The graphics card is a fairly easy install.  Graphics card fit into the PCI Express X16 slot.  Huh?  Well, if you don’t know what one of them is, and there might be two on your motherboard, don’t worry about it.  The graphics card will only fit into one or two slots on your motherboard, the longest ones, and they are keyed so you can fit them into any other slots.

Graphics Card

Before you hunker on down.  Let’s take this a step at a time.  Graphics cards usually come wrapped in an anti-static bag and are susceptible to static, so ground yourself to the computer case before you start and handle the board by the edges.  Take the card out of the packaging and anti-static bag.  There should be an instruction booklet and DVD disk.  Put them aside for now.

Look at the motherboard in the case, you’ll see the slots the graphics card can be plugged into, but before you can do that, you’ll have to remove a panel in the bag of the case so that the outout ports on the back of the graphics card will come out the back of the computer.  That way you don’t have to open the case to hook up your computer monitor.

There are two ways to remove the back case panel and mount the graphics card.  One is to unscrew the panel screw, slide the plate out, mount the graphics card on the motherboard, and screw the motherboard down by replacing the panel screw and catching the metal outcropping on the  graphics card with the screw to lock down the graphics card.

The other is to lift a handle that lifts up and is hinged on one side, like a door.  You can then slide the back case plate out, put the graphics card in,. and close the hinged handle, which also catches the graphics card outcropping to secure it in place.

If there are any other cables supplied with the graphics card, look at the instruction manual to see how their hooked up.

If you have purchased two graphics cards, install the second like the first one, and you’ll need to install a cable connecting the two graphics card together which comes with the graphics card.

That’s it, your done with the graphics card for the moment.

The specs on the physical dimensions of a hard drive and DVD drive are deceptive.  Hard Drives are actually 4″ wide, but the spec calls it a 3.5″ form factor.  The DVD drives are actually 5.71″ wide, but the spec calls it a 5.25″ form factor.  Go figure.  It really doesn’t matter since the computer case gets it right.

What it does say is that hard drives are not as wide as DVD drives, which means there has to be two cage sections in the case one with a small width for the hard drives, and a larger width cage for your DVD drives.

The problem with installing drives is that there are several different methods of installing drives in the computer case depending on the manufacturer and the size of the computer case.

Some basics, if you look at your hard drive, you’ll see 3 screw holes along each side.  Most of the mounting methods consists of screwing screws in these holes through holes in the case, which holds the drive.  Some cases have pull out cages that make drive installation relatively easy.  You install the drive in the pull out cage and then slide the cage into a slot in the computer case.  I recommend you check out the installation booklet that comes with the case to see the recommended method of installing hard drives in that particular case.  Each case is different.  The screws you got with the computer case are the screws you will use to install the hard drive.

DVD drives install slightly differently.  The front of the DVD drive has to go through the front of the computer case so you can load the DVD.  To do this install, some cases require you remove the front panel of the case, which is usually held on with plastic latches.  You’ll have to remove a plate in the front of the case for the DVD drive to come out the front.  You don’t have to do that with hard drives, since they are entirely internal. Because of this, there are different methods of installing DVD drives.   Some DVD drives require you screw in slider rails that you can move the DVD drive back and forth to align it with the front of the case.  Some slide in from the front and are locked in place by a sliding brake mechanism.  Others have the same screws in the side as with the hard drives.  Again check your installation guide that comes with the case for you case particulars.

Let’s talk about the connectors on the back of the drives.   If you purchased SATA drives, your all set.  Just install the drives in the case with the interface connectors on the back of the drives facing the motherboard so we can hook up cables.

If you did not, that means your hard drives and DVD drives use an IDE interface.  If you have IDE drives, you have to be aware of the jumper on the back.  This is a 6-pin connector on the back consisting of two rows of three pins.  There is a jumper over two of the pins.  If you have more that one DVD drive one of the jumper should be connecting the “Master” pins on the connector panel, and on the other DVD drive, you’ll have to move the jumper to the “Slave” pins.  If you have only one drive, the pins should cover the “Master” pins.  The pins are usually labled, if not check your drive installation manual.  The same goes for the hard drive.  The good news is with SATA drives, you don’t have to worry about that anymore and you shouldn’t see any jumpers at all.

