building my new rig, please help

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yeah, my motherboard came with 2 of them but both of them are being used for my dvd drive and hard drive.

I have a sound card in the computer that I am using now and wondered is it worth putting in my new machine? How much would it help out performance wise? My motherboard supports 8.1 channels. I wouldn't mind keeping it with this machine so I have a better chance of selling it.

I added a second hard drive right below the first one. Is this going to be a problem with air flow? Really there isn't any where else I can put hard drive is there? I have 3 places beside the PSU but isn't that a bad idea because it would get hot sitting beside the PSU? Although there is a fan right behind the cage that would pull the heat out.

Also, on any of the 2 hard drives I have installed, do I have to do anything with the jumpers? If yes, what position do I need to put them in? One other thing, only 1 of the hard drives has a 4 pin connection. Does this need to be hooked up and what is it for?

The screws that came with the motherboard, are they black and how many should there be? I found a bag with 5 black screws. I can't remember what it came with.
 
Sorry for double posting. Anyways, I should be getting my CPU tomorrow and wondered is there anything I need to do it before installing it? Like removing the old thermal compound. Do all CPU's come with thermal compound already applied? How would I got about removing it and how do I put new thermal compound back on? I have heard you just put a little spot about the size of a grain of rice and other places people put a strip across the whole CPU. I don't want to put to much on it. Also could you comment on the stuff in my last post please, Thanks.

After I get it installed, do I just turn the machine on and put the Windows cd in the drive? Anything special I need to do?

I am getting excited:D I just hope nothing goes wrong.
 
I have a sound card in the computer that I am using now and wondered is it worth putting in my new machine? How much would it help out performance wise? My motherboard supports 8.1 channels. I wouldn't mind keeping it with this machine so I have a better chance of selling it.
It wouldn't make much of a difference, unless you're an audiophile. Onboard sound on motherboards these days, are great.

I added a second hard drive right below the first one. Is this going to be a problem with air flow? Really there isn't any where else I can put hard drive is there? I have 3 places beside the PSU but isn't that a bad idea because it would get hot sitting beside the PSU? Although there is a fan right behind the cage that would pull the heat out.
No problem with airflow, unless you see the temperatures getting pretty high.

Also, on any of the 2 hard drives I have installed, do I have to do anything with the jumpers? If yes, what position do I need to put them in? One other thing, only 1 of the hard drives has a 4 pin connection. Does this need to be hooked up and what is it for?
If they're IDE, you have to set the jumpers according to their purpose. You would set the hard drive containing the Windows OS to master, and the other to slave.

That 4-pin connection is a molex power connection. And you connect a 4-pin molex power cable from the PSU, to that 4-pin slot.

The screws that came with the motherboard, are they black and how many should there be? I found a bag with 5 black screws. I can't remember what it came with.

What kind of screws are they? Picture?

Sorry for double posting. Anyways, I should be getting my CPU tomorrow and wondered is there anything I need to do it before installing it? Like removing the old thermal compound. Do all CPU's come with thermal compound already applied? How would I got about removing it and how do I put new thermal compound back on? I have heard you just put a little spot about the size of a grain of rice and other places people put a strip across the whole CPU. I don't want to put to much on it. Also could you comment on the stuff in my last post please, Thanks.
CPUs do not have thermal compound pre-applied. It's the stock heatsink, that has the thermal pad pre-applied. You don't need to remove it, if you're using the stock heatsink.

On the CPU, putting a pea sized dot of thermal compound in the middle, is the most common method of applying the thermal paste. But if you're using the stock heatsink, you don't need to apply thermal paste.

After I get it installed, do I just turn the machine on and put the Windows cd in the drive? Anything special I need to do?
After you double check that everything is connected properly, you turn it on, and go into the BIOS. Over there you set the CD drive to be the first boot priority, so that the system will boot off the CD first, to install Windows. After you have set the CD drive to first boot priority, you save the settings, pop in the Windows CD, and restart the machine. And then follow the steps to continue installing the OS.

I am getting excited:D I just hope nothing goes wrong.
phew...that was a long post. And good luck!!!
 
The hard drives are SATA so do I need to mess with jumpers? Also does that 4-pin connection need to be connected? Only 1 of the hard drives has that 4-pin connection. Is that a problem?

I will try to get a pic of the screws.

I am using an aftermarket cooler, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro so would I need to add thermal compound to the heatsink?
 
The hard drives are SATA so do I need to mess with jumpers? Also does that 4-pin connection need to be connected? Only 1 of the hard drives has that 4-pin connection. Is that a problem?
Since they are both SATA, no, you do not need to mess with jumpers. Just put the hard drive with the Windows installed, as higher priority than the slave drive, in the BIOS.

The hard drive with the 4-pin, does it also have an SATA power connection? If it does, you have two options to connect power cables to that hard drive. Either the SATA power connection or 4-pin power connection. But don't connect both at once. And either one you choose is fine.

I am using an aftermarket cooler, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro so would I need to add thermal compound to the heatsink?

The ACF7Pro already has a thermal pad pre-applied, so no, you do not need to add thermal compound.
 
It is connected to the motherboard with a SATA connection and through the PSU with a SATA connection. So I don't need to hook up the 4-pin connection, right?

Okay, let me see if i can explain this clearly. When I added the second HDD, I had to use a different cable from the PSU than what I was using for the HDD and DVD drive. Basically what I am trying to say is the second HDD is not connected to the rest of them. Is that a problem? The reason it is like that is because the the cable that is connected to the DVD drive and first HDD would not reach the second HDD. Do you understand what I am trying to say. I hope I explained clearly enough.

My camera batteries are dead right now. Once they are charged, I will post a pic of the screws.
 
It is connected to the motherboard with a SATA connection and through the PSU with a SATA connection. So I don't need to hook up the 4-pin connection, right?
That is correct.

Okay, let me see if i can explain this clearly. When I added the second HDD, I had to use a different cable from the PSU than what I was using for the HDD and DVD drive. Basically what I am trying to say is the second HDD is not connected to the rest of them. Is that a problem? The reason it is like that is because the the cable that is connected to the DVD drive and first HDD would not reach the second HDD. Do you understand what I am trying to say. I hope I explained clearly enough.
I'm not 100% clear on that, but I'll try to answer clearly as well. When you said "different cable from the PSU", do you mean that it's a different SATA power cable, connected to the second hard drive? If that is the case, it's fine. They don't all have to be power connected together. As long as each component is getting power, you're good. How many SATA power connections are on each SATA power cable?
 
That is correct.


I'm not 100% clear on that, but I'll try to answer clearly as well. When you said "different cable from the PSU", do you mean that it's a different SATA power cable, connected to the second hard drive? If that is the case, it's fine. They don't all have to be power connected together. As long as each component is getting power, you're good. How many SATA power connections are on each SATA power cable?

I guess what I am trying to say is all 3 of the devices(2 HDD's and 1 DVD drive) are not power connected on the same cable. If I understand you correctly I believe there are 3 SATA connections on each cable.
 
I guess what I am trying to say is all 3 of the devices(2 HDD's and 1 DVD drive) are not power connected on the same cable. If I understand you correctly I believe there are 3 SATA connections on each cable.

Oh ok. Then if it would not reach the second hard drive, it's ok to use another SATA power cable. Like I said before, they don't all have to be power connected together, as long as they get power.
 
Ok good, that is what I thought.

Here is a pic of the screws:
screws.jpg


Although I don't think these are it because there is more than 5 holes in the motherboard for screws but I can't find any others. If the motherboard did come with screws, I can't believe I lost them. I am usually pretty good about stuff like this.

Does it really matter which ones are used?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom