DIY=DO IT YOURSELF..??!!

61

Assembly & Testing THE COMPUTER

Does it work, or have you blown it?

Rocket science..• Piecing together a computer is not rocket science, in

fact, it's fairly straight-forward once you know what to buy and the basics of hooking everything together. The hardest thing for me was choosing the parts. It became an almost full-time obsession. The thing most DIYers want to do is to maximize bang for the buck. To do this, you need to know what hardware's worth the money and what's not. This requires reading reviews and product comparisons. You can find a lot of this on the Net, but there are also good reviews and evaluations in consumer magazines such as Maximum PC and Computer Shopper.

Information for do it “yourselfers”

• I found the following online sources invaluable when I was preparing for buying and building my PC: Street Tech (of course!), Tom's Hardware, AnandTech and Hardware Central (which features lengthy, detailed DIY guidelines). If you want to buy a book, I've heard good things about Tom's Hardware Guide.

Choosing Your Components • The choice of processor and motherboard is a choice

between an expensive system and a cheaper one. Thanks to AMD's line of products, you don't have to buy a more expensive Intel processor. The Intel Celeron processors are price-competitive with AMD, but do not have as good performance numbers overall as the K6-2. When you're choosing a processor and motherboard, be sure to frequent sites like Tom's Hardware and AnandTech. These sites provide extensive computer hardware reviews and testing data. Don't be alarmed if you don't understand everything the first time you read techie articles (like this one!). After you read a few and compare info, you should be able to get enough background and advice to make intelligent choices.

 Switching the power on • Any damage done due to faulty construction, is going to

happen faster than you can turn off the machine, so do not fear start up too much. That said, should the processor fan not be turning around, or there is some other obvious fault then don't just hang around looking at it!

  If all your parts are of a reasonable quality, and you are not already aware that you may have broken something, you should have no problem at this point. Once power is on, the motherboard should beep, and the normal boot sequence should begin.

Standard Components Of A PC System

• The case..

Standard Components Of A PC System (2)

• The motherboard..

Standard Components Of A PC System (3)

• The processor or “CPU”

Standard Components Of A PC System (4)

• The CPU cooler

Standard Components Of A PC System (5)

• The memory

Standard Components Of A PC System (6)

• The hard drive

Standard Components Of A PC System (7)

• The video card

Standard Components Of A PC System (8)

• The optical drive(s)

Standard Components Of A PC System (9)

• Nope, that’s a game….

Initial problems. •  If the motherboard emits a series of beeps then there is an error,

which your motherboard manual should help you to clear up. If the documentation is not sufficient, refer to the BIOS manufacturer's website for a detailed explaination of the beep codes. However, it does mean that the processor is ok since the motherboard can't even beep without that.

  If the Floppy Drive light lights up but does not then dim as you would expect it to at boot time, then the most likely cause is that ribbon cable has been fitted the wrong way around. The hard disk will obviously complain about this too.

  Once the video card is giving you an output you should be able to view the system memory checking out. Check that main memory reports the correct size, and that the machine is recognizing the processor and cache ram.

What do you do if the computer JUST doesn't work...

• Firstly, you have got to work out just how dead it really is...     

Is the PSU fan going around?

Does the motherboard have power?

Is the motherboard shorting with the case, or a power lead?

If the computer is failing to boot, then is one of the internal cards to blame? This has happened to me: one dodgy card has prevented the whole computer working.

The PSU output can be checked with a Multi-meter if everything is that dead.

If you cannot think of an obvious cause, then you are going to have to dismantle the computer, until it does work, or until you have found the cause of the failure.

This is the part where you might actually need to use your greatest gift that man can have, the true creativity and thinking powers we all have!

Stuff to work on computers

• Essential Tools required: 1) A screwdriver (Cross-shaped)

Optional Recommended Items:1) Torchlight (To illuminate hard to see areas)2) Antistatic wrist strap (To discharge of any static charges)

Chassis (the case) Assembly • After you've made sure you have everything you need

(including a small Phillips screwdriver), you can start building your new computer. The first thing to do is to open the chassis and prepare it so that you can install all the components. To open an ATX chassis, reach under the front, grab the handle and pull the front panel forward. When the front is gone, slide the top lid forwards and then lift it up to open the case. Make sure that the 110V/230V switch on the back of your power supply is set correctly for your region.

