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subbed, been looking at this case myself, will be nice to watch it all go together.
First Build*: Ghost
- Thread starter MrAnthony
- Start date
Cheers! I hope you like what you see. I can't wait for it to be finished!
The mousepad is pretty huge! To be honest, that was my first thought, but the rest of the desk really could do with be replaced too. It was a full desk, but when I moved into the room I'm in now, it didn't fit in between the stack of shelves and the wall opposite, so it had to be modified. It's about ready to collapse, so I think a new desk all together will be the better option!
- Anthony.
Finally started the build!
Hey everyone!
Now, if you're like me then you've been dying to get this machine built. Well, I got my H100i this afternoon, and I got right on it!
I've added the boxed picture to the original post.
Sorry there aren't many photos. I was too busy swearing at the H100i to get around to taking many, but it's nothing you haven't seen before.
I should state now, that I don't have any photos of the completed build because there is no way I'm showing it to you in it's current state. I have a bit of an OCD about keeping things neat, so it's driving me crazy knowing I'm leaving it in it's current condition overnight. I can't even get the bloody side panel back on, not impressed!
I have finished building it, but I'm doing ALL the cables again because I just wanted to get the thing booted into Windows before I called it a day and waddled off to band practice.
The pictures aren't great, but I hope you get the idea!
Here's the motherboard unboxed, and I think you'll agree it's a pretty damn good looking board. At the same time as the aesthetics I just love the feature set, and I just knew I'd have to treat myself to this motherboard.
Today I did my first EVER CPU install. My goodness, I was absolutely terrified I'd screw it up. All went well, and apart from cringing at the crunching sound it made when closing the bracket, I'm very happy I got it done right first time!
Here's the motherboard with the matching memory installed. Strangely, I was honestly expecting blue LED's. I'd heard that some have yellow, but it honestly doesn't make a difference since I can't see it when the side panel is closed anyway
Looks pretty smart though, I think you'll agree!
Here's the H100i, the fans and the installed mounting bracket. I'll say now, that the H100i is THE MOST annoying thing I've ever had my hands on in my entire life. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but I was really hoping it wouldn't be so bloody fiddly and it just was. I could not get the bracket to fit first, then it kept falling out, then one I had the pump actually mounted i looked at all the washers and thought, "oh hang on". So I unscrewed the pump, put the washers on and then realised they were for the roof of the case! So, off it came again. So it took my three attempts to get it mounted, but it works so I don't care
The funny thing is, I haven't even used the washers because of the way I've attached the radiator in the case anyway. So that could have been avoided, but oh well! These are the things idiots like me learn.
As for the fans, they seem pretty good so far. Not as loud as I was expecting, and they feel as though they're shifting plenty of air so it's all good!
And finally, minus the PSU here is my test build. It booted first time, however displayed a message on screen about the amount of memory being changed. So, of course I panicked. Then however I realised that when the board had its burn in test different memory would have been used. I simply hit the reset button and all was well! It's an absolute mess, and an absolute pain with the H100i mounted to it. Getting it in the case was worse because there was no way I was mounting the pump again. So I recruited the mother to help twist it and get it in the top of the case while I mounted the motherboard.
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That's all you're getting for today, because that's I'll I've got pictures of. I'll talk you through the rest of the build tomorrow when I have some pictures of the completed build to accompany the text.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my almost failed attempt at a test build and look forward to the rest I have to show and talk about! But for now, it's back to work as I've stuff due for tomorrow. Then cable management, then another update tomorrow evening!
Cheers for looking, and if you've anything to comment on feel free to do so!
- Anthony.
Hey everyone!
Now, if you're like me then you've been dying to get this machine built. Well, I got my H100i this afternoon, and I got right on it!
I've added the boxed picture to the original post.
Sorry there aren't many photos. I was too busy swearing at the H100i to get around to taking many, but it's nothing you haven't seen before.
I should state now, that I don't have any photos of the completed build because there is no way I'm showing it to you in it's current state. I have a bit of an OCD about keeping things neat, so it's driving me crazy knowing I'm leaving it in it's current condition overnight. I can't even get the bloody side panel back on, not impressed!
I have finished building it, but I'm doing ALL the cables again because I just wanted to get the thing booted into Windows before I called it a day and waddled off to band practice.The pictures aren't great, but I hope you get the idea!
Here's the motherboard unboxed, and I think you'll agree it's a pretty damn good looking board. At the same time as the aesthetics I just love the feature set, and I just knew I'd have to treat myself to this motherboard.
Today I did my first EVER CPU install. My goodness, I was absolutely terrified I'd screw it up. All went well, and apart from cringing at the crunching sound it made when closing the bracket, I'm very happy I got it done right first time!
Here's the motherboard with the matching memory installed. Strangely, I was honestly expecting blue LED's. I'd heard that some have yellow, but it honestly doesn't make a difference since I can't see it when the side panel is closed anyway
Looks pretty smart though, I think you'll agree!
Here's the H100i, the fans and the installed mounting bracket. I'll say now, that the H100i is THE MOST annoying thing I've ever had my hands on in my entire life. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but I was really hoping it wouldn't be so bloody fiddly and it just was. I could not get the bracket to fit first, then it kept falling out, then one I had the pump actually mounted i looked at all the washers and thought, "oh hang on". So I unscrewed the pump, put the washers on and then realised they were for the roof of the case! So, off it came again. So it took my three attempts to get it mounted, but it works so I don't care
The funny thing is, I haven't even used the washers because of the way I've attached the radiator in the case anyway. So that could have been avoided, but oh well! These are the things idiots like me learn.As for the fans, they seem pretty good so far. Not as loud as I was expecting, and they feel as though they're shifting plenty of air so it's all good!
And finally, minus the PSU here is my test build. It booted first time, however displayed a message on screen about the amount of memory being changed. So, of course I panicked. Then however I realised that when the board had its burn in test different memory would have been used. I simply hit the reset button and all was well! It's an absolute mess, and an absolute pain with the H100i mounted to it. Getting it in the case was worse because there was no way I was mounting the pump again. So I recruited the mother to help twist it and get it in the top of the case while I mounted the motherboard.
----------------------
That's all you're getting for today, because that's I'll I've got pictures of. I'll talk you through the rest of the build tomorrow when I have some pictures of the completed build to accompany the text.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my almost failed attempt at a test build and look forward to the rest I have to show and talk about! But for now, it's back to work as I've stuff due for tomorrow. Then cable management, then another update tomorrow evening!
Cheers for looking, and if you've anything to comment on feel free to do so!
- Anthony.
Wish I'd picked up one of those OCUK mats while they were at £5.99 recently. DOH!
Build seems to be coming along nicely - have you tested that the mobo etc work? I'd recommend that you do BEFORE you install it. It's a pig of a job testing a full rig in situe - well - it is when they don't work. Just make sure you fire it up with the basics to make sure it all posts ok
That is if you haven;t already...
Build seems to be coming along nicely - have you tested that the mobo etc work? I'd recommend that you do BEFORE you install it. It's a pig of a job testing a full rig in situe - well - it is when they don't work. Just make sure you fire it up with the basics to make sure it all posts ok
That is if you haven;t already...
Looking good there! Especially the motherboard and memory combination 
Good choice with the Asus DG. Great card for the money. Swapped out my X-Fi for the DG as I didn't like the bloated Creative drivers and it caused my PC to take 3-4 times as long to boot as it took ages at the Windows logo stage. Reckon you'll be hooked on PC gaming once you get the 660Ti 
Good choice with the Asus DG. Great card for the money. Swapped out my X-Fi for the DG as I didn't like the bloated Creative drivers and it caused my PC to take 3-4 times as long to boot as it took ages at the Windows logo stage. Reckon you'll be hooked on PC gaming once you get the 660Ti Yep, that's why I built it out of the box first. No way was I going through the whole build to find a problem and have to take it all apart. Everything works well though, I'm all booted into windows and am just getting everything sorted and what-not so I can get to using the bloody thing!
Looking good there! Especially the motherboard and memory combination
I had to have the matching memory, I just couldn't resist! Thanks for the heads up with the GPU and sound card, I'm looking forward to grabbing those bits later down the line!
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Right, here it is. All completed and booted! Sorry there aren't photos of the actual build. I was short on time as I had to get work done yesterday, and was away in the evening. So I'll try and talk you through it as best as I can, picking up on some things I encountered along the way, etc.
Firstly, here's my old cable management. Now, I said yesterday that it was driving me crazy it being in the state it was in. So once I'd finished up with teverything yesterday evening (and before Armageddon got to the really sad bit, please don't judge me!) I decided to sort the cables out and head off to bed. I just couldn't go to sleep knowing I'd left it in such a state, and I just didn't know when I'd get around to sorting it.
I think you'll agree, this is pretty bad. Wires crossed over, wrapped around each other, in the wrong place. Not good enough.
Now, here it is after I sorted it as best I could. The only thing I have to say about this is SATA power cables. If it weren't for the ones supplied with the PSU being just a little too short, and having the actual connectors upside down, for now I'd have only needed the one. But, since that was the case, I had to use two. Made the job a little harder, but I got it sorted in the end.
