Help with building my own PC?

[Detale]

Looks good.Did you pay for the OS also? Good luck and keep us updated.

[Nickthestick91]

^ Nope, I went ahead and downloaded a Pro-Corporate version of XP x64. I'm considering doing a dual boot with Vista Ultimate x64 and XP x64, but I'll decide that a little later.

[Detale]

Good man I'm proud of you

[Nickthestick91]

Update!:

I put everything together today, and installed Windows XP Pro Corporate x64 without a hitch. All 8GB of RAM detected (around 7.75GB usable), all four cores of the CPU detected, running stock @2.83GHz. I still have to install another (maybe 2) DVD Burner, and one more hard drive, but I'm assuming that those will be seamless. Here's a pic of the mess of wires inside.



Anyone got any ideas on how to tidy that up?

[clocker]

Congratulations.

Cleaning up the wiring is simply a question of how radical you're willing to get.

The case fans look like they have molex passthroughs instead of 3-pin fan headers.
You could cut them, splice on regular fan connectors and plug them to the motherboard.

The 8-pin motherboard line looks like it could go behind the board and reemerge at the top.

Looks like you used the SATA cables that came with the motherboard. Now that everything is in place, measure what you actually need and get shorter cables.

The connectors on the Corsair are configured as if the unit was mounted at the top with the lines dropping down. You can flip these connectors (pay attention to the wire layout) so the connectors face the right way. You can also change the distance between connectors so they align with your devices, getting rid of looped excess.

The stuff that's really hard to change- the 24 pin ATX connector, for instance- just require some creative stuffing/hiding.

You can do a serviceable, pro looking job without going crazy but really expert wiring is a big job.

[peat moss]

Ha got to love it when the o/s reads the memory as true 8 gb . Only reason to install 64 bit . tho as you'll never use most of it .

[Nickthestick91]

Thanks for the suggestions Clocker. I have one more question now. I just took the mobo outta the case so I could put some Arctic Silver 5 on the CPU for some added (though minor) cooling. After putting the heatsink back on, I noticed that the mobo is sort of bent, or flexing. Here's some pics:







Is this something I should be worried about, or is it normal? Thanks!

[clocker]

Although it's fairly normal, I still hate it.
I hate the Intel "pushpins" retention system in general.

Many good aftermarket sinks come with a backplate that alleviates this problem and Intel has specced a backplate as stock with their new socket for the i7's.

[Nickthestick91]

^ Yeah, I didn't like the way it was looking either. I took it off and spun it around, and it isn't flexing nearly as bad now. I also redid the cables. I just used some zip ties to group a few cables at a time, and then put them on the bottom of the case, and tucked some of them under the bottom hard drive. It's not nearly as good looking as some peoples' around the net, but it's good enough for me.





Thanks for the help everyone! If I have anymore questions I'll post in here, but I think I'll be good from here on out.

[clocker]

Well, it is better...slightly.

Unfortunately, when you buy a windowed case you are basically inviting people to look at the guts and you're obligated to make them pretty- otherwise, what's the point?

I wish I could turn my ex-coworker Eric loose on that- he was an absolute genius at wiring with stock components and even his "standard" builds were works of art. Over the years he had developed several techniques to deal with the overly long/unused cables that are part and parcel of an unmodified build and he prided himself on using a minimum of zip ties. A real Zen master of PC assembly.

I think it's weird that casemakers have jumped on the window fad but make no effort to dress up the interior. Nothing like looking into the case and seeing a bunch of plain, grey finish steel, is there? Kind of like popping the hood on a Ferrari and seeing a Ford four-banger engine.

Somewhat ironically, I've now spent almost three days rewiring Sprocket's new home and it doesn't have a window...I'm the only one who'll know.