PC Manual

1. The Building The Building The Building The Building The Building The Building The Building The Building The Building By: Angel D. Romero PC Manual PC Manual PC Manual PC Manual PC Manual PC Manual PC Manual PC Manual PC Manual PC Manual

2. Table of Contents Introduction Peripherals The Building Process Special Thanks Mercedes Tigers

3. Introduction When ever you buy a computer at a local computer shop and get home and ask yourself if your computer was really worth it? Well, certainly personalizing your computer will certainly kill that aftermath feeling. Personalizing is what you want to do the next time you decide to get a new computer. That’s why its called a Personal Computer. Besides you save yourself some bucks by investing some time in building your brand new PC. This is what’s called 100% customer satisfaction. You’re the boss here, you decide whose in, and whose out, what’s best, and what’s not. Never known what’s inside a PC, or what to do when personalizing? Not to worry, because this book will put you in a No-hassle Situation. With just a few tips, suggestions, and instructions on building a personal computer, you will feel heavenly about your next pc that you build. Keep in mind that you cannot build an IMac based pc, or a Laptop pc; maybe some upgrade options but not the entire pc. This is because both the IMac Co. and laptop’s parts are compacted into a small area where only a professional would be the only qualified person to access into it. Back

4. Peripherals Back CASES CPUS MOTHERBOARDS MOTHERBOARDS CONT. MEMORY VIDEO CARDS HARD DRIVES OPTICAL DRIVES OPTICAL DRIVES CONT. SOUND CARDS SPKRS, MICE & KBRDS MONITORS OPERATING SYSTEM

5. Cases come in various sizes, form, and designs. Form choices include… Tower; the most common Desktop; usually for office use Cube; the most compact Sizes are available for Tower Cases only… Full; largest and very spacious Mid; mid-size and the most commonly used Micro; smallest and has limited space Designs are just unlimited, there are a great amount out there form plastic clear to aluminum metal out there. It’s up to you to decide which is right for you with the perfect price. Within the case itself lies the Power Supply Unit (PSU.) Sometimes the PSU is supplied by the provider, but when it doesn’t you will have to buy one. I suggest a PSU that has an intake fan and an exhaust fan. X-connect is the newest type which has the exquisite feature to add power cables as you need. There are many to choose from, but it all comes down to how much power you’ll be consuming; Watts. The more peripherals you got inside the case the more power you need, so if you run out of connections or see the fans are slowing down or even see that various lights are dim ,you my friend definitely need to upgrade your PSU. Cases Back SERVER Micro ATX XPC Desktop We’ll be using the Blue UV Reactive ATX Mid-Tower Clear Case with a 500 Watt PSU.

6. Central Processing Units OR Back Best of AMD Under the AMD roof, Athlon 64 and Athlon 64FX keep their attention with their interesting phrase “64-bit computing.” It may not keep up with CPU speeds like Intel’s but it is outstandingly fast and furious in 32-bit processing. Since almost everything is processed at 32-bits at a time, the 64-bit can seriously double the processing power of the 32-bit. It’s almost like having two processors running simultaneously. Making Intel’s “Hyper-Threading” inferior to the 64-bit CPU. Performance is due mostly to its L2 cache of 1Mb and integrated memory controller. The memory controller on other pc’s is handled by the separate chip known as the North Bridge, which has far slower speeds than the CPU’s core. Placing the memory controller directly into the processor will give the chip great memory latency and fascinating bandwidth, since it will be running at CPU core speeds. AMD is greatly preferred my many for the advantage of running some applications better and many games. Thus, the fact that Athlon processors have always been cheaper than Intel’s. Athlon 64FX and Athlon 64 are the way to go for today’s 32-bit processing and tomorrow’s 64-bit processing. AMD’s Runner-up Athlon XP, or “The Budget CPU” as some call it, was introduced a while back but still exists because it’s performance is optimal for gamer’s and video editors out there who are drawn back due to amount of their budget. Reasonable specs of a 512kb L2 cache and CPU core speeds ranging around 1.5GHz and 2.2GHz, which is the least amount of processing power that is recommend for anybody these days with video editing and gaming. Best of Intel Currently Intel has been known to be the raging speed demon of today’s fastest CPUs. Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (P4EE) is Intel’s top-notch CPU at speeds up to 3.46GHz and a 800MHz FSB (Front Side Bus; speed connection between the CPU and the main memory on the motherboard). Its speed can be thanked to its onboard 2.5Mb L2 and L3 cache, which is storage for data and instructions used frequently. Even though this is a great processor you would want to take a look at what AMD can provide for you if money is holding you back. On the other hand, if money is not a barrier, be my guest and get one; they’re only priced around $1000 each. Intel’s Runner-up An improved standard P4. Intel tweaked up its instructions for better performance in gaming, multimedia, and hyper-threading (fancy words for “virtual dual processors.”) Thus, its lager cache of 1Mb instead of the 512kb on the older P4s. There still exists one drawback for some, the few extra hundred bucks over the AMDCPUs. We’ll be using the Athlon XP 2800+ running at 333MHz “THE NEED FOR SPEED”

