PC Modding For Dummies^®

by Joel Durham

• ISBN13: 9780764575761
• ISBN10: 0764575767
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-01
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Modding involves adding cool elements like fans, windows, custom cooling systems, and lights to a PC case, as well as beefing up the works by overclocking processors and adding high-performance components, video cards, and more While modding is a booming hobby, this will be the first book that gives the beginner simple, user-friendly instructions in the easy-to-follow For Dummies style Guides the reader through choosing parts, cutting windows and blowholes in the case, installing fans, lights, and custom cooling systems, painting the case, and fine-tuning performance components

Author Biography

Joel Durham Jr., is a computer and gaming maven who has been writing about his passion since 1997. His writings have included reviews, how-to articles, and game strategy guides.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(1)
About This Book	2	(1)
How to Use This Book	2	(1)
Conventions Used in This Book	2	(1)
Foolish Assumptions	3	(1)
How This Book Is Organized	3	(1)
Part I: Introducing the Awesome, High-Octane World of Modding	3	(1)
Part II: Building a Modded PC	4	(1)
Part III: Modding for Speed: Tweaking and Overclocking	4	(1)
Part IV: Cooling, Cutting, and Painting	4	(1)
Part V: The Part of Tens	4	(1)
Icons Used in This Book	4	(1)
Where to Go from Here	5	(2)
Part I: Introducing the Awesome, High-Octane World of Modding	7	(28)
Creating a Mod-Worthy PC	9	(14)
Understanding Why Modders Build Their Own Systems	10	(1)
Looking At Your Computer as a Hot Rod	11	(5)
The engine and transmission: Your computer's internal parts	12	(2)
Performance tuning: Making the engine (or the PC) purr	14	(1)
The body: Your computer's case	15	(1)
Getting the Right Tools for the Job	16	(3)
Tools for building or upgrading your PC	16	(1)
Tools for cutting the case	17	(2)
Tools for painting	19	(1)
Creating the Ideal Work Area	19	(2)
Getting a Handle on Static Electricity	21	(2)
Creating a Plan of Attack	23	(12)
Creating a Parts List	24	(7)
The case	24	(1)
The power supply	25	(1)
The motherboard	25	(1)
The CPU	26	(1)
The memory	26	(1)
The graphics card	27	(1)
The sound card	27	(1)
The hard drive	27	(1)
The optical drive	28	(1)
The floppy drive?	28	(1)
Network stuff	29	(1)
The monitor	29	(1)
Input devices	29	(1)
Speakers	29	(1)
Case fans and fan grills	30	(1)
Window material	30	(1)
Fasteners for the case window	30	(1)
Lights	30	(1)
Anything else you think is cool	30	(1)
Figuring Out the Order in which to Build and Mod	31	(1)
Buying Pre-Modded Parts and Modding Kits	32	(3)
Part II: Building a Modded PC	35	(170)
Choosing a Case and Securing Components	37	(14)
Securing Your PC's Parts: The Case's Role in Computing	38	(1)
Knowing Your Form Factors: Matching Your Case to Your PC's Components	38	(2)
Picking a Modable Case	40	(1)
Mounting Your PC's Components	41	(10)
Mounting the motherboard	43	(2)
Installing drive bays and your storage devices	45	(5)
Installing expansion cards	50	(1)
The Juice: Choosing a Power Supply	51	(8)
Introducing Power Supply Form Factors	53	(4)
Choosing a Power Supply	57	(2)
Breaking down the power	57	(1)
Brand matters	57	(1)
Noisy neighbors	58	(1)
Assembling the Core Components: The Motherboard, CPU, and Memory	59	(38)
Choosing a Motherboard	61	(23)
A guided tour of a typical motherboard	62	(11)
Understanding Motherboard form factors	73	(1)
Demystifying chipsets and buses	73	(3)
