Calling all computer gurus... need advice

[lil_Blue_Ford]

lol, thanks for the info!

I think I got it all figured out... there is enough standoffs if you just use 9 of the 12 holes. I just automatically assumed that if the holes in the motherboard match the ones on the backing it's attached to, it's supposed to have a screw there instead of the 9 is enough.

The case came with two small fans mounted on it, and a spot for another fan in the front and one in the back. I may end up taking your suggestion and rig up some filters on the open ports to help keep dust out, cuz the house here is under construction so there's often plenty of dust floating around.

I think I'll hold off till I actually get my tax money before ordering a better PSU, after looking at the state of my finances again.

Now I just gotta figure out how to install my OS and get the thing going!

 

[DeanMoriarty]

You have it all together already?
How is your proc. temp? In case you don't know... you can check it in CMOS menu. I would advise setting the overheat protection so it shuts down if the processor gets too hot. 30 - 40c is ideal, but you can safely go up around 50c under full load. Cores can start melting around 70 - 75c. When you get the OS installed, download Prime 95 and run a stress test for 24 hours. If it withstands a day of Prime 95 than you're gold.
Make sure the fan in the window is pulling air in to the case, I've seen these put on backwards before and cause overheating issues.
Installing the OS shouldn't be a problem. Install the HD with the software it came with, to be on the safe side. If your windows CD doesn't boot to the install menu, go into the CMOS menu and set it to boot from cd, or optical drive first, and from the Hard disk second. Hope this helps.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I have it together....

I have not fired it up yet because I wanted to know exactly what I needed to do upon booting it up for the first time. I can figure out how to plug things together with a minimum of fuss, but software is where I really fall flat on my face.

My HD came with no software. My video card came with a CD. My motherboard came with two CD, one appears to be drivers an stuff, and the other seems to be "bonus" stuff, trial programs an the like. My DVD drive came with no software. The CD drive that I'm using has a CD.

I fear I could use a little more detail than what is supplied in your post...

I have a phone with long distance, if you think it would help to talk me through it all instead of trying to swap messages on here, PM me your number and I'll give you a ring.

 

[DeanMoriarty]

Done.
I need to run out for a bit, but I'll hang out for a minute. If I'm not here, try back in about 1/2 hour.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Thanks everyone (Especially DeanMoriarty) for the help!

As I now post from my NEW comp!

 

[DeanMoriarty]

Awesome. Congratulations man

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Awesome. Congratulations man

If we ever meet up, remind me I owe you a beer or two.

 

[DeanMoriarty]

Consider the automotive advice a fair trade. Then again... I've never been one to turn down a free beer... So I'll buy the second round.
How's it running? Did you do the Prime 95?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Consider the automotive advice a fair trade. Then again... I've never been one to turn down a free beer... So I'll buy the second round.
How's it running? Did you do the Prime 95?

It seems to be running pretty good, I tried loading Dreamweaver 8, which would take about 10-15 minutes to install on my laptop. I got it installing and a minute or two later checked back on it and found that it was already complete.

The Intel Utility thing was better than I expected, I can monitor all my temps and a ton of other stuff from right in Windows. It seems to be way more detailed than what I could see when we were in Bios. Need to really hunt through it to make sure but a casual inspection didn't turn up any overheat alarm. Then again, when i scanned through it all last night, it wasn't showing temps either, today it was.

At idle, I'm now running 30-33*C, and I haven't seen it over 41* today. The Intel Utility thing has a thing you can click for a stress test but I haven't tried that or Prime 95 yet. I spent the day loading programs and working on school work. Plus when I read the instructions for the Arctic Silver, it said something about a break-in period before you get into really heavy use. So probably by Tuesday/Wendsday I'll be ready to run a stress test on it.

 

[DeanMoriarty]

Those are great temps. The temp monitor can be very helpful if you start having problems. I assumed you'd be pretty happy with the speed once you seen what it could do... it's a nice rig. Though the CMOS does leave something to be desired... but it is an Intel.
If you want to be assured your system is more stable than what will ever be required of it, run the Prime 95. Look it up and read the documentation and you'll understand why. Funny thing, it wasn't actually designed for stress testing, but it has become *the* benchmark. I've never had a problem stress testing right away, but there's no harm in waiting a few days either. I'm sure you'll have no problems. Cheers.

Btw... What do you do with Dreamweaver, out of curiosity? Going to school for web design?

