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Whoa, burning electronics; was:How about this computer

Alternate_TheoryAlternate_Theory Registered User regular
edited July 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
I'm building a computer for my friend. He's got a 6 year old computer that I can cannibalize some parts from, like the optical drives, the floppy and the case, so that's why there are none of those parts included. He's got about a $280 budget for his new system. This is what newegg and I are thinking of getting him, and it comes out conveniently to $285.84 . Comments and suggestions on this set up are welcome.

ABIT I-45CV LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813127041 $49.99

Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E2180 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819116052 $69.99

Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC22G5300LLK - Retail
Item #: N82E16820220095 $41.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148136 $79.99

Rosewill RD400-2-DB ATX V2.2 400W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817182021 $27.99

Alternate_Theory on

Posts

  • SushisourceSushisource Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    You could go lower on the PSU.

    Aside from that I see nothing wrong. Looks like a good cheapo build.

    This is a quality cheap PSU

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371013

    Sushisource on
    Some drugee on Kavinsky's 1986
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  • Alternate_TheoryAlternate_Theory Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Why is it that most of the power sources I'm seeing have only one SATA power cord? Given how popular SATA is, shouldn't just about all of them have at least two?

    Alternate_Theory on
  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Alternate_Theory wrote: »
    Why is it that most of the power sources I'm seeing have only one SATA power cord? Given how popular SATA is, shouldn't just about all of them have at least two?

    It's easier to buy a 4 pin molex -> Sata power converter.

    Rook on
  • W2W2 Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I take it he's already got a graphics card?

    W2 on
  • SpinelSpinel Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    The motherboard he has listed actually has an onboard graphics card.

    It's nothing fancy but it will do it's job for office, internet, and maybe some old games.

    Spinel on
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  • Alternate_TheoryAlternate_Theory Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Spinel wrote: »
    The motherboard he has listed actually has an onboard graphics card.

    It's nothing fancy but it will do it's job for office, internet, and maybe some old games.

    Yep, we're not too worried about graphics cards right now. Later, perhaps.

    Alternate_Theory on
  • hippofanthippofant ティンク Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    There's a Computer Build thread in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern that will probably be helpful.

    hippofant on
  • Alternate_TheoryAlternate_Theory Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    So I put this computer together, and it ran quite well. No overheating problems according to the Abit software, and it was stable. Then I hooked up an older IDE hard drive to transfer data from it to the new drive, and that went ok for awhile, but a few hours into running the computer suddenly shut down and there was a smell in the air of burning electronics. The smell seemed to be coming from the old HD, but when I looked the SATA cable that had been attached to the new HD was burned. The new HD does not smell like burning components, nor does anything on the mobo.

    I unplugged everything from the mobo but the RAM, the cpu and the cpu cooling fan, and started it back up. It started just fine. Then I plugged in the new sata HD (using a different SATA power plug on the same line) and it now appears to be running just fine (it's what I'm typing this message on).

    Is it possible that the old HD dying might have caused this burning electronics problem with the new HD? What to do now? Tell me I don't need to buy a new power supply and HD, please.

    Alternate_Theory on
  • vonPoonBurGervonPoonBurGer Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Yikes... I'd guess that something fried or shorted out in the old hard drive. Was the newer hard drive physically above the old one? If so, the scorch marks on the new HD's SATA cable could just be from smoke and/or heat coming up from the old drive. If everything is running fine on the new equipment, I'd say you're fine. Just don't use that old hard drive!

    vonPoonBurGer on
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  • Alternate_TheoryAlternate_Theory Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Is it possible that the live connections from a dangling SATA cable managed to ground through the old hard drive? Hypothetical picture included:

    http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m59/Grizzlywinmag/SATAShortDrawing.jpg

    Alternate_Theory on
  • thej3wthej3w Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    That could be possible depending on how much it actually touched.

    thej3w on
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  • Alternate_TheoryAlternate_Theory Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    thej3w wrote: »
    That could be possible depending on how much it actually touched.

    On that I'm not sure. (And really, I can't even remember if I attached the terminal SATA plug or the middle SATA plug to the new SATA HD. If I attached the terminal plug to the SATA HD, then the burning to the terminal plug was caused by the SATA HD itself. I didn't see any combustion marks or smell any burned electronics on the SATA drive, though.)

    Alternate_Theory on
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