Preparation
Before starting to build your new PC, there are a number of things you need to do to prepare:
1: Find a large, clean, well-lit work surface which has two or more mains power outlets nearby. You will need space for your monitor, keyboard and mouse and to lay your case on its side.
2: Collect together the necessary tools.
3: Arrange all your new components (still in their packaging) around your work area.
4: Unwrap and carefully place your monitor (on its stand) on the work surface.
5: Retrieve the power and signal (if supplied loosely) cables from the packaging and fit them to the monitor as instructed by its manual. Do the same with the keyboard, mouse and speakers (if you have them).
Do not connect any devices to the mains power outlet yet.
6: Unpack the PC case and place it on the work surface, unpack your separate PSU and carefully place it too on the work surface. Find the mains cable for the PSU, but do not plug it in just yet.
7: Check your case instructions to determine how to remove the outer casing or side cover panel. This should give you clear access to the so you can fit all your new equipment. Once this is done, carefully lay the case on its side, so that the opening faces up.
You will notice at the rear of the case there will be a large hole (at the top in most cases). You will need to install the PSU, such that the fan outlet and power socket on the PSU will face outward and the power connectors all hang loosely inside the case.
It is important to make sure that any 'ventilation openings' on the PSU case itself, face toward the inside of the PC case. The PSU has a secondary function: to draw hot air out of the PC case and push it out of the back.
Fitting the Motherboard
Unpack the Motherboard. You will notice that it is packaged in an anti-static bag. Try to keep the motherboard inside this until it is needed.
A good quality motherboard will be supplied with a User Manual, driver disk/CD and all the cables you will need to configure your PC, including a Floppy Drive cable, one or more IDE cables and where supported, one or more Serial-ATA cables. In addition, you should also receive an IO Shield which can be fitted into the PC Case to match the connectors on the motherboard.
You will notice on the motherboard there are small holes with bare metal 'rings' around them. These can be used to fix the motherboard to the inside of the PC Case.
Warning
Under no circumstances should the motherboard be mounted so that the back of the board is in contact with the metal case. This will cause the machine to short-circuit and could damage the motherboard.
Find the corresponding points inside the case and fit the standoffs as appropriate to allow you to screw the motherboard into place. The standoffs should raise the motherboard around half an inch off the metal mounting plate, preventing it short-circuiting.
The Motherboard should always be fitted so that the audio ports are accessible to the rear of the case.
Fitting the CPU
Unpack the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Make sure at this stage that you have your anti-static measures in place and even briefly make contact with both hands on the metal of the case to make sure. Try not to touch any exposed metal pins or components.
If you take a look at both the CPU pins and the holes in the socket you will see that in one or more corner there are some missing pins. Gently lift the free end of the 'arm' on the edge on the socket until it stands upright. Align the 'missing CPU pins' with the 'missing socket holes' and carefully drop the CPU into the socket.
Be very careful not to bend any of the CPU pins. They are extremely delicate, and should one be moved out of alignment, it will not be possible to fit the CPU. Check that the CPU sits perfectly flat onto the socket and is not raised at any corner. Lower the arm again to return it to its original position. The socket will grip the CPU pins and lock it in place.
Fitting the RAM
Unpack the RAM (Random Access Memory). We are going to make the assumption that since your Motherboard is likely to be fairly new, you will be using DIMM memory. Do not worry if you are using SIMMs. The procedure is exactly the same. Note, however, that SIMMs must be installed in pairs.
As with the CPU's and Adapter cards, DIMMs have a 'keying' system. Check with the Motherboard manual to find the first slot (usually slot 0) and fill the slots in numerical order as appropriate.
Fitting the Floppy Disk Drive
Unpack the FDD (Floppy Disk Drive). You will notice, on the front panel of your PC case, there is an opening the same size as the floppy drive's front panel (if there is a plastic cover plate fitted, just gently push it out from behind.)
Slide the floppy drive into the opening backwards such that its front panel becomes flush with the front of the PC case. Clear any obstructions to this insertion from inside the case if necessary.
Once fully inserted, there should be some fixing holes inside the case such that you can secure the floppy drive to the case. Use the fine threaded screws for this.