 

[Mark_88]

Just a short word of advice on your overheat shutdown...I was tinkering with my BIOS settings and my computer has a disable and three heat settings...when I set it to the highest temp setting (50^C or something like that) my computer would not get to the login screen without shutting down...I figured it out pretty quick since I only change one settting at a time to test them out...but if I had just shut down after changing that I might have forgot about it...

Otherwise, congrats and have fun with your new system!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Those are great temps. The temp monitor can be very helpful if you start having problems. I assumed you'd be pretty happy with the speed once you seen what it could do... it's a nice rig. Though the CMOS does leave something to be desired... but it is an Intel.
If you want to be assured your system is more stable than what will ever be required of it, run the Prime 95. Look it up and read the documentation and you'll understand why. Funny thing, it wasn't actually designed for stress testing, but it has become *the* benchmark. I've never had a problem stress testing right away, but there's no harm in waiting a few days either. I'm sure you'll have no problems. Cheers.

Btw... What do you do with Dreamweaver, out of curiosity? Going to school for web design?

I'll do that. FYI, I did look over the Intel Utilities program and found that it doesn't have a shutdown, but it does have a warning you can set that will flash a pop-up, sound an audible warning an all. Better than nothing I guess.

I probably would have considered running it right away, but like I said, I kinda needed the computer right away. I'll get to it though.

I'm going to college for Business Administration (BS degree) and an AS in Journalism.

I'm using Dreamweaver for building my own websites. http://www.freewebs.com/lbfcustoms

Just a short word of advice on your overheat shutdown...I was tinkering with my BIOS settings and my computer has a disable and three heat settings...when I set it to the highest temp setting (50^C or something like that) my computer would not get to the login screen without shutting down...I figured it out pretty quick since I only change one settting at a time to test them out...but if I had just shut down after changing that I might have forgot about it...

Otherwise, congrats and have fun with your new system!

I couldn't find anything in BIOS to set an overheat shutdown, but if your comp is going over 50* on startup, that's probably not good.

Thanks for the congrats, I'm lovin this new comp!

 

[DeanMoriarty]

Awesome.
I fooled with the web design thing for awhile, but I'm much more into the graphic design aspect of it. Throwing a web page together is cool... but once it gets into coding things it starts to irritate and bore me. I could never be a programmer.

I'd set the alarm and all that to be on the safe side, but it looks like you're good. Do you leave your PC on 24/7?

Site looks good btw. Dreamweaver has a lot of cool features.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Awesome.
I fooled with the web design thing for awhile, but I'm much more into the graphic design aspect of it. Throwing a web page together is cool... but once it gets into coding things it starts to irritate and bore me. I could never be a programmer.

I'd set the alarm and all that to be on the safe side, but it looks like you're good. Do you leave your PC on 24/7?

Site looks good btw. Dreamweaver has a lot of cool features.

I play with it mostly when I'm bored, when I get tired of fooling with web design an coding, I work on something else. I don't think I'd enjoy doing it all the time.

The alarm is set to factory defaults... 68* for the processor, 85* for the motherboard, 110* for the ICH, 105* for the MCH. I can change those temp settings higher or lower as desired.

Often I leave my PC on 24/7, but I have been turning this one off for periods so far. I've been considering adding another fan to the case on the rear port for a fan... I'm guessing by the hole spacing it can be either an 80mm or 120mm.

I found that OpenOffice is not compatible enough with MS Office for my needs, so I guess I have to get MS Office somewhere. Since I got some more money in, and can't find the adapter for the power supply to SATA power local, I'm thinking of just going ahead and ordering a better PSU and anything else I need by the end of the week.

 

[Mark_88]

I think my heat settings are a bit low for the processor I'm running...but it works fine until I try to enable that alarm...

If you're looking for power supplies, some of them have extra cooling fans built right into them...I happened to be outside at work one day and there was a skid of old computer parts that some company tossed when they moved out...I was looking through the stuff and found a 400wt power supply that was brand new in the box...thought it was junk but I just happened to need one so I took it home and installed it and it worked...couldn't believe someone would throw out a $100 PSU!

This one has the extra fan on the bottom of it...can't remember the name or anything, but so far it has performed well...and I haven't hooked up the extra fan either since I don't run a high end system...figured it will come in handy if I ever needed one though...maybe if I decide to upgrade...not for a while I hope...