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How to build a Pc
While still not the easiest thing to do, building a PC has become a rewarding project for someone with advanced electronic skills. There is nothing more rewarding then being able to say "I built it my self".
With this in mind we present this article on how to build a Personal computer. We have tried to include are the major steps however this story in no way covers the complete scope of a pc building project. We do hope it will give the novice pc builder an overall view as to what is involved in the assembly of a desk top computer.
Building a PC
Mounting the
Drives
The external bay is located between the two other
bays; forcing you to mount your hard drive directly next to your
external 3.5" drive (unless you possess a 5.25" mounting kit).
Before mounting any IDE devices, it is advisable to set up the
master/slave relationships now (see below for more
information).
The hard drive slides easily into the bay, although the bay may need to be flexed outwards slightly.
The bays are constructed so that plastic leaf springs press firmly against the sides of the drives. This is important since there is only one screw-mounting hole accessible for 3.5" drives and only two for 5.25" drives. Normally when installing a drive, it is desirable to mount with as many screws as possible, not just to secure the drive in the bay, but to also dampen vibrations. The leaf springs' pressure against the drives probably provides adequate dampening.
As you can see from the picture to the left, it would be
a bad idea to leave the external 3.5" bay vacant. Note the mounted
hard drive visible underneath the open bay.
I mounted the floppy drive in the open external bay. It was mounted in identical fashion as the hard drive. By the way, I used an LS-120 drive instead of a normal floppy drive. Yes, yes, I know that they are not incredibly popular, but for only a little over $40 and being able to read 120 MB disks as well as normal floppies, the LS-120 drives are much more flexible than simple floppy drives. I have an LS-120 boot disk with several utilities and all of the drivers I need to install the system. This makes system installation a lot more foolproof. In the past, I have even placed an entire, though minimal, installation of Windows on an LS-120 disk.
When installing the CD-ROM drive, be sure to slide it in
from the front of the case because the faceplate won't fit through
the bay opening.
Here is a picture of the three mounted drives from inside
the case.
Installing the Power Supply
Since this is an
ATX case, it requires an ATX power supply. I recommend getting a 300
W unit since today's processors and graphics cards are power hungry.
Requiring only four screws, the power supply is easy to mount.
It is a good time to check the power supply to insure
that it is set for the correct voltage. On the power supply shown,
this is done with the red switch.
Also, make sure that the power supply switch is turned off.
Powering the Case Fan
Be sure to attach the
power connector of the case fan to one of the power cords coming
from the power supply. With the high speed of today's
microprocessors extra fans are necessary to insure air circulation.
Mounting the Motherboard
Before you mount the
motherboard into the case, be sure to attach the supplied
faceplate for the motherboard ports. This is accomplished easily
from the inside of the case. Carefully slide the ATX motherboard in
position, guiding the ports through the faceplate.
There are six or more mounting holes for an ATX motherboard. You should use the supplied brass colored screws to do this, but be careful not to over tighten them since brass is a soft metal the mounting holes are easy to strip.
Once the motherboard is secured, attach the ATX power
connector.
Press the ATX power connector on securely until it locks in place
Adding Memory
For this article I used the
Chaintech 6CJR1 i820 motherboard. This is an unusual motherboard in
that it has two DIMM slots and one RIMM slot. You might have noticed
in the last photograph what appears to be memory in the RIMM slot.
This is not memory, but a continuity card that RDRAM systems require
in unused slots. I needed to add a RIMM for testing, so I had to
remove the continuity module. RIMM slots are similar to DIMM slots
in that the sticks are locked in place with tabs. I had to unlock
the continuity module by pressing downwards on the tabs on both ends
of the slot.
After I removed the continuity module, I very carefully
eyed the shiny blue RIMM making sure I lined up the notches in it
with the key in the RIMM slot.
