|
Page 1 of 3 Disclaimer: This is an older article and may contain outdated information or bad links. It may be expanded in the near future.
Introduction
As much as everyone loves a plain old PC, an add-in card makes the PC that much better. Whether it's a TV card, sound card, video card, or mass storage controller (like a SCSI card), the real 'oohs and ahhs' of PC enjoyment come from the extras. I'm not saying that a CPU is insignificant or even less important than a sound card. But let's say you were stuck in a room wih a PC for 3 days straight. Imagine how crappy it would be if the PC didn't have a sound card. Who cares if it's a 1.7 GHz P4 with a gig of ram? No sound = No fun!
Now that I've gained control of myself, I'd like to walk you through the process of installing an add-in card to your PC. It's not a complex task by any means, but some people have a hard time doing such things or believe it's much too hard for them to do by themself. Trust me folks, it's easy.
In This Article...
Since this is Tweak3D and we try to optimize everything we do, the installation process will even be optimized as best it can. To make things simple, we'll go through the installation process of several cards to ensure you've got the process down. In this order, we'll go over:
- General installation procedure for add-in cards
- Specifics on installing an AGP or PCI video card
- Tools
- Safety precautions
- Installing the drivers for the card
We'll also set on a few tips such as cooling, overclocking, and more safety warnings than you can shake a stick at. Are you ready? Okay, then let's begin.
Make a Checklist
Er... before we begin you really should make a checklist to ensure that you hit all the basics (and not-so basics) of the add-in card installation process. Here's a quick list of questions you need to answer "Yes" to before you begin work on the PC: - Will the product work with your PC and/or OS?
- Do you have the drivers ready?
- Is the product in good shape (no burned up parts or broken pieces)?
- Is there sufficient room in the desired expansion slot (e.g. PCI)?
- Do you have the required tools? (see page 2)
- Do you have a clean space that's large enough to work on the PC?
Once you can answer "Yes" to all of these, move onto the next page, so we can cover tools and then begin the installation process.
Tools Required
Installing an add-in card to your system is not a big deal. You should probably have the following tools handy though:
- Philips-head screwdriver, without a magnetic-tip.
- Flat-head screwdriver (if required... you should know), without a magnetic-tip.
- Drivers CD or floppy disk (or on the hard drive)
- Obviously, the sound, video, or network card (etc.) that you'll be installing
- A clean, flat working area (preferably without carpet)
 Okay I set a very bad example. This is a dirty carpet floor, and I am using a power screwdriver with a magnetic tip. Don't do as Dan does!
Optimizing the Motherboard's Layout
I'm going to jump ahead a tiny bit here, but we'll get back to the installation after that. That's because now is a good time to decide where to put your new add-in card.
In order to really take advantage of the layout of a case and motherboard, one should consider where each add-in card is placed carefully. There are a couple basic rules I follow when doing this. First, make sure the video card (if PCI) is in the first PCI slot, or the most "upper" slot if the tower is vertical. If you have enough extra PCI slots, skip a PCI slot between each add-in card. Keep in mind though that the very bottom PCI slot is often shared with an ISA slot, so it may not support bus-mastering. This can cause problems in itself, so try to avoid this slot.
My preference is to start with an AGP video card, then skip the first PCI slot. Next I put in the next "hottest" card, which in the case of this article is a SCSI controller card. Then I skipped another slot. Next I put in my network card, and finally I put in my sound card. For me this works great and I have no problems. You may need to move things around later.
|
