Help with PCmaking - Page 6

Gareth · 27-01-2006, 11:39

Zing, cheers for the info, mate

mr0161, here's my thoughts...

1. Depends a bit on your case. Some cases make it easy to add the mobo first as you have loads of space to manouver the drives, whereas others are so small and pokey that you need to do the drives first and then fiddle till you get the mobo in place. For what it's worth, my current case allows me to do the mobo first, then I do the PSU, followed by the drives.

2. If you go for the past, don't use an ear bud as you risk getting bits of fluff on your CPU die, and that would hinder the heat transfer. The good brands often include a small piece of plastic (kinda shaped like those hotel key cards) that you can use to smear the gunk across the CPU evenly. Otherwise, you can use your finger inside a small plastic sandwich bag to smear it across but don't just use your finger without the bag, cause you'll get oils from your skin (as well as dead skin cells) onto the die and this will make it less effective too.

3. Put the graphics card in before you boot up, otherwise you won't be able to see any messages on the screen

By default Windows will use a horrible default setting, but once you've installed the graphics card's driver you'll be able to increase the resolution and colour depth settings to suit your preference.

4. If this is a brand new install of Windows, then you won't have any old drivers to uninstall, so just install the latest drivers from your manufacturers website.

5. Yes, just like the memory slots.

mr0161 · 27-01-2006, 11:44

what i mean is the ATI drivers, will they just install themself? or will i have to go to the website and get the driver or what?

---------- Post added at 11:44 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------

I guess the ethernet card is best to go after XP is installed?

Gareth · 27-01-2006, 11:56

Oh, sorry... my bad. In that case, you're correct and you will need to go to the ATI website and download the relevant driver. You can, as you correctly pointed out, do this beforehand if you wish and then simply run it from CD. It won't make any difference but might be more convenient as it will be quicker (and you might be like me always wanting to do things as quickly as possible once the PC is up and running

)

As for the ethernet card... you can do it before or after. One thing you might want to consider is if you want to download a firewall such as Zone Alarm, and the latest service pack for your version of Windows, and install these from CD instead of downloading them once your PC is built. Then you can install these quickly, which means your PC will be vulnerable to attacks for a far shorter period of time. Just an idea

mr0161 · 27-01-2006, 12:02

Yeah, i will just throw the lot on disic's.

So i won't need to uninstall the ATI card driver, as it won't have one yet, right? or does the card come with a disic that i need to use?

another question, this time around them rounded cables i keep hearing about, i had a look at them, how can you tell which one is the floppy cable, as with the ribbon one, it has that twist in it. And are they really worth it, cause if i get something to wrap around the ribbons and put them all on the same line as each other, they won't make a mess, and give air flow.

Gareth · 27-01-2006, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr0161

Yeah, i will just throw the lot on disic's.

Sounds good to me

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr0161

So i won't need to uninstall the ATI card driver, as it won't have one yet, right? or does the card come with a disic that i need to use?

I'd always recommend going with the latest version of the driver. There will be one on the CD that comes with the card (unless you got the cheaper OEM version of the card which doesn't include the driver, cables, screws, etc...) but the version on the CD could be several months/years out of date, whereas the one on the ATI website is the very latest version.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr0161

another question, this time around them rounded cables i keep hearing about, i had a look at them, how can you tell which one is the floppy cable, as with the ribbon one, it has that twist in it. And are they really worth it, cause if i get something to wrap around the ribbons and put them all on the same line as each other, they won't make a mess, and give air flow.

I find 'em useful, cause the insides of my case used to be a big mess, and as the temp was rising as I added more kit, I decided to use them as a cheap way of increasing airflow. You could use those tie-thingies, but I find the round IDE cables more convenient. ...and mine are a nice shade of blue too

Oh, and the FDD cable has a smaller socket on the end than the hard drive cable, so you wouldn't be able to plug it into your motherboard. Plus my hard drive cables have the 2 sockets (1 for slave and one for master) on one end, whereas my floppy drive cable only has the one socket. I'm sure there's a more scientific way of identifying them, but that's all I use

Saaf_laandon_mo · 27-01-2006, 12:13

God .... here I was thinking how easy its gonna be to build my PC

Gareth · 27-01-2006, 12:13

It is, mate

mr0161 · 27-01-2006, 12:14

Yeah, another thing about air flow and not over heating, i was looking at overclockers and saw this fans which plug into the PCI slot, so give more fans inside the case, are they worth it, do they give alot of air etc.

