FINALLY... I can start the build

so today I got my USB3.0 PCI-e card in the mail. my FINAL piece

Here's everything I have for my "Frankenbuild" (everything is new except the HDD, CD/DVD burner, monitor)

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Case: Antec nine hundred w/ usb3.0 gaming case v2

Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0

PSU: XFX Core Edition Pro 650w

Newegg.com - XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) 650W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Motherboard: Intel DP45SG Extreme Series LGA775

Newegg.com - Intel BOXDP45SG LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: LGA775 Intel Core 2 duo E6850 dual-core 3.0GHz

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80557E6850

Graphics Card: AMD/ATI Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5

Newegg.com - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card


USB 3.0 card: SYBA SD-PEX20122 USB 3.0 PCIe 2-Port 20-Pin connector

SYBA SD-PEX20122 USB 3.0 PCIe 2-Port 20-Pin Controller Express Card Chipset | eBay

Harddrive: my old SATA Seagate Barracuda 750GB 7200 RPM Internal HDD

CD-DVD: old SATA CD-R/DVD-R burner/writer

Monitor: Gateway 23" widescreen FX2300 LCD display
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Now, I feel really confident I can do this shit. This is my first build, and I think I have a good idea of what to look out for. I had a friend of mine long ago show me some of the in's and out's of upgrading/building a PC (component-wise).

Could any of you experienced ones shed a few tips or common mistakes people tend to go through, or perhaps a decent guide to go to in case an unforeseen problem does occur?

I'm more concerned with myself being able to do whatever I have to do software-wise to get it booted up. I can't get a clear idea of "flashing" the motherboard. Is it for only updating BIOS or do you do it on a new install also?

Any advice greatly appreciated, blades!

installing win7 should be a cake walk if you are able to connect everything up properly. I dont know why you would need to flash the mobo, all you gotta do is put it together, listen for the 1 beep of mobo after power on to see if everything is in working order, then follow the onscreen instructions and it should be pretty self explanitory.


if you are feeling uneasy after building it, just youtube and google around how to install win7 from a fresh build. im sure you are not the only person to have asked that question.

If you are building your PC in a carpeted area you should probably invest 5 bucks in a static wrist band as to not break any of your components through static discharge. You can aslo do this by touching something metal (back of your pc case) every few minutes. Its not a huge risk if you discharge often, but can leave you sour if you forget about it.

Yeah, I am building on my wooden desk which is on carpet. I am informed about the electric static discharge. I plan on just touching the case chassis like every 2 minutes to ground myself.

My old HDD has Windows 7 Ultimate already on it and all my data and stuff. Do I need to do another installation of Windows 7 because it's a new system? I figured because it's already installed on the HDD that it would automatically boot windows 7. So do I need to buy another windows 7? I have the repair/upgrade windows 7 disk that came with my gateway computer. I don't think that would work with this though.

ummm, no the computer should recognize the drive has win7 OS installed already so it should just boot right into the login screen. I believe as long as you have the cd-key, you will be just fine, also tbh i dont think it will even ask you for one since its already on the HDD, just plug all the parts together, and play

Schweet!

I'll update later tonight, time to start this thing!

make sure you put the damn IO shield before the mobo, dont wanna take the mobo out just to put it in lol.

good luck man, its important to get reallyyy high while doing PC builds. brings luck lol

ummm, no the computer should recognize the drive has win7 OS installed already so it should just boot right into the login screen. I believe as long as you have the cd-key, you will be just fine, also tbh i dont think it will even ask you for one since its already on the HDD, just plug all the parts together, and play

Not a good idea. If it even does boot up you're going to have problems with drivers and shit because of all the different hardware.

OP with a new build it's ALWAYS best to do a fresh install. You might be able do it from your disk I don't know what gateway gives you.

You don't normally need to flash the bios (updates it, if there's an update available) but you might want to go into it and have a look around to make sure everything set right in case it didn't do it automatically.


