Help me i'm computer illiterate! well not really but...

thewz

1. I'm planning on getting rid of my crappy old p3 and replacing it with a brand spanking new computer (Prefferably Athlon XP) I've been researching the prices on computer parts and I saw something called a "heatsink compound" can anyone tell me what it does, and if it's necessary for me to spend 15 worthless Canadian dollars on it?

2. I was browsing a website for prices on hard drives and I saw that they had 2 selections of hard drives, one of them was IDE hard drives and the other was SCSI hard drives, does anyone know what the difference is between an SCSI and an IDE hard drive?

Well, that's it. Thanks in advance.
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Darkath · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 4:58 pm Post subject:

The heatsink compound im not sure about. If you know what computer part its for, then i could tell you. IDE and SCSI are just two different buses. SCSI is faster then IDE, but SCSI parts are more expensive. Most computers have IDE, and yours probably does too. IDE and SCSI devices are hard drives, and CD-ROMs. Buy an IDE hard drive and SCSI hard drives are expensive.
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Bright Red Nipples · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 4:59 pm Post subject:

The compound your asking about is necessary between your heatsink and processor. Vrey very little is put between them but it is neccesary. I do believe that if you buy the motherboard with the processor already installed with the heatsink it should already be there. Also I believe that if you buy a heatsink the compound usually comes with it. I'm sure someone will speak up to correct me.

As for the hard drive question, all I can say is

. I'm not sure.
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bobins · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:01 pm Post subject:

if i remember rightly from when i was makin computers at this computer firm.. the heat sink compound is just a compound that conducts heat very very eassily.. and ya put it between your proccessor and your heat sink.. to improve conduction of heat and thus improves your coolin of your machine...

[EDIT: i such a slow typer ya beet me to it brn... #Rofl

]
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thewz · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:06 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the help, and the insanely fast responses. I just saw a picture of heatsink compound and it's a jelly substance made of silicone or something like that. Now that I know that, what the hell is a heatsink? Is it some sort of cooling mechanism?

Dahak · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:08 pm Post subject:

it absorbs the heat from the processor, spreads it out, and lets the air cool it off somewhat.

bobins · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:16 pm Post subject:

Bright Red Nipples · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:30 pm Post subject:

ToRaK · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:36 pm Post subject:

Heatsink compounds - I'd recommend using Artic Silver 3 (if you are building your computer and actually attaching the heatsink to the processor). You put the compound on the processor die to conduct heat to the heatsink where it should be disapated by a fan.

IDE are by far the most popular consumer hard drive structure. I wouldn't recommend getting a SCSI unless you need it for some particular reason.
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bobins · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:37 pm Post subject:

lmao. got distracted when typin tha second one.. thas why it like 8 mins after.. lol....

or is it just that the damn pigeon's gettin old... damn gotta fork out 20 ginnies for a new one. #Rofl

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(+)ASSASSIN(+) · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 6:16 pm Post subject:

SCSI is faster but you have to make sure you have a compatible motherboard otherwise you have to by a conversion kit which is probably both expensive and useless.
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thewz · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 6:26 pm Post subject:

Well I'm going to order the parts rather than buy an actual system, but I won't actually be building it, I'm paying someone I know to build it and set it all up for me.

At the moment i'm just researching prices and compiling a list of parts for the computer. Right now i'm planning on getting an Amd Athlon xp 1800 and Geforce 4 Ti 4200 (If I can squeeze another 200$ from my dad i'll get a 4600).

Does anyone here have any suggestions on good motherboards for my 1337 gaming rig? Right now i'm looking at either ASUS A7N266-WA or an ASUS A7V333-RAID. (No I dont really know the difference between either motherboard, nor any other motherboard for that matter, but when I was reading their desciriptions they both sounded quite hi-tech so I decided to narrow down my motherboard search to either of those two) Hell any input on any computer parts would be nice right now.

Warhammer · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 6:33 pm Post subject:

The main differences between SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) and IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) that most people don't know:

- IDE can have up to two devices per bus (cable), a master and a slave
- Depending on whether you have normal SCSI or Ultra SCSI, you can have 7 or 15 SCSI devices per bus, including the SCSI adapter card.
- IDE devices are always storage (disk or CD/DVD)
- SCSI devices are usually storage but can also be things like scanners
- There are two main flavors of IDE: IDE and EIDE. All new drives these days are EIDE.
- There are many different flavors of SCSI: SCSI (8 bit), SCSI wide (16 bit, Ultra SCSI, Ultra Wide SCSI, Ultra2 SCSI, Differential SCSI, and more. They basically increase the data path width (# of bits) and clock speed of the bus to make it faster.
- All SCSI devices on a bus will operate at the speed of the slowest device on the bus. If you have all Ultra2 hard drives and a regular SCSI CD-ROM, everything is going to be slow.
- SCSI's main advantage over IDE, which is best seen in servers, is simultaneous multiple command execution. This effectively allows multiple devices on the bus to talk at the same time. In IDE, only one device can be active on the bus at any given time.

So in short, for an average home PC system, go with IDE - it will be far cheaper and is still pretty fast, particularly with the 7200 RPM drives.
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thewz · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 7:15 pm Post subject:

I think I'll stick with an IDE drive, thank you. I saw the SCSIs going for 2-3 times the amount of the IDEs

.

Right now I'm looking at getting a computer with the following specs:
Standard Midtower 300w case
CD drive: LG 32/10/40 16 X DVD
Mother board: ASUS A7V333-RAID
Hard drive: 60 Gig Maxtor 7200 rpm
Ram: DDR DIMM 333MHZ 1x512 megabytes
Sound Card: Sound blaster Live! Dolby Digital 5.1
Video Card: ASUS Geforce-4 TI4200 128 MB
CPU: AMD AThlon XP 1800+ 1.53G
Lan: D-Link PCI DFE-530TX 32-Bit 10/100
Power Supply: Standard 300W ATX P4/AMD XP

So that will cost me about $1200. Of course that doesn't include peripherals, so that means I'm going to have to buy a 17" monitor, mouse, keyboard + my dad wants set up all of our computers on a home network, so i'm going to have to get a router too. So now that brings it up to $1600+ labour fees. Of course I won't be getting this computer until Christmas (or unless someone decides to give me $1000 Canadian *hint hint*) so hopefully by then all that stuff will be a bit cheaper.

Also before I order the parts I need to make sure they are all compatible with the motherboard and such.

So I will be using my three and a half year old crap box for the next couple of months, but soon I'll have a 1337 masta gaming rig and I'll finally be able to play ut2k3, gta3 and all the other games I've been missing out on for the past 6 months!

Thom Yorke Obliterator · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2002 7:21 pm Post subject:

No CD burner?? You must be some kind of COMMIE.

(PS - Warhammer, which pronunciation do you prefer for SCSI? The traditional "scuzzy", or the more sophisticated Left-Coastish "sexy"?)