DH Guide: Building a PC (Step by Step guide)

***Zardon*** · May 1, 2007, 04:55 AM

Read The Guide Here
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Are you a PC building virgin? Don't worry we all had our first time and it really isn't the black art you might think it is. Today Driver Heaven shows you how to pop your electronic cherry and by following our step by step guide you will no longer be a slave to overpriced OEM PC systems. Combine this with the ultimate satisfaction you can get from building your own machine and it is a guide well worth reading!

GutterPunk · May 1, 2007, 06:34 AM

Nice guide, if i wouldn't have just repped you... I'd do it again! btw how do you keep your hands looking so nice? j/k

CDsDontBurn · May 1, 2007, 07:57 AM

should have also included a pinned AM2 socket as well.

still a nice guide though

.

Mousey · May 1, 2007, 03:47 PM

pop your electronic cherry... lol
and 775 ftw

Kemita · Jun 9, 2007, 08:34 PM

Thanks a lot for this guide. It saved my day, and my pocket...

Kemita · Jun 10, 2007, 01:19 PM

I can not put more emphasis in my words to explain how I thank you for making this guide.
I really need some advice with this where in the guide says:

You have to be careful because the firewire and USB connectors look exactly the same though and inserting a firewire cable to a USB connector will damage the motherboard.

Is there a proper way to notice which cable is which?

WhO_KnOwS · Jun 10, 2007, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kemita

I can not put more emphasis in my words to explain how I thank you for making this guide.
I really need some advice with this where in the guide says:

You have to be careful because the firewire and USB connectors look exactly the same though and inserting a firewire cable to a USB connector will damage the motherboard.

Is there a proper way to notice which cable is which?

The best way is to look at the manual you got with your motherboard. Inside you'll usually find a schematic which clearly marks which connector is the USB one and which is the firewire one.

As for the cables, just track them down or look if they have anything written on them. The USB cable should have USB2.0 or something along those lines written on it, while the firewire will probably have something like IEEE 1394 or FW something.

alexyov · Aug 16, 2007, 04:52 PM

this is my very 1st post ever, so i like to say hello to everybody, i like computers a lot, don't know too much about them, but i think i'm in the right place to learn...

WhO_KnOwS · Aug 16, 2007, 05:04 PM

Welcome. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

alexyov · Aug 16, 2007, 05:25 PM

thanks who knows, i will

LeanWolf · Oct 9, 2007, 02:08 AM

so what happens next? provided everything went fine, I assume some kind of diagnostics are displayed when you first turn it on so you can check that everything's connected right. do you then pop your OS disc in and proceed? anything I should know to do or not do at this point? should the OS go onto a seperate partition? i'm installing Vista home premium and will have twin hard drives.

Thanks for this guide! Everything seems straightforward, I look forward to building my first rig later today (hopefully!). My only criticism is that the images could be better labelled, so you know what they're actually meant to show. I'm sure it probably becomes obvious once you start into it, so it's a small thing.

LeanWolf · Oct 10, 2007, 04:15 PM

ok I've started, so far so.. well.. soo many connectors!

question 1: I have a gigabyte GA-p35-ds4 mb and it has both intel ICH9R and gigabyte sata2 sata controllers, which one should I use to configure my RAID0 array? does it matter?

***temeteus82*** · Oct 10, 2007, 04:23 PM

intel ICH9R. I think that the gigabyte's own is used for E-SATA and one SATA on board.

LeanWolf · Oct 10, 2007, 07:50 PM

thanks! should've figured that out by the amount of available controllers of each type..

next queation: with an intel core 2 quad q6600 should i use both ATX_12V connectors or just one?

also, there's a 12v PCIe molex connector on the mobo, should i connect it? i'm running one geforce 8800gts xxx

***Veridian3*** · Oct 12, 2007, 12:28 PM

If the board has a 8pin 12v socket, then you should use the 8pin plug on your PSU. As for the 4pin molex, generally the rule is that they are only needed if using a 4pin 12v plug OR two graphics cards. Changes from board to board and you are best to check the manual. (Chances are you wont need to use it)