[dhill1984]

I am starting my first computer build this weekend once all my components arrive. I have never built a computer before, so I am not sure what to expect. any advice from people who know stuff would be greatly appreciated. At this point, I'm just curious as to things I should look out for, be careful about, problems I should expect to run into, etc. heres a list of the stuff i am building
XFX 680i SLI MOBO

intel q6600

4 gb of ram on 2 dimms ddr2 6400

XFX Geforce 8800 gts xxx 320mb

seagate 500 gb hdd

light scribe dvd burner

ocz 850w power supply

extra case fans and hdd fan

windows vista home premium 64 bit OEM

NZXT alpha case



if anyone has done a similar build or has built with those components before, I would love to know how it went. Also, any advice on getting BIOS set up is appreciated- I have never used a BIOS before. Also any advice for 64 bit vista? I would have liked to stay with XP but I want a 64 bit media center pc.



TIA

[smax013]

dhill1984 said:

I am starting my first computer build this weekend once all my components arrive. I have never built a computer before, so I am not sure what to expect. any advice from people who know stuff would be greatly appreciated. At this point, I'm just curious as to things I should look out for, be careful about, problems I should expect to run into, etc. heres a list of the stuff i am building

XFX 680i SLI MOBO


intel q6600



4 gb of ram on 2 dimms ddr2 6400



XFX Geforce 8800 gts xxx 320mb



seagate 500 gb hdd



light scribe dvd burner



ocz 850w power supply



extra case fans and hdd fan



windows vista home premium 64 bit OEM



NZXT alpha case









if anyone has done a similar build or has built with those components before, I would love to know how it went. Also, any advice on getting BIOS set up is appreciated- I have never used a BIOS before. Also any advice for 64 bit vista? I would have liked to stay with XP but I want a 64 bit media center pc.








TIA

This document might help: [d-1202]. It was a result of me asking a similar question to yours in this thread: [t-21755]



And my advice for 64 bit Vista is don't do it...at least the 64 bit part. You will find that there a quite few drivers and programs that don't really work well with 64 bit. At this time, you are likely better off sticking with a 32 bit Windoze OS.

[Brothersoft]

I also supports [~93727]. The 64 bit windows won't be so stable as 32 bit because of the compatibility of drivers. Newb, your PC has powerful configuration. How I envy! I also suggest you to install dual-boot systems, if you need.

[dhill1984]

how would I go about installing a dual boot system? would I need another hard drive and windows OEM OS to set that up? or could I use part of the single hdd to set up a dual boot?

[smax013]

dhill1984 said:

how would I go about installing a dual boot system? would I need another hard drive and windows OEM OS to set that up? or could I use part of the single hdd to set up a dual boot?

It can typically be either. Some motherboards will allow you to select between different hard drives to use as the boot drive. This will allow you to install one OS per hard drive and then just use the BIOS to select which boot drive to use. Some motherboards will not function in that manner. If so, then you can install the second OS on either a second drive or a second partition on the first drive. In either case, you will need to somehow activate a boot manager that will allow you to select which OS to boot off of. I believe that Windoze comes with a boot manager, but it is not setup by default (or may not be activated by default). There are other boot managers. How one would go about setting up a dual (or tri) boot system will depend on their hardware and which OS they want to use and in what order they installed them. If you decide you want to dual boot, I would suggest you post the details (i.e. which OSs you want to dual boot, your hardware, and in what order of installation) and then people can give you some more specific details.

[rgreen4]

If you use separate drives, you can do as many independent boots as you like. I have a home built machine that is still a triple boot - Vista HP, XP, Ubuntu (not yet removed). I use the BIOS to adjust the boot, but on many aftermarket BIOS's you get an F12 option on the POST options at the bottom of the screen to go to a boot menu. Delete will take you into the BIOS setup, but F12 (on mine) takes you to a menu where you select the boot device. Unfortunately I was going to use identical HD's, but the listing is by drive Manufacturer and model number, so I had to use different size drives. This is the cleanest was to do a dual boot because one does not impact the other.
You can do a dual boot with one drive. Here is a [Document|d-1226] that discusses dual/multi boot configurations. As I said, I did not want to mess with the various problems of which to install first and which to install second, etc. I used an 80GB HD for on OS, a 120 for the second and a 160 for the third. All but two of my current drives are Seagates so I had to use size. The two non Seagates are two 500GB Samsungs that are spares for my Network storage. Currently you can get an 80GB drive for around $50.

