Step 1 : Installing the Processor

First, before you take any components out of the packaging, always ensure that you're electrostatically discharged. You can do this by wearing an electrostatic wrist strap (which can be purchased at any electronics store) or just simply touching the metal case of a power supply that's connected to the mains (but not necessarily turned on). If you're not wearing the wrist strap, always discharge yourself from time to time to ensure you're always grounded.

Now that you've earthed yourself, you can safely remove the processor from the box package and inspect to see if there are any defects. Don't worry if you don't see any pins on the processor, it's not a defect. The new LGA775 packaging does not come with any pins.

When handling the processor, always hold the processor by the sides as shown in the pictures below. Do not touch the contact pads as you do not want to soil nor damage them. A dirty contact pad could pose as a reliability or stability issue since it adds unnecessary resistance to the path of the electrical circuits. Though the contact pads look interesting, never touch them as oil and/or perspiration from your fingers could introduce long-term reliability issues (e.g. corrosion).

The Intel Pentium 4 LGA775 processor. On the top metal cover, you should be able to see the processor's speed engraved on the top metal cover. Note that our sample was not a retail part.

Always handle the processor by the sides to prevent damaging or soiling the contact pads below the processor. You can see that there are no pins on this processor.
Next, remove the motherboard from the package and you should see a highly integrated board like the one shown below.

The Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard.

The LGA775 socket on the motherboard. The pins on the socket are protected by a plastic cover during shipping.
Step 1.5 : Installing the Processor (cont'd)


First, remove the protective cover carefully by prying it off from the sides.

Unlock the lever from the hook on the socket and lift it up as shown.

With the lever fully opened, flip the metal cover open as shown.

You can now see the pins on the socket quite clearly. Do not touch any of those pins with your bare fingers as you may soil or damage them. These pins are very fragile and once damaged, you'll need to send your motherboard back to the manufacturer for repairs.

Follow the two notches on the CPU (as shown by the red circles above) and place it in the socket as shown. It should fit snugly into the space given.

Next, flip the metal cover down to lock the CPU in its position. At this point, the metal cover will not fully close as the processor is now installed in the socket.

With the metal cover in the closed position, flip the lever back to the original position and hook it back to the socket. You may need to use a little bit of force to lock the lever back to the socket.

The processor should be installed in the socket as shown.
Step 2 : Installing the Cooler

Once you've installed the processor successfully, you'll now need to install the cooler. In this guide, we'll be using the cooler bundled in every Intel boxed processor. Since there are not many coolers available that has support for the LGA775 socket yet, we'll just stick to using the one recommended by Intel. Besides, Intel's stringent heatsink design and requirements ensure that its heat dissipating performance matches the processor's thermal design power (TDP). Since the cooler is sufficient in handling the processor's heat output, we'll just use what's provided and save ourselves a few tens of dollars.

Anyway, before installing the cooler, you'll need to know a couple of things about its clip system. Familiarize yourself with it before you install it.

The bundled Intel cooler.

Thermal compound have already been pre-applied on the heatsink. Make sure you remove any protective cover on the thermal compound before installation. Also take extra care not to accidentally damage the compound as you want an interface that makes perfect contact with the processor.

Make sure all the four push-pins on the cooler are opened as shown.

If the push-pin has been locked (or closed), you will not be able to install it to the motherboard. When it's locked, it should look like what is shown in the picture above.

If the push-pin is locked, twist the top of the clip until the arrow is in the direction as shown (arrow pointing inwards). Then, pull the top upwards and the push-pin would then be in the unlocked position.

When the arrow is facing outwards (as shown above), you will not be able to pull the knob upwards. During the installation of the cooler, the arrow should stay in this position.
Step 2.5 : Installing the Cooler (cont'd)


The cooler should come with a handy side clip that allows you to manage your cables properly.

There's also another clip on the opposite side for cable management. You can use either one of them depending on where the fan header is located on the motherboard.

Place the heatsink over the processor and align all the four push-pins to the holes on the motherboard.

Make sure that each of the push-pin is inserted correctly into the hole.

Now, push each of the pins down hard. You should hear a "click" sound when it's properly locked on the motherboard.

You can check the back of the motherboard to see if the push-pins are properly installed. They should all look like this.

New LGA775 coolers now come with a four-pin connector. Plug it into the motherboard's four-pin header labeled as CPU_FAN.

Now that the cooler installation is done (which is one of the more crucial steps), we shall move on to installing the optional north bridge fan.
Optional : Installing Cool-Plus

The Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard comes with an additional cooler which can be installed on the northbridge's heatsink. Known as Cool-Plus, the purpose of the fan is to keep the northbridge running cool so that the system's reliability can be maintained even when running under extreme conditions. Additionally, with the Cool-Plus installed, one could potentially reach higher overclocking speeds. However, it may add to the overall noise of the system and you may want to skip this if you want a quiet system.

The Gigabyte Cool-Plus is an optional northbridge cooling fan which can be easily installed if needed.

Align the clip on the fan along with the heatsink's fin as shown.

Push the entire fan assembly down until the clips lock itself on the heatsink.

The clip should be latched to the heatsink as shown.

Next, take the fan connector from the Cool-Plus and plug it into the NB_FAN header as shown.

The Cool-Plus fan header installed.
Step 3 : Installing Memory Modules

Next, you should install the memory modules. The motherboard's DIMM slots have been color coded for easy dual-channel configuration. However, do note that motherboard manufacturers have different color coding schemes. Some boards have DIMM colors assigned to each memory channel while others color coded the DIMMs in dual channel memory pairs. Gigabyte chose the latter color coding scheme. As such, you should install your pair of identical memory modules in the same colored DIMM to enable the higher speed dual-channel memory configuration.

