Building a 1.2 GHz DDR Athlon with the Iwill KA266-R Motherboard
Install DDR RAM and Accessory Connectors then Power-on Test
4. Install DDR RAM. DRAM installation is usually
pretty straight forward as there usually is only one way a DRAM can
be correctly inserted into the motherboard.
DRAMs must be firmly seated into their connectors to function correctly.
Whatever you do, don't try to force Drams into connectors. If the
DIMM doesn't seem to fit, turn it around as you could be inserting
it backwards.
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Tip: Review your motherboard manual carefully
to determine the correct way to face your DDR SDRAMs on the
motherboard.
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Crucial PC2100 DDR 184-pin DIMM module
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DDR and Bus Speed. Currently there are
two speeds of DDR RAM; 100 and 133 MHz. As it is double data
rate, this translates to 200 and 266 MHz speed.
PC1600 DDR is the 200 MHz DDR RAM and PC2100 is the 266 MHz
DDR RAM.
The RAM you should buy depends on the bus speed you plan to
use. If you will be using the the 266 MHz Athlon bus you need
PC2100 (266 MHz) DDR. If you will just be using 200 MHz Athlons
and have no intention of upgrading to a 266 MHz Athlon (or overclocking
to 266 MHz) then you could save a couple of bucks on PC1600
(200 MHz) DDR.
Using PC2100 DDR with a 200 MHz bus will result in no increase
in speed over PC1600 DDR.
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Next its time to attach the computer case accessory connectors.
5. Attach the Accessory Connectors. Typical computer
case accessory connectors that need to be attached to the motherboard
include power switch, reset switch, power LED, and hard drive LED.
While this is pretty straight forward in concept, it can get tricky
without good motherboard documentation. After hard study of several
diagrams in the Iwill KA266-R manual, and much counting of the accessory
pins on the motherboard, I finally felt confident enough to attach
the connectors.
The key to attaching the connectors was knowing that white wires were
the ground wires. Sometimes the motherboard accessory pinout would
not show a distinction in the two connector wires, in which case I
assumed neither wire was a ground.
The case accessory wires attached to the
motherboard. White is the ground wire.
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Tip: The case accessory wires must be
connected correctly or you could ground out your motherboard.
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6. Attach case fan power cable. Attach the front
computer case fan to one of your large size drive power connectors
for the forthcoming power-up test.
7. Install the video card and power-on test.
Now that the CPU and DDR RAM are installed, the accessory connectors
are attached, and the case and CPU fans are connected, it's time to
test your handiwork.
Clear away any junk you have left lying on the case, and insert your
AGP video card. The AGP video card must be firmly seated in the connector
or you will not get a picture on your monitor. After initially seating
the card, press down on both corners to ensure its pushed all the
way into the connector.
Attach your monitor cable to the video connector and plug the monitor
into an electrical outlet. Find the power plug for your system and
attach it to the power connector on the back of your case. Plug the
case power cord into an electrical outlet and get your good luck talisman
out.
Press in your case's power button and hopefully your system will boot-up.
If successful you will get the usual report about what video card
is installed and your system will perform the DOS memory check. You
will not get to much more information before you receive a disk or
keyboard failure.
Congratulations! You now know the motherboard is correctly
inserted in the case, the CPU is working, DDR RAM is functioning,
the video card works, and the accessory wires are correctly attached.
While the power is still running, check and make sure that the CPU,
case, and power supply fans are all operating correctly.
Next we install Drives
and Peripherals >>>
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Computer Building Steps
