To support this site:

Forewarned is forearmed...

Build Your Own PC: Motherboards, Processors, and RAM memory - Page 2

Last updated on 8 April 2007

	SEARCH THIS SITE:
	Web www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk

This article consists of six pages. You can access the other five pages by clicking the relevant hyperlinks below.

AMD's website

Although some of it can be hard to find, you can find a wealth of information about AMD's processors and processors in general on AMD's site.

For example, if you have any problems with an AMD processors, visit:

AMD Support - http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/0,,3715_5622,00.html

Intel and AMD no longer produce Slot 1 and Slot A processors

Thankfully, Intel and AMD no longer produce slotted processors (Slot 1 and Slot A respectively), because they are more difficult to install than socketed processors.

A boxed slotted processor will come with installation instructions, but if you buy a bare processor you will have to know how to install it. Slotted processors come with two support arms, much like the support arms on the DIMM slots, at both ends of the processor's slot to support it in an upright position - and to hold the heatsink and fan in place against the processor. The processor and the cooling unit are usually (but not always) both fitted between the upright supports that are folded down over the slot when the processor is not installed. Slot processors can also make use of a passive heatsink (no fan) that fits to one side of the processor's case. Both kinds of cooling units look like something dangerous.

Click the thumbnail image below to see a full-size image of an Intel Slot 1 motherboard with an Intel Pentium 3 processor that has a passive heatsink attached to it.

Visit this article - Understanding CPU Upgrades - for detailed information on installing a processor.

How to install the motherboard

The actual installation of the processor in its motherboard socket and the motherboard itself is easy in both tower (vertical) and desktop (horizontal) cases.

No special tools are required to install a processor, a suitable flat-ended screwdriver can be used to fit the cooling unit, and the only tools you need to install a motherboard is a standard Philips screwdriver - and nimble fingers. A pair of tweezers comes in handy to remove and replace jumpers on the motherboard, and to set hard disk drives as master or slave devices. If used, DIP switches can be set with a small screwdriver, or the tip of a ball-point pen or pencil.

Note that most recent motherboards don't make use of jumpers or DIP switches to configure most of the the settings. Most of the configuration is done by settings in the BIOS setup program.

The motherboard is usually fixed to a plate that has stand-off (mounting) holes for stand-off screws that match the screw-in holes on the motherboard.

The copper or brass stand-off screws come with the case. They keep the motherboard insulated from the case by air, are screwed into the plate, and the motherboard is placed over them and screwed into them. Each case will have its own method of securing the plate containing the motherboard to the inside of the case so that the motherboard's built-in ports fit through the ports panel.

You usually have to place the washers over the holes in the motherboard and then screw the board to the stand-off screws on the plate. The plate with the motherboard fixed to it is then fitted and screwed into the case so that the ports fit into the cuttings of the ports panel, which is a removable piece in its own right that fits into its cutting at the back of the case. You may just have to clip the plate containing the motherboard into the case and then secure it to the back of the case with screws in the same way as you would secure the side panels of the case.

If the PC case has an unusual way of installing the motherboard or other devices, fitting instructions should have been supplied with the case, or you should be able to obtain the information from a user manual made available as a download from the case manufacture's website.

A particular motherboard might have a different set of ports compared to the ports panel provided with a standard ATX case. A mixture of USB/FireWire, modem, network, audio, and video ports might be provided that a standard ports panel won't have cut-outs for. If this is the case, the motherboard manufacturer will provide the ports panel that fits over the ports built into that motherboard. You will then just have to remove the standard panel, and replace it with the non-standard panel.

The image below is of a ports panel that came with an MSI motherboard. The ports on the motherboard fit through the openings when the panel is fitted into the back of the case. The two openings on the far left are for PS/2 keyboard and mouse connections, and the three openings on the far right are for the sound connections, with the LAN networking and USB ports beside them.

You shouldn't have to drill any holes; all of the holes will be where they ought to be. - Both ATX and micro-ATX motherboards are designed to be fitted into ATX cases.

The new BTX form factor for PC cases and motherboards

The BTX form factor for cases and motherboards is the latest type that at the time of writing (March, 2007) was not being widely used. If you have purchased a BTX case and motherboard, visit the Motherboards, PC Cases, and Power Supplies section of this site for more information on them.

The requirements of the BIOS

Note well that you might have to reflash the BIOS with the latest BIOS file in order for a motherboard to recognise and/or run a particular processor, and possibly even other hardware such as a hard disk drive.

The motherboard's BIOS will have been programmed to be able to recognise and run all of the processors that its manual says that it can run, but this might not be the case if a faster version of a particular processor becomes available that the BIOS programmers knew nothing about. They would not usually provide support for unknown later versions of the same type of processor, because its hardware requirements could be different, thereby making its installation in the motherboard inadvisable.

For example, if the faster version of a particular make and type of processor becomes available, it could have power or other hardware requirements that exceed the capabilities of the motherboard, and should therefore not be installed.

Therefore, you should always check the motherboard manufacturer's website for information about a processor if it is not listed as being supported in the motherboard's manual.

