Successful build; Awesome board

[ben_lit]

My first custom build ended in success yesterday. Yes, a DFI board and a first time builder succeeded in a day's work, and was also able to visit family for the holidays I had initial problems with the video incorrectly displaying, but once I pushed my graphics card down into the slot more, causing it to apply pressure to the chipset fan, the video worked fine. I've yet to install my computer into my case, which could argue the fact that my build isn't quite completed yet; however, the system is fully functional and the build process wasn't that difficult at all. With my current setup, I'm benchmarking 3DMark03 @ 12593 and 3DMark05 @ 5628. I run FarCry and the Quake IV demo flawlessly, however I'm still going to try and raise these benchmark scores. The only thing I've ever overclocked and had success at is a gpu, and I really want to learn how to do so with my cpu and memory. I bought this board to learn how to do those two things, so hopefully I can get some solid results. I'm going to format again tonight, because I need to partition my hard drive and I've got a newer XP version streamlined with the necessities. I am a bit worried about my card pushing down like it does on the chipset fan, as I'm writing this post I get the following temps according to Smartguardian : CPU @ 29-30; PWMIC @ 37; CHIPSET @ 45. I think moving my extremely long video card into the second PCI-E slot will relieve the chipset hsf some more, but I'll just have to try that out. Another concern of mine is securing the card down enough. That was my main problem with my initial build (thank God it was nothing more severe) and when I did try to install it all into the case, the secureness of the card just wasn't so great. Any suggestions to any of the above listed "problems" (I mean, the computer is running, don't fix it if it isn't broken ) or any suggestions to successfully overclocking my components is very welcome. I decided to take the new case I bought for this system and swap it with an older one, this is because the older one has 4 80mm and a side window, while the new one has no side window but 2 120mm (I'm paranoid about my cpu fan because this morning it stopped spinning on my first boot, had to shutdown and push the cable down harder/shake them = I want to be able to see it).

 

But anyways, I can officially say that if I can build this machine in a day's time, anyone willing to research/read information regarding the process can do it. I thought I knew much more about computers than I actually did when I began my build, but now I'm very confident about the whole process/system all around. I'm very excited about my new system, and I'm very pleased with the results so far. Pictures are provided, you like my hdd cooling?

 

http://members.cox.net/ben_lit/pic1.jpg

http://members.cox.net/ben_lit/pic2.jpg

http://members.cox.net/ben_lit/pic3.jpg

http://members.cox.net/ben_lit/pic4.jpg

http://members.cox.net/ben_lit/pic5.jpg

http://members.cox.net/ben_lit/pic6.jpg

http://members.cox.net/ben_lit/pic7.jpg

http://members.cox.net/ben_lit/pic8.jpg

[Guest SuppA-SnipA]

Well i take it someone had a merry xmas i did too, look in my sig.

Good job for your first build, it looks really crazy!

have fun, and if you want to play a good, high spec required game, F.E.A.R. is your answer.

[Guest oRiOn]

Congradulations, another person with a smooth build. In one of your pictures it looked like you had a HDD slanted, that is a big nono, keep the drives in flat positions (have heard of people fluxing their drives up).

 

-Will

[century child]

Although I never do it, it's always a good idea to assemble your components outside the case first like you have done, to ensure that everything works before assembling it all inside a case. It can save a lot of headaches if something doesn't work right. Depending on how far you want to take it, you might be in for a long ride learning the in's and out's of OC'ing these beasts. My best advice is to first read the various OC guides here, then look around in the OC database and find similar setups to yours to get a general idea of what you can expect and the various timings and BIOS settings you'll need to get you there. At some point you are likely going to want better CPU cooling too. Enjoy!

[red930]

For a second there I thought you had an SATA cable and molex plugged into that fan (pic #5). Craziness.

 

Glad to hear its going well!