Fitting the HDD
Unpack the HDD.
IDE Hard Drives
Locate the IDE Configuration Pins on the HDD. These can usually be found next to the power and data connections, and will be a group of six or eight small pins with a small plastic 'jumper' attached between two of the pins. If this is to be the only HDD in your PC, then set this to Master. Alternatively, if this is to be an additional HDD then it must be set to Slave.
S-ATA Hard Drives
If you have a S-ATA (Serial-ATA) drive then no configuration should be necessary, as only one S-ATA drive can be connected to each S-ATA connector on the motherboard.
The Hard Drive differs from the Floppy Drive in that it is usually inserted from within the PC case. On one end of the Hard Drive will be the sockets for connecting the cables. This end must point into the case such that the cables can be connected later on.
Gently slide the Hard Drive into the bay that now holds the floppy drive above. Move the drive around until you find the fixing points. You may need to clear any obstructions to this insertion from inside the case if necessary.
Once inserted, use the coarse-threaded screws to secure the drive to the case.
Fitting a CD/DVD drive
Unpack the CD-ROM.
Using the IDE Configuration Pins set this device as a Master. In some cases, particularly with DVD or CD-Writers, it is necessary to select Slave for best performance.
As with the floppy drive, you will notice, on the front panel of your PC case, there is an opening the same dimensions as the front panel (if there is a plastic cover plate fitted, just gently push it out from behind.) Slide the CD-ROM into the opening backwards such that its front panel becomes flush with the front of the PC case.
Once inserted, use fine-threaded screws to secure the drive to the case.
Connecting the Front Panel
You should have noticed that the PC Case itself has some cables. These are for the Front Panel Display and are usually labelled as the following;
- SPK - Speaker - Small speaker mounted in the PC Case
- PWR SW - Power switch - System power on/off
- RST SW - Reset switch - Reset system
- PWR LED - Power LED - Light shows when system is on (usually green)
- HDD LED - Hard disk drive LED - Light shows when system is accessing HDD (usually red)
- SLP LED - Sleep LED - Light shows when system is suspended (in 'sleep' mode)
Basically, these connectors slide onto a set of grouped pins on the Motherboard. Owing to the many variations of Motherboard, it will be necessary to refer to your Motherboard manual for the connection method of these cables.
Technical Tip
It is worth noting that a speaker or switch cable can be connected both ways round and work perfectly well, while an LED (Light Emitting Diode) cable must be connected the right way round to function properly. If an LED fails to light when it should, reverse the connection.Connecting the Floppy Disk Drive
Use this cable to connect the Floppy Disk Drive to the Motherboard. There should be a 'twist' in the cable next to one of the connectors. This indicates that this connector is for the first floppy drive in the system (Drive A:) Since we only have one Floppy Drive, this is it. Also, the Pink coloured wire in the 'ribbon' indicates Pin 1.
On the back of our installed Floppy Drive (use a flashlight/torch if necessary) we can see a set of 34 pins onto which this cable will fit. However, to ensure that it is correctly fitted, we must locate pin 1 (the pink line), and fit the cable such that the pink line is on the left hand side as we look directly at the back of the floppy drive.
Once this connection is made, locate a similar socket on the motherboard (black, 34-pin socket) and connect the other end of the Floppy Drive cable to this socket. The Motherboard-end connection will be easier to make as it is usually 'keyed' to ensure correct connection.
Connecting the CD/DVD Drive
Almost exactly the same procedure is used here to connect the CD-ROM. Take the wider, '40way Ribbon' cable and connect one end (either will do - no twist this time) to the 40 pin connector on your CD-ROM. Note this time that the pink line must be next to where the CD-ROM Power connector is located. The Power connector on the CD-ROM is a deep white socket with 4 big pins inside.
Once the connection to the CD-ROM is made, locate the specific connector on the Motherboard for Secondary IDE. Your Motherboard manual will help you find this. In this case, the CD-ROM must be connected to the Secondary IDE socket. Again, the connector will be 'keyed' for correct alignment.
