[McBandy]

At the age of 29 just got my 1st PC but been around them for years and was after some advice and know this is a good place for it.

Some background first - it only cost me £6 and is an EverEx with a LiteView monitor?! Quite slow but it does the basics, someone previously installed firefox (used to ie personally) and runs on XP, not really played with it much as it's got loads of the previous owner but ones phots and music etc. on there and waiting to hear if they need any of it!

After suggestions on where to get cheap wireless mouse and keyboard, wireless modem? (currently running a 30m cable from the router to it!) and what would i need to make it look good on my 40" Bravia?

Planning on using it for internet and office, but i'm well into my video games so you never know!

Hope that doesn't sound like a ramble.

Cheers,

Chris.

[ChileanLlama]

Seriously, unless you got it for the deal of a lifetime, it's probably so old and out of date that it's just not worth spending anything on it for HTPC or gaming use. I'm thinking your phone will probably be more powerful!

But if you have a few more details about model numbers/specifications will be able to tell for sure.

In the meantime be happy, if it's doing what you bought it to do - internet & office - that's great and wouldn't want to take the shine off it, just don't expect it to do too much more

[LJx]

if you get a wireless modem/router make sure your computer has wireless functionality, otherwise you will have to buy a usb wireless adaptor also (£5-£10)

[McBandy]

That one has now been consigned to the cupboard as it rarely got touched due to its lack of speed.
Hopefully got a new projct now, known fault on start up but seems reasonable spec to me, hopefully pictures will shed some light...

Any help shedding some light would be appreciated.

Chris.

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by McBandy

Any help shedding some light would be appreciated.

Shedding some light on what?

If you're after age/specs then assuming the system hasn't been modified then my best guess would be circa 2003-2005. That heatsink attachment mechanism went out with Socket 478 (intel) and Socket 939 (AMD) and with that extra tab I think the latter is more likely. Both had the last processors released for them in 2005.

The lower limit is from several things. Searching for LLC-U01 brings up a 2003 review and the red port in the last picture appears to be SATA (odd place for it) which came in around 2003.

The molex connector on the motherboard is slightly unexpected, the dedicated four pin replacement made it into the ATX spec in 2000, but allow a couple of years of backwards compatibility and it doesn't look too out of place. The firewire port visible in the top picture also puts a lower limit of 2000 on it.

Easiest way to find out the actual specs is either to read the labels on the devices, or boot up the system and use something like CPU-Z to read the details.

[McBandy]

What is CPU-Z?

And yes specs, i'll get reading labels then!

I took all the lights and gauges as meaning it was modified, I'm obviously easily impressed, i was told its graphics card was removed and used in something else. I can't see anywhere to plug in a monitor or have they changed from the blue screw in connectors? Once i've got that sussed i can see what the issue with it is!

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by McBandy

What is CPU-Z?

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Originally Posted by McBandy

I took all the lights and gauges as meaning it was modified, I'm obviously easily impressed, i was told its graphics card was removed and used in something else.

Lights and gauges are just flashy ad-ons, I meant if the core components had been changed from the original mesh build (the motherboard in particular looks rather smarter than you'd expect) then that could easily throw the dates out.

Originally Posted by McBandy

I can't see anywhere to plug in a monitor or have they changed from the blue screw in connectors? Once i've got that sussed i can see what the issue with it is!

That's known as a VGA connection (or D-Sub connector).

That system does have a graphics card and given the size and twin DVI connectors I guess it was originally a pretty decent one. It's the board sticking out at the bottom of many of the pictures, third slot down with the two white almost-rectangular connectors on the back of it.

The two white connectors are called DVI and while I can't see them in any detail I'd assume they're the DVI-I variant (most are) which means they can output the blue 15-pin VGA signals via. a cheap plug adapter.

On the other hand if your monitor has a matching DVI socket then it'd be better to get a DVI cable for the same sort of dosh (couple of quid), A DVI to HDMI cable is also the same price and generally works well if you want to connect it to your bravia. Although some TVs can be a bit picky, generally older ones, so if you've got a monitor handy it might be worth getting a cable/adapter for that as backup if the TV is your first choice.

[goodvino]

Does your graphics card have a HDMI output? otherwise it will never look good on your 40' bravia. Get a graphics card with HDMI to make it look better, but if you want games dont skimp.

If its slow do yourself a favour and buy a new ssd drive- could get a 128gb for £80, reinstall your xp (if you have the disc) and hey presto the malware and other viruses/spyware will be gone and you will be back up to speed again,+ your data will be much more secure.

I bought a wireless logitech -bottom of the range- and it works fine. For wireless internet I would suggest getting a free router from you isp and if a dongle isnt included get an n rated pci card wireless receiver- cost about £10.

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by goodvino

Does your graphics card have a HDMI output? otherwise it will never look good on your 40' bravia. Get a graphics card with HDMI to make it look better, but if you want games dont skimp.

I'm not sure I believe that, HDMI and DVI are virtually the same standard and while admittedly a card with a dedicated HDMI out is more likely to support the options a TV would work best with (such as 16-235 colour range) many cards will also support them over DVI to HDMI.

Can you provide a specific reason why an HDMI output is needed or shall we wait and see what the card is and what it's capable of?

