How to assemble a computer?
Assembling a computer is not such a laborious process, and even for beginners it does not take more than 2 hours. The main thing is to know some subtleties and not be afraid of mistakes, because it’s so interesting!
Before proceeding with the assembly of the computer, you need to prepare the workplace. The best option is a clean medium-sized table in a room with good lighting. It is better not to place a lamp above the table if such an opportunity presents itself, since during assembly you can accidentally touch a hanging cord. A dropped lamp can damage computer parts. No special tools are usually required: one Phillips screwdriver is sufficient. But if it is magnetized, then it’s just wonderful! Small screws often fall into the case, and from there it can be difficult to get them out with a regular screwdriver. But tweezers will also save.
Precautionary measures:
1 Computer microcircuits are very sensitive to static electricity, so it is better not to touch the contacts and tracks of the boards with bare hands without grounding. A special bracelet or an ordinary bare wire around the wrist, grounded to the battery, will help in this matter.
2 Do not use physical force! All boards must freely or almost freely enter the connectors intended for them. If some board does not want to fall into place, then most likely you mixed something up when buying components. All parts of the computer "stuffing" are produced according to certain standards. Therefore, there are several types of processors and their corresponding sockets, several standards for RAM modules and, accordingly, sockets for them, and so on. In order not to confuse the user, they have a different shape.
Disassemble the case by removing the side plates. If it interferes, you can also remove the power supply unit (PSU). Assembling a computer must begin with mounting the motherboard. The processor is best inserted into the "mother" before the latter is in the case, because it has a lot of "legs" that are easy to bend. In addition, the visibility outside the case is better. On the processor itself, as well as on the socket into which it is inserted, there may be special arrows indicating the correct position. For greater reliability, manufacturers came up with the idea of removing some of the contacts and holes in the socket from one corner, so that it was impossible to accidentally bend the "legs" of the processor. To mount the processor in the socket, a special lever is provided that presses it to the board.
A cooler is mounted on top of the processor (the most common cooling system in the form of a fan and radiator, but some enthusiasts also use liquid systems). If the computer is new, then on the "sole" of the cooler you will find a thick flexible sticker – a thermal interface. If not a new computer is being assembled, then a thin layer of thermal paste (Alsil, KPT-8, and others) must be applied to the surface of the processor. Thermal paste, like a thermal interface, does not cool anything, but it helps to transfer the heat generated by the processor to the heatsink by bonding the surfaces. If the layer is too thick, then the heat transfer will deteriorate. Mounts for the cooler can be different, and the fan is screwed onto screws.
RAM modules should enter the slots gently and snap into place with latches on both sides. Usually, there are two to four such connectors on the "mother", you can insert the module into any of them.
The next step is to install the mat. boards in the case. If the dimensions of the mother and case (ATX – modern case type, AT – obsolete) fit together, then the screw holes should match. Insert the hard disk and CD-ROM into the special compartment. Everything is screwed on. Make sure that the screws are not too long and do not tighten them with all the force, because. this may damage the hard drive case! Sometimes you may need a floppy disk drive – "floppy", but this is already a rarity. It is installed in the same way.
Video cards come in two types: PCI and AGP. The latter type is gradually disappearing from store shelves, as well as connectors for it. PCI video cards are installed like random access memory, only without clamps (except for AGP). They are attached to the body with a screw. Other expansion boards (network and sound cards, for example) can be installed in PCI type slots and its varieties. Some boards and all fans will have to connect additional power, usually the "mother" has several connectors for this purpose.
We connect the power. First to the motherboard (the thickest wire with the largest number of square pins) to the appropriate connector. In new cases, this can be done in only one way (the protrusion and the absence of a hole interfere), in old ones – in two ways. It is better to read the instructions, because. there is a high probability that the mother will burn out at the first start if the connection is wrong. Sometimes the mother needs extra. food. It is similar to the main one, only less in number of contacts (four).
The hard drive and drive are connected to the mother using flat cables or thin SATA cables. From the PSU, 4-pin wires go to them (for IDE devices) or thin SATA cables (for power supply a little wider).
Lastly, the front panel of the case is connected. For her, there should be a special scheme in the instructions for the mother. If you connect any wires incorrectly, then the computer most likely will not start. On old mats. boards, there were still such small contact clamps – “jumpers", with the help of which some parameters of the mat were adjusted. fees. Now this setting is done in the BIOS.
After fully assembling the computer, plug it in and press the power button on the case. If everything is in order, then the computer should beep softly (signal for testing the hardware of the POST procedure). If the beep is not one or unusually long, then something in the system is faulty. You can try to disassemble and reassemble the computer, carefully studying where there may be problems. But this is a separate issue.
Happy assembly!