Boy not listening. Never bu an off the shelf CP system from "any" third party seller.
You never know what you getting. Post what you are looking at (from this site). Post full build specs and what the system is for. The membership will chime in and make suggestions for a solid build less the junk parts you often get with third party sales.
All CP systems will have MOBO driver disks, you use when you fire a system up. Go to the GPU manufactures site and get the latest GPU drivers.
First boot list.
Take plenty of pictures before during & after the unboxing in case there is damage.
Remove all packing, verify all components are seated & plugged in.
Connect monitor, keyboard, mouse and internet only.
Fire it up, finish OS install, GPU drivers & MOBO drivers. Register the OS.
Download Speed Fan or HWI monitor and run during all tests to monitor temps. All the programs listed are free, make sure you download directly from their site or at someplace like Major Geeks.
Download and create a bootable flash drive or CD of Memtest. Run it to verify your RAM has no errors. A bad sector or 2 can cause all sorts of weird issues. If it passes move on. If not find the bad stick and temporarily remove it.
Download and run Intel Burn In on standard, for a general stress test.
Download and run Furmark to stress the GPU.
If all is well update the OS and drivers.
Install your most used programs.
Now I suggest "cloning" your HD and re-clone every few months or so. Then just disconnect the clone drive. I have found out the hard way what you need to go through if a C drive fails and the multiple days it takes to get set up again. If something does happen in minutes your back up and running with a minimal amount of data to get back.
If you decide not to clone, at least make a set of recovery disks or back up your drive.
Finish installing printers, etc.
Your ready to go.
------------- Remember valor, honor, independence, family & clan; I do whenever I hear the ceol mor, the "great music" of the Highland bagpipe. I swear upon the holy iron of my dirk that I will not forget.
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