Associate
- Joined
- 8 May 2008
- Posts
- 68
Thanks to everyone here, I finally got my Prodigy M system built. First time in a long time I had put screw driver to components. Have to admit, a bit nervous and somewhat daunted by the prospect, but I got on and built away.
Specs:
Prodigy M white case
Gigabyte Sniper Z77 M3
16gb mem
2 x 7950 IceQ
1 x I5 2500k oc to 4ghz
The build went smoothly. The ease of access, assembly and build quality of the Prodigy M case impressed, with all components fitting in snuggly. I did have a few build order issues, more my mistakes through inexperience rather than any problems with the components. For example, I fitted the PSu first and then went to fit the water cooled fan assembly. But I could not get to the screws on the second cooling fan without unseating the PSU again. No big issue!!
Both GPUs fitted without any issue, with a 150mm long PSU, non modular. I will be honest, a modular or custom cable layout would have made the installation much neater. But I am not ready to do cutting of cables and connecters so had to dilligently use cable ties to keep the cables out of cooling fans and a decent air gap for cooling.
The only major issue I had was on the initial boot. I got nothing other than power. Keybaord not working, no signal to the monitor....NOTHING!! After some tracking down, I found that he BIOS the mobo shipped with (105) did not support the 7950 cards at all, so when they were plugged in, the system just sat there, refusing to do anything, no beeps or warning. A quick flash to latest BIOS (112 I think), using the onboard GPU, and all worked.
The remaining issue is that the SSD spins up too quickly and certain windows 8 services do not start in time of login prompt, causing a few crashes of GPU and USB services - will chase a son down for this one day!!
Now to the good news - the system runs really well with Crossfire. Temps are 60 on both cards at high load in BF4 and 40 on the CPU running at ghz under load. All other temps are well within operating parameters. This is with standard fans and a Corsair H80 water cooler. Cannot as for better than that.
Here is a quick pic of the internal before major component installation and unde my desk in the temporary burn test location (easy access to panels and cables - hahaha)
Let me know if you have any questions.
M
http://sdrv.ms/182JwJ8
http://sdrv.ms/1hdHhLt
Specs:
Prodigy M white case
Gigabyte Sniper Z77 M3
16gb mem
2 x 7950 IceQ
1 x I5 2500k oc to 4ghz
The build went smoothly. The ease of access, assembly and build quality of the Prodigy M case impressed, with all components fitting in snuggly. I did have a few build order issues, more my mistakes through inexperience rather than any problems with the components. For example, I fitted the PSu first and then went to fit the water cooled fan assembly. But I could not get to the screws on the second cooling fan without unseating the PSU again. No big issue!!
Both GPUs fitted without any issue, with a 150mm long PSU, non modular. I will be honest, a modular or custom cable layout would have made the installation much neater. But I am not ready to do cutting of cables and connecters so had to dilligently use cable ties to keep the cables out of cooling fans and a decent air gap for cooling.
The only major issue I had was on the initial boot. I got nothing other than power. Keybaord not working, no signal to the monitor....NOTHING!! After some tracking down, I found that he BIOS the mobo shipped with (105) did not support the 7950 cards at all, so when they were plugged in, the system just sat there, refusing to do anything, no beeps or warning. A quick flash to latest BIOS (112 I think), using the onboard GPU, and all worked.
The remaining issue is that the SSD spins up too quickly and certain windows 8 services do not start in time of login prompt, causing a few crashes of GPU and USB services - will chase a son down for this one day!!
Now to the good news - the system runs really well with Crossfire. Temps are 60 on both cards at high load in BF4 and 40 on the CPU running at ghz under load. All other temps are well within operating parameters. This is with standard fans and a Corsair H80 water cooler. Cannot as for better than that.
Here is a quick pic of the internal before major component installation and unde my desk in the temporary burn test location (easy access to panels and cables - hahaha)
Let me know if you have any questions.
M
http://sdrv.ms/182JwJ8
http://sdrv.ms/1hdHhLt
