My first build

Lost Hammer · 14 May 2009 at 22:56

My first build - *Now with pics*

Well, I mentioned it on another thread last week, but I've decided to take the plunge and build my own system. I'm helping out a friend set up his IT infrastructure, and in return he's bought my components. Which is a result

Anyway, heres my set up. The stuff was ordered today, and is due to arrive tomorrow (Sorry, no ocUK, delivery was a little on the expensive side to here in Sweden)

*EDIT*

Ok, its all together and I've sorted the cables out. The hardest part was getting them flat enough round the back of the mobo tray to get the cover back on! Anyway, after a quick trip out to get some cable tie mounting plates I'm all done

Still thinking about re-pasting the cooler though.

JonJ678 · 14 May 2009 at 23:37

Nice kit. Raptors are declining in popularity, but I loved mine back when I had it.

Beast of a graphics card

Shawreyboy · 15 May 2009 at 00:11

JonJ678 said:
Beast of a graphics card

seen 1 in a friends system... takes three slots and the temps are ridiculous. must admit it does go like its name

Lost Hammer · 20 May 2009 at 22:22

Ok, I ended up getting a plain Gigabyte 4870x2 instead, but it suits me.

I've just finished my days work of putting it together. Put everything together on the mobo box and got into bios, so now I'm in the middle of putting it in the case. Can't believe how hard it is, was quite frustrated when I had to dismount the entire mobo just to get the small atx power cable in :mad:

Its taken me about 3 hours just to get about 5 cables in.

A couple of questions... is it ok for one of the noctua fans to be plugged into a system fan port? Also for the power button switches does it matter what way round positive and negative go in? And if it does how do I tell, is the white cable negative and the coloured positive?

Its a bank holiday over here tomorrow so i've got the whole day to continue

Razor-BladE · 20 May 2009 at 22:29

For the power button switch question, no it doesn't matter which way round it goes.

Lost Hammer · 21 May 2009 at 13:12

Ok, I've finally got it together and I'm posting from it now

Cables are all nice and tidy, pics to follow once I've cleared up round the back of the mobo.

One thing I'm worried about, when I put the thermal paste on, I was a little worried I didn't put enough on. It was maybe 2mm in diameter?

Anyways, I'm running prime95 now on stock, and this is the temps I'm getting. It seems a little warm for stock?

Lost Hammer · 21 May 2009 at 15:39

Pics added.

RIZZEE · 21 May 2009 at 16:09

looking good!
planning on overclocking it?
you live in Sweeden? always wanted to go there

FaceplantSi · 21 May 2009 at 16:17

Looking good there, I approve of your choice of case!

Have you considered taking out the top 3.5" drive cage as that should allow for better airflow from the front intake - you could also use a Kama Bay or similar to add a 120mm fan into the 5.25" bays as some of us here have done. Your temps look ok to me for running Prime95 - how long under load was it left for?

lynchy6789 · 21 May 2009 at 16:27

when i applied my thermal paste i used the plastic bag method and i did it so you could only faintly see the writing on the CPU was almost transparent i think i did a line. Got my E7400 @ 3.8 Ghz at 1.3V and on prime after about 6hours my temps have an average of 56-64 mostly around 58 but all my fans are on Medium and Antec P180 hasnt got the best airflow. Just when you are overclocking i wouldn't want my temps higher then 70-75 after a good while on prime.

. Love the case 2nd favourite Raven 1st

Lost Hammer · 21 May 2009 at 17:11

Cheers for the replies!

What exactly is the plastic bag method?

Think I'm going to round to overclocking it either next weekend or the weekend after when the missus has moved out. (Only live in a studio apartment, so I don't think she would approve of me running prime95 overnight

And yeps, live in Sweden. Moved here a year ago and its the best thing I've ever done! Fantastic country with even more fantastic women :cool:

cmndr_andi · 21 May 2009 at 17:57

If you want even better temps, one thing you may want to try is rotate the cooler 90 degrees so it exhausts towards the fan on the top of the case. This is due to the i7 chip's profile - with this orientation more heatpipes go over where the chip is located. I've seen a few tests where this has yielded a few degrees of extra cooling.

I know its a big hassle moving the cooler, but it may be something to bear in mind if you ever need to reseat the heatsink.

As for the plastic bag method - this is the one I use: I get a brand new clean sandwich bag. A clear, smooth plastic bag in other words. I then apply a very small amount of TIM (Thermal Interface Material) to the CPU heatspreader, at the moment I am using Arctic Silver 5, I use the quantity recommended by the Arctic Silver Website. Then using the plastic bag on my index finger I slowly spread out the TIM. I do this until there is an even layer of TIM across the heat spreader. Then I apply the heatsink.