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COMPUTERS: Do-it-yourself & learn
A PC TO DIE FOR
Blinding speed, lots of memory, huge hard
disk & DVD drive – you can have it all
Why build your own PC? Why not? It’s fun and
it’s easy to do. You will know exactly what has
been put into your machine and you will know
enough to be able to do upgrades later on, if and
when that becomes necessary.
T
By GREG SWAIN
The Asus A7V133 is a superb motherboard
that’s designed for use with AMD’s Athlon
and Duron Processors.
4 Silicon Chip
HERE COMES a time for most
people when they become
dissatisfied with their old machine and start hankering for something which will really do the job.
That happened to me just recently.
Sure, my old machine was OK and
had been functioning well for the
last few years. But I knew that it was
pretty pedes
trian compared to the
latest machines running at 1GHz or
more. I wanted one – and I wanted it
now. And I wanted it with all the fancy
bits!
The only problem was, the boss
didn’t want to pay full whack
for all the latest hardware that
I wanted. Now Leo can be
pretty unimaginative some
times. He could see that
the machine on my desk
was still running OK – so
why change it?
However, I eventually conned ... er
persuaded ... him that we could save
some dollars if I did all the work of
putting it together and then we could
show readers how straightforward it
all was. That convinced him. So the
approach outlined here shows how
to build a high performance machine
for the home. That meant it had to
have all the multi-media bits such as
DVD-ROM drive, a video card with TV
output sockets (S-video and video) and
a first rate sound card. After all, that’s
what most dedicated PC users really
lust after, isn’t it.
Afterwards, it would be relatively
easy for us to convert our “home”
PC to office use by adding a network
card and ZIP drive and by swapping
the operating system from Windows
Me to the much more robust (and
expensive) Windows 2000. However,
we wanted to initially use Windows
Me, since this is the operating system
most home users would use and we
wanted to prove that it ran OK on our
chosen hardware combination.
It’s up to you whether you use exactly the same parts specified for our
PC or substitute other brands. You
might want to save money by using a
lower cost motherboard, for example,
or by downgrading the processor and/
or hard disk drive. And, of course, a
CD-ROM drive is much cheaper than
a DVD drive.
You might also want to strip parts
out of an exist
ing machine but be
careful of this approach. Some older
parts, such as hard disk drives, video
cards and slow memory, can seriously
compromise performance. Of course,
there’s nothing to stop you from using
floppy disk and CD-ROM drives, an
existing keyboard and mouse, and an
existing soundcard.
A word of advice here – try to buy
the main bits, including the motherboard, CPU and hard disk drive,
from the same retailer. That way, you
can buy an OEM (original equipment
manufacturer) version of the operating system, as well as an OEM mouse
and soundcard, which is a “helluva”
lot cheaper than buying the full retail
versions.
Check on warranty too but be aware
that warranty doesn’t cover accidents
– damage any of the parts and it’s your
wallet that will suffer.
The shopping list
The accompanying panel shows our
shopping list, together with the total
cost. It also shows the savings that can
be made by downgrading the processor, DVD drive and memory. Let’s look
at some of the main bits.
At the top of the heap is the processor. 1GHz is the “magic” processor
It only takes a couple of hours to assemble
a fully working machine like this.
1GHz Computer System Shopping List
Item
Price
AMD Athlon 1GHz Processor...............................................................$389.00
Asus A7V133 Socket A Motherboard...............................................$295.00
2 x 128Mb 133MHz SDRAM ...............................................................$230.00
Prolink GeForce2 MX Graphics Card..................................................$209.99
20GB Quantum Fireball AS ATA100 Hard Disk (7200 rpm).......$245.00
Mitsubishi 16/40x DVD-ROM Drive .................................................$225.00
Creative SoundBlaster Live Value Soundcard (OEM)..................... $115.00
Panasonic 1.44Mb Floppy Drive.............................................................. $30.00
Logitech 104-Key PS/2 keyboard......................................................... $59.00
Microsoft PS/2 Intellimouse (OEM).................................................... $45.00
ATX Tower Case....................................................................................... $79.00
Philips 107S 17-inch Monitor...............................................................$445.00
Speakers: Philips Multimedia Pedestal................................................ $49.00
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Me (OEM).......................$225.00
Total: $2640.00
Downgrade & Save:
substitute 950MHz AMD Athlon CPU – save
$50.00; substitute 850MHz Duron CPU – save $200.00; substitute Mitsubishi 52x CD-ROM drive for DVD drive - save $146; delete 128MB of
memory – save $115.00.