It's really pretty simple to build a pc as you'll probably find out. Just plug everything in to where it goes.

Make sure the heat sink on the cpu is on nice and flat making full contact with the die.

Well, shit. I went to grab my wireless keyboard and mouse and realized I forgot that my motherboard doesn't have any PS/2 ports for the keyboard. do they sell those PS/2 to USB converters at radio shack or anywhere? I found one on ebay, but thats going to suck waiting fucking another week (at least!) for it to come in the mail.

Also, if I were to do a fresh install of windows 7, am I going to lose all my shit on my harddrive?? Ya know due to the format or whatever. I can't lose all that stuff, it cannot all be replaced. God damn it...

Cheaper getting a usb keyboard/mouse; as to losing your stuff, get a boot cd of linux and copy all your important items before you attempt windows repair/reinstall.

Okay, so that post about the drivers fucking up has me really worried. Can windows 7 even hold information of 2 separate sets of motherboard Drivers? Would that guarantee certain doom so-to-speak? I really can't afford to buy a new windows 7 right now.

Also I forgot that with my motherboard came this Intel purple floppy disk that says "RAID/AHCI" and on the bottom says "SATA connectors version#" This is a completely different disc than the DVD disc that has my motherboard drivers. Is this purple floppy necessary if I only have my 1 internal HDD? If I want to do multiple internal HDDs in the future, will I have to go get a floppy drive, or is it possible that the RAID/AHCI stuff is also on the DVD motherboard drivers disc? (it mentions nothing of the sort on the DVD disc so this is just wishful thinking)

I don't understand about the boot linux thing either, how do I get my stuff from my HDD to the linux disc if I dont have the system running to boot yet? Are you implying I need to boot linux on a different system with my HDD inside to put the stuff on there and then switch over to my actual build? Sorry if I sound retarded.

I got the ps/2/usb converter for $5 so It's all good with that. Just been thinking about this shit a lot over the past 2 days...

So close to orgasmic online gaming.. yet so far away

Edited by geetardude, 21 July 2012 - 12:12 AM.

Im really surprised you dont have an external HDD of all your shit. What would you do if that drive failed? You would be fucked. At least have one backup dude... Also makes setting up new OS's so much easier, just keep the files in folders like videos, music, ect. then drag and drop. .

As for drivers, dont even use that floppy yo, go to the motherboards website and download drivers. Who the hell used floppy drives these days.... lol

Also you should buy some games on the steam sale before it ends in 2 days... its more like 3 i think because its 3:30am and it ends the 23rd, i think the end of the 23rd though.

watch for flash sales and what not, i got mad 20$ games for 75% off (5$.... cant beat that shit man.) got far cry 2 for like 2.75, and i think you might have missed it all, but saints row 3 was going for 13$..., and many many more.

well.. more fucking bullshit. hooked everything up properly, and I know its hooked up right. Nothing, no lights, no fans, nothing. What the fuck...

It's not the power supply because I did that stupid paper clip thing and the fan runs when I do that.

any suggestions, going to just take it to geek squad so they can charge me 6 million dollars to figure it out...

:L This is why I usually advise people not to just jump into a build. It can get stressful if you don't know what you're doing and as for that post above about just hooking it up and playing, that's a horrible idea.

Just curious, are you planning on gaming? I noticed that dual core.

well.. more fucking bullshit. hooked everything up properly, and I know its hooked up right. Nothing, no lights, no fans, nothing. What the fuck...

It's not the power supply because I did that stupid paper clip thing and the fan runs when I do that.

any suggestions, going to just take it to geek squad so they can charge me 6 million dollars to figure it out...

you did put on the motherboard standoffs right? otherwise you could be shorting stuff out, and please dont say you didnt put them on because that could have fucked components up..

did you set the build up quick outside the case to make sure it all ran first? it could be DOA mobo if you didnt test it.

also, might sound stupid, but is the power switch hooked up right? i fucked that up on accident myself and obviously it doesnt turn on lol.

before id ever go to geek squad (i personally never would lol just saying if i was you) id take it all out and check outside the case.

