Build - Putting the parts together

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Anti Static Precautions: Always Wear a wrist strap earthed to something metal (Case is usually convenient). This is especially important when handling the CPU & memory modules.



DISCLAIMER: This is a work-in-progress, not all solutions are "guaranteed", use info at your own risk. Not all topics are covered, only stuff that keeps reappearing in questions, or are thought to be important.


So you've maxed out your (or someone else's ) card and are looking at a pile of new shiny parts.

You're up for it & want to see everything running, but don't forget:-


The most neglected component in a PC Build is the builder/user, This unit should not become overstressed/confused during the build, especially if being used for the 1st time.

Work slowly & methodically, plan what you do.

Familiarise yourself with the components so you are sure how they connect.
If unsure - DON'T DO IT.

If you have an issue, have a break, read up on the problem, if still uncertain post in the forum. It's better to lose time than lose components.

Note: [O] = Optional but recommended steps.

Motherboard Preparation

Place the mobo on something non conductive, wood or cardboard from the packaging.

1) Clear Cmos [O]
Locate the CMOS Jumper & clear Cmos by moving the jumper to the middle & 3rd pin. The location of the Cmos Jumper may vary (or may be just a button) It will certainly do no harm & now is the most convenient time. This helps ensure that components are registered correctly in cmos when the mobo is powered up.

2) Mount the CPU.

THe CPU is particularly sensitive to static electricity so ensure precautions mentioned at the start are adhered to - wear the wrist strap.

2-1) Remove Plastic cover from socket - Slide to left.

2-2) Lift Cover from Right

2-3) Open Load Lever

2-4) Lift Load Lever & Lift/Open load plate

2-5) Holding CPU by the edges, align it to the Matching notches & alignment keys of the socket. Gently place CPU into socket.

2-6) Ensure that the cpu is sitting flush & level in socket.
If not, grip the edges and lift vertically out from the socket, & repeat 2-5)

2-7) When satisfied lower the load plate.

2-8) Lower Load Lever & secure behind retension hook.



3) Mount CPU Cooler.
There a wide variety of after market coolers available (see Air Cooling
for recommendations), so you need to follow the specific installation guide for your model.

Some larger coolers require a backplate to be fitted underneath the motherboard. You should check the fit & ensure that it doesn't interfere with anything underneath the mobo.
You also need to ensure that heatsink fits on top of cpu & is not obstructed by heatpipes.

3-1) Apply Thermal Paste to CPU
Dual Core see Page 4 How to apply Arctic Silver 5 Intel Dual Core CPU
Quad Core see Page 7 How to apply Céramique Intel Quad Core CPU
As you can see, Dual core uses a vertical line of paste, whilst quad needs a horizontal line.

Cleaning/removing thermal paste -
Use
Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) - Can be obtained from chemist/drugstore cheaper than the cleaners offered by the thermal paste manufacturer's product. Imo just as effective but if you want it go for something like Articlean
Use a small blob of IPA on a piece of kitchen towel or lint free cloth & gently wipe the surface to be cleaned.

Fitting Stock Cooler
3-2) Align heatsink so that Plastic legs are over the 4 mounting holes in the mobo. Push heatsink down so that clips pass through mobo holes.

3-3) Push down clips & using fingers or screwdriver, turn locking clip/leg 90 degrees to secure it. Seems best to tighten diagonally opposite clips.

3-4) Check from underneath mobo that all 4 ends are secured through mobo.


Pictures Copyright MSI

3-5) Plug in Fan Header from Heatsink fan, into fan header on motherboard. Note: The stock cooler uses a 4pin PWM fan header. If your mobo doesn't have a 4pin header see this for more info Intel - 3-Pin and 4-Pin Fan Connectors
4pin CPU Fan Header

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4) Barebones Startup [O] see Building/Testing Barebones
I nearly always do this in a build. Main reason is that main components can be checked & tested before adding more components. Having done this stage, if it doesn't start up when connected in case, it's likely to be caused by a short, faulty connection or drive issue.

