Buliding My First Computer - Component Check

Hey Big_B;

Majority of the stuff came in today - All I am missing is the RAM and the GFX card that wont be here till friday. Should I start a partial build today or just wait till the weekend when all the stuff is in. Also any specific tools I would need? I have a phillips screwdriver / flathead screwdriver and a ziplock plastic bag and an antistatic wrist guard. I feel like I'll do fine hooking up all the peripherals like the HDD / Ram / Vid card but I'm really nervous about the motherboard and CPU installation as well as the PSU installation into the case and then routing the cables appropriatley - Any advice.

 

I'd wait till you have all your parts. If anything, read the manuals for the parts you have right now, particularly the motherboard. Study the jumpers and headers, along with the front panel connector (this includes the headers for your power and reset switches---rather important stuff). RTFM is the best policy (Read the F'in Manual ), even moreso if you don't dink around your PC like some people do.

Before you toss everything in the case, install the CPU, CPU heatsink, RAM and video card on the motherboard and place it on a flat, non-conductive surface (like the motherboard box). Hook up the power supply and monitor next. Now, once you know where the power switch header is, use the flathead screwdriver to short the two pins; this will start up the system.

If something is screwy, you'll know sooner than later so that you don't have to disassemble everything. It shouldn't happen, but it's better to test the core components out first so that you know "hey, this stuff works fine".

This also makes installation of the system easier. It's much easier to install the CPU and RAM with the motherboard outside the case than inside. Yeah, you've got a roomy case, but having no restrictions is even better.

I'd route cables last after you've got it up and running. It should all work fine, but, if it were to happen that things went sour, you'd have put in a lot of extra labor

 

Thanks Big_B - Will let you know how it goes.

 

Hey Big_B and everyone else - PC Build is DONE!!!!!!! and now for my acceptance speech - "Thanks to Big_B without whom this would not as possible as well as countless other HWF members....." - lol - but in all seriousness - it wasnt as bad as I had expected - pretty much everything snapped into place - it took about 4 hours with Windows install. So the next step I guess is to update all the drivers, update the BIOS, chipset and processor. I was reading somewhere that I should download the chipset and processor updates directly from Intel? Is this a good idea?

I guess I would look for an update for the Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe processor and the motherboard the ASUS P5B Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express - the P695 express chipset? I assume this is right?

Oh - the whole build went smooth except one minor error - I was looking for thermal paste that may have come with the processor and the bundled heatsink - but I couldnt find it so then I noticed that the heatsink had contact pads which I accidently touched. I had a tube of AS5 but I did not want to apply this over the contact pads as I didnt know how this would react with the pads already being in place. I tried to wipe of any finger residue by dabbing a clean plastic ziplog bag - since I didnt want to get any cloth fibre stuck on the contact pads.

I just want to make sure that this is not going to screw up the system in anyway. The processor def. did not overheat in the windows install because if it did - it should shut down, right? Is there anyway to check if the contact pads are touching the processor fine? Can I monitor the temperature using some software? Am I just being really paranoid or should I worry about this? Thanks once again to everyone for all their help.

 

Yeah, if the temperature was hitting a high level, the system would shut down by default. [google]Speedfan[/google] is a program that will sit in your taskbar and display your temps.

Intel, as the manufacturer of the P965 chipset has the latest drivers, and that you definitely want to download a driver for. While there are CPU driver updates, I've yet to see any performance increases or hits from using or not using one. Microsoft may have one on Windows update, but don't feel pressured to get it.

The drivers you do need are:
Chipset
Video card
Sound card

The chipset driver should be installed first.

Everything else shouldn't need one.

 

Thanks Big_B - I am a little confused with all the downloads out there - Can you direct me on which one to download for my P965 Express Chipset? Also should I download the Chipset Installer Utility? Download Search Results

 

This is it.

 

Hey Big_B - I have been doing some more updates on the system so I guess I have been stressing the system a little bit. I did install Speedfan 4.31 and these are my results -

System - 33C - min 33 max 33 mean 33
CPU - 43C - min 42.5 mx 48.5 mean 42.8
Aux - 106C- min 105.5 mx 111.5 mean 105.5
HDD - 33C - min 32 max 33 mean 32.5

I am really concerned about the Aux - Is this the graphics card? Or is this normal? I am pretty sure that the fan for the gfx card is running. Also is the CPU temp okay? Any suggestions. Thanks.

vcash

 

GPU temps run very hot, but I'm not sure what safe temps are for them. I think it's on the warm side, but if it's that hot, you will feel the heat. The cooler will be warm (if it's not, there's contact issues with the cooler and the GPU itself). Everything else looks good.