I have sort of cheated and tucked some of the cables away in the HDD area for now, as there isn't really anywhere to tie them to in that area. Perhaps when I get to add my HDD and GPU, I'll do it all over again but for now I'm happy with this. The side panel goes on, it doesn't bulge out and that's good enough for me.
Here's the inside of the case. It's a little dark so I hope you can see everything. The cables at the bottom are a little messy, as I can't for the life of me find where to connect the power LED on the adapter(s) provided, but I'll sort it don't worry.
You can see the fans for the H100i in the top, and if you look how close they are to the rear exhaust fan, you'll see why the radiator had to be mounted the opposite way I would have liked. There just isn't room for the tubing and both fans. It'd be even worse if I had to mount the radiator in the same area as the motherboard as the massive heatsinks on the MPower simply eat up all the room.
Another problem the heatsinks caused me was the screw heads under the board itself. As the Bitfenix Ghost has raised mounds for the motherboard to rest on eliminating the need for stand offs, there was one screw stopping the motherboard from sitting flat in the case. To sort this, I simply had to rejig things a little, make sure everything was fully lined up and then get it screwed in as even as I could. There is very minimal flex (if any actually) and since the motherboard is a little thicker than others, it should take it just fine. I've encountered no problems so far, so let's just hope it stays that way.
The radiator is held in place by the fans below, hence there being no screws in the top. It's perfectly secure don't worry. But the heatsinks on the motherboard didn't half make it difficult to get the fans screwed in! All is well though, and I didn't have to mount it inside the case so I've no complaints here! There is plenty of space in the room for the radiator, but as I mentioned above - Be cautious of which direction you have your tubing, because it's a really tight squeeze with all those fans in there!
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That's it for pictures I'm afraid. Like I said, I wish I could have photographed or filmed it step by step but there was just no time.
I'm yet to dive into overclocking and benchmarking, if I choose to do so. I dare say I'll overclock, but I'm not really into benchmarks to be honest. I can however confirm that at stock clocks the H100i is keeping the system at 27-32C when idle/light use. And since I've not been running any tests or using heavy applications I can't comment how it performs under load. However, that seems like a pretty good result to me, and do bear in mind the case does have sound absorbing material, and not all that much of a front intake (If it makes any difference that is).
I hope you've enjoyed my progress! I can honestly say apart from all the swearing, and catching myself on the case and what-not, it's been a very enjoyable experience that I hope I can repeat in the future.
Thanks a lot,
- Anthony.
The cables look nice and tidy round the front which is the main thing. Invest in a pack of cable ties and it'll pay you dividends.
It looks a nice rig, especially with it being an alleged first build
Enjoy using and playing with it!
It looks a nice rig, especially with it being an alleged first build
Enjoy using and playing with it!The cables look nice and tidy round the front which is the main thing. Invest in a pack of cable ties and it'll pay you dividends.
It looks a nice rig, especially with it being an alleged first build
I've got some don't worry. I've had another play with them, but I've not really made any difference. The main thing is they're nice and flat, out of the way and bulge the side panel which on such a bland case would stick out like a sore thumb. I'm leaving them along for now, but with the HDD and GPU I intend on adding they'll no doubt need a little more work.
Thank you for the compliment, I'm just glad it's finished for now!
- Anthony.
I've been saving for a looooooong time! Finally got around to buying everything and I couldn't wait to get it all together.
Like you, I'm not normally all that patient with this sort of thing, but. Also like you, needed the money held me back!
Like you, I'm not normally all that patient with this sort of thing, but. Also like you, needed the money held me back!
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Feb 2012
- Posts
- 4,409
make sure your ram is in the correct slots. i think for 2 sticks its supposed to be in 2+4 where as yours is in 1+3
i could be wrong though, check the manual
i could be wrong though, check the manual
It's normally 2+4 OR 1+3 for 2 sticks, without a particular preference as to which. It's the 1+2, 2+3, 3+4, 1+4 combinations that won't use dual-channel and are to be avoided.
I could be wrong, but I've never found a motherboard which only has one option.
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Feb 2012
- Posts
- 4,409
i remember with my giga board it said its preferable to have them in a certain slot, if the manual doesnt say one wya or the other then no problem. as long as it works.
looks good btw, the msi board is certainly a nice looking one
looks good btw, the msi board is certainly a nice looking one
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Nice build hope it goes well for you! Im scared about installing my CPU too :S
It's easy, just like lego.