uh, just received PC parts and have no idea where to start!

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uh, just received PC parts and have no idea where to start!

ok, so far the video card (geforce4 ti4200), hard drive (WD 80 gig) and cdrw (samsung 52x24x52) have all arrived. the barebones (athlon 2600+, asus a7n8x, 512 MB ddr ram) should be here today or tomorrow.

the thing is, i really have no idea what im getting into here, and im afraid it may be over my head. does anybody have experience with building a PC with a barebones (which i heard was easier), and if so, is it hard? does the barebones come with instructions or anything? also, does anyone know of a good guide on the net that i could use? i searched around but couldnt really find what i was looking for... what kind of installation process is there besides plugging stuff in? screwing the parts into the case?

thank you, and wish me luck :\. (btw, this isnt my PC, it's my brother's. but mine will be the exact same, and ill order as soon as we build his and i learn how to do it and stuff).
 
sonic, i dont understand anything really. i have no idea how to hook any of it up, lol. how do you secure all the parts together? screws? do you have to screw through the case? where do i get instructions? etc...
 
Your motherboard will be screwed to the case. (Using the holes provided)

Any cards that you may have like your Nvidia will be placed in there respective slots. (If it dosen't fit... thats not the slot!)

Same goes for your RAM.

And your HDD will be connected to your mother board via an IDE cable. One end into the HDD the other end into your MB.


(I'll see if I can get you some more detailed instrucitons somewher, but thats about it.)
 
when u get everything , msg again , i can give u a step by step when u have it
 
hey thanks a lot you guys. nastyman, im checking out that guide right now, thanks.

edit: ok, so the mobo is already installed, then you just fit the vid card and ram into it. what do you do with the processor? or is that already installed on the mobo...

also, you said connect the hard drive with an IDE cable. then what do you do with the drive? screw it to the case or what?

thanks for the help.
 
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Well the CPU might be already installed on your machine, unless you have something that looks like this:

cpu.jpg


sitting around then it is probably already installed. Look at your motherboard and see if you notice anything along these lines:

10-bay-Mid-Tower-601-CPU-Fan.jpg

(The fan in the middle with the silver thing (Heat Sink) under it.

Thats were it would be located.

As for the HDD after you connected it then yes you should attempt to secure it somewhere on the machines case. (Mine is just hanging out but thats becuase I'm lazy.
 
thanks nastyman :)

im pretty sure the processor is already secured to the mobo (at least i hope so :\ ). i dont know if ill secure the hard drive, 'cause if i can get by without it, im lazy too :D
 
ooh come on is it that hard to put 2 screws to secure a hd? , what if u accidently pick up the case and there goes your hd flying around. and most barebones come with mobo and cpu secured
 
lol hex, i see your point. but with my luck/computer knowledge, those two screws are liable to **** something up :D

we'll see how it goes. ill probably get my dad to do it or something so i have someone to blame it on if something goes wrong :)
 
If you want to learn in a hands on way try taking apart your current computer slowly, pay attention to what goes where and make sure to seperate the screws so you don't get them confused, and then putting it all back together. That's how I learned to do it. By simply doing that I learned alot more about my computer by analysing the components and then researching online about them.
 
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Vicman said:
If you want to learn in a hands on way try taking apart your current computer slowly, pay attention to what goes where and make sure to seperate the screws so you don't get them confused, and then putting it all back together. That's how I learned to do it. By simply doing that I learned alot more about my computer by analysing the components and then researching online about them.
Click to expand...
that actually might be a good idea. right now im on a PII 233 and a 4 gig hard drive, etc., so if i did screw something up, i really wouldnt care.
 
It might be baby shit but he's got to start somewhere, when yer first learning don't assume anything, it might come back to bite you hard in the ass.
 
all right sonic, just read through that guide. i think im ready to build this thing :cool:

(hopefully the damned ups people will deliver it already. the predicted delivery date was the 14th :rolleyes: )
 
hey, i just thought of something. the hard drive connects to the mobo with an IDE cable... do you guys think the hard drive or mobo will come with the IDE cable, or will i have to buy one? if so, how much are they generally? thanks :)
 
disregard my previous question, i figured it out.

taken from another thread of mine:

ok, everything is in and i have absolutely no clue how to put it all together. ill try to ask my questions one by one...

HARD DRIVE: do you only hook it up with an IDE cable, and that's it? should i hook it up as master or slave? (im assuming master).

CDRW: im completely lost on this one. 1.) how do i know which cables to hook up to it? and 2.) how do i secure it so that it sticks out of the front?

VIDEO CARD: where the hell is the AGP port, and how do you insert it the right way?

man this sucks 'cause this is my bro's computer and i kind of convinced him to buy it, and no one in my family knows how to do it more than me. my dad cant help on this one :(

sorry for all these questions and shit, i just want to get this thing built without screwing anything up so my brother doesnt waste his college money on my mistake, and i can just put this all behind me... if worse comes to worse i could take it to a computer place around here and pay them to hook up the remaining parts, and hopefully itd be cheap...
 
If you have a digital camera just have the good folks here help you step by step.
 
sonic, cant thank you enough for the reply, you saved me a lot of trouble. i have another question though... in this pic:
hard-drive-bays.jpg


what is that beige plastic piece with the metal ends at the bottom? 'cause his PC came with two of them, and i dont know what they do :confused:

oh, and when i plug in the various wires from the power supply, there will be various plugs that arent used right?
 
uh i have a new problem.

we installed everything to what we *thought* was correct. but here's the thing... when we turn it on, a green light comes on but that's it. and i think an orange light or something is supposed to come on too, but i really have no idea :confused:

does anyone have any idea what might be wrong?
 
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