Got my ECS K7S5A and Athlon XP 1700+ today

Quote:Got my ECS K7S5A and Athlon XP 1700+ today

Have u tried running that board yet, as i am having probs with mine and may have a feeling that its to do with the XP chips, maybe BIOS needs upgrade. Let me know if u get probs starting up sometimes.

Cheers

Booted fine everytime for me.

Also brought a Microsoft Internet Keyboard today. It's great.

Bought a Chaintech GF4 MX 440 64MB DDR AGP card off newegg...not for me, but for another rig I'm putting together for someone else (and making a few bucks on). Should give him enough power to actually play some games for once (I have no clue what's powering his grahpics ATM)

Ok, this is more of a "what bits have I bought in the last month" rather than the last week, cos I haven't gotten round to posting.
 
1st up, I got myself a Zalman ZM-NB32J northbridge heatsink, partly cos it was on sale, & partly just cos I felt like it. Of course, although it can work without a fan [& is intended to], I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't put 1 on it. a 40mm 1 would have fit on perfectly with screws, but the only 40mm fans I had were pretty much dead anyway, so I tied on a 45mm fan I had that was still working ok.
 
Next I got myself a new HSF for my CPU, another Zalman product, this time it's the CNPS5100-Cu. It keeps my CPU a bit cooler than the stock 1 that came with my retail/boxed athlon XP. It's also noticeably quieter than the stock 1 [even @ full speed without the fan speed thingy] - so much so that when I'd put the side of the case back on & powered it back up I thought there was something wrong with my HDDs because of the amount of noise they were making, then realised that they'd always made that much noise but that I just couldn't hear it because of the HSF noise!
 
I also got 1 of those slot blower thingies that is intended to take the hot air from your gfx card & shove it straight out the back of the case. It allegedly is supposed to push 42cfm, but I've felt stronger airflow from a <30cfm fan. Oh well, it was only £5.99, I guess you get what you pay for.
 
Then I found myself with a bit more cash to burn, so I decided to treat myself. I'd been wanting a DVD drive for absolutely ages, but hadn't gotten around to getting 1, then found that the PC World just down the road from me were doing OEM Lite-On LTD-16SH drives for only £35.
 
While I was in PCW I also decided to have a look @ game controllers. I don't play games all the time, just occasionally - when I feel like it, but for quite a while I'd wanted some sort of joystick or gamepad for the few games I've got where 1 might be useful. I didn't want to splash out on something expensive that could do the dishes & make me a cup of coffee 1st thing in the morning as well, as I already had about £200 earmarked for something else. Sadly they don't let you try them out in store, but they did say I could take it back within 7 days if I didn't like the 1 I chose, which ended up being the Saitek P2500 Rumble Force Pad for £20.
 
Tomorrow's [Monday] the last day I can take it back, so I'm going to have to try it out on a few other games before I go to bed tonight, but going on the 1 game I've tried it with so far [Moto GP Racing] it's going back. Yes, it looks nice, & it is also comfortable to hold, but whilst there is an option to calibrate the analogue thumb sticks with regard to how far they can be pushed in each direction, there's nothing to calibrate the sensitivity of them. What I mean is, that unless the game includes its own sensitivity option for analogue controllers & you try playing a driving game using the analogue sticks then you may find yourself wondering if your driver/rider is gonna get pulled over & breathalised!!!
 
Right, almost done - been saving the best for last. What did I have that £200 [actually £199] set aside for? My new pride & joy, & currently my favourite piece of hardware - a Mordaunt-Short 907W 100w sub-woofer [mine's black, not that nasty cherry colour]. Now all the deep bass bits in films sound just like they should.

Went to town? LOL, not exactly - that's yet to come. I have a few other things to get 1st [like a new VCR, TV, DVD player, & possibly a 5.1 amp/decoder & maybe some new speakers], but after that I have a list of stuff I wanna get:
 
DigiDoc 5
Abit AT7 Max2 [& maybe the Max XP drive bay thingy]
Athlon XP 2700 [maybe higher by the time I get round to it]
512MB of Corsair PC3200
& [hopefully they'll be out by then in this country] a Radeon 9700 Pro AIW
New PSU [haven't made my mind up about make/model yet]
I'm also toying with the idea of an Audigy 2 Platinum.

I bought the following:
2 packs of Cooler Master ramsinks
an Athlon XP2000+ (Paliminio)
and I have a Thermalright SK-7 on order from newegg
 
I plan on ordering a KVM switch here shortly as well.

Went a bit mad over the last couple of weeks :x :
 
Vantec Nexus W-Force Super Panel
Swiftech MCX462+ Heatsink with YS-Tech 80mm fan
Chieftec AX-01SLD Aluminium Midi-Tower
Creative Labs Audigy 2 Soundcard
 
I think it's time to put the plastic away before I get tempted again... 8)
 
AndyF

I just bought a tricolour cathode light from ebuyer info here 8) , didnt even know you could get such a thing, looks very nice

I think we should retitle this thread "New parts I've just bought" and then we can all post as we buy new things.
Hell, keep the thread going for a couple of years and the first few pages of posts will be very historic
 
Anyway, my purchases over the last week or so:
 
ASUS P4G8X-Deluxe motherboard (Granite Bay)
Western Digital WD1200JB HD (120GB, 8MB Cache)
Diamond Internal V92 modem (For some reason my dial-up speed has now increased from 42k to 49k-50k, all very strange).

Dell PowerEdge 1600Sc dual SCSI 320's
640MB ECC REG Ram
Dell 1800FP monitor

I was as surprised as the next person!!
I was using a USR External V90 (flashed to V92) modem.
The connection speeds were a rather constand 40k or 42.6k
It has been this way for years and I've always assumed bad lines where I am.
 
Over the weekend I was building a PC for the girlfriend, her old machine had an internal modem and I'd sourced a Diamond Internal V92 one - this is a true hardware PCI modem, not WinModem or Software.
After I'd set her machine up of course I wanted to download the critical updates so I hit the net.
First attempt to connect to the net, connected at 44k.
A few more tests after reboots, 46k, 48k, 50k.
I'm now averaging around 48k and the only thing changed is USR External modem removed, Diamond Internal Hardware modem added.
 
Yer ok, compared to those lucky people with broadband this may seem like nothing, but my online experience does feel that bit better now.

Yeah. My granparents have a local ISP, and they connect at 48k pretty consistantly. Not as fast as the DSL I'm used to, but I'm impressed to say the least.

Ok this week i bought!
 
Eheim 1048
Danger Den Z-Chip waterblock
Danger Den Maze 3 478 waterblock
Danger Den GF4 waterblock
Black Ice Pro Radiator
Chieftec Silver Dragon full tower
3.5 Bay Rheo-bus
Qtec 550watt PSU
2* 120mm Titan Aluminium fans

Got some more goodies:
 
Q-tec 550w PSU
Digi Doc 5 [black]
Delta 60mm Focused Flow 36cfm [6800rpm]
FDD with black bezel
Braided sleeving
fan grills [various sizes]
about 2 litres of spraypaint [black undercoat, black gloss, & clear - was on sale, & I hate beige]
 
BTW, for those who haven't had/got a Delta fan, there are actually 2 reasons why they've earned the nickname "screamer": 1 refers to the noise they make, the other refers to the noise you make if you are unfortunate enough to get your finger caught in them. Maybe they ought to call them Delta Vampires.....

Quote:...BTW, for those who haven't had/got a Delta fan, there are actually 2 reasons why they've earned the nickname "screamer": 1 refers to the noise they make, the other refers to the noise you make if you are unfortunate enough to get your finger caught in them. Maybe they ought to call them Delta Vampires.....

So, one question: what were you doing sticking your finger into a running fan? I hope it was an accident, and not just something you do to pass the time

Rgds
AndyF

Yeah, was an accident. 1 I don't plan on repeating. It didn't bleed for that long, & it only took a little chunk out of the tip of the little finger on my right hand.

I got the Antec-style cases with a precut side window in it today. I plan to get a 4-port KVM switch here shortly as well.

just bought a new ATX case / 512 pc-2100 (but getting pc-3500 for overclocking once i find it - just could not wait!)..lol
 
possibly buying a new 2.0a chip for some serious over clocking!