Before you open the OEM install package for Vista, you might contact Microsoft and see what they will charge for a 32 bit disk and COA. Worst case, you have to buy a second OEM disk unless you want to stick with a single 32 bit install. Looking at some of the comments on the 64bit version of the Ultimate OEM diskc on new it was generally liked even though there were some incompatibilities. They did mention some games that ran in 64bit.

I do not know of anyone who has attempted to dual boot 32bit and 64bit on the same drive. I do not know if it is even possible given that it is slight variations of the same OS. I do know that you can do it on separate drives, and it may cost you as much as $170 for the OS, small drive and shipping. Remember that regardless of which drive you boot from, you can see the files and folders on the other. So if you decide that you want to use the 64bit version for you main boot with the games, you could use the 32bit for other applications that will not run in 64bit yet, but can still sell all the data on the big drive.

[art209]

With the latest hardware and operating system, everything is pretty well automated on startup. Settings are pretty much are handled by the cmos and Vista, so all you will have to do is minor tweaking to your own preferences. The hardest thing about the build is installing the heat sink on the cpu. Make sure it's done properly. The motherboard manual will provide instructions on connections. The forum is here to answer questions.

[mjd420nova]

When mounting the system board, replace all the metal standoffs in the case with nylon or plastic ones. This will save you a lot of headaches initially and in the future by preventing shorts of the power supply, which is the most common problem I see in new builds by both beginners and experienced builders.

[dhill1984]

thanks for the advice so far. i wont be starting until this weekend, but i am getting more and more excited about it. I will keep yall informed as i am sure I will have some questions.

So what would be my other options for OS outside of Windows? All i know is Windows XP and Vista right now. What would be an OS that is easy to use and learn that would be worth my time to install on a second boot drive?

[coastie65]

Hi dhill1984, I know you said outside of windows, but if you are going to be doing some heavy gaming, Music and video stuff, I would recommend XP Media Center Edition 2005. (32 bit). You have probably opened the door for a whole host of suggestions, :^0 all which will probably be good and each individule's own preference, myself included. It depends on what your plans are. Judging by what you've listed, I'm assuming gaming is on the agenda. In my opinion, XP MCE will allow you to play with fewer headaches than Vi$ta. coastie65

[dhill1984]

could i install the 64bit vista on one drive for future purposes and media center 2005 on another for stability/current use? would that affect the drivers at all if one OS was 64 bit and the other was 32 bit? also how stable is XP pro 64?

[rgreen4]

Before you seriously consider XP MCE, check out the user comments on XP MCE on the Newegg website. You may or may not be aware that users can enter evaluations (1-5 "eggs" based on their experience with the item). XP MCE is only avatilabe as an OEM installation, and comes on 2 CD's not 1 like the rest of XP. Apparently the installation is to be polite quirky and involves swapping CD's, and there is apparently an error in the install sequence.
XP MCE mainly came preinstalled from the factory on new manufactured PC's. It was a pre-install on my HP Media Center and although I had problems, I think it was mostly Norton's Internet Security which was also pre-installed. That program really gave me fits. I liked the graphical front ent, which I would describe as pre-Vista. The corners of the windows are rounded, not square like Home and Pro, and when you move a window it goes transparent. It has better wallpapers as well. MCE is basically XP Pro with the Media Center grafted on.

