First Build, Baby!

[pantherx12]

Originally Posted by murdog

K, tx guys. Just coaxed the kid back to sleep with good 'ol Vicks on the chest. Over an hour lost though, so I think I'm going to shut 'er down. I'll get started earlier tomorrow night. It really doesn't look much harder than an Ikea product now that I've examined the tower a little closer (which seems fantastic, really happy with it). Alot more room for error though, and I'm a little bleary-eyed now.

TOMOWO FO SHO!

Is DrunkenMafia exaggerating? Will it really be 'very slow' with that hard drive? Him being the only one so far to say anything makes me wonder.

I didn't pay enough attention to the RPM's. I had planned on adding a 2TB drive at some point, so that was the most important number in my head; and I was sorta assuming a new drive would be pretty fast. When the store dude recommended it and my buddy scoffed at the memory on the SSD's I rolled over and took it.

Won't be very slow, but will be slower than with a 7200 drive, it will still feel fast I imagine but it will feel faster if you got the 7200 or an SSD. ( for example if it takes 3 minutes to boot up on a 5200 it will probably take 2.3 to 2.5 minutes to boot with a 7200, with an SSD that can go down to 30 seconds if not less, my pc takes about 40 or so although I have a different processor than the one in my specs)

Originally Posted by murdog

With the power supply I basically went with what the store recommended. My research had me thinking 650W, but standard advice seems to be 'go with more than what you think you need', and I figured the guy knew what he was talking about.

Anyways tx guys, talk to you tomorrow...

Power supplies tend to work most efficiently toward the end of the spectrum, say for example a 750w psu I think runs most efficiently at 500-600w so more is better doesn't necessarily apply here)

[murdog]

Ok, lets say I'm running back to the store right now. 120GB SSD is what I should be going after? How fast will that fill up? It seems alot smaller than 2TB! Or there's also the 320GB 7200's. If I was to get one of those, is it worth keeping the 5900, or should I just switch that up for something faster too? I could almost get a SSD and a small 7200 for not much more than what I paid for the one I have. I just feel like somewhere along the line I'll want a 2TB HDD.

Maybe I'm over-agonizing.

[Widjaja]

It is a lot smaller than 2TB.

It's definitely worth keeping the 2TB WD green.
It's cheap and reliable for storage.

The purpose of the SSD at the present time with the limited size is to be able to boot to windows with very little waiting and for applications or games which you would like to load very fast to do so.

But if any of the mentioned SSDs by TPU members are out of your current price range, there is no harm installing the OS on the Green drive for the mean time.

Plus having that second OS there is handy just in case the SSD OS somehow fails and is unrepairable.

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Originally Posted by murdog

Ok, lets say I'm running back to the store right now. 120GB SSD is what I should be going after? How fast will that fill up? It seems alot smaller than 2TB! Or there's also the 320GB 7200's. If I was to get one of those, is it worth keeping the 5900, or should I just switch that up for something faster too? I could almost get a SSD and a small 7200 for not much more than what I paid for the one I have. I just feel like somewhere along the line I'll want a 2TB HDD.

Maybe I'm over-agonizing.

Really the only reason you should be getting 120GB ssd is for your windows install, its applications (disk defragmenter, office, ccleaner, etc) maybe 1 or 2 games and thats really it. SSD's arent really meant for storage because the more writes you do to an SSD, the quicker it will fail. People use SSD's to boost the boot process in windows and the load time for a game or two thats installed on it. BF3 would take huge advantage of an SSD.

So I would vote, get the 120GB SSD for windows and apps, then get a 2TB 7200RPM hard drive for everything else.

[murdog]

So you figure the SSD should be good to start? Windows and a game or two. I may just keep the 5900 as the 2TB 7200's are fairly pricey if I'm going for the SSD as well.

Off to the store!

Building tonite!

[Widjaja]

Sounds good.
Have fun and I hope all goes smooth.

[Jetster]

Did you check to see if everything is working ok. Its posts and go to bios? You dont need a drive to do that.

[murdog]

K, so I went with a Intel SSD 320 Series 120GB. No HDD for now.

I've got a friend helping me, first build for us both.

We're just screwing the motherboard in. (Got the spacers in there no problem).

[murdog]

Motherboard is in.

[Widjaja]

Hope you two don't have any arguments.
At this present time with being your guys first build, I'd just get the system up and running instead of being anal about cable management just so you get that satisfaction of the system going as soon as possible.

In fact from what I have seen over here, the cable management can be a serious problem as some people become too anal about tidiness and tighten the cables together way too tight with the cable ties which eventually causes problems down the track.

