Comp Blog 4: DEMON!!

The totally cool lit up interior of my new computer

Another angle

It's also possessed by a demon.

CompBlog part 3: In the packages and Assembly

I intended on taking pics of the parts as I went to post, but I was too anxious to get the machine up and running. I'll post a few of the finished product once the computer is working (so I'll have the drive to download the photos from my camera).
Overall, I'm happy with the parts. They pretty much kick ass. The one problem: TigerDirect apparently forgot to package the RAM. So...no memory. I'll be calling them tonight to try and resolve this and let you all know how good their customer service is. I've heard it's pretty good from others, so I'm hopeful.
I DID get impatient however (the parts arrived yesterday) SO I ran out to Staples (the nearest store that sells computer memory) and bought myself another gig of ram, so my system will have 2GB of RAM when it's done.
Initial assembly took longer then I had hoped. I had worked on hardware before but this is the first time I completely assembled a computer from components.

First note: the case is excellent for building your own pc. Not only does the clear side panel come right off after removing two screws you can undo by hand, but the other side also comes off the same way giving very easy access to the screws needed to install the drives. Overall, access to everything throughout installation was as easy as it could get.

First lesson: The standoffs (little brass thingies that have a screw on one end and a threaded hole to take a screw in the other) are in fact necessary. The motherboard isn't actually supposed to TOUCH the mounting plate. I didn't know this, so I had the thing assembled (The manual that came with the motherboard did not mention this or give any guidance how to secure the motherboard properly) and had to completely take it apart and reassemble to fix this initial error. The fact that I didn't have enough screws to reach the mounting plate through the motherboard properly tipped me off. PCMechanics online guide was a big help.

Aside from this assembly's a piece of cake. The only other thing I missed was setting the jumpers on the optical drive properly, which I'll get to.

So, I installed the CPU, Heatsink and Fan first then attempted installing the motherboard in the case. Aside from the case not being entirely clear which holes were going to be used (and thus which ones to add the standoffs to) it was fairly easy. Once I figured out which holes were the right ones (They should have been labeled "A" for the ATX design, but some weren't, some were and some were labeled "C" for the mini-ATX, so IDK what happened there.

Once that was in, memory snaps in place, the PCIe graphics card slid right in and I learned that the case's back panel was not quite straight, but bulged out so that the card didn't quite reach, but it was simple to bend it back in shape and then reinstall the graphics card.

The Two drives were installed, front ports and power switches connected and...
Power UP!!!
and...
then nothing
nada.
It was ON
but the drives weren't spinning, the optical drive (DVD) wasn't lighting up, and the monitor (plugged in and turned on.... did nothing.
shit.

Ok, well I was trying to use DVI interface for the monitor. I figured maybe this is why it wasn't getting a signal so I switched over to the VGA connector. Without the drivers (and as yet no operating system) DVI doesn't work, only VGA. I'll be switching back as soon as the drivers are installed.

Lesson 2: Use VGA video output during install, until drivers for DVI are installed.

That fixed the monitor, now the drives. I realized pretty quick it was the drive causing the problem (everything else appeared to work) and looking at it I realized the jumper was set to the spot marked "Slave" which means it expects another drive to be the "Master" to work. Unplugging all three cords and removing the drive (so I could actually REACH the jumper) The little plastic piece was a cinch to slide off and put in the right position, marked "cable select" which is what you set it to if it's the only drive on that IDE channel (You'll know because it's the only one using the cable, which has three connectors, one for the motherboard and two for two devices). I'm installing 1 hard drive (250GB) and 1 optical (DVD) drive right now, with maybe a second DVD drive later, so right now the HDD and DVD are on separate channels (my mother board has 2 channels for up to 4 devices) and so both are set to "cable select". The Harddrive was set to this by default.

Also, I swapped the memory from port B1 to A1 (There are 4 labeled A1, A2, B1 and B2). The motherboard manual clearly states that if using only 1 memory chip, it should go in slot B1. This didn't work, but everything started working when I moved it to the A1 slot, which just seems more logical anyway. A second chip would go in B1 and additional ones after that could go in either A2 or B2.

Lesson 3: Follow the manual. If that doesn't work, stop following the manual, but follow the manual first.

Ok, plugged it back in, restarted and...
IT WORKS!!!
yay.