After carefully aligning the keys, press the RIMM (or DIMM -- DIMMs are similarly keyed and the slots are very similar) straight down into the socket. This usually requires some force. Apply pressure until the RIMM (or DIMM) is seated and the tab locks engage. Press the tabs upwards to insure that they are firmly engaged as shown in the photo to the left.
Although I don't recommend that you stick your fingers
inside your computer when it is running, be extra careful around
RIMMs. The pretty blue metal on the RIMM is a heat spreader. RIMMs
can get hot when they are in use.
Installing
the Microprocessor
The Chaintech motherboard has an FCPGA
compliant Socket 370 microprocessor socket. "FCPGA" stands for "flip
chip pin grid array." The pin grid array part is pretty easy to
understand as the chip has 370 or more pins sticking out of its bottom.
The "flip chip" part is a little more obscure. Intel
packages its older chips so that the active circuitry faced the
motherboard. This protected the chip a little, but it meant that
most of the heat radiated into the motherboard. As chip speed
increased, heat became a bigger problem. Intel has tried to address
this by literally flipping the chip upside down so that the
microprocessor's guts now lie face up and come in much closer
contact with the heat sink. This has made heat sinks more efficient,
but FCPGA chips must be handled with care as they are easily
damaged. Furthermore, the chip is thinner and there is now only a
small, extruded, delicate rectangle of actual silicon in contact
with the heat sink. This can result in a catastrophe if the heat
sink is not installed properly.
To place the chip in the socket, the locking mechanism of
the socket needs to be disengaged. To do this, press the bar
downwards and outwards to free it, and then lift it all of the way
up.
The microprocessor and the socket are both keyed to prevent the chip from being inserted incorrectly. On two corners of the chip, pins are missing, as are the corresponding holes in the socket. Make sure you very carefully align the chip accordingly.
The PGA370 socket is a "Zero Insertion Force" (ZIF)
socket, so the chip should fall into place with little force once
aligned correctly. If the chip does not drop cleanly into the
socket, DO NOT FORCE IT. Remove the chip and carefully examine it
for bent pins. If all pins are straight, realign the chip and press
in gently into the socket. Examine the chip carefully to insure that
it is fully seated, then lower the socket lever and lock it in
place.
Be careful when choosing a heat sink. Because the FCPGA package is thinner than older packaging, many heat sinks will not properly fit. I used a Cyclone Heat sink. Although it seems to work well, I have found that the mounting apparatus is too tight and needs to be worked many times by hand until it loosens enough so that it is easy and safe to install.
Before installing any heat sink, the surface that comes
in contact with the chip must be coated with a thermal compound to
insure optimal heat transfer. The Air cooler came with thermal
compound already applied in a small patch, but I smeared it across
the entire surface to both lubricate the face of the heat sink to
minimize the possibility of scratching the chip and to insure that
there is not an excess of the compound between the chip and the heat
sink.
Lock the heat sink in place according to the instructions
that accompany it. The Air cooler is tricky to attach. First the
metal clips must slip over the plastic tabs on the socket, then the
Air cooler must be twisted to the left to lock it - be careful not
to apply too much pressure! Once the heat sink is locked in place,
attach the power cord as shown in the photo below.
Attaching
the IDE and Power Cables
IDE cables are easy to attach
backwards. Most IDE cables are keyed, but some are not. In the case
that yours are not, make sure that the side of the cable with the
red stripe is aligned with pin one across all connections (you might
have to consult your documentation to determine this). E devices are notorious for not working well together,
so whenever possible only connect one device per port. For DMA and UDMA devices this is especially important since mixing them with
non-DMA devices will not only reduce the speed of the device, but
could make your system unstable.
The cable in the photograph is great in that it is keyed and also labeled, but if two devices are going to share the same IDE channel, then their relative positions on the cable are not important although this cable might make you think they are. Nevertheless, it is probably good practice to keep the master at the end of the cable whenever possible.
