My first build - Black / Orange Corsair 300r

Ok as it's Saturday and i'm not working today, time to do the complete project log! Please bear with me as i'll separate each post for each part of the build.

First up we have the opening:



Christmas?!



Ready to build!
 
My next step was to install the PSU block:



Really nice packaging.



Was really impressed by the packaging at this point. PSU in a nice dust bag and velcro bag for all the cables. It just felt so premium opening this bad boy!



Unfortunately when installing fan down, the sticker shows :( It's a real shame for this PSU as the other side looks so cool in my build. Would much prefer the fan to be facing down though. If you want to see what the other side looks like, check out OCUK product page :)



PSU installed. Now originally the case had 4 thumb screws for this but some reason I can only get 3 to allign with the PSU. The 4th hole you can see in the picture is actually the PSU metal mesh and not a screw hole (Looks like it is due to me grinding paint off trying to get a screw in it) I don't see this as a problem though and PSU is therefore attached with 3 thumbscrews. If this is wrong, please let me know.




Only downside to the PSU was that it ships with a Euro plug! Was a nightmare at the time but I luckilly had a spare kettle lead. Big shout out to 5UB at OCUK though who upon finding this out, instantly shipped me a UK kettle lead out and this arrived at my door today. Great CS guys!
 
Next I cracked open the motherboard. As with the PSU, was really impressed with the packaging and the motherboard came with lots of accessories that are always welcomed:



Really like this box too!



static bag



Beautiful board! CPU in the top right too, in white box. OEM so nothing special so won't be dedicated a post to that.
 
Quick post for the CPU - Felt bad leaving it out ha:



Motherboad ready.



CPU Inserted. The noises this made when bringing arm back down was unreal! Looks like no harm was done though :)
 
So next I installed the RAM into the motherboard. Although the RAM is orange, the stickers on them have an oil/water affect which is pretty cool. I tried to capture this:



Packaging



Opened



Oil like stickers.. hopefully this comes across well. Looks cool in real life.



Installed
 
With all the major motherboard parts installing, I decided to fit the I/O panel and install the motherboard.

Believe it all not, I actually found the I/O panel a tricky part of the installation. For some reason it has sponge backing with this motherboard that didn't help. With some brute force however I got it inserted properly and the screw holes on the motherboard finally matched up with the case:



Before



After



Motherboard installed :)

I did however have one question on this, in the middle of the motherboard, one of the screw holes has a protrusion from the case. Is this normal and do i need to do anything with it? It's the only screw hole without a screw and so just left it - Pic for clarity:

 
With the motherboard installed I decided to unpack the daddy aka the GPU and install it. I later learnt this was a bad mistake due to the size of it, and it's location but we will get onto that later:



Box -I was happy with the box but in reality, it's just a sleeve. Pull the sleeve off and it's a plain carboard box.



Carboard box can be seen here. Again, for a product that was so expensive, I expected more I guess. Plain carboard box and the GPU in a stattic bag surround in sponge. Nothing else, no accessories or anything. Bit disappointed with that. Even some stickers or some crossfire cables would have been better than nothing.



Still in its plastic



Side on plastic



No plastic



Installtion



Another installation shot.

At first I was surprised at how long this card is, it almost looks like it doesn't sit straight due to it's length and wait! Size has grown on me though. It's a big shame the colour it is, doesn't match the orange in my case also. It's almost more yellow than orange. Will look to mode this maybe in future or leave as is as its not a massive issue. Breaks up the orange slightly.
 
Next i concentrated on the hard drives. Nothing special here so just pictures of external packaging, installed in trays and front shot of case:



Packaging



In trays



Installed
 
DVD drive next, again nothing exciting but some pics anway:



Front shot



Ready and waiting



Unsightly gap when installed - anyone else have this problem?



Side on, again gap is prominent.



Side shot of case after DVD Drive install.
 
