How I Built Alesha's Computer (or "What I Did with My Weekend")

I have two reasons for posting this. First, one or two people out there might actually find this interesting. The rest of you can stop reading now and wait for the next exciting installment of the blog. The second reason was for me for next time. I four years when I do this again, I want to try to remember what the heck I'm doing. All of these pictures should link to slightly larger versions, if you're interested.

I decided to do something slightly different with this computer than others, and that was to install the processor and memory onto the processor before I put the motherboard into the case. While this worked, I didn't like it. It was difficult to apply the right amount of pressure onto the board without feeling like I was going to snap it in half. Besides, in the future when swapping out memory and/or processors, you're not going to take the motherboard out to do it. You might as well do it right the first time.

After putting the processor and memory into position (sorry, no pictures of that this time!), the next thing I did was to clear my desk and put the empty case on top. Ah, the blank canvas. I particularly like this model because of the slide-out slots for the hard drives, as seen in the lower-left corner. Note the wires hanging out of the bottom of the computer, right above my socks. These will be important later. Right now, we're going to concentrate on the motherboard.

When inserting the motherboard into the case, there are spacer screw things that are already embedded into the case to hold the board away from the case. However there are only four pre-installed, although the case comes with many more spacers and there are a number pre-drilled of other screw holes. This is to accommodate different sized motherboards. I just needed to figure out which ones mine needed. I used a very sophisticated method; I held the motherboard up to a lamp. It's not easy to see in the picture, but it's hard to miss the holes in the light. My motherboard had nine holes.

I placed the necessary screw spacers (if, indeed, that's what they're called) into the case. The motherboard came with a faceplate for the back of the case, where all of the connectors are. I clicked the new faceplate in place and slid the motherboard into position. I always find this part to be tricky. The holes never quite match up exactly to where the screws are. And you definitely don't want to snap your motherboard in half. My strategy is always to get the external connectors to fit snugly into the faceplate. From there you can slide the board around and make it fit. If you zoom in on the lower-left corner, you can see that the hole and screw don't line up exactly, but the screws went in just fine.

I didn't do the installation the way I normally do, but this is where I would recommend putting in the processor and memory. I'm really impressed how easy this process is now; there isn't too much guessing as to what the orientation should be, or awkward sliding mechanisms. Just be sure to plug in the CPU plan into the appropriate slot. Now is as good a time to mention that the motherboard comes with a user manual that has all of the connections labeled. It is always a good review to go through it when you think you're done to make sure every slot that should have something connecting into it actually does. Such as the CPU fan. Mine was a four-pin connector that went into the aptly-labeled "CPU_FAN" slot. In the picture in the next step, notice how sloppy the wires are around the CPU fan in the upper-right corner. I would recommend moving those wires before you install the thing; they are difficult to unwrap once the processor is in place. But I was unhappy with the ascetics and potential for wires getting caught in the fan, so I moved it.

The next step was figuring out what to do with those wires hanging out of the front. Those are actually how the front of the case communicates with the "computer". The power button, the power LED, the reset button, the USB drives, and everything else that you see in the front that lights up or has a function has to communicate with the computer somehow. There were two sets of wires from the front: the LED's and buttons, and the audio/USB connections. The former probably has the trickiest pin configuration. Different motherboards could have different settings, so everything needs to be individually placed. Fortunately, the wires from the case are well-labeled, and the motherboard instruction guide has good guidelines. Notice that I took out all of the hard drive slots in the lower-left corner. This made it much easier to work.

The next step was more of the same. The next three wires that The audio from the front goes is the wire that goes to the back of the motherboard. This allows you to plug your headphones into the front of the machine. This case also features two USB slots and an external SATA slot, of all things. Those got connected in the lower left corner. On an unrelated note, notice that I haven't started doing anything with the power cables (lower right corner). These are messy, and I have found it's best to save this for the end. Until then, they are nicely wrapped up as the manufacturer shipped it, and I don't have to worry about wires all over the place like a can of worms.


