Ph?bus' Build Guide [Updated March 2012]

[Ph?bus]

Welcome to the updated build guide! I figured since the computer market is a little different than what it used to be almost a year ago, I should probably update this with more up-to-date information. Again, if you spot any typos, or something doesn?t quite make sense, please let me know in a PM. For now, I will only be updating the first section -- picking out the parts. I may or may not update the second part relatively soon, it depends on the demand I get. Anyways, let?s get started.

Determing Your Computer?s Purpose in Life

A bit of a dramatic title, but hey, it gets the point across. Before just impulse buying an i7 2700K and three 7970s for Counter Strike, determine what the primary use for the computer will be, and try to make a list of most important to least important. These things would be things such as word processing, photo and/or video editing, gaming, programming, hosting a server, whatever. You identify which will be the most important thing, and that is where you start. Since this is a gaming website, I?ve decided to drop the work-orientated paradigm from the guide, but feel free to make a thread or PM me about it. We?re always willing to help a fellow eGO member with their computer.

To summarize what you?ll need for gaming, games require on average a ton more graphical horsepower than anything else. It should come first and foremost in your computer-to-be. Next is the processor, which should be your second priority.

Bottlenecks

Bottleneck. It?s a term that you?ll hear quite often if you talk to computer hardware enthusiasts. Well, what is this so-called bottleneck? Imagine a 2 liter bottle of soda. You know how when you go to pour some soda out, you can?t tilt it too much else it does that awkward pouring thing? That is a bottleneck. Now just replace the soda with your game performance, and the bottle?s neck with your hardware.

So how do you prevent these bottlenecks? Unlike 2 liter bottles, you can?t just tilt your computer case and call it good. Bottlenecks are usually produced when someone mixed a graphics card that is relatively too weak with a processor that is relatively too strong. You want your graphics card and processor to be about as equal as possible. The best way to determine that is to look up reviews of the hardware you?re thinking of buying, and judging from there if it bottlenecks the other pieces of hardware or not. A very rough estimate that should only be used with the most current generations of hardware, and I repeat: a very rough estimate, is to compare costs. It?s okay if the graphics card is more than the processor, but usually not the other way around. For example, a 2500K and a 6970 are really good together. A 2500K and a 7750 however, are not. On the opposite side of the spectrum, an i3 2100 would not be a good choice for something like a 7950.

It can take a while to be able to spot a bottleneck by just looking at the hardware, but remember, don?t be afraid to ask questions about something you don?t know.

Graphics Card, Graphics Processing Unit, The Pretty Factor

Graphics cards, also referred as Graphics Processing Units, GPU for short; are used to render the image when you?re playing a video game, and should be your biggest priority. Before picking out what card you think looks nice, you have to ask yourself a few questions.

What is the target resolution that you will play your games at? Hopefully this is 1920x1080 for most people. The resolution you play on will determine how much video memory you should strive for. This one is pretty easy; the higher resolution you would like to play, the more video memory you get. Although the bigger question is what comes next.

What games do you plan on playing, and at what settings? Most people assume that you want to play your games at max settings, so you can simply look up reviews of some graphics cards you think would be good for your build. Depending on how those look should be your biggest deciding factor for what graphics card to buy.

Processor, Central Processing Unit, The Brain

There?s a few things that you don?t want to fall into believing. The paradigm that says ?more cores is mo? better?. It really isn?t, especially if the cores have bad single-threaded (meaning it only uses one core) performance. Another is the ?more ghz is more faster? paradigm. Some would argue that a dual core processor clocked at 3.3GHz would be faster than any quad core processor clocked at 3.0GHz. While this may have been true back when quad cores were in their infancy, multi-threaded applications have really taken off recently in favor of quad cores.

Then comes the whole debate about AMD or Intel, and if you ask around most places, you?ll get hugely opinionated and often fallacious anecdotes about how they?ve always used X brand and their father used X brand and their father?s father used X brand, yadda yadda. It?s actually pretty bad when people are too busy arguing about which brand is better when you could just be having a good time fragging your friends in BF3.