If you decide to purchase a motherboard with inbuilt video and audio chips, you will not have to purchase separate audio and video (graphics) cards. The inbuilt video and audio chips can usually be disabled in the BIOS if you want to install PCI Express, AGP, or PCI cards instead. Otherwise they will be disabled by setting jumpers on the motherboard.

Note that you can also buy motherboards with a built-in network interface card (NIC), an SCSI adapter for SCSI drives, a wireless network adapter, and a modem. Just remember that the more work that the components of the motherboard have to do, the less effectively the system is likely to function, because they will all demand processor time. But add-on components, such as a video and sound card, take much of the work load off the motherboard and processor and allow them to deal more effectively with running the applications, etc.

If the video and sound chips are integrated into the motherboard, the monitor and speakers, etc., will be plugged directly to the relevant ports on the motherboard itself instead of to ports on video and sound adapter cards. If you want to upgrade to adapter cards at a later date, make sure that the motherboard has an AGP or x16 PCI Express slot for an AGP or PCI Express video/graphics card - and some free PCI slots. It should have three to six PCI slots.

If you have any old ISA adapter cards that you want to reuse, the motherboard will have to have the ISA slots for them. Most new motherboards do not have ISA slots at all, because as a standard it is dead. But you can still find motherboards on auction sites such as eBay that have at least one ISA slot, or buy them from dealers that specialise in older hardware.

The BIOS Battery: Where it is and how to replace it

The image above shows a close-up view of a Sony BIOS (CMOS) battery in its socket on a motherboard. The BIOS chip is next to it. The following article deals with how to replace a BIOS battery.

BIOS (CMOS) battery replacement site - How to replace a BIOS (CMOS) battery -

http://www.monster-hardware.com/articles/cmosbattery.htm

Connecting the plugged cables that come from the front of the case to the motherboard

How to connect the LED cables, and the Reset Switch and Power Switch cables (that lead from the front of the case and are attached to the motherboard) will be illustrated in the motherboard's manual.

A user manual is provided with a new brand-name computer or motherboard, but if you don't have one because you've purchased the computer or motherboard second-hand, or you've lost it, most of the motherboard manufacturers provide manuals in the form of PDF documents from their sites that require a reader such as the free Acrobat Reader.

The LED lights are only Light Emitting Diodes that signal that the power is on, or that the IDE drive interface is at work, etc. It is not necessary to connect them in order to have a functioning computer. But you have connect the Power Switch cable to the motherboard, because it turns the power on from the button in the front of the case. If connected, the Reset Switch makes the computer reboot.

Below is an illustration from an MSI motherboard manual showing the area of the motherboard where these plugs are attached. You can download the manuals for the latest MSI motherboards free of charge from http://www.msi.com.tw/.

The LED plugs in the case will be attached to the pins as shown in the diagram. The case speaker plug is the largest with four pins, the power plug has three pins, and the other plugs have two pins. Attaching the plugs the wrong way round will do no harm other than failing to make the LED or switch work. If this happens, just install the plug the other way around.

The image below shows these plugged cables inserted into the correct connection points on the motherboard.

THE RAM (Random Access Memory)

Updated with information on dual-channel DDR/DDR2 RAM

Crucial's UK and US Memory Advisors

Paul Mullen, the highly-respected computer guru of the Helpfile at ComputerShopper.co.uk - "I have recently been buying my memory only from Crucial Technology. I would rather pay the extra cost than waste time trying to track down the obscure program faults that bad memory can cause."

The best  way to purchase the correct RAM for a particular motherboard is to obtain it from a manufacturer that sells it on a brand-name PC or motherboard basis. You can also purchase memory for brand-name laptop computers.

Crucial does this.

The US and UK Memory Advisors (below) allow you to find out which types of RAM are available for your laptop/notebook computer, PC, or motherboard - and what the current prices are.

For example, if your computer has an Asus motherboard, open the menu, scroll down to Asus, and click GO. If, say, you have a Dell computer, scroll down to DELL, and do likewise. You will be taken to the relevant information on Crucial's website. Using MSI (Microstar) as an example, because it manufactures all kinds of computer equipment, on Crucial's website, you will have to choose which MSI product you require memory for - a motherboard, a desktop PC, or a laptop computer.

It would therefore be a good idea to scroll down to and click the reference that pertains to your requirement to find out if a PC or motherboard manufacturer's product model is listed before you make a purchase - of the product itself, or the RAM it uses.

If a particular manufacturer isn't listed in the UK Memory Advisor, try looking for it in the USA Memory Advisor (and vice versa) to find out what RAM it uses, and then just make a purchase of that type of RAM.

If you don't know the make and model of the motherboard installed in your computer, here is a good free utility - Belarc Advisor - that creates an analysis of the hardware and software on a personal computer. Look under FREE DOWNLOAD - http://www.belarc.com/. Another utility that also provides detailed information on the memory itself is CPU-Z.

