UPS delivering parts for 1st build today..

[akgeff]

This all started when the AMD Phenom II x 6 1100T cpu upgrade I bought wasn't compatable with my present 447Hp's mobo. So I bought a MSI 890FXA-GD65 mobo for it but it won't realy fit in the hp's case so to heck with it I decided to just build a completely new computer from the ground up.  My son just did this a few months ago and it got me thinking about it as it was something I have wanted to do for a while.  So this is what I have so far:

AMD Phenom IIx6 1100T cpu
MSI 890FXA-GD65 mobo
2x 4GB DDR3 corsair Vengeance 1600MHz ram
corsair H40 liquid cpu cooler
Thermaltake "Blackwidow" 850w psu

This should be delivered today:

Cooler Master RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced ATX Mid-Tower Case
two-seagate ST1000DM003 "Barracuda" !TB hard Drives
one-Corsair CSSD-F120GB3A-BK  120GB solid state drive
1 copy windows 7 home premium
1x Lite-on Internal Blu-Ray writer iHBS212-08
Steel Series 64105 Shift Gaming Keyboard
NZXT Sentry II SEN2-001 touch screen fan controller
Corsair Airflow fan for ram
2x 80mm, 92mm, 120mm, and 140mm cooler Master case fans
1x EVGA 03G-P3-1584-AR GeForce GTX 580 video card 3GB GDDR5
acer H274HL 27" Class Widesscreen LED Monitor 1920x1080
logitech 981 wireless headset

So that's most of it, tho my Logitech G700 gaming mouse got backordered.   I am waiting for the ups guy as I'm writing this, he usually shows up about this time of the day.  Needless to say I am a bit apprehensive about assembling all these components and ending up with a functioning computer when I'm done.  I am not too worried about assembleing the hardware as I have done a lot of similar stuff in the past.  I am more concerned about the instalation of the Operating system (windows 7 home premium) and all the various drivers for all the hardware.  I am not sure what the "order of importance" is for loading and installing the drivers.  I would like to start out with a nice clean install of the OS and the drivers without a crash or problems.  I also don't want to load all the "trial" programs and adverts that come with the OS but I'm not sure how to do this.  I want as "clean and sanitary" an install of the OS as I can get with out installing a bunch of exteranious stuff I won't use and just takes up space on the hard drive and wants to run in the backround.
  I have two matching hard drives as I would like to set it up as a RAID 0 and use the ssd for games.  I have been lurking this site for the last few weeks trying to prefare for this.  I'm glad I came across this site it has been a big help to me.  I appreciate all the assistance I have recieved in the chat to my newbie questions.  Any suggestions or advice you can give me on how to proceed with this and end up with a decent working computer would be greatly appreciated! I would have my son help me as he's done this before but he lives in seattle now.   Thanks
Geff

[Geek-9pm]

I also don't want to load all the "trial" programs and adverts that come with the OS but I'm not sure how to do this.  I want as "clean and sanitary" an install of the OS as I can get with out installing a bunch of exteranious stuff I won't use and just takes up space on the hard drive and wants to run in the backround.

Thant issue has been well-covered on  user forums. It is not a serious issue. More of an annoyance than anything.
A greater issue is you lack of experience doing mechanical assembly of a computer. There are some small parts you can easily damage or scratch and they become badly damaged. You might want to pick up a 'junk' computer nobody wants and see if you can take it apart and put it back together.

[akgeff]

Hi thanks for the reply Mr. Geek !  I have been lurking the forums and chat the last few weeks preparing for this build.  I'm not in a big hurry I want to take my time and do this right.  I looked on the forums about OS install but I haven't come across one yet that addressed my concerns yet.  Would you have a link to that?  I would appreciate it.  I ordered 3 books on building PC's :  "Build Your Own PC Do-It-Yourself For Dummies"  (should be right up my alley),  "Build It. Fix It. Own It: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Upgrading a PC", and "Building the Perfect PC".  So that should at least get me heading in the right direction.  I inventoried everything yesterday, today I was planning to install the power supply and my fan controller.