Unique only to the Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard, you'll find support for both types of memory, DDR400 and DDR2-533. You can choose to install either one of the memory type, but you CANNOT mix both memory types. In this guide, we'll show you how to install the newer DDR2-533 memory. Since there are only two DIMM slots for DDR2, the process is pretty straightforward. However, before you proceed, always check the manual to see the different types of memory configuration schemes you can use. Or, you can follow the guidelines below :-




The Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo comes with six DIMM slots, two pairs for DDR400 and another pair for DDR2-533 memory.

Note the different locations of the notches for DDR and DDR2 modules. The yellow DIMM slots are for DDR2 memory, quite obviously.

In this DIY guide, we recommend using Kingston's DDR2-533 ValueRAM modules (KVR533D2N4/512).

Similar to installing most memory modules, hold on to the memory module with both your hands and insert it perpendicularly into the slot as shown.

Always ensure that the notch on the module is aligned to the slot as shown. The notch ensures that the memory module can only be inserted in one direction. It will also prevent you from installing the DDR2 module into any of the DDR slots.

Once inserted, press the module down until the clips on both sides are locked vertically as shown.
Optional : Installing the DPS Module

The Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo comes bundled with an optional power delivery system known as U-Plus DPS. By installing this additional power module, you can increase the maximum power delivery of the motherboard by two-fold (DPS doubles the number of power phases on the motherboard from four to eight). Much power is needed to run modern Pentium 4 processors and with the U-Plus DPS, Gigabyte ensures that the motherboard has excellent compatibility with future processors which may require more power.

Since today's processors are still within the motherboard's power delivery limits, you may choose not to install this additional module. However, if you do, you can significantly reduce the heat dissipation of the motherboard's power MOSFETs as their load will be significantly reduced when the DPS shares the load. In addition, the extra heatpipe and heatsink on the U-Plus DPS will also help to further dissipate heat from the MOSFETs - keeping them cooler for a more reliable operating condition.

The U-Plus DPS module and a retention clip is bundled together with the motherboard.

The U-Plus DPS module should be installed into this orange slot located between the rear I/O deck and the processor.

Insert the module in the orientation as shown in the picture above. Make sure you press the card into the slot fully.

The U-Plus DPS installed. Note the extra heatsink protruding from the module is located just beside the main CPU cooler. You can see here that it borrows air from the CPU fan to cool itself.

Next, install the retention clip as shown.

The retention clip should be hooked down to the slot as shown.
Step 4 : Installing the Power Supply Unit


The Super Flower SF-480T14 power supply unit which supports new Intel Alderwood and Grantsdale platforms.

The Super Flower SF-480T14 power supply unit comes with a large 14cm cooling fan which is not only efficient in cooling the power supply components, but silent as well.

Insert the power supply into the casing with the orientation as shown. Note that some casings would require you to install the power supply unit from the reverse side.

Always make sure that the fan is facing downwards (or facing the motherboard).

The Super Flower SF-480T14 power supply unit comes with a switch that lets you change the speed of its cooling fan by depressing the switch located on the power supply itself. Also, do note the AC power voltage in your area and set it accordingly. Shown above, the switch is set to 230V.

There are four screws locations on the power supply unit. Fasten the power supply unit to the casing as shown.
Step 5 : Installing the Motherboard

Before installing the motherboard into the casing, you'll need to install the rear ATX I/O panel and spacers. Follow the steps outlined below :-

The rear I/O panel on most new casings should be vacant. If there's already one installed, remove it.

The ATX I/O panel should be provided with the motherboard.

If there are required ports covered, you can always remove them by bending the metal covers until they break off.

Install the snap-on rear I/O panel provided with the motherboard. It should be installed from the back as shown. Make sure that the panel is snapped and locked into the casing.

Make sure that the orientation of the panel is installed as shown.

We now need to prepare the case before installing the motherboard. Identify the screw positions on both the motherboard and the casing.

Use the provided spacers as shown here. You'll need nine of these for the GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard.

Fasten the spacers into the appropriate locations on the casing as identified earlier.
Step 5.5 : Installing the Motherboard (cont'd)


Place the motherboard into the casing in the orientation as shown.

Once you've inserted the motherboard, double check to ensure that the rear I/O panel is properly positioned in the window as shown.

Use these coarse threaded screws to fasten your motherboard to the casing.

Now, fasten the motherboard to the casing. Note, you should always ensure that the spacers installed earlier are aligned to the mounting holes on the motherboard and that every spacer installed are used to fasten the motherboard. Any extra spacers not aligned to any of the mounting holes may cause a short.

The motherboard securely fastened to the casing.
Getting To Know Your Power Supply

Before we move on to the next step, let's take a moment to know what are some of the different connectors found on common power supply units. Not all of the power connectors shown here are found in every modern power supply units. However, we hope that this little tutorial will help beginners understand more about the various types of connectors found with their power supplies and what they are used for.

This is the common 20-pin ATX power connector that is needed to power the motherboard and all of its other components. However, this is NOT what we'll use in this DIY guide as new LGA775-based motherboards will require a different connector.

This is the new 24-pin ATX power connector which is required for new LGA775-based motherboards. This power connector is also compatible with server boards which uses an SSI power connector.

This is the ATX12V power connector that most modern motherboards require. It's used to power most modern high-speed processors and in some rare cases, it's used with AGP Pro ports.

This is the AUX (auxiliary) power connector that some older Pentium 4 motherboards require. It's seldom used in Athlon-based systems. It's used in most high-end server boards, especially dual processor systems.

