System build - recommend me the details.

[Abram]

Ya that sounds about right. This last time i got everything in and it worked the first try. But i didn't hook up the reset button correctly... though i never use it, so it's no real loss.

Why has no one come up with a better standard for those stupid tiny little case wires? Is a single, larger plug all that difficult?

[X-Warrior]

Why has no one come up with a better standard for those stupid tiny little case wires? Is a single, larger plug all that difficult?

Because the layout may differ per motherboard I think. My previous Asus motherboard had this useful bracket, in which you could plug the tiny plugs, so you'd basically have one large plug instead. Oh so useful. Can't go wrong either.

A log you say? Here's your log:

The delivery. - Unpacked.


Case unpacked. - Cooler in front of the case. Just for comparison y'know. Remember, the case is big.


Checking to see whether the cooler will fit inside. Seems ok I guess... - Cooler and its parts.


Processor. Both sides. On top of stock cooler. Which didn't get used.


Motherboard unpacked. - Preparing for CPU insertion.


CPU inserted. - And locked.


Fitted the I/O plate. - Fitting the MoBo to check for screw locations.


Inserting screw holders. - Attaching cooler backplate. You can't just stick 'em on anymore these days...


Attaching the top attachment parts for the cooler.


Trying to see if everything really fits in the case, before I do something irreversible. - Attaching the attachments to the heatsink.


Putting a nice blob of thermal paste on the CPU, as instructed by the manual.


And on it goes. - Adding the first fan.


Added the second fan as well, cooler installation complete. -


Unpacking the PSU. It's packed with luxurious bags.


PSU installed. - Cooler wires connected.


Motherboard attached and screwed. With the wrong screws. Had to peel them out later on, which was horrible, but I managed in the end. - The GPU box opened. STOP!


Box contents. Notice the Dirt 2 voucher :D - 'Tis a big card.


In goes the video card. Notice how it covers the SATA ports to the right. Fortunately, they are positioned sideways.


SSD box is opened. - It comes with the coolest sticker of all, almost worthy of actually putting on the case :D


It's so tiny an cute. Here the 3.5" adapter is attached. - In it goes into the removable tray, with a big case fan to keep it cool.


Complete content of the BluRay drive box. Errr... something's missing. Replacement coming soon. For now I've ripped my 'old' DVD drive from my previous PC. - And there it's inserted.


Sound card added from previous PC (X-Fi Elite Pro) - Wires are a bit of a mess near the PSU.


Completed.



Well, after I changed the Power Switch wire from the PWR LED pins to the PWR Switch pins anyway...

Oh, the feeling of finally being done with this after 5-6 hours of work (time flies when you're having none), pressing the on/off switch and finding everything dead. And all because of that tiny wire :x

Followed by Windows hanging on setup. I gave up quickly there, to try again today. Fortunately all it needed was a little patience. Which I didn't have back then I assure you :P. In fact, I pushed my physical limits too far apparently, judging from the nausea, thirst and utter tiredness. Frustration will have had it's significant part in that.

Ah well, some other minor issues dealt with, and now all seems to be working.

Check the exif of the pictures if you want a time line with all of those.



Is it quiet? Well, there have been times when I was worrying it's even on.
Is it fast? Dude, when I install a program it's practically done before I click next!


One additional issue though:
On the CPU cooler, only one fan is actually working. When I switch the wires (there's a Y-splitter between mobo connector and fans) the other fan works. I already called the dealer and they suggest it might pop on only when temperatures rise. Hard to check if it's true, I doubt it'll ever reach any serious temperature. BIOS said no more than 30º so far, although I haven't checked it under heavy load yet. Ah well, if it's not alright, then I'll have to contact them again for possible replacement wire.


Also, I copied these picture files to the pc and kept track of the time. Seems half as fast as the previous pc. Bad firewire controllers? Ah well, I'll live, but if anyone knows how to improve, do tell :)


All in all, at this moment, I am a happy bunny :D

[Tamlin]

One additional issue though:
On the CPU cooler, only one fan is actually working. When I switch the wires (there's a Y-splitter between mobo connector and fans) the other fan works. I already called the dealer and they suggest it might pop on only when temperatures rise. Hard to check if it's true, I doubt it'll ever reach any serious temperature. BIOS said no more than 30º so far, although I haven't checked it under heavy load yet. Ah well, if it's not alright, then I'll have to contact them again for possible replacement wire.


All in all, at this moment, I am a happy bunny :D

Congrats! I love the smell of freshly opened hardware! :D

I just wanted to point out that if one of the fans doesn't spin (and confirmed working), its underpowered (but still gets fed power). Unhook it and remove it for airflow if it doesn't spin and temps are ok. Having it on and not spinning only blocks airflow. One should be enough if you don't overclock too much. If you need to use it, then connect it to another fan header on the MB.

[X-Warrior]

Underpowered, hmmm yes, I had thought of that option. That's another thing the guy from the shop suggested: put it on a casefan connector. Should this give any problems? Might go that route then. Or indeed just remove it...

[Paradigm Shifter]

I always either run each fan direct from a port on a fan controller (if I'm using one in the build) or from a fan header on the mobo. I never use y-splitters as they've always caused me grief in the past.

Looks a neat build. Congrats. :)

Worst part of ever building a system is plugging the case connectors in. I hate that bit. Oh, sorry, I forgot about trying to persuade an 8-pin CPU aux power connector to plug in when the mobo is mounted (non-removable mobo tray) and the heatsink is on. No room to work. Thank god my manual dexterity is high. Fingers that seem like they can bend backwards also help. :lol:

[MobsterOO7]

Dynamically controlled mobo fan ports + Y-splitter + those attachments that came with the fans that reduce power going to the fans to make them quieter = Non moving fan.

But yeah, plug it into a case fan connector from the power supply. Since you have got those fancy connectors that came with the fans you can control noise it should be fine. Or get a fan controller.

Great build! Makes me want to make a new computer too.

[packerfan]

Ok, maybe im just blind but what was the issue with the blu-ray drive? I am guessing software or something was supposed to come with it, maybe a cable but in my experience drives haven't included them.

Nice SSD sticker :D

[X-Warrior]

Ok, maybe im just blind but what was the issue with the blu-ray drive? I am guessing software or something was supposed to come with it, maybe a cable but in my experience drives haven't included them.

The box said:
- BluRay player
- Manual
- Software disk (the most important bit for me, the reason I chose the retail version)
- Screws
- SATA cable

And contained:
- BluRay player

So yeah, something was missing :roll:

[X-Warrior]

I've cleaned up and made some room.

More specifically, I got rid of the secondary monitor, as it hadn't been serving much of a function all the time I used it. Decided this would be a great time to move back to a single screen.


Here's how things look now:



Nice and tidy :)


Just tried to get colour management working in Win7. Apparently, there is no such thing as WinColor for Win7. And neither does Win7 get it right by itself (of course). Probably the Ati drivers overriding things. Which of course can not be turned off. Ah well, I'll just have to keep the spyder software running. Takes a minute to load the LUT, but at least it does the job. There was a game somewhere which conflicted with it, but just one I recall. Let's hope it stays at that.

[whismerhill]

good job
however I wanted to add something on the thermal paste front
the best to do is to have a very fin & even thermal paste all over the CPU and the heatsink

why ?
Because thermal paste is bad ... of course it's better than air and that's why everyone use it
but by relying on the CPU & heatsink to spread the thermal paste by simple pressure, you run the risk that you might lose a few degrees of efficiency...

Actually the best thermal paste is none at all but then both surfaces have to be 100% perfectly lapped so that the contact between CPU & heatsink is perfect, and that's outright impossible for commoners like us most of the time. So we just have to use thermal paste to avoid Air between the CPU & heatsink

tip: Use a credit card for evening the thermal paste. Avoid putting thermal paste anywhere else than where the contact happens between the two just because it's cleaner, and some thermal paste may conduct electricity (most don't though)...


I'm not saying you should dismount your computer at all cost just for that.... just saying that in case you might want to know for the future ;)


tip2: use demineralized water and a clean dry cloth to clean any previous thermal paste... be wary of putting your own fingers against the heatsink or the CPU, you may leave natural "grease", it's acid and may "interact" with thermal paste ...

edit: a shot of how it looks : http://www.pcworld.fr/article/comparatif-de-14-pates-thermiques/en-pratique-la-pose/109131/

[Gilly]

Isopropyl Alcohol >99% pure is great for cleaning stuff, it evaporates quickly leaving no residue, better for cleaning thermal paste off. IMO

I always lap my CPU and water block (as I normally keep them until they are beyond sensible resale time), and then use AS5.

[X-Warrior]

Have I thanked you lot yet for all the help out here? Anyway, thanks guys, it's much appreciated. Couldn't have done it without you ;)


On the thermal grease, I agree - I know how things work, and found it somewhat strange already. Just chose to do things by the book (the manual) this time. I'm sure it won't cause any overheating. If it did, I'd have noticed by now :roll:


Update as well: the BluRay player has arrived and is doing its job just fine. Took me a while to get SPDIF sound running through PowerDVD, but in the end I got it working. Phew, I really feared I'd be stuck with stereo for movies there.
And since I had the case open, I wired the second CPU fan to the casefan connector. Now both are doing their job.


Incidentally, I don't suppose there's a way to tell Windows to stop poking my hard disk every second? The blinking HDD led in the corner of my eye is annoying sometimes. In case of emergency, I could of course just unplug it from the MoBo, but then I'd have no HDD activity led at all anymore :P


...my sig needs updating.

[Paradigm Shifter]

...my sig needs updating.

Yes, yes it does... ;)

[Gilly]

turn off auto-defrag maybe?

[Gilly]

Well!

Looks like you got the right VaporX anyway, the new R2 one has much worse temperatures and is louder at idle

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,704035/Sapphire-Radeon-HD-5870-Vapor-X-Rev-2-with-custom-PCB-reviewed/Reviews/

Down to the fact that half of the cooling fan exit is now non-existant :)

[X-Warrior]

Check the characteristics of Rev. 2. Then check my pictures. It's that one I have. Doesn't really matter, it's still a fine card.
Had already noticed the 875 MHz clock in CCC, where 870 was advertised. This explains that bit.


Auto defrag you say? Tsk, my SSD doesn't need defragging. I'll see if I can find it.
Edit: it was scheduled for one day per week. I've turned it off anyway, but it doesn't help :(
It's probably some standard Windows HDD access, which I just haven't noticed before because the HDD light wasn't quite as apparent.

[Paradigm Shifter]

It's Windows 7 caching stuff to memory. Vista did the same, but did it more aggressively which could have a negative impact on performance.

[Gilly]

prefetch, auto defrag and pagefile (assuming you have enough RAM) are 3 things that I have heard to turn off for better SSD lifespan and performance.

Read a little more about it here (This isn't specific to OCZ hardware, but it was a guide as to how to get the best from a Vertex).

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?63273-*-Windows-7-Ultimate-Tweaks-Utilities-*

[X-Warrior]

Tried those things, it's still blinking.

But no matter I guess...

[Paradigm Shifter]

Let's try this again...

It's Windows 7 caching stuff to memory.

Turning off SuperFetch is easy (it's just a service, so open services.msc and do it from there) but it's not really worth it, as all it's gonna do is slow loading stuff down. RAM is still faster than SSDs. Prefetch is not the same thing as SuperFetch. :)

It doesn't harm the SSD, as it's not writing to it - just reading. You want prefetch off as that writes to the SSD.