Monday build!!

OK, taken them out, booted with just the SSD in slot 0...
(unbelievable how fast this thing boots!!!)

Now, am I right in thinking that I can simply plug the HDD in now, rig still running (I'm sure I've done this with HDD's before), or do I have to power down to plug in the HDD?
 
Good looking build Chris. I have same cpu, psu and motherboard. Will be plugging SSD in to SATA 0 or 1 I think it is (white sata female end on the motherboard). They use intel instead of crappy marvel controller.

As for name my new rig is called The Green Dragon 888. So yours could be The Black Dragon 888.


PS quite surprised you've not been banned or scolded for not doing build log in logs sections.
 
You should not need the HDD or SSD in any select SATA port. It's not an actual order, just like you don't have to use one wall socket before using another.

P.S. Ignore anything Arek says.
 
great build :D thanks for posting this. i will be building something very similar in a few weeks. this should keep me right.
 
Reason for putting boot on first sata is making it simple to find the drive in bios.

It's old school thing.

Kinda like hanging your keys by the door. Then you know where to find them. ;)
 
doyll said:
You did a great job. Good choice of components, nice case and showcase build.
A virtual to a project well done!
Click to expand...

It's easy when you know someone who knows how lol

I do hope Chris downloaded the drivers and binned the supplied CDs, next hurdle is the overclocking :D
 
Right Gents....

It's built, the problems have been ironed out and it's had the **** photographed out of it!!
All the drivers have been updated and it's currently downloading my first steam game and formatting a drive, so I've got time to give my thoughts I guess..

First of all, THANK YOU, to everyone who commented or gave opinion or advise.
Some have been really really helpful and I'm genuinely grateful :)

This forum is a fantastic resource and it's got to be one of the most friendly places on the net (outside of GD and fanboy threads in gaming :p).

So....

My thoughts on the actual rig and the components.

One thing that struck me a few times, is it's the little things that make a big difference.
The mobo has a very neat little illuminated on off switch, which is useful and although small, kinda cool!
The drivers on the disk provided were enough to get me up and running, and replacing them with the current one from the gigabyte site was quick and easy enough. Perhaps something to automatically detect whether updates are available would be nice, but it was no hardship to do it myself.
I haven't had the opportunity to play with anything on the mobo yet so can't say a great deal more right now...

On the case, in with the stand offs was a little sockety type thing that fitted over the stand offs and allowed you to tighten them by hand. Again, a small thing, but a useful and thoughtful thing that makes the difference.
I LOVE the aesthetic of the case, and I'm very happy with it, but it does feel cheaper than I'd expected for £110's. I suppose this is bourne out by the dodgy fan connection too.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with it, there's ton's of room inside, and decent cable management so that even a complete novice like me can have a reasonably clean build. I'm happy with it and if I ordered the whole rig again tomorrow I'd still go for the Phantom, it's the best looking case by a mile...
I can't put my finger on it, it just doesn't 'feel' high quality.

The SSD is fantastic! This thing boots in seconds. I've not timed it of course, but I reckon less than 20 seconds from pressing the power button to the password screen, and as soon as I put the password in, I can click Chrome in the task bar and my homepage appears instantly.
This thing is lightning quick compared to my old rig....
More little things that impressed me with the SSD. The branded bay converter gives it a quality feel. You can't help but be impressed, it's like a prestige product, not just a run of the mill thing..
Then the magnetic screwdriver with changeable heads was great! :D

The PSU came in a big faux suede drawstring bag, it's nice and weighty, very quiet and all the modular cables are nicely labled and come in a storage pouch thingy, again it just feels like a quality product.

The GPU is a bit 'no frills'. Got nothing extra in the box, the side is bare metal facing out of the case in comparison to the big shiny logo's seen on most other cards...
There is quite a cool pulsing blue light underneath which is kinda funky, but that's your lot.
However, I'm only going from the reviews online and no experience yet, but this card appears faster than almost all other 670 cards, and yet is cheaper than nearly all of them too.
I'll happily forgo a visible logo, or a gimiky keyring or whatever for a fifty quid saving :)

Can't comment on the BD drive yet, only used it to install windows so far, but it looks the part!

The cooler was a ball ache to put together, wasn't cheap and the instructions weren't particularly helpful, however, it also looks great, is very quiet and has great reviews.
I'll see how I feel about it as time goes on I guess...
 
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