IT self care

Installing a processor can be tricky and frustrating, specially if it’s your first time doing it and many things can go wrong if you don’t know what are you doing. First of all you need a motherboard on the same socket as your processor. DO NOT attempt to mount a socket 478 processor on a socket 775 motherboard or a socket 775 processor on a socket AM2 motherboard! For this video, we used Asus P5Q motherboard and a Core 2 Quad 8200 processor from Intel. The correct steps to successfully install your Intel processor are as follows (Note: AMD processors are different and they will be covered on future videos!):

1. Remove the motherboard from its box and place it on a flat surface.
2. Remove any paper cover that may exist on your motherboard.
3. Notice the metal lever and press it down and away from the socket to release the load plate.
4. Remove the plastic cover on the load plate.
5. Remove the processor from its box and plastic cover.
6. Notice on the left side of the processor two notches that will fit into the plastic extensions of the socket on the motherboard.
7. Notice on the left-down corner of your processor a triangle that will fit on the left-down corner of you motherboard and it should point towards the metal lever.
8. Now that you know how the CPU wil fit in, hold it by its sides and lower it into the socket making sure it fits perfectly.
9. Close the load plate and press down the metal lever until it snaps back into its original position.
10. Remove the heatsink from its plastic case and notice on the motherboard four holes around the socket.
11. If your heatsink is new, it should be covered and the bottom with thermal compound so you don’t have to worry about that.
12. Lower the heatsink vertically over the socket so that each of its legs line up with the four holes.
13. With the heatsink over the processor, press each of its legs into the holes. You should hear a “click” each time it snaps into position.
14. Attach the power cable to the corresponding connector on the motherboard.
15. You’re done!

Tags: ASUS, Core 2 Quad, install hardware, Intel, motherboard

First of all you need to determine which type of video card you need for your desktop PC. There are two types of video cards, depending on the slot: AGP and PCI Express. Under any circumstances a AGP video card will never fit into a PCI Express slot and vice-versa. After you correctly determined which type of video card you need and bought it, you are ready to mount it. For this video we used an XFX 250 GTS video graphic card on a Asus P5Q motherboard.Video card install

1. Remove the cover of the chassis if it’s not already.
2. Pick the video card, place it over the PCI Express slot and notice the metal plate(s) that cover the back panel.
3. Put aside the video card and remove those metal plate(s). Usually there’s just one plate to remove, but for bigger and better video cards there’s two plates.
4. Pick the video card again and gently, but firmly insert it into the slot.
5. Screw the video card into it’s place on the back panel. Again, most of the times there’s just one screw, but for bigger video cards there are two screws needed.
6. You’re done!

Tags: ASUS, video cards, xfx

For this you will need a legit copy of Windows 7 and one USB stick big enough to copy Windows install kit on it. First of all you need to format the USB stick as NTSF file system. By default, all USB sticks come as FAT32 so you will need to format them as NTFS. If you go in Windows Explorer and try to format as NTFS file system, you will find that this option isn’t there at all. For this you have to go to Device Manager -> Disk Drives and right click on USB. A new windows will appear then go to Policies tab and chose Best Performance. Click OK then you will see that the option to format the USB stick as NTFS will show up.Windows 7 on USB stick

Setting up a bootable USB is as easy as this… On our case F: is the DVD drive with Windows 7 DVD and G: is the USB drive. Replace those letters with your own. For comparison purposes I left the entire process un-edited so you can see where it pauses. If your PC seems to freeze, don’t worry… some files are larger than others and all of them need to be copied. After you formatted the USB stick  as NTFS file system, open command prompt (RUN – cmd) and type the following:

xcopy F: G: /e /h

G:

cd boot

bootsect /nt60 G:

That’s all!!

Tags: bootable stick, Windows 7, Windows on USB

XFX is a division of PINE Technology Holdings Limited, a leading manufacturer and marketer of innovative solutions for the worldwide gaming technologies market. Founded in 1989, PINE designs, develops, manufactures and distributes high-performance video graphics technology and computer peripherals. The company’s dedicated research and development team are continually pushing the limits to meet the demands of the ever-growing and performance-driven community. Headquartered in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR), PINE has more than 1,000 employees worldwide with 16 offices around the globe. PINE also maintains four state-of-the-art research and development facilities in the Asia Pacific region and two factories in Mainland China.

XFX

PINE Fast Facts

• Company founded in 1989
• Listed on the Hong Kong GEM Board (Stock Code 8013) since 1999
• Headquartered in Hong Kong
• Two Corporate Divisions: XFX and Samtack

XFX Division Features

• Product distribution in more than 50 countries
• 17 offices worldwide
• Two R&D centers in Taiwan and Shenzhen
• Factory in Mainland China
• Brand and product marketing in the United States
• More than 1,000 employees

Tags: brand, xfx

Corsair has been a leader in the design and manufacture of high-speed modules since 1994. As a pioneer in high-speed module design, Corsair is a trusted supplier to many computer manufacturers. In high-density memory solutions, Corsair has always been one of the first suppliers to achieve advanced qualifications on Intel, Tyan and SuperMicro server platforms. They also work closely with other major server platform manufacturers to release product that is 100% compatible with their latest server products.

Corsair

The flagship memory products are the DOMINATOR™ line of performance memory, which is designed for the unique demands of the serious enthusiast community. Featuring patent-pending Dual-path Heat Exchange (DHX) technology, the DOMINATOR family maximizes on performance, minimizes on heat, all the while running with heighten reliability and stability. The DOMINATOR line has set world performance records and won numerous awards. Corsair’s mainstream performance memory solutions are the XMS family. The XMS family includes XMS2 DHX, featuring innovative DHX technology now in the mainstream; XMS Xpert, the first modules with real-time display of parametric data; XMS Pro Series, gaming memory with real-time activity LEDs; and XMS2, high-performance DDR2 modules with black heat spreaders. The XMS Family also includes DDR1 solutions in XMS, available in either black or platinum heat spreaders

Corsair has expanded beyond memory modules to offer performance liquid cooling units and blocks under our Corsair Nautilus brand and power supplies under our HX Series brand.

In addition, Corsair offer a line of specialty Flash memory. From ultra-rugged Flash Survivor™ family to the multi-award winning durable Flash Voyager™ family, Corsair has quickly established itself as an industry leader for USB drives.

Tags: brand, CORSAIR

Founded in 1986, D-Link is a global leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of advanced networking, broadband, digital, voice and data communications solutions. Following the company motto, “Building Networks for People”, D-Link continually meets the global networking and connectivity needs of digital home consumers, small office professionals, small- to medium-sized businesses, and enterprise environments.

D-Link

D-Link’s core competency is in Ethernet connectivity. In fact, they are the global leader in providing network connectivity solutions to small and medium-sized business. From the beginning, D-Link engineers have researched, designed and manufactured innovative, standards-based networking solutions. They sell their state-of-the-art hardware at the best prices. Price may be the deciding factor for many new customers, but D-Link innovation, reliability and service keeps them loyal year after year.

A major contributor to their success is their established and expanding network of global distribution and delivery channels that brings products to more than 100 countries every day. They do more than meet the growing demand for computer networking and communications solutions – they fuel it. Their development of global distribution channels in more than 100 countries has resulted in double-digit growth every year for 20 years. D-Link surpassed the $1 billion revenue milestone in 2005, driven by record sales in every geographic region of the world.
D-Link’s international headquarters are located in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. More than 90 global offices serve North America, Asia and Europe, including the North American headquarters in Fountain Valley, California. D-Link maintains strategic operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Israel, the Middle East, South Africa, Chile, Australia, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, China, India and other countries on five continents.

Tags: D-Link