DFI 590 AM2 Build advise.

[Jarod888]

Ok I have made all my purchases, and I have everything ready to be put together.
System will be as follows:
DFI LANPARTY UT NF590 SLI-M2R/G AM2
AMD 6400+ Black Edition
OCZ DDR2 800 PC2 6400 LanParty optimized memory
XFI Fatality sound card, (being pulled from the current system)
EVGA 640-P2-N827-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
Raptor X 150 gig HD.
LiteOn 20 IDE DVD burner
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750

There will be other harddrives and such added after the system is sound, but this is the basic build.

How should I go about putting it all together, what tests should I run and if I need to update the bios how can I with out a floppy.
Does anyone have a step by step guide to putting this altogether, and also any guides as to what to set in the bios. I will not be overclocking so any guide to that effect won't be all that helpful. I have built many computers before, but I have always used ASUS boards and they have been pretty much plug and play, no real issues.
I am slightly less confident of my abilities when building a DFI setup because of all the tweaking that seems to be required.

Also should I build everything outside of the box and then put it in when it is running well. I have never had a case with a MB tray and now that I have one with a MB tray, I would like to see if it makes everything easier.

Also where is the best place to make sure I have all the appropriate drivers and such, I have my current computer up and running so I can burn everything to cd before I start.
Also do you all think it is worth it to make up a build cd, by extracting XP off of my original cd and adding sp2, and all the hot fixes to it plus, adding in a folder of all relevant apps that I will need, and if you all think that is a good idea, can someone point me to a site that shows you how to incorporate hot fixes into a bootable cd. Thanks!!

 

[lawrence131]

If you have built many computers before this one will be no exception. Why you chose that motherboard/cpu combo when you don't plan to overclock or tweak anything is a mystery to me, as well as not using the SLI. A midgrade P35 board with a Q6600 or a higher end core 2 duo could be had for the same price, or a much cheaper AM2 board if you don't plan to tweak and want to stay AMD. The only BIOS settings you should need to change are the memory timings and voltages since the SPD may default to lower timings to allow for initial boot. The CPU should autodetect at the proper speed. After everything is done run CPU-Z to verify that the CPU/RAM is running at proper speeds, if not then you may need to adjust memory dividers in BIOS.

mobo/video drivers can be found at Nvidia.com or from the manufacture website, Nvidia typically has newer drivers listed before the websites update theirs.

The physical build, do it however you want. I don't typically waste time building it outside the case when using brand new, quality components it works first time you fire it up the vast majority of the time. XP install process is always easier using a copy already with SP2 integrated - if yours doesn't have SP2 already it's a pretty old CD The hassle of slipstreaming SP2 and all the new updates to make a new install CD is technically more difficult than a simple system build so I wouldn't do that if your having concerns about the difficulty of building this system.

 

[SippieCup]

If you have built many computers before this one will be no exception. Why you chose that motherboard/cpu combo when you don't plan to overclock or tweak anything is a mystery to me, as well as not using the SLI. A midgrade P35 board with a Q6600 or a higher end core 2 duo could be had for the same price, or a much cheaper AM2 board if you don't plan to tweak and want to stay AMD. The only BIOS settings you should need to change are the memory timings and voltages since the SPD may default to lower timings to allow for initial boot. The CPU should autodetect at the proper speed. After everything is done run CPU-Z to verify that the CPU/RAM is running at proper speeds, if not then you may need to adjust memory dividers in BIOS.

mobo/video drivers can be found at Nvidia.com or from the manufacture website, Nvidia typically has newer drivers listed before the websites update theirs.

The physical build, do it however you want. I don't typically waste time building it outside the case when using brand new, quality components it works first time you fire it up the vast majority of the time. XP install process is always easier using a copy already with SP2 integrated - if yours doesn't have SP2 already it's a pretty old CD The hassle of slipstreaming SP2 and all the new updates to make a new install CD is technically more difficult than a simple system build so I wouldn't do that if your having concerns about the difficulty of building this system.

well, i believe you should always nlite windows anyway in order for it to run well, (i only want windows running on less than 100MB of ram)

he might as well just do that and when he does, intergrate sp2 into it

 

[lawrence131]

well, i believe you should always nlite windows anyway in order for it to run well, (i only want windows running on less than 100MB of ram)

he might as well just do that and when he does, intergrate sp2 into it

I completely agree, but for someone who is asking for help on how to physically put the parts together, where to find drivers for very common components, and how to flash a BIOS, properly making a slipstreamed XP install disk with SP2 and all the hotfixes adds one more source of possibly screwing up For someone who will be doing installs on a somewhat frequent basis, having a nice custom XP install CD is a must though, I would agree - at least with SP2 if nothing else.

To the OP, if you're interested in making a more up-to-date copy of your install CD, just look at the guides from Nlite. I personally don't bother with all the hotfixes as long as SP2 is integrated - the rest are quickly updated with Windows Update after your computer is up and running.

 

[Jarod888]

I already made my new nlite xp version, and integrated all the hotfixxes and removed the things I didn't want. Slipstreaming is fairly simple, I have done that many a time.
I just have never updated a bios. I guess I never saw the need to. Anyways thanks for the help.
I was more interested in guides that walked you through memtest, as I have never used that before either.
I know where the components go, and I can find drivers, I was really only looking for someone that had built this specific build who could provide pointers.

I just re-read my original post and it is very poorly worded, I was in a hurry and was just typing instead of thinking. The guides I was referring to in my original post, were more specific to this board, memory timings and such.
Like I said before the past 3 builds I have done have been Asus, and other than one little nonbooting issue; fixed by changing the location of the memory, I have never had to set timings or anything. I just plugged everything in and installed Windows.
The only reason I even had to go into the bios was to set the boot order. I wanted some more specific info on this board about what all the settings do and what the best NON-OVERCLOCKING settings are. Thanks again to the people who posted. I also realized that this should have been posted in the MB section rather than the processor section, oh well, there goes to being in a hurry.