Lots of questions

Can someone tell me answers to these 3 questions :

1. If i buy a single SLI graphics card, would it work normally on a non-SLI motherboard?
2. What is the difference between a mid-tower and a full tower case, and what one would I need? Also, is there any way u can tell which type it is? I am confused, and don't really know how many 3.5" and 5.25" slots or whatever i need.
3. Are all USB 2.0 ports compatible with 1.1 USB devices and stuff?

need answers, cheers.

When you called this thread "Lots of questions" you weren't kidding, were you?

Originally posted by fluffy
1. If i buy a single SLI graphics card, would it work normally on a non-SLI motherboard?

Does SLI work on AGP?
No. SLI is designed for PCI Express.
This new bus has superior bandwidth (two to four times AGP 8X), support for isochronous data transport, and the capability to drive multiple high-speed graphics devices. AGP 8X was limited to one high-speed graphics device and was not a good candidate for SLI.
The short answer. No. This site lists all motherboards compatible with SLI.

Originally posted by fluffy
2. What is the difference between a mid-tower and a full tower case, and what one would I need? Also, is there any way u can tell which type it is? I am confused, and don't really know how many 3.5" and 5.25" slots or whatever i need.

Do you mean "mid tower" or "midi tower"? There might be a slight difference in definition...
Full Tower - A full tower case is the largest standard PC case available on the market. These units are big, heavy and at two to three feet in height, are intended to be installed on the floor. Full towers are the most flexible, expandable cases, with many drive bays to support a large number of internal devices. They normally come with larger power supplies to support these devices (but not always) and since they are so roomy, they are the easiest to work in and the best at keeping components from overheating. They are, naturally, also the most expensive type of case.
Mid Tower - A mid tower case is similar to a full tower case, but slightly smaller. This size seems to be all over the place; some companies make mid tower cases that are no larger than others' mini towers. A mid tower is a good compromise for those that want more space than a mini tower offers, without going to the expense of a full tower case.
"Midi" Tower - At first, there were only full-sized tower cases. Then came mini-towers, and mid-towers, which were a compromise between full-sized towers and minis. Then the marketing people got to work and produced the "midi" case. It's hard to get a consensus on exactly what a "midi" case is. Some contend that the name is based on a cutesy combination of "mid" and "mini", and that the midi tower is therefore one that is smaller than a mid tower but larger than a mini. Others use the term "midi" interchangeably with "mid"; this seems to be more common in Europe than in North America.

Drive Bays - Drive bays are the spaces in the system case where you mount your hard disk, floppy, CD-ROM, tape and other drives. They come in two general types, external and internal, and two sizes: 5.25" and 3.5".

Drive Bay Sizes: 3.5" and 5.25" - Not surprisingly, these sizes correspond to the two common sizes of floppy disks in use today. (Actually, the 5.25" disks aren't really that common any more, but they're still out there.) The bays are not actually this size, because this is the size of the media and the drive obviously must be larger, but they are almost always referred to by those names. A 3.5" bay is actually about 4 inches wide, and a 5.25" bay about 6 inches. While these bays were designed to fit the two sizes of floppy drive mentioned, all modern drives have all been designed to fit into the same dimensions.
Some devices require the larger size bay. Obviously, a 5.25" floppy drive needs one, and so do all CD-ROM and DVD drives (CDs and DVDs are 4.75 inches wide). Many tape drives do as well, as do many removable storage drives. A 3.5" floppy drive will of course fit in a 3.5" bay. So will most modern hard disk drives (in fact, most internal drive bays are 3.5" for that reason). The height of the different bay types is pretty much standard; a 3.5" bay is about 1" in height, and a 5.25" bay is about 1.75" in height. It is possible to buy adapters that will make a 3.5" device fit into a 5.25" bay, if you need to do this. It is easier to do with a hard disk than a floppy disk or other device with a faceplate, because in addition to the mounting rails for the side of the drive, you need an adapter for the faceplate as well in the latter case.

Originally posted by fluffy
3. Are all USB 2.0 ports compatible with 1.1 USB devices and stuff?

Yes.
USB 2.0 is "backward-compatible" with USB 1.0/1.1 (Full-Speed USB). While that's true, USB 1.1 is also forward-compatible with USB 2.0. Whenever a system has USB 2.0 ports, you'll find the "Enhanced" USB controller in Device Manager, but you will also find two other USB controllers. These two to mantain backward compatibility to USB 1.1 devices. Each USB 2.0 host actually has 3 chips onboard. The USB controller routes signals to the correct controller chip depending on how a device is recognized. Where a device is physically plugged in has no bearing on how it is routed. All ports on a USB 2.0 motherboard can host any USB devices at all as long as the system and devices are healthy.