Way off topic there. Anyways, back to business. All of this can seem a little intimidating at first, but we all start somewhere. I think I?ve said it three times so far, and I?ll probably say it again: read reviews! It?s the best way to determine what you?ll need for whatever games you play. The most commonly recommended processors right now are Intel?s 2500K and 2600K. For gaming, you won?t need anything more than the 2500K, and only get the K if you?re going to overclock. That is way out of scope for this guide, but perhaps there will be one if the future.

Motherboard

Motherboards can be some of the trickier parts to pick out, simply because you can get a lot of features that you really have no use for, or you could just not know what you?re looking for. The biggest thing that will determine what motherboard you get is what socket the processor uses, i.e. LGA 1155, LGA 2011, AM3, AM3+, etc. Once you solve that mystery, its time to interrogate yourself a little further.

Do you plan on getting a multi-GPU set up? If you need the raw power, it could be nice. But don?t buy a super expensive motherboard when the answer is ?maybe?, and you have a feeling that you never will.

Are you planning on overclocking? You have to check the Voltage Regulation Modules, or VRMs, and in general, the more the merrier. When in doubt, PM reflex99. He?s our local motherboard expert.

How many hard drives and/or optical drives will you use? If you?re going to use more than 6 drives, then you should start paying attention to how many Sata ports the motherboard has. I haven?t personally seen any standard ATX motherboards without at least 6 Sata connections.

Do you plan on using a solid state drive, or are you too cool for those? If you are, make sure it has Sata III / Sata 6.0Gbps, as it really makes a difference in performance. Another thing to look out for is USB 3.0 if you want/need it.

Random Access Memory

There are a few things to be cautious of when purchasing memory, and those are to make sure it will fit your motherboard, the voltage, speed, and timings. With memory prices on DDR3 memory, there?s no reason you shouldn?t get 8GB of memory. Although it really isn?t need, it certainly is nice to have.

What about those other things I said? This is another thing you will want to ask reflex99 about, as he is more knowledgeable in this subject than I am. Let?s start with the voltage. What voltage you get depends entirely on what platform you choose to go with. For example, LGA 1155 doesn?t like voltages about 1.5v. Next is the speed and timings. For gaming, it?s not terribly important to get the fastest speed ram with the lowest timings as that doesn?t really do much for gaming performance. A good place to shoot for (in my opinion) is 1333MHz on the clock speed and 9-9-9-24 on the timings. Again, if you want more in-depth answers about memory, PM reflex99.

Power Supply Unit, The Heart of Your System

The is the single most important piece of hardware in your entire tower, yet most people don?t know that much about them. It does exactly what its name implies - supplying power. Now this section will be broken up into smaller chunks, and it is quite lengthy. It has a lot of good information and is definitely worth the read.

• Determine the budget for the power supply
  
• Determine the specs it needs to power
  
• Determine if you are going to run anything more in the future, and be brutally honest. Don't get a 1000W so that you can SLI 590s or something ridiculous, and never actually do.
  
• Look at the Thermal Design Power, or TDPs, of the CPU and the GPU(s). Add them together, and then add 65% on top of that, and that should be plenty for running them at stock speeds. Add an additional 10-20%, depending on how much you will overclock by.
  
  For example, the TDPs of my build are 95 + 150 (CPU + GPU), and add 65% on top of that, and it is 404W. The 450W PSU I have has nothing to worry about, because the max load it will most likely see is around 300W.
  
• Once you have that, now work backwards. If you want to run multiple GPUs, include that in your rough estimate. Look for a PSU that has the required wattage, and then look at the connections it has. Does it have enough PCIe connections? Sata connections? This should narrow the search.
  
• Now narrow it down to what is in your budget. Pick ~3 that you think are good, and type their model number into Google, and append "review" to the search. Look at at least 2 reviews, and if they don't explain their testing methodology, skip it and find another. If you can't find the exact model, try one close to it.
  
  For example, my PSU (Rosewill CAPSTONE 450W) has no real reviews that I could find; however there are several reviews of the same platform that is beefed up a bit into a 750W version. This review will suffice.
  
• From here, all you need to do is pick which one has the best reviews. Easy peasy.
  
  Examples of good reveiws:
  • http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=169
  • http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=236
  • http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Seasonic/P1000/
  
  Examples of bad reviews:
  • http://www.otest.co.uk/p/seasonic-tests/x-760-reviews.html
  • Anything done by a consumer, and not with professional equipment.
  
