Components arrived - a couple of questions before I tackle my first build!!

BenEadir

Hi all,

This is the €700 gaming PC I put together (well €702 inc delivery) with a lot of help from the guys on this forum:-



The parts have all arrived and I'm now getting ready to build. As this is my first time I am unsure what happens after the components are physically assembled and the machine is powered up for the first time. As I'm loading a blank SSD and HDD there isn't going to be a bootable drive so how do I get Win 8.1 on there? YouTube is full of tutorials on how to do the physical build but I haven't found anything which shows me how to load Win 8.1.

I'm thinking of buying a Win 8.1 from here https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/comments/2ixue7/h_windows_7_8_81_windows_server_office_visio/

Is that the best route to go? Do I just download all 3.6GB of Win 8.1, stick it on a USB key and somehow the new machine will recognise that if I boot up with the USB key plugged in?

Also, is there a to-do list anywhere of what to do once the machine is turned on for the first time e.g. upgrade drivers, BIOS, run a burn load/torture test to test the performance of the assembled components etc?

Cheers in advance for your suggestions.

Boogietime

Hi, kudos for building your own even if you don't know how - it's how we all start

On your question, the motherboard controls the booting sequence. Most newer boards will come pre-set with the option to recognize a bootable USB stick so yes, make a bootable USB stick, there are many ways to do it - here's one and plug it into the new rig (I would recommend to plug it at the back of the case to avoid bad wiring issues with the front USBs - you can test your wiring later on in Windows).
Once it starts, if you read on the screen this error "No boot device available" restart the computer by ctrl+alt+delete or at the case button if you hooked it up correctly hehe
Then go into BIOS - to do that for most machines you have to continuously tap on F2 until you see BIOS as a set of options on which you can find Boot priority.
On that make sure that the USB is in the boot list then save and exit and voila, press any key to boot from USB! The rest is pretty simple, you'll see. When you're done with the install, remove the stick so that it won't prompt you to boot again from the USB stick.

If you can't get into BIOS using F2, check the first splash screen you see - it should say what key to press to go into BIOS.

Best of luck, let us know if that worked!

BenEadir

Cheers Boogietime, that's good to know, thanks.

Do I also need to manually update graphics card drivers, BIOS etc or not? Is a burn test like http://www.jam-software.com/heavyload/, http://www.mersenne.org/download/ or http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/?

.G.

No need for burn testing if you aren't overclocking. You should update all drivers with the latest ones from the motherboard and GPU manufacturer websites.

BenEadir

superg wrote: »

No need for burn testing if you aren't overclocking. You should update all drivers with the latest ones from the motherboard and GPU manufacturer websites.

Cheers SuperG, sounds straightforward enough. (I'm sure it won't be!!!)

IrlMonk

BenEadir wrote: »

Do I also need to manually update graphics card drivers, BIOS etc or not?

BIOS updating is risky. If you have no problems using the current BIOS then don't manually update the BIOS.
Also, make sure your favorite games are compatible with 8.1 before purchasing.

BenEadir

So we got to grips with the build this afternoon and two hours later, after much head scratching, swearing and wondering why we didn't just pay HWVS €30 to build it for us, we ended up with what we think is a correctly bolted together PC. Unfortunately the motherboard only came with 2 SATA cables and as I was installing an SSD, a HDD and a DVD drive it was the DVD drive which lost out.

I've been able to power up the machine, get the lovely "beep" from the internal speaker and get BIOS menu up on screen but I've two problems I need some help with:-

1. I've no idea what to do with this cable



2. I can't get the PC to boot from the win 8.1 iso image I put onto an 8GB USB drive, see https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/comments/2ixue7/h_windows_7_8_81_windows_server_office_visio/

Any suggestions how I proceed from here?

wotzgoingon

BenEadir wrote: »

So we got to grips with the build this afternoon and two hours later, after much head scratching, swearing and wondering why we didn't just pay HWVS €30 to build it for us, we ended up with what we think is a correctly bolted together PC. Unfortunately the motherboard only came with 2 SATA cables and as I was installing an SSD, a HDD and a DVD drive it was the DVD drive which lost out.

I've been able to power up the machine, get the lovely "beep" from the internal speaker and get BIOS menu up on screen but I've two problems I need some help with:-

1. I've no idea what to do with this cable



2. I can't get the PC to boot from the win 8.1 iso image I put onto an 8GB USB drive, see https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/comments/2ixue7/h_windows_7_8_81_windows_server_office_visio/

Any suggestions how I proceed from here?

I don't know what the cable is but the iso image you have to extract it and make sure you created a bootable usb stick.

wotzgoingon

Also about the cable where is it coming from. Like is it off the motherboard or did it come with a component. It is hard to see from the image you posted.

braddun

http://superuser.com/questions/834765/how-to-install-windows-8-1-on-new-pc-with-ssd

BenEadir

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Also about the cable where is it coming from. Like is it off the motherboard or did it come with a component. It is hard to see from the image you posted.

Hi Wotzgoingon, the cable is coming from the top of the case where the power and reset buttons plus temperature LED's, USB 3.0 and sound ports live - see http://www.cooltek.de/en/midi-tower/gt-01/138/gt-01

wotzgoingon

BenEadir wrote: »

Hi Wotzgoingon, the cable is coming from the top of the case where the power and reset buttons plus temperature LED's, USB 3.0 and sound ports live - see http://www.cooltek.de/en/midi-tower/gt-01/138/gt-01

About that cable. A second look at it. It actually looks like a ceramic capacitor that was put in at a later stage due to a fault they must have found during testing and it is perfectly safe to just leave hanging as it has heat shrink onto the bare metal parts.

It is nothing to worry about. That is if the two other ends I cannot see are connected up to the control panel. Most likely soldered in.

wotzgoingon

I prefer 8.1 than 7. It is a big change at first but you get used to it.

BenEadir

wotzgoingon wrote: »

I prefer 8.1 than 7. It is a big change at first but you get used to it.

Not using any touch screen stuff but will use Start8 to give me the start menu back. That way I get the best of both worlds!!