How to build a computer

[ctjoyce]

This was orrigionally for Caveman, however I know there are alot of you who would like to know how to put together a rig. I will eventually be doing a more professional video once I get my new camera, however for now my Cannon Power Shot A95 will have to do. I suggest that you turn up your monitor brightness a bit as some parts are a bit dark, other than that it should be pretty helpful. And I can take pics of any pieces you are unsure of.

[b[DISCLAMER[/b] This video contains images of highly overclocked parts, custom gameing modifacations, an ATi Graphics card, and my face at 7:30 in the moarning. If for some reason you use my video, and fail to put your computer together correctly I take no respnsability for anything you did.

Video one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkSLC_Np2CE

Video 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO8oeeTYlGs

[Delta_]

Nice.


Careful with putting parts on the carpet.  I'm surprised nothing broke.

[ctjoyce]

Oh trust me I spent a whole can of anti static preping that area because I couldnt find any anti static bags.

Cheers
Cameron

[Tom.]

Very Good Ctjoyce i think this should be made sticky its very usefull

[Brett_Henderson]

Wow.. That's very interesting. Impressive effort, Cameron.

Perhaps part III can be: "There is absolutely NO way I coulda messed something up.. Why won't this thing POST?"


I, for one could add a humorous entry

[MWISimmer]

Nice videos Cameron, there's a future for you in presenting yet...  ;)

[quote]Careful with putting parts on the carpet.

[ctjoyce]

Wow.. That's very interesting. Impressive effort, Cameron.

Perhaps part III can be: "There is absolutely NO way I coulda messed something up.. Why won't this thing POST?"


I, for one could add a humorous entry  (or two)..  LOL

Dude thats a really good idea. I may just do that. I can think of a few of those humerous things myself.

Cheers
Cameron

[kipman725]

Have Laminate flooring sales peaked?  ;)  ;D

fingers crossed


Right lets start with the crits:
ram spreaders are USELESS corsair themselves and OCZ have admited that there own testing shows no or  1-2mhz differance in the max memory clock between non heatspreaderd ram and that with heatspreaders.  If you compare the surface area of a dimm with heatspreaders and one without heatspreaders you will notice very little diferance.  As there is little extra surface area and the temp differance between the case air and the ram is the same, how would the heatspreaders improve heat disapation? (answer they don't and in some case they actualy make ram run hotter as the thermal interface on the ram isn't toatly efficiant.)  

I have never seen a case with copper barbs.  There usualy brass.  Copper would be too easy to strip the threading off.

Prevent short circuit not electric shock is the puprose of the standoffs.

It's hard to make out from the vid but your thermal paste aplication looks poor and you haven't mentioned cleaning the cpu and fan with meths or isopopnol.

The lighting and shakey camea look pretty bad, you should get someone elese to hold to camera and get a couple of desk lamps.

The floor isn't a good place to build a pc.  It's dirty theres a risk of static damage to components and you will ruin your back.  Risk of standing on things aswell.

It does matter which way round you put an IDE cable if it has more than one connector on the end.  Infact I have never come accross a standard IDE cable that worked both ways.

the video isn't a very good medium for delivering this information.  What would work better would be a website with short video clips and much more instructions in text format.

you need to provide instructons for more systems.  Your expensive case with quick connet features isn't very tipical and athlon based systems have much better games performance than their pentium equivlents (apart from at the very low end perhaps).

[Jimbo]

[quote]

fingers crossed


Right lets start with the crits:
ram spreaders are USELESS corsair themselves and OCZ have admited that there own testing shows no or

[ctjoyce]

Okay well thanks for the imput however until you go and make you own video then please dont rip mine like that. Second IT WAS 7:30 IN THE MOARNING! Sorry if I called a brass spacer copper, but it looks copper, so people will recognise it. Also I think that screwing in things was a bit obvious and not needed to be said. As for my thermalpaste yes it has been spread correctly and I didnt go into how to clean the fan and processer as when you get them from the factory you just have to plug and play.

Seriously kip it was ment to be a basic instructional tutorial, not a "How to build a dream rig and make it run to max." Also why would you bring the whole intel vs AMD thing up again? Because if you really want to sit and argue about whose system is better, I would be more than happy to bench my CPU for you and show you that my system can and will outpreform the AMD equilivant.

>Here endith the rant<

Cheers
Cameron

[kipman725]

well I don't mean to be argumentative.  The things I said were impersonal I didn't attack you as a person only corrected the mistakes you made in your video as I would expect someone who was commenting on something I had made for public consumption to do.  

Thanks for clearing up why you didn't mention cleaning your cpu etc.  I was abit off the mark with that I didn't rearlise that it was for a person who had only just got their components.  Many aftermarket cpu coolers and most proccesors don't come with thermal interface matirial already aplied however, your circumstance is again non tipical.

Because of your audiance of niave new builders I felt I had to comment so harshley due to the potenentialy expensive mistakes you made on the video.  

As for benchmarking my cpu against yours, mine is totaly obsolete and no meaningfull comparison could be achived compared to your modern cpu.  Also in the games benchmarking your graphics card is much faster than mine which is another variable.  For meaningfull comparison the only two different components on the platform must be the motherboard and cpu.  And the motherboard and cpus of both platforms must be in the same price range.  So I decline your request to compare any of my benchmark scores with yours.

[ctjoyce]

Sorry I lashed out at you like that Kip I was in a bad mood, and unfortunately I lashed out at you.


Cheers
Cameron

[Jimbo]

Sorry I lashed out at you like that Kip I was in a bad mood, and unfortunately I lashed out at you.


Cheers
Cameron

Hey keep it nice and friendly!

We dont want the Hardware forum turning into something like the screenshot forums with all the shouting/arguing.  :-X

Cheers.

James

[congo]

I couldn't watch the videos, I have a reasonable ADSL connection but nowhere near enough bandwidth to make the video viewable.

I kept it going for ten minutes or so and saw the first minute of the clip, it looked great and I thought it was a fine effort.

Is there a way I can download it so I can watch it? I couldn't see an option other than just having it stream from the linked website.

There is at least twice as much surface area on ram heatsinks as there is on the chips themselves, but how efficient they are is a matter of design and fitting methods.

Personally, I found that with active cooling, my ram is better off with the heatsinks fitted, due to more efficient heat dissipation at high specs.

Ram heatsinks are certainly something to be wary of. Mine were installed very poorly using thermal tape instead of thermal compound. The tape was removed and I needed to carefully align (bend) the heatsinks for correct contact ensuring good connection between the chips and the heatsinks.

I would imagine that most ram that has heatsinks fitted would be no better off with them, and indeed may heat up more, but this is completely dependant on the ram/heatsinks in question and the fitting method/efficiency.

[caveman16]

     Hi Cameron,   So much work for  ME .     I don't know if the reason I can't watch the video is ME or my PC or my settings.   I  just don't know due to my lack of knowledge.   I haven't given up  - - -  but need to study more in areas  I've  not  been into yet.  

    My Friend,   No matter what others say or don't say,  good or bad ,     I know that this work you've done was to help me with instructions to assemble my new PC.       This is a very good thing you've done by sharing this info with others.     I'm sure there are many that can pick up pointers to make their future work easier.       For this - - -  you've contributed  to everyone on this forum.    

     I am very appreciative  and thank you so much.        

                                            caveman