Modding Project Canada

Not really. At best, those things will power a system pretty loudly with no adverse effects; at worst, they're dangerous to both your rig and yourself (fire hazard). Use one if you must, but I would strongly advise against it.

Check out eBay and the like for a quality 250-300W PSU - it'll be all you need for this. I got an Antec True380S for £21 from eBay recently; there are plenty of bargains available if you look.

256MB is not enough for Windows XP if that's what you're planning to run. A good Linux distro will be OK with that, but I'd still recommend getting 512MB.

You can get cheap Radeon 9500-9600s for that money if you look hard. They'll be the best you can get.

 

A generic PSU will do. An athlon 1800+ will be ok, I did reply to your thread in the For Sale forums as I have one you can have.

256mb of ram would be ok for basic stuff, but you'd really need to upgrade to at least 512mb once you start playing games.

You'd be better off asking in the for sale forums for a graphics card, I've got a Geforce Ti4200 here I'll sell you for £25inc.

 

With a generic PSU, you're taking certain risks.

If you're running Windows XP, you should stick to 512MB ram. It's so cheap these days that it's well worth the upgrade from 256.

As for gfx card, you're best bet is sticking to ebay. I think that a radeon 9600 could be a decent performer for your purposes and budget. You're not going to find an adequate vid card for new with what you plan to spend.

 

So as to not cause confusion, 256MB *is* enough for Windows XP, it'll run fine. Obviously it won't be massively quick and if you're going to be gaming then it's not enough, but it'll be fine for normal tasks.

 

is it worth buying the psu last?

edit: ATI Radeon 9500 128MB Video Card
Ref: ATI9500

- Core clock - 275 MHz
- Memory clock - 270 MHz (540 MHz)
- Memory Interface - 128 bit
- Rendering pipes - 4
- DirectX version - 9
- AGP - 8x
- Connections - VGA, DVI, S-Video

Condition - Factory refurb
Warranty - 90 days
Image shows actual card


and another edit of thy post!


Brand name 17 inch CRT Monitor (White)
Ref: Mon17CRT

Refurbished 17 inch CRT monitors.


Condition - Refurbished
Grade - A
Warranty - 30 days
Image for illustrative purposes

Grading Info


Price: £20.00 | £23.50 Including VAT at 17.5%







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brand Name 15 inch CRT Monitor (Beige)
Ref: Mon15CRT

Refurbished 15 inch brand name CRT monitors.


Condition - Refurbished
Grade - A
Warranty - 30 days
Image for illustrative purposes

Grading Info


Price: £12.00 | £14.10 Including VAT at 17.5%





15inch or 17inch ?


Price: £15.00 | £17.63 Including VAT at 17.5%




can you turn the speed of it down to 4x (AGP)

 

Yeah, it'll run, but 512MB is obviously preferable. As you say, it gets rather slow and thrashes the hard disk when you try to do a lot at once.

timothyw9: Ideally, you'll want at least a 17" monitor - 15" usually runs at 800x600 (they'll do 1024, but it will hurt), which isn't a lot of pixels to work with. A 17" monitor will run 1024x768; I'd call that the minimum standard for a desktop PC that's to be used every day.

With regard to the graphics card: AGP is backwards compatible. With the exception of some issues with 1x/2x slots and 4x/8x cards, any card rated at a speed higher than that of the slot will automatically run at the slot's speed. You shouldn't need to worry.

 

17 inch, no question. A 15 is far too small. They also tend to be difficult to read, especially at 1024x768. If you can find one, I would get a 19 inch if you can find a cheap one.

 

It's nice to see that you're properly utilizing the edit button!

Anyways, the vid card is ok, and for a CRT, you really don't want to go with a 15" monitor. A 17" monitor is as small as you want to go. Where are you getting these price quotes from? Ebay or an online retailer? Provide a link so we can check it out.

Generally, when "brand name" is entered into the description, I get a "hey this is misleading" feeling. I'm also weary about refurbished products.

 

http://www.retekdirect.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

 

this kids ten ffs stop giving him so much stick

 

Crucial 256MB DDR PC2100 ECC CAS2.5 (Registered) (MY-002-CR)
256MB DIMM of super-fast Crucial DDR PC2100 ECC CAS-2.5 memory. This is registered memory suitable for use in all motherboards that support ECC RAM, recommended for the Tyan Tiger dual Athlon motherboard.

- For warranty support and RMA replacement call Crucial Direct on 0800 013 0330 or 01355 586 100 who will replace your faulty memory within 48 hours.




Price: £5.00 (£5.88 Including VAT at 17.5%)


is this compatible with the EPOX 8k-hal motherboard?

 

Epox website for this mobo.

The information on the site is not as detailed as it should be. BUT I doubt that this mobo takes registered memory. I'm under the assumption that registered memory is more for server purposes so you're going to want to go with non-registered memory.

As for the website you linked to, I personally would never spend a penny with there; they seems rather shady. The motherboards that are new are stipped of accessories, and the monitors can be picked up from the junkyard for all you know. I can't find ratings for the site, but see what other people say. Deal with reputable online retailers if possible.

People (including myself) were giving him so much "stick" because we've encountered his previous posts and have more than this thread in mind when posting here. It's a frustrating situation because he's very inexperienced and lacks the ability to compensate for it, due to his young age.

 

I like the concept for the case... but I would fine an old scraper case to practice my moding on while I save up for the part for the main project....

Good luck and have phun

Moding is the great hobby....

 

TwinMOS 512MB (2x256MB) DDR PC3200 Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-TM)
The new DDR 400 dual-channel kit comes with a pair of modules that have all been verified in the dual channel environment and proved through testing to achieve high performance and stability especially when working with Pentium 4 / FSB 800MHz devices which support dual channel DDR. TwinMOS DDR 400 dual channel kit is your ideal choice for powerful performance.

Not recommended for use in motherboards based on the nForce2 chipset.


Full Specification

Price: £10.00 (£11.75 Including VAT at 17.5%)

what about this memory?






--------------------------------------------------


and another edit - will i need to set the memory to work in single channel mode?

edit : is it ok in the via kt266a chipset (or whatever its called)

 

Yes, it should be fine. You won't need to set it into single-channel mode since the majority of Socket A boards don't support dual-channel anyway.

In future, please don't post the same questions in two different threads. Keep it all in one so that people can answer in one place.

 

Good find, timothyw9 Also try http://www.microdirect.com/ and look at the Clearance Corner (top left of page).

 

he says someting about a cussion missing, but does it actually matter?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMD-Athlon-XP...859016758QQcategoryZ44935QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

As long as you're more careful than normal when installing the heatsink, then it will be fine. The pads are there to stop abnormal tilting of the heatsink which would crack the die.

 

is this a decent psu?

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=105152

 

If you're in the UK, bindibadgi is selling a couple of good psu's in the for sale forums, £7 + postage for the 350w Enermax.

Thats your best bet imo.