13 UPDATE THE BIOS
BEFORE WE GET AHEAD OF OURSELVES and start installing
Steam, there are a few things we need to do to get the PC up and
running. Updating the BIOS is an important step, so we head
over to the motherboard’s support page on a different PC and
download the latest version of the BIOS onto a clean USB stick.
We created a folder called ‘BIOS’ on the USB stick and placed
the downloaded file in it. Next, we inserted this USB drive
into the new build and booted it up. This opened up the BIOS,
so we pressed the F7 key and selected the ‘Use USB to BIOS
M-FLASH’ option. Accept this and run it. The M-FLASH screen
should pop up, find the folder you created and open the BIOS
update file. Confirm this and leave it to do all the work for you.14 WINDOWS TIME
WHAT’S A PC WITHOUT an OS? Let’s get Windows installed by
searching for ‘Windows 11 media creation tool’ on another PC.
Click on the link for the official Microsoft site, then select and
download the ‘Create Windows 11 Installation Media’. You’ll
need another USB drive, at least 8GB in size and wiped clean.
Run through the application and select USB when it gives
you the choice, then find your drive. Once you’ve run through
the setup and downloaded the bootable version onto the USB
drive, connect this to your new build and mash the ‘delete’ key
on startup to open up the BIOS. Head to the ‘boot’ section of the
BIOS and change the order to USB first. Hit F10 to save and exit,
then restart the PC to take you to the Windows setup process.
There we are! A fresh build to start playing with. Install the
latest drivers including the chipset driver from the motherboard
support page to make the system as stable as possible. Enjoy!(^1)
In hindsight, looking at this case now,
the one thing that sticks out like a sore
thumb is the blue Intel sticker on the stock
cooler. Take yours off for a cleaner look.
(^2)
In an ideal world, we would like to have
had some custom cables to tidy this
motherboard up, so that it matches the
clean aesthetic of the case. However, as
we’ve said, there was a budget to stick to.
(^3)
There’s always room for more RAM
going forward on a build. Using two
DIMM slots out of the four available leaves
the mobo looking a little sad and empty.
(^4)
Of course, an M.2 SSD would have
helped the build and increase the
read-write speeds for the system. It would
also have reduced the number of cables,
creating a cleaner-looking setup.
and four more threads to play with and
the extra 8GB and 200MHz from our RAM
certainly makes things smoother. For day-
to-day requirements, this build should
have more than enough performance to
carry you through these tasks. On the
other hand, it goes without saying we
wouldn’t recommend rendering an 8K
video on this system.
Though it’s a solid machine, it would
benefit from the help of a dedicated GPU
to get those frames higher—but that’s
where our budget constraints start to kick
in. If we‘d introduced a GPU into this rig,
then we’d also need an AIO to keep things
nice and cool. Even adding a reasonably-
priced unit, such as a GTX 1050 Ti, would
add near enough 50 percent extra on top
of the original budget.
For a price of $900, you could take an
alternative route down the gaming laptop
line and find something just as capable
with the added benefit of portability. Of
course, our build has future-proofing in
mind, with the opportunity to adapt and
upgrade, but this alternative is definitely
worth considering as well.
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MAR 2022 MAXIMU MPC 27
© MSI, MICROSOFT
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