Every year Intel manages to come up with new desktop technology. That means a new type of processor plus all the associated bits and pieces required to make it work – processor, socket size, chipset, motherboard, CPU fan, so when upgrading to the latest Intel technology you are essentially buying a new computer. With AMD they've gone down a much more wholesome route where each new processor can be dropped into your existing motherboard (usually), but still, Intel drive the technology and in forcing the creation of new motherboards it allows other technologies to advance along with it. So, we have the latest PCI Express slots, the latest LAN and audio architectures, but they are also quick to lose older technologies like floppy drive support and IDE drive support forcing you to buy new and move on. The Core i5 technology is no exception and along with the processor I have a brand new motherboard, new CPU cooler and I've picked up some huge hard drives to put everything on. If you are upgrading your existing system then be aware that some things may not be transferable, your PSU might not have the right connectors, your video card might be the older AGP type and your hard drives or optical drive might be IDE/PATA. For this article i'm building from scratch and so i'll be getting mostly new parts.

So what did I go for?

Parts list:

CPU: Intel Core i5 750 2.67GHz – This is the entry level and currently only Core i5 processor. It's “i5” because it doesn't have Hyperthreading like its big brother the Core i7 does. Hyperthreading is basically the idea of having another 4 virtual cores which means it handles threads more efficiently – it's a good idea and seems to work this time around (previously attempts seem to do more harm than good) but it comes at a cost. The Core i5 750 is certainly the best value for money processor in the new Intel lineup – just the job.



Motherboard: Intel DP55WG  – This is where you'll find the biggest variation between system builders – their choice of motherboard. I always look at Intel first, my theory being that using a processor and a motherboard by the same manufacturer is going to give me the most likely working and stable scenario. With the original Core i7 boards, based on the X58 chipset, Intel made a mistake in their RAM configuration and slot layout and so for the first time I favoured a non-Intel board, however, for the Core i5 they've made better choices and so i've come back to Intel. The DP55WG is a mid range board, there's a similar board in their “Extreme” range but it doesn't appear to offer anything extra that I need, in fact most of it is geared towards running multiple video cards for gaming which, although a factor, is not the main focus of this machine. What I need is a good range of slots for audio and DSP cards and all the right sort of connections to make that happen – the DP55WG has all of that at a much more attractive price than the Extreme DP55KG.

Cooler: Arctic Freezer Pro 2 - it's a neat little cooler that's a great price and does a great job. Cools well and isn't too loud as long as the speed is restricted. There are better coolers – the best in terms of noise in my opinion being the ones from Noctua (http://www.noctua.at), but you're looking at £50-60. I'm trying to keep the price down on this system and so at around £20 this will do the job.




RAM: Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz - I love Corsair RAM, they just seem to do a really good job of it. It looks good, got great heatsinks, good support and performs well. I'm planing to install 8GB in total and so I got two lots of 4GB (2x2GB) packs. Unfortunately one pair was faulty – gave all sorts of crashes and resets while trying to install Windows so i'll send those back – it happens from time to time, no biggy, and I still have the other pair so i'm not stuck – i'll add the replacements later. The basic rule with RAM is to get the right ones for your motherboard – check the spec and buy accordingly.

PSU: Zalman 600W – It's worth getting a good power supply (i'm using my existing one). All sorts of weird stability issues can come from bad power supplies and it's the last thing you suspect if you machine is turning on ok. What size PSU to have used to be a bit of mystery but these days there's ways of working it out to ensure you have all the power you need and are not spending more than you need. I really like Corsair PSU's (not just because they match the RAM) and they do a decent range of very quiet ones, plus they have a power calculator on their site which will tell you which one you need – nice. http://www.corsair.com – it suggests anything from a 450W and above for this build.

Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS – I'm a bit of a gamer so I like to use a decent video card but I don't have the money for the current generation so i'll transfer my old 8800 GTS across from my current machine – it's still got some life in it. The biggest disadvantage with a high powered video card is that it requires cooling and that means a fan – these are usually quite noisy, although some manufacturers do at least try to keep it down. If you get a relatively simple graphics card like the ATI HD4350 or Nvidia G210 you should be able to find them without any fans at all and it will still be capable of dual screen output and decent performance.

Hard Drives: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB – I've been using Samsung Spinpoint drives for about a year and have been very happy with the performance and noise levels. Drives have actually become one of the loudest components in a system but by using a good case and perhaps some anti-vibration caddies or enclosures you can reduce the noise to almost nothing.

Case: Coolermaster Cosmos – It's enormous, and so has great air flow, but it also lined with acoustic material to reduce the noise – it does a good job and is probably way over the top. It's height is also handy because the optical drive and USB ports are easily accessible with it standing on the floor under my desk. It's easy to skimp on the case but it's worth considering a decent one because it will do a better job at cooling the system and so reduces the noise. Spending over £60 will get you a good case, spend over £150 to get a great case. Personally i'm well over the whole flashing lights or looking like an alien thing, I just want good, functional, clean lines. My old computer is being punted into my dusty old Carillon case for safe keeping.

Noise

I've mentioned noise quite a bit because for me, as a musician, it's a really important factor. I do a lot of local tech support for people and the loudness of most people's computers is amazing. I don't know how they can stand to be in such a noise polluted environment – no one should have to suffer that, however, few people are aware that it doesn't have to be that way. It takes a small investment in buying the right case, the right cooler and the right power supply to bring the noise levels down to a purr - but worth every penny. You can go further with drive craddles as I mentioned or using acoustic material on the sides of the case – everything helps. Watercooling is often brought up at this point but I don't really see this as a noise reduction option because the water pumps can be noisy and you still have a radiator to cool which usually means using fans anyway. Watercooling is best kept for people who want to radically overclock their systems and need the exceptional cooling that liquid based systems can provide.

The best source of quiet stuff for your PC is here -http://www.quietpc.com

Putting it all together.

Be methodical, give yourself some time, get a good philips head screwdriver, a saucer for the screws, a light or torch and a big bucket load of patience.

I hope the images will help a bit so let's try to do this step by step:

1. The case will come with the screws and risers you need for mounting the motherboard. I would take off both sides and lie the case down on its side wherever you can comfortably work with it.











2. If you are using quite a small case then you might need to screw in the power supply first.




3. Before installing the motherboard check the instructions on your CPU cooler – it may require that a bracket goes underneath the motherboard that will need to be installed before you screw the board down. That might also require the CPU to be put in first as these brackets can often get in the way of the socket lever thingy.
   




4. Find the aluminium I/O backplate in the motherboard box and fit it the right way round into the gap at the back of the case.











5. Use the motherboard as a guide to where to put the risers inside the case. If a riser is placed where there's no corresponding hole on the motherboard you might short the board out – and it could be in a fizz-bang-smoke kind of way. Risers should be finger tight.
   




6. Once the risers are in carefully jiggle the motherboard into place, making sure the various ports poke through the I/O backplate and the holes line up with the risers.




7. Screw the motherboard down with the supplied screws firmly but dont over tighten – if a screw doesn't appear to be going in don't force it, take it out and try again or you'll mess up the brass riser and have to take the board out to replace it.




8. Screw in the PSU if you haven't already and plug it into the wall, but leave the switch off. This will ensure it's earthed and help prevent static which can harm components.




9. Plug the big 24pin connector into the motherboard and the 4 or 8 pin 12v connector to the socket near the CPU socket. You can't get these wrong because they are designed to fit the right way round. It's good to get these connected first for earthing purposes.











10. Make sure you are static free – to be honest i've never fried anything with static electricity in all my years building computers. Ideally you should use an anti-static wristband or something but as long as you're not wearing nylon, you've touched the metal of the case and you are not rubbing a balloon on your head you should be fine. Any doubts then touch a radiator or something earthed to lose any charge.
    




