First Build _ Tips/Suggestions?

[coolcolin09]

Hey guys! I am going to be building my new PC in late November, my first and only non-prebuilt PC. I'm really excited! Any who, I want it to be a smashing success and have a couple questions.

1) First off, I would just like to know if any of you have any special techniques in building a computer? For instance, I heard once that it's a good idea to assemble the PC outside of the case first to make sure it works...stuff like that.

2) Also, do you have a special order while installing everything (i.e. CPU first, then RAM, then video card, etc)?

3) And finally, besides software such as Prime 95, what software or utilities do you suggest I download? I've never messed with a BIOS either (I believe you access the BIOS during start-up of the PC, not completely sure), so I'm going to do more research on that as well.

So, thanks for any information and tips you guys can give me! There are many useful stickied threads in this forums that I will definitely use to help me with overclocking and such. I'm really excited about this, and I'm really happy about these forums; I'm new, and my first impression is really great. Thanks everyone!

By the way, here's what I'm going to order from NewEgg next month:

- NZXT TEMPTEST Case
- ASUS P5Q Pro
- Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale (3GHz)
- PowerColor 4870 1GB
- Asus VW222U 22"
- Samsung Spinpoint F1 320GB
- OCZ Platinum 4GB DDR2 1066
- OCZ GameXStreme 700W
- Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler w/ Arctic Silver 5

Primary use will be for FS2004/FSX - as well as COD5 and possibly even Crysis/FarCry 2 later on.

 

[Billb2]

You're on the way..........

 

[Frankdaatank24]

As far as installing everything outside the case, I've never done that, never had a reason too. But if you do, MAKE SURE YOU ARE GROUNDED AND YOUR SURFACE IS NON-CONDUCTIVE! Being an AT (aviation electronics technician) in the Navy, people say that ESD is a myth. If you believe that, then you are going to spend your money on components that have stopped working for no reason. Transistors are extremely sensitive to stray voltage. Yea your only conducting a millionth of an amp, but you also producing thousands of volts.

Is your case a mid-ATX or full ATX? I recently build a computer with a mid ATX tower. I used an eVGA 8800 Ultra and I barely had enough room to install the thing, so make sure your video card will fit inside the case.

My second piece of advice is read the mother board and case manual in its entirety. There is a lot of useful information in them in regards to BIOS and mother board pin outs. Any wrong connections to the motherboard could potentially render it useless.

I didn't have a method of installing components, but I did install the CPU first. I did this to ensure that I had enough room to manuever inside the case to prevent damage to the CPU from not installing it properly.

I'm not sure if you know how to apply thermal paste or not, but I'll explain it anyways. Thermal paste is used to ensure the surface of the heatsink and the surface of the chip are uniform. Its basically used to make the surface of the chip smooth so that it does not have "pits". Pits do not transfer heat, and this is bad as you can imagine. The thermal paste that you use conducts heat well and is used to fill in the pits on the chip surface and heatsink surface, but it only works in microthin layers. Most people when they first install their heatsinks gob this stuff on. I can tell you from experience you will do nothing but over heat, especially on a video card. I had to replace the heatsink fan on my X800 XT a while back, and when I did I would get a lot of artifacts. After thinking about it for some time, I took the heatsink fan off and reapplied the thermal paste using the method below, and BAM no more artifacts.

My method is using a thin plastic card, not credit card thick, but like the ones you get from Best Buy for their so called rewards program. You only need a small amount of it, just put 5 small dots, 4 in the corners and one in the center, to the surface of the chip only. Go back and forth over the chip until you have a thin layer spread across the entire surface. When you mount your fan, the pressure from the install process will fill in these pits on both the heat sink and the fan. Once you have the fan on the chip, its extremely important to keep the fan immobilized. If you move it too much you have to start over again, and yea thats not fun, so becareful.

And last but not least, MAKE SURE ALL YOUR SCREWS, WASHERS, CONDUCTIVE PARTS ARE ACCOUNTED FOR! The last thing you want is a tiny screw or something shorting out your motherboard or other components possibly destroying it, and you'll be there for quite sometime troubleshooting, its happened to me lol.

 

[Frankdaatank24]

Jesus my grammar is bad... sorry for that, edited my mistakes

And another thing... if anyone disagree's with me or finds more mistakes in my post please let me know!

 

[law9933]

as stated>

My second piece of advice is read the mother board and case manual in its entirety. There is a lot of useful information in them in regards to BIOS and mother board pin outs. Any wrong connections to the motherboard could potentially render it useless."

I learned how to build a PC from the internet forums, & didn't know how to really use one.
Two easy builds, but I was a Navy aviation tech many years ago.( For Frank I was a AQ, fighter jet radar tech)

Ask if in dough, don't guess.

It feels great when all goes right when starting.

It is just following the info, some screws, plugging things in correctly. & all is go time. Rare that you might get the bad part???? I did not!!!

 

[Atheus]

Hi.

One of our esteemed members took the time to do a pictorial guide for new PC builders - it covers all the basics.

http://www.mechbgon.com/build/index.html

In answer to your specific questions...

1) First off, I would just like to know if any of you have any special techniques in building a computer? For instance, I heard once that it's a good idea to assemble the PC outside of the case first to make sure it works...stuff like that.

Just put it straight in the case. You don't want to be creating an electrical hazard at this stage

I only build outside a case if there is a possible short or if I'm diong something freaky which requires frequent swapping of parts.

2) Also, do you have a special order while installing everything (i.e. CPU first, then RAM, then video card, etc)?

Install the CPU and memory in the board before mounting the board. That's just to make things easy for you, otherwise it doesn't make any difference.

3) And finally, besides software such as Prime 95, what software or utilities do you suggest I download? I've never messed with a BIOS either (I believe you access the BIOS during start-up of the PC, not completely sure), so I'm going to do more research on that as well.

You should not need to access the BIOS at all. I would suggest you leave it alone unless there's a problem or you want to overclock something.

 

[Ausm]

Have a couple beers before beginning the process to calm the nerves It's really not that hard if you remain calm and pay attention to details. Most things like Cables,memory and the CPU are "Keyed" to help "idiot proof" them.

 

[bovinda]

Originally posted by: Ausm
Have a couple beers before beginning the process to calm the nerves

Second that!

OP: welcome to building, it's a lot of fun. I'm new to the game myself, but five builds in I'm starting to get the hang of things. Like Ausm and everyone else already said, take your time, read the mobo manual, pay attention to those details!

Don't force it unless you're really sure it needs to be forced.

I've never needed to build outside the case either, with the exception of the CPU, heatsink, and RAM - I always put those in before I put the mobo in, it's easier that way. (Some heatsinks you have to assemble outside the case anyway.)

An empty egg carton makes a great container for separating and keeping track of screws and what-not while you build.

If you're not sure, can't figure something out, or something doesn't feel right - ask! I've gotten lots of great help over the years, here.

Have fun!