Herm,
Talked with Jester a few weeks ago.
I need 1, possibly 2 pcs.
Can you build - do you still do that?
Or should I just get a Dell or go to UBM?

If you need a state of the art, top of the line machine, that will last for 4-5 years I'm your man. You'll pay for for it though. If you just need a few PC's to get it done and last 3-5 years, go with Dell. They offer more than I can for a very fair price. If it's a super PC that games, you need me to build it. Dells don't upgrade well. Mine always upgrade great!

Thanks for the advice, Herm.

Herm,

One more question.
If I were to build my own pc, where's the best place to get the components? Fry's? Someplace online?

They are local, right at Beltway 8 and 59. www.axiontech.com That's where I get almost all of my PC stuff.

Hans somebody told me one time get as much hardware into your computer.What you pay for.

Thanks Herm, Scif.

I need to get my learn on with mobo's and such.

Ok.

I built me a pc this morning. Started at 7:30, ended at about 12:30.

Used an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard with an AMD Athlon XP 2700+ chip.
(one thing though, when I go to the control panel in XP, it tells me my processor is something like 1.2ghz. I've got the original box the chip came in, and that says 2700+. What's the deal?)

Using a Linsys Wireless - G PCI adapter, so far so good.

Got a good deal on a 200gb hard drive.

Using an inexpensive video card, Geforce fx 5200 agp 128 mb ddr.

My question:

I didn't get a sound card because the guy at Fry's said I didn't need one. What do i know. I hooked up some speakers and can't hear anything.

XP tells me that there is no active matrix. How do I get sound? Do I have to buy something else?

That motherboard has 5.1 surround sound on board from what I have been reading. Did you by chance install the CD that came with the motherboard. XP has a ton of drivers built in but make sure you have the ones off the CD just to be sure. Athlon showing up as 1.2 Ghz......now I am real glad I decided against the Athlons. I had a problem like that awhile back when I upgraded and I think it was RAM that was making the new setup I had bought freak out. I sent the Athlon stuff back after that little pain in the a$$ and went with what I knew which was Pentiums and never looked back.

Hope everything works out for you bud.

|<idcapri

Thanks.
I installed the drivers from the cd from the motherboard, so I now have sound!

But what about the 2700+ chip showing as something like 1500+?

I've got 1gb of ram installed, ddr 2700 corsair (sp). Should I put one of the memory things in a different socket on the mobo? Would it be worth it to experiment and remove one of the memory things (leaving 512mg) and see if the chip performance improves?

Bueller, Bueller, anyone?

(Thanks kid for your helpful advice on the sound).

Hans

First let me say that my XP2100 shows in the bios as a 1731 or something like that. It's supposed to because the chip name isn't the chip speed with AMD chips. I've heard ram stories before about AMD but I've never seen it. I'd guess that you don't have the latest BIOS installed and so the board doesn't know how to recognize what your chip is exactly. Maybe it is the latest BIOS and they decided to just go with the 1700+ as the highest measured chip. Be careful before you start to try to flash your BIOS if there is a newer one available from Azus. Flasjing a BIOS is the one time on a PC that you can try something that seems simple and never have the PC turn on again. Have you read the FAQ about your board at the maunufacturers website? That's just a few things that I would be thinking about if I were you right now. Call me if you need to. Good Luck Hans! By the way, please download that Dawn program mentioned on the other thread and tell me how it is. I can't play that demo on my G-Force4 4200. Sad! Thanks!

Dude, let me know if the computer is fixed. The suspense is killing me :D

Hans,

you might have to set your CPU to 166Mhz, at least that is what I had to do to get my 2500+ going (Barton Core). Same for the memory if you want to run the FSB with 333Mhz.

N6

I'm almost there.
Thanks to Jargo's help, I went into the BIOS setup and upped a bit so now the computer is telling me it recognizes a 2100+. But it's going a LOT faster, so I'm happy about that.

The deal now is that I'm having trouble getting back into the BIOS. I haven't really sat down and worked at it, but before I got in by hitting the del key. I try that now and it doesn't get me in. Maybe I'm too slow or something when hitting the key.

I'm going to try using the motherboard disk and see if there is a utility there that will help me set the thingies to the right speed.

Cool beans Hans.

In a month's time, you will want to overclock it!