Jumper to select Master and Slave Drives

Install your drives, will do the cable hook ups in another post.

We’ve gone as far as we can putting components on the motherboard before putting it in the case.  It’s time to marry the case and motherboard.

When you unpacked the motherboard, it came with a thin 1 3/4″ x 6 1/4″aluminum plate with a bunch of stencil like holes cut in it.  Sometimes the holes are labeled.  The aluminum panel has one side of the plate with a raised, curled border around the edges.  This snaps into the back hole of the computer case, the holes correspond to the ports on the edge of the motherboard.

The aluminum panel mounted in the case

You want to orient the motherboard so the ports on the edge of the motherboard will be toward the back of the computer case, but first the panel.  The aluminum panel mounts from the inside of the case.  You’ll find that the raised rounded, curved side of the panel will snap into the hole in the case.  But first orient the panel so the holes are aligned with the motherboard ports, and then snap the panel into the case.  You’ll find the panel snaps in place like a soda paper cup lid.

Next the motherboard slips into the case against the aluminum panel.  The aluminum panel has small strips that are around the holes.  These go around the ports of the motherboard.  Make sure when you slide the motherboard in to the aluminum panel ports that there is no metal strips in the way of using the ports.

Make sure there are no wires between the board and the bottom of the case.  They should be above the motherboard.

If you look closely at the nine holes going through the motherboard, you’ll find they align, or almost align, with the copper stand off posts you put in the case earlier.  In the bag of screws that came with your computer case, there are at least nine or more Phillips screws with flat polished heads.  Get out your trusty Phillips screw driver and fasten the motherboard to the case by screwing nine screws through the nine holes in the motherboard and into the top of the copper stand off posts.  The screws should be tight, but not super tight.

Motherboard in case

Congratulations, your motherboard and case are one.

The memory chips you buy for your system are determined by which motherboard you purchased.  The motherboard is designed to take a specific type of memory, and that is called out in the motherboard specifications.

Most desktop memory is on 240 pin memory boards, and most motherboards either have two or four  240 pin memory slots.  The 240 pin slots are keyed so you can only mount the memory card in one direction.

240 pin memory cards

My recommendation was to maximize your initial memory.  That translates to 4 Gb of memory for a 32 bit system.  That usually comes on two 2 Gb memory cards.  The memory cards are sold together as a pair and are a matched set.   The idea is that memory storage is interleaved between the two cards to improve performance.  It turns out the slots on the motherboard also are matched to take advantage of the matched memory cards.

On those motherboard that have two 240 pin slots, there isn’t a problem as the two cards will plug into the two slcts.  Most motherboards have four 240 pin slots, so you need to be careful about which two slots you use for the two memory cards.  The motherboard user’s guide that comes with the motherboard will tell you how the memory should be installed in the memory slots.   Usually, this is slot one and slot three.  If you don’t find how your slots are set up in the provided user’s guide, there is usually much more extensive documentation on the motherboard manufacturer’s web site.   Once you determine which slots to use, your ready for the install.

Take the memory chip out of the packaging.  It should be enclosed in a static free bag.  Memory chips are very susceptible to static electricity.  Before removing the memory from the bag, ground your self on a metal surface.  Handle the memory cards by the card edges.

Place the memory card in the slot in the right direction and push down evenly to sit the card.  The card should go in fairly easily and latches on the end should pop up to catch the card and show its seated properly.

That’s it.   You now have your memory mounted on your motherboard.

The computer processing unit, or CPU, is so dense with computer circuitry that as you try to run the chip faster and faster, it heats up hotter and hotter.  Any chip you purchase now comes with a CPU fan to help cool the chip down.  The cooler the chip, the faster it runs.  Seems like a paradox.  Cooler is faster, but if you run faster, it gets hotter.

