Putting it all together ???

[Fish Chris]

Okay, so by next week, all of the stuff for my PC build should be here. {don't have time to list all of the exact model #'s and such, but I will give you guys a detailed list later, if your interested}

Anyway, I've got the tower, motherboard, PCU, power supply, video card, hard drive, memory, operating system... (oh, will be picking up a DVD drive this week)

Basically, I've never put a PC together, but I'm hoping it's pretty much just plugging everything in, and hitting the "ON" button I am 99.99% sure that all of my hardware is compatible..... then as long as Fed Ex has kept the drop kicks to less than 15ft.... I think I should be okay

A couple concerns I've read about, are damaging of certain items, with static discharge from handling.... and bent, or damaged pins {I'd think that would come from people who think if it doesn't go, just push harder }

Finally, is their a correct order on what parts to put in to the tower first, to last ?

Much thanks,

Fish

PS, Remember a while back I had talked about building a "budget level" PC, for like $400 to $500 ? Ha ! Same thing happened on my truck stereo build...... Ended up costing more than twice what I had planned. Theirfor, I think I would be totally qualified for the budget planning job of say like, "The San Francisco Bay Bridge" Common'.... what's another $billion or two ? LOL

[-Hobby-]

I have built a bunch of systems and never realy worry about static discharge. If you dont go around in your sox rubbing them across the carpet you should be OK. I just try and not touch any of the contact points with my fingers and handle just the edges of the cards. For ease of installation I usualy mount the processor and fan to the board before installing the board in the case.

So In order.

Install processor on the board then mount the cooling fan.

Install the board with the processor in the case.

Snap the ram in the ram slots.

Add any cards that you are installing, video, wireless etc

Install the hard drive/drives in the drive bay

Install the CD drives

If your installing multiple hard drives and or drives with older IDE cables pay attention to master and slave settings on the drives.

Install all the SATA and IDE cables

Install the powersupply and make all the power connections.

Maks sure, double, tripple check that your processor fan power wire is connected to the board before firing it up.

It dosnt take long to fry a processor that isnt being cooled properly.

Sometimes because of the design of the case you may need to put certain components in before others because of fitment issues.

And most important, keep your beer well off to the side so it dosnt spill on any of your new toys

[-Hobby-]

You can visually check the pins on the processor and see if they are bent. They are usually packed very well and never a concern. I find stuff like that on my old hardware thats been moved around a lot. Just take my fingernail and bend them back. The processors are also keyed, only go into the slot one way. One corner is missing a pin so its obvious if you look at the bottom of the processor and the mounting socket.

Hardware is pretty robust and after messing with them for years I have become pretty desensitized to damaging stuff.

My computer in my shop is just a board and drives and the powersupply screwed to the wall and shelf lol. No case at all

[kirill007]

The order HobbyWerks said is almost the same order i did, do it like he said.

To have no static electricity, you just touch the grounding wire in you're walll outlet.(or a piece of the radiators which isn't painted.)

[-Hobby-]

Forgot a few things.

Connect the wiring from the case to the motherboard for the power switch, reset, hdd read etc. I usually do this as soon as the boards mounted. Those connectors are small and my fingers are big.

You will probably have to go into the bios, usually F1 when the system posts. In one of those categories there is an option to set which drive the system will boot from first. CD HDD0 HDD1 FLOPPY. Make sure that the first device to boot from is the CD. After the operating system is installed you can change it back to HDD0. It will boot faster if you do because it wont look for media in the CD drive every time you start the system.

There are a few settings in bios that can be tweaked. Not sure with some of the newer boards but I used to have to enable Number lock, so when the system boots you dont have to hit the number lock key to enable it every time on your keyboard. You can disable floppy disk drive seek if your not installing a FDD.

You might not even have to worry about pins on your processor. I installed an Intel Quad Core months back and I dont believe that new setup even uses pins anymore. Think the pins were in the board. Just cant remember for sure.

Im sure you get the idea thogh.

Most of the other settings are taken care of automatically. When you finish making changes hit F10 and save changes.

My rigged up shop system.

Edited September 3, 2009 by HobbyWerks

[newls1]

you got my PM earlier Fishy?

[Fish Chris]

Much thanks guys.

Hey Hobbywerks, I've saved this order list for quick reference, and with it, I feel pretty confident.

Hey Newsl1, yes, got it ....and theirs a good chance I might be bugging you for a few more words of advice, before I get this whole thing finished.

Wish me luck

Peace,

Fish