Good Guides for Building a PC

[Cornholio]

As long as they are in focus (biggest bugbear is out of focus "informative" pics) and don't feature any of your nether regions, I don't think people will mind that they're not technically perfect pictures.

haha nah i can focus pictures, i know about aperture and shutter speeds, just saying im not going to be able to offer photographer style pictures lol. And no naked shots like some of the ebay ads ? " Heres the silverstone TJ09 case, as you can see its very reflective, if you look closely you can see me stood in the buff with mycarsavw written across my nether regions."

[Varmint]

I have my PSU and Case...can I put in the PSU yet or do I have to put the motherboard in first?

[TAKTAK]

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qmjkmg02gtg/Build.pdf

Some redundant information and references to previous sections, but the build is there...

some of the pictures are wrong because openOffice is idiotic...


2 x WD AAks harddrives (500GB and 640GB)
2 x Noctua NF-P12 fans
1 x AMD Athlon64 X2 6400+ Black Edition
1 x OCZ 5+ thermal paste (re-branded Arctic Silver 5)
1 x Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme with additional fan clips
1 x soundcard (bundled with motherboard)
1 x Arcticlean (2 bottles, 1 TIM remover, 1 Surface cleanser)
2 x 2GB OCZ Reaper X DDR800
1 x Corsair HX620w
1 x USB header cable
1 x Fan splitter 'Y' cable
1 x eVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 260 SSC
1 x ASUS crosshair


Some people find it easier to connect all of the components to the motherboard first, and then insert them into the case in one go, I find it easier to just pure build in the case itself (and before someone spouts about lack of room and having big hands, i have gorilla paws and one of the smallest ATX cases available...).

So following my method:

The first step:

Prepare the case for the components to be inserted, this step is very simple, remove all removable panels (side panels and front bezel in this case)

Also, this 'preparation step' involves moving cables out of the way the best that you can, also, install the motherboard I/O shield and install the motherboard stand-offs (usually brass), the location and orientation of these depend upon the motherboard form factor and also the case.

The second step (the first real step), is to install the motherboard into the case, this is done by lowering the motherboard and aligning the rear I/O ports with the I/O shield

Ensure that you screw the motherboard down (screw into the motherboard stand-offs that you installed earlier), but also ensure that you don't over tighten the screws as this could damage the board.

Step 3 is to attach fan cables and accessories to the motherboard.
Connect the fan wires to the fan headers on the motherboard (if they are 3/4 pin type), if the fans are molex type then you cannot connect them yet.
Also connect the front panel connections
Try to keep wires under control and out of the way of the main areas, this will become important down the line in terms of airflow, and ensure that the system runs cooler.
Use cable ties to keep wires out of the way and to tidy things up.

Step 4 is to install the soundcard, to do this, just slot it into the correct connection on the motherboard (in this case, it is a dedicated slot), you just remove the blanking plate from the rear of the case, push the card into position, and then screw the bracket down using the screw from the blanking plate.

Step 5 is where it starts to get messy, installing the PSU, in this case it slots in from the front and uses thumbscrews to secure it in position.
Now, connect the 24 pin main ATX power cable and the 4/8 pin supplementary power cable, remember to try and keep cables out of the way to improve airflow.

The PSU is mounted upside down in this case, this is a decision that I have made to improve the overall airflow.

Next is installing the RAM, to do this, just push down the clips either side of the DIMM slot and push the RAM into position, (it will only go in one way around)
In my case, the RAM had to be modified so that it can fit, the modification was just bending the heatsink on one of the modules.

Now it is time to install the CPU, to do this, there are a few little steps, firstly, locate the CPU socket (it's appearance depends upon the type

Now, lift the lever to the side of the socket

Now place the CPU on the array of holes (match the triangles in the corners of both the CPU and the socket)

Now lower the lever while pressing gently on the heatspreader of the CPU.
That's it, the CPU is now installed.

Next up are the harddrives:

Mount them in the harddrive cage in the case, and connect up the SATA data and power cables to them and the motherboard.
At the same time, connect the optical drive:

Remember to keep cables tidy by routing them out of the way

Now it is time to install the CPU heatsink:
This process also has a few steps, because we are using an aftermarket HSF, the motherboard has to be prepared for it by removing the stock mounting mechanism (the plastic mount on the motherboard)
The TIM has to be installed, there are various methods for doing this, some people prefer to apply the paste and then use a credit card to spread it evenly, I prefer to put a small 'blob' in the centre and allow the HSF to spread the paste.

So, put a small grain of rice sized 'blob' in the centre of the heatspreader
Then, pick up the HSF and carefully place ontop of the processor, when it is ontop, use the screws to secure it to the motherboard leaving you with something like:
Remember that RAM problem I mentioned earlier? (the one about having to bend the RAM heatsink), now we have the reason why, because of the large nature of the CPU HSF, it protrudes over the DIMM banks therefore the only way to run the memory in dual channel is by bending the heatsink so that it will fit.

Next, install the fans onto the CPU HSF, connect the fan wires to the fan splitter 'Y' cable and plug the end of this cable into the MOBO CPU fan header

Now we have nearly reached the end, it is time to install the GFX card, to do this it is much like installing the sound card, except it is much bigger and requires the removal of 2 blanking plates. Once the blanking plates are removed, press the GFX card into the PCI-e x16 slot and then screw it into place using the screws from the blanking plates.
Now connect the PSU PCI-e power cables to the GFX card (keeping cabling as tidy as possible)
That is it, build finished, all that is left is to replace the side panels and the front bezel.

Now... a few explanations, you may have noticed that I kept pushing the need for cable tidying, this is one of the biggest and most common oversights that people make, but think of it like this:

Bad cable tidying = Less airflow = More heat = Fans move faster = Louder + Use more power

It is very simple to improve airflow by just arranging fans correctly


The case (in this instance) is essentially 3 separate airflow sections, the upper GFX card area, the lower right CPU area and the lower left PSU area.
A way to increase airflow greatly would be to rotate the HSF 90 degrees so that the air was sent in a straight path, but unfortunately, Thermalright do not seem to think that it is a problem, as the problem is with the AM2 socket, as the HSF would be orientated correctly in socket LGA775 systems, but all it would require to solve the problem is a simple mounting bracket that wrapped around the heatsink.

[pictures to follow when i have fathomed out what openoffice has actually done...]

some of it is here: http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...ld-time-d.html but not all of it...

[Varmint]

How do you keep the case tidy? Do you have any tips?