help with a first build ,,,,

greetings .. im in the process of upgradeing my 2.8 gig celeron ,fx 5200 video card , 350 watt power supply ..

this is my upgrade .
amd athlon 3700+cpu
asus a8n-e motherboard
xfx 7600 gt video card
astec truepower 2 550 watt psu ..

im wondering can anyone point me in the right direction from start to finish ..
so , i mounts the cpu , to the motherboard . puts in the memeory ,then puts the board in the case .
then what .
ive read that the NVIDIA /ARMOR FIREWALL can cause issues ..
is anyone here , fimular with this problem ..
maybe someone here has close to the same setup as this upgrade .
if so , your help or suggestions , would be greatly apprecitated .
i have the motherboard and cpu here . im waiting on the power supply and videocard . those items should be in by mid next week .
im gathering as much info as i can , before those parts arrive .
any help , would be greatly apprecitated .. thanks for reading .. have a great weekend .
cheers .

 

looks good so far. doesnt really seem like an upgrade lol, more of a new build. Are you stickin it all in the case your other pc came in? or did u build that one yourself too? You have it all right on how you should put it together, just make sure you are grounded before you start fiddling with things. Good luck and have fun

 

help with a NEW BUILD ..
yes , its all going in my present case . im mostly concerned on how to get it up and running . like drivers , bios , etc . and nvidia ARMOUR \FIREWALL . ive read alot of bad stuff about that program ..
thanks for replying . cheers .

 

One step at a time john first obstacle is to get the computer to POST power on self test,drivers and setup come much later,once you have everything connected double check everything and power up,you need to go straight into the bios to check the health status of your cpu to be sure its installed correctly,it should be around 40 degress C,watch it for 15 mins make sure the temp doesnt keep climbing past 55-60 C if its does you will have to reinstall the heatsink,if your display doesnt come on you will have to find the cmos reset jumper or remove the cmos battery for 5 secs then replace,also only use one stick of memory add a second later,dont add any sound cards modems ect until your sure the computer works

Most motherboard will auto detect everything in the computer,if you would like to tweak the bios check this article out

http://www.rojakpot.com/show.aspx?fileID=18

when installing a new motherboard you have to reinstall windows,no ifs or buts you just have to as the computer will be unstable,if you havnt done this before

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=25831

you will then have to install the specific drivers for your hardware,you could use the motherboard disk but I like to download all the latest drivers straight from the manufacturers site in your case ASUS,you will need the latest nvidia driver from

nvidia.com

Its better to have all these on a disk ready as you cant download them before you have installed the following and you may need some of them to get your usb modem for example to connect to the internet

For security you must install a firewall,antivirus and anti spyware before connecting to the internet once these are installed your first stop should be microsoft.com and download all the latest windows updates for protection and stability

http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=20

Feel free to ask any more specific questions I'm sure there are things I have missed out that other members may pickup

 

ummmmm.....

and Rikky; you can, as i just found out, change motherboards WITHOUT reinstalling windows. Check it out: http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1392

 

You can do a Repair, but it's always better to format and start fresh with a new system.

Far less chance of problems.


LittleJohn, regarding the nVidia firewall, it doesn't affect everyone, and you can always turn it off.

At least you know if it's a possible problem, just don't worry about it yet as it may never happen.


Also, make sure the current case can accept ATX components.

 

hey buddy ,, thanks so much for the reply and info .. thats a bunch of help you just sent .
i did go to the nvidia and downloaded the latest chipset drivers . and burned em to a c.d .. also , i downloaded the lastest bios . and got that put on a floppy disk .. the bios thats on the motherboard is 1010 . i think i need to upgrade it to 1013 . a video card issue .I THINK . you can comment on that if need be . ive read that flashing the bios can cause problems , so , if i could , id like to avoid that . theres a program on the disk that came with the board called EZ FLASH . to read it in the manuel , it sounds o.k .

i have only one stick of memeory . its a gig . i think im gonna use my sound card as opposed to the onboard sound .
i have 2 hard drives .. a 40 gig western digital .. MASTER . and a maxtor 30 gig slave .
i did read that there might be some issues with the maxtor and this board .
so , for the time being , ill just load the western digital . but in future , when my budget permitts , ill get a bigger drive . maybe 120 gigs or so . ANY SUGGESTION????
same thing goes for memeory . id like to buy a kit .. 2x1gig kit .. ANY SUGGESTIONS??
im waiting on the video card ,,psu,, and thermal paste .
ARTIC SILVER 5 .. any comments????
again i want to thank you for your reply . and im sure there is still stuff i need to ask . so , if you could bare with me ,id would apprecitate it a lot ..
this is my first build . with help from people like you , and this forum , it should go the finest kind .
thanks again .. cheers .

