My soon-to-be new PC - some questions here

11-28-2001, 10:05 | posts: n/a

Well it's all your fault! Ever since I discovered this board I have become obsessed with building a new PC. This is what I plan on buying over the next month or 2: 
MSI KT7266 PRO2 m/b 
XP 1600 cpu 
IBM 30G 7200 h/d 
512MB PC2100 DDR ram 
 
I bought a new ATX case today, can't remember the brand but it came with an exhaust fan that fits inside at the rear and space for a fan at the front. I got a 350w power supply fitted but the case was weird and the power supply had to go in upside down?? I also plan on buying an AMD XP approved CPU fan thingy as well. I am NOT an overclocker (well not yet anyway)so I am hoping I won't have overheating issues with the XP chip, front and rear fans, plus the one on the CPU. I figure if I run into any problems I can do the Arctic Silver thing at a later date as that sounds a bit tricky for me just yet. 
 
I am keeping my GF2 64M MX400 Pro until the prices drop on GF3 here in Australia (I can buy the CPU, M/B and hard drive for the price of the GF3) 
 
What I would like advice on is the inevitable installation of the new motherboard. I have printed out at least a dozen guides on how to physically install it and I think I'm covered there. What happens after that in regard to the software the board will come with? Will I just run whatever disks come with it? At what point do I do this? Will I need to grab any other drivers or stuff like the 4 in 1's and install them too? Is there anything I should avoid installing? What about the BIOS version. Will I need to mess with that or will I be right with whatever comes with the board? I made my choice of M/B based on the high stability and installation ratings it got in reviews. I am very excited about all this new gear!! <IMG SRC="smileys/knock.gif">

11-28-2001, 10:24 | posts: n/a

That is actually a very common question associated with building a system for yourself. Most people can figure out how to physically plug everything in, but then the question is, what do I do with it? The answer depends slightly on what Operating system you plan on loading. I'll go into detail on Win98SE, since thats what I use, I assume 2000 and XP are fairly similar. As for 98, there are two ways to go. You can either use a boot floppy, or boot directly from your Windows cd. In order to do that, you'll need to press DELETE during boot to acces the bios, and switch the boot order so that CD-Rom is the first boot drive. When you have booted from either, the next thing to do is setup a primary partition for your harddrive using Fdisk, and then formatting the drive for use. I assume you are using a fresh harddrive. If not, format the drive you plan to use. Once your harddrive is ready to accept data, run Setup and Windows will take care of the rest.

11-28-2001, 10:31 | posts: n/a

As for drivers, that also depends on the operating system. The motherboard cd will include some version of Via's 4in1 driver. Most likely 4.3x. Install this immediately after Windows is loaded, then take care of video, sound and any other peripherals you have, the latest version of DirectX, and whatever else needs to be installed. Once you can get on the internet, go to <A HREF="http://www.viahardware.com" TARGET=_blank>www.viahardware.com</A> and download and install the latest version of the Via 4in1. Also check around and make sure you are running the latest drivers for your hardware. As for BIOS, you should be ok, The Pro2 should natively support Athlon XP processors. If you run into any problems, check MSI's website for BIOS updates to see if there are fixes, but if you dont have problems, dont worry about it. As for CPU coolers, the two best are the Thermalright SK-6 (60mm fan) and Alpha PAL8045 (80mm fan) even if you arent going to overclock right away, its always a good idea to get a great cooler, just to be on the safe side.

11-28-2001, 12:45 | posts: n/a

Thanks Nightmare. I'm using Windows 98SE. Getting the M/B in will be my main concern. So.. I'll probably put all the old stuff in the new case to make sure I've got it wired up correctly and the fans are working. Once that is sorted out (with the old hard drive installed)I'll take the old board out and put the new one in) wire it up and put the cards back in and turn the power back on. What happens after that? Will I be prompted to use the disks that came with the M/B then? 
 
Or am I looking at it wrong. Do I put the M/B in and turn the power on with the system disk already in the floppy drive? What prompts will I see? Or should I be putting in the new hard drive at the same time? The way I read your advice is to install the new motherboard and the hard drive at the same time, have the system disk in the floppy when I turn the power back on, hit delete and set up the new hard drive, partition it, put 98SE back on and ....nope, this is where I am getting confused. If I am setting up the new hard drive first when I turn the power on for the first time at what point will I be using the new M/B disks? Sorry to be such a dummy about this but if I do something wrong it's not like I'll be able to pop back here and ask questions. This is my first build. I don't care if I do it the long way if it makes it easier not to screw up.

11-29-2001, 08:55 | posts: n/a

want to make one exception as an warning. Because eversince you are purchasing an MOBO that comes with VIA chipset (KT266) follw these recommedtaion will be very helpful in your journey of completing your task buildinga new PC. 
 
1) I strongly you to get AMD 761 Chipset (Support 266 MHz FSB as speaking of DDR memory module) Motherboard I recommeded is <A HREF="http://www.epox.com." TARGET=_blank>www.epox.com.</A> The south bridge is not my concern, because it really only manage the PCI host, ISA Host, and Bus Mastering such as ATA100 ATA 66 etc... 
 
I had encounter alot of probelms with VIA chipset and they are a hell of a trouble maker, especially when you set up to 4 times transfer rate. But if you are buying a MOBO comes with KT266 Northbridge...make sure that IT COMES WITH AN HEATSINK AND FAN.. HEATSINK ALONE IS NOT WHAT I STRONGLY RECOMMEDED, BUT WITH FAN YOU SHOULD BE FINE. 
 