This is the popular Molex four-pin power connector that's used with most devices such as your optical drives and hard disk drives. It's also used with some high-end graphics cards, Firewire cards and casing fans.

This is the smaller 4-pin power connector that is normally used to power floppy disk drives. It's also used with certain graphics cards, Firewire cards, coolers and the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro.

This is a recently introduced power connector used specifically only for SATA hard disk drives. Most motherboards provide a converter cable for this power connector, so it's not a compulsory requirement yet. However, it's handy to have it included with the power supply unit.

Certain power supply units will provide fan power connectors such as these. You can see that there are only two wires connected to these four-pin Molex connectors. Use these with casing fans only and do not connect them to other devices such as optical and hard disk drives. This is an optional power connector.
Step 6 : Installing the Power Connectors

In order that your motherboard has power to boot up, you'll need to install two sets of power connectors from your power supply to the motherboard. Locate the ATX and ATX_12V power connectors on your motherboard and follow the procedures below:-

The Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard comes with a 24-pin power connector. However, Gigabyte has made the board backward compatible with older power supplies which uses the common 20-pin ATX connector.

Since we're using a 24-pin power supply, remove the sticker from the connector.

Insert the 24-pin power connector as shown.

Push the power connector all the way into the socket. The latch (on the opposite side) should lock itself on the connector once it's fully inserted.

Now, do the same with the ATX12V power connector. Note the location of the latches.

Make sure that the plug is fully inserted as shown.
Step 7 : Installing the Hard Disk Drives

In this next step, we'll show you how to connect the SATA hard disk drives to the motherboard. We'll assume that you already know how to physically install a hard disk drive to the casing. It's pretty straightforward, just find the appropriate internal 3.5-inch bays in the casing, insert the hard disk drive, align the screw locations to the ones on the casing, fasten the drive with screws and you're done installing the drive to the casing. Now, on to the more important details about the new SATA connector.

Use these SATA data cables to connect the hard disk drives to the motherboard. Make sure you remove the red cap before installation.

We used Seagate's latest Barracuda 7200.7 SATA hard disk drives in this guide. Two identical 80GB drives will be installed as the system's default storage unit.

Look at the connectors on the hard disk drive's interface board and compare them to the SATA data and power cables. Match the connector shapes on the drive and the cables before plugging them to the hard drive.

Install the hard disk drives into the casing before connecting any of the data and power cables.

Connect the SATA power cables from the power supply to the drives. Use two SATA data cables, one for each of the drives and connect them as shown.

Ensure that the data and power cables are fully plugged into the drive as shown. You should not leave any gaps in between.
Step 7.5 : Installing the Hard Disk Drives (cont'd)

By now, you'll notice that no mention was made about Master and Slave drives. For Serial ATA technology, there's absolutely not a need for any jumper manipulation since each drive is connected to the SATA port from one end to the other. This actually simplified the installation process as users need not worry about Master/Slave conflicts, cable types (40-conductor and 80-conductor) and specific cable orientation. Also, you'll notice that the cable is now much slimmer and this makes cable management simpler, in addition to clearing up more room for greater airflow within the casing. If you don't know yet, SATA provides greater bandwidth of up to 150MB/s while the parallel ATA standard has a maximum data bandwidth of only 133MB/s.

Now, let's continue with the SATA hard disk drive installation. We've connected the data cables to the drives, now let's connect the other end to the motherboard.

Locate the SATA connectors on the motherboard. You should find a total of four SATA connectors and they are all powered by the Intel ICH6R southbridge.

Similar to plugging the cable to the drive, there's only one way to do it.

The notch on the cable's connector should match the connector on the motherboard. Make sure it's fully plugged in.

Plug the SATA data cables into two of the connectors on the motherboard - one for each drive. Leave the other two SATA connectors empty for future upgrades.
Step 8 : Installing the Optical Drive

When you're done installing the hard disk drives, move on to install the optical storage drive. Once again, we'll assume that you already know how to mount a 5.25-inch drive into the casing.

For optical drives, you'll need to ensure that the jumpers are properly set for Master or Slave operation. Since there is only one IDE device in this guide, we'll set the optical drive to operate as a Master device. Note, some drives denote 'MA' as master and 'SL' as slave.

Next, plug the supplied audio cable to the analog audio output connector on the drive. This is a four-pin connector that's usually located beside the jumpers.

Now plug the other end to the motherboard's CD-IN header.

Attach the provided IDE cable to one of the IDE ports on the motherboard. Since only one IDE channel will be used, plug it into the connector labeled 'IDE'. Alternatively, match the color of the connector on the cable and motherboard as shown. Also note the location of the notch as indicated by the red arrows.

Make sure the cable is plugged into the connector as shown here.

Next, plug the other end to the optical drive.

Make sure that the side of the cable with the white strip (in most cases, a red strip) is aligned to the side marked as 'Pin 1' on the drive.

To remove the IDE cable, do not pull the ribbon cable directly. Pull the flap on the connector instead. This will prevent any damage that may likely arise from directly pulling the data cable. A slightly damaged cable may appear to be working but could exhibit symptoms like corrupted data and disc access/burning problems.
We'll skip the installation of a floppy drive, since by now, we would assume most should know how to install one. In fact, the procedure is pretty similar to an optical drive. Most would consider the floppy drive a legacy device and you may choose not to install one. However, in order to install the RAID array as a boot-up drive, you will need a floppy drive installed in the system. You can always connect the floppy drive externally for the purpose of installing Windows. Once that is done, you can safely remove it from the system.
Step 9 : Installing the I/O Brackets

The board comes with two I/O brackets. Install them as follows:-

Before installing any of the brackets, remove two of the rear faceplates from the casing.

First, we'll install the USB 2.0 bracket as shown above.

Install the USB 2.0 bracket into the first slot.

Plug the connector to one of the corresponding USB headers found on the motherboard. You should see two yellow headers marked as F_USB1 and F_USB2. Connect to any one of them.

Finally, we have the USB 2.0 and Firewire bracket. There are two USB 2.0 ports here including a standard six-pin Firewire port and a nine-pin Firewire 800 port.

Install the bracket into the second slot as shown.

Connect the second USB 2.0 plug to the other yellow header as shown.

Connect the purple connector from the bracket to the corresponding purple colored header on the motherboard labeled as F2_1394. This is the connector for the Firewire ports found on the bracket.
Step 10 : Installing the Graphics Card

You're almost done installing your new Pentium 4 system. One of the most critical components that we have yet to install is the graphics card. Here's how you do it.

In this guide, we recommend that you get the Gigabyte GV-NX59128D graphics card which is a PCI Express graphics based on the NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5900 GPU. This is a decently priced graphics card with enough processing performance to play most 3D games.

Before installing the card, remove the corresponding faceplate from the casing.

Insert the card into the slot as shown.

Once the card is fully inserted, you should be able to fasten the PCI Express card's faceplate to the casing with ease.
Step 11 : Connecting the Front Panel Header

You're just moments away from booting the system for the first time. Before you do that, you should connect all the necessary front panel LEDs and switches to the motherboard. Before you begin, look for the front panel header which is normally located on the lower left corner of the motherboard. Consult the motherboard manual if you cannot find it. Here's how you do it.

Unlike most motherboards, the Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo comes with colored front panel headers which make identification and installation very simple. Each front panel connector has been designated with its own set of color, and the polarity of the connectors have also been marked with a '+' sign which obviously indicate that it's a positive polarity.

Most casings would provide a set of connectors labeled as such. For the LED connectors, the colored wire usually indicates a positive polarity.

First, plug the 'Power LED' connector into the header as shown. Note that we've inserted the connector with the colored wire into the header with the '+' mark. If you've connected it the other way around, you won't see the LED light up when the system is powered. In such a case, you may need to remove the connector, flip it around and re-connect it.

Next, connect the power switch as shown. For switches, you need not worry about polarity - any which way will work just fine.

Connect the HDD LED next. This is an indicator lamp for your hard disk drive's activity. Once again, make sure the polarity is correct.

Connect the reset switch as shown.

Finally, you have the speaker connector which goes into the four pin header although effectively, only the two side pins are used to power the speaker. Note that this is not for your multimedia speaker as it does nothing more than beeps to indicate your system's boot status. You can skip this step if you do not want to use it. However, for beginners, we recommend using it as it is used for troubleshooting purposes. Some motherboards have built-in buzzers and as such, the speaker connection is not needed.
Before Powering Up

Before powering up the system, it's helpful to go through and verify whether all the components have been properly installed and that there are no connectors unplugged. You can also tidy up some of the cables in the casing as it will help to improve airflow within that confined space. Here's what the system should look like:-

A look at the rear end of the completed system.

If you've followed all the steps, you should have all these I/O connectivities lined up behind.

The internal portion of the system with all the components and cables. Ensure that all the cables have been properly plugged in and that no cables are obstructing any of the fans.
Here is a checklist of items to perform before powering up:-

Check the AC voltage switch on your power supply before connecting it to the mains. Never assume that the power supply has been set correctly to operate in your local AC voltage. Always double check this item, or you could damage the entire system due to incorrect operating voltage. Once you've done that, connect the power cable from the mains to your power supply. Remember to turn on the power switch on your power supply (if there is one). Users often forget to flip the switch before attempting to power up.

You should have a monitor ready, all connected and turned on. If you have an analog monitor, connect the cable to the VGA connector (the blue connector) on the graphics card. Those with a digital flat panel monitor with DVI support should use an appropriate DVI cable to achieve the best display quality.

Connect your mouse and keyboard to the PS/2 ports located at the rear I/O panel. The mouse connector is colored green while the keyboard connector is colored purple.

If you have speakers, follow the output diagrams and plug them into the provided audio jacks accordingly. There won't be any audio output at your first boot. You'll get proper audio only after Windows and the audio drivers have been installed.

Once you've done all that, press the power switch located on the front panel of the chassis.

The system glowing with life...
Step 12.1 : Configuring The BIOS

Once you've pressed the power switch, the system should boot up and you'll hear the fans spinning, the hard disk starting up and see the power LED light up on the front panel. If you look inside the casing, you'll see blue lights from the Cool-Plus northbridge cooler and the U-Plus DPS module. It will take a short while before you see any display on your monitor screen.

The boot screen tells you the processor speed, the amount of memory you have installed in your system and the various storage devices installed in the system.

Intel's built-in RAID screen will appear showing you two of the drives connected to the system. However, they are only single devices and have not been configured as a RAID volume yet. We'll show you how to do it in a while.

The Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard also comes with a GigaRAID controller that offers support for another four IDE drives. Since we did not connect any drives to this controller, no devices were detected. We'll disable this controller in the BIOS as we won't be using it here.
The boot screen above tells you that you have a Pentium 4 processor running at 3.60GHz installed and 1,048,576KB of installed memory. One Gigabyte is equivalent to 1,024MB and one Megabyte is equivalent to 1,024KB. Therefore, 1,024 multiplied by 1,024 should give you the exact amount of memory shown on the boot screen. Also, you can tell that the system has detected that dual-channel DDR memory was enabled - which means that you have installed the memory in the right configuration.

