First time build questions.

Cemetary Gates

Cemetary Gates

Cemetary Gates

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Joined
30 Jul 2013
Posts
37
Hi all,

After a bit of a delay I have finally started putting together all the components for my first real PC build. There have been one or two obstacles but it's not gone too badly so far. Although, I do have a few questions you may be able to help me with if you have the time.

Is there anyway to connect a 3 pin case fan a 4 pin header? The case has three such fans but the board only has two 3 pin headers.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte Z87 X-OC, do I need to change any settings to make sure it is ok with UK mains voltage?

I still need to connect the negative Power LED lead to the board, but as there are two possible negative connections on the board I am unsure which one to plug it into.

The board has 6 SATA connections of which I need three. Can I use any of the 6 or do I need to use them in a specific order?

The motherboard manual is also a bit confusing as to the 12v power connection. There is an ATX 12v and a ATX 12v 2x4 and I am not sure if I have suitable leads from the PSU or which one of the above to connect to.

The optical drive is connected with a SATA data and Power leads but there appears to be another connector which I can't find any info inside the manual about. Not sure if this needs to be utilised or not.

And finally the manual makes mention of an OC_PEG (PCIe Power connector) when using two or more cards. I will be using a crossfire configuration so wanted to be sure that this needs to be connected as the cards will be supplied with power from the PSU anyway.

Sorry for all that but just being really cautious as I really don't want to mess anything up! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I think I helped you with your spec - here are the answers anyway :)

1) You can connect the 3 pin cables to 4 pin headers, it'll still work.

2) No change is necessary.

3) If you get the +/- the wrong way around the LED just won't work, just switch them if that's the case.

4) Use any, but OCDness usually demands ports 1-3 being used.

5) If your PSU has an 8 pin (or 2x4) connector use that one, otherwise use the 4 pin connector. You don't need both.

6) No other cables are needed.

7) You don't need it, it's there if you want it. Bear in mind it's a board with extras for very high overclocking, hence the extra power connectors.

Caution's fine, first builds are always a bit scary.
 
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Hi teppic,

Yes indeed, it was you that very kindly helped with the spec etc. And many thanks for the reply regarding the above questions. I am in the process of attempting to get some pictures from my phone to laptop to post on here. However, thanks to your help I have now completed the build.

Basically terrified now of turning the thing on in case I've screwed anything up and it blows up in my face!!! I think all is ok but who knows lol!

Once it is powered up for the first time I assume it should boot into the BIOS. If it does then I will be a lot happier. Just building up the courage to provide it with power!

I will keep you posted though and once again many thanks for all your help I cannot tell you how much it is appreciated.

Kind regards,

Rob.
 
Hello again,

OK :) Powered up and no smoke or flashes!! Thats a result in of itself. Initially had an old HDMI cable attached as BENQ were too cheap to provide one. However this didn't seem to register, so I've connected the standard lead. Once powered up the fans and lights come on ok (really quiet at the moment as well). Then a message as follows appears on screen-

Rebot and select proper boot device. Or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key.

I confess I have no idea what to do. Also the motherboard has a small digital display which reads AE which the manual states is "Boot to legacy OS" once again no idea what to do.

Sorry to be begging for help yet again.

EDIT: I will be going away for a few days later today so I apologise if I can't reply to anything for a while.
 
Set the boot order to say DVD drive first then SSD second.

Stick the Windows disk in the dvd drive and it should say "press anykey to boot from dvd" then install windows.
 
Hi stulid,

Thanks for the quick reply, however I am totally new to all this and have no idea how to change the boot order. The message referred to in the last post is all I have on screen, so I really don't know how to proceed. Should I press a key? Or insert Windows 8 in the DVD drive and reboot? Sorry for being a bit thick :)

Many thanks though!
 
Generally you don't need to change the boot order. Put the window disk in and reboot. You should get a 'Press any key to boot from CD'.
 
Normally the firmware tries to boot the drive, but if it's blank it'll automatically try the next one, so it gets to the DVD/USB sticks. There's a way to select the boot order, often F8, F12, etc.
 