[McBandy]

Oh cool, i've come across DVI-I before, got an old broken 23" Philips flat screen in the shed that had that rather than HDMI, may have to see if a new screen fixes it as that would make a nice monitor - that means I've got an adapter around somewhere! D-Sub sounds familiar, cheers for that
I remember looking at the connectors but can't remember the board, need to open it up again and have a thorough look. What would the Cooler Master In and Out sockets be used for (on the rear of the unit)?

Goodvino - if you look at my pics you'll see i now have a Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard - my little boy has already broken the wrist rest bit of the keyboard!

Cheers for the help guys, much appreciated

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by McBandy

Oh cool, i've come across DVI-I before, got an old broken 23" Philips flat screen in the shed that had that rather than HDMI, may have to see if a new screen fixes it as that would make a nice monitor - that means I've got an adapter around somewhere! D-Sub sounds familiar, cheers for that

DVI was the standard developed for LCD monitors as they no longer needed all the analogue stuff that VGA provided for CRTs. Unfortunately it required royalties and then the EU went and slapped a further tax on DVI equipped monitors from outside the EU so VGA ended up hanging around for far longer than it was needed.

Originally Posted by McBandy

I remember looking at the connectors but can't remember the board, need to open it up again and have a thorough look. What would the Cooler Master In and Out sockets be used for (on the rear of the unit)?

Looking at this review for it I'd guess they're for a sound signal, you connect your sound card to the in and your speakers/headphones to the out and the middle gauge will show you the 'sound pressure' (volume?).

[goodvino]

Most tv's dont come with a dvi input, but they do come with hdmi connectors. Could always buy a dvi to hdmi adapter though and that will solve the problem, you can find them for about £3.

[McBandy]

I've got some pictures to load up tonight, got too distracted watching Deja Vu last night!

It's an AMD board and says socket 939 on there - now that i have removed and refitted the fan off that sits on it (heatsink?) do i need to replace the thermal paste?

From memory the graphics card said nVidia and something along the lines of WinFast GTX7920, got pictures of everything i could. Any idea why there could be so many unplugged cables?

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

Looking at this review for it I'd guess they're for a sound signal, you connect your sound card to the in and your speakers/headphones to the out and the middle gauge will show you the 'sound pressure' (volume?).

Would that not look a bit silly with a cable from inside going to a connector on the outside?

Originally Posted by goodvino

Most tv's dont come with a dvi input, but they do come with hdmi connectors. Could always buy a dvi to hdmi adapter though and that will solve the problem, you can find them for about £3.

Already got one somewhere but moved twice since then! Need to try and resurrect (sp?) my old TV as that will look quite smart with it when we move to a bigger place and have space for the PC as it's huge!

[goodvino]

You only have to replace the thermal paste if you have removed the heatsink from the cpu, so dont worry if you only replaced the fan.

Maybe your unplugged cables are from your psu- best find somewhere to hide them inside the case somewhere and secure with a zip tie until you need one following a component change.

[McBandy]

I released the levers either side of the fan and that lifted up along with the unit it's mounted on, got some pictures which i'll post this evening.

My TV looked alright with the prehistoric PC plugged in via D-Sub, the only thing handicapping it was the awful speed, think i'll take it to bits see if anything is worth salvaging!

n00b question - Are you supposed to earth yourself before touching PC internals?

EDIT: and the cables come from everywhere! Must be at least 5 unused cables, are there any obvious components it's missing?

[goodvino]

Usually the thermal paste will stick the heatsink to the cpu even if the levers have been undone but if the seal has been broken then technically the paste should be removed and reapplied.

To avoid any static discharge touch something metal (like the pc case or a radiator) before handling your components inside.

Reinstall the operating system (windows xp) to speed the pc up. If you do not have the original disc and key you can get ubuntu for free which is great for browsing/photos, not so good for games

[McBandy]

I've got a recovery discs of some sorts which Mesh then put a sticker on the wrapper of, says something about XP (Pro i think)

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by McBandy

From memory the graphics card said nVidia and something along the lines of WinFast GTX7920, got pictures of everything i could.

One of these perhaps? That's a high end card from 2006.

Originally Posted by McBandy

Any idea why there could be so many unplugged cables?

It's perfectly normal, they're available for extra devices. Add a blu-ray drive, an SSD, a bigger hard drive and a couple of fancy lights and that'll use up five power connectors for example.

Originally Posted by McBandy

Would that not look a bit silly with a cable from inside going to a connector on the outside?

No, the cable plugs into the sound card externally as well. You do still get a cable coming out from the back of the PC and going back in which does look a bit silly, but there wouldn't have been any ideal solution to doing that, and coolermaster seem to have chosen the one which worked for most people rather than the one that looked neatest.

Originally Posted by McBandy

n00b question - Are you supposed to earth yourself before touching PC internals?

You are supposed to equalise charge and as the PC has generally been connected to the earth just minutes before you start work on it that's where the advice to earth comes from.

I don't usually bother myself but if you're worried about it then leave the PC plugged in but turned off at the mains and touch the unpainted parts of the case/PSU with yourself and your tools so everything's at the same level.

[McBandy]

Originally Posted by goodvino

Most tv's dont come with a dvi input, but they do come with hdmi connectors. Could always buy a dvi to hdmi adapter though and that will solve the problem, you can find them for about £3.

Any online shops that are better than others or ones to avoid?

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by McBandy

Any online shops that are better than others or ones to avoid?

There are dozens of good ones, although for a cheap cable a lot won't do as their delivery costs are high for cheap items. For an HDMI cable try 7dayshop or Ebuyer (who have free delivery on some cables and are reasonable on others).