Abit IP35 PRO Motherboard

4GB OCZ Memory

Damn having all this stuff around is making me impatient ha!

Woo Hoo my case arrived today which was bloody quick considering I only ordered it on Friday.

Antec 300

And in the flesh it’s absoloutly lovely. 🙂 You can see the spaces at the front for where my Sharkoon fans are going to go.

OK so i’ve decided on a name for the project which probably makes no sence to anyone but all will be revealed soon enough 😛

After nearly two weeks I think I finally have the spec sorted out. It’s taken some intense googling and forum posting/searching but I think I have it. Out of everything what do you think was the hardest choice? nope it was in fact the case! which took me 3 days to decide on. I initially went just for asthetics but after consulting the gurus I realised that if I want to OC I should consider cooling first and looks second so that’s what i’ve done and I think i’ve found the right one for my limited budget.

Ordered two case intake fans today Sharkoon 1000 120mm Blue LED. At £10 a pop they’re not cheap but are one of the best you can get.

Managed to fix the bits on my PC including getting a new 478 motherboard bracket and 4 new fans. I tried the P4 2.66 chip that I got but for some reason the board wouldn’t even POST so going to have to look into that however I did managed to OC my 2.0 to 2.4 so not all lost.

Looks like i’m going to have to buy my upgrade motherboard new as they are few and far between on fleebay.

Yes i’ve decided to go with the upgrade side of things and i’ve picked up a 4 month old Intel CORE 2 DUO E6600 2.4GHZ CPU. I’m hoping I can get the motherboard i’m after.

Oh dear PC

Decided to give my PC a service today as well as fix the broken CMOS battery holder. Unfortunately she’s not very well, two clips for the heatsink are broken on the MB meaning it’s not sitting flush and hence not cooling enough. One of the case fans has died. One of the fans in the PSU has died.

Decisions decisions

So do I take this as an oppotunity to do a full upgrade or do I just get a replacement MB?. If I was to replace I could use all my existing parts graphics card/ram etc which would be lower cost but the trouble is i’m finding it hard to find an ABIT Socket 478 board. Now if I upgrade I will have a decent system but at greater cost. Rah what a nightmare.

Well basically my home desktop is beginning to stuggle a bit but that’s hardly surprising considering it’s only a P4 2.0ghz and the strong media oriantated world we live in.

Now as you can probably tell I have no desire to have the fastest most up to date kit however I do realise when I’m defeated. After much research and due to me having an old 478 motherboard my choices are limited with how far I can go. So today I managed to pick up a P4 2.6ghz Northwood off ebay for a tenner which I believe I can crank up to 3.2ghz which by today’s Dual/Quad core standards isn’t much but i’m on a limited budget and hence can’t fork out for a new motherboard as well (although I am watching a couple of bundles on ebay).

Obviously overclocking=heat so I’m currently looking into some coolers someone recommended the Thermalrigh AX47 however it has a noise rating of 52.5.dBA and pushed out a whopping 66.5dBA in a test by FrostyTech which I think is outrageous but that said it does take top spot in they’re list of 478 heatsinks so it comes well recommended. Whatever I go for it obviously keep the cpu under 60c, I think I will consult the gurus.