First Build, Baby!

[murdog]

Rofl. The Geek Who Doesn't Game doesn't exist you're sayin?

One hour nap on the kids floor. Must have fallen asleep during sing-song. Another 3 hours on the couch. Coffee. Got the rig out, POSTS and goes to BIOS - the interface for that is nice. I'm gonna go in and hook up the two drives and the GPU. I may have questions.

Actually I have one already. I'm pretty sure we found the only cable from the PSU that would fit the GPU plugs. There are three (what do you call them)... inputs on the PSU cable and 2 plugs for the GPU. 3rd is just extra?

So, my mobo came with 2 6GB SATA cables, i guess it's one for each of the ODD and SSD.

So ya my PSU has a single cable with 3 SATA connections, just like the GPU situation. These are obviously closed circuts, just leave the 3rd one hangin, rignt?

General SATA questions: the cables are 6 GB/s, so I'm thinking I fill up both 6 GB/s inputs on the mobo. Neither drives say anything about GB/s. For SATA in general do you just fill up the fastest first? And what about SATA I/II? None of the mobo connections make the distinction. There is however a Marvell SATA connection. Is that one just for super-nerds?

SSD SATA hooked up. I have to move the ODD up a few racks, for some reason I chose to have it in the lowest one, so the right-angle SATA won't fit because of the bottom of the drive rack is in the way. In the mobo manual it looks like you can just reverse the SATA cable, but that won't work either cause the right angle won't fit on the mobo.

 

[Jetster]

On your Hard drives just start at SATA 0 then SATA 1 and so on. But it doesnt really matter it will work regardless. If you look up the specs of your drives it will tell you if its SATA 3.0 or 6.0

If your using the Antec EarthWatts 750W your should have 4 PCI-e connectors (GPU) you will only use 2. Also two on the are 6+2 just leave the +2 hanging off the side if you use those. Again it doesn't make a difference. Some GPU have 8 pins but not many

Just arrange your drive so the wires work best. Which ever bay looks good. Trust me you will be changing it later. At this point dont wory about making it pretty just don't get the wiring caught in a fan

 

[murdog]

K I wired the SATA for the ODD and the SDD to the 6.0 SATA connection on the mobo. Don't really feel like checkin' specs right now - if they aren't 6 they'll run at 3 right?

Now I'm going to hook power to them.

Done.

Installing GPU.

 

[Crap Daddy]

Great read. Now get the damn BF3 going!

 

[murdog]

Lol. I'm aiming for a 4:20 start!

GPU installed. Now connecting power.

Cable Management!

 

[Jetster]

After installing the GPU don't forget to move the monitor plug to the GPU

 

[murdog]

If your using the Antec EarthWatts 750W your should have 4 PCI-e connectors (GPU) you will only use 2. Also two on the are 6+2 just leave the +2 hanging off the side if you use those. Again it doesn't make a difference. Some GPU have 8 pins but not many

I only seem to have 2 PCI-e connectors, confirmed by the PSU manual. One 6 pin, one 6+2.

GPU power connected.

Now, the GPU has some cords left over. It looks like it's got 2 PCI-e ... adapters maybe. Ignoring them. It also has a ... I think it might be a HDMI output connector but its not like the HDMI connector that's going from the monitor to the mobo. It's a black cable, with identical ends, which the GPU manual seems to indicate is HDMI output. Ignoring it.

K tx moving monitor, i wondered about that.

Should I power up?

Wait so now i guess i gotta go DVI, as the GPU doesn't have that fat blue HDMI connector.

K, DVI hooked to GPU, closing case.

Just noticed GPU comes with a DVI > HDMI adaptor. Guess I'll switch back, I'm under the impression HDMI is better.

I'm going to power up. I just noticed how many cables are left over for the PSU, the other PCI-e's are maybe in there.

I think that one black SATA cable coming from the case is for the eSATA port on the front. I guess I could probably plug that into a SATA connector on the mobo. Ignoring it.

I'm going to power up.

So my screen says 'Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key'.

I'm going to put Windows in the ODD.

I'm installing Windows now. The only option was 'Drive 0' - that's my SSD i guess.

 

[Jetster]

That GPU has HDMI out. It just may be a mini HDMI and an adapter from the mini to HDMI.

 

[murdog]

Total Success!

Windows installed! I named it The-Beast! (Although I think of it as Vader's TIE Fighter).

Shut 'er down and restarted it, BLAZING BOOTUP!

I think I'm going to take a little nap before I continue.

Next is to try the internet. What should I do about security?

Then BF3 BABY!!!!!

Thanks to all who helped me with this epic 4 day build!

I'll keep the thread going for a bit, update on BF3 and maybe what I've learned after some reflection. Also, there were a couple requests for pics - I've never uploaded a picture to a computer or to the internet, but my wife does, maybe I'll ask her to help. No promises.

 

[Jetster]

microsoft security essentials (free) and smart browsing is all you need

 

[murdog]

Are you sure? I han't expected that - I was bracing to bust out the visa again! I had someone recommend my ISP (something about 'they don't want people screwing them through you'), and Macaffre or whatever that big one is.