 

ATX COMPONENTS?????? might sound stupid , but im unfimular with that . could you enlightn me a bit . thanks .. cheers .

 

reagrding the fire wall . i dont HAVE to install it .. i think i just choose DONT INSTALL , when asked . i think its a part of the CHIPSET DRIVERS .
ill install service pak 2,theres a firewall there that i presenlyy use . no problem .
one question..
atx components ??im not fimular .. could you enlighten me some .
thanks .. cheers .

 

ATX is just a form factor, like what size everything is and therefore what size case you're gonna need. Everything here is ATX and should, if its an aftermarket case, fit in there just fine.

 

Your right to be catious regarding the bios update unless the bios update fixes a specific problem with your board and vid card leave it theres no gain

You will get much more performance from your memory by running two sticks in dual channel,if budget permits its worth getting a dual channel kit,any of the major manufacturers do good memory,OCZ,kingston,crucial,corsair depends how much your willing to spend really and whether you gonna overclock,if your not gonna overclock get memory with tight timings 2-2-2-5 of decent quality with heatspreaders,

best to stick with one drive for the time being until windows has been loaded saves confusion,once your comps been fully setup add the other drives,for a basic 120gig storage drive I'd go with one you can get a good deal on I the western digital range of drives I own a raptor and even now full of junk its blisteringly quick so for the best of the best

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=189

dont be put off by a single persons experience with a brand of drive

As for the paste again if your planning to overclock use the AS5 if not stick with the pad that is of course if its a boxed cpu,DONT use both

No problem mate I love this stuff

 

sounds great . ill leave the bios .. just as it is then ..
wesrern digital . i can get a 120 gig for $120.00..
the memeory , im not right sure of .
i live here in canada .. on an island . there no computer stores in my immediate area .. i usually have to order stuff . so , ill see where my budget is at , and see about the hard drive and memeory .. there a techniacian here in this small town i live in .. maybe he can get me both the hard drive and memeory kit . would you recomond the 2 gig kit????? i must mention , I GAME . ALOT . ha ha .
games like lock on , silent hunter 3 , fary cry , call of duty etc . so im wondering if theres a particular kinda memeory for that????? you did mention speed .
you sent a link for the hard drive . do you have one for memeory . budget for memeory ,, lets say .. $200.00 ..

i will not be overclocking .. im sure on that . and there wasnt a thermal patch in the 3700+ box ..

so far ,, in total ,, for the cpu , motherboard , video card , psu .. ive spent close to $1000.00.. thats not bad .. thats canadian .. prices are outrages here in canada . so another$300.00 to $400 for the memeory and hard drive , ill have a half decent rig ..
anyways ,, much thanks again for the reply ..
cheers ..

 

i looked at the wd website . the raptor 74 gig at NEW EGG , is $159.99 . is that the one you have???
i think the currency difference between canada and the usa is around 25 percent . not sure . ill see if i can find a websiute for canada for that raptor ..
cheers .

 

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=11069&vpn=WD740GD&manufacture=Western Digital

is this the one you own????

 

Any on this page,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010170147+4017+
1052508679+1052308477&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=147

I'm not if these are too expensive but there are other budget kits that are pretty good like corsair value select

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579

I would recommend 2gb kit games are starting to need more than 1gb these days in the very near future well beyond 1gb

If you have a look on the bottom of the heatsink theres a pink substance,it isnt a pad 'sorry my bad' its pre applied thermal interface material all boxed processors come with this, by boxed I mean in the AMD retail box with the 3 year warranty enclosed,if your not gonna overclock use it its pretty good stuff,you just peel off the clear plastic cover and clip the heatsink down, thats it ,ofcourse double check the instructions

I'm not sure whats cheap in canada,if that WD drive is cheaper than other stores I'd get it,I havnt shopped for 140 gig drive recently so I'm not sure what the latest and greatest drive is in that size,companies have move away from making disks of that size onto larger disks which is where all the new performance go's,hence if you would like a drive with more performance other than the raptor you have to get a larger one

I only have the 36gig raptor for my operating system and the current game I'm playing on I have a maxtor storage drive,I'm currently playing oblivion and the game loads so fast I dont have chance to read the first line of the tip on the loading screen its too fast,if I had the choice for more size with reduced performance I wouldnt want it