Cause i was thinking as the PCI-E slot is more or less next to the PCI one, the fan may throw enough air at the PCI-E place, dunno if they throw enough air.

Halcyon · 27-01-2006, 12:22

Rounded cables can help to tidy your case up and improove airflow. They also look nicer if you have a see-through window case.
At Overclockers they have the cables listed so you can't go wrong HERE

As for your graphics card..... You won't need any drivers to begin with. It will run at its default mode and windows will install with basic rtesolution anyway.
Once you have Windows installed, Then you can install the graphics drivers.

Gareth · 27-01-2006, 12:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr0161

Yeah, another thing about air flow and not over heating, i was looking at overclockers and saw this fans which plug into the PCI slot, so give more fans inside the case, are they worth it, do they give alot of air etc.

Cause i was thinking as the PCI-E slot is more or less next to the PCI one, the fan may throw enough air at the PCI-E place, dunno if they throw enough air.

I'd see how you go first, mate. Install what you've got ordered, and only think about increasing the number of fans if you find that the temps are getting a bit too high for your liking. Chances are that you'll be OK with the standard cooling. People who overclock their PCs need more cooling than 'normal' users, but let's see how you go first of all.

27-01-2006, 12:33

1 install drives to case first if there is room.Reasoning here if theres room still for the motherboard to easily fit there is no risk of dropping or draging a drive over the board.If you buy the Lian Li case the front will come off easily so you can do it in any order.

2 you will be using a stock cooler this comes with a thermal pad do not worry about paste

3 As Gareth said

4 Download new drivers for GFX from website.As your buying new the card will come with drivers as will the motherboard if you do not want to download new

5 Its just a clip to hold the back end of the card down.As some cards are long when you plug vga or dvi cable in the back sometimes the card can lift which causes problems this clip holds the card securely at the rear

---------- Post added at 12:33 ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halcyon

Rounded cables can help to tidy your case up and improove airflow. They also look nicer if you have a see-through window case.
At Overclockers they have the cables listed so you can't go wrong HERE

As for your graphics card..... You won't need any drivers to begin with. It will run at its default mode and windows will install with basic rtesolution anyway.
Once you have Windows installed, Then you can install the graphics drivers.

You can if your carefull route flat cables behind the back plate of the motherboard.This allows even more airflow than with rounded cables

mr0161 · 27-01-2006, 15:35

yeah, thanks, still looking for a book on the stuff, i wanna learn as much as i can about BIOS and stuff =] checked amazon site, and most of the people are american and takes up to a month to send here.

I was reading about ATI and NVIDIA cards, and everywhere i go the debate seems endless at which one is the best or gives the most, are they a draw and it's just a matter of which one YOU like?

27-01-2006, 15:51

Dont worry to much about the bios most of it will be set for you.You may have to set the date and time you may have to change boot order but there wont be much more

Halcyon · 27-01-2006, 16:47

Couldnt agree more.
When I first did my first computer build, I was worried about all this Bios configuring I would have to do.
In the end the only thing I had to do was press delete to enter the bios, set the time & date, make sure all the things I wanted were enabled, eg. sound, etc., and set the boot sequence so it picks up the DVD drive straight off. Save changes. Insert Windows XP disc and reboot. Installation will start and take you through formatting your hard drive, and instaalling windows. Done.

you'l find that now a days most things ar epicked up automatically and there is no need to set the CPU speed or anything. Its all picked up automaically.

Gareth · 27-01-2006, 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr0161

I was reading about ATI and NVIDIA cards, and everywhere i go the debate seems endless at which one is the best or gives the most, are they a draw and it's just a matter of which one YOU like?

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head there. There's not much difference between cards of the same calibre from both manufacturers. The only time I would strongly recommend one over the other is if you plan on using Linux, because ATI's drivers are a lot worse than Nvidia's. I have an ATI card which I do like under Windows, but it's a real pain when using Linux. Unless they improve dramatically in the near future, I can see that I'll be making the switch to Nvidia when I do replace my card.

Oops, that was a bit

... sorry about that little rant