Building an Athlon based computer: 101
Feb 18 '01 (Updated Jun 18 '01)
The Bottom Line Follow this guide to build a computer exactly like the one I am using right now. This is an excellent gaming, office, internet computer and all around great set up.
Note: This editorial will guide you through the complete process of building an AMD Athlon Slot A based computer. It also contains the specific parts and suggestions and may be somewhat long. This guide is for a basic Athlon multimedia computer, if you prefer to add additional parts you should make sure they are compatible with the system you are building.
Introduction
The Slot A AMD Athlon processors are still being sold and are just as good as the Socket A processors as long as you get the Thunderbird version. The Slot A Thunderbird Athlon processors are built the same as the Socket A type except that they have 256k of on-chip full speed cache instead of 512k. With that said, on to the construction.
Motherboard
The motherboard is a very important piece of the computer and for our machine we will be using an Abit KA7-100. This motherboard has dual on-board EIDE controllers and four DIMM slots capable of using PC100 or PC133 memory. The primary controller is an ATA66 compatible controller and the Secondary controller is an ATA100 compatible controller. Using this guide we will set up an ATA100 hard drive and a 52X CDROM. Although you can have up to 8 IDE devices with these two controllers, I am only going to take you through the basic setup.
Hard drive and CDROM
For this machine we will be using a Maxtor 30GB hard drive and a Kenwood 52X True CDROM. The Maxtor hard drive is 7200RPM and has an access time of 9ms. It is ATA100 compatible and uses a 2MB buffer. It is not the best drive on the market but for the price (roughly $120 retail) it is the best for size/performance vs. price. It has a 3-year warranty and comes with the 80 wire ATA66/100 IDE cable necessary for the additional transfer speed.
The Kenwood 52X True CDROM is a normal CD reading device but is capable of reading at 52X from the inside of the CD to the outside giving it "True" 52X performance. Normal CDROM drives at 52X can only achieve 52X at the inner rim of the CD. They will read slower as they move to the outer edge of the disc. It comes with the IDE cable need to attach it to the motherboard.
Case
The case we will use is an Antec mid-tower ATX case. There is no specific model number on the case but it doesn't matter as long as you get the one with the 300W power supply. The Athlon processors require a 300W power supply to perform and with the expandability of this motherboard you will most likely add more drives later on. The case has 3-5¼" external bays and 3-3½" internal (hard drive) bays as well as 1-3½" floppy drive bay. If you plan on using more drives than this you may opt for a full tower case. The mid-tower case has two places for case fans and I would recommend using at least one located nearest the processor.
Memory
My recommendation for memory is to use Micron Crucial PC133. The amount is dependant on your funds and the price of memory at the time of purchase. I would suggest not using less than 64MB. 128MB is average now-a-days but you can get by with 64 to get up and running.
Video, sound card and modem
For this machine we will be using the ATI Radeon 32MB DDR. This card is excellent for gaming and has a built in DVD decoder in case you wish to add a DVD drive to your PC in the future.
We will also be using a SoundBlaster Live! X-Gamer sound card. This card is capable of analog and digital out as well as analog or digital CD audio. It comes with many game titles and has Dolby 5.1 capability as well.
The modem we will use is the 3Com U.S. Robotics ISA 56k V.90 faxmodem. This is probably the best modem I have ever used and therefore will use it for this guide. The ISA modem has a built on UART controller chip and performs much better than any win modem. Since the motherboard has 1 shared ISA slot, we will take advantage of that and use a real modem.
Floppy drive (optional)
For this guide we will use an NEC floppy drive. The drive you get does not have to come with a cable since the motherboard will have one for it.
Processor
We will be using a Slot A AMD Athlon 900MHz processor for this guide. The AMD slot A processors are not as expensive as the Socket versions but perform almost as well and are perfect multimedia processors for home users. When you purchase your processors make sure you get a retail box version that comes with a heat sink and fan. If you get the OEM version you will have to purchase these items separate. They are both of most importance to keep your processor cool and running to optimum performance.
