A few (more) questions

L

LSR

New Member
Hello again.
Well I'm buying a computer off eBuyer in a few hours, but I have a few last minute questions..

1. My brother said something about a USB card... but now he's gone, and I have no idea what a USB card is, I thought USB slots came with the mobo?

2. Sorry, one more time, here are the specs - just a check for any glaringly obvious omissions or compatability issues :

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/88477/rb/19501686507 Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/107210 Optical drive
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/108011 Graphics card
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/99773 Hard drive
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/101701/rb/19334605198 Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/48180/rb/19380184033 Sound card
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97548 Operating system
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/80141/rb/19380029301 RAM
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/95863 Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/63323/rb/19501712857 Ethernet Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/110323/rb/19501727656 Mouse/keyboard/speakers

Would this all work then? With access to internet etc.? Bear in mind I've never built one before, and I'm on a mac, so I'm not sure exactly what components I need (my dad's building it).

Once again, thanks for your help, it's been invaluable!
 
1. A USB card goes into a spare pci slot, and gives upto 4 extra USB slots, but like you said, the motherboard has them on (this one has 6 i think)

Well, firstly id advise you to get another 512MB ram because you will notice a huge difference between the 2. Secondly, unless you need 2 ethernet ports, i wouldn't buy the card because it the motherboard has a built in Ethernet. The same with the sound card too. Although with that card, the performance you get for the price is very good. And having a sound card rather then using onboard, saves a bit on the processor power. And everything else looks okay. Its the same processor as mine, but £30 cheaper then what paid in January :mad:Wait for other people to give opinions though.
 
I see!!
Thanks!

But a few more questions :D

Regarding the ethernet card, USB card, etc, are you 100 percent sure they come with the motherboard?

Also, to do with the sound card, what do you mean it's built in? Does the motherboard, like, come with a sound card physically attached?

This is just a basic computer to start of with, though, in a few months I'll stick in a better PSU, X2 4400+, another gig of RAM...
 
http://www.chillblast.com/product.php?productid=17304&cat=29&bestseller

- Supports AMD Athlon 64, X2 and FX CPUs
- nForce 4 SLi chipset
- 2 x PCIe x16 physical slots
- 1 x PCIe x1 slot
- 1 x PCIe x4 slot
- 3 x PCI 32bit 33MHz slots
- 4 x SATA II 300MB/s ports support RAID 0/1
- 2 x UDMA133 ports
- 1 x Floppy port
- 4 184pin DIMM slots for up to 4GB PC3200 DDR
- 1 x 1Gbps LAN connections
- Onboard 6 channel audio
- 4 x Onboard USB 2.0 ports, a further 6 by header
Click to expand...

Yea, from that site, it says that it has some onboard, then you can add upto 6 more using headers. It has a 1Gbps Ethernet Port, and 6 Channel audio ports.

Annoyingly, this is the best pic of the back of the board i could find.
im_a8n-sli_se_main.jpg

As you can see, it has 2 clearly visible usb ports, and 2 next to it i think (its hard to see for sure), above the USB is the ethernet port, and then the blue/green/red ports are the onboard audio. The Sound card you picked will give better sound, and take some stress off of the CPU, but isn't exactly needed.
 
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Ok, that is REALLY helpful.
Yeah, thanks a lot, I think I understand now!

Just one last thing, though, regarding the sound card.

If I were to buy a seperate sound card, how would you install it?
There is a slot for it, right, but will the computer automatically use that one as opposed to the mobo built-in sound card?

Yeah, and once again, many thanks :D
I really don't understand a lot about this stuff.
 
You'd put it in the slot. Then go into the BIOS by pressing "delete" when its doing all the system checks. Then go to intergrated periphals, and disable the onboard sound. Then go into windows and run the cd that comes with the sound card, and that installs the driver.
 
elmarcorulz said:
You'd put it in the slot. Then go into the BIOS by pressing "delete" when its doing all the system checks. Then go to intergrated periphals, and disable the onboard sound. Then go into windows and run the cd that comes with the sound card, and that installs the driver.
Click to expand...

I see, nothing too complicated then :D

Should I get that sound card?
Are the effects noticable?
I'm not overly concerned with the quality, I won't be watching DVD's on it..
 
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There's not really any need to get it then. Im using onboard sound atm, and i listen to music on my computer all the time, and the quality isn't bad.
 
elmarcorulz said:
There's not really any need to get it then. Im using onboard sound atm, and i listen to music on my computer all the time, and the quality isn't bad.
Click to expand...

Right. Well, that's me set then!
Thanks!
 
Oh! Sorry, one last thing!
About power cables...
Do all the necessary cables come with it?
My Dad said I needed a power and data cable for the hard drive and optical drive... do these come with them?

Also, the case says "350w power suppy (no power cord)"
Is this the cord leading to the mains? Or one of the internal ones?
 
data cable should be supplied with the motherboard for the hard drive and the power for the hard drive is with the psu. The power cord for the psu is what you need to buy, its the same as the ones that you get for kettles
 
jimmymac said:
data cable should be supplied with the motherboard for the hard drive and the power for the hard drive is with the psu. The power cord for the psu is what you need to buy, its the same as the ones that you get for kettles
Click to expand...

So everything is there except the PSU cord?
Do you mean the mains cord, which plugs into a socket on the wall?
Thanks.
 
Go with a seperate psu. Though I am reading up on psu 101 still don't know to much. Get more opinions on what to get.
 
holyjunk125 said:
Go with a seperate psu. Though I am reading up on psu 101 still don't know to much. Get more opinions on what to get.
Click to expand...

I'm going to get an Antec SmartPower, a X2 4200+, and an extra gig of RAM in a few months :D

I just got tired of saving, I've been on this damn 350mhz iMac for 4 years now....
 
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