Now, press the DEL (Delete) key immediately to go into the BIOS configuration menu. You should see the main BIOS selection menu.

The BIOS setup main menu.
At all times, use the arrow keys (Up, Down, Left and Right) to navigate between the items and using the ENTER key to select the item. Other keys include ESC (Escape) which lets you exit the current setup page to go back into the main meu, PgUp (Page Up) to increase numeric value (or change selection) and PgDn (Page Down) to decrease numeric value (or change back to previous selection). The controls in the BIOS screen are pretty standard although we would advise you check the manual to find out more about the control keys as it varies from board to board.

Press ENTER to go into the first option (Standard CMOS Features).

Standard CMOS Features menu.
In this screen, you should adjust the date and time. You can leave the other items as default. If you do not have a floppy drive installed, you should 'Disable' it in the 'Drive A' field. However, we recommend that you install a floppy disk drive so that Windows XP can be installed directly with Intel's RAID driver through a floppy disk.

Once you're done with the configuration, press ESC to go back to the main menu.
Step 12.2 : Configuring The BIOS

Next, go to the Advanced BIOS Features sub-menu.

Advanced BIOS Features.
In this section, there are a few things you should configure. Let's look at the second to fourth items first. The First Boot Device is usually the device that you want the system to start its boot-up process. In this example, the floppy drive would be accessed first if there's a floppy disk inserted. If you do not have a floppy drive, it will carry on to the second boot device and so on until it finds a device that it can load the operating system. If it finds nothing, the system will simply hang. We recommend the above setup as a start.

The rest of the items in this menu should be set as shown. Password Check is a password lock which you can define to prevent unauthorized usage. By default, it's disabled. If you want to enable it, there are two different settings to this item, 'System' and 'Setup'. The 'System' password check setting will require the user to enter a password whenever you boot the system or if you want to access the BIOS setup menu. The 'Setup' password check setting will only ask for a password if you want to enter the BIOS setup menu but will allow the user to boot without any password.

CPU Hyper-Threading should be enabled if you want to take advantage of this performance enhancing technology. By enabling Hyper-Threading here, the Windows XP operating system will see your system with two logical processors instead of one. This allows the operating system to issue multi-threaded commands to the two logical processors simultaneously. By doing so, commands would be executed faster (in parallel) and consequently result in increased processing speed. However, you'll need to use at least Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Home Edition to take advantage of this technology. Older operating systems like Windows 98 or Me will not see the second logical processor and there won't be any performance gains even if it's enabled here.

Finally, set Limit CPUID Max. to 3 to disabled if you're using Windows XP. If you're using an older operating system like Windows NT 4, enable this option.

Now, go back to the Hard Disk Boot Priority option. In this sub-option, you'll find a list of hard disk drives installed in your system. Since we have installed two hard disk drives, you should see only two drives listed here. When you have more drives installed, you'll see a longer list here and you can choose which drives you want to boot first. In a way, you can make use of this feature to have multiple boot drives.

You'll see the two hard disk drives we've installed earlier in this menu. Since we have not configured them into a RAID array, they are listed here as individual drives. Ignore this for the moment.
Let's move on to other menus.
Step 12.3 : Configuring the BIOS

Go to the next Integrated Peripherals sub-menu. You'll see the menu as shown below:-

The Integrated Peripherals sub-menu.
Let's run through some of the more important terms here.

On-Chip Primary PCI IDE - Enable this option to turn on the chipset's IDE channel. The Intel ICH6R comes with only a single IDE channel and you'll have to enable this if you want your optical drive to work. We installed the optical drive to the southbridge's IDE controller, remember?

SATA RAID/AHCI Mode - By default, RAID is enabled. Use this option as we'll be configuring the two SATA drives into a RAID array for better performance.

USB Controller and USB 2.0 Controller - Enable these options if you want to use the USB ports found on the motherboard.

USB Keyboard Support and USB Mouse Support - Enable these options only if you've installed USB-based keyboard and mouse. If these are disabled, you will not be able to use the keyboard and mouse in pure DOS and BIOS modes.

Azalia Codec - Enable this option if you want to use the on-board Intel High-Definition Audio feature.

Onboard H/W 1394 - This option will enable the built-in IEEE 1394b (Firewire 800) controller.

Onboard H/W GigaRAID - This option will allow you to enable or disable the additional GigaRAID controller. Since we did not install any hard disk drives to the GigaRAID's IDE ports, we'll disable this feature.

Onboard H/W LAN1 - This will enable or disable the Marvell 8001 PCI-based Gigabit LAN controller.

Onboard H/W LAN2 - This will enable or disable the Broadcom 5751 PCI Express Gigabit LAN controller.

Now, scroll down further and you'll see more options. The following are legacy ports which you can leave enabled by default or disabled if you have no use for them. We like to set them in the following manner:-

Configure your legacy ports as shown.
Step 12.4 : Configuring the BIOS

The next Power Management Setup sub-menu lets you configure how you want your system to power up and power down. Leave them as default unless you have very specific requirements for your system.

The Power Management Setup sub-menu.
The next PnP/PCI Configuration sub-menu lets you assign IRQ to specific PCI slots. Leave them at default options. Do not change the IRQ assingments unless you really know what they do. Most of the time, Windows should have no problems handling these and you should rarely encounter IRQ conflicts. You'll also notice two options here as the board supports only two PCI slots. PCI Express does not require IRQ assignments.

