Questions

[JeffD78]

I have a couple of questions that maybe someone could help me out with. I recently fried the motherboard in my Gateway POS, and rather than fork over the $400.00 they wanted to put in a new one, I just bought a new MB, Sound card, Video card, and case myself. Understand this is the first time I've ever attempted this myself....

My first question is on the case. It didn't come with any manuals or documentation, and the connectors for the various fans, LEDs and switches don't have the +/- labeled. They all have a white wire in common and the other wire is a different color on each of them. (blue, green, red, etc...) Which do you suppose is the + and which is the -?

Secondly, has anyone ever had any experience with a mobo manufacturer by the name of SCE? I got the cheapest Slot-1 board they had ($79.00) and it actually seems to be a pretty nice board. But that's all I could find on the box and in the documentation as far as manufacturer name.
Chipset: VIA693A
FSB: set from 66-150MHz in the BIOS
AWARD BIOS
2 ISA
5 PCI
1 AGP
Ultra DMA IDE controller and a few other goodies.
It almost seems too good to be true, so what's the catch?

As for the sound and video cards, I went with an ATI Xpert 128 16mb, and a Soundblaster 128PCI, no biggies there.

Sorry the post was so long, but thanks in advance.

Later...

[This message has been edited by JeffD78 (edited 12-23-1999).]

[OuTpaTienT]

Now that you're building your own machine you must wonder why you ever overpaid(?) for a pre-built one. If they want to charge $400 for a $100(or less) motherboard, then I'd say they have a pretty good profit margin.

About the case wiring: I would assume that the common color (white) is the ground(-). However, most of those are for LEDs or switches, so it really shouldn't make a difference. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

As far as that particular brand of motherboard; sorry, but don't know anything about them. However, I have been using motherboards with VIA chipsets since the 486 days, and usually they're trouble free and good performance. And when there is issues, VIA's pretty good about releasing patches/updates.

[Nathan G]

LEDs are diodes which do have a polarity. Outpatient is correct that the colored wire is usually the + (anode) side. Not always though. Dont worry if you get it backwards the LED will fail to light but will not be damaged. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif Flip the connector over if the LED fails to illuminate. (turn off & disconnect power first http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif )


[This message has been edited by Nathan G (edited 12-23-1999).]