Mobo, CPU, Power Supply - how to rebuild my PC?

[jsingh7]

My PC has blown (my brother put the speakers power cable into a slot in the power supply for power out, which resulted in the power supply and I assume the motherboard frying). I now intend to replace the motherboard, processor and power

supply.

I have selected these items:

ASUS iG31 motherboard (£34) - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148094

Intel Pentium Dual Core E220 Processor (£58) - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139584

350W Power Supply - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/120673

The parts arrived today but unfortunately the PC did not work, even with just the

motherboard, CPU and powersupply connected - the motherboard LED lit up green,

the fan spun but the motherboard did not beep or output anything to the monitor.

I am unsure if the motherboard was faulty or just underpowered.

I am returning all the parts now but will probably order again and have a second attempt.

Any ideas?

-----------

On a side note, I was also unsure where I would need to connect a couple of

cables had I got the PC working. This makes me question if the

motherboard I have chosen is suitable.

To explain futher, I have:

- The case has two USB sockets and mic/headphones on a panel at the front:

Two cables join together into one with a yellow end with nine holes - a row of five and a row of four (a blank at the end) - I assume this goes to the F_USB1 socket?

Another cable with a black end with nine holes - a row of five and a row of four (but a blank at one from the end) - I assume this goes to the F_AUDIO socket?

- In one of my 3.5" bays I have a panel with a flash card reader and a firewire (IEEE

1394) port. There are two cables coming from it:

One has green end with nine holes, a row of five and a row of four and a blank (my previous motherboard had a green F_1394 port for it but the new one does not).

The other is yellow with four holes (like one row of the green end on the other cable).

(I also have a splitter which seems to combine two of those USB_1 or F_1394 type cable ends into one)

- In addition to the power button, my case also has on its front a panel with

shortkeys to acces Media Center, images folder, videos folder, music folder, etc.

One cable comes from the case connected to the F_PANEL slot on the

motherboard, which made the power button work fine.

The second cable has two ends to it, one into which a power socket goes (not sure if this was actually plugged in before) and the other has a yellow end with nine holes - looks like the USB/firewire sockets do.

- I have a TV card with three cables coming from it:

Two seem to go to a S-Video/Component IN panel in the other 3.5" bays.

The third has a black end which looks as though it may fit into the CD_IN socket (why would this be?) but the black end then has another cable coming out of it with a white end with four holes in it. Does this need to go anywhere?

Thanks in advance.

[geobon]

not sure about the cabling issue but a 350w psu is not much good for a dual core system, i'd recommend at least a 550w psu.

however by the sound of it, i'd have a guess that the board wasn't earthed/fitted correctly to the case or the power button hasn't been set up correctly, i'm just guessing here but are you trying to fit the board in a case from a branded media PC.

[jsingh7]

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

You are correct - I am installing the new mobo into a branded PC. How do I go about earthing it / fitting it correctly?

I just sat it down on top of the holes and screwed it in.

As for the power button, I just connected the cable coming from the case to the relevant socket on the mobo.

[Van Nugent]

I just sat it down on top of the holes and screwed it in.Read the manual that came with the mobo carefully for installation instructions. Do not use any washers b/w the screws and the mobo for proper grounding and remember to use just enough stand-off's.

[jsingh7]

I did this but still no luck.

Could it be that the motherboard is underpowered?

[Van Nugent]

Check the PSU. How much current (Ampere) does it have on the +12V?

[jsingh7]

18a

[Van Nugent]

18A is too small for a dual core. For your CPU, try to get a PSU with at least 30A (total) on +12V.

[jsingh7]

Does a mobo not output any beeping or text to a screen without the CPU installed? i.e. should I expect nothing more than what I am experiencing without enough power?

[Van Nugent]

Depending on each BIOS, you might hear some beeps if the CPU is bad or if there is no CPU. An underpowered system will not post.

[jsingh7]

Right - I got refund for all the parts and am going to start again..

So I need:
- a cheap processor with heatsink and fan (not celeron);
- motherboard (to fit a micro ATX case, accept 667 and 800MHz RAM, have sockets I need this time, e.g. for front firewire port)
- a power supply.

My choices:
Sumvision 550W 20+4pin SATA 2x 80mm Fan PSU http://www.ebuyer.com/product/120676 (£18)


Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 Socket 775 2.2GHz 800FSB Retail Boxed Processor http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139584 (£57)


Are they OK?

As for the motherboard, which of these sub £40 motherboards should I opt for? - http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=pricelow&store=2&cat=14&limit=10&page=1

The one I previously got (the ASUS ig31) lacked the firewire port's socket.

Thanks.

[jsingh7]

Looking at them all, none seem to offer a socket for a front firewire port - is this common?

Also, am I making the right choice going for motherboards based on iG31 chipset? Or should I look at the nVidia ones?

[jsingh7]

No ideas?

[geobon]

Not for sub £40 no, but this one has an internal firewire port @ £54 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148795 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148795)

Full board spec here http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2807&ProductName=GA-EG31MF-S2 (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2807&ProductName=GA-EG31MF-S2)

Would advise you against the PSU you have chosen, i know your on a budget but pay an extra £10 and get something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150596 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150596)

.

[jsingh7]

Thanks for the reply.

What are Gigabye mobos like? How do they fare against ASUS and MSI?

And is the iG31 a common chipset?

And what's better about the PSU you suggest?

