How to assemble a computer

How to assemble a computer step by step

 

The entire procedure should take 3-4 hours if you have no problems. We'll proceed in stages. Rather than install all of the components in the system at once, I prefer to the bare components necessary and test as we go along. In the first part we'll install the motherboard, floppy drive, RAM, CPU, and video card and test that the system boots and detects the floppy, hard disk, CPU and video. The next stage is to install the CD-ROM and Windows9X. In the last stage, we'll finish by overclocking the system.

Tools and Supplies Required

  • Grounding Strap - This can be purchased from Radio Shack or Compusa for a few dollars.
  • Phillips screw driver
  • One medium sized flat screw driver - Used mostly to help with releasing clips from power connections.
  • 1/4" socket screwdriver - I've found this better to use in most cases than the phillips with the 1/8" hex screws. It keeps the screw driver from slipping and potentially causing damage.
  • Electrical tape - I use black electrician's tape to tie up any lose wires.
  • Bungee straps or Plastic tie wraps - Same as above. I've even used velcro wraps purchased from CompUSA.
  • Cardboard sheets - Cardboard sheets can be used as a working surface. It is safe to use cardboard to rest components that are sensitive to static electricity.
  • Non Conducting 1/8" washers - I use nylon washers purchased from Home Depot. They work great.
Setup the Case
  • Set up your work area - Gather your tools and materials and have them nearby to minimize running around. Make sure you have plenty of lighting and a power socket located nearby. As mentioned above use cardboard on your working surface. This helps to reduce the risk of static discharges to your electrical components.
  • Before you begin read your motherboard manual, case manual, etc. Familiarize yourself with the layout of the board (the 20-pin power, fan connectors, IDE controlers, PCI slot, AGP slot, RAM slots, CPU Slot, etc).
  • Orient your case so that you can work with it comfortably. Lay it on it's side. Not in the upright position. The case should be open and the insides exposed.
  • Never work on your system with the power turned on. Before you touch anything always make sure the power is turned off. (You should leave the PS plugged into the wall socket to keep it grounded, BUT make sure the power supply is turned off.)
  • Punch out any openings in the back of your case to fit your motherboard ports. You may need to use a  plate supplied with the case or motherboard that fits the ports for your motherboard.
  • Attach your grounding strap to your wrist and the clip to the metal chassis of your case.
  • Examine the floor of the case. If you do not have stand-offs you will need to insert them. stand-offs are meta hex screws that screw into the motherboard plate of your case. The motherboard rests on the stand-offs. The stand-offs are usually supplied with your case. Align the stand-offs with the holes on your motherboard. For now just screw the stand-offs in for the holes that align with your mobo. Snug them up but be careful not to over tighten or strip the screws.
  • Examine the cables coming from the power supply to ensure that they are proper length. Make sure the power cables are out of the way temporarily.
Install Motherboard
  • Insert your motherboard into your case. Make sure that your stand-offs are in place. Be careful to ensure that your ports are aligned with the holes you punched out in the back of the case. Don't force anything; the external ports should fit nicely but snug.
  • Take your 1/8" hex screws and put the non-conducting washers on them. Now use them to screw down your motherboard. The screws go into the holes that aligned with your stand-offs. Do not over tighten your screws. You want them to be snug, not crushing your motherboard.
  • We've got the motherboard in!
  • Find your 20-pin power supply cable and connect it.
Install the RAM, Video Card, and CPU.
  • Slot 1 CPU's require mounting brackets to keep them firmly in-place. My brackets came with my motherboard. In my case, I had to first put the mounting brackets in place on my CPU and heatsink combo and then insert the CPU into slot 1. I then had to flip over my mother board and screw the brackets from the bottom. Non-conducting screws were provided with my motherboards.
  • If you don't have a jumperless motherboard you'll need to set the proper jumpers for your CPU multiplier and bus speed. Read your motherboard manual carefully before attempting this. It is important that you use the correct settings or you could potentially damage your CPU or motherboard. If you have a jumperless motherboard you will do this in the BIOS later on.
  • Next we'll install the memory. SDRAM memory goes straight into your DIMM slots. Mine has clamps that lock into place once the memory is firmly seated. Consult your motherboard manual for types of memory and configurations for your system.

