[superstar]

Okay let me start by saying I am sick of my current pc case. I have an "HP Vectra VL400", and I really want to change the case and get a new one. I have heard about ATX, Micro ATX, yadda yadda yadda. Like I know what any of these mean! All I know is I have this pc and this is how it looks:

HP Vectra VL400:



As you can see it lays flat on the ground like a vcr. lol. Many moronic friends of mine told me I could'nt change the case on this pc but I than decided to take my pc to a store and let a pro look at it anyway. I told him the exact case I wanted (he is actually selling the case at the same store right now).

This is the case:
(CD-TK8600 Ivory & Black w/ 350w power supply $45.00 Canadian)
http://www.task.com.tw/tk8600.htm

He looked at the inside of my "HP Vectra VL400", and examined the back of my pc:

Back of my HP Vectra VL400:


And said the long awaited words I had been waiting to hear. That it was POSSIBLE to change the case to the one I want! He said it can be done but that all I need is one thing. He said I would need some sort of fan for the pc... Umm that's where my questions begin. Here look, I'm going to show you. Examine the following pics of the inside of my pc. And take a good look at the power supply unit and how theres a black thing covering it. He said something about needing to buy a fan to cool the processor or something, for once everything is taken out of my HP and put in the other case. Because he said that the power supply unit in my HP has a custom built cooling method or box or whatever (that black thing in the pics covering the processor), that goes to cool my processor, etc. He said it's like a custom vent that HP made using the psu. But he said that my pc can still go into a new case. So take a good look at the following pics, examine my system, and you will see what I mean.

Inside my HP Vectra VL400:










Now he never got to the point as in what type of cooler, or fan, etc. And where to put it, place it, screw it on location in the box, or rest it. I took it to a next pc store and the dude did the same thing. After I had asked both men said they would charge me 35 dollars to change the cases for me, and not to worry about it. That they would take care of it. And they dropped the coversation there as to not give me a hint on what I would need or how I can do it myself. They did this because they obviously want money. Sure I said! Ya Right! I don't want to get ripped off. & that's why I'm asking you guys. I know I'm capable of changing the cases on my own with the knowledge I have learned so far. & Since I don't know this part of my personal process, I wanted to ask you all to see if you could tell me so I can buy the exact fan/cooler I need to, and do it myself. (the cheapest one, or type prefered! - You dont have to tell me an exact brand name etc. As long as it's like a universal type I can find at any pc store anywhere for cheap). So heres the first question.

What type of fan/cooler will I need to replace the custom cooling that is in my HP when I change cases, and where should it go/be screwed onto?

By the way I have two or three places to connect a fan (from what they said at the store). Which I asked them to point out before so. Here are the pics of that, and the descriptions of what it says next to the connections on my motherboard, and how many pins the connection has:








Are any of these relevant? I'm sure one of these is where I'm supposed to connect whatever it is I'm supposed to buy.

See I know how to do and put in the following devices in a case:

- A hard drive
- A floppy drive
- an optical cd drive
- Pci and Agp cards
- Pentium chip
- The metal thing that goes over the chip. with tall pointy things all over it
etc.

The only things I don't know how to do is put in a power supply and how to plug the new reset and power plug wires onto a motherboard. Some people say its simple. But I don't know if I'm gonna need adapters or anything to covert a plug. lol. I'm thinking like this is me heading over to europe with an american beard shaver trying to put it in the wall and using a special plug adapter. lol. The new case comes with a 350watt psu. Well here is a brief description of my main power supply connection on my motherboard, (that comes straight out of the psu and feeds right into my mobo).

Psu to mobo 1:



Psu to mobo 2:



& last but not least here is the reset wires and plugs to my mobo:



What am I supposed to buy other than the new case (that comes with a 350watt psu)? Any adapters for the resest buttons? Any extra plugs in case the reset wires dont fit?

If you need to know my motherboard in full detail look for the model "HP Vectra VL400" manual. In the manuals section of the hp website. And look at the pdf file diagrams. In order to give me more details you know?
& also look at the new case I want and its specs and diagram here:

(CD-TK8600 Ivory & Black w/ 350w power supply $45.00 Canadian)
http://www.task.com.tw/tk8600.htm

If there is anything I need to know please tell me. Any and all information from as many people will help. I will look at it all. Please help me so I can go get this new case. I have been waiting for it for a long time. Let me know what I need with the new case other than the case and the 350watt psu provided. I dont want to get ripped off by the store keeper for expensive things I probably dont need.

