Example build:
One thing I have found that helped me with my builds is to look at what is done by others. The guide that helped me a lot is the builder's bible by PC Gamer. It has an example build in there that is a LOT more detailed than the ones on most magazines. So I wanted to do one here as well.
Preparation:The build I am using as an example is my wife's PC I recently built. It is a standard mid level gaming capable PC so I thought it would be a good example. The typical tools you will need for a PC build are as follows:
A Phillips (aka cross head) screwdriver (various sizes, but mostly small and mid size ones).
A flathead screwdriver (not as often used but still may come in handy).
Scissors (to open all those packages you get)
Tape (maybe...not sure)
Zip Ties (a lot of them)
Lint free paper towel (maybe if you need to replace the thermal material)
A small flashlight can come in handy as well.
A kitchen magnet (to pick up all those screws you drop into some weird corner of your PC case).
Of the above the only real tools you will mostly use is a screwdriver and scissors and zip ties (lots of them ;D).
A good thing to use for lint free paper towels are coffee filter paper. Eyeglass paper is also good but more expensive.
You can find zip ties in most hardware stores. They come in large bags of like 100 for something like $5 or so. Even Walmart carries this stuff. They usually come in clear or black and for most builds thats fine so long as you are not color coordinating your zip ties (yes I am not joking, some do this).
You will also need a fairly good surface to work on. A table you don't mind scratching up is fine (I use a beat up coffee table). If you have an actual work bench, so much the better. It just needs to be clean.
Some people think that you need to get one of those grounding wrist straps. However I have seen a lot of builders on the various forums and I have yet found anyone who uses one of those wrist straps. It just doesn't seem to be necessary and the wires can sometimes get in the way such that they are more a problem than a solution. So long as you keep touching the case while working (which you will) to ground out any charge, you should be fine. With this said however, if you find that you are discharging a lot of static (ie if sparks are coming out of your fingers every time you try to grab something) its not a good day to build your rig and you may wreak something if sparks fly to your components. The best way to avoid this is to make sure the air is not so dry. Spring/Summer/Autumn are better to build your rig than winter (if you can help it).
This example build will be just a basic system and no discussion will be done on modding your computer. If you are interested in that, go join a good modding forum and make sure you get some decent safety products (like gloves, eyewear and a breather when painting).
Make sure you keep all your manuals and download any that are available from your manufacturer's website if you don't have one.
Ok with this said we can start on the build.
For this build the following components were used:
Case:
A CoolerMaster Centurion 5 case. Its been modded but it still has all the structure of a basic case.
PSU:
A Hiper Type R 580W modular power supply (the blue one)
CPU:
An AMD Opteron 165 dual core CPU Socket 939
Motherboard:
An ASUS A8N5X NForce4 Socket 939 NForce4 ATX motherboard
RAM:
A single stick of 1Gb Corsair Value Select 184 pin DDR 400 (lucked out and got one that had Samsung UCCC chips ;D)
Video Card:
Gigabyte GeForce 7600GT PCIex16 with passive cooling
Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA 3G (jumpered to SATA 150) 250Gb Hard Drive
Optical Drive:
BenQ 1650 x16 DVD +/- RW Burner
CPU Cooler:
Noctua NH U9 CPU heat sink/Tek Chain 92mm fan
(This is not necessary for a default build and the Opteron HSF is actually quite good although kind of loud)
One 120mm Coolermaster fan
(This is optional and more specific to my wife's rig. However, most cases often come with places where you can put additional fans, so you may want to do so. The one fan you definately need is the one that attaches to the back of the case. Often this comes with your PC case (like it did for the CM Centurion case) but not always)
The above components are nothing special but are just typical examples of components you can get for your system. As stated most motherboards come with all the necessary connectors so you need not get any. However, you may want to consider getting some round IDE cables to help with airflow in your case. If you are going to use the flat ribbon wires that come with most motherboards, make sure you fold them and put them away to the side of the case during installation so that they don't restrict airflow).
Also, if you are going to get an aftermarket heat sink and fan for your CPU, make sure it fits your components of the build. Some coolers (especially the large ones) may get in the way of components on your motherboard, add on components such as your video card, or your case. So if you go all gonzo and buy a Tuniq Tower for your CPU, you may have gotten one of the best air coolers available for your CPU but it may be so big, it will stick out of your case. If this is your first build (which I presume it is or else you would not be reading this) then you may want to stay with your stock heat sink and fan for the moment and once everything is up and running, take your time to get the appropriate after market cooler.
