PESHT 2! I BUILT IT!!! I DID IT!

Hey everyone this is THE Photographically Enhanced Self Help Thread (Version 2.0). For those of you unaware of what exactly a PESHT is, here was the first: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] w=0&nojs=0

Well, I spent about 3 hours today, connecting, tidying up, etc etc, and I finished my new build!!! BUT before I go on, I'd like to take this time to thank everyone in here who helped me build this computer - from the research to the actual building stage, you guys have all been amazing.

Check it out!

It's an Antec 900 Case,
Gigabyte ds3l Motherboard
Visiontek Radeon 3870 Graphics
C2D e2180 Processor
4Gb Gskill RAM
Antec PSU
Dell 20" Monitor
Barracuda 250gb hdd
Liteon DVD/CD burn

Here's an overall view of the insides:

I spent quite some time trying to make the wires look tidy (took lots of zipties)

And here is what ended up behind the motherboard tray:

Here's a view toward the hdd and the DVDburn

And another showing towards the back of the case

Near the power/hdd pins:

Near the Burner:

Dude I'm so excited. Guess what happened next? I plugged it in----and it worked!!

Next this came up (I think its called POST)

Then it told me I needed a boot disk inserted. Next, I restarted the computer and hit DELETE to bring up the "BIOS SETUP" I think and I saw this:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums [...] G_4799.jpg

Then, because I was curious, I hit PC HEALTH and saw this interesting info about the fan speed, the CPU Temperature, the VCORE, etc:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums [...] G_4800.jpg

So That's pretty much everything that happened to me today. However, this is still a PESHT - Meaning I still need help. How in the world do I know what do do next? What are all those things in that POST screen? How, and when do I install the operating system? How do I make sure it will boot from the right place?

Other than that, though: How does it look? Is there anything More I can do to organize the wires, or are they pretty good?

Once again, thank you all - I hope you've enjoyed seeing the fruits of your labors (and mine) but still, you guys have been a great help SO Thanks again

Throw in your windows disk and boot the machine. It should boot to the CD since there are no other bootable devices. For now just leave the BIOS alone until you install the OS.

If you are running stock you shouldn't have to touch the BIOS.

Excellent rig mate. And as said before, just pop in your windows/linux cd and you should be ready to go. Follow the onscreen instructions and your off. The anticipation will kill you

How did I get my name you asked? Well, my first name starts with a P, and my last name is Esh.

Yes they most certainly are G.Skill 2x2gb to be exact

OCing?

Good luck

But before usually installing OS, I run MemTest86+ (2+ passes) and other software found in UBCD (ie. HDD tools,etc). UBCD is a must have tool for any one.

Link:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

PM me if you run in to problems with OCing.

@Mods: Sticky?

Thanks for the link Shadow. I'd never seen that before and it looks pretty cool. They almost have too many test programs on there though.

Hey, is there a place you can get the UBCD free?

Big Question that just came Up: Will this Unused Dell xp cd work with my computer?



Look - I put it in to try it out, and this screen came up:


Followed by this one:


I was too afraid to continue because I didn't want to mess my computer up. My question is: does the fact that the install got this far mean that this cd will work with my motherboard's bios (gigabyte ds3l). Or will it just hang at a later point in the install?

First off, I doubt you can mess up your comp by installing XP. I screwed up once, and all I had to do was redo it.

Secondly, I didn't think a Dell CD would work, but that is the standard install menu. Give it a try, I doubt it will hurt anything, though I have no idea if/when the Dell CD would check your MB.

Here's your free UBCD link. Just scroll down a little ways.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

Lol thanks EXT64 - I just found that out, thanks. I'm downloading it from ausgamers now.

Um..as this is my first build, though, I don't really know what to do with it (the ubcd). Which tests should I run, and for how long? Should this be before or after I install the OS?

Well, one test I would highly suggest running is a memtest. I'm not super familiar with the rest, but I know memtest is good.