  • Place your graphics card in the PCI or AGP slot. Remove any plates covering the the slots on the back of the case. Screw down the card's bracket to the case. Connect the SVGA cable to the monitor.

Install the Floppy Drive
  • Select the 3.5" floppy drive bay and install the drive. My case came with mounting brackets which are screwed to the sides of the drive. The drive is then slid into place and locked with clips. This is a nice arrangement that makes for easy installation and removal.
  • Examine the floppy disk controller on the motherboard for the position of pin 1.
  • You should also have a 34-pin floppy cable. Note the twist in the cable located between two of the connectors. The connector located next to the twist in the cable should be then end that goes into the floppy drive. The connector on the other end goes into your floppy disk controller on the motherboard. Be sure to align the red strip on the cable with pin 1 on both the drive and the floppy controller.
  • Connect the power to your floppy drive.
Power On and Test
  • Now we're ready to try a power on test to detect the CPU and floppy.
  • Turn your computer on and enter the BIOS. Hit the "Delete" key as the system is booting.
  • Once in your BIOS make sure that the floppy drive is selected as a bootable device.
  • If you have a jumperless motherboard you will now need to select the proper CPU setting. On the ABIT VA6 this is done in CPU Soft Menu. 
  • Our PIII 500E works on a 100MHz front side bus with a multiplier of 5.0. Later on we will increase the FSB setting to overclock the system but for now leave it at 100MHz.
  • You may also need to make sure that your BIOS has set your floppy drive to bootable. Read your manual to find the proper settings.
  • Save your BIOS settings to the CMOS and exit.
  • Your system should reboot and detect the floppy drive. If it doesn't. Power down and go back over your settings. Make sure your cables are firmly connected and correct pin 1 alignment.
  • Insert you boot diskette into the floppy drive and test again.
  • If you succeeded to this point you should be able to boot into DOS and see your a: drive.
Install Hard Disk
  • Again you should have mounting brackets that came with your drive and/or your case. Connect the IDE cable to controller one on your motherboard. Make sure that the red strip on the able is aligned with pin 1 on both the drive and controller. Connect the power. Make sure that your drive has the Master jumper pins set. Consult your drive's documentation if you don't know how the jumper pins should be set.

  • Once your drive is installed we're ready to boot the system again.
  • Turn the system on.
  • Enter your BIOS and make sure the drive is selected. Usually, auto detect should be enabled for the IDE controller. I had to enter the "Detect Hard" drive on my BIOS. Save your settings on exit.
  • Insert the installation diskette that came with your hard drive.
  • Reboot your system.
  • The drive software should partition your disk and create a boot sector. You will need to have your operating system's boot floppy handy. Once the hard disk drivers are installed the system should be rebooted. Remove any floppies from the drive. 
  • If installation disk doesn't automatically partition and format your drive you can do this manually with the fdisk and format commands.
  • Power down the system.
Install CD-ROM
  • Now we'll need to install the CD-ROM before you can install Windows.
  • You're CD-ROM should come with a diskette containing the DOS drivers. It should also (if you're lucky) provide you with the installation setup to do this automatically. If  it doesn't you can do it manually if you have the right drivers. You'll need to modify the config.sys and autoexec.cfg files to load the drivers and run the MSCDEX.EXE program.
    Your config.sys should contain a line similar to the following: REM - other gump in your config.sys goes here - Device=C:\ATAPI_CD.SYS  /D:OEMCD001 Autoexec should have the following line:
Device=C:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001
 
Install the Operating System
  • Once you have completed installation of the drivers reboot and test to see that your drive is detected. If successful you can now begin installation of Windows9X.
  • After your system has booted and your CD-ROM is working you can run the Windows9X setup installation procedure. 'cd' to the CD-ROM drive and run setup.exe.
  • Windows will load and reboot and begin detecting the new hardware devices on your system. This includes the graphics card. You should have your graphics card's drivers handy as Windows will prompt you for them.
  • If you're running Windows 95a you may also have a problem with the 440LX or 440BX chipsets. Hopefully, your motherboard manufacturer provide the patches to your operating system for these new chipsets. Otherwise, Windows 95 will run in compatibility mode. Everything will still work but your PCI bridge will not be working correctly. If you do not have the patches for these chipsets first see if you can obtain these from the vendor you purchased your motherboard from, motherboard manufacturer or Intel. I downloaded mine from Intel and they worked fine.
Start Having Fun!
  • At this point you should have a functioning system and can begin installation of your sound card and modem. I will not go into any further detail here as this is a fairly straight forward process. I recommend installing them one-at-a-time. Install the hardware and drivers for one before proceeding to the next.
  • I hope this guide proved to be of some small help to you. Enjoy your new system!

