Building a PC

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Decided this would be the way to go as I want it to supplement, not replace, the old Acorn which I'll still used for this sort of thing and other basics. On the advice of another Acorn enthusiast who's done the same sort of thing I ordered up a kit of parts from Stak Trading, which arrived yesterday. Had to substitute a couple of bits from his recommendation due to them not being in stock when they said they were. 8 days from placing order to delivery isn't that hot these days either.

However, assembly was reasonably straightforward apart from the ATX 12 volt power lead from the power supply which wouldn't quite reach the socket. No chance of getting an extension by this time so I decided to re-wire it. Which of course meant breaking the seal on the PS. So far so good. All went well at first powering up and I started loading in XP. About an hour in there was a large bang and silence. ;-) I'll get a new PS today. Any makes to avoid?

[Grunff]

Finally!

;-)

Any real cheapies are best avoided, and that usually means most 'own brand' stuff, but otherwise it depends on how much you want to spend. Any of the major PSU makes are fine, like ThermalTake, Akasa, Antec, Enermax.

[Keyser Sose]

Tip number one is to get an high wattage PSU because modern graphics cards soak up the power. Avoid the crap 350W no name ones like the plague - go for one that is 600W at least and that can supply plenty of umph - 18A at least - on the +12v rail. Should cost about 70 quid. Antec are a good make. Go for one that is silent too.

STeve

[Christian McArdle]

Make sure you get enough power, or you'll have unexplained shutdowns. The more you pay, the quieter it is. Larger fans are quieter than smaller ones. No fan at all is quieter still.

Christian.

[Stephen Howard]

I'm wondering why it ran for an hour before popping its clogs....and what might have been running down the leads in the meantime....

Try a google groups search on alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt for PSU's - it's a common query there, and you'll find some detailed recommendations.

Hope the board/chip is ok!

Regards,

[Grunff]

Crap power supplies sometimes do that, usually a capacitor is faulty, and blows.

Ten quid says it was electrons.

[MikeH]

"About an hour in there was a large bang and silence. ;-) I'll get a new PS today. Any makes to avoid? "

I've built two PCs recently and chose 580w Hiper psus. They do a 'modular' range where instead of a single bunch of cables exiting the psu there are a series of sockets on the psu into which individual leads can be connected. The psu comes with a selection of leads of different lengths, so the optional element of the cabling is much tidier than with most psus. The cables for connecting the motherboard are still hard-wired into the supply though - it's only the drive supplies, etc that are socketted. Two large variable speed fans means that it's fairly quiet - although of course that depends on load. I bought mine from ebuyer.

Mike

[John Rumm]

Yup, I second that. Try to find one with a *large* slow thermal sensitive fan. That will keep the noise down.

[Richard Downing]

Actually the electrons don't travel, they just excite each other. A bit like DrDrivel at al..

R.

[nightjar]

Quietest of all is to stick everything in another room and use a KVM extender.

Colin Bignell

[Guy King]

The message from Richard Downing contains these words:

They do in DC applications - though painfully slowly at the sorts of currents most of us can afford.

[Sylvain VAN DER WALDE]

My 2 (recently bought) Antec power supply units (350 W-450W) have two 80 m/m fans. One at the front, and one at the back. The second one only comes on when a pre-determined temperature is reached. These power supply units are both quiet.

Sylvain.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I bought a new PS today and everything's fine.

[Weatherlawyer]

What sort of specifications has the thing got?

I took my second PC in to get a new chip after the PS unit blew and the one they put in blew up 3 minutes after the install of a new Mobo.

So the owner of the shop offered me a deal on some second hand P4s coming in on Thursday. =A375.

At those prices it just isn't worth messing around. OK if you just want to play with computers or are keen on vintage stuff but with the new cores and multiple chipsets available these days, the tax man is ensuring a surplus of some very good kit on the market.

[Stephen Howard]

Dang, there goes my tenner!

Regards,

[Stephen Howard]

Phew, glad to hear it!

Regards,