Finaly!!! After all the time spent on reading reviews, researching, buying the parts and putting it all together I got it to boot up 1st time! I actually impressed my self. I didn't have too much knowlege of putting all the components together but I figured it out. Special thanks this forum for being such a valuable knowlege base durring this process.
It was painfull setting the mobo to fit in the back panel and try to screw it in at the same time. I kinda messed it up cuase it bubbles out a little in the back. Oh' well it works, can't be perfect i guess. All the little tiny 2 pin power switch and LED plugs were hard to figure out which way the manual was showing you how to plug them in. Took me longer than it should have. Over all the system took about 2.5 hours to build. Not bad for my first time IMO.
When I first went to turn it on, I turned on the switch in the back of my PSU and the comp just fired right up but I had no video signal. I freaked for a minute then just tried hitting the power switch on the front and I saw the start up POST on my monitor. Big sigh of relief! Very happy I didn't fry the mobo with a static shock or something.
The next thing I noticed was that my floppy LED light was solid and didn't turn off. But I'd been reading my Anandtech forums and remember a post I read about this exact problem. I pluged in the cable upside down on the floppy. Dohh! Problem solved. WinXP install was flawless but I didn't hear the WinXP start up tune. Freaked out a little again thinking the sound card was DOA or I didn't plug it in right. Turns out I just needed to run the Audigy2 install CD. Another minor bump solved quick and easy.
Once I got all the drivers and everthing installed its been working flawless! I didn't expect this to go so well with out any major problems. I've read the horor stories on this forum. With so many problems that can go wrong, I feel lucky!
This new system screams. I upgraded from a Dell 8200 P4 1.8Ghz, 512RAM, and a Geforce3 Ti500. This was money well spent. It's twice if now 3x as fast!
Anyway, here are my new system specs. Purchased from mostly zipzoomfly.com, the case from atacom.com, and some stuff from Newegg.com. Grand total $1,700 after tax and shipping.
Lian Li PC-7A Plus Case (silver w/window)
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum w/nForce3
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (stock heat sink)
1GB Corsair XMS duel channel PC3200 400DDR
eVga Geforce 6800GT 256mb
Audigy2 Value
WD Raptor 37GB 10,000RPM SATA
NEC DVD+RW
Sony floppy
OCZ Modsteam 450watt
Free Half Life2
Free Doom3
I'm very happy with it...
It was painfull setting the mobo to fit in the back panel and try to screw it in at the same time. I kinda messed it up cuase it bubbles out a little in the back. Oh' well it works, can't be perfect i guess. All the little tiny 2 pin power switch and LED plugs were hard to figure out which way the manual was showing you how to plug them in. Took me longer than it should have. Over all the system took about 2.5 hours to build. Not bad for my first time IMO.
When I first went to turn it on, I turned on the switch in the back of my PSU and the comp just fired right up but I had no video signal. I freaked for a minute then just tried hitting the power switch on the front and I saw the start up POST on my monitor. Big sigh of relief! Very happy I didn't fry the mobo with a static shock or something.
The next thing I noticed was that my floppy LED light was solid and didn't turn off. But I'd been reading my Anandtech forums and remember a post I read about this exact problem. I pluged in the cable upside down on the floppy. Dohh! Problem solved. WinXP install was flawless but I didn't hear the WinXP start up tune. Freaked out a little again thinking the sound card was DOA or I didn't plug it in right. Turns out I just needed to run the Audigy2 install CD. Another minor bump solved quick and easy.
Once I got all the drivers and everthing installed its been working flawless! I didn't expect this to go so well with out any major problems. I've read the horor stories on this forum. With so many problems that can go wrong, I feel lucky!
This new system screams. I upgraded from a Dell 8200 P4 1.8Ghz, 512RAM, and a Geforce3 Ti500. This was money well spent. It's twice if now 3x as fast!
Anyway, here are my new system specs. Purchased from mostly zipzoomfly.com, the case from atacom.com, and some stuff from Newegg.com. Grand total $1,700 after tax and shipping.
Lian Li PC-7A Plus Case (silver w/window)
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum w/nForce3
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (stock heat sink)
1GB Corsair XMS duel channel PC3200 400DDR
eVga Geforce 6800GT 256mb
Audigy2 Value
WD Raptor 37GB 10,000RPM SATA
NEC DVD+RW
Sony floppy
OCZ Modsteam 450watt
Free Half Life2
Free Doom3
I'm very happy with it...
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