Just bought the Asus P5W DH and have some questions...

[bpatters69]

Hello Folks,

I just purchased the Asus P5W DH Deluxe/WiFi board from NewEgg which should arrive on Tuesday. I have downloaded the manual and I have a few questions on the installation.

First of all, the hardware I purchased is as follows:

CD ROM ? LiteOn SH-16A7S, SATA, CD\DVD, etchttp://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2765019&CatId=1624

Hard Disk - Western Digital 250GB SATA-300 Hard Drive
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...em-details.asp?EdpNo=2179837&CatId=139

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

Asus P5W DH
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131025

Now for the questions:

1. The manual for the CD-ROM says that there is a DATA SATA connector and Power SATA connector. The manual says that the Power SATA connector is optional if the DATA SATA connector does not supply enough power. I always thought SATA devices were powered and connected to the motherboard via one connection. I guess the safe thing to do is to just try the one connector and see what happens?

2. Since my motherboard is brand new and it supports SATA devices, shouldn?t I be able to attach the hard disk to SATA1 and the CD ROM to SATA2? I am using Windows XP2 for an OS. I think I only need SP1 to recognize SATA.

3. The manual talks about an ?Optional fan?. I am using a retail E6600 which comes with a fan and heatsink. Is this fan necessary? It says to only install the fan if you are using a passive or water cooler? I would think that the fan on the CPU is active, right?

4. The manual talks about a ?Front Panel Audio Connector (10-1 pin AAFP). It says that the module supports either HD Audio or legacy AC ?97 audio standard. This sound to me like the connection for the speaker that is in the case?

5. Lastly, when installing the processor, I seen where some users use thermal paste to create a better bond\connection between the heatsink and the CPU. Is using thermal paste necessary for the CPU I have chosen?

Any other tips are very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[MTDEW]

1: i dont have a SATA burner so i dont know.
But from having several SATA hard drives, they each require two connections, one to the SATA port on the mobo and one power connector to the power supply.
So i would "assume" your dvd burner would be similar.

2: Yes that will work fine.

3: The optional fan is for mounting on the heatpipe to help cool the Northbridge on the motherboard.
The fins on the heatpipe where the optional fan would go is between the cpu and and rear of the case where there is usually an exhaust fan in most pc cases.
Thats why they say to use it only if you use passive or water cooling.
Because it will block the airflow coming from your cpu's heatsink to the exhaust fan in the rear of your case.

4: The front panel audio connector are hookups for cases that have front audio connectors, so you can hook them up.
The case speaker has nothing to do with those, the case speaker will hook to header pins on the motherboard as usual.

5: YES thermal paste is a MUST.
But by looking at the cpu you chose , it is retail and the heatsink and fan that comes with it will have a thermal pad already on the heatsink, so you wont have to apply any yourself, the stock thermal pad/thermal paste will do you just fine especially if you're not overclocking the cpu.
And even if you are overclocking the cpu using the stock cooler that comes with it, you should be fine.

Now if you decide to buy a better cpu cooler later, then be sure to order some good thermal paste with it.

 

[bpatters69]

I ran into a "problem" with my Windows XP Pro SP2.....

Will Windows Home SP2 recognize SATA? Thanks, Bill

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: bpatters69
I ran into a "problem" with my Windows XP Pro SP2.....

Will Windows Home SP2 recognize SATA? Thanks, Bill

It absolutely should.

-phil

 

[trOver]

Originally posted by: bpatters69
Hello Folks,

I just purchased the Asus P5W DH Deluxe/WiFi board from NewEgg which should arrive on Tuesday. I have downloaded the manual and I have a few questions on the installation.

First of all, the hardware I purchased is as follows:

CD ROM ? LiteOn SH-16A7S, SATA, CD\DVD, etchttp://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2765019&CatId=1624

Hard Disk - Western Digital 250GB SATA-300 Hard Drive
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...em-details.asp?EdpNo=2179837&CatId=139

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

Asus P5W DH
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131025

Now for the questions:

1. The manual for the CD-ROM says that there is a DATA SATA connector and Power SATA connector. The manual says that the Power SATA connector is optional if the DATA SATA connector does not supply enough power. I always thought SATA devices were powered and connected to the motherboard via one connection. I guess the safe thing to do is to just try the one connector and see what happens?

2. Since my motherboard is brand new and it supports SATA devices, shouldn?t I be able to attach the hard disk to SATA1 and the CD ROM to SATA2? I am using Windows XP2 for an OS. I think I only need SP1 to recognize SATA.

3. The manual talks about an ?Optional fan?. I am using a retail E6600 which comes with a fan and heatsink. Is this fan necessary? It says to only install the fan if you are using a passive or water cooler? I would think that the fan on the CPU is active, right?

4. The manual talks about a ?Front Panel Audio Connector (10-1 pin AAFP). It says that the module supports either HD Audio or legacy AC ?97 audio standard. This sound to me like the connection for the speaker that is in the case?

5. Lastly, when installing the processor, I seen where some users use thermal paste to create a better bond\connection between the heatsink and the CPU. Is using thermal paste necessary for the CPU I have chosen?

Any other tips are very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

i got ur same board and cpu and hd AND a sata opt. drive. your in luck...

1. all sata drives that i know of have the data cable (little orange sata cable) (plugs from mobo to hd) and a power cable (wide flat black connection from psu)
2. connect your main hd to the red sata port (i think its #1). connect your opt. drive to 2 (the black port next to it)
3. if you are using a fan in your case to pull air out of the case in the back near the heat pipe fins, you should be fine. If your only using the stock intel hs/f, you might want to use the lil fan that comes with.
4. that is NOT the speaker for the front of the case. the speaker for the front of the case is on the same panel as the on/off/reset jumpers are. the front audio connector is for headphone/might jacks in the front of your case.
5. the stock intel hs/f comes w/ thermal paste pre-applied. If your not into overclocking or keeping your temps REALLY low, you should be fine. Plus, if your uncomfortable w/ applying/removing thermal paste, leave it be.

 

[trOver]

also- you may want to flash bios to 1707

 

[soydios]

1.) Connect both the SATA data (thin cable from your motherboard) and the SATA power (cable from your power supply). It's the same as if you were connecting a brand-new hard drive.

2.) Yes, you should be able to put the boot HDD on SATA1 and the CDROM on SATA2. Make sure they're the ports coming from the southbridge (ICH7R), not any of the other SATA controllers on the motherboard.
Windows XP Pro SP2 recognizes SATA drives just fine.

3.) The optional fan mounts to the northbridge heatpipes/heatsink, but is only necessary (or advised) when you are using water cooling, and there is no CPU fan to create airflow to cool the otherwise passive northbridge heatsink.

4.) The front panel audio connector is for the front panel headphones and microphone ports. Because it supports both HD-Audio and AC97, it will work with just about any case.

5.) Use thermal paste.