I don't have a huge abount of experience with computers but I don't let them intimidate me.  I have upgraded them in the past and the mechanics of assembeling them doesn't pose a huge challenge.  I have built and messed with electrical and electronics devices for over 40 years.  Everything from wiring a house to building my own radio control recievers and transmiters back in the 70's and 80's for my RC airplanes.  I also have my ham radio license and have moded several of my 2 meter radios to recieve the business band.  I've been a power plant mechanic and worked with 440 3phase electric motors.  I've programmed custom electonic control moduls for my fuel injected Harley and my wifes supercharged 03 Cobra.  So the mechanical assembly of it I should be able to handle with out too much trouble I already think I have a pretty good grasp of that aspect of it. 

My real weekness is in the programing aspect of computers.  I have no delusions about my ablilities regarding this aspect of them.  I find it fascinating but I have a lot to learn in this regard.  I can normaly load a program without messing it up but I don't understand computer language or code (still working on spanish).   So I plan to take my time until I feel I have a pretty firm grasp on that aspect.  I don't want to just load the OS disc cross my fingers and pray..  I want to have a good idea of not only what to do and what should happen but why.  So I just look at this build as a challenge/adventure is something I have wanted to do for several years now. My son just built one so i thinks thats what pushed me over the edge...

[Geek-9pm]

As for installing an operating system the choices are either Windows 7 or one of the recent Linux  distributions.

You may choose to install a Linux system just to verify that your hardware is working alright.  One version that I found very easy to install was Linux Mint. It is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.  But more conservative thing to do with the  32-bit version first, then later do the 64-bit and see what difference there is.

After that, you might wish to decide which version of Windows 71 to use.  The 32-bit version will work fine, but cannot make full use of additional memory.  The 64-bit version of Windows 7 is very good and works fine, but has one annoying problem.  Some manufacturers have been slow about releasing true 64-bit drivers for the devices they have.  In particular, video graphics cards and wireless network cards . If you want to save money on the purchase of Windows 7, you have to buy the  OEM 32-bit version and just be satisfied with that. The home premium is all you really need.

That's about all I had to say about operating systems.

[akgeff]

I would like to learn how to use the linux OS.  I havn't yet I always figured it would be similar to learning a second language and I'm still working on my spanish...  That and a better grasp of how programing works will proly keep me busy all next winter.  So I bought a plain vanilla version of Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64BIT Operating System Software - for now.  I don't know enough about operating systems to know the pro's and cons btween  the 32-bit Vs. a 64-bit version of windows, I got the 64 bit system as that is what is on my current machine.  My impression was that the 64bit system is a faster OS but uses more ram, and processing power and takes up more room on the hard drive but thats a guess on my part.

I mounted my power supply, motherboard, cpu, and liquid cpu cooler in the case yesterday.  The cooler is a Corsair H40 sealed liquid cooler the radiator is a little too thick to  fit under the top case cover so I am going to flip it and try mounting the fan above the radiator under the top cover and mount the radiator under it inside the case.  The other thing I didn't like is I had to remove the metal back plate on the mobo in order to fit the Liquid cooler adapter to the mother board.  Is this OK?  I wasn't happy about removing it I figure it's on there for a reason.  RF shielding?  So I plan to pull the radiator and board again today and take a second look at my install.

[Geek-9pm]

RF shielding?

Yes. Required to meet government standards. For home-built it is not a big issue, but manufactures are required to provide it.
Can you tell if a modification to the cover of the case would solve your tight fit issue? You can buy a modified cover to clear the liquid cooler, Or have a local sheet metal shop modify it.
From overclockers web site

First and foremost, why on earth would someone put water in their computer?! Well, there are several very good reasons. It can result in better temperatures, higher overclocks, a quieter running system and it can just plain look good.
Whatever your motivation, water cooling can accomplish all of those and then some. Before you jump into this facet of our hobby,  it’s always best to plan your water loop from start to finish; from the ground up – starting with the most basic of components.
The Case
If you haven’t purchased your case, this is the best place to start your water loop. Cases can be modified to accept water cooling, but it’s much easier to have one that’s ready from the start. In very simplistic terms, there are two basic options available to you: mass produced cases and custom made-to-order cases.
...