Finally, though not necessary, you may want to purchase some aftermarket thermal interface material. The stock material is fine but some people like to get the additional little performance improvement from a specialized TIM material. Also some of the aftermarket material may be easier to remove components if you want to rebuild your system later. Of the various aftermarket material, the most popular is Arctic Silver 5. It is a silver based metallic thermal grease. If you will be using the material for video card coolers and chipset coolers, you may want to get Arctic Silver Ceramique instead. It works almost as well as AS 5 and has ceramic material instead of metallic material in the paste and so avoids any small risk of shorting components. For your CPU you have an Intermediate Heat Spreader (IHS) that protects the chip but GPU's and chipset chips are more exposed. So the Ceramique may be better. Other decent TIM's are the Shin Etsu brand and a liquid kind from Zalman. Avoid most other TIM's as most don't work as well as these three. A small tube of AS 5 or AS Ceramique will cost around $5 to $7. The tube you get will be so tiny you will laugh at first but that tiny tube will work for like 10 PC builds or so (since you only use a small amount of material about the size of a grain of rice)
Finally, I tend to recommend getting something called ArctiClean TIM cleaner and surface preparation material from Arctic Silver. Though many use alcohol to clean the surfaces of the heat sinks, I found ArctiClean to be really really easy to use. You get two bottles, one to clean the surface and one to treat it such that it is ready to accept for connection (It gets rid of any film and oxidation on the surface of the heat sink and chips). It also has an orange smell which isn't too bad. See the site below to get instructions on how to use Arctic Silver and ArctiClean.
www.arcticsilver.com/Getting the thermal interface material nor the Arctic Clean is not necessary as the heat sinks usually come with its own TIM. But its always good to have in case you do need to replace the material.
Ok so much for the prep, next is the build itself:
CaseSo first thing is the PC case. Unpack the case and take it out of the box and gawk at the nice pretty case you purchased. Make sure there are no scratches or dings or anything physically damaged on the case. Find the manual for the case (if there is one, many don't come with one) and keep it in a safe place for reference.
Take off the side panels and make sure it comes off and on ok. The front face is often not easy to take off the first time. There are usually like six pressure contacts that are holding the front face in place. There usually is a small opening at the bottom of the front face (that usually lets some air through). You can grab this part and gently pull on the face to take it off. If this is difficult you can work on each of the pressure contacts, squeezing them to help them get through the holes. Refer to your owners manual to see if there is any description of how the front face is connected to the case.
Examine the Front face that you removed. There should be a few 5.25" and 3.5" drive bay covers. See how they are attached and make sure you can take them off. Sometimes they are just clipped on and sometimes they are fastened using other methods such as being screwed on. The clipped on usually just pop off if you push on the front. Don't end up trying to pop off a cover thats screwed on by pushing the front
Check the front of the inner chassis of the case. There are often metal sheets that cover the unused sections of the drive bays. If you ever need these bays, you will have to take off those metal sheets. Also, you should have an intake fan area near the bottom of the front chassis. Finally, your power, reset, connections and lights should be connected around here. Take a look at how they are connected. Take the time out to find what wire is connected to what object on the front.
A typical case will be made of aluminum or steel, have an area to put 5.25 and 3.5" drives in the front, a place to mount a front fan, two side panels, an open area where the motherboard will sit, a place for the power supply (usually at the top, sometimes at the bottom) and some openings in the back for the I/O plate and PCI slots. There will probably be a back fan and possibly be side fans or a top fan. The case will have several wires attached. Some will be for the on/off switch, the reset switch, the power LED light, the hard disk light and the speaker. Others exist for the front audio connection, some front USB connections and a firewire connection. There should be a front power button, and a reset button.
In the back, you will typically see a air grating that can fit a fan (80mm, 92mm or 120mm), a large opening for your Power Supply (either on the top like for the CM Centurion 5) or sometimes at the bottom and a series of covered narrow horizontal slots for your PCI expansions cards. These covers should come right off and you should make sure it does. You will also see a large rectangular vertical opening right above (in most cases unless you get one of those cases that mounts the motherboard upside down) your PCI slots. This opening is the I/O or input output panel opening. Many cases come with a generic I/O panel that is attached to the opening. Remove it as almost all motherboards come with its own specialized I/O panel. Be careful not to cut yourself since these panels can sometimes be sharp. Put it someplace for safekeeping.
Also some cases have additional gadgets such as tool-less drive bays, removable drive bays, air vents, side fan mounts, removable motherboard trays and such things. Get familiar with these things as well. Also check for sharp edges in any part of your case. If its a decent case, it should have some rolled edges on the metal that will not cut you when you are working on the build.
Learn as much about the case as possible in the beginning. Its harder to learn about your case when components are installed. Also read the manual, especially on the electrical connections of the various wires as well as any instructions on any tool-less components on the system (such as a tool less drive bay) and how they work. Once you are comfortable with the case, and know everything is working, then you can go on with the build.
Take off any removable bay drives, motherboard trays in your case. Also take off the rear fan from the case. You will need to remove fours screws in the back to do so. Put the fan and screw into a plastic bag so that you don't lose anything. The drive bays and motherboard tray are large enough that you probably will not need to put them in a bag. If you want, you can put them in some storage area for safe keeping. The reason for removing these things is to open the inside of the case as much as possible so that you can install the motherboard later.
Power Supply:Now many builders will argue that the PSU should go in last. This is because the power supply often has lots of dangling cables that can get in the way when installing stuff. I tend to like to put the PSU in right away as it often becomes real tricky to put this bulky box in once you have the motherboard and components in the case. This is up to you. If you purchased a modular power supply that can detach the component cables, do so. If you bought a standard power supply, take some rubber bands and bundle the dangling cables into a group and keep it away from the open area.
