New Rig Assembly: "Order of Operations?"

Help!
After getting burned ( almost literally) by a prefab rig from an online company that removed most of the case fans to make room for an Nvidia 285 GTX, I have ordered all the parts for a Father Xmas $1200 rig.

( The so called "Gamer Extreme" I ordered was showing 85C degrees on the CPU and shutting itself down after 2 minutes, idle...)

So... I was wondering if there was a standard "order of operations" (you know like PEMDAS in math class?") for assembly. I built my last rig, but that was 6 years ago and a great deal has changed, I imagine. What follows are my thoughts and questions:

1. Prepare the case. match up stand offs with the mobo, install the mobo back plate if any, and remove covers from the expansion slots. Pretty straight forward, I think.

2. Install the CPU. Should I mount the fan on the cooler first? Should I put the cpu in the mobo before I put the mobo in the case? These are the sort of questions I worry about...

3. Install memory. Again... before or after putting the mobo in the case?

4.Mount mother board now? Mount cooler next?

5.Install the videocard.

6. Install PSU. Does it matter what order I make the case/motherboard connections? Is one way easier? ( front mount usb/buttons headphone jack BEFORE videocard or mobo..etc?)

7 Install hard drive and optical drive.

8. Install Drivers and Win 7. If my motherboard comes with a cd/dvd of drivers, should I use it, or will Win 7 take care of that? If I need them, do I run those or Win 7 first?

If anyone has any advice, or has put together a Father Xmas $1200 before and can share some wisdom, I would really love the help. Please let me know if the order I am thinking of installing stuff is screwy...

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

First off, let me get this off my chest: I hate you. You're going to have a better PC than me.

Second, you're pretty much on the mark. Install the motherboard into the case first, then clamp in the CPU and the heatsink on top of that. Then it's the videocard and/or RAM, depending on which is easier to put in first.

I generally plug in the case power/USB headers after getting all the components in.

Win 7 should take care of your driver needs. With a $1200 budget, I can only assume you're getting a Core i7 PC, and from that I can hazard a guess to the kind of motherboard you're getting. You shouldn't need any of the drivers that came with the motherboard, as Win 7 should have some with it and Windows Update should fetch you some newer ones.

I just recently built my own system from newegg parts... and I hadn't done anything with computer hardware in years, so it all seemed new to me. I had to install the motherboard first in order to find where the screws lined up.

I build the other way round fit CPU and heatsink/fan plus memory first. Then fit the motherboard into the case.

The main reason is I find it far easier to fit Heatsink out of case then in. Also I normally use a better heatsink fan and some of those bolt through the motherboard.

I generally install the CPU and heatsink prior to mounting the mobo in the case. Some after market fans require brackets that affix to the back of the motherboard, and I've had more than a few runs where I've screwed down the motherboard, then had to undo it to get the heatsink on. Motherboards usually come in static-resistant bags, so you can rest the board on that while doing the first couple steps.

Once you've got the heatsink installed, you can screw down the motherboard and pretty much install everything else in any order.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Going to go with "Whatever's easier" and "It depends." Especially when you look at the mainboard and your cooler. I'll typically fit things like a CPU or RAM in while the mainboard is out of the case, just for ease of access. (Of course, some cases have a slide out mainboard tray - some even take the back plates with them - which makes most of this moot.)

Power supplies *tend* (again, case dependant) to be easier to put in afterward - just so you don't have a mess of cables to work around when putting the MB in. OTOH, it helps to at least fit it to work out routing, especially when you can hide some of the cables behind, etc.

See my Guides and Tutorials

First, look over the manuals that come with the motherboard and case. Keep them handy.

Second, practice electrostatic safety. I'm not advocating Largo's "you must be naked" level of paranoia but wearing fleece hoodies in a low humidity environment, where you can hear the crackling of static as you move, isn't good. Common sense rules. Work on a table and not the carpeted floor. Leave any electronically sensitive component in it's static protection until you are ready to install it. While working on the motherboard, use it's antistatic bag as a place mat for it.

As for assembly I divide the task into three parts. First is preparing the case. Swap out the IO panel, the piece of metal that the motherboard rear ports poke through, that comes with the case with the one that comes with the motherboard. Note you may need to spread the contact tabs, little bits of metal poking inward the case, so when the motherboard is pressed against them, they will spread in the right directing and not into the port themselves. It's annoying as all get out when after screwing the motherboard down and hooking up the case cables you notice a tab sticking into your network port.

Also screw in the motherboard standoffs into their correct holes for an ATX motherboard. Of course do all of this with the case on it's side.

Now assemble the motherboard. Before installing the CPU, prep the heatsink. That means installing the backplate. I'm assuming you did get the Hyper 212 Plus. The instructions are a little, ah, brief, relying on drawings.

Then install the CPU, follow the instructions in the motherboard manual. Once that is locked down then apply the arctic silver (following their instructions, just a drop will do it) and then attach the heatsink and lock it down. Mount the fan and plug the fan into the motherboard header for the CPU fan. You can plug in the memory now if you want. Make sure you plug them into the correct two slots, refer to the motherboard manual.

Now comes the fun part, moving the top heavy motherboard into the cramp case. It's pretty self evident what needs to be done, like first moving those case fan cables out of the way, but again be aware that when pressing the motherboard rear ports up against the IO plate that none of the tabs bend the wrong way and interfere with the port itself.

Double check that the motherboard is all screwed down, the the IO panel tabs aren't interfering with the ports themselves, that the heatsink is still secure (it shouldn't budge at all) as well as the ram and the CPU fan is still plugged into the motherboard.

