Building my dream computer (any suggestions?)

Are you going to (upgrade) to an ATI Evergreen, or Nvidia 300Gt for Dx11 support?

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  • No, I love my graphic capabilities how they are!

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Winapple

Winapple

New Member
Hello everyone,
I have been building and designing for a couple of years now and I finally decided to build a dream computer for Gaming, programming, 3D development/rendering, and chiptracking (Which does require high CPU time.) It is a Socket462 with Nforce capabilities.

I have ran into some issues that I am solving.

When I first installed my motherboard into my new case, I was hoping for the best, but sadly my power supply brutally burnt up. It was a Dynex 400 Watt. So, I immediately examined the caps, resistors. Everything was perfect and seemed untouched.

The next day, I figured that I might go and get a new power supply for my board. I went to Compusa and bought a cooler master 500 Watt power unit. I wanted a bit higher than my other board because of 2x HDDs, 2x CD-R and DVD slots, and Nvidia Ge force 8500gs. After I did some voltage assumptions and calculations, all checked out fine.

When I connected it to my motherboard and completed the circuit, my northbridge started emitting a strange burning smell. Quickly, I removed the unit and examined the board again. Nothing seemed displaced or defected. My AMD Athlon was fine, no pins missing. Neither did my R.A.M. seem dis-functional.

I began to search for a faulty component. I checked all of my drives, and components. Again, nothing seemed irregular.

I began to unplug all unnecessary components (Running with R.A.M, processor, and HDD single.) Nothing, but a burning northgate.

I have to admit, this board is about 6-7 years of age. I am going to get a new one anyways. Anyone have any suggestions? I want a middle class motherboard, ATX, on-board video, Serial ATX power switch conncetion, Sata/noSata, and it has to run an AMP Athlon.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.:good:

P.S. It is NOT an Intel! It is a FIC board (Pentium4 and AMD Athlon.)
 
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Since he said 6 or 7 years and just said Athlon, bet its a Socket A XP Athlon.

Winapple, what do you mean by Northgate?

When you put the board in the new case did you put all the standoffs in the correct places?

If they are installed right, since you said the first power supply (brutally burnt up) it could have took something out with it.
 
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Thanks for your reply.

northbridge, sorry about that.

I believe I did mount the standoffs directly where the board's screws were. I do believe that would have short circuited some components. My board would conduct electricity on the metal plate. Could that be the problem?

My Dynex has worked for the past 6-7 years as well, I think my board might of been touching the case a bit and the protection fault tripped.
 
Yeah, I think he is a little mixed up. The last socket that you could run a AMD and Intel on was Socket 7 as far as I can remember.
 
Pentium 4's are all sockets 478 or 775. No AMD is compatable with either of those whatsoever!

After some research, I found that for a very short time the P4 was on a socket 423...this is CLOSE to the socket A athlon but not the same.
 
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linkin93 said:
you've made a very bad move using cheap power supplies, especially low wattage ones.
Click to expand...

Impossible. I have used the previous power source to run my motherboard for 6-7 years. My board only takes what load it needs. I think it might be touching components that screwed my board up.
 
@linkin93:
For a computer like he is describing 500 watts should be more than enough. I don't know about the quality of the PSU that he has because he didn't post a model # or anything but as far as power goes, that should be enough for any old athalon even with 2 HDDs and 2 Optical drives.

@Winapple:
Do you have a budget for this new computer you are building, assuming you are going to give up on your current one?
 
87dtna said:
First off, there's TONS of athlon's. Second, I'd like to see pics of an athlon running on an intel board.
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Trust me, It is one of the AMD Athlon XP processor with QuantiSpeed 1x.

http://srvr9.com/shop_pics/lge/AMD_Athlon_XP_3000+_FSB400.jpg

This is my XP processor.

My board does specify that Pentium 4 is an option. Along with PhonixBios.

It's not an Intel, it is an FIC board.

http://www.pcfactoryoutlet.com/emachines/ProductImages/AU31.jpg

I might just go ahead and get a new board. This one seems too out of date.
 
Takeshi said:
@linkin93:
For a computer like he is describing 500 watts should be more than enough. I don't know about the quality of the PSU that he has because he didn't post a model # or anything but as far as power goes, that should be enough for any old athalon even with 2 HDDs and 2 Optical drives.

@Winapple:
Do you have a budget for this new computer you are building, assuming you are going to give up on your current one?
Click to expand...

It is a FIC Au31, sorry about that missing part.

Yes, I have at least a $100 budget on a decent board and I don't plan on giving up. I just need a new board. By the looks of this situation, I don't think there will be a valid start up for this old board.
 
Meh, wish I could help. If I were you I would save your money, hold out, and buy an i3 barebones kit from newegg or tigerdirect. They are cheap and worth it, trust me ;D.
 
Takeshi said:
Meh, wish I could help. If I were you I would save your money, hold out, and buy an i3 barebones kit from newegg or tigerdirect. They are cheap and worth it, trust me ;D.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your attempt. I must agree. Though, I can always refurbish some of my older boards for this case. Maybe a Dell board with high power CPU would be a good model to experiment with.:)
 
Winapple said:
Trust me, It is one of the AMD Athlon XP processor with QuantiSpeed 1x.

http://srvr9.com/shop_pics/lge/AMD_Athlon_XP_3000+_FSB400.jpg

This is my XP processor.

My board does specify that Pentium 4 is an option. Along with PhonixBios.

It's not an Intel, it is an FIC board.

http://www.pcfactoryoutlet.com/emachines/ProductImages/AU31.jpg

I might just go ahead and get a new board. This one seems too out of date.
Click to expand...

Like was said, the last and only socket that supported both intel and amd processors (amongst others) was soeckt 7.

A simple google search of your motherboard came up with this:

Supported Processors:
Athlon XP (1500+ to 2800+) @ 266/333MHz Front Side Bus
Duron (800 to 1.3GHz) @ 200MHz Front Side Bus

It is a socket A motherboard, .'. can't use ANY Intel CPU. I don't know where you are getting the info that you can use a P4 CPU from :confused:
 
Aastii said:
Like was said, the last and only socket that supported both intel and amd processors (amongst others) was soeckt 7.

A simple google search of your motherboard came up with this:

Supported Processors:
Athlon XP (1500+ to 2800+) @ 266/333MHz Front Side Bus
Duron (800 to 1.3GHz) @ 200MHz Front Side Bus

It is a socket A motherboard, .'. can't use ANY Intel CPU. I don't know where you are getting the info that you can use a P4 CPU from :confused:
Click to expand...

I am telling you, my board has a pentium IV id tag on it along with Phonix Bios, directly near the CPU socket.

I know what you mean. My board obviously is very old and there is hardly any boards available that even get close to this board's specifications.

It is manufactured and used by the Emachines t3096

http://www.simpletech.com/images/upgrades/system/emachines/t3096.jpg

As you can see this product's motherboard was discontinued. :mad:

http://www.pcfactoryoutlet.com/emachines/Moreinfo.asp?Product_Id=69188

Emachines is NOT a very great computer manufacturer, so I wouldn't be surprised if my board is a mix.

I think I am better off with a new Foxconn micro ATX board.
 
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