You have ordered Vista Home Premium 64bit, so I would tend to go with Vista Home Premium 32bit for 32bit compatibility and then you are not trying to keep two different OS's straight. Ever since I installed the free Vista upgrade (my Media Center qualified for the upgrade program), my Vista machine has taken over as my main machine from my old XP Pro desktop. Most of the time, the XP desktop gets fired up to answer a question or run a few programs I have not upgreaded, and in fact I still have an old Win98 machine I have to hook up once in a great while to run one program that will not run in XP.

Why don't you consider this - go ahead and install the 64bit version of Vista. It comes with its own special version of IE7, and see how your games do. Then install what other programs you may have. Be aware that at any point you may find a game or program that will not run, and if you have enough, you can then consider which 32bit OS to install. I would also recommend a book called Windows Vista: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and published by O'Reilly publications a large computer orieted publisher. I found the book most helpful to me in making the transition. I also have the XP Pro book as well as the Win2000 and Excel 2007 books as well. The series if detailed, well organized and informative without treating you as a dummy. The Vista book is almost 800 pages.

[coastie65]

Hi rgreen, Yeah, you're right about XP MCE being a bit quirky on installation. I ordered a copy from newegg and it has 3 CDs. The last one is SP2 I think. You install the the first two, then go to windowsupdate and get all your updates then install the third CD. I believe it becomes a bit problematical if you ever need to do a repair ( sfc/scannow from cmd) and have to put in the installation CD. The reason I bought a copy of XP MCE, is that the recovery CD that came with this thing is crap and didn't have all the stuff. As it turnes out you have make up another CD from their ( eMachines) site. Besides, if I buy another rig, it will be sans OS, as I'm not a fan of Vi$ta. Unfortunately, the copy I got is a builder copy, ( single license). Anyway, you make a good point about juggling two different OS's I was in a constant state of flux when I went from Windows 2k pro to XP :D until I found my way around XP. coastie65

[rgreen4]

Sometimes I get confused meeting myself coming around the corner. I use a crippled version of Windows2000 at work. (IT has locked out the control panel and you can't install any programs - they did this to keep viruses from coming in behind the firewall. We had a lot of problems before they did that.) Then I go home and shift gears between XP and Vista all night. The one I use 90% of the time now at home is Vista. I tried Ubuntu to see what everyone was talking about, but it was so foreign and I didn't need a fourth OS that was just so different right now - so I have dropped it for now.
I would be interested in your long term experience with MCE because it is definitely the most pleasing of the XP operating systems. I never used the actual Media Center on MCE, but have in Vista. One of the problems with MCE, is that there are no real MCE book on it that I have seen. In fact not until I read through the Media Center chaper in my Vista book did I really understand MCE.
When you get the system balanced out and functioning to where it pleases you, seriously consider cloning the hard drive. Then operate off the clone and put the original away (or leave it in the machine but disconnected as an in place backup). Here is a link to a [Document|d-1276] on cloning. If you run Acronic from the recover disk I think you can clone anything, I have even sucessfully cloned an Ubuntu installation as a test. You can't install it, but it in Ubuntu, but you can boot from the CD and run it from the CD.

[dhill1984]

What I think I am going to do if it is possible is install Vista Home 64 on the 500 gb hdd, and then Install Vista Ultimate 23 bit on a seperate, second boot drive. I had forgotten that I already had a Vista Ultimate upgrade disc that I got while I was in school ($15, gotta love the higher education special prices). so my new question is can i use an upgrade cd to install ultimate on a blank hdd? or would i have to install an old version of windows then use the upgrade disc to install vista ultimate?

[rgreen4]