Understanding the roll of the BIOS	76	(1)
Taking stock of your options	77	(5)
Finding more information about motherboards	82	(2)
Choosing a CPU	84	(8)
What's in a CPU?	85	(3)
CPU features	88	(1)
Matching the CPU to the motherboard	89	(1)
Looking at my recommendations	90	(1)
Installing a CPU	90	(2)
Choosing Memory	92	(5)
Understanding current memory technologies	92	(2)
Installing memory	94	(1)
Memory recommendations	94	(3)
Adding Eye-Popping Visuals: The Graphics Card	97	(24)
What Is a Graphics Card?	98	(2)
Understanding How Your Graphics Card Affects Your Gaming	100	(7)
Gauging your graphics card's performance	100	(5)
Tweaking your games: Frame rate versus image quality	105	(2)
The Graphics Card as Media Center	107	(1)
Decoding Graphics Card Features	108	(4)
Physical features	109	(1)
Graphical features	110	(2)
Messing with Your Graphics Card's Features	112	(3)
Choosing a Graphics Card	115	(6)
Rounding up the GPUs	116	(2)
Which GPU is for you?	118	(3)
Giving Your PC a Voice of Its Own: The Sound Card	121	(14)
Meeting the Contenders	122	(1)
Feature Soup: Understanding the Jargon	123	(8)
Speaker compatibility: How many do you want?	123	(2)
Application program interface: Choosing the right one	125	(2)
3-D audio: You can't go wrong	127	(1)
Maximum sample rate and bit depth: Getting the best sound	128	(1)
Features-o-rama: More stuff to think about	129	(2)
Installing Your Sound Card	131	(4)
Providing Storage: Your Computer's Hard Drive	135	(10)
Choosing a Hard Drive	136	(7)
Demystifying hard drive specs	136	(1)
Understanding the interface	137	(5)
Take 'em or leave 'em: My recommendations	142	(1)
Installing Your Hard Drive	143	(2)
Eyeing Optical Drives	145	(6)
Choosing an Optical Drive	146	(3)
Making sense of the all-important X factor	146	(1)
Getting the lowdown on seek, access, and transfer rates	147	(1)
Understanding optical drive formats	147	(2)
Getting some recommendations from yours truly	149	(1)
Installing Your Optical Drive	149	(2)
Playing Well with Others: Networking	151	(10)
Understanding Wireless Versus Wired Networks	152	(2)
Network Hardware	154	(1)
Setting Up a Network	155	(4)
Wired networks	155	(1)
Wireless networks	156	(1)
Windows XP's Network Setup Wizard	157	(2)
Securing Your Internet-Connected Computer	159	(2)
Thinking Outside the Box: Peripherals	161	(26)
The Port Report	162	(8)
Getting to know your ``older'' ports	162	(4)
Introducing modern ports	166	(4)
The Goods: External Peripherals	170	(15)
Interfacing with your computer: Input devices	171	(7)
Visual feedback: Displays	178	(3)
Spectacular speaker systems	181	(2)
All the rest	183	(2)
Installing Peripherals	185	(2)
Software: The Reason Your Computer Exists	187	(18)
Installing Windows XP	189	(10)
Booting the Windows XP CD-ROM	190	(1)
Preliminaries: Setting up the hard drive	191	(6)
Gathering information	197	(1)
Finalizing the setup procedure	198	(1)
Installing Device Drivers	199	(2)
Activating and Updating Windows	201	(4)
Activating Windows	201	(1)
Updating Windows	202	(3)
Part III: Modding for Speed: Tweaking and Overclocking	205	(48)
Modding and Maintaining the BIOS	207	(10)
Making Sense of Your BIOS Options	208	(7)
Standard CMOS features	208	(1)
Advanced BIOS features	209	(1)
Advanced chipset features	210	(2)
Integrated peripherals	212	(1)
Power management	213	(1)
PCI and PnP configuration	214	(1)
PC health status	214	(1)
Overclocking	215	(1)
Keeping the BIOS Up-to-Date	215	(2)
``Modding'' Windows for Speed	217	(22)
Understanding the Need to Tweak Windows XP	217	(1)
Windows XP's Built-In Optimization	218	(1)
Tweaking the Windows Performance Options	219	(5)
