OK, well last night while i was bored waiting for CS:S to release i finally got round to building the PC (after ebuyer sent me the new case).
Ive got it up and running with XP home. All seems fine apart from a couple of things.
XP 2500 Barton
Abit NF7-M
Firstly, in the bios the CPU is recognised as 2500 but the clock speed is 1100, is that right? the settings are 166 and multiplier of 11.
The second niggle is something todo with "IDE 80 wire cable"? (sorry i should have written that 1 down). I think its cause im using a old IDE cable from a machine thats 5 years old. It doesnt have the blueconnector for the mb. Could this be causeing that problem?
I then get a funny error - "CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck-CPU soft menu."
Funny thing is if i set the 166 value to 200 it fixes the error message that i get. But i changed it back as tbh i dont know what im doing :)
OK, if i havent got enough info ill post more when i get home.
Cheers all.
Changing the FSB to 200 will mean you machine runs at 11 x 200 = 2.2Ghz i.e. overclocked. The chip and motherboard should handle that so long as the RAM is PC3200 or higher.
AFIAA the 80 wire cable is for faster IDE transfer speeds. Not sure if it would work on a 40 wire cable or not - someone else needs to help ya here as I know nothing about cables :(
TL.
an 80 wire cable is a 40 wire cable with an extra 40 ground leads. it cleans up noise and ensures a higher quality data path thus giving higher IDE speeds. You really should get an 80 lead cable you'll notice an improvement
hey m8
definatley get some new ide cables, nice round ones will help a bit with airflow in the case, they arn't expensive i usually get mine from here
My Webpage (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=5&Category=Cables&Thumbnails=yes)
check out the dfi lanparty ones mmmm nice lookers but cheap and cheerful will do just as well !!
my main problem that the error forces the user to hit f1 to continue or del to go into the bios. I would just want it to stop saying that :). The machine isnt for me, the users arnt even at noob standard :(
Ill sort out a new cable and hope that it stops going on about it :).
cheers for link fatbob ill defo look at those for my machine. I think imaybe using some older cacky cables with that.
cheers all
if you're going to get a new ide cable get rounded ide cables. i got mine from overclockers (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_IDE_151.html) and they make the inside of your case much tidier.
The BIOS knows the drive is 80pin compliant so throws up the error saying that you've only got a 40pin on it.
It should shut up and put up in my opinion.
update:
Just got my 80 pin rounded cables for my PC and a new 80 pin cable for the PC im building.
It cured the error i was getting from the bios. fantastic :D. It boots up very smartish now, although the monitor makes a clicking noise everytime its "reset/turns on". I get it clicking when it first goes into boot screen, then it will click a second time when that refreshes, then again when it goes to the windows XP loading screen. Bit annoying, must be a feature :|.
Anyway, i stuck those rounded 80 pin IDE cables in mine(and a new rounded Floppy cable) and i cant beleive the difference its made, its sped up a fair amount considering it probably cost around 4£. Best investment yet :D
Sadly i bought rounded cables that where too long and it probably wont much difference to my air flow lol.
Now all i need is a proper 120mm fan and not a 80mm one tied in place with string <_<
Anyway, cheers all for the help.