The PnP/PCI Configuration sub-menu.
The PC Health Status sub-menu shows you your system's hardware status including voltages, fan speed and temperatures. There are several options available here. You can always set limits to temperatures and fan speeds such that if they exceed the pre-determined limit, a warning will sound through the casing's speaker.

The PC Health Status sub-menu.
CPU Smart FAN Control allows the BIOS to dynamically adjust the fan speed according to the processor's operating temperature. When the CPU temperature is below 40 degrees Celcius, the fan will stop running, hence enabling a silent operation. Between 40 to 65 degrees Celcius, the fan's speed will increase linearly until it reaches over 65 degrees when it will operate at full speed. However, you'll need to define the number of pins on your fan if you want this feature working. The Intel cooler which we've used in this guide uses a four-pin connector. Thus, make sure you set the CPU FAN PIN Type to '4 PIN'.
Step 12.5 : Configuring the BIOS

Caution : The following BIOS configuration should only be done if you're an advanced user. If not done properly, you may experience system instability and could even damage your components. Proceed with this section at your own risk.

Next, you have the MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) sub-menu. In this section, you can overclock your processor and other components to achieve higher performance. Once again, do this at your own risk as you may damage your components if your settings are too extreme.

The MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) sub-menu.

CPU Host Clock Ratio - This item appears only if you have a multiplier unlocked processor. The Pentium 4 560 processor is clocked at 3.6GHz and this means that its multiplier is set at 18x. Simply means, the clock frequency of the processor will run at 18 times of the system's bus speed. In this case, the bus speed is 200MHz. All Pentium 4 processors have their ratio locked, and you cannot change this option.

C.I.A. 2 - Known as CPU Intelligent Accelerator 2, it dynamically overclocks your processor according to the system load. Through this method, it ensures that your components do not run at high clock speeds most of the time, thus, the components are kept running cool while its lifespan would be prolonged further. As a start, we advise that you keep the option disabled until you're comfortable enough to overclock the system. The Cruise option overclocks the processor by an average of 5% while Full Thrust overclocks by an average of about 17%. Check the manual for the full disclosure of each option.


The C.I.A. 2 options.

CPU Host Frequency (MHz) - The only way to overclock your processor is by increasing the system host frequency. If you change the value to 201MHz, your CPU will now run at 18x201=3618MHz. Do note that if you set a value that's too high, it will affect the other peripherals in your system. Most notably, SATA devices do not have good tolerance against high host frequency. Therefore, overclock at your own risk if you're using SATA drives as data corruption (and hardware failure) would likely occur.

Memory Frequency - You can set it to Auto to allow the BIOS to detect your memory module's speed. In this case, you can see that the BIOS has correctly detected the speed as 533MHz.

DIMM OverVoltage Control - This option allows you to increase the voltage of your memory. Do this only if you're overclocking the memory or tightening its timings. You can add up to 0.3V to the original DDR voltage at 2.5V or DDR2 voltage at 1.8V.

PCI-E OverVoltage Control - Similar to the DIMM OverVoltage option, you can add up to 0.3V to the default PCI Express running voltage.

CPU Voltage Control - When overclocking the CPU's frequency, it helps if you increase the CPU voltage. You can increase it in small 0.0125V steps and the highest you can set is 1.6000V. At maximum voltage setting, we recommend that you monitor the CPU's temperature closely.

Once you're done with the BIOS configuration, select the Save & Exit Setup at the BIOS main menu screen and allow the system to reboot.

Remember to save your settings before you exit the BIOS setup.
Step 13 : Configuring the SATA RAID Volume

What is RAID? RAID or better known as Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a method where two or more hard disk drives are combined to form one logical unit. Basically, RAID provides better performance and also data fault tolerance. Performance is achieved through the use of two drives to simultaneously read and write data. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one, and so, two drives doing the same task would result in better performance. Fault tolerance, on the other hand, is achieved by using the other hard disk drive to mirror the contents of the first drive. In other words, you'll always have a backup copy of your data in another drive. If any one of the drive fails, the working copy will take over and your system will continue to run as if nothing happened.

There are basically two levels of RAID achievable by the Intel ICH6R southbridge, RAID 0 (striping) and RAID 1 (mirroring).

In RAID 0, or striping, two drives are used to store and access data simultaneously. In other words, a particular file would have parts of it stored in one and the rest in the other drive. As both drives are used to access the file simultaneously, you can expect the I/O performance to increase. In addition, you'll also see your array's capacity doubled (if you have two identical drives). For example, if you installed two 80GB drives, you'll have a total of 160GB in the array. If however, you have one 60GB and one 80GB drive configured for RAID 0, the capacity will be determined by the drive with the lowest capacity, in which case, you'll get only 120GB. The only drawback with RAID 0 is the lack of fault tolerance. If any drive fails, it will affect the entire array and you will lose all your data even if the other drive is still working.

In RAID 1, or mirroring, data written to one drive will be duplicated (or mirrored) on the other drive. If one drive fails, the other drive will continue to function and the system will not crash. However, one of the drive is always used for redundancy and as such, the capacity of the array is equal to the capacity of the smallest drive used in the array. For example, if you have a 60GB and a 40GB drive configured for RAID 1, the resulting capacity of the array would only be 40GB. Ideally, we recommend drives with identical capacities so that none of the extra storage space are wasted.

Now that you know what's RAID, let's carry on with the configuration. In the following steps, we'll teach you how to build a RAID 0 array. You can always follow the same steps to build a RAID 1 array if you want to go for data redundancy rather than performance.

Now, let the system reboot until you see the Intel RAID drive detection. Press CTRL-I to enter the RAID configuration utility.

Follow the steps below :-

You can see here that no RAID volumes have been defined. Select the first 'Create RAID Volume' option and press Enter.

Now, type the name of your RAID volume. Once you're done, press Enter and go to the next option. Leave the 'RAID Level' option to RAID 0. Press Enter again.

Next, select the RAID 0 stripe size. Use the 'up' and 'down' arrow keys to select which value you want. We recommend that you select 64KB for general purpose usage.
Chunk size or stripe size is the size of the smallest block defined by the RAID controller. A smaller chunk size would result in smaller bits of files stored in each of the drives. If you anticipate storing files with file sizes in the range of 1KB to 16KB, a small stripe size may help you reduce disk usage. If you have large files (such as video or audio files), larger stripe sizes will help you increase access performance. This is just a simple scenario for illustration purposes although in real-life usage, it can get quite complex. Performance won't vary a lot with chunk sizes especially if you're using it in an environment with varied file sizes. Always go for something in between for a better balance, therefore, we recommend using a 64KB chunk size in your striped array.

Now, press Enter to create the new RAID 0 volume.

Press 'Y' to create the volume.

The RAID volume has now been created. Select the Exit option to reboot.

The RAID volume is now shown in the BIOS under the 'Hard Disk Boot Priority' option.
Step 14.1 : Setting Up Windows

Before you begin installing Windows, you'll first need to prepare a floppy disk containing the drivers for the Intel ICH6R RAID controller. There are two ways to do this :-

1. Create the driver disk directly from the CD provided with the Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo motherboard. Insert the driver CD into your CD-ROM drive and an empty floppy disk into the floppy drive and go to command prompt. Change the drive letter to the CD-ROM drive (usually D and type 'cd BootDrv' followed by 'menu'. Select the option 'Intel Application Accelerator 4.0' and wait for it to copy the files into the floppy disk, or,

2. Download the Intel Application Accelerator floppy configuration utility directly from Intel's website. Execute the file and follow the on-screen instructions.

Next, insert the Microsoft Windows XP setup CD into the optical drive and boot the system. It should boot from the CD. Follow the steps below:-

The Windows Setup screen. At the beginning of this stage, it will prompt you to press F6 to load additional storage drivers. Quickly press the F6 key and wait.

After pressing F6 and waiting for a few minutes, you'll get to this screen where it will ask you to specify additional mass storage drivers. Press the 'S' key now.

It will now ask you to insert the drivers which you have copied to your floppy disk earlier. Now, put the floppy disk into your floppy drive and press the ENTER key.

Windows Setup will read the floppy and identify the drivers found in the disk. Select the 'Intel 82801FR SATA RAID Controller'.

Once the driver is loaded (shown above), press the ESC key to continue with the setup process but leave the floppy disk inside the drive. Windows will continue to load the necessary files for the setup to continue.

You'll reach this screen when setup is ready to continue the installation process. Now, press the ENTER key to set up Windows XP.
Step 14.2 : Setting Up Windows

Continue the Windows setup process as shown below.

You'll now see the End-User License Agreement screen as shown above. You have to press the F8 key to agree to the terms set out here. Pressing ESC will stop the installation process and you'll need to restart the Windows installation process all over again. If you wish to read the agreement, press the Page Down key to scroll the document.

In the next screen, Windows would have detected the RAID volume and it should be shown as an unpartitioned drive with about 160GB of capacity. Select this drive and press the ENTER key to install Windows into this drive. If you wish to partition this drive, you can always press C and follow the instructions that follow.

You're now asked to format the single partition you've selected previously. Choose the first option if you want to make a quick format. The second option will also format the partition but it takes a much longer time as it totally formats the drive and verifies for any errors. We suggest that you choose the second option to ensure that the drives are working properly. The formatting process will take a very long time (sometimes exceeding an hour), so be very patient.

Once formatting has completed, setup will begin copying files to the hard disk drive. Wait for it to complete. This should take less than 10 minutes.

Once copying has completed, setup will reboot the system. You can now remove the floppy disk from the drive. Do not remove the Windows setup CD yet.

Your system will reboot and continue to load the next step of Windows setup from the files it has copied to your drive earlier.
Step 14.3 : Setting Up Windows

Once Windows setup has fully booted, you'll see a graphical installation screen as shown below. Continue with the following steps:-

At this stage, Windows is pretty much doing its own thing, such as detecting your system's devices and installing its appropriate drivers. Just wait and read the messages that comes on the screen every minute or so.

Windows will now ask you to select your regional and language options. By default, language is set to English and keyboard layout is based on the US format. Click the Next button if you do not want to change any of these.

Next, you'll be asked to personalize the software with your name and organization. Type your own name here.

Windows will now ask you to enter the unique product key. The product key is usually found at the back of the CD cover. Type the key in the boxes provided. Do not share this key with anyone and keep it safe with you.

Now, enter your computer's name. This name will appear in the Windows network if you're connected to one. Also, type in your administrator password. If you're the only one using this PC, you can leave the fields blank.

Enter the date, time and the time zone.
Step 14.4 : Setting Up Windows


Windows will now prompt you to setup your network. This network is actually part of the Firewire controller and not the Ethernet controllers built into the board. The two network controllers on this particular board are actually foreign to Windows and they should not have been detected at this point. Just select the 'Typical settings' option and press the Next button to move on.

Enter your workgroup name in the box as shown. If you're in a network with a domain controller, select the second option below. If it's a standalone PC, select the first option, enter a workgroup name and click the Next button to continue.

Setup will then continue to copy files to your boot drive and will reboot when it's done.

After rebooting, you will see this dialog box. Just press the OK button to let Windows adjust your screen resolution.

After adjusting, you'll see another dialog box like this. Just click the OK button to continue.

This is the last phase of Windows setup. Windows will now ask you a few questions to continue configuring the PC. Normally, Windows will ask information pertaining to your network. Since the Ethernet controllers have not yet been set up, Windows will skip all of that.

It will now ask you for a list of users that will be accessing this computer. Type your name in the first field, and the names of other users (if there's any).
Step 15.1 : Installing Drivers and Software

In this final step, we'll show you how to install the appropriate drivers and software into Windows. Follow the steps as outlined in below and the next few pages.

When you're booted to Windows for the first time, you can check your system's status by right-clicking your mouse button on the 'My Computer' icon and choose the 'Properties' option from the pop-up selection menu.

You'll see the system's properties as shown above. Looks like everything's in order. Now, click the 'Hardware' tab above.

Then, click the 'Device Manager' button as shown above. You'll see a list of devices with a yellow question mark attached to them. These are some of the devices that Windows did not install or detect during the installation process. You'll have to install the drivers to enable and use these devices in Windows.

Insert the Gigabyte's driver CD. It should auto-launch and detect the components in your system.

You can see here that it has detected all the devices that hasn't yet been installed into the system. Click the button 'Xpress Install' to begin installing all the necessary drivers. This process is automatic and almost seamless.
Step 15.2 : Installing Drivers and Software


The Xpress Install program will auto-reboot your system twice during the installation process. After each reboot, it will automatically continue the installation process, as shown above.

Some drivers are too new and have not yet been verified by Microsoft. This is why you'll see a dialog box (like the above) pop-up during one of the driver's installation. Click 'Continue Anyway' to allow the utility to install the driver.

After completing all driver installation and rebooting your system, go back to the Device Manager window and you'll see that almost all of the devices have been properly installed with a working driver (no more yellow question mark icons except for the video controller). You're still missing the video driver. Grab the driver CD from your graphics card's package and insert it into your optical drive.

The CD will auto-launch an installation program as shown above. Click 'Install DirectX 9' first. This will install the latest DirectX 9 3D graphics API.

Click 'I accept the agreement' radio button and click the 'Next' button to continue.

The installation program will copy files into your system and it should take about one to two minutes to complete. After completion, it will prompt you to reboot your system. Reboot to have the update take effect.
Step 15.3 : Installing Drivers and Software


Relaunch the graphics driver CD by re-inserting it into your optical drive. Now select the 'Install Display Driver' option to install NVIDIA's graphics driver. You'll see the above screen, just wait until it completes.

Once installation has completed, restart your system. Choose the first option and click the 'Finish' button.

After rebooting, right-click your mouse button anywhere on your desktop and choose 'Properties' from the pop-up menu. You'll see the 'Display Properties' dialog box as shown above. Click the 'Settings' tab above to get to this screen. In this screen, you can select your screen's resolution and the color depth. Set your screen's resolution to the maximum resolution of your monitor (check the monitor's specifications if you're unclear). Also, select the 'Highest' color quality. Next, click the 'Advanced' button to see more options.

The NVIDIA graphics driver will display some of your system's information, including those related to your graphics card. You can see here that the graphics card is equipped with 128MB of memory and it's using driver version 6.14.10.6085 (or easier known as 60.85).

The nView Display Mode lets you control your dual monitor options, whether they are in 'Clone' or 'Span' modes. This option works only if you have a secondary display plugged to the graphics card.
Step 15.4 : Installing Drivers and Software


The Performance & Quality option allows you to tweak your 3D gaming's performance and graphics render quality by tweaking options like antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, vertical sync, etc.

You can check your graphics card's temperature by selecting the Temperature Settings option.

NVRotate is a useful option for those with LCD screens that could rotate. By rotating your screen, you can change your view from landscape to portrait.
Now that you're more or less familiar with the graphics driver, let's go back to Device Manager to check if we have everything installed.

Go back to the Device Manager one last time to check if everything has been installed. Everything's looking really good here.

Now, right click on the task bar, select the 'Task Manager' option and click the 'Performance' tab on top. You'll see that you have two logical processors running in parallel here. This shows that Hyper-Threading is running and enabled on the Pentium 4 processor.
Step 15.5 : Installing Drivers and Software


Before you start installing any applications, it's helpful to update your Windows software by selecting the Windows Update option in your Start menu.

When you start Windows Update for the first time, you'll be given a security warning. This warning is given by default if a website wants to install a program into your system. As the codes have been authenticated, you can safely proceed to install this program. Click the 'Yes' button to proceed.

Once the Windows Update application has been installed, you can the proceed to scan for new updates to your operating system.

Windows Update should have detected quite a lot of items that you can update. All of the critical updates and service packs should have been added automatically. Choose the driver updates option and add any new drivers detected for your system. This should keep your system drivers as updated as possible. Note that some updates may need to be installed alone. As such, after rebooting the system, run Windows Update again to continue installing other updates. You may need to do this a few times until you've exhausted all critical updates. Also note that some newer updates will only be detected after the installation of older updates. Thus, don't assume that the entire installation process has completed once you're done with it. Always re-run Windows Update to check again.

After selecting your updates, select 'Review and install updates' and then click the 'Install Now' button.
You're now done installing your system and you can proceed to install other software and games into your new computer. This pretty much concludes the DIY guide and we hope that you've managed to reach this final step without any hitches or problems. If you have questions with respect to this DIY guide, don't hesitate to post your queries in our Hardware Clinic [URL="http://forums.hardwarezone.com/"]forum[/URL] or the feedback link below.

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