New PC

[Rik]

It works better if you plug it into the mains, Simon. Hitting the power button doesn't produce enough energy.

[Sebby]

Good to hear, Simon.

[Simon]

The motherboard and graphics card are both PCI-e so it should fit without any problem into the blue slot mid way up the left side to the board, same side as the I/O ports.

With the graphics card you should have a 6 pin molex connector that plugs into the card and the PSU fly leads http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/graphics-cards/gainward-8600gt-goes-like-hell/3

Mine looks nothing like that one, Glenn.  There was no molex connectors included.

[Rik]

Can you get a photo of the card, Simon, that would give people more detail to work with (ie take it yourself, the Panasonic will be ideal for the job).

[Cookiemonster]

I had a 8600GT Simon and I can confirm It didn't need an extra power source.

[jimconsole]

When i had a nvidia 8600gts and it required a pci-e power connector, but i was told the 8600gt doesnt require additional power because the pci-e slot is more than adequate to run it. Depends if the manufacturerers of the card had overclocked it to near the gts speeds.

Now ive got an ati x1950pro which costs the same price but runs any game i throw at it.

[Simon]

Can you get a photo of the card, Simon, that would give people more detail to work with (ie take it yourself, the Panasonic will be ideal for the job).

Later...  got to clear up now. 

[Cookiemonster]

When i had a nvidia 8600gts and it required a pci-e power connector, but i was told the 8600gt doesnt require additional power because the pci-e slot is more than adequate to run it. Depends if the manufacturerers of the card had overclocked it to near the gts speeds.

Now ive got an ati x1950pro which costs the same price but runs any game i throw at it.

Yes I think your right. Certain models of the 8600GT that have been OC'd or with more Ram do require extra power, but I think Simon's one is a basic model and doesn't require it.

[Glenn]

Simon, the double boot issue is a problem with the BIOS see here http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=127743

[Rik]

Good link, Glenn, thanks. 

[Glenn]

Thanks Rik, I had the same problem with my PC when I built it last year, a BIOS flash sorted it out.

[Steve]

The abit ip35 pro  1.4 bios seems pretty stable, however if you flash to the latest 1.6 as I did the cpu temp monitoring shot up by 20 degrees which I presume is a bug. Did you have fun getting that jumper off the seagate drives to enable SATA 2? I had to delve inside the sewing box for a pair of needles to prise it out

[LesD]

Toes crossed, Simon. I remember the time I dropped a screw into the power supply. It made a lovely bang... 

I found a screw today on the magnet of the speaker in the one I am currently resurrecting for a Linux trial. Fortunately It was stuck on tightly so it could not roll about.

It will be a doddle Simon I have done more than I can count on the fingers of one hand if rebuilds and resurrections count. Today's resurrection didn't POST first go but I counted the beeps, which told me that it could not detect the video card. I took this card out rubbed the connectors with a bit of kitchen towel, while keeping an arm on the case (my wrist strap was back in the garage) popped it back in again and away it went and it has been running all afternoon. No worries! 

Good Luck but I am sure you won't need it! 

[Simon]

Simon, the double boot issue is a problem with the BIOS see here http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=127743

Oh, for heaven's sake, don't tell me there's a problem before I've even started it!!     Thanks, Glenn, that will be useful, but I hope I don't need it. 

Did you have fun getting that jumper off the seagate drives to enable SATA 2? I had to delve inside the sewing box for a pair of needles to prise it out

Err... never even looked.  Is that something I need to do then?  Not used SATA drives before, and have to admit, never even thought about jumpers.  Blimey, I feel like a complete amateur now.  Is there a corner somewhere I can slink away to?   