June 2001 5
The first step is to install the CPU – it only fits in the
socket one way, so don’t force it. Try not to touch the pins,
to prevent damage to the CPU by static electricity.
number these days and we’ve gone for
a 1GHz AMD Athlon processor mated
to an Asus A7V133 motherboard.
In terms of price/performance ratio,
this combination is hard to beat. At
around $389, the 1GHz Athlon processor sits right in the middle of AMD’s
range and costs considerably less
than a similarly rated Intel Pentium
III. You can shave $80 off the price by
dropping back to a 900MHz processor
or spend another $90 to get the 1.1GHz
unit or $166 for the top-of-the-range
1.2GHz chip.
For those interested in the technical
details, the Athlon processor runs
off a 200MHz front-side bus (FSB),
has 128KB of L1 cache and 256KB
of L2 cache. Some versions can even
run off a 266MHz FSB but these cost
more than comparable 200MHz FSB
processors. By contrast, a Pentium III
processor runs off a 133MHz FSB and
has 32KB of L1 cache (the L2 cache is
the same as the Athlon’s).
In non-technical terms, it means that
the 1GHz Athlon processor gives you
a lot of bang for your buck.
For those on a budget, you can cut
costs by substituting an AMD Duron
processor. These are available as
750MHz, 800MHz and 850MHz models and cost between about $145 and
$225. The Duron is no slouch either;
it’s essentially a cutdown version of
the Athlon and is an excellent choice
for those on a budget.
The motherboard
You can’t just buy any motherboard
to go with your proces
sor. That’s
because different processors use
different sockets, so you must select
a motherboard to suit. AMD Athlon
and Duron processors both require
“Socket A” motherboards and there
This view shows how the step in the heatsink goes over
the step in the socket when it’s all locked down. Don’t
forget to plug the fan lead into the fan connector on the
motherboard.
6 Silicon Chip
Make sure that the CPU is properly seated in the socket
before closing the lever to lock it into position. The lever
goes all the way down and is secured under a socket tab.
are quite a few well-known brands to
choose from.
The Asus A7V133 motherboard that
we’ve specified is a beauty. This up-tothe minute design runs both the Athlon and AMD Duron processors and
has a number of interesting features,
including 200/266MHz front-side bus
support for the CPU and support for
up to 1GB of PC133 SDRAM.
It also features optional Ultra
DMA/100 support for the new fast IDE
hard disk drives, has five PCI slots, an
AGP slot and an AMR (audio modem
riser) slot. The Ultra DMA/100 support
is based on a Promise controller chip
and this also supports an interesting
feature called RAID level 0.
RAID 0 allows two identical hard
disks to be written to in parallel, so that
one disk is a “mirror” of the other. This
means that everything is effectively
backed up to a second hard disk and
The memory modules are fitted by opening the retaining
brackets and pushing the modules down into position.
The notches along the contact edge must match the
corresponding ridges in the memory sockets.
The heatsink/fan assembly must be orientated so that the
step in the base mates with the step in the socket. Place it
flat on the CPU and fit one clip to the socket to start with.
this provides redundancy in case one
disk fails. You won’t want this for a
home computer but it is well worthwhile in many business applications.
Another impressive feature of the
Asus motherboard is its so-called
“JumperFree Mode”. When this is
selected, the processor speed and voltage (Vcore) settings are automatically
detected by the system BIOS, so you
don’t have to enter in the details your
self – no chances of a mistake here!
Alternatively, if you want to experiment with overclocking, you can enter
in custom settings for the bus speed,
CPU clock multiplier and CPU Vcore
voltage. You don’t have to make big
jumps in CPU speed either – this board
allows the external system front-side
bus speed to be tweaked in 1MHz
steps (from 90-133MHz) so you can
play around to your heart’s content to
extract that last ounce of performance
from the processor.
That said, we don’t recommend
overclocking unless you are very experienced and know exactly what you
are doing. The performance gains are at
best marginal and come with increased
risk of system instability and processor
damage. In particular, playing with the
Vcore voltage setting can quickly “fry”
the processor.
Disabling the “JumperFree” mode
allows you to set the front-side bus
and CPU clock multiplier frequencies
using on-board DIP switches, in the
conventional manner. We’re not too
sure why you would want to this,
however. If you’ve just paid for some
fancy technology, why not take the
easy (and safe) way out and let the
BIOS do it all for you?
