System Requirements

In order to store more than 60 minutes of video data on a standard 650-MB CD disc and fully benefit from the high quality video data from the original DV (digital-video) source, MPEG-1 compression was used in a higher-quality setting than standard VideoCD. Any system with a 166-MHz (or faster) Pentium-MMX should be easily capable of playing back this video at its highest quality using Windows/95 (Second Edition) or later, with Windows Media Player 6.4 (or later), or an equivalent combination of operating system and software.
 
 

Video Content

This video presentation covers material similar to that covered in our intensive 3-day hands-on seminars on PC Upgrading and Troubleshooting, except that in this video we focus primarily on the assembly process - with a few tips and tricks described along the way. The video is broken up into the seven segments listed next, so you can return to each of the areas separately for review at any time. You can run each of these segments simply by loading them into your media player, or by viewing this file with a web browser and selecting the highlighted URL found at the beginning of each segment description.

1) Safety, ESD and Proper Tools
This segment describes some of the mistaken notions of ESD (Electro-Static Discharge), as well as giving a few tips on the tools and procedures that should be used when assembling a PC.

2) Case and Power Supply

Here you can see a few tips on disassembling a couple of typical case styles. The cases used in this video are from Inwin and Enlight, two of the best suppliers of generic PC cases in the industry. Keep in mind that for highest reliability, most case/power supply combinations of such low cost would benefit from the installation of a replacement highest-quality power supply, such as the Astec or PC Power and Cooling power supplies.

3) Motherboard Tour

The "economy" motherboard used in the video was selected primarily to show a variety of motherboard and CPU types in the video. If you can benefit from the small size and low power requirements of the microATX form factor, keep in mind that upgradability will be more limited than a standard ATX system and so you should select a motherboard that has more devices integrated onto the motherboard. This will actually make those items more reliable (no chance of a loose connection between a card and a card slot) but difficult to upgrade, and any failure of those integrated devices may require the replacement of the entire motherboard.

The "mid-level" motherboard shown in the video is the Abit KT7 motherboard, an excellent motherboard designed for the Athlon K7 CPUs. In addition, the KT7-RAID version was selected at an additional cost of $15 in order to get the on-board IDE-RAID feature, which can be advantageous for systems that need a high data-throughput to and from any mass-storage devices. If even higher throughput is desired, an even better (but much more costly) solution would be to add a SCSI-based RAID controller. Other manufacturers of high-quality motherboards include Asus-Tek and Gigabyte.

4) CPU Heatsink Installation

This could be the most important segment of the video. If you are using the latest and most powerful CPUs of today, you will need to become familiar with special heatsink and fan attachment requirements to avoid damaging the processor, or at the very least to ensure proper operating temperatures. Both the Intel PPGA370 and Athlon Socket462 types of processors are shown in this video, along with the special problems these models can encounter.

5) Motherboard Installation

Common methods used to install the motherboard into the case are shown, as well as the details of the proper way to attach the front panel switches and LEDs. Detailed motherboard configuration information is given in the book; most recent-design motherboards will automatically determine the proper configuration for most CPUs.

6) POST (Power-On Self-Test): Running the System for the First Time

Although most people will want to assemble a new system with all the pieces all at once, a more methodical process is recommended (especially when troubleshooting a system that is not working correctly). In this segment we build a working system up one step at a time, both to demonstrate the kinds of error messages you may see, and to avoid the need for troubleshooting later. Every step along the way to building your own PC has clues for various things that can go wrong, and several of these are demonstrated in the video as well as detailed in the book. This segment ends with the final step of video card installation to be completed next.

7) Floppy Drive / Hard Drive Installation

After a video card has been installed (while being sure to use proper ESD procedures!), the POST should continue with additional messages on the monitor. After the video, the floppy drive will be the next component to be added to any system, in order to allow the use of a test boot diskette or to run further diagnostic programs. The hard drive would then be the next component to add, and this segment goes into installation details of the power cables and signal cables in addition to the actual physical installation process for both the floppy drive and the hard drive.
 
 

This completes the initial hardware installation, and makes the system ready for the installation of operating system software and optional hardware. Additional standard devices such as an internal modem, network card, sound card and others would then be added, usually finishing with non-standard devices such as the IEEE-1394 (Fire-Wire) card, SCSI host adapters, etc.
 
 

The Equipment

In order to show you a variety of system features, we will actually be looking at two types of typical systems in the video, ATX and microATX. The full-size AT and "baby-AT" are mentioned but should generally not be considered for a new system, as the ATX form factor has overwhelming advantages, which are detailed in the book.
 

The first system can be considered an "economy" system, and yet it is still powerful enough for most home and business applications at a very reasonable cost of less than $400. For this video, a MicroATX case was chosen primarily to show the different case styles available; it is also more compact and slightly lower cost, but does not have as much room or power for many options. The slot-1 motherboard with the 466-MHz PPGA370 Celeron processor was primarily chosen to show various processor types in the video, but is also a reasonable choice for the user who wants a genuine Intel processor at a low cost.

1. Older motherboard – cheaper, but limited to slower processors.
2. Slower CPU – but at 466 MHz, still fast enough
3. Smaller hard drive – at 10 GB, still big enough for most situations
4. Standard floppy and CDROM

The more advanced system shown in the video uses components that are near top of the line, which provides for an extremely capable and powerful system at a reasonable cost. This system was actually used to import the raw digital-video data from the DV cameras over a Fire-Wire interface, and then was used to assemble, edit and render the MPEG files you see on this CD, as well as writing the CD masters. To meet these requirements, I’ve selected an advanced combination of components including

1. A larger standard-sized ATX case, which can hold more special-purpose cards for maximum upgradability and a strong enough power supply to run even the fastest processor
2. A 1000-MHz Athlon CPU, not the absolute fastest CPU but excellent performance at a reasonable cost
3. A motherboard with a built-in RAID array controller that can handle up to 4 ATA-100 hard drives at 4 times the speed of a single ATA-100 drive
4. A firewire I/O card that can take input directly from a digital video camera
5. And a CDROM Writer to actually write the CDROM.

Of course, your dream system may cost considerably more. While the average business user may only need a $30 video card, the "Gamer" who wants the best in 3D game experience may opt for the latest video card costing $250 or more. On the other hand, the business user may spend $500 on a drive subsystem (such as a SCSI host adapter and SCSI drives) for the higher data-storage performance needed by a fileserver, while the gamer system may not need anything more than a standard IDE drive. A third example may be the engineer, architect or stock analyst that needs the fastest possible CPU to calculate large numbers of complex equations, and may not need a large or fast hard drive, or the latest 3D video and sound cards.

So, in the final analysis, your dream system is determined more by the application and software requirements than by the fastest hard drive or CPU, unless you have matched it for your application.

For some of the best prices on PC components for your dream system at the lowest possible price, check with Pricewatch, and for the latest news and information on new developments in the PC industry, check  the PC Tech Reference website.
 

John Rourke
10 November 2000
 

About the Author:
John Rourke is a full time PC engineering technician and trainer, designing and manufacturing PC and LAN hardware troubleshooting tools through Allied Computer Research, including the AlertCard Filesaver Diagnostic Card, POSTPlus System Boot Diagnostic Card, and the Discovery Card (named to Best 100 Diagnostic Products in 1995 by Windows Magazine). John is also a contracted instructor for Global Knowledge and has conducted seminars across the United States, Canada and the UK in the areas of PC Upgrading and Troubleshooting (Intro and Advanced), Advanced DOS Data Recovery, Memory Management For DOS and Windows, as well as other courses preparing for A+ and Network+ certification. He can be reached via email at john@allied-computer.com