Newbie w/ newbie questions

[Sosowac]

Well, i decided to try and build a computer over the summer. I am definately a complete newbie at building, so please excuse the questions. So far i have just been deciding on parts and i have gotten a few of them. I am planning on running an athlon XP 1800+, Abit KR7a, thermaltake volcano 7, 512 MB PC2100 DDR RAM, geforce4 ti4200, TB Santa Cruz, maxtor D740X 40GB HD, Lite-on 40x/12x/48x CD-RW, Pioneer 16x DVD-ROM, Samsung syncmaster 955DF system. I already have speakers, keyboard, mouse, and floppy drive.

As for case, i went to a computer show last weekend and picked up a Future Power case (here). It came with a 400W power supply and one case fan. I don't plan on overclocking at all, do i need more case fans? It doesn't look like there are any places for more case fans even though it says "2nd cooling fan" on the FP website. Also, it doesn't look like both sides of the case come off. So far i have only been able to get one side off and the other side doesn't look like it comes off. Is this a problem, and what will this change while i am putting parts in? Another thing along the lines is thermal grease. Some guides don't even mention it, while the FAQ section here says its an absolute necessity. Is this something i can just pick up at a local computer store?

As for actually building, what guides would you recommend? Is the one on this site good? I need something pretty in depth so i know what the heck i am doing. Thanks

 

[Athlon4all]

Sounds pretty decent. Although I would get a newer mobo thats cheaper cause you don't need a kr7a (or its successor the KX7-333R) if you dont plan on ocing but if you already have a kr7a-raid its k. I'd suggest for the mobo if u haven't gotten the board yet looking at this article here at Anandtech. Also a good non-ocing but decent feature board is MSI's K7N415 and K7N420 Pro as well.

About the case, I would've gotten a Antec case, but hopefully that'll be ok. You will not need any case fans if u aren't ocing, but leave the one in there anyway

Thermal grease isn't needed unless you're ocing.

For a good Building a PC guide, go to the guide at PC Mechanic

And hey, if u could use some help, please don't hesitate to throw me an email, im or pm

 

[MazerRackham]

Building is not that hard... all you want to do is just install the mobo (make sure you use the standoff nuts they give you with the mobo/case), install all the cards, drives, etc. The most important thing is to remove the thermal pad (if any) from the heat sink completely. Make sure both the heat sink and the top of the CPU are clean, then apply a THIN layer of Arctic Silver thermal paste to the top of the mounted CPU, and then put the heat sink on. Double check everything, and then boot that sucka!

Most mobos come with very detailed instructions for hardware and BIOS setup, so if you follow those you should be in great shape...

 

[tk149]

1. Your case probably has a built-in fan mounted on the back right under the power supply, right? Try looking at the inside front of the case, underneath the drive bays. If it has a mesh grill with four screw holes around it, that's where your second fan goes. It probably has room for an 80mm X 80mm fan. If you're going to run an 1800XP, then you should definitely maximize your cooling possibilities. I have one too!

2. If the right side of your case doesn't come off, then that's probably still okay as long as you can still securely fasten your drives into the drive bays. Some cases have drive bays that only require one screw (like Dell), while others are completely screwless (like Evercase). If you can only screw in your drives on the left side, and nothing is holding the drive on the right side, then keep trying to figure out how to take off the right side of your case.

An advantage of a case where the right side does come off is that the motherboard tray (the part where you physically attach the motherboard to the case) pops out which makes it much easier to assemble. But this is not a critical feature, just a convenience.

3. You MUST use some kind of thermal grease/thermal pad. Go here for instructions on mounting your heatsink/fan with thermal grease. Even if you don't use Arctic Silver's stuff, the directions still apply. You can get cheap thermal grease at any electronics store (e.g. Radio Shack). Arctic Silver will keep you a few degrees cooler, but if you're not overclocking, I wouldn't worry about it.

4. Static is not your friend. Make sure you ground yourself BEFORE beginning work. Your components come in anti-static bags for a reason. Get yourself a wrist strap if you're really paranoid. They're cheap.

5. Okay, this will draw fire from the peanut gallery, but I can't recommend the Abit board for newbies. I've never had the KR7A, but I've had friends who have, and the amount of tweaking they've had to do to achieve stability is just too much for a newbie.

6. Check to see if your Power Supply is on the AMD approved list here. If it's not, that doesn't necessarily mean you can't use it. But be aware that an inadequate power supply is the cause of MANY AMD system problems.


Good luck and welcome to the AT forums!

