Building my first computer, need advice!

ThomasW

ThomasW

ThomasW

Associate
Joined
18 Aug 2008
Posts
18
The problem in this post is solved! Just bumping this thread with other questions now.

Hi, I got my parts for my new computer today and am in the process of building it, however I wasn't certain when fitting the motherboard so thought I'd better ask in case I accidentally fry it or something.

What screws am I supposed to use for fitting it to the case? Does it matter as long as it fits in? I used these for placing underneath the motherboard:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/S8N6k/IMG_0528.jpg

And these are the screws that were provided with the case:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/S8N6k/IMG_0526.jpg (think these fitted, but only got a few)
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/S8N6k/IMG_0527.jpg (these fitted but sticks out a lot, got loads of them)
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/S8N6k/IMG_0529.jpg

Sorry if this is really obvious but I just didn't want to wreck my computer by doing something stupid. :)

Thanks for the help!
 
Last edited:
My first tip for anyone building there first PC is to make sure you know 100% what you are doing before starting. I know it sounds obvious but it's amazing the amount of people who dive staright in, then pay for their lack of preperation. I've build more PCs than I've had Hot Kebabs and even today, I'll still give the motherboard a quick glance, makuing sure i know where everything is and I've niot missed anything.

Here's one I remeber reading through out of interest recently:

Custom PCs Guide to building a better PC

or
http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/pc-building/


But yes, the motherboard must be raised from the case otherwise it will short out.
 
Last edited:
You are correct on the standoffs (first picture) going below the motherboard.

The second picture shows general purpose screws used for backplates and drives.

Not sure on the third picture really, they might be specific to your case as they look too long to be ordinary motherboard screws although that could be perspective tricking me.

Fourth picture are the ones that I normally use for the motherboard, you may find that you have little rubber/plastic isolators that go between them and the motherboard also, not massively important but that is their job..
 
Thanks for the advice Admiral Huddy, I have read up on this already several times before starting and do know the general process behind it. :) I've added to and replaced pretty much every part of the computer before but this is my first actual motherboard installation. It was just this one question (well so far!) that left me uncertain as my case manual just said to screw it in to the fittings, but they didn't say which ones to use and I didn't want to short my computer accidentally!

Semi-pro waster, thanks! Okay, sounds like I should try the fourth type then, I do have plastic circular isolators so I'll use them too just in case. :)
 
I normally lay the motherboard in the case before fitting it. This gives me a good idea as which cables I can hide under the board and any problems that may lay ahead. You can see from this which stand-offs to fix before hand.

make sure the stand-offs are tight. Use nose pliers to tighten the stand-offs to the mobo-tray. Loose Stand-offs will only turn when you come to un-screw the mouting screws. Bugger when this happens.

Good luck.. Remember to blog your build :)

Here's mione from last year:
http://www.huddysworld.co.uk/Admirals Log/Log_NewBuild.shtml
 
Last edited:
Well I managed to get it built fine in the end :D Only had a couple of minor problems after that. The main one was working out the power cable connections, another one I had was that one of the screws I was using fell into the damn PSU! (the PSU was at the bottom as it was an Antec 1200 case) Took me bloody ages to get it out again.

My final spec is:
  • Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe
  • Processor: Intel Quad Q9550 2.83ghz
  • Graphics: Leadtek GeForce GTX 280 1024MB
  • RAM: 4GB 1066mhz DDR2 RAM
  • PSU: Corsair HX 620W PSU
  • Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB
  • Optical: Samsung DVD-Writer
  • OS: Vista Ultimate OEM

Basically a carbon copy of one of the specs in the Weekly Builds thread.

Plus I added a couple of parts from my old computer (wireless LAN card and 300GB HD). Have also ordered a sound card as I'd forgotten how awful onboard sounds through my headphones. :)

I've booted up a couple of games with it, Oblivion looks MUCH nicer than on my old build. :D Downloading the Crysis demo now to see what that's like now.

Thanks for the help again!
 
ThomasW said:
Well I managed to get it built fine in the end :D Only had a couple of minor problems after that. The main one was working out the power cable connections, another one I had was that one of the screws I was using fell into the damn PSU! (the PSU was at the bottom as it was an Antec 1200 case) Took me bloody ages to get it out again.

My final spec is:
  • Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe
  • Processor: Intel Quad Q9550 2.83ghz
  • Graphics: Leadtek GeForce GTX 280 1024MB
  • RAM: 4GB 1066mhz DDR2 RAM
  • PSU: Corsair HX 620W PSU
  • Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB
  • Optical: Samsung DVD-Writer
  • OS: Vista Ultimate OEM

Basically a carbon copy of one of the specs in the Weekly Builds thread.

Plus I added a couple of parts from my old computer (wireless LAN card and 300GB HD). Have also ordered a sound card as I'd forgotten how awful onboard sounds through my headphones. :)

I've booted up a couple of games with it, Oblivion looks MUCH nicer than on my old build. :D Downloading the Crysis demo now to see what that's like now.

Thanks for the help again!
Click to expand...


Nice one
 
Cheers fulcrumer :)


Quick question: I've noticed in my BIOS that the DRAM Voltage setting is set to Auto, and on the right it says "standard: 1.8V". My RAM is this and it says "Working Voltage: 2.2~2.4V", should I set the DRAM voltage manually to 2.2V instead? I haven't messed around with any BIOS settings beyond the date/time and boot priorities so far.
 
Last edited:
Have you checked what timings show up since it is set to Auto? It could be running at less than ideal because of the auto but since it works I wouldn't be overly worried at present, that is something that you can tweak in the future.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Have you checked what timings show up since it is set to Auto? It could be running at less than ideal because of the auto but since it works I wouldn't be overly worried at present, that is something that you can tweak in the future.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what it is at the moment, on the right (where it describes the setting) it says 3 values "Min: 1.80V", "Max: 3.1V" and "Standard: 1.80V" but it doesn't say anything for the current setting. Unless the automatic setting IS to put it as "Standard".

I think I may change it up manually. The computer seems to be freezing up and becoming unresponsive occasionally for sometimes minutes at a time (not often though) and I wonder if maybe that's why?
 
Last edited:
in that case change the voltages to 2.2 on the dram also go up a notch on the nb due to 4gb of ram then all should be fine
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom