about to build first computer

[cheese321]

After months of planning and waiting for the Intel price drops, I have finally purchased all parts to start my first build. Here are the specs.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Retail
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Retail
Ram: Corsair Value Select 2 x 1GB DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Retail
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250GB 7200.10 16MB Cache SATA OEM
DVD: Lite-On 20X DVD Burner SATA Retail
GPU: Evga GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Retail
Case: Coolermaster Centurion 5
PSU: Thermaltake Pure Power ATX 12v 2.0 500watt
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

Now before I build this, are there anything that I should do? I don't plan to overclock.

Do I need to switch the jumper for the hard drive to make it 3.0 instead of 1.5? If so, how do I do that?

For the CPU, how much thermal paste should I apply and where should I apply it? Or is it already put on?

For the Ram, should I put 1 stick in first? or just put them both in and in which slot do I put them in?

Also for the Ram, do I need to set the timing and voltage? If needed, how do I do it?

Do I need to set my Hard Drive as Master or Slave? Or should I not worry about that? If so, how do I set that?

For the Power Supply, do I really need to connect all of those connectors? If not, what do I do with the spare? Use a rubberband to tie them up?

When do I install the OS?

I know some of these questions might be stupid but I'm a complete newbie and never built a computer before. So this would be a challenge. Any opinions on my questions or anything I forgot to ask would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[perkster]

seems a good list

1.) you shouldnt need to change any jumpers.
2.) no thermal paste needed, the stock HSF will have a pad on it, and is easy to install, compound and after market HSFs are only needed if you do major overclocking and void your warranty.
3.) put both in, if you have boot up errors try with one in and swap them to see if one is a problem, use memcheck if necessary.
4.) stock voltages and timings should be fine.
5.) you have a SATA hard drive so no worries about master and slave, you can install OS where you want and no jumpers or cable select to worry about.
6.) any connectors or cables from your PSU not connected to hardware just move out of the way of airflow and use some cable ties to bundle them together out of the way. wouldnt use rubber bands.
7.) build the computer and boot it up, if successful you shoudl see a message about no boot volume etc. this means computer went to load OS but found no bootable device, you then put your OS cd in the drive and restart computer and follow onscreen instructions to install the OS. make sure you dont connect up any USB devices aside from keyboards and mice until after installing the OS, if you install memory card readers youll end up with an L: system drive rather than C:.

good luck!

[The Village Idiot]

The only thing I would query about that is that its graphics card is very outdated, you've got quite a big rig there with a fast processor, but the graphics card pulls it down somewhat. Personally i'd look in the direction of an 8600GT or something, unless your not planning to play games, in which case its a fine desktop.

[cheese321]

i was reading the instructions for the lite on dvd sata burner and it wanted me to set a master/slave jumper? I have no clue how to do that and what I should set it to..any advice?

[shadowpr]

when i installed my lite on drive, which is a sata connection, i just plugged it in. there shouldn't be any jumpers, the mb should recognize it just fine.

[cheese321]

Originally Posted by shadowpr when i installed my lite on drive, which is a sata connection, i just plugged it in. there shouldn't be any jumpers, the mb should recognize it just fine.

thanks, so what are the little 6 pins on the bottom left on the back of the drive?