Building A PC - Asus P4C800 E Deluxe & Pentium 2.80C GHZ

[stephenmbell]

I am in the middle of building a desktop with the motherboard and processor mentioned above --

I have been having some problems with getting this to work, and I am not sure if I am doing something wrong or not.

I have RMA'd 2 MOBO's and 3 chips thusfar, and I received my 3rd MOBO and I really want it to work this time. I have also tried 2 different power supplies -

My questions are these --

1. Thermal grease or no? Initially I have used it. Recently I found out that the heatsink that comes with the chip has a thermal pad that melts and serves the same purpose. If so, how much?????

2. Build it inside the case or out?

Once I get past mounting the chip I am home free, but that is where I ran into all of my problems!! Each time, mounting the chip on the board just doesn't want to work right.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

smb

 

[BadBigBen]

Hola,
Quote: "1. Thermal grease or no? Initially I have used it. Recently I found out that the heatsink that comes with the chip has a thermal pad that melts and serves the same purpose. If so, how much?????"

Answer: 1a - Yes if HS-Fan has no Pad... 1b - How much what??? the pad melts somewhat (it's aluminun foil) it's put on and forget... if you ment Thermal grease - about matchhead sized drop and then spread eevenly with a flexible card like your drivers licsence or a slightly stiff brush...

for question 2: see the FAQ section here the link faq602-2731

Ben



If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[paparazi]

stephenmbell
3 chips and 2 motherboards (now on your 4th CPU and third mainboard) what are you doing to them? Building the PC whilst having a bath? joking aside I dought if all these were faulty and i would advise you taking all the "brand new parts" to you local custom build shop and paying them $50 to mount them in the case and set them up for you.
I really don't mean to be rude but nothing we can tell you is going to turn you into a PC technician overnight, so I think this way would be best for you.
Martin



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[stephenmbell]

Yeah, I dont know. All other components of the PC I have done before (PCI Cards, Memory, Disk Drives, Memory, etc etc).

I have even removed chips and heatsinks from boards and reseated them. I dont understand what the problem is. The only piece of the puzzle that is missing is mounting the board in the case, and mounting the chip on the board. I just wanted to make sure that there werent any unspoken rules about "always build outside of the case"...or something like that -

thanks for the input

-smb

 

[paparazi]

Well building the PC outside the case (breadboarding) is something that is done to elliminate possible "motherboard shorting" to ground but shouldn't really be necessary if the board is mounted properly.
All you have to remember is to place the brass standoff mounts (spring mounts etc) ONLY in the places on the backplate that match upto the BRITE SOLDER rings on the motherboard.
The most common mistake is to use too many or have one of these mounts in the wrong place (touching the motherboard and shorting it out)
As for mounting the CPU, with the lever in an upright position place the CPU in the socket (you will see on the pin side that pins are missing at the corners so correspond with the socket pin layout) so it only seats one way.
Apply a little pressure to the centre of the CPU at the same time pull the lever all the way down.
The Heatsink can go both ways on a P4 (unlike a Duron/Athlon)
Either use the supplied pad (foil like with black compound) or thoroughly remove and clean and apply a thin coating of heatsink paste to the CPU core it is more like a small pea in quantity on a P4 core (much larger than an Athlon/Duron) just a very thin even layer.
Place the heatsink within the cage, release the levers, pull over the plastic arms so they engage into the slots on the cage (all four) move BOTH levers at the same time to pull the heatsink down onto the CPU, BE BRAVE! this takes sme effort.
Pull the levers down till they stop fully home.
Mounted.
Just be observant, make sure that the heatsink isn't catching the cage and is free .
Martin

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[ceh4702]

You didnt say what you were doing wrong or what the problem was. What are you doing?

I like assembling the CPU, COOLER, MEMORY MOTHERBOARD outside of the case. Once you put it inside the case it is hard to see lighting is bad and wires are everywhere. Also if you push too hard on the motherboard and it flexes it can break the traces or pathways that are soldered.

This is just my opinion.

You can also test to see if the motherboard will post outside of the case on a piece of cardboard. All you have to do is connect the power to the motherboard and touch the two posts that the case power button connector goes to with a screwdriver. That is all it takes to get the motherboard to start. The switch makes a connection, and a signal is sent to the power supply to turn on.

Make sure the CPU cooler is connected to the power header on the motherboard for the CPU FAN. Also make sure you are using the 4 pin square plug designed for the P4.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[paparazi]

stephenmbell
Yes, I meant to add the actual assembling is best done out of the case, on some newspaper placed on a (hard surface) then carefully transfer into the case.
So mainboard with installed CPU/Heatsink/Fan and memory.
As mentioned, the EXTRA P4 connector as well as the normal ATX power plug needs to be plugged in.

Martin



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