11. Take the protective plastic thing off the CPU socket – be careful of the pins. Open the socket by unhooking the weird arm thingy and drop in the processor making sure it's the right way round – it can only go in one way properly and then gently secure it with the weird arm hooking it back into place.




12. Install the RAM – be careful not to touch the gold bits. The RAM has a notch in it which matches up with the slot on the board. Make sure it's round the right way and push firmly in with your thumbs on either end. You should be using two identical sticks as it's dual channel and they need to go into “slot0” of banks A and B, so on this board they go into the alternate blue slots – check the motherboard manual to make sure.











13. Install the CPU cooler. Your cooler should come with everything you need including either a little tube of thermal paste of some already stuck in the underside of the cooler – the paste ensures the best connection between CPU and cooler for most efficient cooling. Follow the instructions to install it properly making note of the direction of air flow and which way round your fans are. Normally you'd aim to push air through the heatsink and out the back of the case. If you have to manually put on the thermal paste don't worry too much about spreading it around as that will happen anyway when the CPU meets the cooler.
    




14. Install the graphics card into the first long PCI Express slot nearest the CPU – screw it in and connect your monitor.
    




15. Connect up one hard drive onto which you'll install windows and plug it into SATA port 0 (or port 1 if it starts at 1 rather than 0). If you plan to connect other drives then leave those until later just to keep things simple.
    











16. Connect up the optical drive – this will of course have to be at least a DVD drive and SATA as this board doesn't have an IDE PATA socket. Connect it to the last SATA port.
    




17. Connect up the front panel power switch, power light, hard drive LED and reset switch.
    











18. Connect up any other front panel bits like USB ports or firewire ports and any case fans.
    




19. Leave the case open and on its side for now as you might need to check cables and connections if it doesn't work first time and you'll may also have other cards or drives to fit later as well.











20. Turn the power supply switch on at the back and you should fine that a little LED lights up on the board – not all motherboards do this but it is quite common and very comforting.




21. When you're ready, press the power button.
    

Hopefully your computer will spring to life – the fans in the PSU and CPU cooler should start up and  you'll be greeted with at least a “beep” and a signal being passed to the monitor. If you get lots of beeps then there's probably a problem and the number of beeps will give you an indication of where the problem lies – check your motherboard manual for more info. If you get nothing on screen then try the other port if it has two or turn off and reseat. Assuming everything goes well it's time to get into the BIOS.

BIOS Fiddling

All motherboards have a basic in/out setup program or BIOS that allow you alter various settings such as drive boot order, turning on-board devices on or off, and check to see that all the bits of hardware attached to the board are being detected correctly. In a lot of cases there's nothing to do here but it's worth checking a couple of settings just to be sure so that you don't encounter problems down the line.

With the DP55WG (and any other Intel board) you get into the BIOS by pressing the F2 key when the Intel splash screen comes up. With nearly every other motherboard you press the “Del” key to enter the BIOS when the system first starts or when the manufacturers splash screen comes up.

You use the arrows keys to navigate and the enter key to select things and the +- buttons to change things. There are three main things to check. Firstly the time – make sure it's right. Secondly set the Boot Order – the order in which the motherboard will check the drives for something to boot from. When installing Windows from a DVD we want the motherboard to check the optical drive first, so set that as the first drive with the hard drive set as the second. Finally as this is Windows 7 we want to set the SATA drive mode as AHCI which is the latest mode for hard drives and handles resources much better than previous modes. The blue BIOS screens can look a bit daunting but they really are simpler than they first appear. Once you've made those adjustments put your Windows 7 disk into the optical drive and press F10 to save and exit (you motherboard may use a different key).



Sometimes the BIOS needs to be updated – this can be a quite different procedure for different boards so I won't go into it here. Only look into updating if your CPU is not listed as expected or the system crashes a lot during installation. If everything appears to be working ok then just go with it :)

Your system is built and ready for Windows. In part three we'll install Windows 7 and look at what's new.