How long will it take a newbie like me to put this together?

Ok, I am a computer programmer, so I am a software guy. I have done very little with hardware. I have installed my own harddrives, memory and power supplies, but I have never started from scratch before. I read the instructions that came with the mobo and it seems like quite a task. Maybe I am making a bigger deal out of it than it really is. I have attached a picture of all my components. I didn't put my new case in the picture because it is too big, I also left out the DVD-ROM and DVD Burner because they are still in my existing computer. So basically, how long should this take? I only ask because I don't want to start it and then realize it is an 8 hour project or something and have to quit in the middle of it because I have to go to work or whatever. Do I need a static wrist band? Thanks for the help.

 

If youy take your time and be methodical, making sure you read all your manuals (I can't stress this enough) it should take you about 1.5 to 2 hours.

 

It says to put a thin layer of the thermal grease on. How much should I start with? A pea sized? Dime Sized? How much is a thin layer? I heard if you put to much you can ruin your CPU.

 

Your cooler should have a pad of thermal paste on the bottom already. If it has not apply a small (pea sized) amount, then smear it thinly with a credit card across the area that will contact with the cpu. Ideally it should be about 0.5 mm thick.

 

to be realistic give yourself an entire day to build and the next day to set up.
This way you can go slow and relax.

Thermal grease wise depends on what processor your using.
There should be a thermal pad on the bottom of the heatsink that came with the processor or sometimes you have to put it on yourself. Although that arctic silver in you pic would be much much better. Files on how to apply thermal compound can be found on the net easily plus the instructions for attaching your heatsink will be in the box with your processor.

On motherboards most of the manual is documentation and just tells you where things are. One thing people get confused about is jumpers. Most motherboards have their jumpers set up already and you shouldnt have to change them.

You can get away without using an anti-static wrist band but lets face it you might as well use one as its not worth the small risk of frying an expensive componant like you graphics card.

 

The important thing is not to rush.

It doesn't matter if you take all day.

Read the manual, make sure you know what you are doing.

You don't want to blow it up or something stupid by trying to build it in an hour.

 

It took me 3 hours on my first computer. I layed everything out and did a lot of hiding wires and cables. Make sure you double/triple check everything and use a paper thin layer of thermal compound on the CPU, it's supposed to fill small gaps between heatsink and CPU not make a buff.

 

It varies from person to person. Retail heatsinks will have a thermal pad on them. If you use the pad, DO NOT add thermal paste. Personally, I'd use a razor blade to scrape it off and clean it off with some isopropyl alcohol first. Then, you use a thin layer of thermal paste---very small amount.

Time-wise...that depends, but I'd set aside time to 1.)READ the manuals and familarize yourself with the motherboard's layout and headers. 2.)Test the motherboard outside the case. You need to have the CPU, 1 stick of RAM, the CPU heatsink and a video card installed. This way, you know the basic setup works or not, making it much easier to troubleshoot.

I'm very methodical to my builds and am picky about wiring. I can easily spend a day working on a system, but that depends on how many components you have.

 

How can I test the mobo outside of the case?

 

Look over my post again.

"You need to have the CPU, 1 stick of RAM, the CPU heatsink and a video card installed."

You want at least the monitor and keyboard hooked up at this point as well. I'm guessing you know you'll need the power supply hooked up as well.
Set it on a flat surface (the closed motherboard box works great for this) and use a flat-head screw driver to short the power switch jumpers.

 

Ok, I have got everything installed, but the directions for the mobo, videocard and case are lacking in some areas. They don't explain how to hook up all of the cables that are coming out of the power supply. I'm not sure which cables go directly to the mobo. Also, the directions for the video card said to hook up the power cord to the video card. I think maybe those directions are for AGP only video cards. Do PCI-E videocards need their own power cable? Here are some of the cables that I have left over that I am not sure what they are used for. Any ideas? Thanks a bunch, I feel like I am so close to powering this thing up.

 

Some PCIe cards do, but I don't think the 6600GT's require enough juice to warrant the extra power connector. However, you should check the manual. If it's not mentioning that you need to have some extra power hooked up, you don't need it.