Deal with all “these” on the motherboard

• outside the case..

NO, NOT THAT!!

MEMORIES…

GET THE RIGHT SCREWS!!• With your new chassis, you'll find an assortment

of small screws. There are several different types of screws, some for securing cards, others for drives, motherboards, etc. If you use the wrong kind of screw in the wrong place, you could damage the equipment. Check carefully to see what type of screw is needed and don't use too much force: sooner than you think, you'll need to unscrew something, anyway.

Installing the motherboard• Now it's time to install the motherboard into

the chassis. The ports on the back of the ATX board protrude through an opening in the back of the chassis. Select the cover plate that fits the connectors on your motherboard. In the steel frame of the chassis, there are holes where you can place spacers (plastic or metal) that keep the circuit board from coming into contact with the door. In some chassis, the spacers have been factory installed. Hold the board above the plate and check if the spacers are aligned properly. (On a few of the spacers, there are hooks, and on others, there are holes for screws.) Slide the board (without damaging its fragile surface) into the hooks and the back slot. Fasten the board with screws. Don't screw too tight! You want just enough bite to make the board stay in place.

RTFM RTFM is hacker shorthand for "Read The Freaking Manual!" or...ah...words to that effect.

• The next step is to connect power to the main board. Locate the ATX motherboard contact -- it's the biggest contact in the bundle of cables that come from the power supply. It can only be connected one way to the power socket on the motherboard. Then connect one of the ordinary 4-pin cables to the processor fan. The CPU fan power cable is often a pass-through connector so that you can also connect the power supply to another device. Some processor fans have small connectors and are connected to a power outlet on the motherboard itself. Check your motherboard manual for details. If you have an AT board, it's a bit harder to connect power (again, RTFM!).

The flashing computer case..

The mother board.. (big mama)

The CPU• The processor (CPU) and motherboard

go hand-in-hand, so you should spend some time planning and researching what you really desires and buy compatible CPU / motherboard components, just like the importance of buying the right shoe size for yourself. Given that this is a minimum system upgrade, you are saving up quite a bit through reusing other components; I suggest you build a better performing system so that it can serve you for several years to come

Install the CPU heat sink

• If you like to go to a cool place to enjoy some air conditioning when you are hot, the same can be said of the CPU which you have just installed. We need to dissipate the high heat generated by the CPU so that it would not overheat and fry.

Memory..• TIP: Start adding RAM at the slot labeled “Bank 0” or “DIMM 1”.

If you don’t, the system will think there is no memory available and wont boot.

TIP: For newer systems supporting hyper treading technology, you are encouraged to use the dual channel memory functionality by placing 2 sticks of the same memory on alternate slots (i.e.: slot 1 & 3 or Slot 2 & 4, often differentiated by color as well. ) This has been proven to enhance the performance as well.

Installing the Video Card• For older motherboards, we typically see AGP video card being

used, which will be installed onto the AGP socket, which is often brown in color. For newer systems, PCI Express video cards are more commonly used due to better data transfer performance and better resolution performance. Both AGP and PCI Express slots can be identified easily, and is usually located adjacent to the CPU unit.

Now, insert the card into the slot with some force, and check that it is fully inserted with no protruding edges, before screwing it in at the top of the metal bracket. If it has a power connector, connect it with a 4-pin molex connector.

Which one….???• How to choose CPU’s for specific

reasons..• COST• POWER • SPEED• GAMES• GRAPHICS

INTEL VIDEO PERFORMANCE

INTEL PERFORMANCE – 3D

INTEL PERFORMANCE OVERALL SYSTEM

INTEL PERFORMANCE VERSE POWER CONSUMPTION

INTEL RUNTIME POWER CONSUMPTION

MODERN STUFF

MODERN STUFF (2)

MODERN STUFF (3)

MODERN STUFF (4)

MODERN STUFF (5)

MODERN STUFF (6)

Processor: Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.0 GHz)

2008 REFERENCE SYSTEM• The fastest and also the most efficient processor is

Intel's Core 2 Duo. We selected an upper mainstream model as our reference CPU: the Core 2 Duo E6850 at 3.0 GHz core clock speed and FSB1333 system speed (333 MHz bus). This 65 nm processor is based on the Conroe core, which was introduced in the summer of 2006. With 4 MB of united L2 cache and two processing cores, it provides excellent performance at an acceptable cost. The Core 2 Duo E6850 can typically be over clocked to at least 3.4 GHz, and many users have been reporting up to 4 GHz in various forums.

