10 fps

For PSU, a decent 500watt will do. But if it's a good brand-name supply, then a 450 would work fine. As for heatsinks, I say go with the Arctic Cooler Freezer 7, it makes up for it's whack-ass name, lives up to it too. That will handle your E6300 for some voltage bumping, and some higghhhh clocks.
~Bryan~

Sorry to bump this thread, but, all the pieces arrived + a new XFX 6800GS XXX and a 550W PSU. And Wow what a difference, makes my old PC look like a Sinclair ZX81 !

However, there is a bit of a problem. It doesn't like to boot up !

All the fans and lights come on each time, but the monitor doesn't receive a signal and i don't get the little beep telling me the HD has kicked in.

The only way i can get it on properly is to : turn off, then on, then off, then on, over and over until it all kicks in and comes to life. Once on it's great, very quick, very stable, no problems at all. I've done every stress test and performance test i can find, but non of them have found a problem.

Any ideas ?

Bump....

I realise taking the piss out of Harjun has an important role to play within this community, but i really would like to try to get the problem mentioned above sorted.

Anyone ?

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Bump....

I realise taking the piss out of Harjun has an important role to play within this community, but i really would like to try to get the problem mentioned above sorted.

Anyone ?

Don't really know, but I think it might be your RAM.

Google "Memtest" and download & run the program. Enter half the amount of RAM your computer has and let it go for a while. No errors is good, but if your RAM is faulty then you'll get a few. My RAM got over 900 errors, thats....Unthinkable. New sticks coming tomorow.

Thanks for the reply, but.. The ram came from my old but working system. And i did memtest just before i built this new system with no errors, not one !.......( got a couple of really old 256mb sticks lying around somewhere, might put those in to see if it helps)

Maybe it's just something really simple like a BIOS setting or a jumper in the wrong place, i dunno ? got me stumped this one. It works like a dream when its up and running.

I've also emailed Asrock but they ain't replied yet.

Did you connect the CPU power cord? I tend to forget that

If your sure your memory is okay (run the test now anyway, can never be too sure ) then just go have a root around in your case and see if everything is connected up right. Get back to us if the problem still occurs.

Oh BTW

I use an ASrock motherboard too.
But mine is free to overclock at the Bios. I can go up to 5ghz. and change the voltage etc etc.

What is your BIOS version? 2.30 is last i think

Quote from dev :

Did you connect the CPU power cord? I tend to forget that

Erm ? Do you mean the ATX 12v connector or the fan ? Or was that a joke ?

Quote from mcintyrej :

If your sure your memory is okay (run the test now anyway, can never be too sure ) then just go have a root around in your case and see if everything is connected up right. Get back to us if the problem still occurs.

Just done a memtest. Left it running for 1 and a half hours, all passes no errors.
Everything seems to be connected correctly, unless i've missed something bleedin obvious ? The only thing i ain't installed yet is the front header usb cables, but that wouldn't cause a prob at boot up.

Question, is there any other way to start up without using the front header start button ?


{edit} Takumi, i'm using BIOS 1.70, but i'm not to keen on flashing it if i'm having startup problems.

Without jumping the start pins (which can be risky, i tried it while i was trying to get my P5K working, and slipped and got the Speaker and Power switches shorted, melted both of them...), there is no way to do it.

(By "Jumping" i mean using a screwdriver or similar to make electrical contact between the two PWR Switch pins).

If it's intermittent then i'm UTTERLY confused. PSU, maybe?

Quote from Jakg :

Without jumping the start pins (which can be risky, i tried it while i was trying to get my P5K working, and slipped and got the Speaker and Power switches shorted, melted both of them...), there is no way to do it.

(By "Jumping" i mean using a screwdriver or similar to make electrical contact between the two PWR Switch pins).

If it's intermittent then i'm UTTERLY confused. PSU, maybe?

Good man, was hoping you'd spot this thread

The PSU was my guess (although its brand new) The only spare one i've got is a 280W flavour, so i think it'll have a heart attack if i throw a C2D and 6800GS at it

Although it maybe (hopefully) just a simple BIOS setting. I'll see what Asrock say.....

As i've said it works perfectly when up and running, (now i can actually try out all the Demo's you lot keep talking about) which is great . It's a really cool runner too, and it runs both PCI-e and AGP cards at the same time (Triple monitor LFS coming soon)

Thanks for the help guys, but if you lot can't find the solution, then i guess it's just one of those things that have no explanation.

Seems i've entered.... the Twilight Zone.....do do do do, do do do do !

Just to burst your bubble, you can't run the AGP AND the PCI-e at the same time.

I think it could be the PSU, but if it runs fine under gaming load, i'm not so sure.

Quote from Jakg :

Just to burst your bubble, you can't run the AGP AND the PCI-e at the same time.

With this board you can, trust me, i'm doing it right now

Quote from Jakg :

I think it could be the PSU, but if it runs fine under gaming load, i'm not so sure.

Yeah it runs fine under gaming, i tried GRAW at full settings last night and it didnt miss a beat. Was thinking about the initial power output on start up, maybe it doesn't give enough when first switched on ( needs time to reach max power) dunno, just a guess ?

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Erm ? Do you mean the ATX 12v connector or the fan ? Or was that a joke ?

I meant the ATX 12V connector... and I'm not joking, I do tend to forget to plug that one in

Quote from Mazz4200 :

With this board you can, trust me, i'm doing it right now



Yeah it runs fine under gaming, i tried GRAW at full settings last night and it didnt miss a beat. Was thinking about the initial power output on start up, maybe it doesn't give enough when first switched on ( needs time to reach max power) dunno, just a guess ?

If you've got an option in the BIOS then turn on the "power on self-test". An old mobo I had did that, with a cheesy woman reading out "power on self test, computer now booting from operating system".

Possibly a hard drive issue? Latest motherboard drivers?

Try taking out the AGP card, see if it still does it?

Quote from mcintyrej :

If you've got an option in the BIOS then turn on the "power on self-test". An old mobo I had did that, with a cheesy woman reading out "power on self test, computer now booting from operating system".

Possibly a hard drive issue? Latest motherboard drivers?

Try taking out the AGP card, see if it still does it?

Just had a look at the BIOS, can't find any mention of a "power-on self test", must be and old thing, my old mobo had one too.

I used the AGP card on its own at first build, then just PCI-e, then both together and with having each one as primary, no change.

Here's an odd thing though. Just turned on PC after watching The Gadget Show (Mmmmm Suzi Perry ) Anyway... i turned on the PC and as it was firing up i gave it a little shake and told it to "work yer bastard" and it did fired up no problem at all, so, me thinks i may have a loose or slightly dodgy connection somewhere, maybe in the PSU ? will have to do a bit of investigation when i get the time