TheFirstMonk December 6, 2008 Share TheFirstMonk Member December 6, 2008 Hey, Got all my parts for my new PC. I was looking at tutorials online, like these: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/the-geek-bl...ng-it-together/ http://www.davescomputertips.com/articles/..._computer_2.php http://www.build-your-own-computer-tips.com/ I've also been watching some youtube videos: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...q=how+to+build+ I was wondering what kind of tutorials you guys would suggest, like online tutorials I could follow. I've read through the ones I've posted and watched some parts of the youtube videos, but I thought about checking with you guys first before I tried putting it together. Thanks for any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling December 6, 2008 Share samurai nightling Member December 6, 2008 Here's a quick easy "How To" guide that I have used. It has great pictures. http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.p...howtopic=155400 Tell me if you think this will help you, cuz it sure helped me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VooDooPC December 6, 2008 Share VooDooPC Member December 6, 2008 I think building the computer itself is pretty easy. The hard part is when you turn it on and it doesn't boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorgmaN December 6, 2008 Share NorgmaN Member December 6, 2008 If you need a tutorial, you may be in trouble... Pointers: DO NOT PLUG IT IN UNTIL YOU ARE DONE!!! Read Case manual, on what you put in first to last, then read motherboard manual. Most of it is pretty self explanitory, if you need help, I've guided quite a few people over the phone if you get desperate! Seriously, I've built 2 computers over the phone. PM me on friends if you need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly December 6, 2008 Share dragonfly Member December 6, 2008 Lots of times there's only one way things get plugged in. You have lots of options for SATA ports, but it doenst really matter which one you choose (usually). So you just pick one and plug it in. Most things are labelled easily enough on the motherboard itself, but yeah, read the mobo manual. It's got all the info on which slots to plug your ram into, etc. It actually is very easy like Voodoo said... and totally sucks when it doesn't boot first try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher December 6, 2008 Share Preacher Member December 6, 2008 yeah that sinking feeling in your gut when you hit the power button and nothing happens is awful. Especially when you have $1500-$2000 sitting on the table in front of you lol. My number one suggestion is to install the CPU and RAM prior to installing the motherboard. Also make sure the CPU fan is installed first too (some require a bracket on the underside so you may end up removing it if you already put it in the case.) Make sure you install the power supply last and that it is switched to off prior to plugging it into the board. In rare instances I have heard that the power supply shorted the board from stored electricity in the capacitors. I'm not sure if this is true or not but why chance it. Make sure you plug in the power connectors into the video card. (common mistake) Install your complete motherboard and all cards and plugs, then install your hard drives and CD drives to give yourself the extra space. If your video card covers over the sata ports you may need to have the sata cables already plugged in before you install the video card. Once you have everything installed, plugged in and ready to go. Start over from the beginning and make 500% sure you did it all correctly prior to hitting that power button. Check and make sure you have switched the power supply to on before hitting your power button. I've stressed myself out on more than a few occasions with this little mishap lol If it doesn't work first time recheck everything (power strip switched on, power supply switched to on, everything plugged in (monitor, keyboard etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly December 6, 2008 Share dragonfly Member December 6, 2008 Check and make sure you have switched the power supply to on before hitting your power button. I've stressed myself out on more than a few occasions with this little mishap lol lol +1000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling December 6, 2008 Share samurai nightling Member December 6, 2008 Pro Tip: Always discharge yourself before touching any components. I actually know people who have fried things because they had built up static electricity with their feet on the carpet or whatnot and then went to grab their motherboard... Static Bands would help, or just do as i do and just discharge on a piece of metal everytime u wanna touch something lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher December 7, 2008 Share Preacher Member December 7, 2008 Pro Tip: Always discharge yourself before touching any components. I actually know people who have fried things because they had built up static electricity with their feet on the carpet or whatnot and then went to grab their motherboard... Static Bands would help, or just do as i do and just discharge on a piece of metal everytime u wanna touch something lol. /me blushes and raises hand Touch the main metal part of the cd drive cage every time prior to touching a component. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFirstMonk December 8, 2008 Author Share TheFirstMonk Member December 8, 2008 Thanks for the tips, guys. I did do a lot of touching the metal part of the case since I don't have a fancy anti static mat and such. I've installed everything (physically) at this point and made most of the connections to the power supply and to the motherboard. There's one or two connections that I still haven't done (a front USB cable that seemingly connects nowhere, an HD that has a third slot that I don't know what to do with, etc.), but I'll figure it out eventually. I'd like to turn on the computer soon after I make all the physical connections to find out if anything is defective. The problem is that I don't have an OS disc right now (I have a 32 bit Vista one, but I'm waiting for the 64 bit Vista disc that's coming through the mail). Is it possible to configure the BIOS and not install an OS right away? Or should I wait for the disc before turning on the computer? If I do turn on the computer and enter BIOS, can I shut off the computer safely after configuration (I've never updated or changed my BIOS settings on previous computers, so I don't know much about this)? Manual says I can shut off the computer by pressing the power button for more than 4 seconds as a "soft off" mode. On a related note, I'm looking at this to help me configure my BIOS settings: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/the-geek-bl...