Building my own computer

[ferby]

This is my first time building a computer. I got all my computer parts for Christmas, but theres a problem...i dont know how to put them together. Im afraid ill crush my AMD athlon64 4000+ when installing the heatsink. should i be? in my mobo manual...it says stuff about switching jumpers before you install video cards... that's when i got lost. I know how to install the parts but the extra stuff i dont know, like stuff having to do with jumpers and that kinda stuff

I need to know which order to put the parts together too. that would be very helpful.

Heres a list of the things that i have:
Asus A8N SLI deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ CPU
Case
500W PSU
XFX GeForce 6600 Extreme Gamer Edition
1 GB DDR2 RAM
Maxtor 100GB Serial ATA

ANY INFORMATION WOULD BE EXTREMELY HELPFUL

[elroy]

I would lay the board on a non-conductive surface and install the ram, heatsink/fan, cpu and video card. Now connect the power supply 20 pin and 4 pin connectors and plug it in. Using a screwdriver touch the 2 pins together that would be connected to the on/off switch for about 2 seconds and it should start. This will make sure it is all operable prior to installing in the case. If it starts, unplug it and remove the video card and unhook the power supply from the board. Install the board in the case and go from there.

[ferret314]

okay here goes nothing...

* screw motherboard securely down + any heatshields that came with it.
* install power supply to atx case with all drives as well.
* put power to motherboard. there should be 2 one for cpu and one near the ide cables.
* connect power to your sata hd, also connect the sata to SATA0 or SATA1
*put the cpu chip on the board, it should be a socket 939 which is idiot proof.
* put heat sink on your cpu (make sure it sits flat) push metal clamps down to secure. ( you wont break it)
* insert memory in DIMM 1&2 (referr to motherboard manual to make sure that thats correct to run dual channel)
*if you have on board audio make sure that your Jaud jumped on 5&6 and 9&10 IF you are not using a font aud jack. this jumps it directly to the back of the motherboard. (again, check manual could differ)
* the only other jumper i would think you would need to worry about is if you have more then one cdrom. if you have 1 then throw it on master or cable select. if not, jump one master, and one slave.
*power on, and enter your bios. <delete> or <F10>
* try to detect your drives, if your sata isnt showing check inIDE devices configuration, make sure SATA1&2 are enabled. and disable RAID if your only using one hd, less to worry about.
*save changes and you should post with all drives.

[ferby]

My mobo manual says i have to asign IRQ's to the expansion cards when install them. Im not there yet, but im wondering, What is an IRQ? and how do i assign these "IRQ's" to my expansion cards?

[ferret314]

Abbreviation of interrupt request line, and pronounced I-R-Q. IRQs are hardware lines over which devices can send interrupt signals to the microprocessor. When you add a new device to a PC, you sometimes need to set its IRQ number by setting a DIP switch. This specifies which interrupt line the device may use. IRQ conflicts used to be a common problem when adding expansion boards, but the Plug-and-Play specification has removed this headache in most cases.

Your motherboard should automatically assign this for you.

[sweeper2]

http://www.mysuperpc.com/build/pc_in...rocessor.shtml

[vikeor]

i always put in the ram and CPU first before screwing it into the case....