Build your own PC



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Tools and Equipment

There are a few tools that you will need to begin assembling our computer. The following is a good starting point, as they include the bare minimum to build a working computer.

Basic Tools

Before you begin building or refitting a computer, you will need some basic tools:

• 4 head screwdriver
• Needlenose pliers
• Motherboard manual
• Anti-static Wrist Strap or Grounding Mat

Optional, but useful

Some other tools and equipment can come in handy as well, such as:

A magnet for grabbing screws - very useful (keep this away from magnetically sensitive computer components, though!)

• Wire stripper
• Electrical tape
• Flashlight
• A second, working computer to swap parts, look for tips, ask for help online, download drivers and patches, etc. - very useful.
  

Preparation

Find a dry, well-ventilated place to do your work. You should have plenty of light to see your

components with, and if possible, you should choose an area without carpet on the floor, as

carpet tends to attract a lot of static, and most of this can be averted by choosing a conductive

floor surface. An unfinished basement is a perfect work location!

To assemble your components, you will need a basic toolkit. For this kit, you will need a

Head (cross-shaped) screwdriver, and an anti-static wrist strap, for grounding yourself with (these can be purchased at your local electronic supply store) - this can often be a huge saving over the amount of money that you waste by destroying your components with static electricity. Do not be tempted to connect yourself directly to a tap or other grounded object with only a length of copper wire, if the machine is still plugged in and there is an electrical fault, the consequences could be fatal. Anti-static wrist straps have high resistance, thus limiting any potential current flowing through your body to safe levels. Unpack all the components, and put them on top of the anti-static bags they came in, as this will prevent stray static from reaching your components. Make sure you read the following section, as it contains some important safety information.

Safety Precautions

1. Dismantling electronic components such as your Power Supply or Monitor is an

extremely dangerous thing to do - do not do it! They contain several high-voltage exposed

components and can cause you a severe electric shock if you touch them. So, please, don't even

think of trying.

2. Nobody except you is at fault if you shock your components with static electricity. Make
sure that you take the precautions in the previous paragraph to ground yourself from static

electricity, such as with an anti-static wrist strap or grounding mat. (Note: if you really must

work on a computer and haven't got proper anti-static equipment, it is usually OK if you make sure that you don't move about much; are not wearing any static-prone clothing; handle components by the edges; and regularly (once a minute or so), touch a grounded object.)

3. Please construct your computer in a dust-free environment! The worst thing for components (besides static and it mostly affects fans) is being clogged with dust. If this occurs, the fans will fail and cause your system to overheat and fail. However, if they are clogged, just buy a can of compressed air and blast the fans with it to clean them.

4. Unplug your PC's Power Supply before installing or removing any components - if power is flowing to components as they are installed or removed, they can be seriously damaged.

5. Be wary of sharp edges! Many PC cases have sharp, unfinished edges. This is especially so on interior surfaces, and where the case has been cut or punched out. Use care and take your time to avoid cut hands.

Construction

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Motherboard and Power Supply

Start by putting your case down on your work surface, with the side opposite of the case door facing down, and open the case. Many cases include power supplies that are already installed on the back of the computer. However, if you buy a power supply separately, install the PSU in

the top at the back of the case. Then try to find the motherboard standoffs that should have come with the case. They are screws with screw holes on the top. Insert the standoffs into the holes on the motherboard plate in the case that correspond with the

holes on your motherboard and screw them into the bottom of the case. Also, remove the I/O Shield that came with the case, and put it in the I/O Shield that came with your motherboard.
Insert the motherboard by placing it into the open case. The ports in the upper left-hand corner should line up with the I/O Shield and go through the holes in it. The screw holes should line up with the motherboard standoffs. Put a screw into each hole in the motherboard with a hole below it. Now that you have your motherboard in, you may plug in the other components.

CPU

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An example of a CPU socket, Socket A As the installation of the different makes of CPU can differ between brands, it is generally safer to refer to the manufacturer's instructions, that are provided with the CPU. If you are using a thermal paste with your CPU, follow the directions that came with them for details on how to apply it. The two things that go wrong the most often and most expensively (minimum of a killed CPU, sometimes more) in building one's own computer are both related to the CPU and its cooler:

1. Switching the computer on "just to see if it works" before adding any CPU cooling unit.

Without cooling, CPUs heat up at extreme rates (a CPU heats up anywhere between ten times

and thousand times as fast as a cooking area on your stove!) By the time you will get the first
display on the screen, your CPU will already be severely overheating and might be damaged
beyond repair.

