71 replies to this topic

[Gagzila]

Hi Everyone,

This is my build progress thread for what will be my 2012 till hopefully about 2017-2018 gaming PC. You can see the original build component discussion thread here if you want to see some of the thinking / discussion behind the choice on components and overall theory behind the build.

This thread is pretty much just for documenting the progress of putting it all together up till the finished system with some Windows 7 customisation thrown in for hopefully a cool overall theme to the system. Should be lots of pics and to start them off, here are a couple from the iPhone from when they first arrived at work today, just making sure all the components were there.







Yep, all there

It all originally turned up in two massive black shrink wrapped packages, almost worthy of a crate for the size and weight involved The tripple monitor stand turned up at the same time as well (awesome!), supplied by Harris Technology. I couldn't help but stand there rubbing my hands in anticipation for the day to be over and get it all home

Cheers,

Craig

[El_Capitan]

That looks like a fun build. You should stop and take pictures! I always say I'll do that, but I always forget cuz I'm too busy building...

[Stonerboy779]

How much was the stand delivered from Harris? Wondering if it is better than umart.

[Gagzila]

How much was the stand delivered from Harris? Wondering if it is better than umart.

Hey Michael,

It was $248 from HT and $21 freight, probably could have got it cheaper from an online store somewhere but it was quick and convenient from HT.

Cheers,

Craig

Edited by Gagzila, 12 October 2011 - 09:05 PM.

[Gagzila]

Ok, finally made it back online...been a busy last couple of days and both last night and tonight were extensively spent getting my study ready to receive the new rig and actually putting it together....it's basically all together now, yet to fire her up as I have one question remaining on the graphics cards regarding the extra power supply connections which I'll mention in a bit and post up on in the relative forum but also just to let you guys run your eye over the setup in case I've somehow missed something.

So here's the pictorial story so far.... (btw, whipped out the DSLR for some better quality pics )

Night 1

Got home from work around 4:30pm and basically ripped the old machine out and set it up on the kitchen bench for any internet access I might need in setting up the new rig. Also vaccumed the study from top to bottom and wiped down everything I could including on top of the overhead fan blades which had 3-4mm of dust!

Current system in the study


Current system closeup


Setup on the kitchen bench ready for tech support calls


Vaccummed all of the study and all of the couch


My wife has a cat who's fur goes everywhere, this is the underside of the pull out bed/couch beside my desk that might have been used 3 times max and generally on a vaccummed floor since we clean the house when having guests...so this gives you some idea of how insane the fur situation is!


The other half's half of the study and her Dell PC


Cable tidy hole drilled for easier access and to pass the security cables through so they can be looped back to the desktop


Finally finished cleaning about 2 hours later...


So shiny...




Box shot again at home


All laid out on the operating table (aka dinning room table )


A little fancy shot for the heck of it


The build FINALLY begins around 9:30pm after having to go out for a few things...case is opened up








PSU installed, case also has a little adjustable bracket you move up against the PSU to make sure it ain't going anywhere regardless of the four huge thumbscrews on the rear


Love the OCZ PSU packaging, so neat with the modular cables all coming in their own bag


Motherboard installed (later to be reinstalled when I realised I hadn't put the bluetooth module on - whether or not I'll actually ever use it lol, but it fills the holes in the rear I/O panel)

[Gagzila]

CPU installed


Drool...


RAM installed




I'd say if I had a Corsair mobo it would have had a spot on the board for it but had to run the front 3.0 USB cable into one of the rear ports since the cable terminated in an actual USB plug!


H80 CPU water cooler installed


Theory on mounting the rear fan outside the case which would sit flush with the outside edge of the case's rear bezel worked perfectly...ended up needing the fan grill inside as well since I had to turn the inside fan around to get the air pulled out of the case and not the other way around (got a 200mm fan up front for feeding the case with air)


And that was it for night 1...lots of plodding along and slowly figuring things out (been 7 years since I last built a full system ), tidied up a bit and hit the sack just before 2am


Cheers,

Craig

Edited by Gagzila, 14 October 2011 - 06:13 AM.