The other clip on the heatsink is pushed down into
position using a nutdriver. Don’t use a screwdriver – it
could easily slip and damage the motherboard.
By the way, the CPU frequency is
simply the bus frequency multiplied
by the clock multiplier. For a 1GHz
CPU, a 100MHz bus frequency is
used along with a x10 multiplier (ie,
100MHx x 10 = 1000MHz = 1GHz).
This means that if you bump the
bus frequency up to 101MHz, the
processor will run at 101MHz x 10 =
1010MHz.
Of course, you’d have to overclock
the processor much more than this
before there were any noticeable
performance gains. But remember –
every notch brings with it the risk of
instability and damage.
Other goodies
What about some of the other “good-
ies” on our list? Well, there’s a 20GB
Quantum Fireball AS (7200 rpm) hard
disk drive, a Mitsu
bishi DVD-ROM
drive, a Prolink GeForce2 MX video
card, a Creative SoundBlaster Live
sound card and 256MB of memory.
And we’ve specified Windows Me as
the operating system.
Windows Me will run with 64MB
of memory but we recommend 128MB
as the minimum. We went for 256MB
because RAM is cheap at the moment
and it all helps, especially if you plan
to run heavy-duty applications.
The hard disk drive selected is a
7200 rpm Ultra ATA/100 unit which
gives excellent performance. In theory,
an Ultra ATA/100 drive can transfer
data in 100MB/s bursts but don’t
Fit the metal standoffs in the correct locations, so that they match the mounting
holes in the motherboard. Take care with this – get one wrong and it could short
the motherboard to the case and cause damage.
June 2001 7
(go for the 107T if you want a flat
screen), a Logitech keyboard with lots
of bells and whistles, a heatsink/fan
assembly for the CPU, an ATX case
and various other odds and ends. An
IEC power cord and a bag containing
screws and metal standoffs were supplied inside the case.
Don’t skimp when buying a monitor.
A 17-inch model is the recommended
standard these days and the Philips
107S fills the bill nicely. We went
one better and specified the optional
“Multimedia Base” for the monitor. As
well as the swivel support, this base
includes inbuilt power amplifiers and
speakers to remove the clutter from
your desktop. It also features headphone and microphone connectors,
a bass boost switch and a volume
control.
Building it
The motherboard slides easily into the case, with the external connectors protruding through matching slots in the back of the case. Make sure it is correctly
aligned before fitting the retaining screws.
sweat it if you want to use an existing
ATA/66 (or even ATA/33) drive – the
motherboard is backwards compatible
and the performance differences are
not that dramatic.
As for the graphics card, it’s based
on the all-important nVIDIA GeForce2
MX chip and comes with 32MB of
memory. Costing around $215, this
is an excellent all-round performer
although really serious gamers will
always lust after something a lot more
expensive – such as a 3D Prophet II
GTS Ultra (where to they get those
names?) for around $880!
And the rest of the bits? . . . well,
they’re really just bits. There’s a nice
17-inch Philips Model 107S monitor
Once the motherboard is locked down, you can fit the ATX power connector to
its matching socket. It only goes one way around due to the rounded corner at
one end of the socket.
8 Silicon Chip
OK – let’s put it together but first
the obligatory warning about static
electricity.
Just about all the parts that go into a
modern PC can be damaged by static
electricity, so you must take a few basic
precautions to prevent this: (1) leave
each part in its protective anti-static
bag until it’s required; (2) don’t touch
any of the electronic circuitry; and
(3) regularly touch the bare metal
case to discharge yourself of static
electricity before handling any of the
parts.
Our series of photographs pretty
much show how it all goes together
and it’s mostly just a matter of checking the manuals and using your common sense.
The first thing to do is to inspect the
jumper settings on the Asus mother
board. The default settings are the ones
to go for and this includes leaving the
unit in “JumperFree” mode – unless
you particularly want to manually
set the processor speed using the onboard DIP switches. This done, you
can follow these steps to complete
the assembly.
STEP 1: INSTALL THE CPU &
FAN/HEATSINK ASSEMBLY
To install these parts, first lay the
motherboard flat on the table on top
of its antistatic packaging foam. This
done, move the handle of the processor
socket to the vertical position, insert
the CPU and push the handle down
again to lock it into place.
The processor only fits one way
The plastic dress cover on the front of the floppy drive
had to be removed before fitting the drive to the Adelong
ATX tower case that we used. The cover simply clips off.