  General things to be weary of:
  • Deals that seem too good to be true; a 750W power supply for only $25. Chances are that it is a complete piece of poo.
  • Some brands make bad units, so don't assume that because it's X brand means that it's good.
  • Used power supplies.
  • The paradigm that you should only run your power supply at 50% load
  • The propaganda that single 12V rail units are vastly superior to multiple 12V rail units
  • The propaganda that modular units should be avoided by the plague

Hard Disks, Solid State Drives, Storage

Only you can prevent forest fi-- I mean, only you can determine what hard drive(s) you should get. Some people can get by with a tiny little 250GB drive, and some people needs obscene amounts of storage space. Buy whatever capacity you feel you need. Keep in mind that mechanical drives - that is, drives with moving parts - aren?t going to have a giant leap in performance from Sata II to Sata III; nor will anything over 7200RPMs be significantly worth the extra noise and heat it?ll produce.

Solid state drives, SSDs, are still quite expensive, but they have come down a bit in cost. I?ll say the same thing I said in the last iteration of this build guide: think of it as a luxury item; if something else needs an upgrade, such as the GPU or CPU, get that first.

The heightened cost of mechanical drives is making SSDs more and more appealing, and they are definitely worth saving up for. Don?t underestimate how much snappier it will make general computing. But don?t think that it will magically give you better frame rates. The most it will do is decrease load times.

Case

This is similar to storage solutions - entirely dependent on your requirements for a case. Hard disk drive bays is a thing to look out for, as is room for large aftermarket cooling, room for watercooling, whatever you need. The biggest thing to keep your eye out for is motherboard compatibility. Make sure it supports whatever size motherboard you end up getting.

Something that all cases in this day and age should have is dust filters, cable management options, and anti-vibration mounting options for the hard drives. Other things you could look for is video card clearance, front panel connections (i.e. USB 3.0, Fireware, eSata), and the amount of fans/fan mounting options. There are so many cases that you the best thing you can do to find a good one is look up reviews. Lots and lots of reviews.

That concludes this section of the build guide, and thank you for reading. Remember, if you spot any spelling or grammar errors, or if you feel like the guide is lacking or a bit vague in some areas, please let me know asap. I want the guide to be as helpful and easy to understand as possible.

 

[Ph?bus]

So I tried to condense this down to 60 pictures because that?s how much room I have. I should have reserved the first three posts because I need a little bit more. If it feels a little lacking in some parts, please PM me, and I?ll see what I can do.

Let?s start with what you?ll need. You?ll need various sizes of screwdrivers, and having a knife wouldn?t hurt when you?re opening the boxes. You?ll also need a small towel. It?s for putting screws on so they don?t roll off the work area. And of course, you?ll need all the parts.

One more thing before we get started: if you?re working on carpet, take off your socks. You will need to ground yourself every now and then, and you can do that by touching an unpainted part of the case. If you cannot do that, plugging the power supply in and touching it does the same thing. If you can?t do either, touch an unpainted piece of metal.

Let?s begin!

Here we have all the parts. Don?t take everything out of the box just yet. Just what you need. Before you put anything in the case, it is a very good idea to set up the computer out of the tower in case anything is faulty, so you can just take it out and package it back up.

So we?re going to set up a ghetto rig. Place the motherboard on top of the motherboard box. If you?re working on a metal surface, be sure to ground yourself more often.

Alright, so next we take the processor out of the packaging. We only need the processor for this part, but it would be good to get the cooler out of the box and ready, as well. For AMD processors, the pins that connect the processor to the motherboard are on the processor, and it is very important that you do not touch them. For Intel processors, you still shouldn?t touch the bottom. We should prep the motherboard before getting the processor out. So to do this on an AMD board, there is a lever, and you simply lift it up. That?s it. For Intel boards, they have a very similar mechanism, it just looks slightly different. Here is the lever.

Okay, back to the processor. Lie the package on it?s face, like the picture below. Again, it is important to not touch any of the pins. Do a quick check to make sure none are bent. If any are, then you can take a 0.5mm mechanical pencil (with no lead), and place it over the bent pin and fix it. Do so gently.