7. Motherboards What you need to Know A PC’s motherboard (mobo for short) basically stands for what it is named, because virtually everything is connected to the motherboard some way or another. A mobo determines all upgrading options available, how much performance you’ll extract from your PC, and that it is a major performance factor in the PC. Right now it is the both the best and worst time to invest in a new mobo! Worst, because we’re in the middle jumping to an entirely new memory technology (DDR2), a new peripheral bus (PCI Express), a new motherboard form factor (BTX), and as well new CPUs from both AMD and Intel by the end of the year 2005 (maybe.) Which means that these new technologies will make “yesterdays news” incompatible with today's. Back Raidsockets We’ll be using the DFI LANPARTY nForce2 DDR 400 chipset motherboard. Mobo battery Integrated Peripherals Before the new millennium a mobo would only have the basics which included PS2 ports, serial, parallel and maybe a USB port. Nowadays, they got just about every add-in feature you could ask for; Ethernet, sound, video, RAID, FireWire, many USB ports, and much more. Sometimes having all these add-in features integrated does not do any good. Integrated sound has provided mostly poor quality sound which is taking up valuable processing power on the CPU. Notable exceptions by many techs are the nVidia nForce chipsets. Onboard video is good for every day use but just plainly sucks for today’s demanding 3D gaming or video editing. Of coarse it says “shared,” but you don’t want to share your beloved memory with anything. You just won’t be able to experience the 3D performance that the designers intended for you to see. PCI slots AGP slots Memory sockets Floppy socket Power socket IDE sockets

8. Motherboards Cont. Back Best AMD Chipset If you are building a XP system get the nVidia nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset, which offers great performance and reliability that can’t be outperformed by its other XP based competitors. It includes killer onboard audio, LAN, USB 2.0 , and more. The 64 based systems have had very good results with the KT800 and KT880 and with the nVidia nForce3 Ultra ,though the new nVidia nForce4 just came out with the new bus; PCI Express. PS/2 mouse port PS/2 keyboard port Parallel ports Best Intel Chipset The P4 top picks are 875P and 865PE chipsets. One slightly faster and cheaper too, but both are compatible with the latest technologies. If you are someone who really likes to invest for the future acquire the 925xe mobo which supports newer CPUs and which is compatible with the new PCI Express. Sound ports Serial ports Ethernet ports USB ports Features, SLI, and PCI Express Motherboard features are to be looked to see what you require or adore the most. Features might be like LAN firewalls, smart overheat feature, or any other that the designer believed was necessary on the mobo. The new option SLI means that it supports dual graphics cards to work as one. Meaning that there is a much better chance of you experiencing 3D graphics like never before PCI Express is faster than the original PCI and the AGP slot. Technically it will replace it in the following year or so depending on consumption and productivity. Since it is very new it might not really acquire better performance than the AGP but will overcome it within a small given amount of time. PCI-E x1 PCI-E x16 MSI 925xe