And please let me know where I will have to connect the new fan or accessory i need and where i can screw it on. According to the details I have given you in the pics of the pin/fan/whatever connections they showed me.

And can someone tell me if the power supply will work on my new mobo. I'm thinking it will because its ages newer. and the store guy said it would.
If I need any sort of adapters for reset buttons etc. anything let me know.

ALL INFORMATION IS WELCOME. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR DEDICATION AND TIME!

AND FOR THE RECORD THE PC STORE CLERK SAID MY MOTHERBOARD IS FINE AND IT WILL FIT IN THAT SMALL NEW BOX. (theres two of them, the small new case, and a bigger version of the new case). He only has the smaller one though! lol.

Is any of this needed or are they just trying to rip me off? Do I just need the case and that's all?

[Advertisements]

Ok first off the black thing that goes from your power supply is called a shroud - its purpose is to deflect/direct air to a specific location. Its basically a way manufacturers have found to cut system costs, they do this by utilizing the power supply's fan to cool other parts, rather than , as in your case, supplying you with a CPU fan. The metal thing with all the points on it is called a heat sink. Its meant to dissapate heat from vital components. As for fans you can find them at most computer stores including comp usa or online at newgg.com or tigerdirect.com
What youll need to know - what socket CPU you have. Then you can buy a kit specially made just for that cpu, it shouldnt be any harder than actually replacing the cpu.
As for your power supply, I wouldnt worry about it unless you have added a lot of power hungry accessories, better sound card, video card, etc. But,if you really have your heart set on buying a new PSU, then make sure that HP's PSU's are not proprietary like DELL's, I ran into this problem with my DELL.
-Pete.

[p-zero]

Ok first off the black thing that goes from your power supply is called a shroud - its purpose is to deflect/direct air to a specific location. Its basically a way manufacturers have found to cut system costs, they do this by utilizing the power supply's fan to cool other parts, rather than , as in your case, supplying you with a CPU fan. The metal thing with all the points on it is called a heat sink. Its meant to dissapate heat from vital components. As for fans you can find them at most computer stores including comp usa or online at newgg.com or tigerdirect.com
What youll need to know - what socket CPU you have. Then you can buy a kit specially made just for that cpu, it shouldnt be any harder than actually replacing the cpu.
As for your power supply, I wouldnt worry about it unless you have added a lot of power hungry accessories, better sound card, video card, etc. But,if you really have your heart set on buying a new PSU, then make sure that HP's PSU's are not proprietary like DELL's, I ran into this problem with my DELL.
-Pete.

[superstar]

What youll need to know - what socket CPU you have. Then you can buy a kit specially made just for that cpu, it shouldnt be any harder than actually replacing the cpu.
As for your power supply, I wouldnt worry about it unless you have added a lot of power hungry accessories, better sound card, video card, etc. But,if you really have your heart set on buying a new PSU, then make sure that HP's PSU's are not proprietary like DELL's, I ran into this problem with my DELL.

You mentioned that I have a shroud, and that HP did that in order to cut system costs. You also said I have a heat sink, and that I need to find out what socket cpu I have. But you never mentioned the exact name or title for what I need. Like fan name. I dunno anything about fans thats why I ask.

Is it a special cpu fan that I need? Is that what it's called cpu fan?

How do I find out my socket? By pulling off the shroud and taking off the p3 chip?

Where would I plug this fan onto my mobo? (Take a look at the extra fan pins pics I have above, where you can supposedly plug them into - tell me which one would go where so I get the proper fan with the right pins if thats what I need)

& What do you mean by "make sure that HP's PSU's are not proprietary like DELL's"? (is that like, my hp fan only working on this hp system, and that theres no other way to replace the psu without using this one?)

By the way I took out this fan from a old p2 hP I had. Will this be of any use to me?

(80mm fan)

Edited by superstar, 14 March 2006 - 10:35 AM.

