Motherboard Questoin

[Tyguy]

Im building a pc for my GF out of spare parts...anyway...i forgot if the connectors i would need for this are included in the case or if I have to buy them...at which case, what do I buy?

I dont remember what these are for but i know they are necessary

 

[Stigmata]

Those are for the power/reset buttons and activity lights on your case. These days motherboards come with a "Q-connector" (at least that's what it was called with my Asus board) which plugs into that plug set and has all the names for each plug nicely labelled along the side. Much better than rifling through the motherboard manual to quadruple-check if you plugged the power button cord in backwards.

I think I said "plug" more in this post than I have in the past month.

 

[Sedako]

The pins you have circled in that pic are for the case power, reset, bios speaker, and HDD light. The cable for those are included with the case. Other cords to connect your optical and hard drives to the motherboard come with with motherboard (IDE and SATA usually).

 

[Tyguy]

ok, i just wanted to make sure i got them when i got the case.....

thanks

 

[Barney Fife]

Oh! so you're putting GF on Gigabyte eh? throw some GTA there too for old-time sake.

PS. Those MB pins you have circled are for your case-panel (Power, Reset, HDD Activity, Etc) connections. Your case (If you're buying one) should come with user's manual, instructing which connection goes to where.

Good Luck.

 

[Tyguy]

My motherboard is IDE, does it matter what case I get? As far as i remember all I needed for IDE was the ide cord going from the cd/dvd to the mobo.

 

[JFry]

When choosing a case the most important thing is to match it to your motherboard. Most likely it will be either ATX or micro-ATX. You can put a micro-ATX board in an ATX case but not the other way around.

 

[Tyguy]

id be using the asus a8n32 mobo, can anyone recommend a case that would fit that nicely for about 50 or less?

edit: i know i spelled the title post wrong, im slow


ok, hows this...so far I have the ASUS A8n32 mobo, couple gigs of ram, cd/dvd drives, a 4400 processor, and a geforce 7900...

wil all that be fine with these?:

http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

and will I have everything i need in terms of wires/connectors?

 

[Tyguy]

just need a simple yes/no before i tell her to buy this shit

 

[No Limit]

The link you gave doesn't work, it goes to a general shopping cart page, you will need to link to the product directly. But as long as you are using an ATX case you will be okay.

 

[Barney Fife]

just need a simple yes/no before i tell her to buy this shit

Her? Oh! GF stood for Girlfriend? And I thought you meant Grandfather. Well, in that case, never mind what I said in my previous post and GTA. :E

Try this case, it's $40.00 cheap and will hold ATX MB.

Good Luck.

 

[Tyguy]

so i built most of the pc, except i dont have that nice little connector for the power button/led's and shit...also i dont yet have a hard drive...however, it DOES boot but only stays powered on for about 10 seconds, then shuts off...is this because the power and led cables may be hooked up funny? It wouldn't have anything to do with not having a hard drive in yet, correct? Do they sell those connectors separately?

1 more question: Im putting in my old 7900 and it requires an additional cable, 4 pronged insert thingy...i have an extra one with 2 3 pronged plugs, where does this plug into?

thanks guys

 

[MRG]

so i built most of the pc, except i dont have that nice little connector for the power button/led's and shit...also i dont yet have a hard drive...however, it DOES boot but only stays powered on for about 10 seconds, then shuts off...is this because the power and led cables may be hooked up funny? It wouldn't have anything to do with not having a hard drive in yet, correct? Do they sell those connectors separately?

1 more question: Im putting in my old 7900 and it requires an additional cable, 4 pronged insert thingy...i have an extra one with 2 3 pronged plugs, where does this plug into?

thanks guys

1) In order for your PC to fully boot & to stay running, You need to have a hard drive installed with Windows installed.

2) If you have the power/reset/HDD/LED switches set wrong on the motherboard of if the switches themselves are bad, then yes, they can turn on your PC & then shortly after turn itself off. Case in point, if you turn ON your PC by pressing the power button and then holding it in, your PC will turn on, try to boot & then when it detects the power button is still making contact, it'll shut the PC back off.

3) What type of power supply do you have in the PC? Each brand & modes have different power connectors for different uses. Some have SLI power & SATA power cables & so don't. Some have extra 3 pin case fan connectors & some don't. If you know the make & model of your power supply, i'll tell you exactly what each of the different plugs are for.

4) Yes, they sell those video card & mobo power plugs at most every PC Electronics store for around $2 to 4$.

Let us know how it goes.

-MRG

 

[Tyguy]

update:

After 9 shots of jose i finally got everything working, i think. I havent plugged it into a monitor yet, but its staying on and everything seems to be working. I found my hold hard drive (IDE ) and i guess its going ok. Hopefully ill be able to install the OS tomorrow and that should give me enough points with the girl to get at least a bj

thanks MRG...ill PM you if i run into any other trouble


EDIT: Im trying to install vista business and it started shutting down again....i removed a stick of 1 G of ram and moved t to the first slot....

this is my power supply
http://reviews.cnet.com/power-equipment/xion-simply-400w-xon/4505-3055_7-32071127.html

so far its working, but if it shuts down again, i have to assume the connectors are messed....ill keep ya updated....

 

[Naph]

that should give me enough points with the girl to get at least a bj

lolwut.

 

[Tyguy]

not sure how to make that any clearer.....

 

[MRG]

That "XION Simply 400W XON-400X 400W Power Supply" does not have the SLI power cables. Only the standard 4-pin power cables for devices like your hard drive, DVD drives, floppy drive & CPU/AGP Video Card power cables. You'll need to buy that SLI power cable adapter that I link to in my PM.

-MRG

 

[Tyguy]

yup, but luckily i had an extra one laying around

just wish i could find a q connector at the local radio shack