9. Memory DDR (double data rate) memory is the most common today that is in use. High performance systems are more likely to boast a dual-channel memory configuration which will allow it to double the memory bandwidth when sticks of memory are installed in pairs (mainly for P4 and AMD 64) or threes (only for the AMD XP w/ nForce 2.) We should expect the DDR2 to become the standard. This fast next-gen. RAM will certainly not be backward compatible with the current popular DDR RAM. The only way that someone will get to use it will be to buy a new motherboard, and more than likely a new CPU. Back We’ll be using two Kingston RAM sticks of 512MB each for a total of 1GB of memory. AMD XP You should use the DDR memory that is clocked at the same speed as the CPU’s FSB (front side bus). If the current CPU is running at a 266MHz bus, use DDR266 RAM. Only the nForce2 and KT 880 support dual-channel memory, which is recommended for those 32-bit processing units. AMD 64 Since both ,64 & 64-FX, CPU’s carry their memory controller on board, don’t use anything other than DDR400, unless the mobo supports DDR2 go ahead and use that type of RAM. P4 For a non-LGA775 P4 CPU, pair it with the DDR400 RAM for best results. Chipsets that offer dual-channel DDR400 support are Intel’s 875P, 865PE, 865G, VIA’s PT600, PT800, and SIS’ 655FX. For the new LGA775 CPU, an Intel 925xe chipset and DDR2/533. Locking creases 184 pins Heat spreaders

10. Video Cards Video Card Back The best solution to choosing your video card is by checking what the motherboard will be running. By that I mean, if a 1.6GHz is running, get a GeForce 4 MX video card or a Radeon 9200, or if a 2.3GHz CPU is running, get a GeForce 6600 GT or a Radeon 700XT. This way, the speeds will be kept evenly through. And, if the best is a must just get the best of the best. One factor that determines the video card performance is the amount of memory on the system board. For instance, 512MB will be alright for a mid-range system, but for something higher will require a minimum of 1GB or RAM PCI-E x16 AGP SLOT VGA S-VIDEO DVI There are currently only two consumer video card markets, owned by ATI and NVIDIA. NVIDIA has held the speed crown all on its own for years, though recently ATI has really been producing some really good stuff. These two rival’s have high-end products, ATI’s Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition and nVidia’s GeForce 6800 Ultra, are just neck-to-neck in performance and price wise. AGP 8x/4x We’ll be using a nVidia GeForce 5200 with 128MB of memory.

11. Hard Drives Back • The HD is one of the peripherals that has to be selected well upon its specs to obtain a good valuable HD since this is where all the data will be stored in permanently. • Three Factors that Determine an HD “fast”… • The size of a drive’s onboard memory buffer is a factor that determines overall performance. HD memory ranges from 2Mb to 8MB. With more memory, the HD will be able to perform the tasks faster. Typically an average of 30% increase of performance over smaller memory buffers. • The rotational speed of an HD, only three are offered. For rudimentary storage duties, a 5400 RPM HD will get the job done since speed is of little importance. Next fastest speed is 7200 RPM which is the normal speed for today’s computers. There is one more which doesn’t have much popularity upon the desktop computers but with server based computers, 10,000 RPM. Those demanding speed the Raptor drives from Western Digital will do. These bad puppies are wickedly-fast. Just one con, they can only be offered in 36GB or 74GB capacities, while all the other slower HD’s are offered from 10GB to 400GB. • The type of physical interface between the HD and the motherboard. There’s good old fashioned flat ribbon cable (also known as IDE), the rounded cable, and the SATA. Hard Drive Rounded Cable SATA Cable • The flat ribbon cable has a speed of 100MB and 133MB transfer rate, but cannot exceed its speed since it will be prone to much data corruption, so in other terms that’s as fast as it will get. • Rounded cables are the same as the flat ribbon cable except that it is wrapped in a zipped web. Its pro is that it saves space with in the computer case itself creating a better airflow. Now, its con is that it is more likely to get more data corruption over the flat cable. • Finally SATA, a small, usually red, and looks like the sound cable, will eventually wipe out the ribbon cable within the next few years since its serial format allows it to have a max of 150MB transfer rate and which has the chance of increasing its speed up to 600MB with in the following years. So, it is recommended the use of SATA based HD. IDE Interface Jumpers We’ll be using a Maxtor 120GB,7200RPM, ATA 133, quiet HD.

