The Big Switch On

Brocky36 · 19 Dec 2015 at 11:58

Ok, so this isn't so much a hardware question, as such, but this is the most appropriate section, I think.

So, I am settled on the bits for my first 'from-scratch' build. Case, board, CPU & SSD has been delivered, Harribo has been demolished and I will be ordering the rest after Christmas. Tactical ordering = moar Harribo!

Having swapped out parts and seating CPUs & coolers in the past, I am confident with the 'physical' part of the build, and even doing a bit of overclocking.

The bit I am not 100% on and would like some help with, is how to ensure I am well prepared for the bit when I push the button for the first time.

Of course, I will have a Windows pen-drive (my build has no optical drive, btw) but I'm guessing that I will need another pen-drive with some kind of 'tool-kit' consisting of latest BIOS, graphics & board drivers and likely other stuff I haven't thought of.

Could anyone give me, or point me in the direction of, some guidance on making sure I get the last, but by no means least important, bit right, please?

Rammix · 19 Dec 2015 at 12:25

At the very least make sure you have the driver for your network card on a USB pen drive, so you can just download the rest of your motherboard drivers once in windows.

Disco_P · 19 Dec 2015 at 13:01

Feel free to create a folder on your windows install drive and stick some of the drivers in there. I would recommend grabbing chipset first, then rapid storage tech, LAN, graphics then other stuff.

lego · 19 Dec 2015 at 14:38

(not sure if this counts with windows 10 or newer boards tbh)

But for windows 7 install be sure to use a USB 2 port on your motherboard

Brocky36 · 19 Dec 2015 at 15:25

Thanks, all! Very much appreciated.

So, if I am following correctly, I need the Windows pen and another pen with the network card driver on.

I hit the button watching to make sure that the CPU fan is on. I should get a single beep, then - hopefully - POST and into BIOS. Once in BIOS, I stick the Windows pen into a USB2 port on the back panel, reboot and it should kick into Windows install...? Or do I need to set the Windows pen as the boot device first and then reboot?

Once in Windows, I stick in the other pen, install the network card and I am away. Although, I am guessing this would be much simpler if I can get hold of an optical drive and just bung the motherboard disk in...?

Also, I will be using my TV. Will I get a display via HDMI when first firing up into the initial POST, or will I need to try and get a VGA display for an hour? I'll be running an ASUS Z97K and a GTX970.