[SRX660]

I have 4 of these laying around. You can buy them off Ebay for $75-100. Heres the real answer to your questions. H-P installed the exact same motherboard in tower style puters. They didnt even bother to vent the power supply to the processor.

http://h20000.www2.h...15/lpv06515.pdf

Thes puter were very popular with businesses. Most come with pentiium 3-733 to pentium 3- 1000 intel processors. They did make vl400's with the old pentium 2 slot type processors but you dont have that. To thell what you have( if the puter is still running) download everest home edition and it will tell you. It really doesn't matter what pentium 3 processor you have because the heatsink is the same for all of them. The catch is that H-P did put fans on the heatsinks for the later models. I have a vectra heatsink/fan combo off a pent 933 vectra here in front of me. Any standard socket 370 heatsink will fit this motherboard. There is a 3 pin connector very close to the processor socket which is the fan power for the heatsink.

Here is the fan that i have for the vectra.

http://www.directron...oxconn370a.html

In the pinouts(connectors) on the motherboard.

Behind the USB/network port bracket is a 4 pin white pinout. This was used for a "case open" switch so administrators could tell if someone opened up the computer case. I worked in a place where people were stealing the memory out of the computers to take home. CR-RW's were disappearing, and varoius other bits. This switch stopped the problems because the puter would shut off when the case was opened. There also was lock clip to stop this kind of thing. You do NOT have to have this hooked up for the computer to turn on. There is a place in the BIOS to turn it off.

The 4 pin pinout between the PCI slots is for audio to the cd-rom drive( vectras have on-board sound). This was so you could listen to a music CD with headphones by plugging in into the plug on the cd-rom front.

The 3 pin connector near the bios battery is for the "wake-on-lan" feature which lets an administrator have access to the computer even if its on standby mode.

the 4 pin connector below the cd in is the system speaker connector. This is used so you could hear the "Beep" for POST that tells you the system is working with no hardware failures.

the 3 pin connector next to the standard 20 pin power connector is a power supply connector for the h-p power supply. Apparently the power supply fan in h-p 's were powers outside of the PS. This connector could be used for a case fan if so desired. It is not needed in a different case that does not use the h-p power supply.

There is one system fan connector located below the memory and next to a black connector. You should not need more than one case fan as this computer does not put out that much heat. By the way that black 4 pin connector is for certain kinds of surge protectors used in businesses.

You can see all of this here.

http://h20000.www2.h...98/lpv06498.pdf

Now i have tested some vectra's by hooking up a outside standard power supply. The puters booted up this way. I was testing to see if the PS was going bad in the computer. I have not tried using a non h-p power supply to steady run the computer. I imagine you could use your fan for a case fan but i would prefer a ball bearing fan because they are quieter. That fan has a bushing for a bearing. You should be able to use the plate that covers the space aroundexternal connectors( keyboard, mouse, monitor, lan, etc) in the new case if the one in it doesnt fit your layout.

SRX660

[SRX660]

I've been reading your post again so here's some more answers.

I don't think that case is bad but i think you could do what you want with any case you want. Here's some that are in the states. I don't know how much shipping to canada would be. I do not like the cdrom drive door thing on the case your linked to. It is just another part to break.

http://www.geeks.com...=KG-200&cat=CAS

The above case should not cost you more than $35 with shipping. Its cheap but it should work.

http://www.gearxs.co...roducts_id=3413

The above is a nice case but costs more.

On the power switch wiring. You should be able to use the switch thats in the new case. The wire connectors are the same. You just have to go by the color coding on the wires to get them right. You will need to buy a floppy drive as the h-p one is not a regular drive. They cost $10 at newegg.com. Your cdrom drive from the h-p will work in the new case. They are standard fare drives.

Other than buying the case and a few parts i would not spend too much money on this puter. It is very old technology and isn't really fast enough to run the newest software and games on. I have put windows XP on a vectra. With anything less than 256MB of memory it is very slow. I run 2-256 sticks of PC133 memory in my vectra with XP. That is the maximum you can run in these puters.

Ask any question you want and i will try answering them.

SRX660

[Samm]

Hi superstar

Having worked on these machines (HP Vectra's), I can tell you this :

The motherboard itself will fit in another case. HOWEVER, as you have already pointed out, the power supply in the vectra has two connectors that connect straight to the motherboard - a large white one & a small 3 pin one.

