BUILDING FIRST AMD PC - ADVICE NEEDED - PLEASE HELP

[brigden]

I will soon be building my first PC from scratch. It will be an AMD-based system. I will be marrying an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ to an EPoX 8RDA+. I am confident in my ability to physically put the components together, but I'm not certain if there is a specific order to follow, and most importantly, I am unsure of what to do once the system has been physically assembled and powered on. I imagine there are ways to update the BIOS, etc. Do I need to download any drivers/files from AMD? How about EPoX? Any others?

Also, I intend on using the harddrive from the computer I am currently operating. Is it simply a case of formatting it in the existing machine, installing it in the new one, and then poping the WINXP disc in the drive and installing the OS?

I know I am asking a lot, but please bear with me. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

 

[Cogman]

No drivers needed, just put everything in (you should be able to tell where everything fits) make sure you dont force the cpu in. USE FANS, this is very important to have a good cooler on the cpu and good air circulation, almost any of the ThermalTake(might be ThermalRight) SK-7, AX-7, etc. will work. USE THERMAL GREASE. it greatly helps. I recommend Artic silver. http://www.svcompucycle.com has a very good selection for cooling. Case fans help. Also, as far as ordering things go, newegg.com is your friend, so is, Nutrend.com, Googlegear.com, and anything with high ratings (>7) on resellerratings.com . Pricewatch also helps. Also, check out the forums at amdmb.com

 

[pelikan]

I would put it together and then set the bios. Boot it from the XP cd, delete partitions, make new partition, format, install XP, install mb drivers, defragment, update for service packs and critical updates, then install graphics driver and defragment.

 

[JavaMomma]

My steps:
mount hard disks, floppy, dvdrom/cdrom/cdrw in the case, remove motherboard tray mount CPU, memory, put the tray back in, insert AGP/PCI cards, hookup power audio, IDE cables.
double check everything.
plug in the power cord, monitor, keyboard, mouse.
X fingers.
push the power button.
reformat/reinstall your OS of choice.
once installed I grab latest reference drivers (for you Nvidia) I then update windows. Then stress test, 3DMark & Prime95, after I know everything is stable. I then begin to tinker, I update bios, firmware & overclock to the max while testing for stability. Once I get all the hardware perfect and figure out which drivers are best I then re-install Windows again & load all my software.

Thats what I do, you could probably get away with re-installing Windows the second time just what i do because i crash windows several times while testing for the overclock.

By the way my system is similar 1800+ Tbred Asus A7N8X DX

 

[brigden]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I should mention I'm not arsed about overclocking.

 

[SickBeast]

just make sure you have the hsf hooked up to the cpu BEFORE you turn the power on. and make sure you have the fan hooked up to the motherboard.

basically you'll want at least the cpu, graphics card, floppy drive, and hard drive hooked up before you try to power up.

as for drivers, windows xp has most of them built in, but you'll probably want updated ones once you're up and running. you won't need anything from amd, just the ones for your chipset (you don't need anything from epox...probably from either sis or via).

to install xp all you need to do is put the cd in the drive, set your bios to have the cdrom drive as bootable (primary device), then install. you don't need to format beforehand, in the xp install you can simply delete the current partition, create a new one, then format, then install.

good luck!

 

[brigden]

You guys are the best.

So, I:

1. Put the system together.
2. Cross fingers.
3. Boot up XP, delete current partition and install new one.
4. Update nForce2 chipset drivers from nVidia.
5. Update XP.
6. Update hardware drivers.
7. Defragment.
8. Tinker.

Sound about right?

 

[JonnyDuke]

 

[StattlichPassat]

Originally posted by: brigden
You guys are the best.

So, I:

1. Put the system together.
2. Cross fingers.
3. Boot up XP, delete current partition and install new one.
4. Update nForce2 chipset drivers from nVidia.
5. Update XP.
6. Update hardware drivers.
7. Defragment.
8. Tinker.

Sound about right?

 

[HumbleFish]

Here's a How to build a PC webpage at: http://gamespot.com/gshw/stories/flat/0,12880,2842650,00.html, and there are others around; just do a search here at: http://www.bjorgul.com.

 

[brigden]

pelikan,

You mentioned setting the bios. Please be more specific. Thanks.

 

[bgeh]

when you start the pc, the CPU will report as a Athlon 1150
this is due to the bios having the default fsb of 100 (XP1800+ multiplier is 11.5, so 11.5 x 100 = 1150)
don't worry, go to the bios and change the FSB to 133 from 100

 

[dmw16]

There shouldnt be much that needs to be done in BIOS...well I take that back. I have found on several systems I have built that the FSB speed comes up as 100Mhz when you take the board outta the box...you are going to want to put that at 133 to get the right speed outta your cpu.
-doug