My First build - Thanks for all your help

[cyberspacegenie]

Hi all,

I thought I would post some pics of my build since I would not have been able to it without advice from the folks here. Thanks for all your help!


The spec is as follows

Case: Antec P150

CPU: Q6600 (didnt plan to get a quad but the price drop on 22nd July made it suddenly very affordable so I went for it.)

MoBo: Asus P5K-E/WiFi

Graphics: Asus EN8600GT Silent (passive)

RAM: Transcend DDR2-800 1GB x 2

Heatsink: TR Ultra 120 Extreme with MX-2 thermal paste

HD: samsung HD501LJ

DVD: Asus DRW-1814BLT white

Fans: Scythe S-flex fan 1600rpm 120mm (x 2), Scythe Kaze jyu fan 1500rpm 100mm, Antec Spot cooler

Fan Controller - Scythe kama-Meter (wasnt my first choice but works really well with the case in terms of looks. Will only go down to 7volts approx. but at this level you cant hear the fans so I`m happy with it)


background

I'm in tokyo and its now the heart of summer. Yesterday the temp was 36 degrees C, and the computer lives in a room where there is no aircon! Hence there is a balance here between sound and temp. this is why I got a fan controller so when temps go down I can easily undervolt when it cools down. also the reason why I got 1600rpm fans.

Temps
The ambient temps make a big difference as you can see, hence the temp range.

temps in degrees C

CPU idle: 32-37 (using Speedfan), 42-47 (using TAT and RM Clock)
CPU load: up to 46 (using speedfan) up to 58 (using TAT and RM Clock)

MoBo 38-45 (speedfan)

HD: 31-42 (speedfan)

GPU: 55-65 (speedfan)

Aux:?????? This seems to be a random temp 125 degrees. I've read that others have experienced the same thing.

I got the Antec spot cool, which is basically a fan on a bendy rod, for free when I asked for a discount in the shop. I hadn't planned to use it but it came in very handy to lower the MoBo temp - without it the high ambient temps send the MoBo temp close to 50 degrees

It seems a little odd that the MoBo runs hotter than the CPU but this seems to be something to do with sensor positioning on this board, from what i have read.


Pics


Front.
The kama-meter works well with the case.


inside.

Complete with fingerprints on the heatsink! The fan controller creates quite a lot of extra cables. I routed one the fan controller sensors out the back of the case to get an idea of the ambient temp around the case. If you look at the pic of the front you'll see it was reading 34 degrees when I took the picture.

I originally put this temp sensor on the heatsink. I slipped it between the cross mounting that keeps the heatsink in place. The kama-meter went crazy as soon as I switched on the computer as the reading here was 100 degrees. Not sure what to make of that.



inside again.

The Antec spot cooler has blue LEDs on it. They are quite helpful for working out what the fan is blowing at. The Spot cooler is at the top of the case blowing on the mobo and memory.


Apart from the aux temp issue and what happened when i put the sensor on the heatsink, I am quite happy with it. The fans cope quite well with the heat situation and when the temp goes about below 27 degrees I can turn them down without affecting temps and it is virtually silent.

[ame]

while your builde is nice on the outside and you got the right parts... I must say its horrible on the inside clutter side of things!

try removing the other pannel (right) and pull the cables gently to the rubble cable ties on that side. Also there are power and a sata cable running over the side bar. Rerouting cables in a smart way will not only look better and make you proud to post your pics on this forum but will also lower your temps!

this site is as much about modding and clean builds as it is about power efficency and low noise.
I dont beleive its a site about brand names and expensive parts
My advice is to do some more work and post new pics.

[jaldridge6]

the p5k is noted as being an absurdly hot motherboard compared to other p35 mobos. Not sure why that's the case. My -personal- opinion is that Asus just sucks these days

and yeah, your cable management skills I give an F---. heh.

[cyberspacegenie]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Point taken I'll have another go with the cables when I get a chance - I'm very new to this so the chances of perfection are pretty low! Prior to this, all I had done was to change a hard drive in another computer! Most of the cables are routed to the right side of the case, apart from the badly placed sata and power cable you can see, virtually of the other visible cables come from the fan controller (9 in total) so that made it a bit challenging. The temp sensor cables come out of place easily so it was actually easier to leave them free.

I realise that my build is not is not unusual (apart from the cable management perhaps ha ha ha) but that was never the reason for putting it on here. My reasons were:

- to thank all the kind people who took the time to reply to my posts
- just to say that I did it and it works (I did wonder sometimes - there is quite a lot of small things that the instructions miss out and you have to figure out yourself)
- to get feedback about anything I may have done wrong
- to see if anyone had comments related the temps esp. motherboard and aux temp
- because I thought maybe it would be useful to other newbies

Any other useful comments would be greatly appreciated and thanks so much to everyone.

[jaldridge6]

simple, make your insides look 80% as good as this...

http://www.black-talon.org/pics/2/P150_3.4_0706.jpg