ASUS A7V8X-X Chicken before egg question

[episodic]

Hi,
I am very new a this. I've put together barebones before, but never done the complete mount of motherboard and all.

I ordered this from Newegg today:

ASUS A7V8X-X
AMD Applebred Duron 1800mhz

After I ordered it (of course), I went to ASUS's site, and verified that it was compatible with the applebred 1800. It was.


The only potential problem I might have is it says that I have to have the latest bios.

Now if I get the board and do not have the lates bios, what do I do? The only socket a chip I will have is the amd applebred?

Do you have to have a cpu present to flash the bios?

Thanks for this 'newb' question being answered!!

Also, if anyone has any up to date excellent how to's on complete system builds, then let me know in this thread, I've found some, but they always seem 'murky' on the motherboard mount issue.

Thanks!

-TB

 

[datwater]

While the board may not support the processor without a bios flash, it will probably run it at a 100 (200 ddr) FSB in order to facilitiate you flashing the bios. If it does not, you are not going to be able to flash the bios without a cpu to run in the board. I wouldn't be too concerned about this, however, as I'd be willing to bet it will run fine at about 1350mhz while you get the flash done.

Things to remember for motherboard mounting ... just general tips:

1) Mount CPU, and Fan carefully before you mount the motherboard in the case. Same for the memory - it's easier this way.

2) Check out the holes on your case, and the holes in your ATX case backplate. Line em up carefully and use your brass standoffs. Be sure you don't have standoffs in places where there is not a hole. This can bridge connections on the back of the motherboard and fry it. Use plastic standoffs in places where you might be plugging in IDE cables or memory and it doesn't line up with a hole - this way you won't push the board and bend / stress it.

3) If you have full length Optical drives, sometimes they'll encroach upon memory slots or capacitors in the corner of the board. Check this out before you mount the drives and the board. May want to use the topmost spots in your case for your drives unless they're the modern 1/2 length ones.

If you have specific questions, and I can help at all, drop me a PM and I'll try to help ya out

 

[bootoo]

That's a nice stable board I've owned and liked except for not being able to o/clock it like an nforce 2 board; never gave me a single problem. Hope you enjoy your new system.

 

[unbiased]

There was an excellent How to Build ---- Guide on tomshardware.com, sometime back.

 

[unbiased]

There was an excellent How to Build ---- Guide on tomshardware.com, sometime back.