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| Home >> Index Pages >> Informational Pages >> Discount Computer Systems >> News >> Collection of Essays from Scholarship 2006 >> |
Eshcole Peets- By Eshcole Peets My whole life has been dedicated to technology and especially the kind which lies in computers. My best friend and I share the same passion for computers. One day I came to him with my computer and the parts we were going to use to give it its first upgrade. It was a very fun experience! First, we laid the computer case on its side. It's better to have the case in this position when upgrading it so nothing falls out when we unscrew or unplug it. I've had many moments when I tried to switch out a part in my case while it was upright and the screw or the part fell out from the case or dropped into a difficult area in the case. Next, we rubbed our hands all over the inside of the case. We did this so the aluminum case would help get the static out of our hands because static can cause damage to a circuit board that can't be seen or heard. Problems due to static can show themselves immediately when we push the power button or weeks later due to constant work. Rubbing our hands on the case lowered the chances of this problem. Then, we stripped the case clean. This basically means we took all the old parts out of the case, even the ones that were not being replaced. It's much easier to install parts into an empty case that's free of obstructions like hanging wires and bulky fans. With the case completely bare, we started installing the new parts. The motherboard was obviously the first thing we installed simply because the whole computer is built around it. We used the gold screws that came with the board to install it. Most techs know that this is not necessary because most computer cases have specific places made in the case just to place the motherboard on and screw it down. However, my friend and I know that if ever the motherboard comes in contact with the case panel while it's in operation, it could short the motherboard out and permanently damage it. For this reason, we used the gold screws to give the motherboard a bit more lift off its area in the case so as to avoid this problem. Now that we had the motherboard in, we were ready to put the processor (CPU) in. When I picture the computer as a human body, I always think of the processor as the heart. All the data of the computer goes into the processor and then splits into its separate paths. The processor requires that ample thermal paste and a good fan be placed properly on top of it before turning on the computer. Thermal paste is used so that heat can transfer quickly and efficiently to the CPU fan heatsink. The heatsink will then transfer the heat up and through the CPU fan. If the airflow in the case is good, then the heat that's now in the case will be sucked out through the case fan. Now that the processor was in place, we decided to go ahead and install the video card and memory. The memory is actually a thin stick (circuit board) with memory chips on it that store and dump information constantly. Usually 2 sticks of 512MB or higher is plenty of memory for most computers. The video card is a graphic circuit board that, like the memory, fits into its own slot on the motherboard. Today, there are currently 2 types of video cards made by several different vendors, AGP and PCI-E. If the wrong type of video card is placed into the motherboard, the motherboard will not boot (turn on). Most of them will actually make a loud beeping noise when either the video card or memory is not seated properly on the board. The board my friend and I were working with was an AGP motherboard, so the video card was indeed an AGP type. Once we got the video card and the memory installed, we installed the CD drives and hard drives. Without much thought, we put the hard drives in first. We decided this because it was the easiest choice. In a lot of computer cases, the drive bays are at the front of the case aligned from top to bottom. The number of drive bays simply depends on the size and builder of the case. Usually, the hard drives are on the bottom closest to the motherboard so the IDE cables used to connect the hard drives never have stress on them. Once the hard drives were in, we placed the CD drives into place. Then we installed the power supply. Most people install the power supply right after or before they put the motherboard in. However, we knew that it didn't matter which way we did it as long as it was installed at some point. We hooked up the power cables to all the drives and moved on. Finally, we hooked all the IDE cables up and made sure they were routed in a clean way so, not to cause too much clutter and hinder the airflow. If the airflow is blocked in anyway, it will affect the cooling of the case and the processor. These are two things that should never run hot. I still remember the feeling when I set the computer up and turned on the power. It was so much faster than before. Of course, my friend and I immediately started installing the software on it. Then we started installing games and getting ready for another extended night of network gaming. References: | Scholarship 2006 Winners and Participants | Related Items: | Jason Kao | Ryan Dodge | Richard Evans | Alex Rosolowsky | Eryn Cangi | Andrew W. Leonard | Feleg Tsegaye | Maria Khan | Pierce Schiller | Hang Zhang | Manuel Sosa | Jay Xiao | Tomasz Zarebczan | Zaphod Beeblebrox | Brian Gruening | Ross Solomon | Kyle Romero | Eshcole Peets | Ruth Maynie | Michael Schatte | |
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