12. Optical Drives Back In other words, the ones that use removable disk’s for storage of data whether it be permanently or over writable. All about these burning formats from plain CD-ROMs to DVD±RW. Good brand names are like Phillips, Sony, Plex-Writer, and a few others. There are though many other manufactures, “Cheapees” who tend to think that quality doesn’t matter much, well in fact that will cause the user to have low quality storage, like data corruption, loss of data, and so forth. As stated before, mainly what an American would say, the bigger the buffer, the better. It would also be better to stick with a SATA based drive, so it would benefit the drive more to reach its writing and read speeds. Plain CD-ROMs are rarely bought today but still exists because they bring high reading speeds. The same goes with DVD-ROMs only that these are more popular, and which most have the advantage of reading a CD-ROM as well. Floppy Drive We’ll be using a clear blue lead DVD, and CD-RW and a black Mitsumi Floppy Drive. IDE floppy ribbon cable. Blue lead Drives Power Connector Floppy 4-pin power plug IDE floppy interface

13. Dedicated writable ROMs are very cool since they carry very unique features, like tweaking laser settings and writing speeds. Thus, very popular since you can copy from one disk to another. The combo drives have less speed but provide can be an all in one drive like the Dual-Layer DVD±ROM where it won’t matter what type of disk, well DVD in this case, the user will be inserting. As well as the ones that write can really provide any type of write format, whether CD or DVD. Unfortunately floppy drives still exists because they provide some booting abilities on the computer. So, if it is decided that you must have one get one that’s usable when used. Optical Drive(s) Cont. Back 4-pin power connector also known as the molex plug CD-RW Drive DVD Drive Both will connect through a ATA 133

14. Sound Cards Back These days, normally integrated sound is an onboard feature already. But the truth is that sound quality is definitely not the same as the add-in card since it carries less features. Thus, the sound is processed by the CPU which means that its going to borrow processing power from the CPU. Quality is one thing you’ll want to keep in mind like those form Creative and Sound Max. The 16-bit/44.KHz audio is the specification for CD-quality audio, compared to a 24-bit/192KHz sound is recorded at a higher bit rate, meaning it includes more information about the sound than 16-bit audio. 24-bit is recommended for those who do a lot of audio recording. If the low computer is running a video game sound will surely slow down the system, so an add-in sound card would help the system to perform to its maximum. Thus, when buying a sound card watch out for those that don’t even come with its own processing CPU. Just like the one on the far down right corner. Placing the subwoofer won’t be a problem because it’ll still sound the same. Though what makes a difference is weather the user gets a 5.1, 6.1, a 7.1 with an eight channel card of audio. We’ll be using integrated a Sound Blaster Live with 24-bit a processing unit.

15. Speakers, Mice, & Keyboards Back Receiver For keyboards and mice it really just depends on what the user would want. As with the mouse it has many sizes, colors, and shapes and comes in either optical, which uses a red laser, or the original mouse-ball. Though there are still trackballs around if that would be the preferred type. Abbreviations used to denote the number of sound channels in a speaker system. The number before the decimal point indicated the number of regular audio channels and the number after the decimal point denotes that subwoofer channel. For example, 5.1 means five regular channels and one subwoofer channel. The most common used today is the 2.1, two satellite speakers and one subwoofer. Its up to the user to choose how much watt outage is preferred. In order to listen to true Dolby Digital audio on the PC, only a special peripherals needed to decode the sound into separate channels into a 5.1 speaker system. One of the popular ones is the one from Creative Labs. What about digital and analog? Well this doesn’t have to do with the speakers themselves but with the type of connection. Usually PC games will require analog connections for best sound quality while DVD’s prefer the digital and only the one’s that have both are the best speaker systems. We’ll be using Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard with Z640 5.1 speakers.

16. Monitors Back We’ll be using Black DELL LCDs. First off there are two kinds perfectly flat, CRT (cathode ray tube), and truly flat, LCD (liquid crystal display). Most LCDs are connected to the computer through the same VGA-DB15 connection that CRT’s are equipped with. Since LCD’s are more complicated, they require a DVI connection which will cause the price of the monitor to rise. CRT screen size and resolution are preferred at a 19 inch display and a 1152 x 864 to 1280 x 1024 resolution. On the LCD, it’s a 17 to a 19 inch display with the 1280 x 1024 resolution. Both are thus preferred with the refresh rate of 75Hz. Look Out for these Settings Dot-pitch for the CRT means that the smaller this number is the sharper that the image will be displayed and thus shoot the price up. Thus an anti-glare coating will always be good for a CRT. With LCD the response time must be watched, the smaller the number the better.

17. Operating System Back The main physical graphical output from your computer will be run by the type of OS. There a variety out there but usually widows has been known to be the most used. Latest windows OS is Windows XP with three versions, Home, Professional, and Home Theatre. Home edition is for those users who will use the pc for basic principles and never go in deep with customization. Professional edition is for those who like to personalize and restrict to the very detail. Home Theatre is for those with a lot of pride is video editing and movie watching. We recommend using Professional since it can do everything with it. Thus anyone out there will most surely recommend it as well. We’ll be using Windows XP Pro

18. The Building Process Got a Phillips head screw driver? Good. If you don’t, go right now to your nearest hardware store and get one, because that’s all you really need (most of the time anyway). Well, that, an antistatic mat or a antistatic wrist, (it would be better if both were and a few hours. If you’re someone who likes to be prepared go ahead and buy a whole computer tool set-kit, just incase you need them for special items or special type of screws or situations. Now, if you get a used case, it could stand a cleaning, so a bottle of compressed air and some anti-static wipes should do the job right. Caution:In what ever room you decide to build the PC, make sure its not that humid because it will be more probable to get shocked by a peripheral. That is why if the antistatic mat is being used, make sure you ground yourself every few minutes. If you use the antistatic wrist, make sure its really being grounded, as they can come off when you stretch it. Back • Pre Preparations • Case • PSU • BACKPLATE • MOTHERBOARD • CPU • MEMORY • SWITCHES • EXTERNAL CONNECTIONS • VIDEO CARD • HDHD CONT… • OPTICAL DRIVE • PCI • FINAL CHECK • BIOS • OPERATING SYSTEM • DONE Anti Static Mat

19. Pre Preparations Make a list of all the peripherals that you’ll be using, assuring that all the right tools that are need are in handy, and thus, that you have all the instructions for extra peripherals. It would also be advisable to simulate in the process of the way that you’ll approach the building process. Once that’s accomplished, a nice big area for you to work with in building the new pc; usually the dinning table will so just fine. Next up will be getting grounded by means of a ground mat to place the peripheral for what ever reason it may be and by grounding yourself from the foot since it is less troublesome than to have it on the wrist. Before you begin try organizing all the setup disks and into one CD holder; binder type of storage. That way you never have to go searching for those disks in all those boxes.

20. Step 1: Prep Your Case Back • Take both side panels off from the case to begin with. This will prevent the scratching the side panels while working within the case. • Inspect the case to locate the fan slots, drive bays, and back panel slots. Identify if installing the peripherals will require some basic tools as newer cases have become tooless. • Now it is time to get the fans screwed if they are not yet on, and thus, any USB, Fire wire, and/or jacks.