Heat sink paste
Any brand will suffice but make sure you get this item, it is important to help the heat get from the processor to the heat sink. From the heat sink, the fan dispenses of the heat effectively.
Note: You can use any PS/2 or USB mouse and keyboard with this motherboard so I leave it to you to decide which you wish to use.
Static mat and wrist straps
Some people do not believe in the use of these items but I can assure you that you would rather be safe than sorry. The static mat is useful for placing items on when preparing to install them and the wrist strap will attach to the case of the computer keeping any static from building up in your body eliminating the chance of a discharge. Static is the number one cause of brand new components failing upon first boot.
On with the guide
Start by placing the static mat on a fairly large table or work bench. Place the computer case on the static mat, open the right side panel by removing the screws and sliding the panel towards the back of the case. Attach the wrist strap around your left wrist if you are right handed, right wrist if you are left handed. Take the alligator clip on the other end of the wire from the wrist strap and clip it firmly onto a metal area of the outer side of the case. Now you're grounded and ready to build your computer.
1) Installing the motherboard
Take the motherboard out of the static free plastic and place it face up on the static mat. Remove all cables and parts from the motherboard box and lay them out on the work area. Lay the case on it's side and find the stand-off screws that came with the case. These are screws designed to have other screws screwed into them. The are usually brass. Line up the motherboard inside the case to find where to place the stand-off screws. Remove the motherboard and screw in the stand-off screws in their appropriate holes. Once these are in place, place the motherboard gently on top of the stand-off screws and line up the holes. Now use the regular Philips head screws that came with the case to firmly attach the motherboard to the stand-off screws. Make sure you line up the ports on the edge of the motherboard with their appropriate holes on the outside of the case before tightening the motherboard down. Finally, attach the power cable from the power supply to the motherboard. This plug will only go in one direction so don't force it into place.
2) Installing the Athlon processor
Remove the processor from it's protective plastic wrapping and take the heat sink/fan assembly out as well. Follow the directions provided with the processor for attaching the heat sink/fan to the processor. Do not forget to put a thin coat of heat sink paste on the heat sink before attaching it to the processor.
After assembling the processor/heat sink/fan assembly, line up the processor with the Slot A interface on the motherboard. The processor has a notch in the pins so it will only plug in one direction. Do not force the processor into place but firmly push it down until the two latches on the top of the processor casing pop out to lock it in place. The BIOS built into this motherboard will auto-detect the processor on first boot and set the appropriate speed. The multiplier is built in so there are no jumpers to configure. It is truly plug and play.
3) Installing the memory
Remove the memory from it's case or static protective plastic and place it into the DIMM slots on the motherboard. If you don't know what the DIMM slot looks like, check the motherboard manual and it has a diagram showing you exactly where they are and what they look like. The memory can only be inserted in one direction so make sure you line up the notches on the memory with the appropriate direction in the slot. Firmly push the memory in place until the clips close in to grasp it. Do not force the memory into place, gently but firmly push it down into the slot.
4) Installing the drives
Remove the CDROM and hard drive from their protective plastic and screw them into their designated places. The CDROM and hard drive will be installed on separate IDE cables so you want to set the jumper on the back of both drives to the master position. The master position for the CDROM is the far right and the hard drive will be set to master by default. Since they will be on separate cables, they don't have to be right next to each other either. Once these are firmly screwed into place you can attach the IDE cables. For the hard drive, use either of the 80 wire IDE cables that came with the motherboard or the hard drive. For the CDROM you can use the other 80 wire cable or the 40 wire cable that came with the drive, using the 80 wire cable won't really make any difference for the CDROM.