(there are blank pin positions in two of
the corners) and you must make sure
that it is properly seated in its socket
before locking it down.
The heatsink fan assembly can now
be fitted to the processor. This bit is
important – there is a step in the bottom of the heatsink. This step must go
over the a corresponding raised step
at the back of the socket.
Once you’ve determined the heat
sink orientation, peel the protective
strip off the thermal contact pad,
then position it close to the CPU and
push one of the locking brace clips
(ie, the one without the hook) over its
matching socket spigot. The heatsink
can then be carefully seated on the
CPU and the retaining clip (with the
hook) at the other end pushed down
and clipped into place.
The floppy and hard disk drives slide in from the rear.
The floppy drive release button should just make contact
with the pushbutton switch on the front of the case.
A nutdriver is the best tool to use to
push this retaining clip into position.
Do not use a screwdriver – one slip
and the motherboard is cactus (and
you won’t get warranty).
The next step is critical – plug the
3-pin lead from the heatsink/fan assembly into the CPU/FAN connector
on the motherboard.
STEP 2: FIT THE MEMORY MODULES
The two 128MB memory modules
go in next. These only fit one way and
are orientated so that the notches along
the contact edge match corresponding
ridges in the memory sockets.
Installing a memory module is
simply a matter of opening the white
retaining arms, then firmly pushing the
module down into the socket until the
arms snap back into position.
Check the jumper setting on the back of the hard disk
drive before installing it in the drive bay. The jumper
settings are shown on a label.
STEP 3: FIT THE MOTHERBOARD
INTO THE CASE
Before actually fitting the mother
board, you have to fit the standoffs into
position. Our case came with metal
standoffs but you may be supplied
mainly with plastic standoffs and a
couple of metal standoffs which are
usually fitted to two central positions
near the rear of the case.
Assuming the use of metal standoffs,
these should all be installed on the
motherboard panel using a nut-driver.
If necessary, do a trial fit of the motherboard to determine which locations
are used for the standoffs.
Don’t overtighten the standoffs –
you’ll strip the threads if you do.
Once the standoffs are all secured,
lower the motherboard into position.
Make sure that all the mounting holes
The DVD-ROM drive slides in from the front of the case.
Be sure to set the jumper to the correct position on the
back of this drive as well, before fitting it to the case.
June 2001 9
The panel connector leads go to the pin headers on the
bottom righthand corner of the mother board. The lead
connectors are clearly marked, so they’re easy to identify.
The video card plugs into the brown AGP slot on the
motherboard and is secured to the backplane bracket.
Make sure it is properly seated in its slot.
The sound card plugs into one of the white PCI expansion
slots. It is a good idea to fit the audio cable from the CDROM drive first, to make the job easier.
The Asus motherboard comes with this 2-port USB
expansion card. It attaches to a backplane bracket and
connects to a USB header on the motherboard.
line up correctly, then secure the board
using the supplied retaining screws.
STEP 4: INSTALL THE DISK DRIVES
With the motherboard secured, you
can slide the floppy disk and hard disk
drives into the case.
The case we used came with a
moulded opening for the floppy disk
drive, complete with release button.
This necessitated removing the plastic
dress cover on the front of the floppy
drive (it just clips off), so that it could
be pushed far enough forward in the
drive cage. It was also necessary to
remove the breakaway metal barrier
at the end of the drive cage.
Secure this drive using the screws
supplied with the case.
Now check the jumper setting on
the back of the hard disk drive. Make
sure that’s it’s correctly set for a single
drive – the settings will be shown on
10 Silicon Chip
the drive label and, if it’s a new drive,
the default setting is usually correct.
However, if you intend using two
hard disk drives on the same IDE port,
the boot drive is set as a master and
the other drive is configured as a slave.
On some drives, the master and single
drive (DS) settings are the same; on
others, they’re different – look at the
drive label.
Assuming that the jumper setting is
correct, slide the hard disk drive into
the bottom of the drive cage and again
secure it using the screws supplied.
Unlike the other two drives, the
DVD-ROM drive slides in from the
front. It must be mounted fairly high
up (using either of the top two bays),
otherwise the motherboard prevents it
from being pushed all the way home.
Be sure to check its jumper setting at
the back – this should be set to master since the DVD-ROM connects to a
separate IDE port. If you later decide
to add a ZIP drive to the same port, the
DVD-ROM drive can be left as is and
the ZIP drive configured as a slave.
