My first crack

[Tomathee]

Hello, asked quite a lot of questions when putting my shopping list together so I thought I'd put back in the form of a log that may be of use or interest to somebody. Getting the shopping list posted in first as I notice the mobo has already been replaced by a Z97 version so I've had to cut and paste a bit from my other thread. Alongside the below I bought over from my previous PC an MSI 7950, Seasonic G550W and a PCI Wifi card. This list totals £743.85 but I can't remember what I ended up paying, I know the memory was on offer at the time and cost less etc.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £74.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Orange Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £59.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Samsung SE-S208DB/TSWS External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - White £21.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99



Not really much to say about the choices, processor was the best price/performance at the time. SSD was a good price for the size, 120Gb wasn't really enough when something like Titanfall takes around 50 up. Cooler was hardest choice between it and some air coolers. Had information overload but thought I'd give it a try. Case was nice looking and preferred the layout of the mobo laying down rather than upside down on the side as in the Bitfenix. Memory was on offer at the time, didn't colour match but red/orange is close enough for me and I found a red external drive to go alongside as a half hearted attempt at a theme. HDD best price I found for the size/speed. Mobo was I think the cheapest of the MATX boards I looked at and had what I needed with decent enough reviews. External drive was for the rare time I get bought a CD to import or for Windows install etc, probably go away in a drawer 90% of it's life. Went for Windows 8 as it's newer, not too fussy if I don't get along with it as I don't tend to root around on things outside the regular games/music/net etc.

Have some pics to sort out and some sort of narrative that I'll put together another day.

Bye for now

 

[Tomathee]

Thanks for reading. Wanted external mostly to keep the front looking how it does. As Jim says many people also barely use them now and an internal drive just creates more crevices for dust to gather. Would definitely recommend external drives had no trouble installing Windows from it.

Obligatory shot of the new parts:


Got the non essentials from the case out the way:




That's with the two side panels, front and top panel, box of accessories removed. Some standoffs already in but was a bit of confusion over the two holes nearest the front, not sure what they are used for but figured out not needed with the manuals and t'internet. Also the fans already screwed in which I left for the time being.

Motherboard on makeshift workbench, then with processor and RAM added:




RAM was easy, one of the few things I've changed before in previous PC's. Processor was simple enough with the instructions, not sure if being stupid/poor eyesight/hard to find but struggled initially to find the marker for orienting it.

Mobo/RAM/processor added to PC, again straight forward. Worst part was the tabs on the I/O shield which are something to do with electromagnetic discharge IIRC. They kept pushing the mobo off the standoffs and me trying to push the mobo into place was putting the shield out of place so pliers were used to pull the tabs out the way until it was screwed down, then bent back as well as I could manage.

 

[Tomathee]

Missed off the last pic from the previous post:


So far it had been pretty straight forward and I hadn't encountered anything that couldn't be solved with a quick google (mobo standoffs and I/O shield as mentioned previously). Next up was the cooler....

Looking back this was by far the hardest part, in terms of handling, installing, cabling all the way through to getting the software working properly. This is partly my inexperience but I must say that the instructions for the H80i are missing a few key points which I'll cover on the way.

Getting the mounting plate installed was easy enough once you confirm that it is supposed to be 'loose' until the thumb screws are tightened later on. The standoffs are adjustable but have 'bolt' looking things on the bottom. One of these had twisted enough to make the standoff stick in the wrong position so I had to wrestle that loose. I then almost pulled off the plastic thinking it was just there to protect the usual Samsung black gloss wares. Found out in the nick of time that it is there for insulation and should NOT be removed. Not mentioned anywhere in the instructions and I only stumbled on that info while searching for something else. I tried three different ways of mounting before settling on the one which I believe causes least obstruction to the fans and keeps the pipes out of the way as best as possible.



Three hands are preferable for this, one to hold the fan in place so the screws don't fall out the back, one to hold the radiator against the fan and one to tighten the screws. The second fan is no trouble it can be left until later and not cause a problem.



There are a few cables which should be simple enough for most people to connect but I managed to make a hash of it anyway. The USB cable is simple enough, micro(/mini?) in the pump to a header on the mobo and one to the CPU fan header just for a temperature reading I believe. The cables from the fans go to a Y connector. Little did I know they have a little cover on and spent several minutes trying to get them together. I them reached for the pliers and started pulling and twisting on plastic . Fortunately for me before I had completely wrecked it this then showed there to be a cover on the ends protecting the pins. I don't exactly have 20/20 vision but these covers looked like a proper part of the cable and there was no mention or picture anywhere to alert me otherwise, so similar n00bs beware.

Finally I set it up as an exhaust rather than intake as in the instructions and picking a side of the varying opinions around. My reason was the front has a big intake on and I figured the air would flow more easily from front to back. If front and back were intake then it would probably need the mesh top panel which I hoped to avoid and the included fan which was taken off the back for the cooler exhausting out the top. I will have to see how it works out like this and maybe switch it intake and go for exhaust out the top with the black mesh panel. The other option I could look at is having the H80i on the top panel either way round, with intake it would mean it blowing straight down onto the area it is cooling? And exhausting would mean having the rear fan as intake as well. Something for me to think about I guess.

