STEP 1 : Purchase/Collect The Components

STEP 4 : Configure Your Motherboard

It’s time to get your motherboard ready to install. The next few steps of the tutorial will walk you through how to do this. This step as well as the installation of the memory and CPU is much easier to do before installing the motherboard in the case. It can be done while the motherboard is in the case, and if you were working on a PC after it has been built, you would likely be doing so. But, when building a PC from scratch, it is easier to perform the configuration and setup of the motherboard from the outset.

Motherboards tend to be the most daunting obstacle in a first time builder's mind. But, they should not be. They are actually pretty easy to configure and set up, as long as you can do a few basic things. The first thing is to be able to read the manual and understand what it is saying. If there are any words or concepts in the manual which you do not understand, look them up. This is very important, as not really understanding what is going on can lead to dumb mistakes.

Second, you need to know how to manipulate a jumper. First understand that a motherboard is very configurable. This is done so that it can work with a variety of different hardware configurations. The settings the board uses are governed by which circuits are carrying electricity. Now, we have the jumper, which is nothing more than a pair of pins, each carrying an electric current. When these pins are left in a non-connected state, then the small plastic cap is not placed over them and the circuit is broken. Thus, whatever setting that particular jumper controls is off. This state is called "uncapped" or simply "off". Now, if you place the cap over the two pins, then the circuit is complete, and the configuration of the board changes accordingly. That is the theory behind a jumper.

Now, in the real world, jumpers can be more than two pins. Sometimes a particular jumper, labeled JP1 or something similar, can consist of three or more pins. In this case, the manual will tell you which pins to uncap and which to cap in order to set a particular setting. As long as you understand the manual, you're in good shape.

Configuring your motherboard usually requires setting jumpers on the motherboard according to the CPU you plan on putting on it. I say "usually" because not all boards use jumpers for this. Some make use of DIP Switches, although these are not commonly seen these days. Other newer boards are jumperless, making use of a system in which the settings that are normally set with jumpers or DIPs are set in a special CMOS type program. If the motherboard you are installing is jumperless, you can basically skip this step because it will have to be done later. You might want to read through it, though, because even the "jumperless" design has a few jumpers and you will need to know what you are doing even with the jumperless design.

You need to have the manual for your board available. If you do not have the manual, log on to the manufacturer's web site and see if you can find this info there. You can also try their tech support via phone. In some cases, too, some of the jumper settings are printed onto the surface of the motherboard. If you don't have any of this info, you are just out of luck. Unfortunately, you must have some form of documentation available simply because motherboards have so many settings to adjust. If you’re dealing with an older board, you may need to spend some time trying to identify the manufacturer so that you can see if they do support it. You can many times use the BIOS ID numbers to identify the board online.

Motherboard manuals come in two main formats. Some are friendly for hardware buffs by listing a separate jumper or DIP switch for CPU core voltage, I/O voltage, multiplier, and system bus speed. They then tell you the settings for each of these. This format is better because of the increased control. Other manuals list the settings next to a list of commonly used CPU's, showing the common settings for each. While this format is easier for the end user for easy setup, it is tougher if you like increased control of the settings, for overclocking for example. The best manuals do both: list the jumper setting individually as well as provide a list of processors and the jumper settings for each.

There are few things to be careful of. When setting the processor speed via the jumpers, use the processor’s TRUE speed. If your chip is rated with the P-rating system, it does not run at this speed. The P-rating is simply a comparison to the Intel chip. Such an example is the Cyrix 6x86MX-233. This chip has a P-rating of 233MHz, but actually runs at 187.5MHz. The good news is that most CPU manufacturers no longer use the P-rating system and any modern or semi-modern processor does not use it.

When playing with the board, be careful with it. It is usually best to place it on the static bag it was in when setting the jumpers. Always place the board on a flat surface, not carpet or anything like that. And always ground yourself before handling the board. When handling the board, handle it by the edges only when at all possible.

