Building a Computer Kate Chapin Capstone Project

The first steps: After assembling all of the parts. You must have the motherboard on a flat surface. You must be grounded and preferably have a grounding wrist strap connected to you and the case. Align the processor and install it into the motherboard. It should have one corner cut to align the pins with, and drop in with “zero” force. Flip the handle to lock it in place. There should be no pressure needed. I use my own Arctic Silver Thermal Paste to help dissipate the heat that the processor will make. If there is any factory paste, discard it. Place a dot the size of a pea in the center of the processor. Do not spread it out.

Installing the Processor fan: Place the fan on top of the processor. Turn the fan ¼ turn to the right and the left, only. Re align the fan with the tabs. My fan had clips to secure it. Using even pressure on both sides, press down on the clips so they go over the edges of the holder. They will be very stiff. Do not be afraid to press hard. As long as the motherboard is flat, this will not hurt it. NEVER bend the motherboard. Plug in the small 3 prong white power cord to the fan power connector. Now that the fan is in place, fit the mother board into the case for a moment and mark the holes you will use. Remove the motherboard, and install the standoffs. They are usually a brass colored piece of hardware with threads on one side and they screw into the mounts of the motherboard.

Installing the motherboard: Once the standoffs are installed in the proper holes place and align the motherboard in the case. The connections such as the Ethernet or video connections should face toward the rear. Many times the processor/fan assembly will be near the upper right hand corner as you look down on it. Using the screws provided, screw them into the holes to secure the motherboard. Use all of the holes possible. This will make it more stable and less able to be bent. Tighten them hand tight and then just a little more. If they are too tight, you could crack the motherboard. Installed in the case, the motherboard should look like this:

Mother board installed.

Installing the Sticks of Ram The RAM can be installed either before installing the motherboard into the case, or after. It is a matter of ease and preference. I preferred to do it after, as the motherboard is much safer from electrostatic shock once it is actually in the case. When installing RAM, be sure to align the slots, and push straight down firmly with your fingertips on the edge of the boards. The clips will clip over the edges when they are set firmly in place. It should look like this:

RAM installed.

Installing the video and Ethernet card The video card and other cards are installed in the same manner. They are installed in the expansion slots, and the metal connectors face the rear of the case. Some video cards are “PCI express” and there is a separate, smaller slot for them. Align the card and push straight down. Some cards, particularly video cards have a clip, similar to the clips on the RAM slots. Be sure this is clipped. If the card, once again some video cards have their own fans, have a small 4 pin plugin, take one of the plugs from the power supply and plug it into the video card. Attach the card to the case with the screw that screws into the back of the case.

Video card Installed:

Adding the hard drive and CD ROM The hard drive will have its own space in the bay, and any other components will mount onto the sliding rack and slide in the front. The installation for these pieces is the same and placement preference is optional. Connecting up the wires in the back are the 4 hole are for power, and the components have their own ribbon data wires. The stripe on the floppy drive go to pin 1 of your connection, in the rear. Also make sure that you have the “master part (or end) of the ribbon attached. On the CD ROM, attach another 4 hole power plug and the ribbon for that only has two ends. On the mother board, mine was color coded, but also it is labeled on the board itself. They should look like this:

Components installed:

Finally For hooking up the USB, Firewire, and LED lighting, each is different and you must refer to your manual that you get with your motherboard. My hard drive was SATA and was pretty direct as in 1 wire went into #1 SATA connector on the motherboard. Older models are different and one should again refer to the instructions that come with the motherboard. After all the wires are installed, work through the boot process, setting up the bios and setting preferences. These are all outlined in the motherboard manual, or can be found specifically online. Lastly I bench checked my processor, and hard drive before installing the operating system. This just assured me that all was in working order.

Wires all hooked up, ready for first poweron.

The first power on The very first power on only checks that the fan on the processor is working. You must have your hand on the plug in the back in case it is not, as the processor puts out a lot of heat, and can destroy a motherboard very quickly. Plug the plug into the back, and have your hand on that plug, or the on/off switch in the back if there is one. While everything is quiet, push the front start button. If you do not IMMEDIATELY hear the fan start up, kill the power. Do not wait. Now, if that all went well you are ready to continue with the bios, bench testing, and installing the Operating System.