At this point you can upright the case. Since the case (assuming the CM690) has the PSU mounted at the bottom, you might as well install that now. Note that if the case is going to be sitting on carpet, install the PSU so the fan is facing up into the case. The case is designed with an air inlet under the PSU and if resting on a hard surface the case legs will provide clearance to let you mount the PSU fan down and draw outside air into the PSU, but that wouldn't work so well on carpets.

Next step is probably the most annoying, connecting up the case switches, each connector is marked and it's placement in the header block is found in the motherboard manual. Once all connected I usually gather and masking tape those cables down so I don't accidentally snag them while cabling in the front panel connectors, power, etc.

Now hook up the rest of the front panel connectors for USB, SATA and audio. The audio header is usually in an annoying spot but it's not to bad on the MSI motherboard.

Lastly there is installing the video card, drives and connecting up all the power and drive cables. The case has a number of "holes" that will allow you to route some of these cables behind the motherboard mounting plate for neatness and airflow. Don't forget the case fans.

After triple checking everything it's time to power it up. Hook up the monitor and keyboard, plug it on and see if it boots. Don't try to install the OS at this point, we are just trying to see if it gets to the BIOS.

Assuming it boots fine and you can get to the BIOS, this is the time I personally would flash the BIOS with the latest and run an extensive memory test using something like Memtest 86+. Only then I would drop in the OS DVD and let the OS install.

After all the OS patches that Microsoft will fetch it's time to get and install the latest audio and video drivers. Audio probably from MSI's site and video from ATI (assuming you got the HD 5850).

Take it slowly, don't rush, if you are confused about something reread the manuals again. If still confused ask here.

Here are a couple of general DIY guides.

Beginners Guides: Assembling Your Own PC
Illustrated Guide to Putting Your Homebuilt Computer Together

Hope I didn't forget anything.

Thank you all very much for your help!

I read on the Newegg site that some folks found attaching the cooling fan to the cooler first, then to the CPU a bit easier, I will look at it all when it arrives...

Thanks Father Xmas to the link to MegaTokyo as well.. I had never read that comic series before.

It will be about a week now, because I need the money from the stupid flaming "Gamer Extreme" RMA to get the rest of the parts, then 3 days for UPS to deliver... Thanks again, and I will report back!

Let me warn you, MegaTokyo is an acquired taste.

The main story is now around 1000 or so pages with a few hundred pages of filler, guest comics and side stories shuffled in. It started out as a commentary about gaming and Japan with sort of a story but then turned into a full blown manga with ninjas, magical girls, rent a zillas, android gaming accessory, idols, school girls, voice actresses, Otaku, the Tokyo Cataclysm Police and finally a little bit of romance, all centered around two Americans stuck in Japan. One, an artist, views everything through the prism of manga, anime and visual novels (aka dating sims). The other, a gamer and tech wiz, views everything through the prism of video games. There are at least a dozen or so of other characters, some primary, some reoccurring.

Readers are lucky if the author is able to crank out 100 pages of main story a year so it becomes a very slow read once you catch up.

ATX cases and motherboards have been around for years. I honestly surprised that the MB and Case companies in Taiwan haven't come up with a standard wiring block for cases.

(The MSI board in this Father Xmas build did come with 3 header blocks, which helped immensely...)

So..... I have everything all assembled, except for the videocard and ram, which are still on their way. I got an OEM copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, and on the sleeve it mentions it must be installed using an "OEM Preinstallation Kit"

Is this an actual piece of software I need, a set of instructions.. or?

I have installed win xp and win 7 before and never had to do anything special besides insert the cd/dvd and follow the prompts.

Is this something I need to worry about?

Thank you for any help!

Don't worry about the OEM Preinstall kit. I have no idea why they put that on there. It works perfectly fine by just booting off the CD.

(The preinstall kit sets up answer files and the like - which, if you're doing a single system, is rather pointless. Doing a few hundred, it would save time of course.)

See my Guides and Tutorials

Yup... videocard and ram are actually scheduled for delivery today, from a location 7 miles away...

In the MSI mobo box there was a little baggie with 3 header blocks (black, size of a chicklet male pins on one side, female holes on the other) in it, first one marked:
HD_LED+
HD_LED-
RST_SW-
RST_SW+
RSVD_DNU
so I hooked all the tiny front end cable leads to this first assuming red positive white negative(as labeled too), then sat it in the mobo (JFP1).

The second one had on it GND, SLED, PLED, SPEAKER and BUZZER... so I hooked the power LED, case speaker and buzzer cables to it making sure red+ wire connected to red+, black- to black-, and sat the header onto JFP2.

The third header in the baggie is marked with GND, + and - for USB0 on one side and USB1 on the other, so I left that in the baggie because the CoolMaster II leads were already a single block of cables for the front ( actually top) two usb sockets.

This particular third header also has VCC and USBOC written on it, though. Do you think I should use it for something?

Thank you for all your help guys in this adventure, and 24 hours from now I should have a full report of either triumph or despair!

"IT'S ALIVE!!!! ALIVE!!!!"

Thank you so much to everyone that helped me...it is up and running and SpeedFan reports 24c on the GPU while running the game, all 4 cores under 29c... I can't wait to really tweak the Catalyst drivers using BillZ's settings and see what I can get for a visual treat.

If anyone wants help with installing the Heatsink ( manual unhelpful..) etc I will share my experiences putting it all together.

Thanks again...