The large white one (ATX power connector) is standard (i.e identical to that on a normal power supply)
The small 3 pin one however, is not standard. This connector links the fan inside the power supply to the motherboard to allow the system to monitor the fans rotational speed. Normal power supplies DO NOT have this connector.

If you attach a normal power supply to the system (ie with no 3 pin fan connector), the system will power up fine but it will halt before loading Windows & won't boot any further. This is because without the PSU fan connected to the motherboard, the system can't monitor it & believes that the fan has failed.

In short, this means that you need to use the original power supply. Unfortunately, the original PSU is smaller that normal PSU's & won't fit in standard case properly.

The 2 options that might be feasible are these:
1) Find an HP compatible replacement PSU. Either one that has that 3 pin fan connector OR one that was designed to replace you current PSU. Compatible replacements will work without this 3 pin connector. You will need to make sure though that they will physically fit the new case.

2) Find an adapter that will allow you to fit your current PSU in a standard computer case (assuming that these adapter even exist for your particular PSU)

[superstar]

I was told by someone that I can use a jumper on the 3 pin psu fan connector on my mobo in order to trick the system into thinking that the fan is there when I put in the new psu that comes with my new case (when I buy it this week- lol).

Think that would work?

If so what kind of jumper would I use?

From what I know about jumpers is that they only clamp onto two pins (ie: a hard drive jumper - that is what I plan to use). Oh and "SRX660" said this about the new case I want: "I do not like the cdrom drive door thing on the case your linked to. It is just another part to break."

What do you mean break? That the optical drive hiding doors that are on the case will break or something?

Oh and can someone tell me information about the power/reset connectors on my HP Vectra VL400. Because this is the only part I need to know about in order to change the cases and put the plugs at the right places for the power buttons, etc. I need to know how to do this properly.

[superstar]

[bleep]!!! "SRX600 & SAMM"... You guys are such genius'. I understand everything now. It's all comming together. By the way I tried putting a jumper on my power supply fan connector in my hp vectra without buying the new case with the new 350watt psu yet & it worked! My pc booted up with the jumper on the power supply fan connector, & when I took the jumper off and left the power supply fan connector with nothing it did'nt boot up it said fan error! Wow I'm impressed I wonder where you heard of doing that. I am Just three small steps from getting that case. These are my last final questions and than I'm buying it. I know everything I need to know. Except these three last questions. Once these are answered I begin the transformation. All help is really needed. I really want that new case. To make this thing into a beauty and later upgrade the ram, hard drives, pci, and agp slots. To give it a whole makeover!

MY ULTIMATE FINAL THREE QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(BEFORE I BUY THE NEW CASE THAT COMES WITH THE FREE 350WATT PSU)

1.Using the diagram you gave me http://www.megsales....ri_fanerror.htm where would I connect one intake, and one exhaust fan on my motherboard? And what size connector/name/pin holes should the connection end of the fans have? What would be the name of the fans connections ends? I'll worry about the size of the actual fans when I'm there by telling him to give me ones that fit the new case. You just tell me what the connection end of the fan should look like or be named, and how many pin holes it should have.

2. Is it a bad thing if I'm getting that new 350watt psu with the new case and hooking it up to my mobo? Like I mean, right now I'm assuming my HP has a lower wattage psu. Will it affect my system if the new psu has more power? Is this a good thing,a bad thing, or does it not matter?

3. This is the last question I have about this case before I buy it. THANK GOODNESS!!! Knowing that I have a "HP Vectra VL400" with 800MHz P3, please tell me how I would connect the power/lights on the new case. Take a look at my pics below of the connection currently in my HP Vectra for the power/lights. I took one picture of it with the connection on, and two zoomed in pics of the power/reset pins on my motherboard with the connection off. I believe its 10 pins on my mobo for the power/lights. Oh and for some reason my Hp has no reset button. It just has a power button, power light, hard drive light, and what appears to be a key light (though I have no key on this thing). I wonder if I could use a reset feature on the new case if it comes with that connection and button on it. Please just give me basic instructions on how I would connect the new power/lights or what basic rules I should follow. Someone please research on this. This is really the hardest and last thing I need to know. Once I know it's possible and that I know a sure fire way to do it, my wallets opening and that case and psu are comming home.










THANK YOU ALL FOR HELPING ME. I WILL KEEP YOU ALL UPDATED ONCE YOU ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS AND I GO AND BUY IT. BUT NOT TIL YOU ANSWER THOSE LAST THREE QUESTIONS.

Than I will post the moment of truth. A pic of how it looks after its extreme makeover "PC Edition" lol.

[SRX660]

In answer.

1. You already have one case fan connector on the motherboard. This is the one next to the black connector near the 20 pin power supply connector. That one would be good for a case front fan. I really don't see the need for 2 case fans but here is a molex to 3 pic fan adapter you could buy. The term molex just means its a 4 pin connector used to hook power to IDE hard drives and cdrom drives.

http://www.nexfan.com/3pto4pad.html

If you look here you will see that you can buy fans that already come with 4 pin molex connectors on them.

http://www.nexfan.com/80mmfans.html

2. Do not worry about having too much power for the computer. The hardware will only take what power it needs. Your standard PS in the vectra is probably only 120 watts. Even adding a AGP video card, and a sound blaster audio card and just about any other cards you want will not overtax a 350 watt PS with this computer setup. I still say don't spend too much money on this old of a computer. Have fun playing with it and modifying it as this gives you the experience so you can build your own NEW computer at a later time. BUT this processor is too old to do much more than having a basic computer. By choosing the right parts and searching websites for months i just built a Athlon 2400 puter, biostar M7ncd, dvd-rw, FX5200 video, SB live audio, 512 Mb PC 3200 ram for a friend for $372. Yes, i waited until i got a new case on-sale for $24, and a motherboard/processor combo on-sale for $119. These sales are out there . You just need to get them when they come up.

3. When you buy the new case you will find the power switch, power on light and hard drive activity light have marking at the connectors that tell you what they are. My vectras do not have a reset switch on them so i doubt yours has one either. If the new tower has a reset switch you will not be able to use it so i would just tuck the wiring out of the way. i am looking for the switches i have taken out of vectras i have disassembled for parts. I bought 40 of these puters at a auction years ago for $10 each. I now have 3 running ones left an sold most of the rest. I disassembled 7 of them because they would'nt boot to use for spare parts. I sold most of them for around $100 each. When i find the switches i will check the pinouts to tell you what wires go where so you can hook up the new towers wires to the motherboard. Give me a day or two to find them as i have a full 10x20 garage stuffed with parts. If you miust know yes i have a small shop open for computer repairs where i live.

So far right now i can see that the power switch has a blue with white stripe and a white wire going to it. The power on light has 3 wires. A red, green and a white wire going to it. The hard drive activity light has a yellow and a white wire going to it. my vectra has a lockout light that only comes on when i take the top cover off while the puter is running. This light has a orange and a white wire going to it. I dont think you need to hook this up in the new tower.

As far as i can see heres the wire layout on the vectra motherboard. From the cmos battery side the first three are white-red-green for the power on light. There is a empty socket with no wire hooked into it and there is no pin there. The next wires are yellow-white which is the HD activity light. Next is the blue-white wires that go to the power switch. The last 2 are orange-white which go to the lockout light( which i think you wont need to hook up).

If the new computers power light has only 2 connectors on it i would try hooking to the red and white wires and see if it works. You can experment here as the lights are put on the computer only to tell you things are working.

One thing you may find is that the new case has connectors for front USB ports, a headphones connector, and a microphone connector. You will not be able to use these as the vectra motherboard does'nt have any of these connections.

SRX660

[superstar]

Thank you for your answers "SRX660".

I understand everything now. The only thing I need is to have 100% certainty that the new power/reset wires in my new case will work on my HP Vectra. I believe you gave me guesses by looking at the pics I posted above of my HP power/reset connections. I hope you can find the Vecrtas swicthes or whatever you need from your garage in order to give me the ultimate answer. Your like the saver of the day right now. Once you tell me with 100% certainty where which wires can go on my mobo for the power/resets on my new case I'm done and I will buy it.