Beginner’s Guide to Water Cooling Your PC

[akgeff]

Hi Geek thanks for the reply.  I went with the corsair H40 water cooler as it was a closed system, is pretty simple to install and I think it should be large enough to cool my 125watt amd pehenom IIx6 1100T cpu without any trouble.  I installed it in the top of my coolmaster 690 case. The radiator fit perfectly under the mesh screen case top and the 120mm fan is directly underneath inside the case. I have two 120mm case fans exhausting in the top of the case, 1-140mm front and 2-140mm right side fans blowing in and another 120mm fan exhausting out the rear for a total of six case fans as well as a corsair ram memory cooler. I'm using an NZXT sentry 2 fan controller to control all the fans so I hope I have a handle on cooling I also installed a EVGA GTX 580 3Gb graphics card that will produce a lot of heat so that is why I wanted to make sure I kept things cool.  What is a reasonable temp for a gpu to run on a regular basis without damage?  Is 60 deg C to high?  I have a EVGA GTX 560 1Gb card in my present computer and it will run above 60 deg. C unless I provide additional cooling (house fan).  So I was wondering what an appropriante temp was to run the gpu at.

My next dilema is how to set up my hard drives I have 2 seagate barracuda 1Tb hard drives and 1 Corsair "Force" series Sata 3 120GB SSD.  I would like to set up the two barracuda drives as raid 0 for the performance.  What is the performance difference between a raid 0 and a SSD?  Can I load my OS (windows 7) onto the SSD and "slave" the two barracudas in raid 0 to it?  I was not completly familiar with the proceedure to install windows 7 OS on a raid 0 array on a new install.  Are there any forum posts that cover that?  So I am not completly sure how to best use the 3 drives I have.   I plan to do some gaming and use this computer as part of the house home entertainment system.  So I am debating if I should put the OS on the Solid State Drive and everything else on the conventional hard drives or just use the SSD to store my games like my son does and put the OS and all my music, pics & vids ect. on the Barracuda's in raid 0.  Any insight you could offer on this including links to forums threads would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks Geff

[Geek-9pm]

At the present time, two hard drives do not outperform a SDD. But SDD is very, very expensive.

For personal use, the performance improvement of SDD  is not so noticeable on a single user single application program. For a single user, CPU speed is is the number one area for improvement. After that, RAM size. If you have enough RAM, the whole program and all its related parts can be in the memory at once. On course that means you have to have a 64 bit system and a real 64 bit program and a huge RAM space.

You may wish to review some articles about RAID systems.
RAID For Idiots
I did not say you are an idiot.
That sis jut the name of the article.

OK. Now that I had my fun, here is a real article...
http://www.linux-sxs.org/hardware/raid_for_idiots.html
Notice how they steers that you do raid after you already have a tested and running system.

Now here is your guide. It is a long story.
http://www.overclockers.com/setting-up-os-raid-with-windows-7-ultimate/

[akgeff]

Hi geek thanks for the help and the links!  I booted for the first time a couple of days ago.  No smoke! And everything seems to be working!  I've spent a couple of hours last night getting familiar with the bios, so far everything looks good it recognizes my cpu and optical drive, I set the date and time and got familiar with the various menus and options.  I found the menu's for setting up the raid and plan to connect the hard drives and attempt to load the O.S. (windows 7 64bit) today.  I've spent the last couple of weeks reading (six books and hours on the internet) and researching so I'm feeling more comfortable with the process.  So thanks for all the help.  I'll keep you posted and let you know how it goes!  I wouldn't have done this build around the phenom cpu if I hadn't already bought it as an upgrade for my existing puter and it wasn't supported by the motherboard.  I didn't need a $200.00 paper weight...  I suspect my processor will be my biggest "choke point" in this build but it should still be a big improvement over my existing puter.   I'll have a lot better idea what I'm doing on the next build....  Well have more reading to do.  I've been taking pics I'll post a few when I get the chance.  Thanks!

[akgeff]

  LOL.  I loved that first link it was perfect! Especialy since I was a fire fighter and boiler maker and hydraulics is something I can actualy grasp the basic concepts..