Assembling computer- questions megathread!

[Radial543]

Always perform multiple checks before you do, it's always a pain if you fry a part due to you being stupid.

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[Inv3rted]

Always perform multiple checks before you do, it's always a pain if you fry a part due to you being stupid.

When he says it's 'installed to the best of his knowledge' I think he means he's checked the parts.

[Doomonkey]

Open the monitor and lick the capacitors.

[Radial543]

When he says it's 'installed to the best of his knowledge' I think he means he's checked the parts.

I was just confirming. I have had a couple of friends who have said that and fried their mobo.

[Sirrus]

I was just confirming. I have had a couple of friends who have said that and fried their mobo.

What are some faults that could cause a part to die?

Also, if I could get a response to this:

Okay, so if I'm understanding you on question 1 (which was the only big one that couldn't be solved with a manual or simple answer) I can use the cords that came with my PSU and run that from the PSU to the GPU and use the plugs inbetween for fans?

that'd be cool.

[tay104]

What are some faults that could cause a part to die?

Also, if I could get a response to this:

that'd be cool.

1.  Improperly mounted cards (RAM, GPU, MOBO power connectors, etc.), power surge, over heating, shorting, etc.

2.  Yeah, you can do that, but I don't see why you would. Your PSU should have molex connectors for the fans and other devices.  Fans are also low-power, so you can attach multiple fans to one molex cable.  Just use the cables attached to your PSU for your GPU, as Otis said, less clutter.

[Sirrus]

Well I found two dedicated PCI express cards in my PSU cord bundle.

It still doesn't solve the problem of my fans, though. It seems that there power hookups are really weird. They're all four pin MOLEXs, but some are male, some are female, some have both and there's even one that goes to one male and then has wires running back to another female one. As long as I get them in some way shape or form hooked up to a MOLEX I should be good to go though, right?

Also, what's a good way to check that everything is good to go to boot it up for the first time? Everything seems to be snapped into place correctly.

So for my first bootup, I'm just going to hook it up to a monitor, get a keyboard, hopefully load the BIOS and check that it's recognizing all my hardware. Should I be able to do this?

[tay104]

Well I found two dedicated PCI express cards in my PSU cord bundle.

It still doesn't solve the problem of my fans, though. It seems that there power hookups are really weird. They're all four pin MOLEXs, but some are male, some are female, some have both and there's even one that goes to one male and then has wires running back to another female one. As long as I get them in some way shape or form hooked up to a MOLEX I should be good to go though, right?

Also, what's a good way to check that everything is good to go to boot it up for the first time? Everything seems to be snapped into place correctly.

So for my first bootup, I'm just going to hook it up to a monitor, get a keyboard, hopefully load the BIOS and check that it's recognizing all my hardware. Should I be able to do this?

Connect the fans, male to female.  That's all you have to do for them whether its on a separate cable or to each other.  As for seeing if it all works, just turn it on and load up the bios.  If that works, you should be good to go.

[Righteous One]

Haha, right. PSUs usually have dedicated PCI-E plugs.

Actually, ours does. We have the exact same Power Supply and it just so happens to have a dedicated PCI-E plug.

Suck it bitch

[Sirrus]

Connect the fans, male to female.  That's all you have to do for them whether its on a separate cable or to each other.  As for seeing if it all works, just turn it on and load up the bios.  If that works, you should be good to go.

Is there any way to check that all my hardware is registering in the BIOS?

Also should i connect the monitor to my mobo or my video card?

Actually, ours does. We have the exact same Power Supply and it just so happens to have a dedicated PCI-E plug.

Suck it bitch

I thought that was the EATX12V lead coming out.

[Righteous One]

Well I found two dedicated PCI express cards in my PSU cord bundle.

It still doesn't solve the problem of my fans, though. It seems that there power hookups are really weird. They're all four pin MOLEXs, but some are male, some are female, some have both and there's even one that goes to one male and then has wires running back to another female one. As long as I get them in some way shape or form hooked up to a MOLEX I should be good to go though, right?

Also, what's a good way to check that everything is good to go to boot it up for the first time? Everything seems to be snapped into place correctly.

So for my first bootup, I'm just going to hook it up to a monitor, get a keyboard, hopefully load the BIOS and check that it's recognizing all my hardware. Should I be able to do this?

Do any of our fans have smaller three pin connecters? They plug directly into the motherboard. Otherwise, one of the 6-pin molex cables that came with your PSU would work fine for any of the MOLEX fans.


As for the video card. Take it out for now until you get an operating system. Installing drivers on it through Linux is not an easy process and overall not worth it. You will be presented with no trouble as the CD is preconfigured to read all of the on-board components.

[Sirrus]

What CD? The OS?

in that case I think I just won't turn it on until I get the HDD and OS.

[Righteous One]

What CD? The OS?

in that case I think I just won't turn it on until I get the HDD and OS.

I assume that the OS is booted off of a CD. And yes, the 12v is the dedicated PCI-E plug and will provide with "cleaner" power than a molex adapter would.


I would go for it. Just simply take the GTX 260 out and boot up the operating system.

And yes, you can check that everything is working through the Bios. I would tell you how but they are all different.

[TomTheGeek]

What CD? The OS?

in that case I think I just won't turn it on until I get the HDD and OS.

The computer runs fine without it but it for seeing if the BIOS is registering the hardware. With the Video card, you don't need to pop it out, all you need to do is swap the video cable to the mobo, go to the SETUP screen (f2 on my basis) look for a default video adapter selection, and replace it with PCI.

The computer will now run the GTX as the default GPU than the internal adapter.

[Sirrus]

The computer runs fine without it but it for seeing if the BIOS is registering the hardware. With the Video card, you don't need to pop it out, all you need to do is swap the video cable to the mobo, go to the SETUP screen (f2 on my basis) look for a default video adapter selection, and replace it with PCI.

The computer will now run the GTX as the default GPU than the internal adapter.

Okay, so now I will check everything is plugged in and set up internally correctly and then boot it up to check it's registering all the hardware?