Component Rundown

The Case

Let’s start by checking out the case.  Unwrap it and check for damages.  Sometimes, especially with cheaply built cases, the shipping process can take a toll on the case.  This one appears to be physically in good shape.  If you ever unwrap a case and find it cracked, dented, or damaged at all, immediately contact your vendor for a refund or replacement.

Let’s open it up to check out all the goodies inside.

The only part of the case we need to open right now is the left panel.  We do this by removing the screws in the back that are holding it in place.  This particular case only appears to have one screw holding the side panel on (circled in green), which is cuts our work in half.

Remove the screw and slide the side panel back about half an inch.  This unhooks it from the case and it can now be detached.  You might notice that there’s a funnel-like tube about 3 inches long attached to the inside of the side panel we just removed.  This is to provide fresher (cooler) air for our processor fan to more efficiently cool the processor.  It also has a vent grid on the bottom of the panel to help ventilate any expansion cards we install.  Let’s set the panel aside for now.  We won’t need it until we’re completely done.

What comes inside the case?

Every case comes with a set of screws, a bit of documentation, and front panel connectors (wires coming from inside the front panel of the case, also called case pins).  Ours also comes with a power cord since it has a power supply, a case fan attached to the rear of the case, and a cord to attach the USB ports on the front (right side) of the case to the motherboard.

What are all these screws for? 

Each serves a different purpose, but we won’t be using many of them.  The important ones to know are:

• Floppy Drive and CD Drive screws.  These are used to secure those two types of drives inside your case,
• Hard Drive screws, to attach your hard drive(s),
• Motherboard screws, to lock down your motherboard, and
• Case screws for those two open holes for securing the side panels.

The latter 3 types of screws have the same type of threads, but differ in length and the shape of the head.  Hard drive screws are short, motherboard screws have the same shaped head as the hard drive screws, but are longer, and case screws have a hexagon head in case you need to use a ratchet, I guess (I’ve always just used a screwdriver).

Where do all these cables go?

The power supply has a variety of connectors (the clear plastic connector at the end of each strand is called a “Molex”) for different components; some will almost always go unused.  The important ones to know are:

• 20/24-pin Motherboard power cable, which plugs directly into your motherboard.  The 24-pin setting is used for motherboards with 16x PCI-Express graphics ports.  Our motherboard does not have this technology, so we will only be using the first 20 pins.
• 4-pin CPU power cable (2 yellow and 2 black wires), which plugs into the motherboard.  It is arranged in a 2-pin by 2-pin square and is keyed similarly to the motherboard’s connector.
• Floppy drive power cable, which is the smaller of the flat 4-pin Molex connectors
• Standard 4-pin Molex connectors, which are the common connectors for hard drives, optical drives, and fans.

The case pins connectors are labeled to indicate what each one is connected to:

• Power LED: the light that glows when the computer is powered on
• HDD LED: the light that flickers/glows while the hard drive is being accessed (a.k.a. when the computer is “thinking”)
• Reset SW: connects to the reset button on the case (the long, skinny button below the power switch)
• Power SW: the power button connection
• Speaker: your case speaker, only good for beeps during boot-up

The USB connector simply allows functionality of the front USB ports when connected to the appropriate USB header on the motherboard.

What’s on the back?

On the back side of the case you can see 4 main things:

• On the top, the power supply, which has a power switch, a 115V/230V voltage switch, a power cord receptor, and a fan grill (hopefully with a fan behind it)
• Mid-way down on the left, is the I/O panel (or shield), which has a series of differently shaped holes that never fit the motherboard you’re installing.  Eventually, we will detach it (twisting and prying required) and replace it with the panel that is included with the motherboard.  The new panel snaps into place from the inside, pushing out.
• Another fan grill, protecting your case’s main exhaust fan.
• A series of covered slats that match up with PCI or AGP ports on your motherboard to secure any expansion cards you want to attach.

Now that we’ve toured the case, we’re ready to take a look at the other components.

Before we touch any of the other components, however, we want to make sure we’re electrically grounded to reduce the risk of static damage to the components.  The circuits on these components are sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD) so we need to do our best to protect them from it. 

Start by plugging the power supply into a grounded electrical outlet.  By touching the unpainted surface of the power supply, you are discharging any possible buildup of static electricity.  Make sure you touch the grounded power supply before touching any component.  I will remind you throughout this tutorial.  This is a pretty common method to avoid ESD damage, but is not the most reliable.  Anti-static mats or wrist wraps, when used properly, are the most reliable ways to prevent ESD damage.  For this tutorial, I will be using the grounded power supply method, but when you’re working with more expensive components later, I recommend investing in a $6 wrist wrap to ensure that you’re protected against harmful ESD.

Now that we’re prepared to handle any static build-up, let’s check out the next component, the processor (CPU).

Next: Component Rundown - The CPU >>

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