[Gagzila]

Night 2

Another night of plodding along till it finally got to a stage where I could actually say "finished!"

HDDs, SSDs, DVDRW and Aerocool installed (will post again separately on aerocool setup), front panel connected and tidied up cabling on the other side


Drool time again...doubly so!




I noticed the first one I opened had an odd looking solder on the back, any need for concern?


Same spot on the second card which looks completely normal in comparison


I just like looking at em..


Cards are in...there shouldn't be any issue running the second one in PCIe x16 slot 4 right? Gives the first card room to breathe and running the second card in slot 3 puts it on the same PCIe channel as slot one, reducing both to x8 which I want to avoid doing and keep both on a x16 slot if possible.


Clearances to front USB port cables, clear's fans no worries but do you think there will be any heat issues?




Mmmm mmmm....


Pretty much the finished build, tidied up a couple more cables afterwards but that's the system for now...plan to re-sleeve some of the cables white and with white heat shrink to finish it off, continue the white and black theme a bit more inside the case with red highlights provided by the mobo and ram.


Rear cable tidying

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My remaining question with the graphics cards is regarding their extra power connections...neither the mobo, graphics card or PSU manuals give you any detailed info on what's required and both have differing plug setups. The cards both have two 6 pin sockets for extra power, the cards themselves come with the 6 pin to 2 molex connector leads off which I don't know if both need plugging in to provide full power. The PSU comes with 8 pin PCIe cables that have 6 pins together in one connector and another two pins sitting in their own connector alongside. The PSU manual says that 6 pins gives you 1000w capabilites and 8 1250w, I'm guessing if you used these that you'd plug the 6 pin part into the left socket and the remainging two into the first two pins on the right socket. Any one have an idea on this?

PSU cables


Cables that came with cards


Graphics card power sockets

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Moved it to the study in preparation for it's maiden boot




Final pic for the night just because it looks so cool


Cheers,

Craig

Edited by Gagzila, 14 October 2011 - 06:43 AM.

[Kwok]

Very nice Hardware man. Im thrilled with mine too. The most amazing thing to me is your Guitar. I have one just like it. The strawberry sunburst, Strat HSS, American made. Is that what you are playing?

[Gagzila]

Thanks Kwok and the guitar is mine and is a Casino Custom Series, obviously Fender Stratocaster styled...play on and off over the last 3-4 years, so I'm still pretty noobish but got a mate who's an excellent player and always get's me back on...my brother plays as well, has like 3 or 4 guitars now...treated himself to one of these a little while back.

Anyway time to hit the sack again, it's 1:48am and there's another day at least tomorrow of double checking and getting the system up and going.

Cheers,

Craig

[SkytTe]

Wow it looks so great! Very nice cable management, and those Vengeance looks as though they're meant to be for that mobo!
Dunno if you posted it somewhere, but what was the total cost of all the hardware? (not including monitors and stand)

[Stonerboy779]

Lots of pics so nice and I love that table.

Also just use the 6pin pci cable the 6+2 pin ones can also be used. They pin out the exact same way as the 6pin just with two extra grounds that can be tucked away.

The molex adapter is there if you don't have enough pci power cables, you do have enough so don't worry about the adapter.

Edit: for some horrible spelling and gramma thanks to a combination of autocorrect and it being too early.

Edited by Stonerboy779, 14 October 2011 - 01:23 PM.

[Fogel]

Between streaming YouTube and this topic still loading I think I am sucking all the bandwidth here

I have always been curious what everyone's fur situation was like - I think you should throw some pistons on that vaccum cleaner for the hell of it. Looking at that ceiling fan pic I can't help but wonder if you are spiderman, especially since you were able to measure the dust levels up there - that is intense! Come to think of it, how does dust stick to the top of ceiling fan blades anyway?! (< this smiley never gets used)

That is definitely a high powered looking motherboard and that ram definitely belongs with it. Be careful when plugging/unplugging stuff from you I/O port!


Like Stoner said, I plug two 6-pin leads in from the PSU and leave the extra 2-pins sort of ...well dangling. Shame the case doesn't have a more elegant solution for the front panel USB 3.0 port but every single case I looked into had the same crap solution.