21. Step 2: Add Power Back • If the case came with the Power Supply inspect it to make sure it was positioned correctly. • On the other hand, installing the PSU is the next step if it didn’t come with one already. • Usually, there’s some sort of mounting bracket screwed into the back of the case. • Unscrew the bracket before you can mount the power supply to it. Make sure you pay attention to the way the bracket was on the case before you removed it. • Once the PSU is attached to the bracket, slide the power supply into your case, making sure that all the wires are untangled and where you want them inside the tower, and then screw the bracket down. • Caution: Dropping a screw into the power supply by mistake during this process, DO NOT, under any circumstance, take the PSU apart to get at it. Trust me, it’s a complicated peripheral. Step 3: Install the Backplate • There are dozens of possible configurations for the ATX backplate (the thing on your mobo with holes for the connectors) each motherboard comes with a custom plate, which pops into a standard-size hole in your case. • It mounts from the inside, so line it up and install it into place. (usually the PS/2 ports go nearest the power supply.

22. Step 4: Prep and Mount the Mobo Back • Before installing the motherboard, first screw on the mobo standoffs. • Each motherboard has slightly different standoff configuration, so hold the mobo up to the tray and note which holes on your mobo line up with the holes on the tray. • Caution:Do not put extra standoffs in the case that don’t align with holes on the mobo. If so they can cause short contacts on the back of the mobo making the motherboard unbootable, or damaging the motherboard permanently. • Line up its rear connectors with the holes in your mobo backplate, and slide the mobo into the case. • Screw down the motherboard, being careful at the same time not to strip the screws. (It may be a bit tough to get the motherboard screwed, but the best way is to screw each screw half-way before beginning to screw it down completely. Mobo mount holes Power for the Mobo. Some mobo’s require the 4-pin like ours and P4’s require the bottom one.

23. Processor This is the most delicate part of your instillation, so take your time. Before you begin, make sure you ground yourself. Lift the little lever besides the ZIF socket. Socket the CPU, aligning the pins on the CPU with the holes in the ZIF socket on the system board. Remember to align pin 1 correctly. Press the CPU lever back down to lock the CPU in place. Heat Sink/Fan Caution:Too much thermal grease/paste can cause the CPU and/or the mobo and even in some cases, totally fry the CPU and/or the mobo. Apply a thin layer of thermal grease/paste on the CPU heat-spreader. If it does not have one, only apply thermal paste/grease onto the center chip. And smooth it down with a business card or other suitable trowel. Clean any mess that might of been done mistakenly. Make sure to refer to your manual on the heat sink/fan to acquire the proper way to attach it with its clamps, do to the fact that all heat sink/fan’s are different. Caution: When placing the heat sink/fan watch out for a slip, causing you to spread the thermal paste/grease onto the motherboard. Doing so, some extensive cleaning of the circuits on the mobo will have to be made. A swab should get the job done. If it is not a combo heat sink/fan you will need to attach the fan to the heat sink before applying the heat sink onto the CPU. Place the heat sink/fan combo on top of the processor and press down firmly. According to your manual, attach the clamps/clips to the heat sink/fan with the ZIF socket to lock them both in place. At this point connect the fan cable to the mobo. Finally, clean any thermal paste/grease that might have been squished out in-between the CPU and the heat sink. Step 5: Socket the CPU Back ZIF lever Water cooling platter Radiator Water pump Reservoir

24. Step 6: Add Memory Sticks Back • This is a very simple task to do, but it requires a good amount of force than expected for most people. Thus, remember to handle the memory sticks from the edges, except from the communication edge. • Consult the mobo manual to determine which RAM slots memory in to enable dual-channel mode, if available. Thus, this process might be easier if the case is laid down on its side. • Examine the RAM slots and the RAM stick itself, noting that sticks only go one way. • Make sure the pins on the slots are open. • There are two ways to insert the memory… • Moderately apply pressure on the RAM stick evenly from both sides until both sides get locked automatically. • With your thumbs press down and use another finger to push the pins into locking position. Handle memory from the edges only. Make sure it locks up.