Finally, if you have a sound adapter in your system, don't forget to connect the CD-audio cable. Don't worry if you don't have one, your local PC hardware store should have plenty. Simply connect one end of the cable to the back of the CD-ROM, next to the IDE cable, then connect the other end to your soundcards 'CD-IN' connector. If your Motherboard has on-board audio, the 'CD-IN' connector will be located on the Motherboard somewhere. Check the Motherboard manual for its location.
Connecting the HDD
IDE Hard Disk Drives
If your Hard Drive is what is known as 'ATA33' type, then it is connected in exactly the same way as the CD-ROM.
If, however, you have an 'ATA66/100' type, then the connection procedure is still the same, but the ribbon cable must be a special '80way' kind. '80way ATA66/100' cables look similar to their 'ATA33' counterparts, but have 80 wires instead of 40. They often have colour-coded connectors as follows;
- Blue connector - to Motherboard
- Grey connector - to 'Slave' Device
- Black connector - to 'Master' Device
Note that connector colours may vary depending on manufacturer.
In both cases, it is important to note that the Hard Drive IDE cable must be connected to the Primary IDE connector on the Motherboard if it is to be the main/only HDD in the PC.
S-ATA Hard Disk Drives
Alternatively, if your Hard Drive is a S-ATA type, then the connections will be quite different. S-ATA uses a much thinner ribbon cable. New S-ATA compatible motherboards will usually have some S-ATA ribbon cables supplied in the box, ready for use.
Use one of these to connect each S-ATA Hard Drive to the motherboard connector as instructed by the motherboard manual.
Connecting the Device Power Cables
These will supply each device in the PC with its power requirements.
Ensure that your PSUs connection to the mains socket is switched off at the wall, and gather up the collection of power cables from the PSU.
Each device will have its own power connector which will receive a cable from the PSU. The HDD and CD-ROM will generally use a large connector each and the FDD will usually use a small connector.
If you have any other devices which require power, remember to connect these also.
S-ATA Hard Drives
If you have any S-ATA Hard Drives in your PC, then you'll need to connect power to these also. The S-ATA standard uses a special power connector. Newer PSUs may already have the special S-ATA power connectors, but older units will not.
Some S-ATA Hard drives allow you to use either a standard large PC connector or special S-ATA connector (but not both at the same time.) If your S-ATA Hard Drive only accepts the special power connector and your PSU doesn't have one, then you can use an IDE to S-ATA power adapter.
Connecting the Main Power Cable
Once everything else is connected up, we can go ahead and make the final connection - providing power directly to the Motherboard itself.
Ensure that your PSU is disconnected from the mains wall socket, and locate the main power connector cable from the PSU.
ATX Power connectors
Newer type of power connector found on ATX power supplies
The ATX-style connector is 'keyed' and should 'clip' into place when correctly seated.
AT Power connectors
The older of the two, this 'double' connector is found on AT-type power supplies
In the case of the AT-type connector, make sure that the four black wires go side-by-side in the centre of the two connectors as they are fitted to the socket.
Connecting the Peripherals
Having completed your new PC, take some time to go back over your work in the previous steps, and check that all your connections are correctly aligned and secure, and that your CPU, RAM and cards are all secure in their fixings. A thorough check here can save a lot of frustration later on.
Proceed now by connecting the remaining devices, such that you can power up and test the new machine. Position the PC case such that you have clear access the sockets/connectors at the back.
Monitor signal cable
Take the Monitor display cable, and connect it to the suitable connector on the Video Card backplate. Use the cable screws if necessary to fully secure the cable. Do not worry about other connectors on the Video card at this stage.
Speakers (if you have them)
Connect this to the 'SPK' socket. It can be found either on your sound card, or if your Motherboard has a sound card built-in, refer to its manual for the correct method of connection.
Keyboard
Determine the type of keyboard you have and its associated socket. Your Motherboard manual will instruct you on its proper connection. As previously encountered with PC connections, these are 'keyed'. Do not force the connector or the pins may break.
Mouse
Determine the type of mouse you have and its associated socket. Your Motherboard manual will instruct you on its proper connection. Again, these are 'keyed'. Some care in connection is required.