5) Mount Motherboard in case
5-1) Rear I/O Panel
The I/O panel is the somewhat tatty bit of metal that comes with your mobo:-

Place I/O Panel into the the cut-out at rear of case. You'll find a small ridge around the panel which will seat against the edge of the cut out in the case. Ensure it's the right way up, for your mobo connections, & insert it from the inside of the case facing outward. It should clip in & hold in the case.
Copyright ExtremeTech

5-2) Preparing to Mounting Motherboard

Typical Mobo risers[/b] (aka Motherboard standoffs) are shown below. The threaded end, screws into the case/mobo tray.
Copyright Biologically Inspired Robotics Laboratory
The top holds a threaded screwhole for a small bolt.
Copyright Hardware Screts.com
This bolt passes through a hole(shown as Metalized Hole) in the motherboard. The other hole shown in the picture requires plastic/paper washers but is rarely used these days.


The most difficult part is determining where to place the standoffs. If a standoff is screwed into the case out of line with the mobo holes, it will be hidden underneath the mobo and can then short the mobo when power is applied. Having installed the standoffs to the case, it's best to count that the total standoffs equals the holes in motherboard to avoid shorting issues.

It's best to place the mobo in the case so that the rear panel connectars are roughly aligned with the rear i/o panel, you can then visually identify where the standoffs go. Normal ATX positions are shown below, with 9 risers. Some boards (DFI have 10 mobo holes & use the unused hole between the 2 right hand risers on the bottom row
Copyright ExtremeTech

5-3) Place & secure mobo
Having placed risers & checked , alignment to mobo holes & ensured no surplus risers , place mobo into case. Position it so that it sits on top of the risers, with the rear panel connections pushed gently throught the holes in the i/o panel.
Insert securing screws. I usually start with the corner holes 1st. You may need to move the board slightly so that the threaded riser hole can be seen through mobo holes. Tighten screw so that it's firm, but don't overtighten.

You should now be looking at something like:-
Copyright ExtrmeTech

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6) Mount Power Supply
Depending on your case, this step may be done before installing mobo. A downside of doing this first may be cables getting in way when mounting mobo.

Power Supplies have 4 screw holes in a standard pattern that fit in the case.
these are shown below:-



Most cases will have a horizontal shelf or ledge that the pc sits on:-

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7) Insert Memory Module(s)

Memory is particularly sensitive to static electricity so ensure precautions mentioned at the start are adhered to - wear the wrist strap.
7-1) Ensure the retaining clips, at each end of the memory slot, are open
7-2) Check the alignment of the module
The module has a cutout:-
Copyright Anandtech
That fits over the notch in the socket:-

This means that the memory will only fit in one way.
7-3) Place the memory into the slot.
7-4) Holding a finger on the top, of each end of the module, gently press down, until the retaining clips click over the module.


Memory Issues/Tips
7-5) Favoured memory slots Some motherboards work best with modules in a specific pair of slots:-
Asus P5K Deluxe Wifi - Use Black Slots
Asus P5b - Use Yellow Slots

7-6) Start up voltage
Some ram has trouble starting at the default vdimm of 1.8v. If unsure or having trouble working with a single module may let you into bios to manually increase voltage.

For more info see
JDEC Default DDR2 Voltage

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8) Install Graphics Card

Insert Graphics Card into PCI-E slot.
On boards with 2x pci-e slots, the master slot is the one nearest the CPU.
E.G. Blue slot on P5K Deluxe. (note 2xpci blanks removed to accomodate Card + Cooler)


As usual ensure all leads & cables are out of the way.
Manoeuvre the card so that the card connecter is above the slot & the pci fastening bracket(s) is over it's mount. Carefully push down so that connection engages with slot. Check that card is level & that brackets are flush to case. Insert & Tighten securing screw{s)

Connect Monitor
Plug iin your monitor data lead into the graphics card. Generally CRT Monitor = VGA TFT Panel = DVI
Copyright HardWare Secrets

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9) Connect Case Power Leads

Depending on the accessibility of your case this is probably the fiddliest part of the build.

