Originally posted by: Core2
Originally posted by: Genuine Imitation
Core2 are you talking general pc building tips or tips specifically for this board?
Doesn't matter when somebody make up a guide or other information I will put them in the proper category. I'm just trying to setup some quick area the we can point people to so we don't have to repeat or posts
Ok, where to begin. Well I guess all the way at the beginning.
The first thing I do after the UPS/Fedex/whoever guy drops off my stuff I unbox it and make sure that I got everything and all of it is correct.
Then I only take the parts out of their respective packages when I'm ready to install them. If you bought a shiny new 8800GTX, leave it in the box till your ready for it to avoid any accidents!
I then proceed to inspect my motherboard and take pictures to send to my friends who love hardware as much as me. That's optional But I look for any loose caps or other signs of visual damage. For this board I then popped off the NB heatsink and cleaned it up and applied some arctic ceramique, or whatever paste you like, but I like to use something non-conductive for naked chips, ie no IHS on them.
For this board I also installed an evercool VC-RE over the southbridge. While an excellent cooler and is small enough to allow SLI, it was an absolute biatch to get installed. Extensive dremel work with a ceramique cutting disc was required to get it to fit around the capacitors and other assorted components around that southbridge. But it was fun, and I like a good dremel adventure.
I then open up the new cpu, clean it, then put on the thermal paste. PLEASE leave the little black cover on the backside just in case you have any paste on your fingers. Then drop it into the socket and latch it down. Repeat with HSF, clean, apply paste if needed, install onto mobo.
Install the ram. Now I'm ready to put it into my case. If you have a mobo tray I would now put it on the tray and then into the case.
With the mobo in I then drop in my video card. Plug in my optical drives into the IDE ports. I'll then hook up my case leads for power, reset, all those. I then plug in all power cables and fans. I then double check that I've got them all properly seated and I didn't miss any like the 6pin to the video card if you need that one. I do NOT plug in the HD's until after it performs its first boot.
With that done I'm ready for a dry run. Plug in the power cord and cross your fingers. I then jump straight into the bios and go to the hardware monitor to make sure my cpu temp isn't running away on me. If its ok, and I need to install an new OS I'll change the boot order while I'm there. I'll then shutdown, plug in HD's and start installing the OS. The reason I don't plug in the HD's right away is to eliminate a potential problem that I might have to deal with later. Boards that don't boot can be very frustrating to diagnose, so I think its a cautionary step. Also notice that I didn't say I changed anything else in the bios, NO OVERCLOCKING till the OS is installed! Borking your OS install cause of overclocking will result in an unstable environment regardless of settings.
Now that you're up and running, you can start overclocking, which I'm sure other people will cover.
My 2 cents so far