Anyway, open up your box containing the power supply. YOu probably will find the PSU packed in a sponge foam to prevent damage. You will also probably find a small manual. Its not really necessary to read the manual to connect a PSU but its always good to do so if this is your first build. The manual will tell you the different type of connectors you get. If you bought a modular PSU you will get a bunch of detached cables. Either keep them in the box or put them in a safe place. If you bought an OEM PSU (bulk) an open box item or a refurbished or used item, you may have just received the PSU and parts and no manual. You probably will survive without the manual but to be safe, check the manufacturer website for any possible download document.
All PSU's have many connectors on them. Some feed power to the motherboard and its components while others feed power to the peripheral devices. All the modern PSU's come with a 24pin main connector that connects to the motherboard (the older PSU's only had 20 pin). You will find the counterpart 24 pin socket somewhere on your motherboard (its a white socket usually). In addition to this you will find a small squareish 4 pin P4 connector that provides additional 12 power to the board. You should also find a corresponding 4 pin socket on your motherboard. Some of the newer motherboards have 8 pin P8 sockets and thus new PSU's also have corresponding 8 pin p8 connectors. These three pins comprise the main connectors you need to connect to the motherboard. A few motherboards (especially SLI boards) will have one more 4 pin molex connector socket to feed the additional graphics cards. Your PSU will come with many 4 pin molexes and you can use one of them.
In addition to the connectors to the motherboard, you will find connections to the peripherals. The main connection is the 4 pin molexes. These, depending on the pin connection can provide 5V, 7V or 12V of DC power. They usually connect to the various peripherals such as hard drives, optical drives, front panel electronics, and sometimes fans. For SATA hard drives, most new PSU's should have a couple of small narrow connectors that are power connectors to SATA drives. There is also probably one small 4 pin connector that powers the floppy. Finally most new power supplies have one or two PCIe connectors which are there to power very power hungry video cards (such as the Radeon X1900 series or the GEForce X800 series cards). Yes there are a lot of connectors but once you get familiar with them they are not too hard to remember. You can use the manual to see the different connector types. If you did not get a manual or if the manual does not give a picture, check the link to the Hiper 530W PSU that shows the different connectors available.
www.hipergroup.com/English/products/hpu-4m530.htmlFor the moment, since we are just installing the PSU to the case, don't worry about the connectors and just keep the wires in one clean bundle, or detached if its a modular PSU.
The power supply attaches to the back of the case. You will see a big irregular square hole often either at the very top or very bottom of the case. You will notice 4 holes (or 3 holes and 1 slot) to which you can screw on your power supply. You power supply should have come with screws.
Many power supplies often come with a big 120mm fan (such as the Hiper 530W PSU shown above). It looks like its facing the top of the power supply but in fact this is the bottom of the power supply. Make sure you attach the power supply to the case such that the big fan is facing down (if the PSU is on the top and up if the PSU is on the bottom) so that the fan faces into the open area of the case. Some fans come with small 80mm fans on the two ends of the PSU (such as the Hiper 3S350 that is shown in the same website as the 530). If so, look to see which end has the opening where the main power outlet cable attaches and make sure that is facing out the back of your computer. This side should also have an main on/off switch. Use the 4 screws to screw down the power supply to the case.
Ok with the PSU now installed in the case, lets go to the motherboard.
Motherboard:Ok so put the case in a safe place off the desk or work surface. Clear the area and get the box containing the motherboard and open the package. When you look inside, you will probably find the motherboard safely packed in a static free bag. Aside from the mobo, you will get a bunch of stuff to make the board function. You should at least get one IDE/PATA cable (wide ribbon wire), one Floppy cable (less wide ribbon wire), one or more SATA cables (narrow wires with clips at the ends), an I/O panel (to replace the generic one that came with a case) and a CD that contains the drivers and such. You may also get additional items such as a 4pin molex to sata power connection, USB PCI slot connections, serial and game connectors, etc. You should also get a manual...hopefully. If you don't get a manual in the box, check the manufacturer's website as there are often downloadable manuals. The motherboard manual is quite important so if you can download, do so.
So now take the motherboard out of the bag and lay the bag down on the table or work surface and put the motherboard on the bag. Use the manual to find all the components you will be needing to connect. Here are links to three examples of motherboards and their connections. The first is an AMD socket AM2 ATX board with SLI, the second is an Intel socket LGA 775 ATX board with non-SLI and the third is an AMD AM2 micro-ATX board. Click on the "image view" to get the description of each of the connections.
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131593www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138027Also, find out all the locations that you will have to attach screws to fasten the motherboard onto the case. Typical ATX motherboards use 9 screws to attach the mobo to the case. These 9 screws are arranged in a 3 x 3 screw pattern (3 rows, 3 columns). Check your manual to see where these are located. Micro ATX sometimes uses only eight screws. The mobo is not attached directly to the case but use spacers to raise the mobo from the case (and avoid shorts). DONT SCREW THE MOBO DIRECTLY TO THE CASE (if you do, don't feel bad as you are not the first). For the moment, keep your mobo on the desk.
After you looked over the motherboard and get familiar with the connection locations. You can get ready to put the CPU onto the motherboard.
(to be continued)