New PC

[TNIceWolf]

I just recently had my old reliable PC go south on me and decided to build one of my own from Tiger Direct to replace it. I got a barebones kit and just received the tower case today...... I was sort of wondering how hard this thing is going to be to assemble and get working. This will be my first computer build and I sank a lot of money into the kit and the add ons like the 24" LCD monitor ... wireless keyboard. and mouse... a second TB of hard drive... and an extra 16 GB of DDR3 RAM added onto the 8 that came with the kit and a new OS. I will be adding some extra cooling fans and a pair of DVD drives along with a graphics accelerator card and possibly an audio card.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... 9&csid=_61

Just how much trouble am I in for here and if I can assemble it and get it to function how good will the performance be?

[NM5K]

Not a whole lot to it. But if the CPU is not mounted to the mother board,
be super careful when installing it. You don't want to bend the pins.
But it's pretty easy. Just look for the corner that has a notch, and then
find the notch corner on the MB mount, line it up as close as you can,
and just let it fall into place.
It should drop on down into the socket under it's own weight. When you
can see that it's perfectly flat in the socket, flip the lever over to lock it
down. If it's not lying flat, don't put pressure on it. Lift it up, make sure
no bent pins, and try again. But you might get it already mounted..
BTW, a new CPU fan will have it's own thermal paste/pad, so you won't need
to worry about that.
The power supply cables can only go the correct way for the most part.
When plugging everything into the board, just go step by step in the
manual. Most cables have connectors that are different, and can only
plug into the correct ones on the board, and only go one way.
The audo card on the board should be fairly decent.
You probably wouldn't need an extra one unless you need something
really high end.
I've built all my systems since the mid 90's.. Only the first 386/33DX
I had, did I buy turnkey.
I'm running a AMD Phenom II quad core right now. Using an AM3 board,
and DDR3. I didn't spend much on this board.. $115 for the board and CPU..
Run into any problems, gimme a holler..

[colnago]

Very easy, just take your time. The only time I ran into problems was when I forgot the thermal paste between the CPU and the heat sink. The CPU would get too hot and shut down. After I realized my mistake and put on the thermal paste, I never had a problem. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory, and can only go in one way. You _might_ have to change the BIOS, depending on any "special requirements", but if it's a pre-packaged system, you're probably OK.

The biggest problem you'll have is that it's addictive. Pretty soon, you'll be modding and upgrading it! Hope it doesn't take all of your truck money!

Joseph

[rjewkes]

and don't get hooked on games either or it'll get worse.

the big thing also is be sure of your connections none of the short cuts we use on old cars will work inside a pc. except zipties to route cords away from fans as needed. make shure your cables don't block airflow, you'll know pretty quick if they do.

if you have to set the motherboard(MOBO) in yourself make shure all the standoffs(screw holes) are in the right place and that evey last one the mobo sits on lines up with the holes in the mobo these are also your chasis ground.
most often the package deals are allready set for the mobo packaged with the case. but never hurts to double check.

[TNIceWolf]

I'll be damned......I did it. Got it all together and up and running and this is my first post on it. Was intimidating at first and I had to back off and figure a few things out. But I have to admit that compared to what i had this thing runs like a striped A** ape. Thanks to those who gave me encouragement....support....and advice. You have no idea how much I appreciate it and am going to enjoy learning how to use my new toy!

[kf7mjf]

Now, having built one, you can go tinker on all your friend's machines in exchange for parts, booze, cash or other favors. Once you get comfortable with what you've done, you might want to look at making it a dual boot system with Linux on there

[TNIceWolf]

One of the things I was warned about on this build was cooling. So I ran a test today with a high usage online game and a couple of browsers open and doing other things at the same time for about three hours. When I checked my BIOS H/W readings i came up with the following for temperatures.

CPU..... 47 C /116 F

System....33C / 91 F

I have no way of knowing whether these temp readings are good bad or ugly....any comments?

[gregamorton]

no your good. I have had a AMD overclocked and get so hot the cpu melted to the motherboard and that was with a huge heat sink and tons of fans. Your numbers look like your fans and heat sink are working good. The system number is basically showing how hot it is in the case its self. The other number is the cpu and sink its self.

[TNIceWolf]

So I should consider those as normal temps?

[TNIceWolf]

So I should consider those as normal temps?

[gregamorton]

I never worried when system was around 100-110 and the chip was 150 or less.

[NM5K]

One of the things I was warned about on this build was cooling. So I ran a test today with a high usage online game and a couple of browsers open and doing other things at the same time for about three hours. When I checked my BIOS H/W readings i came up with the following for temperatures.

CPU..... 47 C /116 F

System....33C / 91 F

I have no way of knowing whether these temp readings are good bad or ugly....any comments?

That's fine. I often run hotter than that when I'm running the artificial airplanes.