Advice needed for a new Desktop DIY


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Adzz

Senior Member
Jun 20, 2004
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Alas, after 2.5 years of using my AMD XP1800+, I hear a continous short beep sound. I opened my casing, and find out that the power supply seems to be giving the problem (you can see the fan spins and slows down, and trys to pick up speed again). I am thinking of either:

1) trying to change the power supply
2) get a whole new system

I checked on hardwarezone and compared the prices of the P4 and AMD processors and motherboard. But I must say I am more inclined towards P4 3.0 C/E.

Now the question is, would you guys recommend a P4 or AMD?

This computer will be on most of the time (24/7), and will be used for video editing, image editing and movie watching. No gaming. Since the computer is gg to be on 24 hrs, my guess is that P4 will be a cooler system.

And what is the difference in a C and E processor and those RAM stuff, in order to activate the HT technology?

Thanks a million, CSers! :)
 

First cheapest way is to change the power supply, but of cos u hav to buy a gd 1 just incase u wan to change to the new P4 or Amd SYStem.
For yr info, E should be hotter then C a bit.. but if u wan to be safe, u can buy a full copper heatsink.
as for either P4 or AMD... up to yr personal referance, to mi but any 1 can do the job.
 

jnet6 said:
First cheapest way is to change the power supply, but of cos u hav to buy a gd 1 just incase u wan to change to the new P4 or Amd SYStem.
For yr info, E should be hotter then C a bit.. but if u wan to be safe, u can buy a full copper heatsink.
as for either P4 or AMD... up to yr personal referance, to mi but any 1 can do the job.
yeah, the P4E is very hot and if i'm not wrong about 60-70 degrees in room temperature (that's what my friend told me). I own a P4C 2.6 and temperature is just less than 50 degrees. Not sure about AMD though.
 

gosh, that is quite a lot of difference in temp. i am more inclined to the lesser one. that is C i guess.

then what kind of RAM should i be getting to get HT?
 

u should get the E version as more cache n u are runing video editing.. will help a bit..
my AMD 2500XP wif copper heatsink is idling at 43-44
 

Adzz said:
gosh, that is quite a lot of difference in temp. i am more inclined to the lesser one. that is C i guess.

then what kind of RAM should i be getting to get HT?
now the common are dual DDR dual channel, so getting an identical pair should be good if the motherboard supports (which most do). Now all the softwares, games, and many others are getting more memory intensive so, getting a pair of 512MB DDR should be just nice. My system only has a pair of 256MB DDR. Initially you'll feel the difference in performance when you switch from your old comp to your new one. But after sometime you'll realised that your PC needs more RAM.
 

Drudkh said:
now the common are dual DDR dual channel, so getting an identical pair should be good if the motherboard supports (which most do). Now all the softwares, games, and many others are getting more memory intensive so, getting a pair of 512MB DDR should be just nice. My system only has a pair of 256MB DDR. Initially you'll feel the difference in performance when you switch from your old comp to your new one. But after sometime you'll realised that your PC needs more RAM.
agreed!!! more ram! more ram, the more the merrier.....
 

may i suggest a apple G5 ???? i am not kidding.. i am serious....

lol

Apple G4 also can....
 

ah man. apple G5 would be great! haha but its so ex. 26xx. i looking for a MB and processor only and perhaps RAM. Not sure if i should try to change the power supply first, or just go ahead for a new system. CD writer, graphics card should be able to import from the old system.
 

So much discussion about heat and stuff but no problem detected except for the power supply.
There is no end to upgrading. So if it is aint needed, don't get!

I will:
First thing first:
Step 1: SWITCH OFF THE COMPUTER!!!!
Step 2: Buy a very good power supply system - will set you back by 130 bucks at most and replace the wonky one asap. Do not get cheapo for it can kill a hot system if power cannot sustain the cooling fans. With all add on like hard disks, dvd, etc etc, power can become insufficient suddenly without one noticing. Happens before to me - lucky to notice it like you and gotten good advice before things got fried.
Use the old system until some major conks off and not economical to repair. Recycle the power supply and other re-usable good parts

Take yr time to study & -

Step 3: build a new computer system according to need and not according to what is available. Some cost and need analysis is needed. Your kind of stuff soaks up a lot of ram, good video card, good cool case, good monitor etc - but not much serious computing power is really needed. Keeping the old system as a back up is usually good if there is space & secondary users. Waste not & want not.
 

jnet6 said:
u should get the E version as more cache n u are runing video editing.. will help a bit..
my AMD 2500XP wif copper heatsink is idling at 43-44


It is true that the E version has more cache, but today's software has yet to fully optimize with the new features. Check out this URL:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040201/prescott-30.html

"Despite 1 MB L2 cache and some optimizations, Prescott is slower than Northwood in roughly a third of our benchmarks. Software, like many 3D shooters and more serious applications like Lame, MS Movie Maker 2, Mathematica, Cinema 4D or even 3DStudio perform worse than before."


I do suggest to get a C version, as it runs cooler, especially so when u r running it 24/7. The higher the intensity the heat is, the shorter the lifespan of any electronic component.

