PCA Forums

I can't wait to build my PC! When I get started, I will take everything slow for sure. Read everything I can, and read all the "How to's" I can find on the net. All I am waiting for now is my motherboard and my hard drive. My motherboard will be here tomorrow for sure, according to the UPS tracking system (was unloaded just a half hour ago) but my hard drive I am not sure about. I hope it gets here tomorrow or Sat (it was sent using USPS). Does anyone have any suggestions before I put this baby together, other than, "Taking your time."?

By the way, I will be sure to post a picture when I am ALL done with this bad boy, just for all of you to see.

Beer. Lots of Beer.

This your first system build?

Hey it's more fun than a barrell full of monkees. Especially once it's completed and booting with no errors.

One thing is be sure you don't have static in you, always touch the metal frame inside the case to discharge any static before touching any components. Of course at first only have the basics installed then add the rest one at a time after the os is installed and things are stable. Basics being mobo, cpu/heatsink, ram, video card, floppy drive, cdrom and one hard drive. And splitfire means to drink the beer, not use it on the system.

you might want to drink the beer after its put together

I just build my own system myself. First group up build for me. One thing I did, was pick up a anti-static kit at radio shack with the mat + wrist strap. Not essential if u ground urself but I found the cheap peace of mind nice, specially living with three static machine dogs.
-John

Yup, static can be bad, though if you are careful you shouldn't nuke anything.

You can buy really cheap, disposable anti-static wrist-bands for about $3. They can help assure that you don't blow anything up, and are really cheap. I think radio shack carries them. The mat + reusable wrist strap run a bit higher than $3. I figured since you just shelled out $$$ for a bunch of computer parts, you might be short on cash.

I might stop by radio shack and pick up a few things before I begin building. Do they carry ata100 cables? Or will ata66 ones still work, I am just afraid it slows my hard drive down, because they are backwords compatible.

Yes, I am a little short on cash, but spedning another 3$ wouldn't be too bad.

I used to buy mine from Circuit City or Best Buy, about every two years I would buy a new comp that would be outdated before I got it home. After hanging around here, I started building my own. So much more pleasure knowing that it was built by "you".

ATA/66 cables also work for ATA/100 because they are ATA/100...

So no need for new cables.