[Steve]

Its a very small jumper (grey) sits next to the lead connections on the seagate drive it limits the transfer speeds to 150mb/s instead of 300mb/s for sata 2. See sticker on drive.I only know this as I fitted two to my own build on Thursday. I made the mistake of applying thermal paste as I have done in the past i.e a dried pea size blob in the middle, I later then read the instructions from Artic silver who suggested I had to apply a linear blob in one direction for intel duo and quad processor. So next day I had to remove the heat sink and fan again

[Niall]

I have built 4 before, Niall, albeit 4 or 5 years ago, so I wasn't exactly going in green.  I can't see how it's possible, from a picture in a review, to measure exactly how much room your graphics card is going to require, or whether there's likely to be a stupid little connector in the way.  Those are the sorts of things you just come across as you go along.  I haven't an in depth knowledge of computer building, but other than one, which developed a fault on the mobo, all four of my machines are still going strong. 

It's all together now, and without plugging the monitor in, I held my breath, put on some rubber soled shoes (joke!), and hit the power button.  It all sprung to life, for two seconds, then died, but before I could reach for the hammer, it started up again, and I got the post beep!   

Can't do any more now, until I get an extension SATA power lead for the DVD drive. 

The size side of things is generally something you learn if you have a case that's the same, or you're upgrading internal parts for a current rig.

As for the power up/down/up thing, my current system does that. It powers up, beeps, idles, then beeps again and runs. Apparently it's supposed to do that (I read up on it, thinking it was a defective board), but I forget why off the top of my head.

Strange things PCs

[Inactive]

  "The 1394 is the Firewire."

Right, well, I don't even know what that is, so I guess I could do without it.

If you have a camcorder,  you may well need it.

[Simon]

Fixed your quote, In. 

I do have a camcorder, but as far as I know, it works with USB.

Its a very small jumper (grey) sits next to the lead connections on the seagate drive it limits the transfer speeds to 150mb/s instead of 300mb/s for sata 2. See sticker on drive.I only know this as I fitted two to my own build on Thursday. I made the mistake of applying thermal paste as I have done in the past i.e a dried pea size blob in the middle, I later then read the instructions from Artic silver who suggested I had to apply a linear blob in one direction for intel duo and quad processor. So next day I had to remove the heat sink and fan again

Means taking the damned things out again, but I'll have a look for those, thanks Steve.  So I can just remove them, yes?  Or do they have to be moved?

The heat sink had what looked like three little mesh stickers on the bottom, which I assume are the thermal pads, so I didn't apply any more.  The most trouble I had with that was getting it fixed to the mobo, as one of the locking push in things didn't want to lock at first, but I managed to persuade it in the end, by swearing at it.

The size side of things is generally something you learn if you have a case that's the same, or you're upgrading internal parts for a current rig.

As for the power up/down/up thing, my current system does that. It powers up, beeps, idles, then beeps again and runs. Apparently it's supposed to do that (I read up on it, thinking it was a defective board), but I forget why off the top of my head.

Strange things PCs

Indeed, they are, Niall, and would try the patience of a saint.  I'm hoping the 'staggered' boot will go away after I've sorted out the BIOS and loaded Windows.  I would have thought, if it's a fault with the current BIOS, Abit should have recalled and updated them, rather than letting people find out for themselves.

[Inactive]

Fixed your quote, In. 

I do have a camcorder, but as far as I know, it works with USB.

Thanks Simon.

Fair enough, some do work with USB.

Good luck with the " build " sooner you than me.

[Sebby]

Its a very small jumper (grey) sits next to the lead connections on the seagate drive it limits the transfer speeds to 150mb/s instead of 300mb/s for sata 2. See sticker on drive.I only know this as I fitted two to my own build on Thursday.

I'd like to say a massive thank you to you. Since I built my PC back in November, my Seagate SATAII drives have been limited by this jumper that I'd failed to notice. I've just removed them and things are significantly better!

[Inactive]

Well done Seb, we all learn something new every day..a great result

Well done to Steve as well.

[Sebby]

We do indeed. I didn't even think to look at the jumper.

[Simon]

Oh, that makes me feel a bit better, Seb. 

[Sebby]

Well, with SATA being that much easier than IDE (no primary/secondary/cable select) I didn't even look at it.

[Rik]

Simon, just musing on your dual boot. How long was the power applied to the PSU before you hit the power button? Mine does a self-test when mains is applied, and won't boot for a few seconds until it's complete.