Come back to the point of getting an AMD or Intel system, go for an Intel if stability is your priority. And also go for an Intel chipset as in general, they are more stable, less prone to lockups. The motherboard brand from my experience, sometimes also play a difference in stability. Having said so, there are some brands of motherboard which i will totally ignore.

The problem with AMD systems lie not with AMD, but the third party chipset providers. AMD chips are inherently stable and technologically on par with Intel chips, but AMD usually outsource the chipset business to third party, which is the cause of many strange hardware conflicts.

Hope I provide some insights for you to make your decisions.
 

Adzz, you can consider flashing your bios to the latest version. The bios chip is bit cranky one, sometimes, started to lose a byte of information here and there. It happens.

Dundee may be right here, your power supply might be the culprit. Is your current power supply a generic version? Well, after 2.5 years of 24/7 operation, any power supply might just give up also?

I suggest, you can go get a good one, u might feel that the price is no point, considering, a generic version would probably be bought at half the price. Recently, I have setup 3 systems, I removed all the 3 generic power supplies for better quality ones. More juices and less noise in generally. And less one place to troubleshoot when things go wrong. Sleep easier at night also.

You can go get the good power supply and install it in your current system. If it does not solve the problem, you can still use the power supply for your new system.
 

Thanks guys for the advice you all have given me. I do personally think that the power supply is the main culprit, as I had mentioned, I notice that the fan spins and slows down, then spins again. All these happens at the start of the startup, meaning to say, i dont get even get to see my graphics card specs being shown, and I guess less alone, the ability to be able to flash my bios.

I heard from my family members complaining that the computer sometimes shutdown by itself suddenly (shutdown as in sudden power off instead of the normal shutdown process), while they are using halfway.

Anyway, you guys were saying about a good power supplu costing 1xx. Waht is the diff from a 4x power supply? :)
 

I suggest you go to Tom's Hardware and search for the article where they reviewed some power supplies and found out that most power supplies actually fail to deliver what they claim. In fact, two cheap power supplies blew up at full load.
 

Adzz said:
Thanks guys for the advice you all have given me. I do personally think that the power supply is the main culprit, as I had mentioned, I notice that the fan spins and slows down, then spins again. All these happens at the start of the startup, meaning to say, i dont get even get to see my graphics card specs being shown, and I guess less alone, the ability to be able to flash my bios.

I heard from my family members complaining that the computer sometimes shutdown by itself suddenly (shutdown as in sudden power off instead of the normal shutdown process), while they are using halfway.

Anyway, you guys were saying about a good power supplu costing 1xx. Waht is the diff from a 4x power supply? :)
finally, after so much of posting u know that's is important to get a good power supply.
generally a power supply costing around 80+ to 200. is good enough. and also depends on the brand. i recommand Antec but for a cheaper 1 can go for HEC...
diff btw the 1++ and 4++ ,main thing for server is something like "2 powersupply" if one fail the other will takeover the job......
 

Would suggest considering a Dell instead of DIY.

If you do a breakdown of the cost, the difference is not very much at all, plus you get a bulletproof system, good quality components and legal software package. You should upgrade stuff like memory yourself, though, since their upgrades tend to be overpriced. But the basic systems are very good value.

I have had 2 Dells, both are still going strong. Somehow the choice of components seem to work very well together. Also very easy to upgrade components, the casing design gets better every time.

Most of my DIY sets (or rather locally assembled systems) start to give problems after a while due to faulty memory or power supply etc. Cutting corners I guess.
 

hmmm.. let me consider. :) For some reasons, I prefer DIY, due to cheaper and getting the stuff i want exactly.
 

You did not mention what kind of BIOS are you using, i.e. AWARD or AMI BIOS.

Anyway refer to the below BIOS Beep Sound Core List to diagnose your PC problem :

Beep Sound Massages

AWARD BIOS
* 1 short(Beep) System booting is normally
* 2 short(Beep) CMOS setting error
* 1 long - 1 short(Beep) DRAM ERROR
* 1 long - 2 short(Beep) Display card or monitor connected error
* 1 long - 3 short(Beep) Keyboard Error
* 1 long - 9 short(Beep) ROM Error
* Long(Beep) continuous DRAM hasn't inset correctly
* Short(Beep) continuous POWER supply has problem


AMI BIOS
* 1 short(Beep) DRAM Flash Error
* 2 short(Beep) DRAM ECC Check Error
* 3 short(Beep) DRAM Detect Fail
* 5 short(Beep) CPU Error
* 6 short(Beep) Keyboard Error
* 8 short(Beep) Display card memory Error
* 9 short(Beep) ROM Error
* 1 long - 3 short(Beep) DRAM Damage
* 1 long - 8 short(Beep) Display card or monitor connected error


Hope the above information is useful to you. ;)
 

noneed buy new computer if U dun play games.

Get a new power supply.
My old PS died after 2 yrs of faithful service, I got a BlackCube 450w for $99 at fuwell in Aug. 2 yrs 1 to 1. Someone said good, so I bought...

If u find that your computer is slow, get at least 1GB RAM.
Or u can format your computer, that'll last u another 6 mths of faster speed.

No pt spending the extra $$$ to upgrade if it's still working well.
 

I am not sure what BIOS I am using, Manuals are gone and I cannot even reach BIOS model. Turned on the com and I hear short (not so short) cont. beep sound. Hmmm
 

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