The Complete System Building Guide

by The Ars Staff

Setting up the motherboard

Click to see a numbered explanation of what everything is.

The motherboard is the heart of your system. Without a motherboard all you have is a few thousand dollars worth of paperweights, projectiles, and assorted silicon. Everything plugs into the motherboard eventually, but it's much easier to connect a few things before you fasten the motherboard to the case. I usually put the CPUs and memory in place, and sometimes connect the case headers too (depending on the case). Here's some extra info on the different parts of the motherboard. Also, if you want to know more about what kind of motherboard you should buy, check out our Motherboard Guide. OK, so let's start this puppy rollin'.

Note: throughout this Guide, we'll assume that you are taking proper precaution to ground yourself whenever you are handling electronics. Always always always protect your delicate electronic equipment from static electricity. I've never done it, but word on the street is that a tiny zap of static can totally fry the sensitive innards of a CPU, RAM stick, or even a motherboard, so ground thyself. Touch the metal frame of a computer that is running and touch the computer you are working on. Then hook one of those anti-static wrist straps that you can get at any electronics store to your arm, and put the other end on a running computer, so that a charge can't build up between you and the machine you are working on.

Installing the CPUs

Socket 370 Celerons

My trusty SL2W8 P2-300, a Slot 1 CPU w/ heatsink

The first thing I usually do is install the CPUs. There are currently two different types of CPUs available, socketed and slotted. Most Celerons (labeled PPGA) use a Socket 370 interface. In addition, AMD's K6-2 and K6-III use a socketed interface called Socket 7. Pentium II and III CPUs use a different type of connector. They use a single edged slot called, cleverly enough, Slot 1. AMD's spiffy new K7 uses a slot that is physically identical to Slot 1, but electrically incompatible, which they call Slot A. Yes, someone was actually paid to devise those names.

When you are inserting the CPU into its receptacle on the motherboard, it's important to remember that the CPU can only go in one way. This is especially important with socketed CPUs, because they have many little pins that are very easily bent. A socketed CPU should just drop into place. If it doesn't, make sure you have the pins aligned correctly. Socket 370 CPUs have 2 corners without pins, while Socket 7 CPUs just have one (see pictures here). Before you put your Slot 1 CPU into the motherboard, make sure your heatsink/fan is firmly attached, coz it's really difficult to get it on once the processor is in the mobo. If you are using a motherboard that doesn't have SoftMenu technology (it uses jumpers to configure the CPU instead of a menu in the BIOS) you should also set those jumpers now. Remember your CPUs speed is equal to the multiplier setting times the bus speed (bus speed is either 66MHz or 100MHz). Also, most Intel CPUs that run at more than 300MHz are clock multiplier locked (the chip will only run at one specific multiplier). Another rule of thumb: to date, no Celerons are supposed to run at 100MHz bus speed (even though by lots of them will). For example a P3-500 runs with a 5.0 multiplier at 100MHz bus speed, so 5.0 x 100MHz = 500. A Celeron 500 runs with 7.5 multiplier at 66MHz, so 7.5 x 66MHz = 500. The fun comes with a Celeron 300 or P2-300, which are both very amicable to overclocking measures.

Finishing up the CPUs

Push down the lever

Grease the CPU. Notice the two hooks for the fan connector thingy

The fan connector thingy

Make sure that a Slot 1 CPU is firmly seated (and clipped into place, if that's appropriate) and you're ready to move onto the next step. Your Socket types have a few extra steps though... First you need to push the lever on the socket down into place, then you'll need to install some cooling for the CPU (stay away from any Socket 370 Cooler that clips on the chip and not on the socket itself. Those are lame-o).

If you are planning on overclocking a Celeron, you need some extra cooling. While you may be able to get a few extra MHz out of your $50 processor with the retail fan on it, you'll need an aftermarket cooler of some sort to do any real overclocking. But that's a whole other article. I chose to get some Alpha heatsinks, just coz I got suckered in by the hype. *grin* If you're in the Socket 370 market, you might want to also consider the Global WIN FEP32 fans.

Gettin' pasty

Although this Guide isn't geared towards aftermarket cooling options and advanced overclocking techniques, I will mention the wonder that is Thermal Paste. Anyone concerned with heat will want to apply some thermal paste to their setup. Thermal paste increases the thermal conductivity between your CPU and heatsink beyond what is possible with thermal tape, or heaven forbid, no special material at all.

You shouldn't need more than a pea sized drop on the top "cap" of a PPGA CPU. You ultimately want a very thin layer spread out over this cap (the near 1" square silver top in the middle of the top of the PPGA). Go easy with it--too much will actually cause you problems. After you get greasy, you can attach the heatsink to the socket of the CPU by hooking the little metal thingies on the CPU. This is a little tricky, but you'll get it after a minute or two. If possible, you should twist the heatsink on the CPU for a second or two, so that the grease will be well distributed.

Again, this is stuff that your average system builder isn't going to do. Most builders will do quite well with the retail CPU fan (and that 3-year warrantee doesn't hurt either). Stay tuned for a larger feature on advanced cooling techniques for overclockers.

Behold the Beauty!

CPUs are attached

Plugging the memory in

Lining it up...

...and pushing it home

Now that you've completed one of the more delicate parts of building a computer, you can move on to an easy one. Like most other stuff, memory only goes in one way, so it's pretty difficult to screw this up. Don't forget to make sure you are grounded before you begin! The DIMM sockets are #2 on the motherboard closeup.

Take the DIMM and look at its edges. It can only fit in the slot one way, so slide it down into the grooves on the fastener, and gently push it down into the socket until the fasteners hold it in place. It helps to have something hard under the motherboard while you are doing this. I wouldn't recommend using a block of ice, but a hardcover textbook works pretty well for this. Although it sometimes takes a decent amount of effort to get DIMMS in, as long as you are careful to line them up properly, you don't have much to fear in pushing them in.