-setting-it-up/ I have an Asus P5Q SE Plus motherboard, in case that's important information. I've read the manual, but there seems to be a ton of options that I don't really need or need to change. Here's some that I think would be important: 1. Boot up order- 1st device would be DVD drive, second would be HD? 2. Change voltage settings for memory- mine are for Patriot DDR2 1066 with 2.1v and a timing of 5-5-5-15. Or should I leave this to "Auto," so that it detects the appropriate settings? 3. SATA configuration-AHCI enabled (I'll be running a Vista of some sort, either 32 or 64 bit) I can't think of any other options that are extremely necessary for me to change. Can you guys think of anything? I won't be overclocking, so I assume I won't need to mess with a lot of the voltage options and leave those at default. Also, in what order do you update/install stuff? For example: 1. Start up and configure BIOS. 2. Save changes and exit BIOS. (Shut down?) 3. Install OS 4. Update BIOS through Internet (risking infection or virus through router) or update OS first? 5. Install various programs like anti virus or memory test/ core temp programs, etc.? 6. Install drivers for video card, monitor, etc.? I'm not really sure how to approach installation after option 3, so any clarification on what your experiences are would be really useful. I left out when to test memory or core temperature programs, so that could help too. Thanks for the help so far. If I run into any problems at startup or BIOS, I'll have to ask you all for your help again. Fingers crossed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher December 8, 2008 Share Preacher Member December 8, 2008 the front USB goes to the usb headers that are usually located next to the PCI slot closest to the side edge of the motherboard. You can see this in the picture of the motherboard located in the users manual that came with the mobo. A digital picture of the "extra" port or cable or whatever for your hard drive might help understand what you are saying there. Bios should mostly be set to auto until you have a problem or are ready to overclock something. Set boot priority to CD/DVD-HDD-whatever else. You can configure your bios settings without an OS and Asus has a tool on the disk that came with the motherboard for updating the bios while running windows that is safe. Remember leave voltages and timings alone until you really understand what you are doing. Leave everything to auto unless you are 100% sure you won't be messing anything up. A frind of mine burned his CPU up changing the auto to a 25% OC in the auto overclock utilities that came in his Bios so be careful. Order of installs = Install OS, install newest drivers for video card, motherboard stuff, PCI cards etc, update bios, install spyware and AV software, install programs then connect printers, scanners, digital cameras and other USB devices one at a time and install and update them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly December 8, 2008 Share dragonfly Member December 8, 2008 I always update bios first, then do the OS stuff (if you have another pc to get the bios file from). Unless you're doing the update from within your OS... but I think there's a SMALL chance of ruining your OS from updating the BIOS. I thought I read that somewhere. Maybe I'm wrong? Not like it matters much anyway. Set your first boot to whatever you want it to boot from first. If it's DVD (because you're installing the OS) then yeah, set it to that. If there's not a bootable DVD/CD in there, it'll go to what's next. So once you have Vista/XP installed, you want it to boot from the HDD. So yeah, DVD, then HDD, then I usually disable everything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling December 8, 2008 Share samurai nightling Member December 8, 2008 Quick question. When i built my computer i didnt have the Configure SATA as AHCI. I have it as IDE even though im running vista and have a SATA 3.0gb/s drive. I also do not have the Enable 2.0 Support option enabled either. Will this affect the performance of my computer very much? And in order to change either of these, I need to reinstall windows correct? I just tried changing the Configure SATA option to AHCI and then my comp wouldn't boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly December 9, 2008 Share dragonfly Member December 9, 2008 Enable 2.0 as in USB 2.0? And as for SATA as AHCI, try installing the raid drivers or chipset drivers that came with the mobo before you switch. If that doesn't work, you might have to do a reinstall and install the new drivers before windows like you would when making a raid array. Make any sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling December 10, 2008 Share samurai nightling Member December 10, 2008 Eh, no not really lol. But the 2.0 i thought was maybe for the pci-e 2.0? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL December 10, 2008 Share dwEEziL Member December 10, 2008 I always update bios first, then do the OS stuff (if you have another pc to get the bios file from). Unless you're doing the update from within your OS... but I think there's a SMALL chance of ruining your OS from updating the BIOS. I thought I read that somewhere. Maybe I'm wrong? Not like it matters much anyway. You can't ruin your OS by running and in-Windows BIOS update, but like any attempt at a BIOS update, if something interrupts it during the upgrade, it can leave your system in an unbootable state. Not because the OS is ruined, but because the BIOS is fubar'd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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