Nobbers guide to PC acronyms

[goodlife]

AGP? FSB? DDR? ATA?

HELP!!!

I just need a decent tower PC as the old one blew a head gasket, but having not participated in PC purchasing for a while it seems the adverts do not speak English any more

Already have a TFT monitor, fairly new TV/PVR Card, wireless network, over 200GB diskspace, etc. so just need a decent box to put it all in.

Can someone provide a guideline as to what all those acronyms mean, and what to look for when purchasing a PC base unit?

[margo]

goodlife said:

AGP? FSB? DDR? ATA?

Advanced Graphics Port - Where the graphics card plugs in AGP8x is pretty much standard
Front Side Bus - The speed at which the board operates 400mHz would be ideal to ensure long term upgradeability
Double Data Rate - Memory type. DDR400 support will, again, ensure future upgradeability without needing a new m'board
Advanced Technology Attachment - the method by which the computer communicates with the disk drives. S-ATA is the highest current spec (afaik)

[pdV6]

margo said:

S-ATA is the highest current spec (afaik)

Serial-ATA

[margo]

As opposed to parallel ATA, aka IDE

[pdV6]

margo said:

aka IDE

Integrated Drive Electronics, so also SATA

[margo]

LOL

Meanwhile, back to goodlife's problem:

If you have a good local systems integrator (person what builds pcs) then it might be worth having a chat. I had mine rebuilt when the psu went south (taking the m/board with it) for far less than a new pc, utilising the existing CD-R, HDD, modem and case which were undamaged.

[pdV6]

For fun, DIY build gets you exactly what you want.
For cost, unless you have access to wholesale prices, it can be difficult to match some of the prebuilt stuff. e.g. Novatech

[goodlife]

Building a new one is a good idea, the problem is I don't know exactly which bit is knackered on the old one. It runs, can get a c: prompt if started in 'safe mode command prompt' but won't start windows. Even a fresh install of Windows (moved old directory) didn't cure it.

Having tried every technote/troubleshooter on Microsoft's support pages, their final consideration is that the hardware is flucked.

Removed all the boards etc, still flucked so it must be the motherboard?