The cables are all dual device cables, meaning you can add slave drives onto the cables later on. To get maximum performance, plug the CDROM cable into the primary IDE 0 controller and the hard drive cable into the secondary IDE 0 controller. On this motherboard the primary controller is ATA66 and the secondary controller is ATA100. Your computer will automatically boot to the first hard drive in the order so if you put the hard drive on the ATA100 controller your computer will perform faster. Having the drives on separate controllers helps the performance of the controllers and the drives on them. The less drives are on a controller, the better all the drives on that controller will perform. Make sure you make the red colored wire on the cable line up with pin 1 on the IDE controller for both devices. When plugging the IDE cable into the CDROM and hard drive, make sure the red wire is aligned closest to the power plug on the drives. For the hard drive, make sure the blue end of the IDE cable is inserted into the motherboard or you won't get the benefit of the faster transfer rate. The 80 wire cables that come with the hard drive and the motherboard both have blue IDE interface plugs on one end.
Last, plug the power cables into the drives. The power cables are red, black and yellow wires with a white plug on the end. These can only be plugged into the power interface on each drive and can only be plugged in the correct way due to the design of power cables.
5) Installing the floppy
If you choose to install a floppy drive, now you must install the drive into the floppy drive bay. Once the drive is screwed into place, plug the floppy cable into the motherboard. The floppy cable will only work in one direction so make sure you plug the end that is furthest away from all the other plugs on the cable into the motherboard. The other end of the cable plugs into the drive. The cable can only be plugged into this drive in one direction. The floppy cable for this motherboard has a notch on the interface plug so you won't be able to plug it in the wrong way.
The floppy drive uses a smaller power plug than the IDE drives. Find one of these plugs from the power supply and plug it onto the four pins located to one side on the rear of the floppy drive.
6) Installing the peripheral cards
Remove the video card, sound card and modem from their protective wrappings and place them on the static mat. First install the video card into the AGP slot. This slot is located closest to the processor. Firmly push peripheral cards into their slot and never force them. Once firmly seated into the slot, screw it into place. Do the same for the sound card and modem in their respective slots.
Note: The only one of these cards that may have jumpers is the modem. Make sure you configure the jumpers for plug and play. The manual that comes with the modem will show you how to configure this. Most modems do not have jumpers anymore but the ISA U.S. Robotics I bought 4 years ago does and the new ISA U.S. Robotics modems may have them as well. If not you can disregard this note.
The sound card we are using has analog and digital CD audio capability. You can use both if you wish. In the box that came with the sound card there will be a grey cable with black plastic plugs having four pin holes on the ends. This is analog CD audio cable. Plug this into the audio out on the CDROM and plug the other end into the CDROM plug on the sound card. The plug on the sound card is clearly marked so you shouldn't have any trouble finding it.
There is another cable in the sound card box that is grey and has black plastic plugs on the end with only two pin hole in them. This is the digital cable. Plug one end into the digital out on the CDROM and the other end into the digital interface on the sound card. Again, the digital input on the sound card is clearly marked.
7) Finishing the computer
Once all these items are installed make sure all your cables and components are seated firmly and double check to ensure everything is installed correctly before ever putting the case panel back on. The computer is now physically built but you will have to partition and format the hard drive before you can install any operating system such as Windows or Linux.
BIOS settings
The BIOS of this motherboard will automatically detect and configure all the devices I have chosen to use here. You will not have to configure the BIOS manually but if you wish to customize your BIOS settings, I leave that to you.
Once the operating system is installed you will have to install the software drivers for the motherboard, video card, sound card and modem before these devices will work. I recommend installing the drivers in that order. The video card should operate in 16 colors at 640x480 resolution until the drivers are installed. The other peripherals will not work at all until you install the software drivers.
Conclusion
If you made it this far reading this "guide", thank for your patience and for reading the entire review. I hope this helps if you decide to build your own system and if you do use the actual components listed here send me an email and let me know how you like your computer. I have this same system that I built myself and I love it. Thanks for reading.
Gr8ful :-)
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