[murdog]

We get along good. ODD is in, we put it in the lowest slot because the cable looks short. Now we're onto the SSD.

We're a little confused about where it goes atm.

[murdog]

K it's in.

Installing power supply.

[murdog]

My god what a tangled mess of cables that is!

[Widjaja]

Yeah the SSD can be a bit of confusion to someone who is building first time.
But soon knows where they go in the HDD area.

For a first time builder and my past experience, the most daunting task with your build will be the CPU cooler.
Damn Intel and their stupid push pin design.....

----

As long as the cables are secure away from fans for the time being, it will be all good.

[murdog]

Power Supply in!!

Now what? Start hooking stuff up to the motherboard?

Smoke Break!

[murdog]

Tx Wid. CPU and memory were quick-mounted on the mobo, so no worries about the cpu cooler.

[Widjaja]

Originally Posted by murdog

Tx Wid. CPU and memory were quick-mounted on the mobo, so no worries about the cpu cooler.

That's great to hear.
I remember my first time with the push pin coolers being a case of 90deg bent back thumbs only to find I had not pulled up the peg, twist across and over the hook.
This was on a Intel stock cooler which had been pre-installed BTW.

So maybe something to take into thought if you ever need to re-seat your cooler or install a current stock Intel cooler for yourself and other people who seek your help.

[murdog]

Update: frazzled.

My buddy went home to bed. I can see why you said 'hope you don't argue'. This could get testy with two. This isn't like Ikea at all!

I've just reoganized my workspace. Things were getting out of control, with stuff from different boxes all over the place, empty boxes/wrappers, manuals strewn about. Yikes! I've mostly got everything back into boxes, marked with black marker for easy reference. Had to go back and put tower screws in the SSD.

Cable management so far has been ok, one tie to hold an annoying wire, but I'm just getting started. The case has a system where you route cables out to the right side, between the mobo tray and the panel, with nifty rubber access points back in.


Just going over manuals.

[murdog]

K, so I went back and found tpu's guide from 2006, 'How To Build A Computer', by Zekrahminator (which is how I found this site in the first place, searching 'static electricity when building a computer').

Basically I should have powered up after I put the motherboard in! Thats what Jetster said, but I read that right after i got home and i was too exited about my new SSD, and we just started huckin crap in there!

Now, what would you guys recommend? I'm going to figure out how to hook the mobo up to power, and if you haven't got back to me by then I'll probably take out the gpu, not power the ssd, and follow Zak's guide.

Coffee.

[nothappy]

Hahaha well at least you read a manual, all I did was tinker with it and right now I am amazed that it went as good as it got back then.

Mobo require 1 24pin cable and look at the left upper corner you will find 8pin power inputs above your mobo heatsinks, look for 4pin plugs (2 of them) from your PSu that has no thing written on it, its got a fool proof pin shape to help.

the troublesome things are the external usb plugs from your casing and not to forget the reset and power cables, also LED lights. Once I have to reset using power button and power down using reset button, neat huh?

take your time with the mobo manual, carefully, HAVE FUN!

[MxPhenom 216]

sounds likes its going pretty well

However, i would have put the PSU in first then CPU and and RAM into the MOBO then MOBO in with the CPU and ram already installed. Thats just how i do it though.

[murdog]

Took the gpu out, back in its bag.

Reading the mobo manual.

Coffee.

[murdog]

K, I've got the power supply hooked up to the mobo. I have every cable from the case hooked up to the mobo except one - there is a black SATA cable that is throwing me off. I guess it must be for the Hot Swap bay at the top of the case. I'm going to ignore it for now.

I'm pulling out the monitor - guilty pleasure... overwhelming...

[murdog]

Originally Posted by nothappy

Mobo require 1 24pin cable and look at the left upper corner you will find 8pin power inputs above your mobo heatsinks, look for 4pin plugs (2 of them) from your PSu that has no thing written on it, its got a fool proof pin shape to help.

the troublesome things are the external usb plugs from your casing and not to forget the reset and power cables, also LED lights. Once I have to reset using power button and power down using reset button, neat huh?

take your time with the mobo manual, carefully, HAVE FUN!

I got the 24 pin cable in, and now i've got that 8 pin input filled too (it was an 8-pin plug from my psu, with nothing on it and foolproof pinshape).

Tx!

I've got all the reset/power/LED in, mobo had a foolproof connector. What do you mean by the usb plugs from the casing, is that the SATA cable i found? (forgive if a dumb question)

[tigger]

There should be some connectors from the case that will connect to the motherboards front usb headers. You will find reference to them in the motherboard manual, and possibly in the case's manual.