One other issue that is very important with IDE devices is that if two devices are going to be sharing the same channel (that is, connected to the same cable), then one device must be set for master and the other for slave. Setting jumpers on the individual devices usually accomplish this. You will need to consult the manuals of these devices to determine this (many times the devices themselves will be clearly marked so referring to the manual is often not necessary). If the devices do not function properly, try swapping which device is master and which device is slave. Finally, ATA-66 is a new standard that can transfer up to 66 MB/s in burst mode. ATA-66 will only be enabled if the new 40 pin, 80 wire cables are used. These cables have 40 extra ground wires to provide more robust shielding from cross talk and other interference.
One thing to consider with the Submarine case is that due
to the short length of the IDE cable, if two devices are connected
to the same cable, the motherboard will not lie flat unless the
cable is disconnected. One IDE device
per IDE port, the motherboard will lie out flat.
This photograph shows how far the box will open with two
devices on an IDE cable. After all of the
IDE cables are in place, each device must be supplied with power.
The power cables are keyed so it is difficult to plug them in
incorrectly, but be careful because a few (very few) devices are not
keyed making it possible to plug in the power backwards. If you have
a lot of devices inside your computer, it is possible that you can
run out of connectors. This is remedied by purchasing cheap and
readily available "Y" cables from your dealer or Radio Shack,
Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc.
LED's and Switches
The Submarine case comes
with the normal compliment of LEDs and front panel switches. These
are all wired to standard connectors that you must attach to the
motherboard. You will need to consult your motherboard's
documentation to see exactly how to connect them. Below is a picture
that shows the typical procedure involved.
Here is a photograph with the jumper block fully
populated with the Millennium front panel connectors.
The Chaintech motherboard I used had only AGP and PCI
slots. The AGP slot is clearly identifiable on the left of the
picture below as the brown slot with the letters "AGP" next to it.
The white slots to its right are all PCI slots.
Whenever installing a card be sure to secure it with a
screw as shown in the picture to the left. If you do not do this,
the card can easily work free and cause a short circuit.
If you are building a new system and have a lot of cards, do not add them all at once because this can lead to a nightmare of resource conflicts and troubleshooting this can be a real headache. Moreover, fixing such a system often requires repositioning the cards to other slots so that the resources are properly reset. My suggestion is to add a minimal compliment of cards, install the operating system and device drivers, get the system stable, shutdown the system and then add the other cards one at a time, insuring that the OS is stable after each card.
Extra
Steps
Some motherboards require dipswitches and/or jumpers to
be set to correctly configure it for the microprocessor, memory,
integrated devices, etc. Carefully consult your manual before
closing the case and attempting to power on the computer - otherwise
your computer could be damaged.
Tips
With FCPGA packaging in particular, it is
very easy to install the heat sink incorrectly. I strongly suggest
that you install software that monitors the CPU temperature so that
you can insure that the CPU is being cooled properly. Many
motherboards support this feature. Consult your manual to find out
if yours does. If so, the manufacturer may have supplied the proper
Windows software so that you can monitor the CPU temperature and
other system vital signs while working in Windows.
If your motherboard manufacturer did not supply monitoring software, but your motherboard supports this feature (if your documentation doesn't say, check the system BIOS), there are many freeware utilities that perform this service for you.
How do you know what CPU temperature is too high? The Motherboard Monitor site has a page of links where you can find the specific data for your chip.
Closing
the Case
Lightweight cases flex significantly as you close
it. Because of this, it is takes a little effort to secure them shut. First, make sure that you
are not closing it on any wiring. Second, make sure that none of
this wiring is being forced into any fans. Lastly, and you may or
may not have to do this, grab the case above the last card slot and
flex the case inwards slightly to close the case and slide the
latches shut. Because the latches are so easy to move, I also
suggest you lock the case with the included key.
Now, all that is left is to attach the power cable to the power supply and plug the computer into an outlet. Attach the monitor, keyboard, etc. Turn on the power supply switch, and then depress the power button on the front of the case. The system should power up.
You will need to consult your motherboard's documentation on what BIOS settings
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Last updated on: 10/09/2008
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