Sorry, first I got it from my uncle who worked there, and now I can get it or Vista from college (which I guess isn't actually free, tuition is outrageous here). Actually, I don't think that I have ever bought an OS before (except for the ones that came preinstalled). I probably shouldn't have mentioned that (since it isn't really helpful).

No amd, I don't think so...somebody else told me about it. I asked my college about it, and they told me I had to be in a computer networking class to use the MSDNA aliance. Unless you know something else I can do to go above my college's heads....

Well, some people let it run for days, but it really depends on how certain you want to be that your ram is perfect. I'd let it go an hour or two, after it gets way over 100% coverage. If it says no error, it should be fine. As for other tests, I don't know. You might as well just install the OS and have fun. I've never actually tested my system until I installed my OS.

I had to buy my software bundle at college. It was an awesome deal that I think was only available to engineering students. $300 bought XP, Vista, Office, Matlab, LabVIEW, Mathmatica, etc., etc. with free upgrades for the next 3 years.

You may actually get it to work right. I bought an OEM copy of XP, and got a Dell branded disc and it works fine. I'd give it a try before you shell out more cash.

Ok, can we come to a consensus on the Dell CD? Should I try it or shouldn't I? If I do try it, completely install it, and then the key doesn't work, how do I uninstall it? I would need to unistall it because I've already decided that if I have to buy a new OS, I'm going with vista 64bit. If I don't have to buy it, I'll go with XP (but only if I can get it for free).

This is great! Guess what? I tried the Dell XP Pro cd, and it worked! At least, it installed a perfect version (works perfectly) of XP. I still need to put the license key in, but at least for now I have a 30 day trial to mess around with.

Man - this is way faster than my 5 year old dell!! Windows starts in a flash, for one thing, I can play Counter Strike Source on 1650x 1050 resolution with ALL settings on high, and average 140 fps!!! It's beautiful! I even downloaded the Crysis demo and it plays great on high settings! (a little slow on high with 1650x1050 resolution (still playable tho), but smooth as butter on anything lower).

Ok, so far I love it! I have only one bug I've been able to find so far: the audio doesn't work. At least it doesn't work with anything but the "3D Audio Demo" found in the Realtek HD Audio Manager (the utility that came with my Gigabyte DS3L mobo). When I click on that, I can hear sound perfectly, but when I am doing anything else, I can't hear a thing. My computer is not muted, I don't know what can be the problem. Game sound isn't there, youtube sound isn't there, what gives?

thats fine - 90-110 celsius is where Graphics cards start worrying
and if you want a dell OEM copy of windows to work on your computer, just phone them up, and give them the product key several times, pretending you completely confused as to why you've been locked out of you dell after a small hardware change, they'll activate it for you happily then (i'm using my vista upgrade CD from my laptop as my installation CD now...)

Before redoing the drivers, make sure it is outputting the sound to the right place. When I first installed my 2900XT, I believe it tried to output all sound through it. That sounds like it could be your case too, because the sound demo works but nothing else. Glad everything worked out for ya!

I had this problem too...you mentioned you have a Radeon 3870. It was something to do with the sound controller on the video card taking precedence over everything else...search online and see if you can find a guide for disabling it. It might be as simple as disabling the 3870 sound driver in the Device Manager and then reinstall your integrated sound driver...it was long enough ago that I dealt with it that I can't remember. Otherwise you'll be forced to have your sound transmitted via HDMI cable to your monitor, then to your speakers/reciever over an optical or coaxial cable.

I don't know if ATi fixed this problem in one of their recent updates...I installed my card back when they were in the 7.x drivers...so maybe install the new catalyst 8.3 and see if that works.

So how is the OCing?

I'm sorry, I can't really remember what all I did. I thought I went into control panel to Sound and Audio and changed it to whatever my onboard was. Its been nearly a year, though, and my memory isn't all that great. I hope that you can get it figured out.