[geobon]

In my opinion Gigabyte boards are up there with ASUS and always have been

Yes the IG31 + ICH7 is a common chipset, it is an intel chipset after all, they have there downsides though as they only support 4GB of memory but thats only a problem if you want more than 4GB

As for the PSU, its like comparing a lada to a rolls royce m8, plus it has all the connectors you'll ever need inc 4x SATA, but feel free to buy the sumvision one, not only will it be lacking in connectors it'll sound like a dyson and struggle under load, bear in mind these PSU's are £40-£50 everywhere else so your actually getting a bargain at £29.

.

[jsingh7]

In my opinion Gigabyte boards are up there with ASUS and always have been

Yes the IG31 + ICH7 is a common chipset, it is an intel chipset after all, they have there downsides though as they only support 4GB of memory but thats only a problem if you want more than 4GB

As for the PSU, its like comparing a lada to a rolls royce m8, plus it has all the connectors you'll ever need inc 4x SATA, but feel free to buy the sumvision one, not only will it be lacking in connectors it'll sound like a dyson and struggle under load, bear in mind these PSU's are £40-£50 everywhere else so your actually getting a bargain at £29.

.

Thanks for the sound advice.

[geobon]

You can get the msi board cheaper but ebuyer don't stock it http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase13.4&prodID=B151083

[jsingh7]

You can get the msi board cheaper but ebuyer don't stock it http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase13.4&prodID=B151083

Damn - I went to order the Gigabit from eBuyer but they no longer stock it! What's the alternative at eBuyer :(

[geobon]

none unless you want to pay more

[jsingh7]

none unless you want to pay more

I guess I will have to. What is the next cheapest one which fits my requirements if you don't mind me asking.

Thanks again.

[geobon]

To be honest, ebuyers quite crap at the moment when it comes to boards, 60% of there stock is either discontinued or out of stock, but if you want to pay around £100 for a board alone i'm sure you'll get one with firewire.

Is there any particular reason you must use eBuyer?

I know your looking for something on a budget, but if you state a price your willing to pay for the board, cpu and psu i'm sure you'll get better advice or suggestions, what about memory, do you already have this?

[geobon]

This is what i would recommend m8

Motherboard http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139780
CPU http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148715 well worth the extra £7 over the E2200
PSU http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141597 or http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124922

[Van Nugent]

It's better to tell your budget so people can give you better recommendations on motherboard and CPU.

[jsingh7]

Firstly,

You now suggest an nVidia chipset - is this better than intels?
And you have opted for two different PSUs to your original suggestion - any particular reason?

Secondly,

I am trying to get the components for as cheap as possible since it is not an entirely new build.

As I explained in my first post, by brother's shop bought PC (Packard Bell) is not working. I think the power supply, motherboard and possibly the CPU are fried so I need to replace them.

I already have the uATX case (with front USB, headphones and mic port as well as media centre buttons), 512MB (DDR2 533MHz) RAM, 2x 250GB SATA Hard Drives, DVD Rom Driver, DVD Rewriter, ATI Radeon graphics card, TV Tuner, 3.5" front card reader/firewire port, 3.5" front AV input ports

Only reason I am going with eBuyer is because they are cheapest and from previous dealings, I know they are good should anything go wrong. If you have a better (cheaper) suggestion, please go ahead and let me know.

Budget was £100ish.

[Van Nugent]

It all depends on several things when we talk about which chipset is better: AMD or Intel based system, newer Intel chipsets are better than much older nVIDIA and vice versa. Did you mean £100+ for CPU+PSU?

[geobon]

Both chipsets are perfectly capable, you asked for a board with firewire, i recommended one, its now sold out, you asked for another, which i've recommended, and that same board was out of stock on my first recommendation hence the reason i chose the first one.

Hope that clears that bit up?

As for the power supply, my first choice is the one i would buy, however like you said you want cheap, hence the reason i gave different options.

and finally the CPU, thats a no brainer upto 30% speed increase for an extra £7 but that was just a recommendation.

If you want firewire, you'll have to make do with whats available at your budget, theres loads of great boards around with firewire but the problem is they are nearer £100-£150

So either you want the best or you want something within your budget, you can't have both.

You can always try the AMD route?

[Van Nugent]

An add-on firewire PCI controller costs only ~ 10 bucks. Remember the mobos with TI-chipset firewire are not cheap. The cheap mobos with firewire has VIA or nVIDIA firewire which might not be compatible with some cameras.

[geobon]

Van that Gigabyte board has a Texas Instruments interface, don't think he'll find better for under £50 to be honest.

[Van Nugent]

Yep, Gigabyte uses TI firewire on its mobos.

[jsingh7]

Both chipsets are perfectly capable, you asked for a board with firewire, i recommended one, its now sold out, you asked for another, which i've recommended, and that same board was out of stock on my first recommendation hence the reason i chose the first one.

Hope that clears that bit up?

As for the power supply, my first choice is the one i would buy, however like you said you want cheap, hence the reason i gave different options.

and finally the CPU, thats a no brainer upto 30% speed increase for an extra £7 but that was just a recommendation.

If you want firewire, you'll have to make do with whats available at your budget, theres loads of great boards around with firewire but the problem is they are nearer £100-£150

So either you want the best or you want something within your budget, you can't have both.

You can always try the AMD route?

Thanks for all the advice - I wasn't questioning it, just wanted an insight into your reasoning.

Cheers!