25. Step 7: Arm the Switches Back • It’s time to connect the case’s buttons, and lights to the mobo. • Consult the mobo manual “again,” as stated before that each system board is not alike to another. • The mobo manual will show the proper configuration of the switches. Step 8: Power Up External Peripheral Connections • Connecting USB and FireWire ports is simple as one, two, three. Today, case enclosures include pre-configured connectors for each type of port. All that is done is lining up the connector with the header on the mobo, and push down. Both FireWire and USB cables are keyed so they won’t go in if they’re not lined up properly. • Occasionally, you’ll find a case where the USB cables aren’t in a convenient connector block, instead each wire is separate. If that’s the case, the mobo manual should include a pin-out diagram that will show the “how to connect the wires.” FIREWIRE • Make absolutely certain not to switch the USB and FireWire headers-it’s not always easy to tell the cables apart. Consult you case manual if you’re not positive which is which. • Caution:If this mistake is done and then plug a device into the wrong port, it can destroy both the device and the motherboard to which its connecting to! • Many mobo’s lack onboard headers for front-mounted FireWire, but there’s an alternative. Sound Blaster Audigy 2 cards include internal FireWire headers. • When a soundcard installed, just slip the FireWire cable onto the header at the top of the PCI card. USB

26. Step 9: Install the Video Card Back • Remove the slot cover that lines up with the AGP or PCI-E slot. The video card is usually set back farther back than the other slots and is closest to the CPU. • Examine the video slot and the card to find the right way it’ll be inserted. • Remove the backplate on the case. • Line up the card’s backplate with the slot on the case, simultaneously leveling the card to the video slot. • Gently push the card down into the slot. • Screw the card’s backplate into the case, and connect external power from the PSU, if the video card requires one that is.

27. Step 10: Prep, Mount, and Connect the Hard Drive(s) Back Parallel ATA (IDE) • Begin, by setting the jumper settings on the back of the HD. • Check to see the reference on the HD to determine where the jumper or set of jumpers are to be placed to set the HD on Master. • Set it to be a master hard drive, and any other HD’s that get inserted will have to be configured as a slave, at least through this interface. • Find an empty 3.5 inch bay and insert the HD (the back of the HD should be facing out for connections), and align the socket screw so that the HD can be screwed on without a hassle. If there aren’t any you can use the one’s where optical drives are inserted, but keep in mind that it’ll require standoffs for it to be screwed onto the chassis. • Make sure that at least four screws are screwed in, two on each side. • Examine the ribbon cable with the HD’s pin interface, notice that it will have to aligned to the one crease that the HD has on the back. Thus, make sure you don’t confuse it with the floppy ribbon cable. (the smaller one) • Notice that two the ribbon cable has three connections. Well the two that are closest together are for the HD’s. • Refer to the mobo manual to identify which is the IDE interface on the mobo. When that is accomplished, connect the side of the ribbon cable that is farthest from the other two connections of the cable. • Connect the other side to the HD. • Finally, connect a 4-pin power cable to the HD. Stand offs were required in this case.

28. Install Hard Drive(s) Cont. Back Serial ATA (SATA) • On this type of interface on the HD’s, there is no such thing as jumper settings, making this a bit easier. • Find an empty bay on the case for the HD, thus making sure it will have airflow on both top and bottom for best results in HD cooling. • Insert it with interface connections facing towards the back of the case. (in some cases it will be required to insert stand-offs just like in our UV Reactive CASE) Simultaneously aligning it so that it can be screwed on to the case. • Insert at least four screws, and make sure it doesn’t move. • Now get the SATA cable, usually red and looks like the sound cable, and check it out to determine witch side goes on the HD and which goes on the mobo. • Once that is determined, connect it to the mobo first and then to the HD, but be careful since these things are very easily broken. • Now connect power into the HD using either the usual 4-pin power cable or the special power connection that it comes with. Caution: Don’t connect both power connections if the HD has both power connections. Air will flow on top and on the bottom of the HD.