Also get a windtunnel case if you ever bump into a thermal related probelm. That all the info I can provided. Also you can try out nvidia nForce chipset... I heard they outperform KT266 and has a bigger and larger bandwidth, but make sure they include an heatsink and FAN! they generate alot of heat can create a probelm for your northbridge and eventually.... it will fuse up; been there done that W/OUT overclocking. <IMG SRC="smileys/approve.gif">

11-29-2001, 10:29 | posts: n/a

The board I am getting has the KT266A chipset on it. A lot of people here have given it big props plus I checked the prices on it today and it has dropped by about $25 which makes me happy. My new case will have an intake fan up front and exhaust fan at the rear plus whatever CPU HSF I get. I managed to find some realy good guides on building a PC which seem to have cleared up my confusion regarding what order to do things after I turn it on for the first time. BUT... I'd still like to know at what point I should be using the disks that will come with the motherboard because no guide I have found mentions them at all.

11-29-2001, 14:27 | posts: n/a

<IMG SRC="smileys/biggrin.gif"> I installed a new motherboard and graphics card just the other week (Mobo - ECS K7S5A, GF2 64Mb graphics card). 
 
As for your situation, I think the hard drive should be formatted already (Don't know whether 98CD includes FDisk and Format utilities) 
 
I use XP but I don't think 98se is much different to set up. 
I plugged everything in, checked the BIOS to see if it was recognising my RAM total, hard disks, etc.. 
 
(What you should see when you first start-up is display of your Video information (top LH corner), then a test of your memory, detecting of drives, etc..) 
 
Then boot with the 98 CD in the drive.Do a clean setup of Windows and it should recognise all your components that you have. As mentioned previously, it's worth getting everything stable and correct first (like downloading your latest VIA 4in1's), and then downloading a detonator driver for your GF2. <IMG SRC="smileys/smile.gif">

Ant · 11-29-2001, 15:37 | posts: 6,845 | Location: UK

juvie, you are gonna really enjoy doing this. But the most nerve racking point is when you first turn on the sys. Because the 1st time is where the vast majority of foul ups happen. (the expensive ones any way) 
 
The following info is a result from experiance and knowledge that has been passed through many forums. Mainly this one. Make sure you have plenty of info before you start. This is my contribution. Let us know how you do. 
 
Tips: 
 
b 4 1. (Cos i missed this when i got to 4.) 
Physical installation. The MSi board is really well grounded on the riser holes. You will prob find many of the riser parts on the case wont be used by the mobo. Try and make sure you can push on each part of the board without much movement (bending). Concentrate on the part of the board near the PCI / AGP / Ram / IDE slots. Think about it. 
 
1. The MSI mobo is very stable, and very configurable. O/b sound is crap though. Old sblive cards have some conflicts. 5.1 lives seem to be ok. 
 
2. on 1st boot: Have installed only cpu,mobo (doh), minimal ram. Check your handbook and the d-bracket (confused me, kept rotating errors) for error codes and beeps. If you get beep codes thats a good sign. Mainly cos you havnt got drives / video installed. 
I do this because if the board blows, you could lose everything. Ram and chip 1st, then video and HD. 
 
3. after decripting some of the error codes to find out if anythings wrong. add the vid, fdd, cd's, hd and rest of the ram. 
Get your boot disk ready but be prepared for more errors. 
FDD cable on the wrong way is common. FDD LED stays on. Pri and Sec need to be set on the HD, cd, and dvd drives. 
 
4. Fdisk. Easy thing to do. real simple. wont go in to it. 
i will say that 2 partitions will be handy. One for the OS. The other for games / docs mp3's etc. If you have 1 partition and the OS goes up something creek, and you have to format, then you lose every thing. 2 partitons will mean you have all the vital stuff saved. 
 
5. OS. Up to you. They mobo is real easy about stuff like that. 4in1's arent. Try to avoid the 4.34's if installing an nt based os. go either side. 4.33 or 4.35. 
This OS debate could go on for years. Its really personal preference. 
 
6. Drivers. Another big argueing point. 23.xx drivers are being leaked now. I would imagine they are again honed for the gf3 range. Stay with something below 22.40. My advice for an mx chipset anyway. Others will say something else, but its up to you to try. I just know from answering Q's here, that the 22.40 are stable and provide good performance. 
 
7. Apps. install all hardware device drivers etc before any of your apps are put on. Maybe a good idea to back up the registry too. Then you can install your apps and games. 
 
8. Benchmark the thing. Just for me ! 
 
9. Overclocking. If and when you decide to. Meet us in the OC section. 
 
Man, my fingers hurt. <IMG SRC="smileys/wave.gif">

11-29-2001, 20:26 | posts: n/a

The drivers on your motherboard cd are some version of VIA's 4in1 utility, and probably drivers for the boards built in sound, which you dont need if you arent using it. (Remember to DISABLE it in BIOS if you have an add in soundcard!) You need to have windows up and running BEFORE the motherboard cd can be used for anything. The first thing you need to do is get windows installed, after you Fdisk\format.

11-29-2001, 20:29 | posts: n/a

ee92as makes some good points, its probably a good idea to test that your mobo woks before adding in all the cards to save time. Make sure you RAM that ATX power connector in, and push hard on your ram and video cards. The floppy cable is a bitch, and your probably gonna have to flip it at least once. (I usually do)

11-29-2001, 23:08 | posts: n/a

Thanks everyone, I feel ready to go. Might have to pimp myself out on the street so I can buy these parts ASAP! Not really though. <IMG SRC="smileys/wink.gif">

Bill Gatez · 11-30-2001, 07:04 | posts: 163 | Location: Toronto

When you get it all running and it's what you like use an app to create an image. It will come in very handy apps like Norton Ghost is what I use only because I get it free from work. There are others and it's very good to have an image when everything works like you want it to and it's setup the way you want.