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Tools You Need to Build Your Own Computer

Tools You Need to Build Your Own Computer


You don't need an expensive toolkit to build your own computer, but there are a few simple tools that you absolutely must have. All of these can be easily obtained at almost any computer store or online, usually in a little case that contains everything you need. You can also buy most of them at ordinary hardware stores.
As with all tools, you should buy the best quality computer tools that you can afford. Good tools last longer and make the job easier. All computer tools should be non-magnetized.
You will need, at a minimum, the following simple tools:

Screwdrivers and nut drivers.

You should have available, at a minimum, small- and medium-sized Phillips and flat screwdrivers and a 1/4" nut driver.

Needle-Nosed Pliers

Very small needle-nosed pliers are very handy for removing and inserting jumpers on motherboards and hard drives. (A pair of tweezers or surgical forceps also works well for this purpose.)

Cable Ties

Plastic cable ties are useful for neatly bundling wires and cables away from fans and other components inside the computer. If you can't find them, electrical tape is an acceptable substitute.
 

Anti-Static Wrist Strap

This is a little elastic strap connected to a wire with an alligator clip on the other end. The alligator clip is attached to a metal part of the computer chassis, and the elastic band slipped around your wrist. Better-quality anti-static kits also include a rubberized mat that connects to the wire and is placed under the computer being worked on. This provides extra static protection, and also protects your tabletop from scratches. 

Heat Sink Compound

This is usually included with processor fans, but may be purchased separately. It is applied neatly to the area where the processor contacts the heat sink to improve cooling efficiency. (Some heat sinks have the compound "built-in" behind a little peel-off label.) I like Arctic Silver.

Canned Air

This is really needed only if some of your parts are used and/or dusty. Never blow into a computer with your lips to remove dust. Your breath contains too much moisture (and maybe other things depending on what you ate for dinner). Use canned air instead. It's cheap.

Pill Bottle

You'll need a pill bottle or other small container to hold the various screws, jumpers, and other small parts used to assemble and configure a homebuilt computer.

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How To Prevent Bad Sectors In Hard Disks

1.
Do not bump your hard disk at all. The HDD may be mostly made of

metal but you have to handle them like eggs;

2.
If you dont want bad sectors, never move your PC while it is on.

Never. Shutdown. Shutoff. Move the PC. Then turn it on.

3.
Do not put anything on top of your HDD. If your gonna store it, make

sure they are in proper packaging (anti-static bags and clamshells o

styro boxes).

4.
Only hold or handle your HDDs by their edges, never touch the printed

circuit boards or electronic parts.

5.
If you have to put the HDD down on, lay it down on an anti-static bag

6.
When mounting HDDs use the proper screws (coarse thread and

shorter screw) as opposed to the screws for CDROM drives and Floppy

Drives which are fine thread, and the case screws which are coarse

thread but longer.

7.
Use as many screws to mount your HDD as possible, usually 4, some

techs will use only 3, I have seen HDDs mounted using only 1 screw.

Why? The 4 screws will ensure proper heat transfer from the HDD to

the case and will handle the vibration properly.

8.
Tighten but not over tighten the screws. Your screws are steel, the

HDD case is aluminum, you endanger or damaging the thread in you

HDD if you over tighten.

9.
You may mount the HDD in any way (level, un-level, upwards,

downwards, vertical) whatever it takes to make it fit your casing. There

will be no problem performance-wise.

But keep in mind, in the, future say 2 years, you have to unmount and

reinstall the HDD in a configuration different to what it has been

accustomed to, the HDD might die on you just like that. Example ?

vertically mounted for 2 years, then i-reinstall mo horizontally. Probably

on the startup, your hdd possibly die. It happened to me 3X already.

