Testing parts for new build

mcgriffo · 13 Mar 2007 at 11:05

What's the best way to test components (CPU/mobo/GPU/RAM) individually when putting togther a new build?

Seems to make sense one by one, so you know which to RMA, but won't some parts only operate with the other parts in place anyway?

melbourne720 · 13 Mar 2007 at 11:16

Minimum to POST (Power On Self Test) is CPU, Mobo, PSU, RAM, gfx card. Anything less than PSU, CPU, Mobo and you won't get any beeps.

mishima · 13 Mar 2007 at 11:19

CPU, Motherboard, RAM and GPU all have to be in for POST. Thats why its sometimes difficult to diagnose what is causing a fault. You can eliminate things though by understanding whats actually happening, good thing that the newer boards come with is a little code LCD on the board and it comes up with a code at each stage of POST, if you encounter problems at a certain stage code you can lookup in the manual and find out what the device thats causing the issue is.

mcgriffo · 13 Mar 2007 at 17:10

So, rig up these bare essentials, outside of the case, and use the bleeps/LED display to test?

kmistry · 13 Mar 2007 at 17:15

Build it inside the case first, but if you think something is shorting then do it outside the case

using the above advice

mishima · 14 Mar 2007 at 10:24

Yeah best probably to build inside then if you encounter problems building outside eliminates the issue of shorting board. There are quite a few boards that ship with the LED, I have one on my Abit AB9 Pro board it helped me loads when I was constructing my PC in the manual its called 'POST Code Displayer'.