 

[Sosowac]

Okay, so since i'm not overclocking i don't need any thermal grease? Or would it be a good idea to use some just incase? I also found the 2nd fan mount underneath my drive bays. I'll pick up a 2nd fan for this area.

I haven't bought a motherboard yet, so i'm not locked into anything. I don't want to spend over $100, and i'm still on the hunt.

On the powersupply, i looked at it, and it is a Wintech 400w powersupply. This is NOT on the AMD list of psu that are approved for XP use. Do you think i should spring for a different one?

Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[MazerRackham]

Dude, you NEED to have a thermal interface material between your heatsink and the CPU. If you want to use the thermal pad, that's fine. But DO NOT EVER use both a thermal pad and a thermal paste at the same time!!! Use one or the other, but never both at the same time!

You need a thermal interface regardless if you overclock or not. Trust me. Your Athlon XP is going to generate a crapload of heat, and you need the interface material to effectively cool your CPU....

 

[Sosowac]

Ok, i guess this is one thing that i am confused on. Does the thermal pad come with the CPU, or will i have to buy one?

 

[ubersam]

Does the thermal pad come with the CPU, or will i have to buy one?

The pad usually comes with the heatsink, pre-applied or separately. If you get a retail boxed CPU, it will come with a heatsink with thermal pad already applied.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: Sosowac
Okay, so since i'm not overclocking i don't need any thermal grease? Or would it be a good idea to use some just incase?

Use Thermal Grease!! Get some Artic Silver II and you'll be ready to go.
-- mrcodedude

 

[Sosowac]

I was thinking about buying an OEM CPU, is this a bad idea for a newbie? Or will buying the thermal grease and a heatsink/fan separate be the same thing?

Anyone else have any comments on the Abit KR7A?

 

[Cygni]

A good board for a newbie, imho, is the Asus A7V266-C. It can be had at Newegg for under $80 and they tend to be very solid, even without major tweaking.

Normally im not a big fan of Asus' boards as they tend to be overpriced, but at $80, I cant find much fault in it.

As for OEM/Retail, i suggest picking up an OEM CPU, then getting the Volcano 7 you wanted earlier. This will be a much better combo then the Retail CPU and the dinky little fan that it comes with.

A thermal pad comes attached to the bottom of the Volcano 7 (just like most fans), and is a little 1cm by 1cm square that makes contact with the chip itself to increase the transfer of heat from the chip to the Heatsink/Fan. When you get the Volcano 7, it will have a cover over the thermal pad that says Tear Off Before Use. You tear that off (obviously, heh), then attach the fan as per the directions. Be carefull not to press too hard, as you can damage the chip when strapping on the fan.

A Picture of the thermal pad on the Volcano 7 can be seen right here... its the little black square in the center.

Good Luck!

 

[Sosowac]

I have a question about cable. When my motherboard comes, should i expect it to come with a lot of cables? I'm worried that i won't have all the cables i need when i start building and will have a though time identifying which cables i need.

What's your opinion on static wristbands? Are they necessity or is just touching the case frame enough? Once i start building, does everything have to be done at once, or can i install the motherboard and do other things later on?

I'll be hooking this computer up to a cable modem, what do i need for that? And since i might want to take this computer to college in 2 years, besides upgrades, what will i need to set it up to a college connection?

Thanks!

 

[DeRusto]

1. Most motherboards come with all the cables you will need, and if it doesnt have it..the hardware that needs it will have it.. unless you get a particularly cheap motherboard, sometimes they leave things out on those.

2. You dont really NEED a wristband but I supposed it wouldnt hurt, I have never personally used one

3. As far as I know a cable modem should connect to your pc through a network card..as will a college connection. Just get a network card and you are good to go.

 

[CrazySaint]

A good cheap motherboard is the Abit NV7-133R which runs on the nForce 415-D chipset. It includes SB Live! quality or higher audio (though you list a TB Santa Cruz, so I guess that doesn't matter to you), USB 2.0, RAID, and NIC for a shade under $90 at newegg. If you're not gonna OC, that's a hard deal to beat.

 

[Sosowac]

I wanted to order the rest of the components today so that i could get started on the building. I;m pretty much decided on everything but the motherboard. The Abit Kr7a RAID has gotten so many good reviews i think i might juts stick with it. Anyone else have problems with it?

I am also wondering if i should throw a new powersupply in the order? My case came with that Wintech 400w, but it isn't on the approved AMD list.