2. Mounting the CPU cooler improperly. Read the instructions that came with your CPU
and cooler very carefully and ensure you are using all components in the correct order and
correct place. Make sure you get a cooler that is compatible with the CPU you have. Most brands come with multiple mounting brackets that will suit all different chipsets, but it's best to check for

compatibility just in case. If using thermal paste, apply it only to the CPU die (the square piece of silicon in the middle of the CPU) and do so sparingly -- most modern CPUs take no more than a grain of rice-sized dab of thermal paste. Some people do like to wipe some onto the heatsink's surface and then wipe it smoothly off so that bits of it may get into tiny holes for better heat transfer.

If using a thermal pad supplied with your cooler, make sure you remove any protective tape
just before installing and do not get it dirty - and do not combine thermal pads with thermal
paste, it's either one or the other. Then, check that you install the cooler in the right orientation
and that you set it flat on the CPU die without exerting undue pressure on any edges or corners
- the latter can make small pieces of the die break-off, killing the CPU.
One option you may consider, before installing the heatsink is to "lap" the heatsink, which
means to smooth out the bottom surface. To do this, start by sanding in smooth circular motions
with coarse grain sandpaper to smooth out the worst of the unevenness, then, as it starts to get
smoother, switch to a finer-grained sandpaper (the numbers go up as the sandpaper is finer, so
something such as 60 is coarse while 220 will be very fine.) If you get it right, it should have a
the surface which feels completely smooth to the touch where you can almost see a reflection in it.
Some companies producing heatsinks lap the surface themselves and this will be unnecessary,
but, it is very rare. A lapped heatsink is far more effective due to having better contact with the
chip. Tighten the cooler using only the specified holding devices - if you did everything right, they will fit. If they don't fit, check your setup - most likely something is wrong. After mounting the cooler, connect any power cables for the fan that is attached to the cooler. Then, if everything is seated tightly and firmly, you can safely run your first test, making sure the CPU fan does run (you have a few seconds of safety margin here, but if the fan is not running, switch off the system and check your cabling quickly.) As an aside to the instructions above, it has been my personal experience that fitting the CPU and heat sink is best done on a supportive surface (a telephone directory on a table in my case) prior to installation, to avoid excessive flexing of the motherboard.

RAM

Next, you will need to install your RAM. Start by pushing on the levers on both sides of the

DIMM socket, so that they move to the sides. Do not force them too hard.

Put the RAM module in the socket. Line up the notch in the center of the module with the one

in the center of the RAM socket, making sure to insert it the right way. Force the module until
both levers go into the notches on both sides of the module. Do not use too much force as it may break the RAM module. Start adding RAM at "Bank 0" or "DIMM 1". If you don't start from "Bank 0" or "DIMM 1" the system will think there is no RAM and not boot.
On newer motherboards with 4 slots, you'll see alternating colors. For example, slot 1 is blue,
slot 2 is black, slot 3 is blue, slot 4 is black. If you were to put 1 gigabyte of ram in your pc, it's
best to use dual channel 512MBx2 chips. Put the first 512MB chip in
slot 1, and put the 2^nd chip in slot 3 (the two slots that are blue) - leaving slot 2 empty. This will give you better performance, vs. putting 1Gb in slot 1, or two 512Mb chips in slots 1 and 2.

Video Card

You may or may not have an AGP video card. Your motherboard may have a built-in video

adapter, or you might have a PCI video card. If you do not have an AGP video card, skip this
section. Install the video card into the AGP socket. This is always the top expansion slot near the back of the computer. AGP slots are often brown, but can also be strange colors such as fluorescent
green. Check the motherboard for levers (or similar devices) that are part of the AGP slot to help hold the card in place. These must be retracted before insertion of the card. Check the motherboard's manual for information on how to use these devices (if your motherboard has one.) Push the card into the socket (AGP slots are often pretty tight, don't be afraid to push it until it's well inserted), then screw it in at the top of the metal bracket. If it has a power connector, connect it to a 4-pin molex connector. If it has a pass-through, do not connect it to a hard drive.