As far as the cables go, from left to right: SATA cable, floppy, IDE, SATA power adapter, and a bracket, although for what I can't say just by the looks. Probably for more USB and/or Firewire ports. There's color coded ports on the motherboard that you'd match up with the bracket.

The large 20-pin block coming from the power supply matches up with the 20-pin block on the motherboard. If you want to go anywhere, you'll need to have this plugged in. From the pic, I can't tell, but if there's a 2x2 pin block on the motherboard, you'll want to run the 2x2 (4-pin) power lead from the power supply as well. The 4-pin connectors in one line (Molex connectors) are good for the drives and such.

 

Don't do what I did and drop anything.

 

Ok, I got those cables installed, but these intructions for the case and mobo suck. I've got all of these other cables and I am not sure what they are for.

Ok I attached some pics, here are the pic names and what I am confused about.

MiscWires - There are a ton of these little wires coming from the top of the case. The instructions really are not any help. They just say "ground", "ret-r", "mic" and "L-out". Also there are other wires coming from that spot that are not labled.

PSUWires - These two wires are different from the other ones. One is just a big black end and the other one is white, but it looks nothing like the other power ends coming from the psu.

Sata - Do I need to connect a power supply to the sata cord on the left and one directly to the harddrive itself?

Overall - Just a big pic to help you see an overall shot.

 

The wires coming from the top, are for your usb/firewire...and or mic input/headphone jack. Those are totally optional for you, but are very convenient. On each one of those cables...check to see if they are labled...they mite say, USB1, or USB2, or FIREWIRE/IEEE 1394. When looking in ur motherboard manual, there will be connectors to insert these labled wires into...also saying, USB1 or something like that...USB1 does not mean its usb1.1, just USB set 1. Again, those wires coming from the top or totally optional, if u have usb ports in the back, and or firewire, then u can worry about these wires after your computer is up and running.

The set that says, "ret r" L-out and mic..are for that mic port on the top of ur computer. Those were very confusing to me at first as well, as my mobo manual did not say what the wires with the case said..so i had to do some searching around for people that had a setup similar to mine. But...i suggest u worry about that later, as we want to get ur machine up and running, that is ur 1st priority.

The PSU leads from the psu..that HUGE cable one that has 20 pings...its the huge cable in the picture that looks like it has snake skin...that connects to the huge connector on ur mobo that has 20 pins, 2 rows of 10...near the cpu...kinda transluecent looking..And that white one ur talkin about (4-pin connector)...that is for p4's, proving the extra power, that connector is located near the cpu also...but since u have no pentium4, dont worry about that connector.

Your SATA hard drive only needs 2 connections to work, the red wire that came with the drive, one end goes to the motherboard, look in the manual to see where it has the SATA1 OR 2 connectins...then plug one end there, the other end goes to the back of the SATA drive, near the left end. Now that sata drive needs power...but a specific power cable...look on the leads from ur PSU for a connector that looks diff from all the rest, not including the ones we talked about above, it should be black, and very thin, and will connect near the cable u just plugged in a second ago to the drive, on it right side. I know this is a lot...but i believe i covered everything. I hope this helps u lots...provide more pictures if need be.

 

ahhhhh clean up the wires please! Take a look at some of my pics to get an idea of how you can route them.

An internal shot of my case
http://img171.exs.cx/img171/8888/p1130178s5si.jpg

Another from a different angle...
http://img171.exs.cx/img171/2193/p1130175s5at.jpg

yet another
http://img171.exs.cx/img171/7753/p1130171s9tu.jpg

Last internal shot
http://img171.exs.cx/img171/3103/p1130168s6bp.jpg

Oh ya, nice build!

 

Hey Extreme,

The way that you have routed your cables and wires looks great......that being said, I have no idea how you pulled that off............I wish I could get mine looking like that.

 

thanks King. it just takes a little bit of times and some planning. Once you finish wiring it, go back and rewire some of the wires that are still exposed. Youll notice new ways and new areas of your case to wire it even better. GL

 

Ok, I will have to give it a try at some point because your case looks great.

 

Thats very neat. Where did all those cables go?! In mine my PSU wires are in abundance and just can't find a place to hide them.