So At about 1am I had a constructed (if incomplete) system that booted and I was able to access the bios settings. Not too shabby. Set a few of the settings (boot order and devices) disabled the floppy drive, as I won't be installing one, and verified a few other settings, and that the system was recognizing the full gig of ram and the proper processor type and speed, harddrive size etc.

Now my computer has base components installed and boots.
Next we'll be installing the Operating system, drivers and the remaining components, then on to yet more fun stuff.

CompBlog part 2: The Buy

I did look up prices, but being a bit lazy I bought them all at one place (www.tigerdirect.com) rather then get the best price on each individual part. I estimate I could have saved maybe $100 by doing so, so it wasn't worth the effort when I'm also getting about that much in rebates after I recieve the shipment. (Prices used in comparison were all pre-rebate in case I forget to send any of them in.)

Total of 11 parts, with the powersupply coming with the case. A nice looking case with a 450W power supply and for less then $40.

Used standard shipping which tipped the price over the $1,000 mark (it was almost $990 for the parts). considering this is going to be a pretty high end machine when it's finished (and has some very good options for upgrades) it's starting at a very acceptable price.

For a quick overview of a couple of the parts, and why I got them:
The Case: It looks cool, and it was cheap. Also it came with the 450W power supply. That's all there is to it.

MoBo: Asus is known as a brand that caters to gamers and high-end system builders. This model, though already a year old, boasts alot of high-end tech. Aside from 3 PCI slots, it has 2 PCIe-X16 slots which boast twice the throughput speed of the old AGP-Pro sockets, the mainstay of high-end graphics cards. The PCIe-X16 on this particular MoBo also supports dual graphics cards which nVidia claims can put through up to twice the performance of a single card (though both cards must be identical). It also has 8 SATA slots. That's right, 8. I don't know who could possibly use that many in a desktop system, but they're there. 4 of them are also set up to support RAID 0, 1 and 0+1 configurations, right through the mobo. Overall, lots of potential.

Athlon 64 X2 processor: It's dual core, which is like saying 2 processors on one chip, 64 bit so it'll support XP64 and any future 64 bit OS and applications, but still runs the 32bit versions. At 2.2GHz it provides good power, though not the fastest chip, For me it seems to be the best deal at the moment as far as balance between power and price.

A Gig of Ram. Need I say more? I intend to later add the full 4Gig.

250GB Harddrive, and that's the jumping off point. Future harddrives will all be SATA, and though I'm not sure I'm going to do this yet, a 2TB RAID-0 configuration sounds really nice right now.

Wirless Networking - easier then running new cables, though the Mobo comes with Gigabit ethernet if I should ever want it.

Universal card reader for photos and any other use I come across. Getting the photos to my comp from my camera has always been the killing point as it's included interface...well sucks.

That's all until it arrives.

CompBlog or...

Personal World Wide Web Logbook Entry Subject of Pertaining to Electrons in Assembly Forming That Which Computes.

Yes I think I've gone too far this time. Oh well. What this is really about (in case you were in capable of comprehending the preceding which explains it quite well actually) is that I've finally and at long last decided on the parts I'm going to use to build my computer. This being my tech related blog and all, I figured I'd outline most of the process of getting it all working and configured and whatnot. I'm going to build it in stages. First is going to be the "base" system. Just what I need to get it up and running and be thoroughly satisfied with its functionality. Second will be most likely a few months from now, an upgrade to handle music editing. I've already verified that the hardware and software I want for that are fully compatible with the base system. Third, and last is an optional final upgrade. So... The base system will be:

Diablotech Demon IV case
450 watt power supply
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe motherboard with NVidia nForce 4 chipset
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400 (2.2GHz Dual Core) Processor w/ 2MB Cache 2GHz FSB (Socket 939)
1 - Ultra PC3200 DDR RAM 1024MB (1GB) at 400MHz
Seagate 250GB ATA/100 Harddrive
Lite-on DVD/CDR
D-Link DWL-G520 108Mbps/802.11g wireless LAN adapter
EVGA GeForce 7300 GT 512MB GDDR2 PCIX Graphics card
Sabrent 52-in-1 USB2 Universal card reader
and optionally a 19" flat panel LCD monitor, haven't decided about this yet.

To this, optional additions include up to 3 more memory chips (up to 4GB) a dvd burner with lightscribe, a sound card and additional hard drives

When I go to do it, I'll post the other stuff I'm going to add.
I plan on ordering by the end of this week if all goes well.