[Need Advice] Once I'm Ready For My First Boot I Should...

[manooly]

Hello All! I am in the process of building my first pc. Verty exciting! I am getting close to finishing it. It is an i5 750 build with an Asus p77p55d-e pro motherboard. My question is when I power it on for the first time should I hold down the 'DEL' key and get into the BIOS? What exactly are the things I should be looking for?

I have 2 bare 500GB Samsung 7200rpm HDD's. I am going to be installing Windows 7 64bit Home Premium. I thought I read somewhere that I'll have to go into the BIOS first and then install the OS. This is the only part that I'm nervous about, just getting started.

I tried looking at the Asus website for bios driver updates but it seems a bit confusing. Do I download all of the drivers and install them or just the latest one of each section? Should I just update the BIOS? Or, do I even need to update the BIOS if everything seems to be working fine? How do I go about actually having the system know that my cd/dvd rom drive has the Windows 7 cd in it? When will I be able to start the install of my OS?

I guess I'm a bit confused on all of this BIOS stuff. Should I just leave the BIOS alone and try to install Windows 7? I think I'll also have to check my RAM speeds too (I have 4GB of g.skill ripjaws DDR3 1600 RAM with 7-8-7-24 timings I believe). Oh boy, now I'm getting nervous. Maybe there is a nice step by step process I could follow. I know this great community will help me like they've done in the past. I'm looking for any suggestions to help me through my first boot and install of Windows 7 64bit.

Thanks for your time!

- manooly

 

[MadAdmiral]

The "Step-by-Step Guide to Building a PC" sticky says exactly what you need to do in Step 8. You pretty much just look in BIOS to see that everything registered and then switch the boot order so it boots from the DVD drive first.

The drivers shouldn't be a problem. You don't have to update the BIOS for everything to work correctly.

You can pretty much leave the BIOS alone, EXCEPT for changing the boot order.

 

[ekoostik]

Sounds like you want to have some fun with this. Here's what I'd do:
First, just boot it up. Don't put a DVD in the drive. Just turn it on and watch it go. It should boot up, POST, then nothing. Congrats, you've got a working PC.
Now restart it, this time enter BIOS. Look around, get a feel for what settings are available. You don't have to change anything yet, but if you know of any changes go ahead and set them. A common change is to turn on AHCI for your harddrives. Also RAM settings can be done manually when you're comfortable with what you're doing. Work your way through the screen with your motherboard manual in front of you and get a feel for what everything does. If you really want to tweak later, this is where all the fun happens.
Then put your OS install DVD in the drive, exit BIOS and it will restart and start your install process. If it doesn't you may have to set your boot order to grab the DVD first.
After installing, install the intel chipset drivers. It's probably on your motherboard DVD, but you can get the latest here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=816&DwnldID=18494&lang=eng
Then install your drivers, you'll likely need to grab updated ones from the web. Microsoft Update will find some for you, but they don't always get the latest.

If you want more formalized steps, there's a guide for that. Start with Step 8 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274745-31-step-step-guide-building

If you're going to upgrade your BIOS, and with these new boards it is usually recommended to get the fixes that have come out since the board was released, I would do it sooner rather than later.

Also, one other note I feel I should warn you about now. Unless you OC your CPU, you will not get the RAM to run at 1600 MHz. With an i5 750, the highest you can do at stock is 1333. Some people will tell you to turn on XMP. But if you do that you will change the speed of your CPU and lose Turbo. You can get these things back, but only by OCing. However, the performance difference between 1333 and 1600 is fairly negligible. And by running at 1333 you may be able to tighten the timings or run at lower Voltage (which will have the added benefit of requiring less power and creating less heat).

Have fun!

 

[manooly]

Sounds like you want to have some fun with this. Here's what I'd do:
First, just boot it up. Don't put a DVD in the drive. Just turn it on and watch it go. It should boot up, POST, then nothing. Congrats, you've got a working PC.
Now restart it, this time enter BIOS. Look around, get a feel for what settings are available. You don't have to change anything yet, but if you know of any changes go ahead and set them. A common change is to turn on AHCI for your harddrives. Also RAM settings can be done manually when you're comfortable with what you're doing. Work your way through the screen with your motherboard manual in front of you and get a feel for what everything does. If you really want to tweak later, this is where all the fun happens.
Then put your OS install DVD in the drive, exit BIOS and it will restart and start your install process. If it doesn't you may have to set your boot order to grab the DVD first.
After installing, install the intel chipset drivers. It's probably on your motherboard DVD, but you can get the latest here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=816&DwnldID=18494&lang=eng
Then install your drivers, you'll likely need to grab updated ones from the web. Microsoft Update will find some for you, but they don't always get the latest.

If you want more formalized steps, there's a guide for that. Start with Step 8 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274745-31-step-step-guide-building

If you're going to upgrade your BIOS, and with these new boards it is usually recommended to get the fixes that have come out since the board was released, I would do it sooner rather than later.

Also, one other note I feel I should warn you about now. Unless you OC your CPU, you will not get the RAM to run at 1600 MHz. With an i5 750, the highest you can do at stock is 1333. Some people will tell you to turn on XMP. But if you do that you will change the speed of your CPU and lose Turbo. You can get these things back, but only by OCing. However, the performance difference between 1333 and 1600 is fairly negligible. And by running at 1333 you may be able to tighten the timings or run at lower Voltage (which will have the added benefit of requiring less power and creating less heat).

Have fun!

Thanks so much for your informative reply! How do I know exactly what Intel Chipset I need to download and install?

Thanks!

- Greg

 

[ekoostik]

I linked to the most recent Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility above. But you can use this link: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18494

Apparently they are shortening the name to Intel Chipset Device Software. The P55 is an Intel 5 Series Chipset. The above link is from 12/22/09. You can find that latest at any time by going through this page: http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/sb/CS-029901.htm
(On that page under 'Driver Downloads' is a table, you want row P55 and column 'Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility')

If you want to know more about the Intel Chipset Software Installation look here: http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/inf/