 

well im looking at around $500.00 canidian ,, roughly ..[ill mention that ,, to the wife ,,,ha ha ..] thats for the 74 gig raptor , and the corsair memory ..
thanks for those links ..

yes , that thermal patch is there . i just looked . its grey .. so thats all i have to do . clip in the cpu .. clip the heatsink /fan , onto the cpu .. ?? sounds simple enough .
ive read , and re read all the instruction manuels on both the cpu , and motherboard . and im sure ill read them again ..

if you were me ,, would you wait until you upgraded your hard drive,, and memory?? have EVERYTHING at hand like??
im in no big rush .. this old celeron works like a charm .. just the higher end games are sluggish . and i dont play games much in summer . its mostly fly fishing and camping time for me then .
well rikky ,, thanks again for the info ..
having that heatsink/fan out of that box there a few minutes back , makes me wonder if all this will come together .. ha ha .
like a kid in a candy store .. for sure .
cheers rikky . and thanks .

 

i just noticed . sata and ide are different.. i wasnt fimular with that before .
now what hard drive would a greenhorn like me be better of purchaseing??
thanks ..cheers again .

 

SATA, its faster. IDE is old tech

 

SATA is only faster in theory.

PATA has more than enough bandwith for even the fastest hard drive.

SATA is more desireable though, but to say it's faster is incorrect.

 

rikky

http://www.avalonsoftware.com/viewproduct.asp?pid=2356

i can get this hard drive here .
i have a question .. i have a western digital 40 gig IDE drive at present .

can i hook up this SATA ,,as a master ,,,,,
and hook up the IDE as a slave???
cheers .

 

I think you'v answered your own question if you can live with your celeron, fine,if you want the performance now install windows onto a drive you curently have I cant make that decision for you ,the downside is obvious you wont have the performance of a newer drive unless you later decide to reinstall windows,you also wont get the most performance fron your new system depending on the memory you currently have,anything less than ddr 3200 will severley hamper the system

The good thing about sata drives is they dont need master slave jumpers,they run entirely on thier own sata channel like a usb device,they are also hot swappable just like a usb device,if you decide to install your OS on your sata drive at a later date you simply select it when installing windows and then select it as your first boot device from your boot menu,another new feature with modern motherboards

I run xp pro on my raptor but I have an exact clean duplicate on an ide drive in a seperate partition,if something goes wrong I just switch over to the IDE and windows loads as normal and I can repair the corrupt install using the backup,then revert back to the sata drive

If the raptors are a little too steep and doesnt have the storage you would like consider this which is only very slightly slower but has much more capacity and is ALOT cheaper

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2094

 

ive read that the maxtor and this asus a8n-e motherboard has issues . i think ill go with the raptor ..

ive read only good reviews on the raptor . its a really good drive . so the few extra bucks will pay off in the long run . and it has a 5 year waranty..
im gonna wait . ill have the psu and video card by weeks end .
im strongly considering the 74 gig raptor .. $200.00.roughly . and $200.oo for the right memory ..
the way i sees it , i have a half decent motherboard , cpu , video card , and psu .. it would be a shame not to go the rest of the ways.
without that drive and memory ,, its only half done . as you said , the performance would suffer .. and to me , thats defeating the purpose of this upgrade .
yes ,,you are right .. i did awnser my own question ..
thanks for enlightening me on that . ha ha .
in the meantime , ill do more reading and research .. and if i comes up with a question ,, ill post it here .
again i want to thank you for your help , and the info you sent .
thanks to everyone who replyed . its guys like you ,, who make forums like this , worth joining .
no doubt , i will touch base in the near future ..
thanks again .. cheers .

 

I just built a system for a mate with the same motherboard and a Maxtor Diamondmax 10 (16mb cache) with no problems (5 Year warranty also).

Personally, I think the Raptors are overpriced, and not as fast as some claim.

It's up to you though obviously, good luck.

 

sounds good ..ill consider that .
what bios was on that motherboard .. 1010 on the one i have here . i think the latest bios is 1013 .. did you upgrade the bios??
cheers..

 

No I didn't upgrade the Bios (don't remember the version).

I only ever consider upgrading the Bios if I'm having a problem, and the upgrade specifically addresses that (or if it's a stated performance benefit).

Otherwise, you're better off leaving it alone.

 

i hears ya buddy . rikky told me the same thing .
thanks for the reply .. if you have any info on this asus a8n-e ,that you think i should know , like some issues maybe , dont hesitate to post em here . i needs all the help i can get . ha ha .
thanks . cheers ..