Next step was the CPU Cooler. By far this was the most annoying part of the build. Corsair instructions are really poor and it led to a lot of Googling, trial and error and a lot of time down the drain. Will expand further on each picture:



Nice packaging



upon opening the packaging - nothing special
 
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TO BE CONTINUED

Looks like my hogging of photobucket has caused the site to crash guys so will continue this later. Enjoy the pics and any help on some of my comments would be appreciated.
 
colinmcr said:
Really like the ram with that motherboard, the colours match great. I'm really liking the look of these orange builds I've been seeing.

Hope you get some more pics up soon ;)
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Yes mate, the RAM and motherboard are a PERFECT match, I think that's why I was so disappointed the GPU wasn't the same colour. At the end of the day though all different manufacturers so can't expect them to use all the same colour. I'm going to look into taking off the shroud of my r9 and spray painting it. That is, if the orange spray paint I ordered off OCUK is a decent match.

If you check back tommorow, I'm going to post the H80i install (By far the worst part of the installation) which was the last step really and then some final build images.


The__Malteser said:
Agree with the motherboard comments. I just got a gigabyte motherboard (different model, but similar) and the sound when putting in the CPU was terrifying :p Also, the padded I/O panel was also a small issue for me.

Looking good. Envious of the people with a nice case :D :D
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Glad someone in the same boat as me mate. Sound is crazy isn't it! I thought I was just going to break the IO panel too with the install, sponge makes it feel like it's in far enough but in reality it's not. Being my first build I guess I was just scared in case I broke anything, nothing a little elbow didn't solve.
 
Ok chaps, so carrying on from my last update.. H80i... :



Out of the packaging









Tried to capture on the camera here. My radiator seemed to have a lot of dents / bumps where the pattern was distorted. My H80i is pretty loud so I hope these minor imperfections are normal and they're not causing the adverse noise.



Time to mount! Noticed the Corsair 300r has weird bubbling on fan locations.



Mounted with one fan. ANYONE looking at purchasing a H80i this is how you install it! Corsair says to install both fans after attaching Radiator to case. This is a bad move! I lost count of how many times i had to take the fan off nearest to the CPU. It had to be removed to attach the pump to CPU, it had to be removed to insert PSU power cables, it had to be removed to then hook up the USB connection. All these removals were due to the instruction manual telling me to do something after I installed the second fan and so definitely leave the most internal fan last!

I also had to remove the graphics card to install the pump / second fan as was conscious they were really close and didn't want to damage anything.





Fully installed. This is setup as INTAKE as Corsair recommends but I have since swapped to Exhaust (notice dust in case after just 2 days) and the temperatures are surprising better for both CPU and GPU.
 
Ok guys so what you have been waiting for next really, final build pics!

















All these images were taking over the course of the last few days.

Only changes are really (Not seen in some pics here) is the corsair logo on my H80i I've changed to a dark orange to match build and i've swapped the fans to exhaust.

I'm going to look at some better cable management next week when my SP/AF 120/140's for the case come :)
 
Some better and more recent pics:











Anyone know what this strange orange light is on bottom right of motherboard?



Also, only one button lights up (if i exclude the power button) which is 'Tag', is this right or should they all light up?



Enjoy :) If you want any more pictures let me know guys.

Once I get my Fans spray painted and installed in the next few days I'll update with more pictures.
 
WalderX said:
Looks good mate. The H80 looks bigger than I would have expected in that case! I've got an H100 and can't even see it looking into the side of my case. I've got the radiator mounted on the outside top with fans mounted inside and exhausting through top.

Get some orange LED strip in there will look awesome. Wouldn't worry about sorting the mess of cables at the back as you can't see them anyway!
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Yer the h80i is HUGE. I originally opted for it due to hating big CPU air coolers. This is just as big in reality haha. Was tempted to get the H60 due to this but nevermind. Might play around with just one fan and see how temps look. Will considerablly remove some bulk.
 
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