With our last post we put the CPU into its socket on the motherboard.  Now we want to attach a fan directly to the CPU chip to cool it down.  You can use the CPU fan that came with the Core 2 Duo, or you may have purchased a separate cooling fan.  If you purchased a separate CPU fan, then you should have also purchased, some thermal compound.  I believe I recommended a brand called Artic Silver.

If you look at your motherboard, on the four sides of the LGA 775 socket are four holes through the motherboard where the CPU fan is mounted to the motherboard.  There are two ways commonly used to attach the CPU cooling fan to the CPU and motherboard.

The first method is used with the cheaper fans, and involves pushing posts with two barbs that look like arrow heads into each hole.  A pin is then pushed down between the two barbed ends to expand them in the hole.  The barbs catch on the underside of the hole and the fan is secured.  To remove the fan, you twist the pin up and out from between the two barbs, reach under the motherboard and squeeze the two barbs together and push it back through the hole on the motherboard.

Intel push down CPU fan

This is the way the fan provided by Intel attaches to the motherboard.  I don’t care for this method, because the barb and pins, which are made out of thin plastic, can easily tear and break.  What happens is one of the barbs breaks in the hole.  Once a barb breaks off, you can no longer attach that corner of the fan to the CPU.  You’ll only have this happen once, and you’ll quickly move to mounting method two, which involves purchasing a separate CPU fan.

The second method is much more secure.  It involves putting a screw through a hole in the fan mounting bracket, through the motherboard, and into a screw bracket you have placed under the motherboard.  It’s like a sandwich, the two brackets have the motherboard in the middle.   The brackets have four holes in them that line up with the four holes on the motherboard.  You tighten the screws and the bracket is attached.  The fan then attaches to this bracket with two small screws.  To take off the fan, you unscrew the screws.

Third Party CPU fan. Bracket not shown.

The only problem with this second method is if you ever want to change your fan to a different one, with a different mounting set up, you will have to get to the bottom of the motherboard in the computer case.  That means unplugging everything and pulling out the motherboard.  A real pain, as you’ll see as we start putting our computer together.  You pick your poison.  Since I usually don’t switch fans, I prefer this method.

I’m going to assume you purchased a separate CPU cooling fan.  The one that comes from Intel is noisy, and barely gets the job done.  There are much more efficient and quieter CPU Cooling fans  out on the market.

Here we go.  Take the CPU cooling fan out of it’s packaging.  Be careful with the fan and cooling fins that you don’t bend them.   Carefully unwravel the power wire and plug from between the fan.  Before actually making any attachment, to see how everything will go together place the CPU Cooling fan on top of the CPU, and play with the mounting hardware until you understand how everything will attach together.  You have the square screw holder under the motherboard, the top bracket has a notch in it for the CPU latch to swing up, so the bracket should be lined up so the latch can be lifted.  You’ll notice a separate bracket with two screw holes that attach the fan to the bracket attached to the motherboard.  Once you see how everything goes together,  take the fan part off, and attach the bracket to the motherboard with the four long screws.

We’re ready for the thermal compound.  If your using Artic Silver, there is an instructional pdf on their web site on how to apply their thermal compound to the Core 2 Duo.  Read their instructions.  You only want to apply a thin bead in a line down the middle of the CPU and that’s it.  The thermal compound will fill in the microscopic holes in the fan and CPU plates to form a good thermal transfer.  Too much compound is not good.

After you apply the thermal compound, put the fan base on the CPU and attach it with the second bracket.  Note, if your using the Intel fan, they have provided thermal compound on the bottom of the fan plate already.

You’ll need to provide power to the fan.  Look around the LGA 775 socket for a white interface with four pins sticking up.  It should be labeled “CPU fan.”  Attach the wire with the plug to the interface on the motherboard.  It only goes on in one direction.  Congratulations, the CPU cooling fan is all set up on the motherboard.