The (new) Official PC building thread!

Hey there greenman, how's it going, yeah I'm always here, I hardly ever post lol, I don't have much knowledge to give but you guys already know that, but I read every page everyday, and yup a roonskies, summer is getting closer, junior will be coming home and will definatly be asking for a lot of purchasing advise.

 

Good to hear from you again Fred, how's it going?

 

hi guys, i wonder if you can recommend a chip for this build.
i do some gaming, but mainly its just for home entertainment, movies etc (streaming to tv)
i already bought the parts listed below so its no use recommending others.
thanx in advance
Antec Sonata III UK - mini tower - ATX
PNY GeForce 8 8800GT - graphics adapter - GF 8800 GT - 512 MB
WD Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKB - hard drive - 500 GB - ATA-100
Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Performance TwinX Matched - memory - 2 GB ( 2 x 1 GB ) - DIMM 240-pin - DDR II
ASUS P5N-E SLI - motherboard - ATX - nForce 650i SLI

 

The P5N-E SLI is an appalling motherboard, don't use it, use a Gigabyte P35-DS3R instead.
Also, it's a new PC build, so why an IDE hard drive? Use a WD5000AAKS instead, the S-ATA version, they're excellent.
As for the CPU it depends on how much you have to spend, I recommend the E6750 or Q6600.

 

he said he bought it already, no recomendations for other parts.....

(but i agree with sam. bought a p5n-e of a dodgy seller ont he bay, was DOA (mayeb not the p5n-e fault)

 

Ah, my bad, didn't spot that. Well I think for that board it has to be a 65nm chip as it needs a BIOS update, and the BIOS updates for the P5N-E SLI are one of many bad things about it. I'd say an E6750 ideally, that should work with it. If you encounter problems with your new build though spaul, I'm warning you now, the motherboard is the first thing you should replace.
Shaff: loads of the P5N-E boards came DOA< so it's realistically Asus' fault, but also the sellers for knowingly selling it on in that state.

 

it is a cooler master stacker 830 evo. the handle you see is on the rear of the removable mobo tray. I luv the mobo tray. great feature. there are hand wholes at the front and rear of the case itself for carrying, no handle as such. I'll post a couple pics later.

I ran into another little snag. the cooler master crossflow fan I have ordered is not going to fit. my sata connectors and ide connector plug into the front of the mobo and therefor will not allow room for the crossflow fan. no biggie as I was pleasantly suprised to find that my 4 fan side panel will fit perfect without any moding what so ever. all I had to do is pop out the top rear fan adaptor (the one directly over the TR ultra 120 extreme).

I ordered 2 more antec 120mm red led tricool fans and will put them in the two bottom slots on the fan panel. I will RMA the crossflow fan.

I'm gonna wait untill my 4 in 3 device module gets here before I fire it up. that way I will have everything hooked up and can tie up all the wires and cables all at one time nice n neat.

 

Now THAT's patience...


On a different note, I swear these things are getting cheaper:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=788911

 

All is well sammy, thanks for asking, I'm always lingering lol.

 

<snip>
I'm gonna wait untill my 4 in 3 device module gets here before I fire it up. that way I will have everything hooked up and can tie up all the wires and cables all at one time nice n neat.[/quote]

Mort:
You know that if you tie up all the wires and cables before you fire it up, something will be wrong and you will have to undo them. However, if you don't tie them up before you fire it up, your new rig will run like a top. Somebody has had to name that happening as a law.

 

Mort:
You know that if you tie up all the wires and cables before you fire it up, something will be wrong and you will have to undo them. However, if you don't tie them up before you fire it up, your new rig will run like a top. Somebody has had to name that happening as a law. [/quote]

Murphy did

 

here's some more pics. left side with fan panel installed:



right side without side panel installed. notice the removable motherboard tray handle:



rear. notice the mobo tray handle again and the rear hand hole for carrying. this mobo also has a cmos reset button on the I/O panel. no jumper to move on the mobo:



front with door removed. I still have to install my card reader:



top. the front handhole is right behind the power/reset/top usb panel:



I'll post some pics of the inside after I get my 4 in 3 device, fans for side panel and get everything tied up nice n neat.

 

Personally I dont like the case (but then I dont like doors on cases anyway) - but hopefully you do and thats what matters - the build looks to be coming along nicely though I must say and that case sure does seem to be a big one lol - would be nice to get a clue of actual size with something to compare it to.

 

I don't like doors either but there are so many other pros that outweigh that one con. fortunately I can easily remove the front door and it will swing open from either direction. I might just leave it off.

it's been a dream to build with the removable mobo tray. not nearly as much reaching down into the case trying to get everything installed.

it is big (25.2" x 9.8" x 21.1"). biggest case I have ever owned. fortunately it is all aluminum. the hardware weighs more than the case

 

I was never a big fan of case doors, but they have a functional purpose to hide optical drives that don't colour match properly, and the crazy bright LEDs on front bay fan controllers. Plus, NZXT can actually do them right! To be fair, I quite like coolermaster's doors for styling as well.
As for the CMOS reset button, that's neat, but I sincerely hope it's inset so it can't be pressed incidentally!

On a slightly related note, my X38-DS4's BIOS has regressed back to F1 again, all by itself. I didn't even realise that could happen!

 

sammorris,

I agree with you about the Cooler Master doors. I love the one on my Cavalier Case. Solid aluminum and kept closed by 4 ingeniously placed magnets. No wear marks from vibration! It can be reversed in less than 1 minute with no tools needed!

On the F-1 bios front, you just didn't save it right. I've done that before! It gets a little confusing when it asks about saving the old bios (I never do!)! I use the Quickflash utility in the setup! I would just download the bios again and do it over! When it asks you if you want to save the old bios just say no!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Hey guys, I might get a Asus P5E! I'm so excited!

 

Moreso than usual?

 

Haha, I'm not excited all the time.