I see Windows is bugging me to go online and get Windows Live Essentials - thats probly what you mean eh Jetster? Guess I'll hop on there...

 

[wurschti]

Since you got a Z68 chipset get the cheapest 20-30GB SSD you can get and use it alongside the caviar green shitty hdd to have better performance. I cannot blame you for buying the green one. With the current prices you would have bought a 2TB Black one a month ago. Anyway Good job, it's a solid build!
Good Luck!

 

[Jetster]

3rold - read the thread

murdog, You'll see other people will chat in for MSE http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials

If you feel better about spending money on security the get Kaspersky. Amazon has it for like $20 or less. Antivirus or Internet Security. Also assuming you have a good router

 

[murdog]

Tx, 3, that would have been an option too. I went with an Intel SSD (I should change my first post). It was the exact same price, plus it got me a copy of BF3, plus store dude was selling me on the increased reliability of Intel SSD's. It should be enough for Windows 7 + a couple/few games, making them blazing fast. I've got an external HD right now I can use for data storage. New plan is to wait awhile and see what happens with HDD prices.

 

[Easy Rhino]

good read. take a pic of The-Beast please

 

[Crap Daddy]

MSE is very good, I'd recommend it to anybody.

 

[ZakkWylde]

Go with MSE, I switched from symantec (Norton) and it shaved a ton of time from my boot, like nearly 2 minutes lol

 

[m4gicfour]

Next is to try the internet. What should I do about security?

MSE is highly recommended by many, there's also a free version of Avast! (what I use) which is quite good.

I'll keep the thread going for a bit, update on BF3 and maybe what I've learned after some reflection. Also, there were a couple requests for pics - I've never uploaded a picture to a computer or to the internet, but my wife does, maybe I'll ask her to help. No promises.

Most digital cameras will just show up like a USB drive in windows, and you can drag the pictures to the computer. Rarely, you may have to install drivers or whatever software comes with the camera to get the pics off it. Try just hooking it up first, if it doesn't immediately show up, check the manual to see if you need to be in a certain mode on the camera... if all else fails, we can help you with that too

Once you've got the pictures on your computer, you need to put them on a webserver so we can access (see) them. There are free services such as Photobucket for keeping and sharing online photo albums. If you just plan on taking pictures to show around here, TechPowerUp has its own photo hosting service at techpowerup.org

Then, once you've got your photos on the web, find the url of the photo ( as an example http://hostingsvc.com/whatever/photo.picformat) you will put the url in IMG tags like this:

[ IMG ] http://hostingsvc.com/whatever/photo.picformat [ /IMG ] (just don't put the spaces in the brackets like I did)

 

[Widjaja]

I'm an AVG Free guy for a long time.
Never ad an issue with it, although I am starting to get concerned about seeing it pop up when going into safemode.

MSE and Avast! other the other options I would recommend.

I would not recommend Norton of Mcaffee AV due to personal experience.

I found when McAffee gets infected (yes I have come across McAffee AV get infected), the firewall can go on it and you can not access the internet.
I beleive these ISP provders who pedal McAffee may have some sort of commision for sellng it.
Like where I work does for selling NOD32 AV which I think has become worse over the years.

Also get your rig posted up in the system specs

 

[Jetster]

So I guess he got lost in BF3?
If you make it back, pics please

 

[nothappy]

I told you so

come on, give us a pic already, just take a minute

oh well welcome to the club, I got a friend that ask for leave of absence just to game (Skyrim to be exact), cant blame him. last week I played the lazy song and gamed for 30 hours straight. ate only 2 times and when I go out, i find the urge yo yank off my neighbors lavender plants to make potions!

Enjoy "Darth vaders TIE fighter"

 

[pantherx12]

I'm an AVG Free guy for a long time.
Never ad an issue with it, although I am starting to get concerned about seeing it pop up when going into safemode.

AVG has become to nannying over the years, if it thinks something is a virus ( even if it isn't) you'll have to fight AVG just to be able to access the file


With mse it's just a case if hitting ignore ( I believe AVG has the same feature but it never worked for me)
( so that's a +1 for mse from me as well)


Glad you got the rig up and running murdog.

By the by HDMI isn't better than dvi ( aside from that it can transmit sound as well) they're both digital signals so you technically can't get "better" if you know what I mean, it's just 1s and 0s : ]

Also Microsoft live essentials has nothing to do with MSE, live essentials is stuff like family safety, msn, movie maker and other software they had to stop packaging with the OS it's self due to the EU ban hammering them from doing so

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

The last two times ive installed MSE for a client, theyve still had major virus issues. :-\

 

[JrRacinFan]

@murdog
Little site that packs a big punch www.ninite.com

Enjoy the new build

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

@murdog
Little site that packs a big punch www.ninite.com

Enjoy the new build

I have an EXE folder on my backup drive that I keep all my programs in and i keep them updated constantly. But i still have to click "Next, Next, Next, Finish."