This system panel connector connects the following case services to the motherboard:-
1) System Power LED
2) Case Speakers (System Warning Speakers - used for beep codes)
3) Hard Drive Activity Light
4) ATX Power Button
5) Reset Button

This means that the power button etc., will now work.

The socket is shown below, the white socket, bottom right.


Typical Pinout & connections from Assus P5K Manual ( Suprisingly they are sometimes useful )

Copyright Asus

NOTE: Refer to the manual of your own motherboard as not all System Panels are the same.

A recent innovation from Asus which I like is the Q Connect. This greatly reduces fiddling about in the bottom of the case, trying to connect these small leads.

Note: for LEDs such as HD Activity polarity matters so ensure that positive lead is connected to + terminal.
Copyright ASUS
Copyright ASUS
Copyright ASUS

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10) Connecting Power Connections

Note: Cables & sockets have a hook & catch that should be aligned when connecting.

10-1) Main Power Loom (24pin)

PSU Lead:-


Socket:-


10-2) 12v (4/8pin)
PSU Leads:-
4Pin

8Pin


Socket:-
The white socket on the right is from an Asus P5K & will take either a 4 or 8pin cable. If using 4pin leave the cap on & plug into the 4 exposed pins.
If using 8pin remove the cap.


Graphics PCI-E

Plug 6pin ( Note: Some cards now require an 8 pin connector ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 Series - System Requirements
Left 6Pin Right 8Pin (Newer power supplies have a mixture and/or 8pin leads that have 2 detachable pind to fit a 6 pin socket.)
8pin Picture Copyright JonnyGuru.com

Socket(s)
Copyright TheTechReport

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11) Test Start [O]

I find it generally worthwile at this stage , to check that what's together so far works , particularly if barebones ( see 4) above ) has been skipped . This is , for the same reason as barebones , so that in the event of a non start, there are less variables (components) to check.
It also gives the opportunity to enter bios , changing any parameters you might need. This might include memory voltage as mentioned in 7-6) Menory Start up voltage , above.

11-1) Connect Keyboard. (as shown 15) Plug in Keyboard & Mouse )
11-2) Plug in PSU Power Lead, to PSU & mains socket.
11-3) Press power button and hold down [Delete] key hopefully pc will startup & you will see the bios screen.
11-4) Make any changes you need, save & exit
11-5) Whatever the outcome, unplug psu lead from mains before continuing.

If you don't get into bios check out the troubleshooting section.

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12) Mount & Connect Floppy Drive [O}

Floppy Drive connections
The Floppy is usually mounted in a similar way as described in section 13) below. As it's narrower than a 5.25" drive it is generally mounted with spacers or tray that comes with your case.
Copyright of BuildEasyPC.com

Floppy Data Lead
Note: One end of the lead has a cross over in the cable as shown in the picture. This is the end that plugs into the floppy drive connector. (above). The other end plugs into the floppy slot on the motherboard.
The stripe on the side of the cable denotes pin1 on the cable. This should be used to orientate the cable when plugging it into the drive, many floppy drives don't seem to be notched. This means that the cable often gets pushed into the drive the wrong way. This isn't that serious, if your floppy doesn't work, power down the PC & remove power lead. Then disconnect floppy data lead from floppy & rotate it 180 degrees & plug it in again. That should do the trick.


Floppy Power Lead
Copyright of BuildEasyPC.com

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13) Mounting Drives [O}

Most cases now have their own toolless methods of securing drives. You should use the manual or consult the manufacturer's website for further help.

The Old School , basic way , using 2 to 4 screws on each side of the drive and case supports is shown below.


Tools - Philips screwdriver ( If he doesn't mind )