Do-It-Yourself PC System: CPU & Motherboard – THG.RU

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Dream Performance:
Your very own Tom’s Hardware PC!

Who likes to drink water if he can enjoy wine or champagne for almost the same price? This is practically the situation the demanding PC user finds oneself in when searching for the perfect PC.

The PC market has developed the following rules: Although mass products of more or less acceptable quality are offered by Dell, Gateway, Fry’s, BestBuy and other vendors, there are no custom-made solutions with optimum performance and components of your own choice in these shops. What is even worse, even the computer shop around the corner does not necessarily offer the best solution either. Those computer retailers seem to force only those products upon their customers, which offer the highest profit.

The true PC fan, however, has only one thing on his mind: On no account will he join the gray masses of those supermarket PC purchasers.

The PC system assembled and configured by Tom’s Hardware team.

Dream Performance: Your very own Tom’s Hardware PC!, Continued

This table lists all components used in our Tom’s Hardware PC.

Systems offered in current PC magazines and ad flyers reflect the market situation. Almost any shop offers PCs in various configurations within a price range between 700 and 1300 dollars. All these systems show a common characteristic however. The most important components – motherboard, memory and the CPU/cooler unit – are also those parts where assemblers tend to use the cheapest options and thus save the most money. Otherwise, important price points like “$699” or “$999” could simply not be met. Whoever looks for a customized PC solution can hardly avoid assembling his PC by himself!

Please note that, even for less experienced users, it is not all that difficult to assemble and mount all components of a PC by yourself.

We, the team from Tom’s Hardware, have built a dream PC for this occasion, which performance leaves behind that of most PCs within the price range in question and considering its performance, our PC is not at all expensive. The costs of all components combined – from the case to the CPU – sums up to a mere $995. We even overclocked the system and pushed it up to the limits of its performance -without incurring any stability problems of course! We paid special attention to one aspect: This computer had to be very future-oriented and easily upgradeable. This is the one sensitive point for PC buyers: after a year, they have to resign to the fact that their cheap PC is only good for the trash can.

Our series “Do-it-yourself PC ” comprises three parts. Part one deals with motherboard, processor, memory, cooler and casing. In part two we recommend powerful graphics cards and give helpful tips. The last part informs about drives, that is, HDDs, CD ROM and DVD drives.

Tom’s Hardware PC: Assembly and costs

First of all, the total cost of all components we used in our self-made PC is around $995. We only used components, which we had already tested thoroughly for test reports. Our main aim was to build a very competitive PC at a comparatively low cost, such as you won’t be able to find at any PC retailer. Even well known discount retailers such as Dell or Gateway canґt compete with Tom’s Hardware PC when looking at the price/performance ratio. What is the reason for this, you may ask? Manufacturers such as Dell are attached to certain hardware components so that their systems can stay below those vital price levels. Furthermore, we overclocked the CPU and used a powerful CPU cooler. No PC manufacturer will work that way, as they’d invalidate the component manufacturer’s warranty at once. All steps for assembling our PC are documented in detail in the images below.

Best Platform: Intel or AMD?

Whoever builds his own PC has to decide on the fundamental processor platform for his/her PC system. We decided in favor of Socket 462 (Socket A), which allows use of all AMD CPUs such as Athlon and Duron. The next decision concerns the motherboard to be used. We chose the Asus A7V, which produced excellent results in many earlier tests. A decisive factor for using this particular board in our PC system was its overclocking capabilities. With Asus A7V, the user may easily change the clock multiplier of a Duron or Athlon CPU by using DIPswitches. The table below lists a few other motherboards that are currently available, which come with a lot of good features as well.

Note: Socket A is also known as Socket 462

This list shows good motherboards with Socket 462 for AMD Athlon/Duron (Prices as of January 2001).

Asus A7V is a good compromise between useful features, stability, upgradeability and performance. Its only disadvantage is the high price tag – the board comes at $145.

Ideal CPU: AMD Athlon 800

Having chosen the perfect motherboard, weґre now looking for the appropriate CPU. We certainly could take the fastest AMD CPU for Socket 462 – an Athlon rated at 1200MHz. This CPU costs a whopping $279 and would drastically reduce our PCs price/performance ratio. (Compared to Intel this is still very cheap). We listed different Athlon processors below.

Comparison of available Athlon CPUs (prices as of January 2001).

We concluded that AMD Athlon 800 offers the best price/performance ratio. Only $109 buys a very powerful CPU, which is also well suited for overclocking. We’ve overclocked Athlon 800 (manufacturer’s clock multiplier = 8) to 1000 MHz by setting the DIP switch of the Asus A7V accordingly. It is no secret, either, that AMD recently made drastic improvements in their CPU production, so that most of their CPUs are designed to sustain at least 1000MHz CPU clock. Only laser coding of the CPU surface pins effectuates lower clock rates.

