BongoBob Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 The Bad News. My mom has a tumor on the wall of her uterus the size of a soccerball. The Good News. It's non cancerous and easily removed. She's having a hystorectomy(sp?) on July 7th to have it removed, and it's followed by 2 weeks of bedrest. Thankfully, that gives enough time to hopefully get my drivers license (drivers ed test is on the 27th of June, and as long as I pass that I can take the test for the license), so then I could go places for her/get my little brother the hell out of her hair without having to rely on others for transportation. Even though it's 2 weeks of bedrest, this is less recovery time than the other surgery to remove it, which she said was more like 4 to 6 weeks bedrest. Another good thing is that of the 500 dollars we have to give to the doctor upfront, we get about 200 of it back thanks to my dads health insurance. And now for the tech help. After my moms surgery we're hoping to be able to upgrade our computer to a new Mobo and CPU. I was hoping to get this Asus A8V VIA K8T800 Pro Motherboard with this AMD 64 3500+ CPU, and have a couple of questions. First off, the biggest thing, is that this is a s***ty compaq computer with an extra 512 of Kingston ValueRAM and an XFX GeForce 6600GT AGP card (thus the reason I'm getting an AGP mobo), and it didn't even come with a freakin XP cd. The only way I can reinstall XP is by using the Compaq partition on the hard drive. And they sell system restore disks, which just reinstall the compaq partition. I looked on the tower, and there's a windows xp cd key. One of my questions is can I just use a relatives XP cd with my cd key? I paid for the copy of windows when I bought the cd, and they gave me the key, so I don't see why not, but I would likea secondary oppinion. Another question is, what is Dual Channel, why would I want it, and if I were to simply buy another stick of ram *link above*, would I be able to run them in dual channel? Another is for anyone with experience installing there own AMD 64 chip, is the thermal pad pre installed on the Heatsink? I was hoping to slap on some AS5 for extra OC ability, and was wondering how easy it would be to get rid of the thermal pad they include. One last question, how hard is it to install a motherboard? I've done computer upgrades, but none as substancial as this one. Thanks in advance for any people who either keep my mom in their thoughts and/or help me with my computer questions And one last question, how hard is it to install a motherboard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZBomber Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 That sucks dude. Best of luck to your mom, and thank god its not cancerous. Can't help you with the tech problems, but hope everything goes alright for your family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiE23 Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 First: Holy crap man, sorry about your mom, but I'm glad it isn't a serious threat. Second: I need to get my driver's license, too. Third: Yes, XP cds are bascially worthless, what's expensive is the key. So yeah it would be okay. About the physical-technical stuff, I'm not sure, wait for others to post. Last: Kill the last sentence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrion Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 A soccer ball? Holy crap! Did you guys think that she was pregnant at first? Really sorry to hear that, hope everything goes well. Another question is, what is Dual Channel, why would I want it, and if I were to simply buy another stick of ram *link above*, would I be able to run them in dual channel? Dual channel means that your computer can access your ram quicker, as it's broken into smaller pieces(two pieces of 512 vs one 1024, for instance) to make it easier to find data. Another is for anyone with experience installing there own AMD 64 chip, is the thermal pad pre installed on the Heatsink? I was hoping to slap on some AS5 for extra OC ability, and was wondering how easy it would be to get rid of the thermal pad they include. Yeah, there's a thermal pad pre installed on there. I didn't take off the thermal glue on mine, but I'm fairly sure rubbing alcohol will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 T Another question is, what is Dual Channel, why would I want it, and if I were to simply buy another stick of ram *link above*, would I be able to run them in dual channel? Regular RAM works on the principal that one stick fills up at a given time. When one is full, it begins filling up the next in line Dual Channel Fills up at the same level, simultaneously in both sticks, therby giving you quicker access times. In other words, it rocks Another is for anyone with experience installing there own AMD 64 chip, is the thermal pad pre installed on the Heatsink? I was hoping to slap on some AS5 for extra OC ability, and was wondering how easy it would be to get rid of the thermal pad they include. There is two ways to get rid of the thermal pad. The first is before it is hooked into power and melted to the CPU, it is kind of crusty. You can basically scrape most of it off with a knife or something and then get what's left with nail polish remover. I say nail polish remover rather than alchohol because it isn't quite so severe, but still gets the job done. The other way is to let the CPU burn it in then pull the heatsink and CPU and wipe it off with lint free cloth. Way messier that way and a bigger pain, but it is an option. One last question, how hard is it to install a motherboard? I've done computer upgrades, but none as substancial as this one. mobo installation is incredibly simple. Just make sure that you have plenty brass mounting spacers and that the mobo isn't physically touching the case anywhere. Once it's screwed in place the hard part is finding where all the cords plug into, (which ASUS sends great instructions and diagrams for plugging in your case jumpers and stuff.) And your mom is in my thoughts and prayers. Hope she gets better soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manoman81 Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Wow man. Hope Everything works out ok. Mobos are easy to install. As Seeker said, just make sure you have enough stand-offs/spacers. The ASUS instructions are great. Have one myself. Again hope everything works out for you and the family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted June 18, 2006 Author Share Posted June 18, 2006 Thanks everyone for the support, both non technical and technical. I know the thread may seem odd, but I was too lazy to post 2 threads Also, Ty, I know it might sound mean, but tbh she just thought she was getting a little fat. But then the doctor said all this and it makes sense now. And I downloaded the manual for the motherboard, it looks like installation would be a snap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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