An unusual feature of our case was
the inclusion of metal breakaway barriers directly behind the plastic panels
covering the drive bays. It’s probably a
good idea to remove all these, so that
they don’t come adrift later on and
short something out.
STEP 5: CONNECT THE PANEL LEADS
By now, you will be well aware of
the twisted lead pairs that have been
“flapping” about inside the case. These
run off to the front panel switches and
LEDs and to the internal speaker, and
must be connected to the header pin
panel in the bottom righthand corner
of the motherboard.
You will need to refer to the mother
board manual to find out which lead
goes where. It’s easy to identify the
leads themselves, since the lead connectors are all clearly marked. Note
that, depending on your case, some
of the options will not be used (eg,
we didn’t use the “Message LED” and
“Suspend” options that are on this
particular motherboard).
STEP 6: CONNECT THE POWER
& DRIVE CABLES
It’s hard to make a mistake when
plugging in the drive cables – just
remember that for CD-ROM drives
and hard disk drives, pin 1 (the red
coloured lead) is always closest to the
power connector.
The hard disk drive should be connected to the primary ATA/100 connector on the motherboard, while the
DVD-ROM drive is connected to the
primary IDE port. This bit is important:
in each case, you must plug the blue
connector at the end of the ATA/100
(80-conductor) drive cables into the
motherboard. The black connector at
the far end of the cable then goes to
the drive.
Don’t use the grey connector in the
middle of the drive cable and leave the
one at the far end free. When playing
around with Ultra ATA/100 stuff,
it’s best not to have an unterminated
“stub” at the end of the cable. The only
time you use the middle connector is
when you have two drives connected
to the same port (one as a master, the
other as a slave).
In case you’re wondering, the
80-conductor cables work fine with
older disk drives (both hard disk and
CD-ROM). However, don’t use the
older 40-conductor cables for Ultra
DMA/666/100 connections, as they
will cause problems.
Take care when connecting the cable
to the floppy disk drive – its red lead
faces in the opposite direction to the
hard disk and DVD-ROM drive cables
(ie, it goes to the left when looking at
the drive from the rear). You must also
use the connector that’s at the very end
of the cable to make the connection
(the middle connector is used only if
you have two floppy drives, which is
rare these days).
The power connectors can now be
plugged into the mother
board and
disk drives. You can’t plug them in
the wrong way around, since they only
go in one way due to the shape of the
socket. The trick with any of this stuff
is don’t force it.
Use cable ties to secure the excess drive cables, to keep everything neat and tidy.
This also ensures that the drive cable cannot possibly foul the fan and prevent it
from working properly.
It’s a good idea to use cable ties to
secure the drive cables, power cables
and the twisted pair leads, to keep
everything looking neat and tidy. It
also helps reliability, since it prevents
leads from coming adrift.
STEP 7: INSTALL THE VIDEO & SOUND CARDS
We don’t really have to tell you how
to do this. The video card plugs into
the AGP slot (that’s the brown connector), while the sound card plugs
into one of the white PCI slots. It will
be necessary to remove the relevant
breakaway metal backplane strips
WHERE TO BUY THE PARTS
All the parts used in this computer system came from Adelong
Com
puters, 54 Rosebery Ave,
Rosebery, NSW 2018; phone (02)
8344 3190. Their website address
is www.adelong.com.au; email
info<at>adelong.com.au
Normally, this system would
cost $2640 but for this month only
Adelong is prepared to reduce the
price to $2450.
Alternatively, you can buy the
system fully built and configured
for $2499 with a 3-year onsite
warranty.
before installing the cards.
Note that you have to connect an
audio cable between the DVD-ROM
drive and the “CD IN” socket of the
sound card (cables will be supplied
with both units, so you will have one
spare). It will be easier to connect this
cable before installing the sound card
in its slot.
Once again, use a couple of cable
ties to tidy up the excess lead length.
STEP 8: INSTALL THE 2-PORT USB BOARD
The Asus motherboard includes two
on-board USB ports plus an additional
USB header. This header connects to
a small PC board fitted with two more
USB connectors and this assembly is
attached to a backplane bracket.
It’s up to you whether you install
this “2-Port USB Connector Set” or
not. If you think that you’re going to
need more than two USB ports, simply
mount the connector set bracket in a
vacant backplane position and run the
cable from it back to the USB header
on the motherboard.
Delayed switch-on
OK, the machine is finished. We’re
not going to switch it on and install the
operating system just yet though. That
will have to wait until next month. In
the meantime, you can buy the bits
SC
and get started.
June 2001 11
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