Help - I'm in way over my head.

My son has convinced me to invest in a new PC. At first I was going to go Dell, (last XPS Gen 2 worked great). I checked Dell's site and reviewed the new XPS 700. Nice machine, but upon further reading I discovered all sorts of issues and complaints from the user community. Overclocking, tweeaking, etc started popping around the PC as both my son and I surfed the net for some divine intervention.

Fast forward to today.

After carefull consideration, I placed an order today for a new PC. Now being an IT professional, 20+ years, leading young talented individuals design and implement IT business and manufaturing solutions I think I slipped and lost whatever gray matter was still in my head. Why, you say? Well, the pc is a collection of components which somehow I have to put together, My son thinks it's a walk in the park. He's totally in love. "Finally a mean ass-kicking machine". Exuse me, one small problem. How are we going to put this thing together, I say? Ah, you worry too much dad.


I'm usually not this long winded, but I had to get it off my chest. So back to this thread.

I need help. Where to begin. Well first off, can anyone direct me to a site which would offer valuable help. What should I do first, pitfalls, detailed instructions on mobo, PSU, case setup. What cable goes where, you know, basic stuff to you guys, but mountains to climb from my prespective.

Btw, here is what I ordered, it should be in sometimes next week, so I know I have a few days ahead of me to panic and drive myself crazy and bring my son back down from the clouds.

PS - Feel free to comment on the individual components. Excellent, Good, Poor, or You're Just Plain Crazy.

Case - Thermaltake Kandalf full tower VA900BWS(black) with 11 bays (What will I ever need 11 bays for - but it looks cool)
PSU - Thermaltake Toughpower W0103RU 600 W.
Mobo - Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Cooling - Thermaltake CL-P0257 Blue Orb II
CPU - Intel Coe 2 Duo E6600 2.4 GHz
Graphic - ATI Radeon X1950 XTX GDDR4
Memory - OCZ DDR2-800 PC2-6400 Platinum XTC 2 GB
IDE - Lite-On SHM-165H6s
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 320 SATA NCQ 3.0Gb/s

well when it comes to putting the pc together all of the
different connectors will only go one way.

you sound intelligent and should have no problems.

wait till you get everything and are ready to put it together.
and read the manuals that come with all the parts.

others will surley have links and the system looks great.
goodluck.

p.s. later if you have ?,s just post them here at thg

If you read all of the manuals (espcialy the one with the mobo and processor) you should be in pretty good shape. The manuals that come with asus motherboards i find to be really well detailed so you shouldnt have to many worries there.

A few things to remember.

1. Put standoffs in your case. Standoffs are these little brass things that come with your case and get screwed into the motherboard tray so the motherboard is kept out of direct contact with the tray (and thus isnt shorted out). Use on the standoffs that line up with the holes in you motheroard. DO NOT USE EXTRAS.

2. Install the heatsink before you put the motherboard in the case. It will save you some trouble later.

3. Follow intels instuctions for installing the processor in the motherboard. This is the only thing that you really need to get right the first time, because if you install the processor the wrong way and try to install the heatsink (or the pressure bracket as i beileve it is intels case) then you will crush the pins (which would suck for many reason that really only need be explained with either, returned mobo or lots of time straightening pins)



http://www.waterwheel.com/Guides/how_to/cpu/CPU.htm

here is something i dug up quickly on installing a processor. Skip to the section about socket 775.

Go to the home page of this site. Click on Hardware. Look for the button 'build your own' near the top.

It is excellent.

Edit: here's the link to part one:


http://www.tomshardware.com/2002/0 [...] ur_own_pc/


-Bob

Below is a recent written guide with pictures:

http://www.daileyint.com/build/

I recently built my first full build(amd) I have done upgrades but the guys here were VERRY HELPFUL 8) also read the sticky's. plus i found a ton of video help on u tube and google video,while you wait for parts maby get inside your old rig and poke around but DO NOT DISASSEMBLE(i did and regreted it) and look here,,
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/

step one: install ram and cpu/heatsink on mobo.

step two: install mobo in case (make sure u use the standoffs)

step three: install psu (screw it into the case, very easy)

step four: install optical drives and hdds (slide em in, screw em down)

step five: give power (hook up the psu to the mobo and to your drives, open an old computer to see as an example if you cant figure out how to plug the stuff in)

step six: hook you harddrives/ cd drives to mobo (hd will use a sata plug, disk drive will be ide, plug into respective mobo slots- only ones that will fit, use the first sata plug for the hdd)

step seven: turn on and cross your fingers

step eight: install windows


its not tough to do, just go slow and steady (i forgot to say that you need to hook up the case buttons onto the mobo -in the corner normally- can be tricky)


if you have problems, you come back here!

Actually, sometimes it is A LOT easier to install the PSU before the mobo as the fan may block access to the PSU area. Depends on the case. Installing the PSU is a lot easier than installing the mobo, seeing that you can't get the PSU past the fan, pulling the mobo (and re-seating the stand-offs) then installing the PSU and then the mobo again.

Ill add one thing here when connecting power to your devices and if you have a multi rail power supply (mine is a tripple rail design) hook your hard drive into one, your other drives bays into another, and your video into the last (or other) to insure even power distrabution and so you dont risk having a bunch of fans cd roms and crap take neede power from your video card and hard drives D:. If possible dont plug anything into the power cord your hard drive sits in same for your video.

You completed step one in a home build in excellent shape - buying quality components.

Before you start assembling the system you'll probably have spent 20x the hours reading that it takes to actually do the assembly. But thats good - inspires confidence and ensures success. You'll have looked at a lot of pictures and they should start to make sense.


When ever possible track down a review article of the parts you've bought and read those articles:
Thermaltake Blue ORB II Review
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Review

Good luck and let us know how it turned out.

Ok I just have to say it because it happened to me 2 days ago..

Built this super comp that would move the pentagon if I asked it to.. but anyways..


Went to turn it on and it wouldnt post.... $2600 machine wouldnt post.. I will be honest, my heart dropped past my knees.

So I sat there in utter confusion for about 3-4 mins. finally decided to turn it off.. reset the Cmos and turn it back on.. yay it worked..

Moral of the story.. If it doesnt start up the first time reset your Cmos(Mobo book will tell you how to do it) and crank it back up should work fine.