Built! Antec NSK3300, E6400, 7600GT, WDAAKSx2, 2x2g 6400
Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 7:59 am
First build ever and I thought I'd leave my experiences here in case it was any use to anyone.
I'd like to give a special shout-out to AngelKiller who pretty much hand-picked everything in this shopping list for me and had lots of good advice.
Case Antec NSK3300
Case Fan just the 120mm TriCool it comes with
PSU included Antec SFX 300w
Motherboard ASUS P5B-VM
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.13GHz)
CPU HSF Thermalright HR01 775 (does not fit!)
RAM G.Skill (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 667 SDRAM
Video Card GIGABYTE 7600GT
HDD WD500AAKS (two of them)
DVD Burner Samsung SH-S182M 18x
Assembly:
With the exception of the Thermalright HR01, which was too big to fit in the NSK 3300 case, the assembly went very smooth for a first-timer I think. In particular the Asus P5B-VM mobo's user guide was practically a step-by-step for anything and everything that got screwed in or plugged in. I ended up using the stock HSF that came with my c2d E6400, so I'll be interested in finding another passive HSF solution at which point I'll have to learn how to clean off the thermal paste that came on the stock HSF as well.
Two notes on assembly: AK was kind to warn me, it's easiest to install the upper HDD and optical drive before installing the mobo or anything else. Also, the mobo power cable coming from the built-in PSU is annoyingly short on this case, making the cabling seem less comfortable because it has to go straight to it's plug on the mobo - this could be an issue with installing a passive HSF even if i could find one that fit to start with.
Windows Installation:
Right now I'm just using XP Pro and I'll probably be installing MCE and waiting a while for Vista to get it's act together.
I wasn't getting any video initially so I removed the Gigabyte card and only then noticed that my Dell LCD has a button to cycle through it's inputs. So I chose VGA and used that to get the XP Pro on there and installed the 7600GT once I was safely running Windows.
I experienced several "Intel CPU uCode Loading error" messages during startup. I updated the bios from 0307 to 0405 and it still wasn't fixed. Updating to the newest beta version of the bios eliminated that error. Initially it replaced it with a "CMOS Checksum Bad - Overclocking failed! Please enter setup to reconfigure your system" error. But after googling about that it seems like something that sometimes only happens on the first restart after a bios update. Sure enough it went away on it's own. Good thing too because I don't even know how to overclock and didn't see anything relevant to adjust in Setup either.
Notes:
1) I hadn't realized that with a 32bit OS I won't be able to use all 4gig of ram that I installed so hopefully I'll be able to take advantage of that with Vista in the next year or so.
2) I guess I have to attribute this to the BIOS updates because nothing else changed, but idle CPU temps were drastically reduced with each of the two updates.
0307 -> 50.5°
0405 -> 39°
6066(beta) -> 26°
Or maybe this had something to do with the thermal paste on the heatsink warming up and creating a better contact surface? I really have no idea, but it seems cool as a cucumber now. I have the little utility open and it's ready 24° as I type this. ... is 39° normal for mobo temp??
3) I'm still in the market for a passive HSF to replace the stock one but I think 120mm wide is going to be pushing it.
4) If it would get things a little quieter I'd like to replace the 120mm Tri-cool case fan and I'd appreciate any suggestions.
Finally, thanks to the folks here for your input. You made this whole process a lot of fun and I'm very happy with my new box!
I'd like to give a special shout-out to AngelKiller who pretty much hand-picked everything in this shopping list for me and had lots of good advice.
Case Antec NSK3300
Case Fan just the 120mm TriCool it comes with
PSU included Antec SFX 300w
Motherboard ASUS P5B-VM
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.13GHz)
CPU HSF Thermalright HR01 775 (does not fit!)
RAM G.Skill (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 667 SDRAM
Video Card GIGABYTE 7600GT
HDD WD500AAKS (two of them)
DVD Burner Samsung SH-S182M 18x
Assembly:
With the exception of the Thermalright HR01, which was too big to fit in the NSK 3300 case, the assembly went very smooth for a first-timer I think. In particular the Asus P5B-VM mobo's user guide was practically a step-by-step for anything and everything that got screwed in or plugged in. I ended up using the stock HSF that came with my c2d E6400, so I'll be interested in finding another passive HSF solution at which point I'll have to learn how to clean off the thermal paste that came on the stock HSF as well.
Two notes on assembly: AK was kind to warn me, it's easiest to install the upper HDD and optical drive before installing the mobo or anything else. Also, the mobo power cable coming from the built-in PSU is annoyingly short on this case, making the cabling seem less comfortable because it has to go straight to it's plug on the mobo - this could be an issue with installing a passive HSF even if i could find one that fit to start with.
Windows Installation:
Right now I'm just using XP Pro and I'll probably be installing MCE and waiting a while for Vista to get it's act together.
I wasn't getting any video initially so I removed the Gigabyte card and only then noticed that my Dell LCD has a button to cycle through it's inputs. So I chose VGA and used that to get the XP Pro on there and installed the 7600GT once I was safely running Windows.
I experienced several "Intel CPU uCode Loading error" messages during startup. I updated the bios from 0307 to 0405 and it still wasn't fixed. Updating to the newest beta version of the bios eliminated that error. Initially it replaced it with a "CMOS Checksum Bad - Overclocking failed! Please enter setup to reconfigure your system" error. But after googling about that it seems like something that sometimes only happens on the first restart after a bios update. Sure enough it went away on it's own. Good thing too because I don't even know how to overclock and didn't see anything relevant to adjust in Setup either.
Notes:
1) I hadn't realized that with a 32bit OS I won't be able to use all 4gig of ram that I installed so hopefully I'll be able to take advantage of that with Vista in the next year or so.
2) I guess I have to attribute this to the BIOS updates because nothing else changed, but idle CPU temps were drastically reduced with each of the two updates.
0307 -> 50.5°
0405 -> 39°
6066(beta) -> 26°
Or maybe this had something to do with the thermal paste on the heatsink warming up and creating a better contact surface? I really have no idea, but it seems cool as a cucumber now. I have the little utility open and it's ready 24° as I type this. ... is 39° normal for mobo temp??
3) I'm still in the market for a passive HSF to replace the stock one but I think 120mm wide is going to be pushing it.
4) If it would get things a little quieter I'd like to replace the 120mm Tri-cool case fan and I'd appreciate any suggestions.
Finally, thanks to the folks here for your input. You made this whole process a lot of fun and I'm very happy with my new box!