Eliminating Unwanted Windows Programs	224	(1)
Preventing Unwanted Items from Starting	225	(4)
Using the System Configuration Utility	226	(2)
Removing spyware and adware	228	(1)
Disabling Unnecessary Services	229	(3)
Optimizing and Maintaining Storage Devices	232	(7)
Tweaking the paging file	232	(2)
Defragging the hard drive	234	(2)
Enabling DMA mode for ATAPI drives	236	(3)
Overclocking: Blasting Through the Factory Specs	239	(14)
Understanding Overclocking	240	(1)
Overclocking Methodology: How to Overclock	241	(1)
Testing for Stability: What Do You Use?	242	(1)
CPU Overclocking	243	(4)
Bumping up the frequency and/or multiplier	244	(2)
Tweaking voltages	246	(1)
Stability testing and benchmarking	247	(1)
... And repeat!	247	(1)
Graphics-Card Overclocking	247	(6)
ATI overclocking	249	(1)
NVIDIA overclocking	249	(4)
Part IV: Cooling, Cutting, and Painting	253	(60)
Chilling Your Rig	255	(24)
Monitoring the Temperature	256	(1)
Keeping Your PC's Case Cool	257	(7)
Looking at positive versus negative airflow	257	(1)
Adding blowholes	258	(6)
Air-Cooling a CPU	264	(1)
Liquid-Cooling	265	(9)
The parts	266	(2)
Installing the system	268	(3)
Filling and bleeding	271	(3)
Graphics-Card Cooling	274	(2)
Other Cooling Options	276	(3)
Adding a Window	279	(12)
Planning and Preparing for Your Cut	280	(3)
Planning your cut	280	(1)
Preparing your work area	280	(1)
Gathering your tools	281	(1)
Securing your materials	282	(1)
Preparing Your Case for the Cut	283	(2)
Drawing the design	284	(1)
Making final preparations	284	(1)
Cutting the Case	285	(2)
Attaching the Window	287	(4)
Cutting the plastic	287	(1)
Securing the window	288	(3)
Lighting Up the Case the Easy Way	291	(12)
Understanding Lighting Technologies	292	(2)
Neon lighting	292	(1)
Cold cathode lighting	293	(1)
LED lighting	294	(1)
Other Light Sources	294	(2)
Lit fans	295	(1)
Lit power supplies	295	(1)
An Easy and Cool Lighting Project	296	(4)
Replacing LEDs	300	(3)
Assembling the tools you'll need	300	(1)
Replacing the front panel LEDs	301	(2)
Adding Color: Painting the Case	303	(10)
Preparing for the Paint Job	304	(2)
Choosing a color	304	(1)
Deciding where to paint	305	(1)
Gathering your tools and materials	305	(1)
Painting the Case Panels	306	(7)
Sanding, part 1 of 100	307	(1)
Spraying on the primer	308	(1)
Spraying on your color	309	(1)
Adding clear enamel	309	(1)
Painting the drive bezels	310	(3)
Part V: The Part of Tens	313	(24)
Ten Terrific Web Sites for Building and Modding	315	(6)
ExtremeTech	316	(1)
The [H]ard | OCP	316	(1)
AnandTech	317	(1)
Gamer's Depot	317	(1)
GideonTech	317	(1)
bit-tech.net	318	(1)
PimpRig	318	(1)
PC Modding Malaysia	319	(1)
Overclockers Australia	319	(1)
CaseModGod.com	320	(1)
Ten Mods to Try for Your Next Modding Project	321	(6)
Modding Your Hard Drive	322	(1)
Controlling Your Fans	322	(1)
Replacing All Your PC's LEDs	323	(1)
Getting Fancy with Cutting	323	(1)
Decorating Your Window	324	(1)
Cutting a Blowhole into a Window	324	(1)
Adding a Lit Fan to Your Power Supply	325	(1)
Building a Clear Computer Case	325	(1)
Building a Mini-Computer for LAN Parties	325	(1)
Building a Computer . . . Sans Case!	326	(1)
Ten Awesome Accessories For Your Modded PC	327	(10)
Razer Diamondback Gaming Mouse	328	(1)
Saitek Gaming Keyboard	329	(1)
Apple iPod from HP	329	(1)
Thrustmaster 2-in-1 Dual Trigger	330	(1)
MonsterGecko PistolMouse FPS	331	(1)
Ray, by Everglide	332	(1)
Logitech X-5500	333	(1)
Creative Zen Touch	334	(1)
LG Super Multi DVD Drive GSA-4120B	335	(1)
Logitech MX510 Optical Mouse	336	(1)
Index	337