Well, today was the day I built my own computer for the very first time. ^_^ Lets just say, for all the times my blood-pressure soared, it went off without a hitch. Right now, I’m preparing to install Windows XP on it and am about 75% of the way through partitioning and formatting my new hard drive.
As you know from my previous posts, I made a list of the parts I would need a couple weeks ago and placed my order. My goal was a really nice, but not state-of-the-art gaming and graphic arts machine. Basically, I needed it a little more powerful than the standard computer you can buy from the store, but without the several thousand dollar price tag.
So, my case came today. Cue me prancing out to the street in my pajamas to grab this HUGE box from the UPS guy. (Who has actually been really nice about huge box a week thing.) After lunch and doing a little more homework I set to work.
1.) Preparing the case. Actually, not much prep work was necessary. I chose a screwless design, so there’s a lot of latches and pins holding parts in place. The motherboard was the only thing that actually needed to be screwed in. I explored the features of the case, popped out a few bay covers so I could get things in easier, checked to see what all came with it, and set to work.
2.) Installing the power supply. I turned the case upside down so gravity did the work of holding it in place for me. Four quick screws later and it was in… with it’s massive hunk of cords.
3.) Installing the drives. I chose two SATA (Serial ATA) format drives: One DVD drive and one hard drive. The case has a rail system that doesn’t require any screws, so I just popped the rails onto the drives and slid them into the proper spots.
To explain: They have small pins that fit into the holes for the screws. You hold the rails on the drives as you put them into the matching slots in the chassis. Then they go in just like a drawer in your kitchen or bathroom. When you have them in far enough, the rails lock it into place.
So far, easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.
4.) The motherboard. I purposely made certain the folks at Best Buy had reason to look at me strangely Sunday night when I asked for a anti-static wrist wrap. I probably don’t look anything like a geek girl. XD
The motherboard actually didn’t scare me too badly, after all, it came with this huge owners manual that explained the whole process.
5.) The Processor. Then the processor had to scare me spitless. For those that don’t know, processors are tiny. Take an average playing card and cut it in half. That’s still slightly bigger than this thing. They’re tiny, thin, fragile pieces of silicone and metal. They’re held in place by a small hatch with a metal lever that locks it down. If you don’t get them in correctly, you’re sunk. If you chip them, you’re sunk. Don’t touch the bottom… ah, you get the idea. So, I carefully match the notches in the top and bottom up with the notches on the motherboard. And the level creaks ominously as you’re locking it in place. >_<
I freak out, lift the lever back up and check my precious processor. No damage. Okay, obviously meant to creak that badly.
6.) The Memory. The memory is no issue, I’ve put installed and upgraded it tons of times before. Just kind of different because the motherboard is sitting on the anti-static bag on my card table instead of inside the case.
7.) Installing the Motherboard. So with both of those done, I move on to installing the motherboard in the case. And it doesn’t want to fit right. The bottom holes match up with the holes in the case, but the top ones refuse to. I proceed to drop my screwdriver several times, which prompts more squeaking from me. I even dropped the handle right on top of the processor. Thank goodness, no visible damage. (3rd time I felt the need to pop it back out.)
I finally got it installed, but am now really afraid I’ve flexed the motherboard too much.
8.) The Heatsink. The heatsink is that big fan assembly you see when you pop the cover off your machine. It’s the thing that keeps the processor nice and cool so it works properly. And I couldn’t get the darned thing to fit! Then when I found the right orientation, I couldn’t get it to lock in place. My heatsink has these little locking pins you press into place. Ideally, you should do opposite corners so you maintain the right pressure. I’d get one in place and then couldn’t get the others to lock. So I was popping it out and back in trying to figure out what was the problem. Finally, I got them all in, but not after pressing what I felt was pretty hard. (Which reinforced my fears that I’d broken the motherboard.)
9.) Video Card. Okay, so I’ve done this before too. Not very scary, just awkward trying to find the slot that matched up with the card’s location.
10.) The cords. Yikes. There is a LOT of these. The power supply is a gaming power supply, so it has a huge amount of cords to power a serious gaming rig. Plenty of extras for more than one optical drive, more than one hard drive, video cards, etc. So it took a lot of staring, rereading the manual, and examining cords and slots to get everything plugged in. Everything was labeled, but it just took a bit to figure out where everything went.
Took me a bit of time too to figure out what cords I needed for the two drives. Sounds silly, but I’ve always seen the flat tape used for these. Instead, since I had purchased to SATA drives, all I needed was just power cords and small SATA cables.
11.) The moment of truth. I actually prayed. I was so scared that I’d broken something. I turned on my new monitor. I flipped the power switch on the back of the power supply. And then hit the button. One beep. The POST screen with my motherboard’s logo popped up. And then… BIOS setup! I literally danced. It’s alive! Alive!
And so, I have just built my first computer. ^_^ Now just to survive the long Windows setup.
Tags: byo computer, computer, new computer