Just wanted to lend a note of encouragement to anyone else thinking about building their own computer for the first time. Finished mine several days ago and am loving it. It's nothing special hardware-wise, as I don't need the latest and greatest. The transition from my PIII 450 Dell (running 98Se) to this 3200+ NC on an Asus K8N-E Deluxe with XPSp2 is simply amazing. I did go somewhat overboard with the processor and mobo, but I wanted a system that could easily handle the overhead of XP and the usual prophylactic software needed on a Windows system. It should give me plenty of room for growth as I decide to venture into different uses for the computer. Had my last system for nearly 6 years, so this one feels great. NAV scans would make the Dell really stumble trying to do anything else at the same time--this one shows no evidence of NAV running in the background. My cable internet finally feels like broadband should.
I was after quiet, so settled on a Sonata, a Sapphire Radeon 9600 (no fan), Samsung 80G Sata HDD, and an NEC 3500a plus a second cheap DVD ROM. No floppy, since I found basically no use for them in my computing. As I wont be using the other four Sata ports any time soon, there was no need for driver installation via floppy during the OS installation on this Asus board. It has turned out to be much quieter than the old Dell, but not quite silent. Listening to things with the side cover off, it appears that the stock AMD HSF fan is the loudest component by far. I retained the stock Antec rear case fan, and added a Comp-USA (impulse buy) 120mm fan up front. The added fan was thermally controlled, but I decided to remove the thermistor, short the wires, and just run it straight off the "Fan only" connector. Works great and gives me a little added peace-of-mind. Picked up a Zalman CNPS7000 AlCu, but haven't yet worked up the courage to remove the AMD cooler and do the slight modification to the mobo for mounting the Zalman. Maybe next weekend.
It took me several hours of assembly time, not because hooking everything up was difficult, but only because I decided to be anal about cable routing and management. I spent a fair amount of time just trying different layouts of the various cables to see what worked best for me. Things turned out well, and the mobo is very clear of cables and such. Careful folding of the ribbon cables for the two optical drives really helped keep the mobo wide open for air flow.
I'm pleased with the Sonata. I wanted a conservative looking case, and this one fits the bill. Quality is very good generally. Didn't hurt myself during assembly and fiddling. As expected from many other reviews, those blue LEDs in front are blindingly bright, so this weekend I spent several hours cobbling together a little circuit that allows me to adjust the brightness by just turning the nob on a pot. Since I am not using a floppy, I was able to tuck the small circuit board and wires into the unused bays on the Sonata. Simply unplugging the LEDs was obiously a solution to the brightness "problem", but I couldn't help but try and find a way to dim them. I'm amazed it worked, as I'm just a dumbass carpenter with almost no knowledge of electronics. Last time I was exposed to that subject was in my first physics class in college 20 years ago, and what little I learned was soon forgotten. Can't really help anyone else who might want to do the same thing, since my electronics knowledge is so rudimentary, but some time spent Googling "LED dimmer" got me started. Radio Shack had the various bits and pieces. Would be nice if Antec added a similar gadget so the end-user could adjust the LEDs as desired. The electronic bits are cheap.
Anyway, thanks to the advice of AT posters and study of lots of other members discussions, my first build went quite smoothly. I'm liking XP so far, but have much to learn. Good riddance to 98Se. Loving the shear speed of this machine, and am very happy with the A64 3200+. Once the Zalman is in place I anticipate the new system will be near silent. If a shmuck like me can successfully build a computer, anyone should be able to do the same with just a bit of careful research.
I was after quiet, so settled on a Sonata, a Sapphire Radeon 9600 (no fan), Samsung 80G Sata HDD, and an NEC 3500a plus a second cheap DVD ROM. No floppy, since I found basically no use for them in my computing. As I wont be using the other four Sata ports any time soon, there was no need for driver installation via floppy during the OS installation on this Asus board. It has turned out to be much quieter than the old Dell, but not quite silent. Listening to things with the side cover off, it appears that the stock AMD HSF fan is the loudest component by far. I retained the stock Antec rear case fan, and added a Comp-USA (impulse buy) 120mm fan up front. The added fan was thermally controlled, but I decided to remove the thermistor, short the wires, and just run it straight off the "Fan only" connector. Works great and gives me a little added peace-of-mind. Picked up a Zalman CNPS7000 AlCu, but haven't yet worked up the courage to remove the AMD cooler and do the slight modification to the mobo for mounting the Zalman. Maybe next weekend.
It took me several hours of assembly time, not because hooking everything up was difficult, but only because I decided to be anal about cable routing and management. I spent a fair amount of time just trying different layouts of the various cables to see what worked best for me. Things turned out well, and the mobo is very clear of cables and such. Careful folding of the ribbon cables for the two optical drives really helped keep the mobo wide open for air flow.
I'm pleased with the Sonata. I wanted a conservative looking case, and this one fits the bill. Quality is very good generally. Didn't hurt myself during assembly and fiddling. As expected from many other reviews, those blue LEDs in front are blindingly bright, so this weekend I spent several hours cobbling together a little circuit that allows me to adjust the brightness by just turning the nob on a pot. Since I am not using a floppy, I was able to tuck the small circuit board and wires into the unused bays on the Sonata. Simply unplugging the LEDs was obiously a solution to the brightness "problem", but I couldn't help but try and find a way to dim them. I'm amazed it worked, as I'm just a dumbass carpenter with almost no knowledge of electronics. Last time I was exposed to that subject was in my first physics class in college 20 years ago, and what little I learned was soon forgotten. Can't really help anyone else who might want to do the same thing, since my electronics knowledge is so rudimentary, but some time spent Googling "LED dimmer" got me started. Radio Shack had the various bits and pieces. Would be nice if Antec added a similar gadget so the end-user could adjust the LEDs as desired. The electronic bits are cheap.
Anyway, thanks to the advice of AT posters and study of lots of other members discussions, my first build went quite smoothly. I'm liking XP so far, but have much to learn. Good riddance to 98Se. Loving the shear speed of this machine, and am very happy with the A64 3200+. Once the Zalman is in place I anticipate the new system will be near silent. If a shmuck like me can successfully build a computer, anyone should be able to do the same with just a bit of careful research.
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