Next we place the processor into the socket. They are slightly different on AMD and Intel boards, but not by much. For AMD, there is a gold triangle on the chip, and a small triangle in one of the corners of the socket. For Intel boards, there are notches on the sides of the chip, as well as the golden triangle. You simply line those up, and drop the processor in. Do not apply any force. If it doesn?t drop into place, then take it out and line it up properly. Once that is done, simply push the lever back down. It may sound like you?re breaking something, but as long as the chip is in properly, you?re not. It may require more force than you?d think.

Next we have to put the cooler in place. This process is slightly different for AMD and Intel. They?re both simple, and for Intel you just line it up, and push the pins down until they click. For AMD, you have a bar that has latches on it, and you simply latch it down. I only have an AMD build to use for example, for now. Here is the cooler.

You will notice on the bottom, there is some grease, like in the picture below. That is your thermal grease, which helps transfer heat. Do not touch it.

This is easier than you?d think. For AMD builds, you go down at an angle, with the latch that doesn?t have a lever on the top. For Intel builds, you just drop it down, and make sure the wire has enough slack to be plugged in. Here is a picture for how to do it on an AMD build.

Now you just latch the side without the lever, and latch side with the lever, and lock it down. It may require a little bit of force to press the lever down. Here are the latches, and the lever in the locked position.

Now you plug in the fan. They usually have 4 pin connectors, and there is a header on the motherboard labeled CPU_FAN that you plug it into. Very simple. If you?ve gotten this far, congratulations. That was the hard part.

Next we plug in the memory. Putting them in place will require a little more force than you may be comfortable with. If you have the notches lined up, then you won?t be breaking anything. Let?s take a look at the DIMMs, which is where the memory goes, and the memory sticks themselves.

Notice the notches in them? That?s right, you just line them up and push it down. You will first need to pull back the latches on the top and bottom of the memory slots, and then you insert the memory sticks and push down evenly from both sides. If you have multiple sticks, then you need to plug them into corresponding slots. They?re usually color coded, and labeled. Look on the motherboard near the slots and you should see them.

Next up is the graphics card. This is probably one of the easiest things to put in. If your card has protectors over the connections, like in the picture below, take them off.

All modern graphics cards use a PCI-e 2.0 16x interface. You look for that slot on the motherboard, and if there is more than one, use the top. If you are unsure, they usually have a little clip on the end. Then you simply slide in the graphics card, and then you?re done.

The hard disk will need to be plugged in now. To do this, you must find a Sata cable. They come with the motherboard, usually. There is a picture of one below. You simply plug it into the thinner connection on the back of the drive, and plug it into any of the Sata ports.

If you have a Sata II drive, and use a Sata III cable/port, it will still run. If you use a Sata III drive with a Sata II cable/port, it will still run, but at reduced speeds.

Now we move the power supply. If you have a non-modular modular PSU like this one, ignore all the cables except the ones in the following pictures. If you have a modular PSU, then only plug in the cables that are shown in the following pictures. (Modular is where the cables can be removed, and non-modular is where they can not.)

The big connector at the bottom is called the 20+4 pin or 24 pin main power connector. You will find the proper plug for it on the right side of the motherboard. This is fairly straight forward. If the power supply you chose doesn?t have the 20 + 4 pins already connected (like this one), then you simply connect them then plug them in. Simple.

Next is the CPU power, which is a 4 + 4 or 8 pin connector. Since this motherboard only requires a 4 pin, I split up the 4 + 4 connectors. You will usually find the CPU power plug in the top left, behind the back I/O ports.

Now we plug in the power connector for the graphics card. The connector I have is a 6 + 2 pin, but i only need a 6 pin, so I?ll leave the 2 pin disconnected. If your graphics card doesn?t need a power pin, or if you?re using on-board or on-die graphics, skip this step.

 

[Ph?bus]

Next is the Sata power connections. They are the skinny ones, and they just plug into the back of sata devices, such as hard disks and optical disc drives.

Now you have your ghetto bench set up! You just need to hook up all the connections in the back (video, audio, keyboard, mouse, etc), and you?re good! If you need to use a disc drive, it is the same as a hard disk. If your motherboard does not have a power button, you will need to use the header from your case, which I have pictures of later in the guide. Now is a great time to install the OS, and just tinker around with some stuff to make sure everything works. Browse the web, watch some YouTube videos, etc.