29. Step 11: Prep, Mount, and Connect the Optical Drives Back • Make sure the optical drives are properly jumped (master/slave). • Remember that ONE has to be a master, the rest will be slave. • Usually they’ll have labels on top to guide on with the interfaces that it has and jumpers. • If the case is affiliated with rails on the optical drives go ahead and install them in which ever way that the case manual may say. • If it does not require rails, just slip in the Optical drive into an empty bay and screw in at least four screws. • Attach the ribbon cable just like if it were and IDE HD. • Connect a sound cable to the Optical Drive if it requires one, and the other end onto the motherboard, unless if a sound card will be attached I advise to attach it to the sound card. • Connect a 4-pin power cable to it.

30. Step 12: Install the Rest of the Cards Back • Soundcards, network cards, TV tuner cards, and any other card that will get installed. • Determine if the card is a PCI or a PCI-E. • Remove the slot cover from the case. • Line up the card with the slot and press down on the card with an even amount of pressure, simultaneously making sure that the backplate of the card is sliding in correctly in place. • Once its attached screw it to the chassis. • Refer to the manual of the card to check if any other connections need to be made. Step 13: Last Minute Connections Whoala! Its complete. Well, it is but its not thoroughly done until its had a double check. Make sure that… • Every peripheral that requires power has been supplied with power. • Every connection is properly connected to the motherboard, and to the motherboard. • All the cables are tidy and tucked in an organized manner. Just like in our case, we sleeved up cables and tie wrapped some. Tucking the cables out of sight or to the side will not only make it more attractive, it will provide better airflow inside of the case to improve the cooling of the system. • Now connect the monitor, mouse, keyboard, mic, speakers, patch cable and power cable.

31. Step 14: Configure the BIOS Back Caution:When configuring the bios, a misstep can fry the CPU! • Press the appropriate keys to enter the BIOS Setup. Don’t hesitate to hit that restart button if the start up goes to fast to catch the right buttons to hit. • Once in the Bios the first two tweaks are to set the CPU speed and the Boot setup. • Refer to the manual to set the CPU speed and then apply the boot set to be as HD first, CD-ROM second, and Floppy third. The combination of keys to access the bios on this mobo are barely visible.

32. Step 15: Install OS Back To install Windows, all you need to do is pop the CD-ROM into the drive, then press “any” key when you see a screen prompting you to “press any key to from CD.” After your system has booted off the CD, the installer will start the text mode part of the setup. Follow the prompts until you get to the partitioning screen. Assuming you’re using a new HD, you’ll need to tell Windows how you want to configure your disk. For maximum performance with XP, it is recommended creating one big partition that spans the entire drive. Thus, that you use the NTFS format for your new drive. It will also prompt you to select to install the OS fast or normal, I’m guessing that the first thing to know is that if it will work, so go quick. You’ll now see the status of the installation on the monitor in full color. Once it restarts because it finished loading the OS, don’t take out the CD-ROM, but make sure you don’t press any key when prompting you to do so. If you do so just restart the system as quickly as possible. You should now see the desktop screen, and thus prompting you to activate Windows. You should really wait until all your drives are installed that way everything will be working well. At this point you’ll see various amounts of balloons appearing on the bottom right hand side of the screen simply saying that there has been new hardware detected and that it is trying to load drives for it. My suggestion is that you click that balloon and tell it to look in the CD-ROM drive. At this point check what hardware it is trying to install and load the CD-ROM that has the drives. Exit any windows that loaded automatically when you inserted the CD-ROM. Repeat doing this for each and every hardware part. The other way is to load the CD-ROM and follow instructions set by the manuals peripheral. Everything should be working at this point, now install the latest drivers for your all your new hardware. It’s always best to download them form the manufactures web site. Thus, you should get the latest updates for the OS to keep it at optimal performance. Windows XP startup screen.

33. DONE! Back Ha! Ha! At last, a computer built by you working at its best. Now that the computer is done test out its features and enjoy your newly customized computer. You should know that whatever amount of money you put into the computer is what you get out of it. And be advised that there are always newer and better pc’s out there.

34. Special Thanks Back I’d like to thank MISD, Sector Zero Technologies, Professor Cruz, and Peer Raul Rios for their continuous support towards making this project a great success.