Building my first PC EVER!

[machintos]

So I have the P4G8X and the plusview 1080amg case.
Question:

Do I break the little metal thingies sticking out inside the I/O panel before installing the motherboard?

I have Radeon 9700pro, do I install this right away or do I actually have to download the drivers first?

Thanks a lot people... and hopefully I get quick replies because I'm in the process right now

 

[gaidin123]

Don't break out the metal thingies unless it is to clear out room for an actual port on your motherboard. The little metal pieces poking out of the backplate are for grounding/shielding I believe.

You should put the 9700 Pro (nice graphics card for your first PC! ) in the AGP slot and use it. Windows should give you super ugly, low-res, low color depth video which should be enough to get you to ATI's site to download the newest catalyst driver set.

Good luck!

Gaidin

 

[boyRacer]

Doesn't the ASUS come with it's own I/O plate? Just install the card then install the drivers after you get Windows up and running... Good luck!

 

[Audiofight]

If the little metal "thingies" are in the way of installing the motherboard, then you must remove them. Usually the I/O panel has everything punched out that is necessary, but the NIC and sound may be covered. Use your fingers or a screwdriver and pop them loose.

The Radeon 9700 can be installed before installing the OS. Download the latest drivers and use them, don't bother with the cd. If you are installing WinXP, you will have a bearable screen to look at. Win98 made you use 640x480 w/ 16 colors and it hurt my eyes. WinXP fixed that and will give you 800x600 no problem.

Any other questions?

 

[machintos]

Thank you guys!
Sorry for the stupid questions, I just wanna make sure that I do everything right.

Thanks again

 

[Audiofight]

No stupid questions

Stupid not to question.....that's the moto to live by.....screw up that Radeon because you assumed something and you will be pissed!

Remember - assume means "To make an @SS out of U and ME"

 

[DieHardware]

Don't tighten down the motherboard tie-down screws 'till you install one or more of the add-in cards(video, network etc), and don't plug the system in 'till everthing is installed. My $0.02.

 

[machintos]

You guys are really helpful... I really appreciate it.

By the way, the little cables that are coming from the front of the panel (HDD, LED, reset, etc, etc...)
How do I know where to plug them on the motherboard??

The manual is a little hazy for me... I can't really follow it.

Thanks again guys. You guys are the best!

 

[machintos]

My friend just told me that it's best to connect one hard drive and once cd drive onto one IDE plug and do the same thing with my second hard drive and cd burner. Is this right?

So according to him:

PRIMARY IDE: Master hard drive + CD-ROM
SECONDARY IDE: Second hard drive + CD burner.

Anyone can confirm this?

Thanks a lot for the help

 

[Schneider]

Not necessarily
But, plugging ur hard drive and a CD/DVD ROM drive on the same channel can cripple the performance of the hard drive.
I find it best if you use Primary IDE for Hard Drives and put ur CD/DVD devices on Secondary IDE.

 

[machintos]

Originally posted by: Schneider
Not necessarily
But, plugging ur hard drive and a CD/DVD ROM drive on the same channel can cripple the performance of the hard drive.
I find it best if you use Primary IDE for Hard Drives and put ur CD/DVD devices on Secondary IDE.

That's what I'm doing right now, but he told me otherwise and since I'm just an amateur, I wanted confirmation from this forum.
Thanks for the reply, I'm gonna keep my current setting now.

 

[machintos]

I don't suppose I need to install the ata 133 card came with my maxtor, do I? The hard drives are going to be 200GB + 160GB

 

[Trashman]

Originally posted by: machintos
I don't suppose I need to install the ata 133 card came with my maxtor, do I? The hard drives are going to be 200GB + 160GB

due to the size of those drives your best off placing both hard drives on the ata133 controller and cd-roms off mobo ide.
*edit* and since your drives will be runnin off that card....make sure you set your boot option in BIOS to boot from scsi device first, dependin on BIOS it may just list the drives and you pick boot drive.

 

[machintos]

Originally posted by: Trashman

Originally posted by: machintos
I don't suppose I need to install the ata 133 card came with my maxtor, do I? The hard drives are going to be 200GB + 160GB

due to the size of those drives your best off placing both hard drives on the ata133 controller and cd-roms off mobo ide.

Thank you very much

 

[Trashman]

by the way....thats a nice system your puttin together, hope things go well for ya....gotta love that Antec case, I picked up the 1000amg....those cases are great.
1 other thing i should have posted, assumin this will be a fresh install of WinXP?....with that controller card, you will need a drivers disk, maybe you have one, if not download latest drivers from Maxtor and during install XP will prompt "Press F6 to install 3rd party drivers" insert floppy and away you go.

 

[machintos]

Originally posted by: Trashman
by the way....thats a nice system your puttin together, hope things go well for ya....gotta love that Antec case, I picked up the 1000amg....those cases are great.

Thanks Trashman, I spent the last 3 months, buying everything piece by piece, going through a lot of mail in rebates and lurking in best buy looking for open-box prices with brand new items inside the box

By the way, is there any way you can tell me how to connect the cables from the front of the case to the motherboard? I'm just looking at these little cables like I'm an idiot because I don't know what to connect to where. I know they have writings on the plug, but I just can't figure out where they go on the motherboard.