HAHAHA I'M SUCH A FUCKING IDIOT!! (smiling hysterically )

I forgot to switch the power switch on the power supply! DUH!

I thought for sure, I must've somehow accidentally fried this mobo. haha i'm soooo fucking happy! I've been swearing up and down for like 2 hours trying to figure out how I fucked it up.

btw, yes I did do the standoffs beforehand, and I pretty much assembled the board outside the case, but I had to wait for the graphics card because its fucking HUGE and i couldnt get all the motherboard screws in with it already on.

Going to go fuck around now. SWEET! Thanks for all your help though, totally sending karma your way!

HAHAHA I'M SUCH A FUCKING IDIOT!! (smiling hysterically )

I forgot to switch the power switch on the power supply! DUH!

I thought for sure, I must've somehow accidentally fried this mobo. haha i'm soooo fucking happy! I've been swearing up and down for like 2 hours trying to figure out how I fucked it up.

btw, yes I did do the standoffs beforehand, and I pretty much assembled the board outside the case, but I had to wait for the graphics card because its fucking HUGE and i couldnt get all the motherboard screws in with it already on.

Going to go fuck around now. SWEET! Thanks for all your help though, totally sending karma your way!

haha, i forgot about that, same thing happened to me actually. i was like what the fuck turn on yo. and then i remembered i saw a switch on the power supply when i unboxed it.

so it works? good shit man, hope it goes good and nothing fucks up majorly

now you can play some games since you got a pretty damn nice setup, only thing i would have suggested is a graphics card with 2Gb depicated memory, but this should run most games well. enjoy brah

well... it works... kinda. it turns on, anyway. It seems it doesn't recognize my keyboard and mouse are plugged in. I've got a logitech wireless keyboard and mouse (connects via USB and a PS/2 port which I have an adapter for).

I've also tried 2 other wired keyboards and mice, it doesn't respond to them.

Upon start-up it goes to a black screen with this message:

"Fatal Error: Cannot find necessary table(s). Press any key to continue booting."

When I plug my keyboards in the 3 "lights" (num lock, caps lock, scroll lock) light up for like a 10th/second but pressing buttons does nothing.

Could it have anything to do with the USB 3.0 not knowing that its plugged in because I havent been able to put the drivers disc in for that USB 3.0 pci-e card?

At least my system works, though, right?

fucking fuck! been trying to get help on a pc forum as well. was told to do the jumper thing to try to reset Cmos. moved the jumper to pins 2 and 3 but cant reset bios passwords because key presses does nothing and cant press enter. put the jumper back to normal.

took the battery out for a minute put it back in. no change.

well... it works... kinda. it turns on, anyway. It seems it doesn't recognize my keyboard and mouse are plugged in. I've got a logitech wireless keyboard and mouse (connects via USB and a PS/2 port which I have an adapter for).

I've also tried 2 other wired keyboards and mice, it doesn't respond to them.

Upon start-up it goes to a black screen with this message:

"Fatal Error: Cannot find necessary table(s). Press any key to continue booting."

When I plug my keyboards in the 3 "lights" (num lock, caps lock, scroll lock) light up for like a 10th/second but pressing buttons does nothing.

Could it have anything to do with the USB 3.0 not knowing that its plugged in because I havent been able to put the drivers disc in for that USB 3.0 pci-e card?

At least my system works, though, right?

You'll need the pci-e card drivers if you're using those ports. The case has usb 3.0 as well? Are the front panel usb ports connected to the motherboard ? Or are you using usb ports on the MB itself?

Use the USB plugs on the mobo, not the ones on the PCI thing or the front panel ones of the case obviously if they arent hooked up. i wouldnt even put that PCI thing in yet, boot the computer and try to get it working with out that.

then install it and install software when its working.

also that sounds like a windows error man. not a mobo thing. get into bios and check it out