Okay, now that you have installed the OS, and made sure no parts are faulty, you need to put it in the case. You will need to unplug everything from the motherboard, minus the processor and cooler, and the memory. Everything else needs to go.

Now we are going to take the case, and take off both side panels, as well as the front panel for optical drive installation. There is usually screws at the back of the case for the side panels, and you may have to read the manual on how to remove the front panel. Once you?ve removed both side panels and front panel, lie it on it?s side like the picture below.

Now it?s time to prep the case for the motherboard. Most cases don?t have the motherboard standoffs (pictured below) installed in the case, so you will need to install them in the holes pictured below. The holes with the A are for standard ATX motherboards, which is the size. If your motherboard is microATX or mini ITX, then you need to read the manual to see where to install the standoffs.

To determine how many you need to install, you look at your motherboard, and look for the screw holes (shown below). After you?ve done that, or you could do this first, you install the power supply.

This case has the power supply mounted at the top, and lot of gaming cases have them mounted at the bottom. The procedure is still the same. You simply slide it in from the back, and screw it in place.

If you want to install the back I/O shield plate, which I rarely do, then you pop out the one that is already in it (if there even is one) by pushing it inward. You take the new I/O shield and press it in by pushing in from the inside of the case, and press into the corners until they pop. Again, I did not do that for this guide. Whether you want to or not is entirely up to you.

The power supply will come with screws, and you use those to screw them in. Now it?s time to install the motherboard. You just drop it in place, and screw it in. Screw in a pattern as to not create uneven pressure on the board. For example, screw in the top left, right center, bottom left, and reverse it for the other screws. Do not over tighten these. Once they require even a little bit more force than the rest of the way, stop screwing. Do a double check when you have all the screwed in for loose screws. The screws that you use for this are included with the case, and are usually the finer threaded screws. If you have an extra standoff, see which screws fit. If they don?t go in with ease, you?re using the wrong screw.

Next we prep the case for the graphics card. You can do the hard disks and/or optical drives first, but I?ve done the graphics card first for this guide. It?s the same as before, but you just need to take out the expansion slot covers at the back that correspond with your graphics card. Slide those out, and it wouldn?t hurt to keep them, for resale purposes. When you?ve installed the graphics card, screw it in where you took out the expansion slots.

Now it?s time to install the Sata devices. The hard disks are usually in the bottom front of the case, and optical drives are in the top front of the case. The screws that are used for these are included with the case, and are usually the wider threaded screws. Hard disk installation varies from case to case, but a common way is for them to slide in from the center like in this picture.

For optical drives, you usually have to slide them in from the front, pictured below. You also have to remove any covers for those bays. Make sure that the front of the optical drive is flush with the other bay covers, else it will look bad, and potentially not work.

You?re almost done! You just need a few more things. For case fans, sometimes they will have a connector like the one below, which is a molex to 3 pin adapter. With molex, you wont? have any fan control, unless you have it plugged into a fan controller. With the 3 pin, you have fan control. You can choose either connection, but I went with the 3 pin for the fan control.

Now comes perhaps the trickiest part. Wiring the front panel. It?s only hard because there is usually a lack of documentation. Read the manual for the case to see where to plug it in. Sometimes, the motherboard has these labeled. Only 2 of the motherboards I?ve worked with have had them labeled. Anyways, here are what the wiring looks like, and the headers on the motherboard can usually be found in the bottom right.

Still on the front panel, you have to plug in things like the USB, front audio, and sometimes e-Sata and/or Firewire (1394). These are always labeled on the motherboard, as well as the cables themselves. You can also read the case's manual if you are unsure of which cable is which. If your case comes with a front panel e-Sata cable, you plug it into a Sata port. Do not plug the USB into the 1394 header. It will kill the board.

Okay, now you?re pretty much done. You just need to plug in all the power leads from the power supply, and the Sata devices need to be plugged in. Let?s hope you wired the front panel correctly, and enjoy your newly build computer!

A few things to note for the final wiring. Make sure that if you use multiple hard disks to plug in the drive that has the OS on it to the Sata 1 port. You may have to go into the BIOS and edit the boot menu.

Thank you for reading, and if you see anything wrong, please PM me!