Building PC - AMD A8-6600K

March 2014

Here are some photos taken of the recently build PC. It was meant to be a detailed instructions with pictures on how to build your own PC. Unfortunately after the first few steps, the PC building process was more exciting than taking pictures such that I've forgotten to take photos of the later steps.

In any case, from previous building experience, it is the first few steps which are crucial in building the PC.
This illustration would be very similar for most desktop systems.

The system is an extremely budget system.
APU:  AMD A8-6600K  Quad Core, 4.2GHz Max Turbo, 3.9GHz Base, Black Edition
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-DS2, A88XFM2+, 2xDDR3/PCI-E/SATA3/USB3.0/DVI-D/D-SUB/RAID/mATX
RAM:  Kingston HyperX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3
HDD:  Western Digital 3.5"Green2TB WD20EZRX, 64M SATA3
Case:   ThermaltakeVO650B1W3A, Versa-I, USB3.0, TowerCase, 500W PSU

All other parts such as DVD-RW, Wireless Adapter, LCD Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, etc are recycled from the previous system.

1. Where to Screw down the Motherboard.
Previous PC building exercise almost ran into serious trouble when I used the wrong screws for screwing in the base of the Case to the Motherboard.

There is actually a Base Screw, shown in the photo, that needs to screw to the case, then letting the motherboard sit on top of these screws. So this type of screw between the case and the underneath of the motherboard, prevents the two from touching, to avoid a short-circuit

2. Check out exactly where the Back Panel of the case, need to correspond to the Connectors part of the motherboard.

3. Now start by screwing in the Motherboard to the Case. Ensure that the Motherboard is sitting properly on the Base Screws and not touching the Base Case directly.

4. Here is a view of the CPU, just before it is put into the slot. Many Motherboards are designed such that the CPUs will slot into the holes in only one way. So if the CPU does not slot gently into the Motherboard, never apply force on it - otherwise the pins can be damaged.
Once the CPU has dropped into the pin slots, then push down and latch the silver bar.

5. Once the CPU has been attached, the next part would be the Heatsink and Fan, which sits on top of the CPU. Before actually clipping the Heatsink, place it in the right position, and feel the latch to check how it is supposed to go. Play with it first to see how flexible it is, before actually fitting it in.

6. The CPU installation was done first so that the other parts can be installed around it.
Plug all necessary cables from the Case to the Motherboard. This could be fan or drive cabling.

7. Next install the RAM. The modern motherboard has a simple mechanism for installing RAM. Ensure the RAM is the right side, push the RAM slowly into its slot until the latch is activated by the click sound.

8. The other main components were installed, unfortunately with no photos.

So a quick summary of the subsequent steps are:

- install Hard Drive with SATA connectors.

- install DVD-RW optical drives.

- install network adapter

Build Budget PC Less Than $300

June 2013

The date is important in regards to any quote. Recently I thought of upgrading an old PC used for some younger family members. The old PC was running an Athlon XP of early 2000s vintages. The PC itself has got a mixture of component.

The challenge is to build a PC for less that $300. As shown in the table below, this can be done. The prices are quoted from www.msy.com.au in Australian dollars. The actual components have prices listed in the Price column. The Alt column shows the prices of alternative PC components.

The key components that need upgrading are CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Hard Drive and Case. The cost limit is enough to include a CPU Fan. The main design is to have the budget Celeron CPU which has integrated ATI Radeon graphics. The motherboard is chosen to include some legacy PCI slots to use the existing wireless adapter card. The lack of grunt of the Celeron is made up by the whopping 8GB RAM. The old DVD writer can be reused. A modern PC Case would improve the image of this budget PC.

Alt	Price	Components	Model	Details	Link
	$62.00	Motherboard	AsRock B75 Pro3-M	2PCI, USB3, UEFI, Socket 1155, SATA3	http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B75%20Pro3-M/?cat=Specifications
$60.00		Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V	1PCI, USB3, UEFI, Socket 1155, SATA3	http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4151#sp
	$44.00	CPU	Intel Celeron 1610	Ivy Bridge, 22nm, 2.6GHz, 55W, DualCore, 2MB L3, 64bit	http://ark.intel.com/products/71072/
	$67.00	RAM	8G Kit 1600 Patriot-S	DDR3, 2-sticks
	$69.00	Hard Drive	WD Green EZRX 1TB	3.5" SATA internal
$20.00		CPU Fan	Thermaltake Contact 16	2 copper pipes, 100W	http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001805
$22.00		CPU Fan	CoolerMaster Hyper TX3 EVO	3 copper pipes	http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/cooling/cpu-air-cooler/hyper-tx3-evo.html
	$15.00	CPU Fan	DeepCool Gammaxx200	2 copper pipes, 95W	http://www.deepcool-us.com/Product/GAMMAXX200/
	$43.00	Case and PSU	Generic	ATX
	$0.00	Wireless Adapter	Use existing PCI wireless adapter
	$0.00	DVD RW	Use existing
Total	$  300.00