The memory requirements of Windows Vista

You should not consider running Windows Vista Home Premium or higher versions of Windows Vista on a PC with less than 1GB of RAM memory. Only the Vista Home Basic version has a recommended minimum amount of memory of 512MB, which is the same amount recommended for Windows XP. Visit the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor on Microsoft's site to find out if your current PC can run a version of Windows Vista. A system using Windows XP that isn't used for memory-intensive applications, such as video-editing, etc., can run comfortably on 512MB of memory.

Read the information on the RAM pages of this site for more information on the memory requirements of Windows Vista and to find out if you should buy memory for use in single-channel or dual-channel modes.

Visit the Using Windows Vista section of this site for more information on the different versions of the new operating system.

UK - Crucial Memory Advisor - UK

USA - Crucial Memory Advisor - USA

RAM in the form of SIMM modules is still available. Although the modules are keyed so that they can only fit their slots one way round, they have to be inserted into their slots at an angle of forty-five degrees and are then pushed into an upright position.

When Intel Pentium 4 processors first became available, they used Rambus memory that came in the form of RIMM RDRAM modules.

Nowadays, all new motherboards only have the slots for DDR/DDR2 DIMM modules.

DIMM modules (EDO RAM, SDRAM, DDR RAM) are very easily installed by first opening the clip at the end of each DIMM slot on the motherboard and then pushing the module vertically down into it so that the two end clips close around it on their own. You should make sure that the clips are fixed tight to the module.

Installing the DIMM modules is merely a matter of pushing the module directly down into the DIMM slot as shown in the diagram below so that notch or notches on the connector edge of the module match the volt or volts of the slot. The module shown below has two notches that fit two volts in the slot shown under it.

Remember to make sure that you earth yourself to discharge any static electricity before touching electronic components such as RAM modules. This is best done by touching the computer's case with the computer switched off and plugged into the mains supply that is also switched off.

You should consult the motherboard's manual to find out if the DIMM slots have to be filled in an order of rank. Some motherboards require that Bank 0 be filled first, followed by Bank 1 and 2, etc., while some motherboards allow any bank to be filled.

Dual-channel DDR RAM (compared to so called single-channel DDR RAM) is a misleading name that describes a new mode of operation of existing DDR RAM, which allows, say, two ordinary DDR400 RAM modules to be accessed at an effective speed/frequency of 800MHz even though each ordinary DDR400 module has only a maximum effective speed of 400MHz. Any other speed of DDR RAM modules can also be used in this mode, such as DDR333, but the models should preferably be of the same make, size, and speed. The single-channel mode of operation is nothing more than the standard way that DDR RAM has always been accessed by the memory controller.

Note that if the motherboard supports both single-channel and dual-channel modes, which most of the dual-channel DDR motherboards do, the ordinary DDR modules might have to be installed in specific DIMM slots that are usually colour-coded to show which mode of operation they use. This is because the DIMM slots are accessed differently for each mode of operation by the motherboard's chipset.

You should consult the motherboard's manual for the information on how to install DDR RAM in dual-channel mode.

MSI (Microstar) used to have a page on its site that had the title: Dual Channel, Double Power - The Accurate Way to Use 2 Channel Memory. It showed how to install DDR RAM in dual-channel mode on three of its colour-coded motherboards, and showed the benchmarks obtained for DDR RAM installed in single-channel and dual-channel modes by using the Sisoft Sandra utility. Two Pentium 4 MSI motherboards - MS-6565 and MS-6730 - and one MSI AMD Athlon Socket A motherboard - MS-6570 - were illustrated and benchmarked.

If you want to read the information for a motherboard that supports DDR/DDR2 RAM in dual-channel mode, download a manual for one from MSI's site - http://www.msi.com.tw/.

Any other motherboard manufacturer's site will also provide manuals.

Using the search term dual + channel + DDR in the Google search box at the top of this page will bring up plenty of links to sites and pages with information about this type of RAM. Changing the search phrase suitably will bring up links to other types of RAM.

Instructions on how to install the modules, and set the bus frequencies for the RAM are provided in most motherboard manuals.

You should not consider building (or buying) a new computer with Windows XP as the operating system that has less than 512MB of RAM. Windows XP will work with 128MB of RAM, but requires 256MB for running many programs comfortably at the same time. It works best with 512MB of memory.

You should also be aware of the fact that Windows 9x (where the x stands for 5, 8, 8 SE, and Me) has trouble working with 512MB or more of RAM. Visit this page for an article on the problem. -

WINDOWS 98 & ME MEMORY MANAGEMENT - http://aumha.org/a/memmgmt.htm

Windows XP shouldn't have any trouble running large amounts of RAM memory.

You should not consider running Windows Vista Home Premium edition (or higher version) on a PC with less than 1GB of RAM. Visit the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor on Microsoft's site to find out if your current PC can run a version of Vista.

Visit the Using Windows Vista on this site for more information on it.

For more information on RAM memory, visit the RAM section of this site.

Google searches

If my descriptions are not clear enough for you, you'll be able to find many sites offering illustrated information on how to install computer components by entering a phrase such as "install a xxxx" (where xxxx stands for the device, such as RAM, hard disk drive, etc.) in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

PC Buyer Beware! Copyright © Eric Legge 2004-2008. All right reserved.