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How to build a computer

and again.. something new...lol.. dangit.. well it's a good card so alls good I guess.. I already ordered it for same day.. :toast: I am petrified about this SATA stuff though seeing as I'm buliding a system from scratch for the 1st time ever and it runs SATA.

It's all home waiting for me tonight from ups.. I'll be spending alot of time looking through here I suppose..lol.. God I hope I don't break 1400.00 bucks worth of new computer gear, saved up and used my whole income tax refund for this stuff.... :ohwell:
 
SATA is nothing hard to do - this PC was my first build and it uses SATA. Just don't rush, don't go fiddling with what you don't know, and remember to put the spacers on so you don't short your board. :)

It isn't too hard.
 
Also, i would try post your board out side the box, before you place it inside you case...mobos do post 100% of the time, but a scary 75-80%...(for me that is)...
 
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Jimmy 2004 said:
The majority of motherboards will have built in sound, which works well for most people.
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yea someone let me know that lol.. cool though thank you for the reply Jimmy.. I went ahead and bought one anyway, eh why not.. I figured If I'm going all out on these specs I can't just leave the stock sound card in it now can i? lol.. It'd be like one of those old junk cars with really nice rims...lol.. so I went ahead and got me a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic.
:D
 
ktr said:
Also, i would try post your board out side the box, before you place it inside you case...mobos not post 100% of the time, but a scary 75-80%...(for me that is)...
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i'm sorry but this kind of confuses me lol.. post my MOBO "outside" the board? lol.. Like an external MOBO? Is this some method to like work out static or something? sorry, but thanks for the input ktr, you have been very helpful.. hell all of u have been very helpful.. I'd be looking like a labotomy patient right about now if it wasn't for you guys.. :toast:
 
to save you a hell of a time, just place the board on top of the box of the board, install you cpu...memory...cooler...videocard, and power up the board and see if it post.
 
ktr said:
to save you a hell of a time, just place the board on top of the box of the board, install you cpu...memory...cooler...videocard, and power up the board and see if it post.
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ahh I see what you mean now.. put the mobo on top of the box it comes with.. hook it all up and power it up just to see if it works to save myself the trouble of removing it if it doesn't.. k cool, thanx.. it won't make installing it harder I hope lol.. I bet it would make it easier actually huh.. that way I don't have to work in such a small area inside the computer.. cool. good idea.. thanks a bunch.. :D
 
great.. i hooked it up to the point where im supposed to get beeps and alll I see is a blue light on the MOBO no fan and no response from the power when i hit the switch on the case to turn it on.. blue light comes on when i power it up.. nothing else. This so sucks..
 
Ok i got it working lol.. beeps and fans. yay.. apparently the manufacturers booklet with evga's 680 sli sucks anus.. fyi.. or im retarded, which is also possible..lol.. but the power switch for the case is still non responsive I had to power it up manually from the MOBO.. idk why the switch isn't working.. dangit..lol.. im so close I can taste it..

fix: lol i was retarded, plugged it into the wrong output.. their color coded on this MoBo, you can't miss where the chasis hook ups are supposed to go if you look for the colors.

Ureka!!!.. I'm editing this message the next day. I was up until 430 am and woke up at 8 for work lol.. but It's hooked up and running.. I formatted my hard drive and installed windows.. now all I need is another sata cable for my other hard drive and somewhere to tell me how to run this whole sata raid thing. Zek your page saved my arse..lol totally man.. I sat in front of another computer as I put mine together and just step by stepped it and it all works.. thanks a bunch for taking the time out to write this info man.. believe me it is very appreciated.. whoo hooo!!! check my specs.. woot!!! lol.. I built a friggin computer!! haha!!!

ps.. fyi some case fans run the 3 prong power switch LED.. I had to cut the middle prong out of the connection and hook up both left over halves as if it was a 2 prong to make it work with this MOBO..
Oh believe me it took me a while to figure that out..lol.. and alot of reading..

Revised:
If anyone has issues with errors on the evga 680i sli MoBo I might be able to help.. I'm sticking with xp though even though I have vista.. vista runs bad, it's just not worth it to me until DirectX 10 comes out on games. I also hooked up raid 0 with the dual HD's.. hehe went all out for a first attempt.. So i know how to deal with raid some now for this mobo and it has quirks..fyi 7F error just hit F1 and code FF means fully functional. 8 beeps means miseated video card..lol woops..Make sure you have a floppy with the raid drivers for xp. Vista has raid drivers on the installation cd, although I hear theres problems with raid on vista but I can't confirm it.
 
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Thanks, there are a few tips that I didnt know. I'll recomend this thread to anyone I know who is building their own computer.

Good work mate :)
 
*hauls thread out of the crypt*

I'm just about to build my new PC so thought I'd have a wee read just to make sure I hadn't missed anything (I hadn't ;) )

Good comprehensive guide, but can I make a suggestions? Optical drives - at the time this was originally posted, SATA interface drives were far from the norm, but its probably now time to update this section to recommend them over IDE.
 
Ive been building pcs for over 10 years my fist pc didnt even have windows lol there wasnt one out.It ran from good old dos. Games and apps always ran faster and without problems.As there was no hungry operating system eating resources up.Everything ran from a cmd prompt.

my fist overclock was a 33mhz chip lmao
now i feel old. :(
 
Is it better to have a 20+4 pin rather then just a 24 pin mb connector?
 
computers of today is gateway to whole digital world. can offer to buy PC for home as well as office.

====================================
jasicca
a place where we can find all things
wikimah
 
spearman914 said:
Is it better to have a 20+4 pin rather then just a 24 pin mb connector?
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They are equally the same :] PSU's now, mainly give you the option of what pin connector to use. So for example, they will give you a 20+4 pin connector, Just in case you have a 20 pin motherboard, or if you have a 24 pin motherboard you can use the +4 to the 20 pin connector (hope this makes sense) But to answer your question, 20+4 and 24 pin connectors are equal :] (I hope that was what you was on about lol)

And great guide by the way, love reading threw this kind of stuff even tho I know it already, it refreshes the mind.

Quick question about booting up and your motherboard not recognising your usb keyboard, you switch to a SP2 keyboard. But what happens if your motherboard doesn’t have a SP2 connect such as the Intel x58SO Board. Or would this not be a problem for the motherboard as it is already set up to recognise usb keyboards?

Many thanks for this Guide.
 
do you use anti static gloves?
 
you can if you want, but its not absolutely essential - just make sure to ground yourself every so often by touching a radiator or something. Beware of childrens entertainers making balloon animals nearby.
 
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mhhm, radiators ok.
 
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