The short answer is yes you can. In order to do this, you will in effect install Vista twice. Now, why that may seem like a chore, it is better than spending 60 minutes (or longer) installing XP and then spending 30 minutes installing the Vista upgrade. Instead you install Vista twice in about a 60 minute time frame.
There is a Document|d-1128] on this site, but it has some errors in it. The 30 day trial has nothing to do withe whether or not you enter you COA, it has everything to do with whether you check the automatic activation. There is a better [Article on the subject on Paul Thurrott' Supersite for Windows that tells you step for step how to do it and also the background and rationale for doing it this way.
This is the way I did my first install of Vista with the OEM upgrade disk (I bought a machine in late 2006 with XP) except I didn't install anything in the way of drivers or programs until I had the final install in place. Your price was almost as good as mine, I didn't even have to pay for shipping. It is now my main machine and it is the one on turn on first 90% of the time. The rest of the time I turn on my Vista laptop in the living room first.
Since you are doing this, may I suggest something to you. Kelli (the PC World moderator) is always looking for someone to write a blog. Perhaps you could document your experiences with the 64bit version of Vista. There really isn't anyone I can identify off the bat that has that. Perhaps a periodic update about life with Vista 64bit - about what works and what doesn't. I think I was one of the first in this community to install Vista and stick with it, and I don't regret it at all, but we could all use a source of info on 64bit. Beside, this is a pretty good group of people who hang out here.

[art209]

I have yet to hear someone recommend the use of Vista 64 bit for anything except hardcore gaming and the need for higher amounts of RAM. It would certainly be interesting to read about it's attempted use for anything else. Even the hardcore gamers say it isn't any good for everyday use due to lack of software and driver support. Dual booting Vista Ultimate 32 bit and Vista 64 bit sounds like a dream setup.

[dhill1984]

Well UPS delievered half of my parts today. The rest show up tomorrow. So I got to thinking, maybe for now if I can install Ultimate off of the upgrade disc on the new drive, then I might hold off on installing the 64 bit home. I want to make sure all my RAM shows up though- I have 2 x 2gb sticks. Ive read on other sites that a 32 bit OS won't read 2gb on one DIMM. Is that true or not? If so, is there a way to make a 32 bt OS read all 4 gb of RAM?

[lilxkid24]

Well if you use the 64bit os the ram will show up for sure and you will get the full speed of the 4gig stick, but its not recommended to put 4gigs into your system if your running 32bit because it can rather slow down and not even get the full affect of the 4gigs of ram. 32bit should read the ram but just wont get full affect of it since i believe max is 3gigs for a 32bit os.

[rgreen4]

I had not heard that 32bit will not recognize 2GB on one module, but tend not to believe it for this reason. You can currently purchase laptops with 4GB of memory and 32 bit Vista, and new laptops only have 2 slots (some older ones only had one). It may be that some one tried to install 2GB modules in an older system and the BIOS would not recognize it. That on the other hand is more likely. But it won't cost you but a little time to find out, since you will have all the parts in hand.
There have been discussions in this community on the use and recogniztion of 4GB on a 32bit OS (XP as well as Vista), and while the 32bit OS can address up to 4GB, somewhere in the middile of the 4GB addresses is a 750MB "hole" reserved for video memory. Thus, the OS can only use 3.25GB of the memory. Whether it will slow down a system or not, I do not really know.
We generaly recommend that when someone is adding memory to a current system with a 32bit OS, that they stop at 3GB. Why spend money that you can't really use? However, since you are going to be dual booting and learning the ins and outs of a 64bit OS that definitely will use the 4GB, that does not apply to you.
I know you are itching to get started, but while assembling the machine, remember slow and steady. Plan each step, and review the plan. Place your standoffs in the case before you mount the CPU and heatexchanger to the MB (it's much easier to handle). Take special care when mounting the heat exchanger and fan on top of the CPU. One thing that threw me for a loop when I built my recent machine - it had been about 10 years since I had built on, and the CPU used to have pins and the sockets had holes. The new CPU's have "bumps" and the socket matching recesses. Make sure you turn the heat exchanger upside down and examine the bottom plate. There was discussion in the threads about removing the plastic barrier and my did not have one, it was just bare copper. I cleaned it and the top of the CPU, applied a little of the thermal paste, and installed the heat exchanger. Take care in latching the heat exchanger to the MB and make sure all four pins lock. For this I laide the MB on a table with the underside protected by several layers of towells (one fold only). Still had firmness and yes was soft enough for the latches to lock. After that just follow the labels on plugging in the leads.
Remember if you have any questions, the community is always here. Good Luck and enjoy!