• We also looked at the Core 2 Quad

AMD: Survival and the Future

• Thanks to its acquisition of ATI last year, AMD is now in a position similar to that of your competition. Shouldn't this fact allow your company to gain new customers, since you can now act as a single source for a computer's central components? After all, AMD also now produces chipsets and graphics processors in addition to CPUs. The word "platform" comes to mind, as a vendor AMD seems to be adopting this tactic.

AMD AND THE PHENON• AMD Phenom vs. Athlon Core Shootout• December 19, 2007 07:41• Though AMD has been unlucky with its

Phenom, the new processor represents a major improvement over the Athlon 64 X2. But, just how much better is the Phenom?

AMD WOES• AMD has had a difficult year. Not only did the long

anticipated Phenom processor arrive at considerably lower clock speeds than expected (2.3 GHz instead of 3 GHz), but the current stepping of the so-called Barcelona core is afflicted with a nasty bug. While there are workarounds for it, only an updated stepping will allow AMD to resume quad core processor deliveries in the server segment. The fact that the quad core doesn't deliver sufficient performance to attack Intel at the high-end doesn't help either. As a consequence of these problems, AMD has had to readjust its product strategy, and position the processor together with the new Spider platform in the mainstream. Despite all of the issues, though, Phenom isn't as bad as it may appear, as our comparison between the Phenom and the Athlon 64 X2 shows.

AMD’s LITTLE SECRET• In fact, AMD has a pretty significant advantage over Intel

when it comes to upgrading existing systems with a quad core processor. While Intel has been quick with launching new platforms for each and every new processor generation due to modified requirements, AMD has not changed the specifications for Socket AM2 at all. As a consequence, it is technically possible to deploy a quad core Phenom processor into a Socket AM2 motherboard that has been running an Athlon 64 or Athlon 64 X2 - all you need is a BIOS update. This doesn't work in every case - some motherboards may not be able to handle the Phenoms' power requirements of 95 or 125 W - but most enthusiast motherboards can be upgraded from a single or dual core to a quad core processor easily.

MONEY – AMD CPU’s•

• AMD's Phenom Unveiled: A Somber Farewell to K8• Date: November 19th, 2007

Topic: CPU & Chipset Manufacturer: AMDAuthor: Anand Lal Shimpi

• AnandTech Deals AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 6000+, 3.0 GHz Prices - ZipZoomfly.com $159.90  - Amazon $159.99  - Amazon Marketplace $173.03  - Amazon $53.93  - Amazon Marketplace $47.88  - ZipZoomfly.com $87.90

MONEY – INTEL CPU’s•

• Midrange CPU Roundup: It's Time to Buy• Date: September 28th, 2007

Topic: CPU & Chipset Manufacturer: VariousAuthor: Anand Lal Shimpi

• AnandTech Deals Intel Pentium® Dual-Core E2160, Prices - ZipZoomfly.com $81.60  - Amazon $87.05  - Amazon Marketplace $84.99  - eSISO $119.00  - Serverworlds.com $75.00  - eSISO $100.00

Buying mid-range• Intel Pentium® Dual-Core

E2160, 1.80 GHz E160 (BX80557E2160) Boxed Processor

• Price Range: $82.00 - $95.00 at 9 stores The Intel Pentium dual-core processor is an addition to the Intel Pentium processor family. This dual-core processor delivers great mobile performance, low power enhancements, and multitasking for everyday computing

AMD REVIEWS ?

?

BOTTOM LINE

• IT IS ALL THERE FOR THE DO IT YOURSELFERS

• MONEY TALKS, THE MORE YOU SPEND THE MORE YOU GET, JUST SPEND IT SMART

• DO THE HOMEWORK FIRST, USE YOUR OLD MACHINE AND THE INTERNET