A NOTE ON GROUNDING: It is important that you ground your body before handling computer components. Your body can accumulate huge amounts of static charge just by walking. You may not feel it, and most certainly do not, but the charge can be sufficient to fry a computer component. It’s the same effect as rubbing your feet on carpet and touching a doorknob. So, before handling electronics in this tutorial, ground yourself by touching the frame of your PC’s case with both hands. You can also use a filing cabinet or anything conductive attached to the ground in some fashion.

Now, here is the basic procedure for motherboard configuration:

Read the Manual. Always. Read the listings for settings and locate all jumpers on the motherboard itself and what settings they control.
Set the voltage settings. Most older chips use one single voltage. The newer chips we use today use a split voltage. Most newer motherboards provide jumpers for the core voltage and I/O voltage. Set them to match your intended CPU. If you are using an older chip with one voltage, just set both voltages to be the same. Your best bet to choose the correct voltage is to see what is printed on the CPU itself. Most CPUs will have “core voltage” printed somewhere on it. That is your voltage. Many newer boards are designed to detect the voltage automatically and then use the correct voltage. In this case, you will not have to worry about it.
Set the processor speed. This is not usually done with a single jumper. It is, instead, done by setting the system bus speed and a multiplier. The multiplier is the number which when multiplied by the system bus speed gives the processor speed. There is a separate jumper for each of these settings. Configure these to match the intended CPU. If you know what you're doing and would like to overclock the chip a tad, set these jumpers a little differently. Generally, though, I would recommend actually getting the system working before trying to overclock it. If your manual lists settings by CPU, just do what it says. You can sometimes infer from the manual which switches control voltage, multiplier, etc. Also, watch for chips that use different multiplier settings than they actually use. For example, many 233MHz chips use a 3.5x multiplier, but since some boards don't offer this option, they interpret the 1.5x multiplier to be 3.5x. So, set the bus speed first. Most CPU's are designed to operate on the 66MHz or 100MHz bus, although many choose to operate higher than this or at various speeds in between. After this, set the multiplier. This will depend on the CPU you are using. For example, let's say you are installing a Pentium II-266. You set a bus speed of 66MHz. In order to run the processor at its intended speed of 266MHz, you must set a 4.0x multiplier. 66MHz X 4.0 = 266MHz.

Generally, if your board is jumper-controlled, you will need to consult the manual for the proper jumper arrangement, use the motherboard layout in the manual to find the jumper on the board itself, and use either your finger or tweezers to adjust the jumper to look like the diagram in your manual. When the jumpers in question look like they should in the diagrams, then you’re set. And,, again, if your CPU settings are NOT jumper-controlled, you will be taking bare of all this later on.

Some boards make use of a jumper to set the cache size and type. Set this now, if need be. If you have internal cache, which most do, you won't need to bother. Likewise, some boards give you the ability to use either AT or ATX power supplies. Depending on which type you will be using, you may need to set a jumper to tell the board what type of power to use.

If your board supports the asynchronous SDRAM clock speed, as most boards with Via chipsets do, you need to set the jumpers properly for this as well. This capability allows you to run the memory at a different clock speed than the rest of the system. This comes in handy, for example, when you want to use older memory yet run the rest of the system at the higher bus speed. You can set the system bus speed at 100MHz and then set the memory to run at 66MHz or 75MHz, for example. The instructions for properly setting this up are in your board's manual.

If you’ve done that, most of the configuring is done. Now you want to double-check the other settings that were set by the manufacturer to make sure they are correct. Make sure the CMOS-clear jumper is set to normal so that you can change the BIOS settings later. Make sure the battery jumper is set to onboard battery instead of external battery. If you have a jumper enabling FLASH BIOS, make sure this is disabled. Also, check to see if all jumpers enabling or disabling onboard controllers are set correctly. All these settings are usually set correctly by default, but you need to make sure. Keep in mind that many boards control these feature via their CMOS and you will be setting them after the PC is up and running, not now with jumpers.

Double-Check all of your own work. Better safe than sorry.

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