3. Setup and installation

3.1 Extra items needed

It sure seems like Gigabyte includes a lot with this barebones package. Of course, we still had to purchase some essential components to make this all work. So here go the rest of the computer.
- Intel Celeron 1.8 GHz Socket 478 Processor
- 1 generic PC2100 DDR Stick of Memory
- 1 40GB 7200 RPM Samsung IDE Hard Drive

and that's it! As I said in the previous section, there's no need to get a CD ROM drive or a floppy drive - it's all included! I actually would have preferred getting the model with the DVD ROM drive but that barebones system is hard to find.

Celeron 1.8GHz - Ignore the Modem box	Processor and Stock Heatsink

3.2 Opening up the case

The case is held down by two screws in the rear of the case. Once they are removed, the shell can be removed fairly easily. I had no problems lifting the case and putting it back though you do need to recognize the fact that you need to slide the case forward and then up and out. The manual excels here by diagramming the direction by which the case should be taken off.
My only complaint here is the use of regular Philips screws instead of thumbscrews. My recommendation is to go out and buy 2 thumbscrews for this case to make your life easier. It's a small complaint but in this day where most cases come with them, there's no real excuse not to include them - Gigabyte - TOOLESS DESIGN PLEASE!!!

Taking off the case	The insides

3.3 Examining the insides

Upon the removal of the case, you'll find a pretty tidy design with the optical drive and floppy drive towards the side of the case and the power supply at the top rear of the case. The motherboard has a very clean layout though the processor is a little too close to the Power Supply for my liking. There is a fan blowing from the power supply down at the processor but the heat from the P/S is still a little too close for comfort for me.
The system includes an IDE cable for your hard drive which is similar in design to those found in the AMD gBox. The location of the memory slot relative to the optical drive makes it a bit hard to insert the memory sticks. The manual recommends inserting the memory before you put the drive chassis back in and upon looking at the case design, I see why. Overall, the case is a bit cramped but that is to be expected in a small system like this.

Chipset Cooler	Pentium 4 HS Retention Clip

Pentium 4 Retention Clip below P/S

Back to the motherboard itself - it's based on an Intel 845GL chipset which is part of the Intel Extreme Graphics line of chipsets. I won't really spend too much filling the space with cool graphics and deails from Intel's site. If you want more information on the i845 GL chipset, I suggest checking out the intel product site. The Extreme Graphics option is essentially Intel's jargon for telling you, the consumer, that they have a nice integrated graphics solution on their motherboard. Is it fast? Eh - it's not something to write home about but the 2D performs decently and it's good enough in general for business usage. The chipset supports USB 2.0 and DDR memory for the Pentium 4 platform (Socket 478). One downside to this chipset is the usage of a Uniform Memory Architecture where the video memory for the graphics portion is taken from system memory. Unfortunately you will have to live with this unless you can find yourself a low profile PCI graphics card. Those looking for high end graphics performance need not apply here.

3.4. Installing the Hard Drive

So my first task was to actually find a way to install the hard drive. The manual indicates that you need to remove 2 side screws and then lift up the hard drive supporting frame to reveal the hard drive enclosure. However, it's not quite clear from the diagram on how to do this (though the manual shows an arrow for direction). It turns out that once you remove the side screws, you can pull the drive chassis forward out of the case and then you'll see the hidden hard drive enclosure. One thing important here - remove the IDE cable connecting your CD ROM drive to the motherboard as well as your Molex connector before you remove the drive chassis otherwise you'll be tugging at some cables!

Samsung Hard Drive

Drives from the outside	Drives from the rear
Removing the floppy drive	FDD removed

Once the hard drive enclosure is revealed, you remove one more screw and voila, you've got the hard drive enclosure in your hands. I installed my Samsung 40GB 7200 drive right in with 4 screws and then inserted the IDE cable. Then the enclosure went back onto the case which is locked down by that one screw. The IDE cable and power supply cables were appropriately attached and then I proceeded to put the hard drive frame back onto the case. This is perhaps the hardest step in the entire process of building the system.

Removing the Hard Drive Supporting Frame	Reveals the Hard Drive Enclosure
Hard Drive Enclosure	Hard Drive installed
Everything back together	and the wiring behind it

3.5 Installing the CPU and Heatsink/Fan

Installing the CPU is a breeze especially for Pentium 4 systems and their heatsink retention clamp system. For this particular system I used the new Intel 1.8GHz Celeron processor which is essentially a Pentium 4 with 128 K L2 cache and a 400MHz Quad Pumped Front Side Bus. Why did I choose the Celeron? That decision was purely from an economical standpoint. Though having a 512K L2 cache would have been ideal, the desire to keep this system as cheap as possible made the Celeron an ideal candidate.

As always, it's important to put down a layer of thermal grease to make sure that as much heat is transferred from the processor's heat spreaders to the heatsink. Gigabyte actually includes some thermal grease but I chose to use some Artic Silver that I had left over.

I tried installing both the stock Intel heatsink/fan combo as well as the combination provided by Gigabyte. In the end, I chose the Gigabyte solution though it was louder. Why? The reason was purely based on temperature! The Intel heatsink, though having a quiet fan, just can't keep the processor cool enough with this particular case design. The steel frame is practically next to the fan and thus air flow is practically non-existent. The Gigabyte solution has a fan blowing from the bottom which utilizes the natural airflow of the case and you see a 10 degree C in difference on load situations. The Gigabyte heatsink/fan isn't the best solution but for what I had there at the time, it works fairly well.

Intel Celeron 1.8GHz	Thermal Grease applied
CPU installed	Thermal Grease applied to HS
Placing Heatsink on	Another look

3.6 Installing the memory

I had one stick of PC 2100 generic DDR memory and promptly inserted that onto the memory slot of the motherboard. The memory slots are in a tight area where the IDE cables and the processor come close together. Though I inserted the memory after the drives and CPU was installed, I definitely recommend putting the CPU and memory first before the hard drive was installed. Actually the manual does recommend this setup procedure but I of course chose to ignore that. Hah - got to read the manuals more often!

Memory being installed

3.7 Closing things up and trying it out

That's basically all there is for the hardware installation. As I said before, having a CD ROM drive and floppy drive come standard with this barebones system is a nice feature to have! I basically placed the case back over the system and screwed the 2 screws in on the back.

All done minus the top

3.8 POST and Installing Windows XP Professional

Luckily this system started up on the very first try without any sort of problem at all. Once I was comfortable with the BIOS settings, I went ahead and installed the Windows XP Professional O/S. Installation was smooth and then I proceeded to upgrade the missing drivers with the Gigabyte drivers CD. All the drivers installed without a hitch and I had a fully working XP Pro system up and running in 25 minutes after setup began. It should be noted that I did not do any BIOS tweaking for this review. Thus system scores might be a bit low compared to where they optimally could be. My goal is to not necessarily show the spectacular performance or underperformance of this system but to show how to build this Gigabyte system in general.

Splash Screen

POST Screen	BIOS Menu
Standard CMOS	Advanced BIOS
Integrated Peripherals	PC Health Status
Frequency / Voltage Setting	Same as before

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