Overclocking Power

One thing is for sure: Athlon 800 can be safely run at 1000MHz by increasing the clock multiplier (from 8.0 to 10.0) as well as core voltage (up to 1.85 Volts)! Increasing the core voltage also means increasing energy loss, which is expressed by increased CPU heat generation. To counter the extra heat we need a high-performance cooler. We used the winning cooler from our CPU cooler test, the Swiftech model that can be used on all Socket motherboards.

Modification Instructions: L1 bridges must be closed

As far as the Duron or Thunderbird is concerned, there is only one thing to check: all contacts of the L1 bridges must be closed. Our experience shows that some AMD processors are already shipped with closed L1 bridges. However, if this is not the case the contacts must be closed carefully using a lead pencil. When closing the contacts manually, it is important to make sure not to create any connection between the individual bridges.

The first picture below shows a Athlon that was manufactured with open L1 contact bridges that were manually closed afterwards.

Case and power supply: 300 Watts are a must!

First of all, we need a suitable casing for our do-it-yourself PC. Housings found at computer retailers are usually rather badly designed and only differ in their size. Quite often we encounter cheap-looking metal casings equipped with different plastic front panels. A well-designed casing suitable for easy servicing is hard to find and expensive. Considering our PC is usually hidden under the desk during use, we paid less attention to its looks. An important aspect of any case purchase is the quality of its built-in power supply. To be on the safe side, we recommend a model with at least 300 Watts. This allows the integration of many components and drives in the system. Quite often, frequent crashes of a given system are due to an undersized power supply.

Step by step: Assembling the PC

Processor

Mounting the CPU is quite simple: The lever attached to the CPU socket releases the CPU lock, enabling the user to insert the processor.

Warning: The AMD Athlon lacks a pin on two of its corners. The CPU can be inserted into its socket only if all pins are aligned correctly.

Processor, Continued

Next step: sufficient thermal compound is applied to the CPU kernel.

Next in line is the CPU cooler. We used a powerful model by Swiftech, which snugs tightly to the CPU kernel.

Birdґs-eye view of the Swiftech – note the huge Papst cooler.

Memory

Inserting memory modules: The two notches of the memory module must be aligned to the memory slot.

We tighten these two white levers to ensure the memory module stays in place.

Back Plate

Now it is the motherboards turn to be mounted into the casing. Several components have already been inserted into and connected to the board.

Before mounting the motherboard we ensure unnecessary components are removed first, such as power supply and drive brackets.

Back Plate, Continued

Afterwards, we attach the board firmly with screws.

Here is the fully mounted motherboard with CPU, cooler and memory.

Graphics, Soundcard and Network

Now we insert the AGP graphics card.

The “Soundblaster Live” sound card is inserted into a PCI slot.

Another PCI slot accommodates the LAN card.

Front Panel

Here we see the front panel with cables.

The front panel is mounted to the metal casing with screws.

Front Panel, Continued

Our casing offers several differently designed front panels.

Here are the connectors of the front panel and the speakers.

Front Panel, Continued

Cables leading from the front panel are connected to the motherboard.

Much tidier: Only few casings offer a suspender cable.

Floppy, Hard Drive, DVD/CD-ROM

Mounting bracket for FDD and HDD.

Mounting bracket with HDD, but without FDD. Sometimes the HDD has to be mounted first.

Floppy, Hard Drive, DVD/CD-ROM, Continued

Installing bracket with HDD into the PC casing. FDD will be added later.

FDD is attached to the mounting bracket by using metal clips.

Floppy, Hard Drive, DVD/CD-ROM, Continued

The DVD drive can be easily installed. Modern casing designs do away with the need for screws:

An overview of the Tom’s Hardware PCs interior: Now we only have to connect HDD and floppy cables.

Compare these two IDE cables: Above the Ultra DMA/66/100 cable, below the “old” Ultra DMA/33 cable.

Power Supply

All components are mounted and connected – only now do we add the power supply to our system.

A back view of our Tom’s Hardware PC – still without power supply. The back plane for motherboard connectors is a perfect fit.

Power Supply, Continued

Four screws are used to attach the power supply to the casing backside.

Last step: This power supply plug is where the PCs gets the current it requires.

Conclusion: Highspeed Luxury for little money

All set: The interior of the completed PC system. All cables can still be bundled together with cords.

Our Tom’s Hardware PC is a powerful machine for all applications: MPEG 4 encoding, video editing, 3D gaming or office applications – nobody else offers such quality for a mere $995. Putting together the PC requires about 60 minutes; software installation takes about the same time. The motherboard is quite versatile, allowing larger modifications of core voltage and clock multiplier. The next part of our series will discuss the best possible graphics card, dealing with many details. The last part will be about different drives and explain the best configuration, using examples.