Gaming PC Finale

Sorry for taking so long, but I will finally get into the steps I went through to making my gaming PC. The first step that you have to take when you put together your own PC is to replace/install the back plate that came with your motherboard. I have to say that in my experience I've always hated back plates. The process of actually installing it is actually really easy, all you have to do is just snap it in, but I've always had difficulty installing the motherboard properly after the back plate is installed. The reason for this is because the back plate has little piece of aluminum that I guess are supposed to wrap around the different ports on the motherboard but it never seems to work out so smoothly. These little pieces of metal seem just to get in the way and they prevent a clean connection the back plate and the Mobo (motherboard). Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but feel its easier to just bend and brake these small pieces off.

The next step is pretty easy, all it is installing the Mobo. You do have to make sure that you have your case has the little screw slots setup correctly for the form factor of your Mobo. The standard form factor is ATX and that is the form of my P45R2000. The most important part is that you get the Mobo aligned with the back plate. Screwing the screws in is pretty easy, try not to use a magnetic screwdriver. You do not to need to put a screw in every slot, just put as many in as you can. It's fairly important that you get your motherboard to remain flat and secure. That's pretty much all you need for this step, nothing really complicated.

The next step is to install the processor on to the motherboard. This step is relatively easy with a Pentium LGA775 processor but with any processor the instructions should be pretty easy. Since the pins in the LGA775 are in the socket rather then the CPU itself. This makes it easier and less likely for you to damage it. There is a little are that you need to unlock before your able to place in the CPU. All you need to do is to align the little triangle on the CPU with the on the socket. It's pretty easy because the socket itself is square but it has some notches that also help you align it. There is a little plastic piece that you have to remove from the socket before you add the CPU. Make sure you close the lid and then lock the arm back into place.

The next step is to install the CPU heat sink and fan to the Mobo. I never enjoyed this part because the little clips that the fan use to attached to the motherboard never work quite as well as you would like. Before you install the fan and heat sink, make sure you put thermal compound on the CPU if it is not already on the bottom of the heat sink. Just press down on the pins when the heat sink and fan is placed over the CPU. Make sure you clip one in the and then the opposite one to ensure it attaches better. It is very important that you get a tight connect and it may require a little bit of force, you may be surprised by how much. The next step is really which is just to install the ram. Simple align the ram correctly with the ram slot. In my gaming PC I install a pair of patriot 1 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz. Runs pretty fast but I would like to upgrade that since Crisis isn't running as fast as I would like to and I noticed that its my ram that is being bunch and not my CPU.

Installing the Hard drive is pretty easy. The new SATA cables are significantly smaller then IDE ribbon which makes it easier to manage and I lowers the affect on the airflow of your system. Connecting the correct power cables are pretty easy. Pretty much just attached what fits and don't force anything if it doesn't. Installing my Radeon 4850 was pretty easy and it was my first close look at my new video card and I must say this thing is huge. The heat sink and fan are just as big if not bigger then the puny stock fan that came with my Intel e8400 CPU. Pretty happy that I have a full case to work with and not a mid case. Pretty much all that was left was to connect the power supply to everything and my DVD burner. Nothing complicated. Putting together a PC is very easy and I do suggest that everyone try it but only after they have done their research on all the parts they need. The next step was to setup the software which is all ways the hardest part.

When i tried to boot-up my PC it wouldn't work and I would hear three beeps. After looking it up, turns out the motherboard has some problems with ram so I removed on of the dims and it started to boot-up correctly, I later had to flash my motherboards BIOS to fix the problem with my RAM and get 2 GB in my system. Started to install windows vista but it had trouble finding my hard drive. After way to much trying to fix this problem (looking for drivers and what not) I found that I connected it to the wrong place on the motherboard. Stupid me I guess. Got vista running smoothly and then start to go into overclocking. It usually requires you to go through the BIOS, but with my P45R2000 comes with Asrock OC tuner which enables me to Over cloak within windows. Overclocked my E8400 from 3.0GHz to 3.4GHz with stock fan a heat sink with a max load temp of about 50C. Pretty happy with that but considering a water cooling kit it OC it more. Anyways that's the end of this post, hopefully all and a new one a new build idea maybe tomorrow since I have the day off work but we'll see.


Price: $800 CDN