Can I use a jumper or leave nothing attached to the lockout lights (the orange and white wires that go to my mobo) in order so the system boots properly. Like I'm assuming it probably wont boot if nothing is there.

If the new computers power light has only 2 connectors on it i would try hooking to the red and white wires and see if it works. You can experment here as the lights are put on the computer only to tell you things are working.

Can I actually do that type of stuff like leave certain pins on the mobo power/reset empty? Is leaving pins empty possible without hurting my mobo or causing damage to it?

I hope you can find those reset switches to answer this last burning question in my soul about the power/reset connections. You are a genius, and a noble one at that. Thank you for spending your precious time on this earth to help me out on the other side of the world. You know about a week ago I was going to be charged $100 extra (that I don't have) just so the technician could do the modification of my new case and psu. So that would have been $150 plus tax (Canada) with the case. Now with all the information you've given me I am just one burning power/reset wires question away from doing it myself! I figure that if I try to do the power/reset wires on my new case and it doesnt work I will just breakout the old vectra buttons, connect it, turn on my pc and ask you guys for help! lol. I'm such a loser! I hope I run into no problems tho.

I'm sorry I don't have the money to buy a new pc. This is my first pc ever. I live by myself and have no family. I went to a technical high school to learn computing but dropped out due to lifes obstacles that have left me living alone at the age of 21. I so wish I could own my own store one day. I love messing with pcs and anything electronic. Ever since I was a kid I used to open anything up to see how it worked and modify them or take them apart. Sorry I don't have the money to buy a pc like you guys have or build one. This is my first pc, I got it for $20 with a monitor included because this buisness place was upgrading to new pcs. The case just looks old to me on the vetra, as if it were worn out, and adding a new case would give me a learning experience and make me feel better about myself. I hope to be as successful as you all one day and be on the other end to answer such questions. Thank you very much I appreciate it and give you my deepest gratitude. Quick funny story: I was taking apart a old p1 that was given to me to practice motherboard connections and I had it turned on while I was doing the reset buttons and it caught fire! lol. I jumped out of my seat as I had it on my lap. LOL. I know it should've been off no? But I told myself what kind of big electric shock can come out of a pc? LOL. Well I did'nt get shocked but I did throw the thing on the ground. lol. I just use that p1 to practice and stare at the mobo to understand pc's more.

Oh last quick questions, there kinda irrelevant and easy to answer for you but I'll ask:

I want the most ram out of my "HP Vectra VL400" what is the max I can use and what name chips do I need so I can buy them at the store without having to take in my pc? (My mobo has two slots by the way)

I am currently using 56k dial up (I had bought a 56k pci card). lol. I know, I know, i'm in the stoneage. I just dont have much money after living expenses. But I wanted to know if I could one day hook up cable internet or high speed to this thing? Like is there an actual port hole thing where I can plug it into on the back? I never plugged in cable or high speed in my entire life. But I have noticed people use this big blue wire that looks like a huge phone plug that comes from there modem and connects to the pc. I'm just wondering if my vectra can take high speed or cable internet and if it would run fast like all of your pcs and download quick! I wish I can have that one day! You guys are lucky.

Thanx

[SRX660]

I figured out the switch wiring by looking at my vectra as i was explaining where they went to. I do have 3 of these running right now. I do think you do not have to even jumper the "case open" switch pin's if you have that option turned off in the bios. It does not hurt to try running the computer without a jumper and no damage will be done to the motherboard. If the computer does not boot then go ahead and jumper the 2 pins together and start the puter. Two of my vectra's do not have case switches in them. Yes the wires are there but they are not used in these 2 puters as i never see the lights come on. The vectra that does have a case open switch does have the orange light next to the power light come on when starting up.

When i build a new computer i want to check to see if there is problems with the motherboard or processor first thing. I don't even put the MB in the case. I set it on a box, hook up the processor and fan, 1 stick of memory, a video card if it doesn't have on-board video, a hard drive, keyboard, and mouse, and hook a power supply up to it. I set the PS next to the MB making sure it doesn't touch anywhere. I have spare switches so i'll hook one up to the 2 wires needed to power up the motherboard. No lights, and no other connections are made to the motherboard. You must know that the power on switch on computers are "momentary on" switches. No power goes thru the switch to run the motherboard except for that second you hit the switch. They are only used to tell the MB to turn on. If i can get to the BIOS screen i may look thru the bios to see what the setting are, but most of the time i just hit the power switch again to turn the MB off. I then install the MB in the case and start adding what hardware i want in the computer.
ONE THING you MUST do is always touch the bare metal part of the case before you start installing any hardware. This is to get rid of any static electricity that can kill hardware. I just naturally hold onto the edge of the case opening when installing hardware. You can build up static elec in your body by walking across your living room rug on the floor.