Perfectly working HDD, then remounted in a different way, then my

hard disk just gave up . Most probably the bearings have gotten used

to the old mounting and seize up when mounted differently.

10.
Keep your HDDs cool. Blow fans on them, use coolers. At the very

least make sure your casing is properly ventilated. Heat shortens the

life of HDDs. But Choose carefully on what fans you will use, choose

the fan which produce less vibration.

11.
Cables? Make sure your cables are good and connected correctly. It

may cause damage to the HDD

12.
Power Supply? Make sure your power supply is up to snuff. This is

where most HDDs fail after serving you for a long time. Low 12-volt

rails kill HDD motors. Bad 5V kill HDD electronics.

13.
Power connectors. Make sure your power connectors (those white

plugs with yellow, black and red wires) fit well. Loose connectors

provide bad power. After running your PC for a while, say 15-30

minutes, touch your connectors, if they are hot, then there?s

something loose, replace with a spare connector and label the bad

connector. If you do system checkups, it is good to take note of heat

discoloration on power connectors and replace those bad ones;

14.
Black outs do not just kill lights, they kill HDDs. Black outs are

sometimes accompanied by bad power spikes and deadly voltage

fluctuations. If you can afford a good UPS, buy one.

15.
When transferring HDDs between systems don't just take one and

install into another and fire it up just like that. Please make sure you

get into BIOS first and make sure that your new system is set to auto.

If your old system detected the HDD using manual or non-standard

parameters, then duplicate the parameters first in BIOS in the new

system before booting up. You might scramble all your data if you

new system tries to read the HDD using wrong parameters.

16.
If you use your PC a lot, defrag your partitions once a month. If not,

defrag once every 3 months will be fine. For those of you who think

that defragmention speeds up your HDDs death, may I give a small

explanation. If your partition is quite fragmented, your HDD will be

doing a lot of unnecessary work by default, its head going back and

forth trying to get to the different parts of your files scattered all ove

your disk. Besides with a defragmented disk, you will have a more

responsive PC.

17.
Install enough RAM. You don't want your HDD swapping files back and

forth from system RAM and the swap file. Lots of work for the HDD,

slow PC.

18.
Partition your HDD. At least 2 partitions. One partition for you

Operating System. The other one for your data. This way if your OS

gets corrupted (and it happens) you don't have to perform PC

acrobatics to get your data back. You can reformat your OS partition

and be assured that your data is safe in a separate partition.

(In case your hard disk had a bad sector, use HDD Regenerator by dposoft. It Can Recover Damaged Sectors. I prefer it than Spinrite.)

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How-to build a computer

Hello new builder, I have seen many people posting requesting help/tips/how-to build a computer. Chances are if you are reading this you are one of those people anyways, lets get started.

First off lets start off with if you actually need a custom built PC or is a pre-built machine such as a dell or hp a better value for you.

Some of the questions I recommend you ask your self are:
What am I going to be using my computer for?
How often do I use my computer?
Do I plan on using my computer for anything more advanced in the near future?

If you are using your computer for music and the occasional game of solitare with some web browsing mixed in; perhaps you should consider a pre-built machine t will most likely be a better value because they buy there parts in massive quantities and are able to sell them way cheaper than you can ever buy them.

If your planning on a more intensive computer experience such as editing, gaming, or hacking (lol) you may want to consider building your own machine. It will be way higher quality product and a much better value than any pre-built system. It is also more "future-proof" since when you build your own you are most likely purchasing some of the highest quality parts on the market its safe to say you wont see it in any computer at best buy for at least two more years. Like 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM with a 890(AMD) series chipset or a x58(intel) series chipset on the motherboard.

Dont be afraid though just because a custom built PC is so much better doesn't mean you have to break the bank.
You can get away with 600 USD easy
you can be proud with 900-1100 USD
and you can brag your ass off to just about everyone for 1200-2400 USD.

I will be teaching you the basics of everything you should look out for when first building a computer.

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How to: Overclock Your Graphics Card.

How to Overcklock Your Graphic Card.


You will get about 10-15% more performance for free.
The only bad thing is that the temperature will increase and life of the hardware will decrease.