Drives

Next, install the hard drive and optical drives.

Before you install IDE/ATA drives, you will need to set the drives jumpers so that your
motherboard knows which drive is which; consult your motherboard/drive's instructions on
how to do this. The jumpers configurations are usually either printed on the back, or on the top
of the drive. Drives can be configured in 2 ways: Drive Select or Cable Select. Cable select
automatically assigns slave/master based on the plug on the IDE cable the drive is plugged into.
Put the jumper on CS. In drive select, master/slave is determined by the jumper. In this mode,
configure one of the drives the master, and the other slave. If the IDE channel has only one
drive, then make that drive master.
Each IDE/ATA channel can handle two drives, a master and a slave. SATA can only handle
one drive, so there is no need to adjust jumpers. How a drive is installed will depend on the
case. When using an IDE cable, plug the two connectors that are closer together into the 2
drives, and the third to the controller or motherboard. The connector furthest from the board
should be attached to the Master drive. Make sure the drive that you will install your OS on is
primary master. (Note: IDE connectors are keyed, so it
should be impossible to insert them backward. However, it doesn't require very much force to do this, and you may destroy your motherboard if so. Also, look carefully at the drive and the cable connection before you try to connect them. You will probably see a "missing" pin on the drive, and a corresponding blocked socket on the connector. If you break a pin on the drive, you will probably have a worthless drive. Note: most parallel IDE cables have a colored stripe down one side. That colored stripe signifies "pin 1" - and usually will line up next to the molex power connection on your drive. Use this rule of thumb if your connectors aren't keyed.) Next, plug a 4 pin molex power
connector into each hard drive and optical drive. If you are installing the power connector to a
SATA drive only installs one of the power connectors. Some drives have the option of using
either the SATA power connector (a flat about 1" wide connector) or the standard molex
connector; use one or the other, not both. If you install a floppy disk drive, the cable is very similar to the IDE cable, but with fewer wires. Floppy drives do not have master/slave. BUT the floppy disk connector is not usually keyed, and will go in either way up! One wire in the IDE cable will be colored differently: this is pin 1. There is usually some indication on the floppy drive as to which side this is. The power plug for a floppy is 4 pins in a line, but rather smaller than a molex one.

Expansions and Connections

Now, install any PCI cards that you have. These generally include sound cards, network cards, video cards, and TV tuners. These fit into the white slots that are just below your AGP slot (if your motherboard has one). Also plug in any power cords, including the 20pin and the 4 pin cords that you haven't plugged in yet. Before you finish up and power it up, you need to connect the power/reset buttons and front panel lights. The plugs from the front of the case will be labeled. The pins on the motherboard may be labeled, but they will be difficult to read because they are small. See the foldout that came with the motherboard for where to connect these connectors. The front panel
LEDs are polarised: usually, the positive wire is white. In addition, you can optionally connect any case-specific port if it is supported by the motherboard. Some common examples include USB ports and sound ports. Next, close the case and take your computer to where you will be using it. Plug in the power cord, mouse, keyboard, monitor, and any other peripherals you may have to the computer.

Power Up

Then press the power button. If smoke appears (it shouldn't, unless your power supply or cooling systems are really bad), or if the computer doesn't do anything, check the steps above to make sure you haven't missed anything. Give special attention to the cables and power connections. If the computer does appear to come on, but, you hear beeps, listen carefully to the beeps and then turn it off and refer to your motherboard's manual for the meaning of the beeps.
Some boards have an optional diagnostic device, usually, a collection of LEDs, which when properly plugged in will inform you of the nature of the problem. Instructions for installing this as well as the meaning of its display should be in the manual for the motherboard. If it turns on but the only thing that comes on is your power supply, turn off your computer. This probably means something is shorted, and leaving it on could damage the parts.
At this point, you will wish to set certain options in the Computer's BIOS (usually be pressing
'F1' or 'Del' a few seconds after boot.) These options will be explained in the motherboard manual. In general, the default options are OK, but you may wish to set the computer's hardware clock to the correct time and date. The BIOS is also where you determine the default boot order of the system, typically Floppy, then CD-ROM, then Hard Disc.
If you want a further quick test, before you install an operating system, you may find a bootable
CD-ROM such as Knoppix extremely useful.