First time builder needs suggestions

[garywc]

Good morning all. Thursday I will be putting together my rig for the first time. Ive never built one before so the part I'm most unsure of is when I go to hit the power button for the first time.

If any of you could help me prepare for this nerve wrecking moment I'd appreciate it. Or if you can point to where I could find a step by step guide of what to do first.

Install Windows? run test? backup? anything I need to know.

and heres what I'm working with:


- NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower (have not purchased this yet because its the one thing I'm undecided on)

-Corsair 750TXV2 power supply Bronze 80 plus

-WD Black 1TB 7200rpm Hard Drive

-Samsung 840 Series 120GB SSD

-i7 3770k cpu

-Asus Sabertooth z77 mobo

-Sapphire HD 7970 3GB Ghz Edition Vapor X

-Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

-Asus 24x Internal DVD

-Asus 24" VG248QE 1ms 144Hz

-Logitech G510 Gaming Keyboard wired

-Logitech G500 5700 DPI Gaming Mouse


Thanks in advance for your help

 

[wanderer11]

1.) Put the RAM then the cpu/HSF in the motherboard outside the case.
2.) Put the I/O shield in the case.
3.) Put the hdds/optical drive in the case.
4.) Put the standoffs in the case (the case manual will tell you where they go for an atx board).
5.) Put the motherboard in the case and make sure to put a screw in every standoff.
6.) Install the gpu.
7.) Put in the power supply and take your time routing the cables so it looks good. There will be an 8 pin cpu power, 24 pin power, two pcie connectors on the 7970, two sata power connectors for the ssd/odd. Hook up the sata connectors putting the ssd in the first sata 3 slot, and odd third. Don't plug in the hdd until after you install windows. Don't forget the case fans. I don't know what type of connectors they have so they will either go to the motherboard or the psu.
8.) Hook up the front panel stuff where the motherboard manual says it goes.
9.) Plug in all the exterior cables and turn it on.

If you take your time and make sure everything is plugged in all the way and seated well you won't have any problems. You may want to go into your BIOS before you install Windows to make sure the SSD is set to AHCI mode. Other than that you can just follow all the on screen prompts. Good luck!

 

[Thanatos Telos]

Personally, I put in the PSU first.

 

[garywc]

Thanks guys. I appreciate it.

but what about once the build is complete and its time to power this bad boy on?

Are there certain steps I should take and specific Do NOT Do's.

From what Ive read, first thing I'll do is set up the bios, dont know much about this but I'll try to read up on it and figure it out.

Then install windows on to SSD (leaving hdd unplugged until thats done)

This is where I get a bit lost. Do I then need to perform stress tests of some kind?

Backup my computer?

Install antivirus?

Also from what Ive read, when I install windows I put it onto the SSD, is this correct?

and when I go to install windows will it ask me which drive to put it on and I just select the ssd and thats all there is to it?

Ive heard of things like partitioning and I'm still not quite sure what that is and if its something I need to do.

In regards to games and music production I was going to save all my music files to my hdd as well as the games and then just leave the OS on the ssd, is this a good idea?

I appreciate it.

 

[wanderer11]

You can put the psu in first if you want. That's just the way I have done it. It really doesn't make a difference.

You don't have to perform any kind of stress test, unless you think you have faulty hardware. Just start playing games and see if everything works right.

When you first turn on the computer spam del or left click to get into your bios. If you look around in there you will find the ssd and optical drive. Check for AHCI somewhere in the name of the ssd. When you save/exit the bios it will then say "please insert boot media; Press any key to continue" Do what it says and follow all the Windows prompts. You will get to a menu to pick the drive to install to as well as format and make partitions, which you won't need to do on a new drive.

You will be able to put a couple games on the ssd, but yeah you got the right idea.

I hope I answered everything. Let me know if you get stuck anywhere.

This will probably bug you later on so here goes, once you get windows installed and then you turn off the computer to install the hdd and turn it back on you will have to disc management to initialize and assign a drive letter.