 

[hungrygoose]

i don't understand why everybody here keeps recommended mobo's with raid for a newbie....why pay for the built in raid controller if ur never gonna use raid??....and as a newbie, i doubt u'll be using it.....y not go with something easy and inexpensive, while still being a good performer, like an ECS k7s5a or even the k7s6a???? $54 at newegg....ddr or sdr support......athlon xp support....good, stable, fast chipset.....how could u go wrong?....he doesn't want to overclock and he doesn't want raid, so why would he pay $100 for a mobo???

also, the power supply is probably fine

the volcano 7 is overkill if ur not gonna overclock

thermal paste is too cheap and easy to apply to not use it

buy crucial ram....never heard anybody have problems with it....ram is something u don't wanna go cheap on....crucial or samsung i would recommend.....no kingston

pay another $1 and get a sounblaster live audigy instead of the santa cruz.....santa cruz is a good card, but it is slowly making it's way to out of date

 

[murphy55d]

I don't use any thermal grease/paste/whatever and I haven't ever had a problem. I've got a 1.4 Tbird, Vantec 6035D, took out the Delta and put in a quieter Thermaltake... I have no issues with heat at all.

 

[Sosowac]

The Abit Kr7a Raid is $83.00 at newegg. This doesn't seem so expensive. Should i go with this. Everyone is recommending a different motherboard :\

Along with the motherboard dilemma, i still have to order the AMD XP 1800+, ThermalTake Volcano 7 or 6cu, 2 Crucial 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM, turtle beach santa cruz, maxtor d740x 40GB HD, either the Samsung 955DF or the Cornerstone P2450 monitor.

So many decisions.

 

[SteelCityFan]

I have a general comment on Abit for a newbie.

I have found that their manuals are not written as well as they should be in my opinion. I don't think they are geared towards a new pc builder. This might cause some problems if you are unfamiliar with some terms, etc. They even use poor English in places.

I have only built 2 PC's in my life... one with an Asus board, and one with a Abit board. The Asus manual was much better. There could be better, but I don't have as much experience as some when it comes to experiencing many different brands.

I have the Abit TH7-II motherboard. The manual was not too clear, but it came ready to go. I plopped the chip in, booted up, and it worked fine.

 

[SteelCityFan]

Originally posted by: Sosowac
I was thinking about buying an OEM CPU, is this a bad idea for a newbie? Or will buying the thermal grease and a heatsink/fan separate be the same thing?

I would get retail. It comes with a HS/Fan which is perfectly fine for a non-OC'ed setup, and it comes with a much longer and better warrantee. Last I checked Newegg prices, it was not worth it to go OEM. The cost savings was very small.

 

[Sosowac]

I am seriously considering the Asus A7V266-C now. At newegg, it says you have to purchase this with other hardware, so i was thinking of getting the RAM, harddrive, soundcard, and motherboard all at newegg. The HD and sound card are listed as OEM, will this matter? Will i still have the things i need, or should i try to find retail stuff somewhere else?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Sosowac
I am seriously considering the Asus A7V266-C now. At newegg, it says you have to purchase this with other hardware, so i was thinking of getting the RAM, harddrive, soundcard, and motherboard all at newegg. The HD and sound card are listed as OEM, will this matter? Will i still have the things i need, or should i try to find retail stuff somewhere else?

Buy from Newegg and all will be well! OEM is OK to buy BTW.

 

[Cygni]

Go with the Asus... its just as fast as the Abit and youll have fewer potential problems. As far as the HD and Sound being listed as OEM, dont worry about that. The only difference between the OEM versions of these products and the Retail are Boxes & Bundles. The boxes tend to be overly large (to discourage shoplifting) and the bundles tend to be just old games and demos. Go OEM, and save yourself the money on shipping

And always buy from Newegg.com... ive bought from lots of places on the net, and i always come back to newegg.com for my orders. Best price, Best service, best shipping.

Dont worry about the powersupply, it will be more than sufficient.

Good Luck!

 

[Athlon4all]

The A7N266-C is a great board, and Im suprised I didn't think of it earlier

Thats prolly your best option.

 

[Sosowac]

A few questions about the motherboard before i take the plunge...

I noticed that the Asus Asus A7V266-C comes with onboard audio. The info at googlegear(newegg is sold out) about the audio says:

<<Experience high-quality 6-channel 3D surround audio with the optional C-Media CMI8738 audio controller. This unique chip eliminates the cost of an additional soundcard and adds dynamic realism to your favorite MP3s or DVDs.>>

Is this sound card good enough that i won't have to buy a TB Santa Cruz, or should i go for the TB? How hard is it to remove the onboard sound card? Can it be done?

Athlon4All...in your post you said that the A7N266-C motherboard was a great board. I was referring to the A7V266-C motherboard. Was that a typo? Any thoughts on the A7V266-C?

Anyone have any comments on the A7V266-C?