Next came the cards in the IDE slots. We had two cards. Well, maybe 1½ cards. We had the video card, which needed to go in the IDE slot, and we had a "card" that came with the motherboard. This provided two external SATA slots for the back of the computer. (Seriously, are there people out there schlepping around external SATA drives?) I didn't have to install it, but I figured since we had it, we might as well use it. I flipped the power cable over the side so I could deal with it later. Also notice I slid the cable for the front-panel audio under the notch in the video card. I ended up doing this a couple of times, so it probably would have been smart not to screw this card in right away.

The next super-exciting step was installing the DVD reader/writer into the front of the machine. You can see the DVD player on the left side of the picture. The panel in the case popped out relatively easy, and the rails that are attached to the slides of the DVD player were hidden in the back. See the pile of screws in the lower-right corner? Four of those fit quite nicely into the DVD player to hold the slides in place. The whole drive then pops into place in front.

Incidentally, I "screwed up" when I ordered this part. I didn't realize that they made DVD drives that had SATA-only connections. Yet this one did. I am actually pretty glad I didn't have to deal with the stupid IDE ribbons. See how nicely the drive connects to SATA connection? Nice and out of the way. At this point I also started using a twist tie to keep all of those wires in the right place. It not only looks nicer, but it helps me keep everything straight as far as location.

One of the real beauties of this case (the Antec Sonata) is how quiet the thing runs. Every part is engineered to help it run in stealth mode. Take the hard drive encasement for example. Most cases have you bolt the screw into the hard drive on the side. The Sonata actually has you attach the drives from the bottom. You can probably make out the four white bumps on the tray on the left. Those are rubber/silicone/squishy material spacers that hold the hard drive off of the tray. This allows the hard drive to spin and carry on without making a bunch of noise. And from there installation is a snap; much like the DVD player snapped into place in the front, the hard drive pops into place quite easily.

When you put the hard drive into the tray, make sure you orient the drive so the connector faces the outside. It is possible to have everything connect in the back. This is, in fact, how I did my first Sonata case. But it makes changing connections really difficult and then realized I was making life really difficult for myself. The hard drive I got is also a SATA drive. You can see that the connection is really easy; it just follows the same path as everything else. Notice that unlike the rest of the connections, I left the SATA cable droop over the front. This makes it easier to switch drives around later should the need arise.

At this point, pretty much all that was left was to plug the power in. Be careful when you are cutting the plastic tie that holds all of the power cables together! The last thing you want to do is cut through one of power supplies. Power supplies are not only a pain to order, they are not fun to reinstall. This power supply (which came with the case) has three basic types of connectors: motherboard (the yellow and black ones on the bottom, along with the solid red and black one), standard IDE connections (mostly yellow and red, on the upper-left), and SATA connections (mostly orange and yellow, on the right side).

The motherboard connectors are pretty easy. All of these connectors looked like two rows of squares all sandwiched together. In this case most of them went in the upper-left corner of the motherboard. The best place to look to make sure everything has a connection is to open the motherboard book and verify everything that says "power" next to it has something plugged in. I had extra plugs left over, but that is normal. For example, I only had one fan in the system, so there wasn't anything to plug into that slot. I was originally excited that I wasn't going to have to use any IDE connectors, since both my hard drive and DVD player used SATA. But the rear fan and the rear external SATA drives both used a IDE connector, so one of those had to come to the front.

From this point, all that was left was to connect my hard drive and DVD player. I used some twist ties to hold the power cables together, and I shoved the unused ones into the space where a floppy drive would have gone should I have chosen to make a vintage antique. I was pretty happy with the final outcome. Everything is neat and in its place, and nothing is really blocking airflow. The real nail-biter always comes when you first turn the machine on. The questions is, will it power up to a splash screen? Or worse, will it start beeping at you and not show anything on the screen? Or worse, will nothing happen when you turn on the power? Or worse, will an acrid smell escape from the motherboard, which you notice just before the wispy cloud of smoke that rises to the top?

Fortunately, none of this happened. Well, okay, everything but the smoke happened on this one. But all's well that ends well. Alesha is enjoying her new computer immensely. And I am enjoying the sense of pride I have at remember how to do this.

If you want to put together a computer this summer, let me know. This could be fun.