Finished Build

[Jumping_Bean514]

Well IÂ’ve finished building a computer for a friend. It was the first time IÂ’ve built a computer with 100% new parts. The specs are as follows:

E6600 with Zalman cooler
P5B delux Motherboard
8800gtx
2 gig Corsair ram
Silverstone modular 600w power supply
Thermaltake Armor case
Samsung Light scribe DVD drive
2 Western digital 250g drives

The build went pretty good, I had a lot of trouble getting the Zalman cooler mounted on the CPU. IÂ’m still not sure if itÂ’s on 100% right, but the idle CPU temps are around 34-36C on stock speeds. The graphics card was running at a high 74C but after cleaning up the cables in the case it dropped to about 61C, according the Everest. We ran 3dmark 06 and scored a relatively low 9880. But this is stock everything and we havenÂ’t messed with any settings, pretty much loaded windows and ran 3dmark. I think the ram is still running at 5 5 5 18 which I need to fix as well.

I like the motherboard a lot. The wireless LAN that comes with it is great and the magnetic bottom sticks right on the Armor case. One problem I ran into is that I could never get the raid to work. We tried forever but it wouldnÂ’t work. We ended up just loading the OS onto one drive and using the other for storage though I havenÂ’t figured out how to format the second drive in windows yet. It recognizes it in device manager but not any place else.

One thing to watch out for is that the power supply I chose is so big that it interferes with the optional fan that came with the Armor case. I want to try and mount the fan above the front LED fan, but I havenÂ’t really tried yet, I hope it goes well.

Overall IÂ’m satisfied with the parts and performance of this computer. All the parts were ordered from newegg and no DOA as far as I know. Though I havenÂ’t messed with the ram timings yet so they might be messed. Thanks to everyone who gave me input on the build when it was still in concept. Have a good Christmas everyone.

I might post some pics a little later.

 

[Ridlyn]

Lets see the pics.

EDIT: About the fan, are you talking about the optional fan on the side?

 

[lancec2c30]

Yes, pictures. And to see if that zalman is workin, run 3dmark and monitor the temps while it is going. Just to see that under a load it isnt overheating.

 

[Jumping_Bean514]

Well when rendering a brutal scene in 3dsmax is doesnt get over 48C so I think it will be ok. The fan im talking about is the optional exaust fan that goes on the top of the Armor case on the inside. It can't be mounted because of the power supply. I want to try and remount it right above the front intake fan, but it will be hard because its not ment to mount there.

Edit: I cant see the temps when running 3dmark 06 because when I try to minimize it while running it crashes. I have no experience with this program so I'm not sure if theres alternative ways of checking the temperture during the test.

 

[Jumping_Bean514]

Sorry to bump, but I am really interested in a good way to check temps while running intensive. I'm pretty paranoid about this build because its for a friend and not mine. I want everything to be 100%.

I think I will take some pics tomarrow of the whole setup.