It sounds like your son had some problems with the compatability of the
motherboard, perhaps processor, and certainly the memory that he bought.
The motherboard supports the older versions of the Pentium 4 that fit into
its socket 478 (meaning the socket accepts a processor with 478 pins). (The
newer Pentium 4s are designed to fit a "LGA 775" socket.) The memory that
your son bought is the newer DDR2, which requires a motherboard supporting
DDR2 (these newer motherboards also support the newer versions of the
Pentium 4 with the different socket). The Chaintech motherboard that your
son bought supports the older DDR (no 2 at the end) memory.
I'm not sure why there seemed to be a problem with the DVD-ROM. It's a
basic EIDE drive that should work fine connected to the motherboard by the
ribbon cable that comes with the motherboard. Actually, there are two
ribbon cables. One is for the floppy drive and the other is for EIDE
drives, such as hard drives and CD-ROMs. It also looks like the motherboard
comes with a small cable for SATA drives, in case he has a SATA hard drive.
As far as the case and power supply goes, it should be compatible with the
motherboard that he bought. I can't tell from NewEgg's site much about the
power supply, but I don't think that I would recommend it for the newer
style motherboards that support PCI-express. Usually the newer power
supplies that support these newer motheboards will say something to the
effect of "ATX 2.0" compliant. Typically, the quality of the power supplies
that come with a case, especially an inexpensive case, is suspect. Antec
cases with power supplies included have been those that I've felt offered
the best combination of quality and value.
I'm not sure how you would like to procede with this or what we can do that
would be most helpful. However, your son might want to take a look at some
of the various system buying guides that sites like Anandtech publish
online. These describe a complete package of what should be made up of
compatible components for building various kinds of systems.
For example their entry level systems:
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2475
Or, their mid to high level systems:
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2426
While I suspect that your son is probably looking at a system that falls a
bit between Anandtech's entry level (which seems more geared toward web
surfing and office applications than 3D gaming) and their mid-level system,
which might be a bit too pricey, these kinds of articles will go a long way
towards helping your son sort through what's available and what will best
suit his needs.
By the way, I don't see any reason why your son can't post directly to this
email list for assistance. I guess I'm thinking that it might be a good
learning experience. He obviously is interested in being able to build his
own computer, and we've all had to learn from our own mistakes along the
way. (If one of the moderators sees things differently, I'm sure they'll
correct me on this.)
John Sproule
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joan Carter-Holmes" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 7:47 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] HELP!!!
My 13 year old son decided to build his own computer so he can play
Half-Life Two. He and a friend went on to Newegg.com and ordered parts.
Unfortunately, now that they've arrived, they don't fit or work together.
Can you help figure out which Intel Pentium 4 processor will work with the
Chaintech PT800 VIA SPT800 + VT8237R; Socket 478 ATX M/B; 800 MHz FSB,
(2)DDR400; (1)AGP 8X, (5) PCI; (2) SATA 2/Raid 0, 1, (2) ATA133, (1)
10/100Mbps LAN, ( 8) USB2.0; 5.1CH Audio? This is all Greek to me .. I
don't know what any of it means.
He purchased the case. The DVD-ROM (Lite On SOHD-16P9S BLK DVD-ROM)
doesn't match the wire tape thingie in the case. Can you help tell which
DVD-ROM will work with that case.
He also had a hard time getting the Wintec 512M 3AMD2533-512MI-R RAM stick.
Is this the correct one for the Aspire/XDreamer case?
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