Hello Ben, Thanks much for your e-mail. I have a spair pc lying around to test with so I shall definitely try your advice. And ask questions if the need arises. Again thanks for the mail. Regards, ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ben Mustill-Rose" <ben@benmr.com> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Friday, November 02, 2012 1:21 AM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Intel CPUs easier or harder?
Hi,
1: Some cases actually have these preinstalled so it won't always be an issue. Even if they don't come installed, there are holes that have been added to the motherboard tray for you to screw them in to, so it's not like you're having to make them yourself and just guess where abouts they should be. I usually count the number of holes that the motherboard has (Usually 6 or 9 but this will vary depending on size) and then try and map their locations to the holes on the motherboard tray. To make sure the board is aligned correctly, I put it roughly in place with both hands and then whilst keeping it in place with one hand feel if the ports are lined up with their holes on the backplate of the case. If they do line up then the board will be lined up enough that you can start to screw it in place and any slight missalignment will sort itsself out as the board is secured in place. Some tips about screwing motherboards down:
I usually make sure the first 2 screws I install are diagonal to each other - E.G. one top left and another bottom right. This way if they both go in without any problems, you can be fairly sure the board is aligned correctly. If you have had to install the standoffs yourself, don't screw any of the screws completely in place until you've made sure that you've installed the standoffs correctly. If there is a stand off where there isn't a screw hole this could cause a short. Motherboards should never be screwed in overly tightly; obviously you're going to want to tighten the screws enough that they won't come loose and short something out, but don't over do it. Once you can't turn your screwdriver without making an effort the screw is tight enough. If you find that you're screwing a screw in and it's not getting any tighter, you are either using too smaller screw, screwing into empty space - E.G. no standoff or the standoff is moving with the screw which shouldn't be happening. In this situation, you'll need to remove the board from the case, hold the standoff in place with some pliers or something and then unscrew the screw which should free the standoff.
2: People get really fussy about how to apply compound; heres a fairly easy way to do it that works really well:
Clean any existing compound off the CPU. You're meant to use rubbing alcohol but I find that any spirit such as Jack Daniels works well enough if you're willing to waste some on cleaning a CPU. Install the CPU in the socket and secure it in place. Take yourcompound and make sure the plundger is ready - E.G. it should be extended as much as possible and posician it just above and in the center of the CPU. Start to push down on the plundger. Don't push it all the way down unless there is only a small amount of compound left. This next bit can get a bit messy, but you need to confirm that compound has actually come out of the serindge. After you've done a few builds you'll be able to tell by gentley touching the surface of the CPU with the end of the serindge, but to start off with you'll have to use a finger. Only touch the compound very lightly; you don't want to get it dirty and idealy you don't want to get your fingers / equipment sticky although this is somewhat inevitable. Try to just skim the top of the compound with your finger if possible; you only need a couple of grains of rice worth if you know what I mean. Next install the CPU cooler.
Something that blind people and some sighted people have trouble with is spreading the compound out evenly. The great thing about my method is that you're not worrying about that; you're relying on the cooler to spread it for you. Because a correctly installed cooler will apply an equal amount of pressure to every part of the CPU, the little drop of compound that we've installed in the middle will be squashed so much that it will be distributed perfectly evenly over the CPU by the cooler. I can confirm 100% that this works; I've removed coolers in the past after a day or 2 to make sure everythings ok and the results have been perfect.
3:
I posted about this earlier today; let me know if theres anything I haven't covered.
Cheers, Ben.
On 11/1/12, Zameer Mahomed <core7xx@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello,
Concerning this topic, I'd like to ask the following 2 questions please: 1. For those of you building these pc's are you successful in applying thermal compound? and if so how do you do it? I know that for brand-new processors with heatsyncs the compound is pre-applied but have anyone of you applied the compound by yourselves before? 2. When inserting the motherboard in to a case for the first time, stand-off
screws have to be screwed in to the case first. How do you do this, and still ensure that the motherboard will align perfectly with the stand-off screws before putting the motherboard, and then screwing the motherboard to
the case?
Sorry for all the questions, but these are some of the problems I face when
building a pc, so I have to get sighted help for the following: 1. installing the stand-off's and the motherboard 2. If re-applying compound to the processor otherwise if brand-new then its
ok. 3. Connecting the led's as well as the power and reset cables.
thanks much people, I'd really like to hear your answers.
Kind Regards, ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ben Mustill-Rose" <ben@benmr.com> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Friday, November 02, 2012 12:06 AM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Intel CPUs easier or harder?
Sorry for the double post, but before I was able to build myself, I used to get my mum to build systems for me and she never broke a CPU. If someone like her (VI and with very little hardware knolige) is able to do it, I really don't see why so many fully sighted people find it hard.
On 11/1/12, Ben Mustill-Rose <ben@benmr.com> wrote:
Hi,
It's very subjective really. I know that's not helpfull at all but I feel it really does depend on how often you've done it; I've done both and I wouldn't really say that ones harder than the other. If as you say we assume that the people who are saying it's hard are sighted, I have to wonder just how good they are at building computers for it to be a problem for them. I'm pretty sure one corner of the cpu is color coded or different visually in such a way that it's obvious which way round it's meant to go, so I really find it hard to understand why lining up a cpu with a socket and gentely placing it in is so hard for them. When you secure the cpu in place with the leaver you do hear a bit of a crunch sound which can be a bit worrying, but theres a cover that flips down around the edges of the socket before you do this and if you've installed it incorrectly (Which you can't do), the cover just won't sit smooth with the rest of the board.
My gut feeling is that which ever cpu you buy there are going to be pins involved so theres always going to be a chance that something gets bent. I'd probably look at what you want to do on the system and then buy the CPU that suits your intended uses best.
Cheers, Ben.
On 11/1/12, John G. Heim <jheim@math.wisc.edu> wrote:
The last time I built a PC, I got an AMD CPU partially because I had read lots of messages from people (presumably sighted people) talking about how they damaged their mobo trying to install an Intel CPU. Apparently, the pins are on the mobo. You close the lever and the pins are inserted into the CPU. But apparently, its easy to mess that up. That scared me considerably. Its pretty easy to bend the pins on an AMD CPU but that can be fairly easily fixed. Although you'd probably need someone who can see to do it.
Comments?
I am currently shopping for a mobo and CPU. I just built a PC about a year ago but I gave it to my wife when hers crashed. I came pretty close to buying a quad-core Intel CPU and Asus mobo. I kind of chickened out at the last minute. Also, with 16Gb of RaM it would have been $350. I don't know if I need to spend that much. I'm thinking I might end up going with components similar to what I bought a year ago, quad-core AMD CPU, Asus mobo, 8Gb RAM.
_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins
_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins
_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins
_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins