PDA

View Full Version : My first computer-finished and working!



Dan Curtis
09-15-2008, 11:26 AM
I have never built a computer before and I followed Rob's recommendations.

Case:
PSU:Antec Sonata III
Motherboard:ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
CPU:AMD Athlon 64x2 6400+
RAM:Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-8500 2 megabyte
Graphics card:eVGA GeForce 8600 GT 256 mb
Sound card:Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Gamer
Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Caviar SE 16 320 gb x 2
Optical Drive(s):Sony DRU 840A DVD RW

Monitor:LG 1952TB

Operating System:Windows XP Pro

First, just having the recommendations about what to buy saved me an enormous amount of time. If I had to do it myself I would not have had any idea about anything.

I am very happy with all the components. The only problem with anything was a dent in the case and I returned it and got a new one without any problem.

The case is roomy inside and has plenty of power connections.

The motherboard is easy to install.

The sound card and video card just slide in without any problems.

The cd, floppy drive and hard drives all slide in on rails that snap into place making installation and removal very easy.

I really just took it one step at a time. I made sure when I was ready to work on something that I had plenty of time and I wasn't tired.

I read the instructions carefully so I knew what I should do before I did it. I looked at all the pictures on line so I could see the enlarged pictures.

So putting the components together is very straightforward.

The only tricky parts have to do with setting up the BIOS and installing drivers. Here are some examples:

There are jacks on the front of the case for headphones. To set this up you have to choose between two settings, the 97 or the HD. (HD is better.) There is a driver on the ASUS installation disc for HD. But when you try to install it, it tells you that you need the Microsoft HD hotfix.

Well, you have to find the HD hotfix through a google search, then register for it, then microsoft emails a link, then you go to the linked site and enter a password and then you can download it. Then the HD works.

Then however when I went back to the ASUS disc to now load the ASUS HD driver it didn't work anymore. So I uninstalled it and it worked fine the way it was.

Then, however, I installed my sound card. And to install a sound card you have to disable the sound drivers in device manager and then change the BIOS. And after I did that the front jacks won't work, and I suspect there is no way to get them to work when you have a sound card installed, but I'm not sure.

The other thing I did was to install 2 hard drives with a RAID 1 setup. That mirrors the drive, so if a drive goes bad you just take it out and put in a new one and you don't lose anything.

To set up a RAID drive in XP you have to have 2 raid drivers. And you need those RAID drivers on a floppy drive when you are setting up the hard drives. Windows XP requires it. So you need a floppy drive.

Some people question having a floppy drive these days. I have used my floppy drive a number of times during the last few days while I was setting up my system. Like for instance memtest86 which runs from a floppy drive. So I recommend definitely putting in a floppy drive.

I also got the Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse that Rob recommends. I really like them both. They are easy to set up and have a very nice feel. Very precise.

So what did I end up with? I have a wonderful computer. For me it's very fast (I upgraded from a 6 year old 868 MHz Pentium III with 384 Mb RAM.)

It's quiet. It runs cool. Sytem and CPU temps around 39 C, and the temp never went higher than 44 C running 95 Prime. I bought the Zalman CNPS9500 fan but I didn't install it. There is a warning about the Zalman fan being over the recommended weight. I used the fan that came with the processor.

It looks nice inside and outside.

I can fix anything that goes wrong.

I can upgrade it if I want to.

It does everything I need much faster than my old one.

I understand much more about computers than I ever did before and that helps me in everything I do on a computer.

And putting it together was just plain fun!

Most people have never built a computer. Most people don't think they could ever build a computer.

People I talk to, like the people at work, when I tell them I am building a computer they all go, "You know how to build a computer?" And they are all very impressed.

And my wife thinks I am special and tells everybody that I built my own computer.

This has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Thanks to Rob for all the instructions and thoughtful advice.

Thanks to Rob, I now have a Super PC!!

The Wise Monkey
09-15-2008, 02:54 PM
Congratulations - glad you got it all working. :)

2lakes
09-15-2008, 04:07 PM
Congrats Dan!

It sounds like you had a pretty good time of it and you did a great job getting in all together.

I am thinking about building my first computer. One issue that has me concerned is the whole Thermal Paste idea. Did you use thermal paste to help mount the CPU fan? I am not even sure that is what thermal paste is for but my impression is the paste is for the CPU fan. Did the thermal paste come with the fan or the motherboard?

2Lakes

Damlite
09-15-2008, 07:27 PM
Awesome stuff. Stick around to help other people, as well as staying up to date with the tech market.

2lakes,
thermal paste is necessary to help cool your cpu. Most cpu's that come out of the box have thermal paste pre-applied on the stock fan. If yours doesn't, you'll definately need to buy it seperate and apply it periodically. It's pretty cheap anyway, so pop by your local pc store and purchase a tube of it.

RickyTick
09-15-2008, 08:52 PM
Way to go Dan. Nice job.

Rob
09-15-2008, 09:20 PM
Congratulations on building your own super PC!

And thanks for the great write-up, too!

Dan Curtis
09-18-2008, 07:19 AM
Thanks for the nice acknowledgements.

As far as the question about the thermal paste, the stock fan that I used doesn't really have paste. It comes with a small square of thermal contact material already attached to the base of the fan. It doesn't cover the whole base, and it is so thin that it is easy to overlook. But apparently it does it's job.

RickyTick
09-18-2008, 08:53 AM
I can fix anything that goes wrong.

I can upgrade it if I want to.

I understand much more about computers than I ever did before and that helps me in everything I do on a computer.

And my wife thinks I am special and tells everybody that I built my own computer.



I think these are the most important benefits to building your own pc.
Especially the part about impressing the wife. :D

Great job Dan.