(You keep up your questions and you'll be getting a bill from me one of these days... LoL! )


Edit: Spelling

[edit on 12-12-2005 by Gemwolf]

I don't want to sound condescending or nasty or anything but some of these questions are not that advanced. Are you really sure that you wish to build a system and have the whole maintenance and support of the system rest upon your shoulder? I have not personally built a system myself so am not fully aware of the processes but I have got the impression that research and selection of componbents is the hardest bit. Whilst you are partially doing this here a sound knowledge I would suppose is essential and from some of the questions do you have this? Do you know about configuring jumpers for instance?

Again, I wish to make out that I have had no personal experience in building a system but have looked into it, I just want to make sure that you have the knowledge. Other members am I wrong here?

Originally posted by Infidellic
Again, I wish to make out that I have had no personal experience in building a system but have looked into it, I just want to make sure that you have the knowledge. Other members am I wrong here?

You are 100% on the spot Infidellic. It crossed my mind as well, but I just didn't have the heart to tell Fluffy. It's one thing selecting the parts you want in your system by theory, but it's a whole other ballgame to actually build a PC from scratch. Considering the questions asked, I would also suggest that Fluffy gets a professional to build his system. No offence buddy!

Do u really think "i" was gonna build it? Of course not! I am just buying the parts, and getting a person i know (who builds PC's) to do it 4 me. So there, that answers that. And the questions I'm asking here, some of them I think I know, but just want to make sure. And the ones I don't know, I want to learn. Ok? ok. LOL.

Now, I have a couple more questions, if u can b bothered...

1) Some-1 stated that if I buy a SLI grpahics card, it wont work on a non-SLI motherboard. But I thought that SLI meant that it has 2 PCI-Ex16 slots, for two graphics cards to work together. And that you can get a motherboard (not SLI) that only has 1 PCI-Ex16 slot. So can I not use a PCI-E graphics card on a motherboard that only has 1 PCI-Ex16 slot?

2) What is supposed to go into the PCI-Ex1 and PCI-Ex2 slots?

3) On some of the motherboard specs, it says something like "max 10 USB 2.0" or "3 USB 2.0, but supports up to 8" or something. I don't really know much about this (or anything), but if it says max 10 USB 2.0, does that mean it has 10 slots a USB device could go into?

4) What sort off things go into a PCI slot, and is 3 enough in 1 motherboard (if u want to get the most out of your computer)?

5) Whats good integrated sound on your motherboard?

6) If I want to connect this computer to a wireless network, what card do I need? Someone told me that I can't use a 1000mb/s(gigabyte) card for a wireless network. And some motherboards say they have 2 network cards in them, what does that do?

7) Will all motherboards (SLI) fit into a mid or midi tower, and out of these towers, which one would you recommend me to buy?

There you go LOL. Remember, If you don't want to answer these, you don't have to. But if u want to...

well, i guess i cant stop u...

and about the 6600GT, there are diff companies making it right? (e.g. gigabyte, nVIdia, sparkle ) or whatever? If i don't make sense, than try to make sense of the non-sense senseless words. Anyway, what kind of 6600GT should I get, for quietness, reliability, price, and ... something. I was gonna get a SLI one, PCI-E, 256mb...

I was planning on getting this one. Don't know anything about it.

www.hottek.co.nz...

Should I? Is there enough info on there to trust it, is the 1 year warranty normal, or less than normal?

[nevermind]

[edit on 12/14/2005 by 12m8keall2c]

I'm clueless about SLI stuff so I skip.

Originally posted by fluffy
6) If I want to connect this computer to a wireless network, what card do I need? Someone told me that I can't use a 1000mb/s(gigabyte) card for a wireless network. And some motherboards say they have 2 network cards in them, what does that do?

You need a PCI wifi card for desktop or PCMCIA wifi card for laptop. The important part is not so much what card is better than the other, but rather is your wifi card going to be compatible with the access point you plan connecting to.

Gigabyte doesn't apply for wifi. Current standard is 54Mbps, or 108Mbps for non-standard stuff. Upcoming 802.11n standard gonna be 100Mbps or maybe more. The 1000Mbps stuff is mostly fiber optic networks. Don't get too excited about big numbers, this is for local network usage not browsing the internet, since the typical cable modems are hardly much more than 5 Mbps. You get the idea?

Motherboards with 2 network ports could be useful for building homemade router/firewall running Linux or OpenBSD, etc. If you are buying off-the-shelf router you don't need that kind of motherboard. You can buy additional PCI network cards if needed anyway.


[edit on 14-12-2005 by ufia]