 

[Tomathee]

Added the PSU in;


Being semi modular made it a lot easier, I got it seated first then figured out which cables I needed then plugged them in via the HDD bay once the cages were out the way. Seems like it would be doable with a normal PSU, but any longer would add in a limit depending on which side the cables came out the back of it.

At this point I was able to test that it would switch on. Ignored the paperclip method and plugged in the power button cable from the top panel and voila;



Next added the SSD, four screws and it slides in;


The motherboard had a regular SATA cable and one with a right angle connector which gives a few choices for arranging them. Handy opening for them to go through next to the big motherboard connector.

After that is the HDD, video card, Wifi card to add, then tidy up.

 

[Tomathee]

Next test start after adding the video card and HDD;



Easy to pick a heart in mouth moment from doing this whole thing, on one of the test start ups the cooler didn't start. Some idiot had unplugged a cable to do some tidying and not put it back in . HDD goes in cage which slides apart then back together with magnetic pins in the screw holes before sliding back in to the case. No tools and simple to use, took out the other cage for now so that the cables from the PSU are more comfortable in the space underneath, otherwise it would be a bit of a sharp turn. Video card straight forward and as you can see a good few cm to spare for some of the longer cards available. Also started to figure out some better cable routes, for example the ones for the buttons and lights going out the front and back in next to the fan to keep out of the side window. The USB header from the H80i pump went under the motherboard near the PSU to keep it out of the way. At some stage I thought it would be a good idea to put the fan I removed from the back in as a bit of extra help. It's mounted in the top as an extra intake. At the moment I'm justifying it as being a benefit blowing down onto the video card but I might try without at some stage for to see what the change is with noise/temperature. As I might have mentioned I probably will try to get round and see how the cooler differs as intake.

Last couple of pics I have with the case open;




Wifi card added, bit of an eyesore but I'll live with it for now. Most of the cables are how they ended up. Using one HDD and SSD there is plenty of space under those and in the other corner at the front behind the HDD. A lot of things will be hidden anyway by the video card so there's not much to worry about in terms of mess you could see through the side panel. Only thing is the cables for power/reset buttons and leds etc along with a USB header just poke up at the bottom, I don't think I can do anything about it though (rough pic I know);


All buttoned up;






Lastly quick one of Corsair Link after a couple of hours using prime95 to see if it all works, seems a reasonable temperature so it's finished for now.


Quick opinion of the parts;
Processor - No problems easy to install, think I mentioned struggling to locate the triangle to get it the right way round but that was probably just me being dense.
Mobo - No problems either, good instructions, plenty of connectors and slots for what I needed.
HDD - Well packaged in plenty of bubble wrap.
SSD - New to these, great size and weight. Has made the most difference between my old PC and this. From dead to Windows in 12-15 seconds is really fantastic. Must keep on top of unwanted junk trying to get it's name on the startup list and slowing this down.
Cooler - Is doing a good job but the instructions are poor re. connectors being covered, that the plastic on the mounting plate should be left in place, that the plate may not be secure at first until you add and tighten the thumbscrews to pull it all together. I also had to go online in search of help to get the software working correctly as it picked up everything else but the H80i which required some regedit thing.
Case - Great case, loads of space which I was concerned about with it being MATX and making my first build a bit harder for myself. Also easy to work with, having the motherboard like that is great. At first seems similar to a regular PC laying on it's side to work on but with this two sides are completely open (aka where the top and bottom of a regular case on it's side would be) and there's no HDD bays or PSU in the way as they're all neatly under it out of the way.
Optical drive - Not much to say, installed Windows straight forward from it. The software on the disk is a bit rubbish and wouldn't install for some reason so I left it.
RAM - Slotted in, worked....

Final Word
Glad I went for the DIY route and took the next step from upgrading pre made Dells or whatever. It looked challenging at first but once you read up and watch videos it was easier than expected. Found a few obstacles on the way but managed to solve them with a simple search. Not something that I'd like to do every week but it's definitely what I'll stick with for future upgrades and builds. In my opinion half the fight is getting the shopping list nailed. For the time being I will get round to trying the cooler as an intake. On occasion in games it can get a bit loud so that might be something I have to look into as well.

Signing off for now, happy to answer any questions as long as they're not too technical.

 

[Tomathee]

I'm sure I read of people doing water cooling with it. Might have even been a guy on here started one when I was looking for opinions on the case.

 

[Tomathee]

nice build. question: does mini-itx compromises speed or functionality compared to m-atx?

Thanks

I don't think the performance suffers (not sure what you mean by speed) but functionally you will have less expansion slots. If you was going to do itx you should pick a smaller case than this though.

 

[Tomathee]

Just read about the plastic on the H80, I assume I'm a lucky bugger since I removed that

I didn't come across anybody who had encountered dire consequences after removing it so it will probably be ok. I assumed it was protecting the shiny bit from getting scratched and only looked further when it wouldn't easily peel off