Building first PC, need a little help

[demetrics]

I am still new to this forum, but I really appreciate all the help I have been getting.
I have some questions.

1.I am building my first PC, and I really don't want to mess up. I have bought the ANTEC 480W TRUE BLUE Powersupply. Is this a really good PSU? My research shows that ANTEC is one of the best. What do I set my PSU to. 115V or 230V? Does the PSU automatically do this part by itself. I have heard that if I set the Voltage wrong I could destroy my mother board.

2.I have been told that I should burn in my computer. Where would I go to get the Burnin Software? Is it free? When do I burn it in, after I install my OS and apps or before?

3.Finally, are there any tips or anything that will help a first time builder. Even if it is something u would assume I would know I would still appreciate the advice.

Thanks

 

[gwai lo]

That psu is decent, should get the job done. You set the voltage depending on your area. I know in the US it's 110 volts..and yes you can fry something if you don't set it correctly.

Burning in your hardware is just testing it for a couple days to check for bad hardware or something. Not sure of any free ones.

The only advice i have is to learn to read the manuals and learn to use google.

Good luck

 

[Anarchonixx]

1.That'll do more than fine. No need to worrry about that at all. 115v is what you want if you're in the US. 230 is for European countries, not sure where else.

2.Burning in your computer is not neccesary at all. Other than running benchmarks (3dmark 2001, etc), memory tests (memtest86), and other stress tests (prime95), you don't need much else. Even these aren't 100% neccesary, but it's nice to run these to see how stable your system is. (some might consider this to be "burning in", but I wouldn't go that far).


3.Just don't freak out when/if it doesn't work. The only semi-tricky part is the thermal grease application (if you're not using the stock thermal pad) and seating of the heatsink. After that, it's all troubleshooting if anything goes wrong. Have a computer ready for posting on the [H] if anything goes wrong

Anyway, GL.

 

[The_Mage18]

1.I am building my first PC, and I really don't want to mess up. I have bought the ANTEC 480W TRUE BLUE Powersupply. Is this a really good PSU? My research shows that ANTEC is one of the best. What do I set my PSU to. 115V or 230V? Does the PSU automatically do this part by itself. I have heard that if I set the Voltage wrong I could destroy my mother board.

US = 115V
Everywhere else in the world = 230V

Leave it at 115V and forget you ever saw that switch, it's pretty much unecessary unless you're moving to/from the US. Manufacturers leave the switch on so that they don't have to send us US bastards different parts than the rest of the world.

2.I have been told that I should burn in my computer. Where would I go to get the Burnin Software? Is it free? When do I burn it in, after I install my OS and apps or before?

Yes there is burn in software that's free. Sisoft Sandra is one the shop I used to work for used. 3DMark by Futuremark.com is good for 3D and video tests. Is it necessary? Not really. Comp stores and the anally retentive use it to try and weed out bad parts before they fail during use. Murphy's law, parts don't fail until you need them. Also, if a part is going to fail, there is no amount of benchmarks in the world that you can run that will tell you exactly when and which part, they only point out parts that are already bad.

3.Finally, are there any tips or anything that will help a first time builder. Even if it is something u would assume I would know I would still appreciate the advice.

Go slow and take your time. You're not in a race nor do you have a deadline. I know you're probably excited and can't wait to get it up and running but that's when mistakes happen. Don't slap the motherboard into the case and immediatly screw it down. Set it in first and make sure all the mounting holes line up with the posts in the case.
Check and double check the front switch and light connections from the case to the motherboard.
Most importantly, and I can't stress this enough, DO NOT FORCE ANY SINGLE PART IN IF IT DOES NOT FIT EASILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have seen more RAM sticks burned because they were inserted backwards, processors with bent pins, and damaged motherboards due to people ignoring this rule. The only pressure you should use at most is no more than you can apply with your two thumbs pushing on the same part.
The processor should drop in easily with NO force necessary. Most motherboard manuals have a nice diagram and pictures to aid you greatly in mounting the processor and heatsink.