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Steve Marvell wrote:
Makes sense.
Cool. That'll be a first for me :)
OK, how do I choose amother board. I presume that I need some SATA compatibility. I also need the ability to switch off the on board stuff if I get anotehr graphics card, say, or is that no longer a problem? I'd like it for a MIDI tower, rather that a monster tower. I want it for AMD64. Where do I look?
http://www.ebuyer.comGenerally the BIOS these days allows you to turn off the onboard kit, e.g. I have onboard sound which I had turned off to use my CL Soundblaster. Having said that, some of the boards come with a quite tidy onboard graphics chip - I've seen nVidia Geforce FX5200s onboard before now and they're not bad (unless you plan on thrashing the system with Doom 3 etc ;))
The box size shouldn't be an issue anyway, most of the modern boards are ATX form-factor so the boxes are designed to accept them, regardless of outer dimensions.
Depends (as always :)) how deep your pockets are. The skt 754 mobo's range from £30-60 exVat and dely. CPUs from £40-94.
*Dual Channel* Make sure the board supports it, not all boards do (although I'd guess this is disappearing with the new boards).
Crucial memory (2Gb kit) - £151.OCZ (2Gb kit states specifically for dual channel) - £121.75 (I have the 1Gb OCZ kit and they specify in the description they are matched for dual channel - be wary of just picking two of anything - OCZ guarantee they'll work).
YMMV depending on what board you pick, CPU, memory etc, but with this lot you could get board, CPU and memory for under £200 (ex VAT and dely).
As for gfx I picked up an FX5600 256Mb from dabs.com for just under a ton a year or so ago. Unless you're gaming I wouldn't throw your wallet at it, besides my 'ancient' card ran the Doom 3 demo without blinking so I *personally* think being able to run 90+ fps is a waste of time (especially as the screen only updates 25 times a second anyway :) Given the choice I would go for more RAM over a faster GPU (again personal opinion, you may not agree :)).
A removable hard disk. Basically the holder sits in a 5.25 inch drive bay and you slide the drive itself in and out via the front. Lockable to prevent a visit from Mr Cockup while the PC is running :) www.ebuyer.com >> Components <http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/index.html?rb=18136738427&action=c2hvd2ZlYXR1cmVkX3N0b3Jlcw==&stid=2> » Hard Drives <http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=18136738427&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3NlYXJjaA==&cat_uid=4> » Caddies, Coolers & Accessories <http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=18136738427&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3BhZ2U=&subcat_uid=242>I have no idea what a caddy is :)
It basically means if one HD gets full or breaks down you can swap it out in seconds (assuming you have a spare ready to go :)). Also handy for backups, you could set up a second HD in a caddy on RAID and then just pull it out overnight, so in the case of disaster (or hacking) you've got your backup *physically* disconnected, but still easy enough to access in a hurry. You *could* even have your main data drive in a caddy - I've yet to see the hacker who can access a HD that's in a safe next to the computer ;)) *thinks* Yes OK that kind of hacker is called a burglar ;)
Kind regards, JulianPS I don't work for ebuyer or any of the manufacturers I've mentioned, I just like them :) I'm a mature student with deep pockets and short arms ;)
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