I know this work whit Nvidia but I think it works whit ATI to.

Start to download RivaTuner, Furmark and GPU-Z. Install the programs and follow the instructions.

Download GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
Download Furmark: http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/
Download RivaTuner: http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner

Start Riva Tuner. At the moment Riva tuner doesn't support the latest Nvidia drivers.
This is done under the tab "Power User". Navigate there and expand the list "System". A bit down in this list, a parameter called "Force Driver Version". This value will be changed to 18585, ie the driver's version number. Save the settings, click "OK". Restart the program.
Always keep an eye for the new version of Riva Tuner.

Although the program will still say that the drivers are not supported, but we can access the overclocking menu. Click on the small arrow to the right under Driver Settings. In the four icons that pup up you will choose the one to the left, that looks like an graphic card.

Click on "detect now" in the window.

The upper lever controls graphics processor (GPU) clock frequency, the middle takes care of the stream processors and the bottom changes the memory clock. Move the slider to the right to increase the frequency.

Now is the time to trim the clock frequencies. Start Furmark and GPU-Z. The first program is used to check if the clock frequencies is working and what temperature the graphics card reaches, and the other to see which clock frequencies used at the moment.

With Furmark and GPU-Z running, we return to overclocking tab in Riva Tuner and start raising the clock frequencies. It is easiest to start with only the GPU and then take care of the stream processors and memory by hand. Raise the clock gradually by 10-15 MHz at a time. Furmark ensures that the graphics card is under full load, which will appear when the temperatures shoots away.

Depending on the graphics card is used, sooner or later encounter a limit where graphics error occur. This is usually seen in Furmark as small dots or nails projecting from the hairy ball. When this occurs, lower the clock rate slightly and try again.

When you know the clock frequency GPU is capable of, just apply the same method on the stream processors and graphics memory, with small incremental increases in time. Should your computer freeze because of too high overclocking, just reboot, then the default settings will be loaded.

Let Furmark runing a moment to make sure that the clock frequencies are stable. Between 45 minutes and two hours will do it. When you are satisfied, it is possible to let the Riva Tuner apply the settings each time Windows boots. To do this, tick the option "Apply Overclocking at Windows startup" in the overclocking menu.

Now you are done. You can see how much the performance have increased by running 3Dmark before and after.

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Intel Overclocking Guide

First of all, you need the following programs :

CPUz:
Displays your current vcore, FSB, multiplier, RAM settings. You'll need it all the time.
RealTemp:
Displays the temperatures of the cores. Must have.
OCCT:
Used to check stability of the system.
Prime95:
Used to check stability of the system. Use this for 12h or OCCT for 2h.
Intel Burn Test:
Not for beginning overclockers. This program WILL stress the CPU, Memory, North Bridge, and other system components to their highest extent! Make sure your PC is properly cooled and ventilated! I prefer the beginners to use it after their system passes OCCT or prime95 test.

What is overclocking?

Overclocking is the process of making your hardware run faster then originally intended by the manufacturer. It is operating hardware (particularly CPU, RAM, motherboard, and video card) above the specs to which a piece of hardware is expected to, has been tested to, and is warranted to perform.

Overclocking is more of an art than a science. There is no combination of settings that will yield the best results for every system. it is and will be a trial and error process. Don't be afraid to experiment, but I suggest to always go slow. Experience can make overclocking easier.


What is FSB?

FSB is Front Side Bus also known as System BUS and connects the CPU with the main memory and is used to connect to other components within the computer. Depending on different processors, the FSB can range from 66MHz to 500MHZ and beyond. That means Rated FSB the quad pumped processors will range from 476MHz to 2000MHz and above.

Remember, throughout this tutorial and throughout all the tuts and overclocking discussions, try to think about external clock speed as FSB. Because, the latest processors are quad pumped. That means, the Rated FSB of these processors are 4 times the original FSB [I mean the external clock speed, that how intel owners name the original FSB]. Suppose, I say that the FSB is 333MHz, then the Rated FSB is 333MHz*4=1333MHz. But you don't need to worry about the rated FSB. All you need to know about the "FSB". Because the BIOS will allow you to edit the FSB, not the rated FSB.

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