I figure it would take me 2 to 3 hours to switch your hardware into a new different style case. Your guy is not overcharging you to do this. I charge people $35 a hour to work on their computers. If i charged any less than this i would have to close up my shop and go looking for a job. The expenses of keeping a place where people can bring their computers to fix is quite expensive. Think of it as basically supporting another household because i cant work 16 hours everyday so i support helpers in my shop, plus cost of the building, electric, phones, etc.

Vectras will support up to 512 Mb of ram. I really don't think it matters if it is PC100 or PC133 ram. Just get matching sticks of memory. I would look for a pair of 128 Mb sticks(easist to find) for 256 MB of Memory. I would run windows 98SE on your computerand with 256 MB it would run nice. Windows XP would not run very fast on it no matter how much memory you had. XP has many processes that run in the backgound that win 98 doesn't. Too many for a 800 MHZ processor. I have used kingston, corsair, centon, and even no name brands of memory but some good kingston would probably do you just fine.

Your puter should have a network cable connector in the back just above the 2 USB ports. DSL and cable modems are usually external and use what is called a cat5 cable to connect to the computer. The cable plugs into the network connector which looks like an oversize phone cable connector. The puter should be network ready already. Plug it in, setup the browser with your name and password that you get from the internet provider and your good to go. Good luck on this endevor.

SRX660

Edited by SRX660, 15 March 2006 - 03:32 PM.

[superstar]

I am on my way to the computer store right now to buy a new heatsink with a fan attached to it that can plug onto the three pin cpu fan pins on my motherboard. What I was wondering is if it would be alright if I just use this as a heatsink fan instead of the one that you guys had mentioned:


(I pulled this out of an old Pentium 1 that I use to mess around with)

I'm assuming I can use this instead of paying the $15 for the new day age heatsink w/fan. No? I mean this thing seams to be good. I tried it on my p3 chip on my mobo and the fan spun so I know it works, and it has like a green metal under the fan that I assume cools the chip. I need to know if this is a good idea or bad. You guys had told me that the p3 chip I have 800mhz does'nt heat up much anyway. So that's why I want to use it to save money when I transfer my mobo into my new case.

Thing is the cpu cooler in that pic is probably from 1995-1996 and that's a long time ago. I'm afraid that the fan may stop running in the near future due to it's long use. What do you guys think? Go for the new socket 370 heatsink w/fan that I found for $15? Or use this cpu cooler in the pic, and wait and see how long it lasts me and than buy the heatsink w/fan if it stops spinning soon?

One thing is those socket 370 heatsinks w/fans are hard to find where I live and I don't like to buy off the net. But as I said this cpu cooler in the pic fits my p3 chip and works with its molex thing that I have plugged onto the psu and shared with my cd-rom drive.

[RuddyRum]

I would just like to add, that you have a BTX system, and therefore need a BTX Chassis (you mentioned ATX & Micro ATX, just thought i'd let you know you should be looking elsewhere) :thumbsup:

sorry if this has been said, but there was too much reading involved to skim through it all... :D

[RuddyRum]

I would just like to add, that you have a BTX system, and therefore need a BTX Chassis (you mentioned ATX & Micro ATX, just thought i'd let you know you should be looking elsewhere)

sorry if this has been said, but there was too much reading involved to skim through it all...

[superstar]

BTX chassis what the [bleep] is that? Are you saying I can't use this micro atx case on my "HP VECTRA VL400" My Webpage

I was told by a computer store clerck that I can. And no one on these my thread has said I can't. Can you please respond and can someone back up his claim. This is proposterous!

I need that case!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And can someone answer my question above of the heatsink. scroll up.

If your joking around about the case I'm gonna get frustrated man.