Any St. Louis folk want to help a noob with a build?

souagua · Post by **souagua** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:41 am

Again, I say, I should be sleeping, and yes, I still blame you all.

Anyway, so I'm getting ultra nervous about my build. The parts started arriving today and will finish arriving by Monday or Tuesday.

My final list ended up:
antec solo
Corsair CMPSU-620HX
msi k9a2 platinum (which was REALLY hard to find-everyone sold out at once!)
Phenom 9600 Black Box
Scythe Ninja 5th anniversary
Mushkin HP PC6400 (4X2GB)
Diamond HD 3870 512MB
WD Raptor X 74GB
2X WD Caviar SE 16 400GB
ASUS DRW-2014L1T
Nexus 90mm case fan
XP pro 64-bit

I'm starting to wonder if my memory is all going to fit under the ninja, and I also noticed that on Scythe's website that the AM2+ is mentioned under "compatability." I'm worried that I'm going to mess something up. It would just be nice if someone that has experience would be willing to trade some supervision for a six-pack or a meal, or maybe both.

I don't plan on doing any overclocking at first, but when I do, I don't plan on going over 2.5 or 2.6. Until, of course, I get the money to do a build strictly for audio, and then I can easily convert this machine into my go-to gaming rig.

So, the invitation stands, help me out and I can repay in beer or food or both.

Also, if anyone has any experience on a similar build, bits of experience would go a long way into calming me down. I promise to fish through the forums before I ask any more questions.

~S

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:00 am

Thanks for the PM invite, but other than watching the assembly process, what else could a by-stander do? You already have most of the parts, so it's a matter of putting them together and see what happens.

The only pieces you list that I know anything about personally....the Ninja, and not the copper version, and not any mounting procedures except on a 478 board. I would definitely be concerned most with the heat-sink attachment because of the weight. And I'd probably design some sort of support for the outer side of the Ninja, using a strap of some kind, or a prop to the bottom of the case.

You probably would get much better help by simply asking questions in the appropriate forum here at SPCR. Ask me about filters and I can help. But ask about a Solo case.......

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:43 am

keep it simple & systematic:

1) install the PSU in the case and swap out the case fan
2) mount CPU & heatsink, even the RAM, on the mobo outside the case.
3) install the motherboard in the case
4) before connecting any cables, install all the drives
5) install the graphics card
6) now study the best way to run all the cables before you start, then approach it systematically. Note that if you use the elastic suspension, you want to make sure not to let the cables to the HDD be too taut, because this will tend to "short circuit" the suspension. Note: You might have to insert the power cable to the graphics card before mounting the HDDs, depends on exact positioning.

You should also study the many systems using P150/Solo cases that people have profiled in the Gallery forum, staff rigs, and perhaps my Thailand-sent system. Do a search for cablegami in these forums.

souagua · Post by **souagua** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 6:55 pm

thank you for the responses and advice

. I'm going to look up some of that now.

I'll take pictures, and if I get stuck, I will post on the proper forum.

Hope it all goes well...

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:42 am

Here's my personal approach...... Take your time. I know there is a temptation to hurry up with the project, but unless you're under some sort of time restraint, it'll pay to be careful.

Since everything's new...... make sure all components work as intended, before you ever touch the case. Get the whole thing, minus the case, running on a bench. This is very easy to do.....just keep the dogs and cats and kids out of the room. I hook up the drives, and install the OS, and check out every port on the MB, not to mention all the add-on cards. You can get it started by shorting out two MB pins (usually called "power").....use a small screw-driver. If you think there might be a heat problem, use a desk fan pointed at the board. (I'm assuming you'll have a fan on the CPU heatsink during testing).

Read the MB manual several times....it'll show the location of the pins. Check different on-line forums for info regarding the MB. Sometimes a new BIOS will fix a problem.....check the mfg pages. I sometimes take several weeks to complete this test stage, and to break-in the components. Normally new electrical pieces will fail within a few hours if there's a problem......called infant mortality.

Only after everything is running perfectly do I install stuff in the case. Check that the optical drives fit ok first. I also check that the power button works before I install the board. It might extend enough to temporarily hook up to the board on the bench.....or use a VOM.

If you think you might want to cut out grills or cut other access holes, now's the time. Don't do any cutting if you're worried about warranty issues. If you do take your time, you can post pictures and descriptions of your problem on these forums.....and usually get a good timely answer. Even though I've been doing mods of all sorts for maybe ten years or more, I still ask questions here and other places. No single person can supply the correct answer to all the potential problems you might have.

But the whole thing is usually easy enough....if you take your time.