I think I'm almost done with my assembly. Here's what I've done so far:

1. Installed 2 sticks of 512MB PC2700 Kingston HyperX in slot 1 & 2 for dual channel DDR.
2. Installed P4 2.53GHz processor with stock heatsink
3. Installed ultra ata 133 card and connect (2) HD (200GB + 30GB. I will move all my data from my 30GB HD to 200GB and replace the 30GB with the 160GB) to my ultra ata 133 card.
4. Installed ATi Radeo 9700pro graphics card
5. Installed Audigy 2 Sound card
6. Installed linksys wireless dsl card
7. Installed 50x CD-ROM and Yamaha CRW-F1 44x burner (can't afford DVD+R yet) to the mobo's SECONDARY IDE plug
8. I made sure that everything is connected to the power supply, including the 3 included antec fans.

So, what step do I do next? I don't think I can do anything before I plug in the little cables, right? Did I do anything wrong? Please tell me what to double check or even triple check

Masters of PC assembly, please help me out. I really want to finish building the PC tonight so I can start doing homework

BTW, Right now I'm using my sister's computer and she'll be home soon. I'm not gonna be able to use this computer after she gets home, so please help me out ASAP!!

Thanks people, you guys are the best!!!

 

[snidy1]

Originally posted by: Schneider
Not necessarily
But, plugging ur hard drive and a CD/DVD ROM drive on the same channel can cripple the performance of the hard drive.
I find it best if you use Primary IDE for Hard Drives and put ur CD/DVD devices on Secondary IDE.

I agree

 

[sumrtym]

The ATA133 card has 2 IDE ports? If so, I'd put one HDD on the MOBO primary (going to be your C: drive with OS), and the second HDD on the MOBO secondary. Then I'd put both the optical drives on the ATA133 card, each on it's own port.

If the card doesn't have 2 ports, then I'd put both the optical drives on that single IDE port anyway.

 

[machintos]

Originally posted by: sumrtym
The ATA133 card has 2 IDE ports? If so, I'd put one HDD on the MOBO primary (going to be your C: drive with OS), and the second HDD on the MOBO secondary. Then I'd put both the optical drives on the ATA133 card, each on it's own port.

If the card doesn't have 2 ports, then I'd put both the optical drives on that single IDE port anyway.

How can I put the HDDs on the MOBO primary and secondary since P4G8X doesn't support ATA133?
Don't HDDs 137GB and up need ATA133?

 

[Corsairpro]

no, ATA133 has to do with max theoretical throughput... not total size. ATA100 is more than enough for any IDE drive

 

[machintos]

Originally posted by: Corsairpro
no, ATA133 has to do with max theoretical throughput... not total size. ATA100 is more than enough for any IDE drive

Meaning that I can install the 200 + 160 on the motherboard and the HDDs will give me maximum capacity, right?
I've heard things like the HDDs will only have a capacity of 137GB if not installed with ATA 133.
Where can I find an article or reading regarding this matter?

Thanks a lot.

 

[machintos]

BTW, I tested my comp with my old HDD and during startup, the CPU is only 1900MHz. I have a 2.53Ghz, anybody know what I need to do to get to 2.53???

 

[Corsairpro]

your 2.53GHz cpu runs on a 133MHz fsb (133x4=533) its multiplier is 19.... you're getting 1900MHz because your jumper or bios settings are on 100MHz FSB, correct the jumper/bios and you'll get 2.53GHz.

As for the hard drives, yes you'll get full capacity. ATA has nothing to do w/ size, only the speed of data through the EIDE channel.

 

[machintos]

Originally posted by: Corsairpro
your 2.53GHz cpu runs on a 133MHz fsb (133x4=533) its multiplier is 19.... you're getting 1900MHz because your jumper or bios settings are on 100MHz FSB, correct the jumper/bios and you'll get 2.53GHz.

As for the hard drives, yes you'll get full capacity. ATA has nothing to do w/ size, only the speed of data through the EIDE channel.

Thanks a lot corsairpro.
You gave me the answer that I've been waiting all night and morning YOU'RE THE MAN!!!!!

 

[firemoth12]

Originally posted by: machintos

Originally posted by: Corsairpro
your 2.53GHz cpu runs on a 133MHz fsb (133x4=533) its multiplier is 19.... you're getting 1900MHz because your jumper or bios settings are on 100MHz FSB, correct the jumper/bios and you'll get 2.53GHz.

As for the hard drives, yes you'll get full capacity. ATA has nothing to do w/ size, only the speed of data through the EIDE channel.

Thanks a lot corsairpro.
You gave me the answer that I've been waiting all night and morning YOU'RE THE MAN!!!!!

I've heard and am pretty sure that for hard drives over ~137 GB you need the special controller card. Other wise they will be recognized smaller.

I've heard numerous accounts saying that.

The issue isn't ATA 100 or 133, it is the SIZE of the drive.