Hello again,

Thanks to everyone for their help. Once the Windows disc was inserted and the system rebooted, I then had access to the BIOS and Windows is now installed on the SSD.

I now need to install various drivers. I have discs for various things such as the Graphics cards and Motherboard. My thinking is to install these and then look for a suitable anti-virus software before updating Windows and the various drivers from the required websites. And do the drivers need to be installed onto the SSD?

And if anyone recommend a good anti-virus package that would be great as I am not at all familiar with these things. Also, when installing the drivers do they just install and get themselves up and running or do they need saving to specific folders or locations?

Once all this is complete I have a selection of games which were included with the Graphics cards to choose from - Far cry 3 - Blood dragon - Crysis 3 - Tomb raider and Bioshock infinite. Any suggestions which would be the best to start configuring the system as a whole in order to learn how things work would be appreciated.

And finally, is there software out there which I can get hold of which can be used to measure the performance of the system so that I can ensure everything is optimised? This is going to be a bit of a steep learning curve but I really want to be able to get the best out the system. I will worry about overclocking at a later date once I am comfortable with the fundamentals.

Once again many thanks to everyone for taking the time to help out! And for putting up with all these questions :)
 
Don't use the included disc stuff, newer things will be available online and you don't need to install the others first. You'll want to get the latest BIOS for your board - you can install this via the BIOS itself, it's best to do it that way. The Gigabyte website will also have updated versions of the software supplied on the disc.

You can get the latest AMD/nvidia drivers from their website. Use the latest betas, and don't use whatever's on the card manufacturer's site.

Microsoft has a free basic antivirus program. You can download the free version of AVG too. Avoid all the pay-for crap you are offered with it.

For testing the system, you can use the Unigine Valley/Heaven benchmarks for the GPU and Tomb Raider comes with a benchmark too. The CPU performance won't need testing until you're overclocking. You can download CPU-Z to make sure the CPU and memory are at the right speed.
 
Once again teppic many thanks.

I will start all this tomorrow evening and get things moving. I have a series of pictures from the build which I will try and put into a post as soon as I can. I did run into one or two awkward moments which were primarily due to the design of the case. At least I think that is the reason! Could just have been me not fully grasping everything.

The case came with two bays for HDDs, however due to the location of these and an awkward lip on the case it has not been possible to fully seat the HDD properly. Either the HDD was slightly too big for the bay or the design is slightly flawed. However it is fairly secure but has had to be left slightly forward of its ideal position in order to connect the power and data cable.

Also the case came with two sets of SATA data and power cables fixed into the case itself. These may be some sort of pass through but the power connection mouldings would not fit any of the SATA power connections on the various drives. In the end I unscrewed the mountings and removed them completely as they were not being used.

Finally, a minor grumble I admit, but as this was my first ever build I felt that some of the manuals supplied with various components left something to be desired. Particularly diagrams, many were at unusual angles which were rather ambiguous. In the end though these minor obstacles were overcome.

Overall I feel, in my somewhat limited experience :), that the case is an excellent design. The two separate compartments, the rear one containing the PSU, SSD and optical drive along with the majority of the cabling, and the front compartment with the Motherboard, HDD, Liquid cooler etc made the build relatively easy to complete and the cable routing very easy to keep tidy. I will get pictures of the build in progress and the completed project posted as soon as I can.

So a big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to help, and particularly teppic whose help has been invaluable!
 
Was the case a Corsair 540 if so the two SATA power and data are for the two trays in the front which you can put the hard drive in :)
 
Hi Hyburnate,

Yes it is a Corsair carbide airflow 540 (I think!). I did try to connect the cable to the HDD but the power cable connection would not fit, the moulding on the connection appeared to be the wrong shape. The data cables were fine however. It may well be me being a bit thick, but I have managed to connect it up with other cables which I had to hand. It has made little difference overall but just thought it may have been worth mentioning in case it was a design flaw. I will try and post pictures of the cables I removed from the case as I have kept them anyway.

Thanks for the response though.
 
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