Next comes RAM. I've done this a thousand times, so I'm not much worried about it. Modern RAM sure is pretty.
Bonus! It actually says it's compatible with my motherboard right on the package. The hardest thing here should be opening the clamshell.
And done.
Next: the motherboard comes with two small fans to blow cooling, refreshing air under all that armor. They must be installed. There are two fans in the motherboard box. They look identical. I screw the top piece on one of the fans and it tells me there are markings on the side to make sure it's facing the right way. There are no markings. I check the other fan, and there are markings. I take the first fan apart and redo it with the correct fan.
Then I just paste a sponge to the bottom and get this:
Okay, some problems. Remember the pump said plug it in to any old 3-pin fan header? Well this little fan has a cord that only reaches to the 3-pin fan header that I plugged the pump into, so I have to find another place to plug in the pump. It looks like there are only 2 3-pin headers and they're both for these tiny accessory fans. I need the pump, so it looks like tiny fan #2 isn't getting installed.
Unfortunately the #2 fan connector is under a cover that has to come off. I checked, and the fans are for serious overclockers or if you live in a sweltering swamp with zero airflow. With the liquid cooling I should be fine, so I'm just going to take the second cover off and plug in my pump there.
I lost the screw four times and had to shake it out, and cut myself on something. This build is now typical.
Blood for the blood god!
Now it's time to get the power supply hooked up.
Holy shit, the power supply comes in a velvet bag like Chivas Regal or something. The first instructions are, "Following the directions in your chassis manual, install the power supply in your computer case with the screws provided." So you're just passing the buck there, dudes. And are you providing the screws or is my chassis? It turns out my chassis is.
Only three of the four screw holes line up, but I'll take it. This case also has really nice cable management, so I can run everything under the motherboard.
Okay, now I'm mad. There's a little connector that you plug all the case connectors into, so you don't have to plug all those little things right into the motherboard. It has to be here somewhere but in all the screws and connectors and bags, I just can't find it.
Honest, it's here somewhere.
*****
It's been hours and I can't find it. I'm doing it old school, figuring that as soon as I get everything else installed and close up the case it'll turn up. So I connect the USB 3.0 connection, the HD Audio connection, and all the lights and power connectors. There are two 3-pin connectors that aren't labeled. I don't know what they're for. I'll leave them dangling and see what doesn't work.
EDIT: It's the two front fans! So where do I plug those suckers in? I"ve got lots of 4-pin fan headers, but no 3-pin. Grr.
Time for drives. First the blu-ray. It goes in pretty easily, though I'm using the cables that came with the power supply and mobo instead of the cheap red stuff that came with the drive.
And keeping an eye on keeping the cables neat.
SSDs are tiny.
And the SSD and the HD go in like butter.
And I'm cabling them together for power purposes. Hope that's okay. Also, there's 4GB/s SATA cables and 6GB/s SATA cables. I'm guessing the SSD should have the faster, have to look up the HD. And it is 6GB/s, so I'm good.
I have so many drive bays on this case that I'm tempted to pull my old 1.5TB drive out of my current computer and put it in here as well. I think that's what I'm going to do to copy everything over.
I should put the card in, but I have to go get dinner, as my wife is going to be home soon. Later tonight.
Go to Part 3
No comments:
Post a Comment