Another New Build Thread...

[Rubber Bullets]

Sorry guys, I know, but any thoughts on this lot? My current PC is getting to be a real pain in the ass and I now have the money so I'm going to build a new one now. From Aria, taking advantage of a few of their supersavers.

1 x Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail @ 140.99GBP
1 x Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 SATA 3 PCI-Express Motherboard @ 99.86GBP
1 x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA2 7200RPM 32MB cache HD103SJ @ 58.95GBP
1 x Antec Three Hundred Cool and Quiet Gaming Case @ 45.81GBP
1 x Corsair CWCH50-1 Corsair Water-Cooling™ High performance CPU Cooler @ 56.39GBP
1 x OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular Silent SLI/Crossfire Ready ATX2.2 Power Supply @ 52.86GBP
1 x Patriot Viper II "Sector 5" 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit @ 88.11GBP
1 x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA2 7200RPM 32MB cache HD103SJ @ 63.39GBP
1 x Asus ATI Radeon EAH5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card @ 223.24GBP
1 x LG 22x DVDRW/RAM SATA Internal Drive - black @ 16.91GBP
2 x Nexus Real Silent 120mm Fan with PWM control @ 8.21GBP
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Order Total (inc.VAT inc. Shipping): 876.21GBP

RB

 

[Ch3tan]

Why does one of the f3's cost more than the other?

 

[Rubber Bullets]

One's on SuperSpecial and you can only buy one at a time

RB

 

[dysfunction]

Looks like a great PC...

Do you need an internal card reader?

 

[Ch3tan]

Also do you need a DVD drive? Can't you use the one from your old PC?

 

[Rubber Bullets]

My Dell monitor has the card slots I need built in, so luckily I don't need to buy an a card reader.

I pretty much want to keep my old PC whole, hopefully a re-install will sort it's troubles and I will be able to have it as back up or let Esme use it. There's also the possibility I won't be able to get some of my older software to run on Win7 so having an XP machine may be useful.

RB

 

[Kryten]

Not at all bad. Will warn that the cable management in the Antec 300 isn't the best and you might struggle with the length of the 5850 in it. It's a tad tight with 3 hard drives and my 5770 in mine.

Coolermaster have just releasd a new version of their 690 case which is damned good looking. May well be worth looking around for that.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Thanks Kryt, it's already ordered though .

I've not had more than 2 HDD in a PC for quite a few years though, so hopefully I'll be able to work round it, the cable management is the one negative that I've been aware of in the (mostly very positive) reviews that I've read, so I'll be careful with that. I'm hoping that the modular power supply will help with the spaghetti.

Do you have, or have had, one of these cases?

RB

 

[Kryten]

I do indeed, run one now - and it's the reason I had to sell the GTX285 graphics card I was given as RMA replacement for and 8800GT

Otherwise it's an excellent quality case for the money. I redid my cabling a while ago and managed something quite pleasing. There's a big space behind the hard drive bays in which to hide many a cable, and I also did a popular mod of reversing the hard drives (so the hdd cables go in at the front of the case). Made life a lot easier, although I'd like something like this (found on TPU forums)

Unfortunately, instead mine is :

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Tidying cables just means more work when you have to do something else inside it.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Still looks pretty neat, and that is one hell of a cooler

Is that a sound card you have?

One of the sadnesses of going to Win7 64bit is that for the first time in 8 years or so I will have to say goodbye to my lovely old Gametheatre XP. I'm uncertain what to do now, as I will particularly miss having the breakout box on the desk with easily accessible headphone and mic sockets. I'm not sure that on board sound will be as good as I'm used to.

RB

 

[Kryten]

Yeah it's a Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic. Creative's crappy drivers have taken away some of the reason for owning it but as it's quite heavily modified the sound quality is way above the onboard. But then again when I have occasionally tried the onboard, the quality is hardly bad - I'd have no problems going back to it if need be, and I've considered it just to have one less card in there.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Parts arrived Tuesday, finally got to put them together today.

Took my time, was very careful with earthing myself etc. Finally got it all together attached up to keyboard mouse monitor and turned on. All seemed well for about 5-10 seconds. mobo lights came on, fans powered up, monitor came on. Then just as a small bit of white writing appeared on the screen everything just went off. No bang, No smoke, No fuss tbh, just all woound down again.

Now it's completely dead. Tried all connections, they all seem secure. Tried memory each module separately in each slot. Don't know what else, I am sooo pissed at this moment I can't tell you, after so long saving and building up to this it is such a disappointment.

Most likely chip or mobo? I really was so careful with the cooler install I can't understand why it would be that.

RB

 

[Jupitus]

How long have you left it before trying to start it up again - I have had situations before where waiting 10 secs or so was no good, but would power up after about 5 mins...

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Thanks jup, though it isn't as simple as that.

It is looking to me like a PSU thing, maybe.

I've removed the mobo and chip from the case, taken the memory and graphics off and have tried to start it up with just the chip and cooler. Doing this the fan spun about 1 turn and then stopped, the PSU made very slight crackling noises. After a further minute or so I heard more noises from the CPU and the fan was trying to turn (just little kicks really without actually going round), is it possible this is still mobo/chip? Is it pretty much a done deal on the PSU? I thought I had a spare but can't find it and I don't want to take the one out of this PC as the case is a bitch to get the PSU in or out of!

RB

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Apologies for double post, too late to edit.

I'm going to RMA the PSU, but as I haven't been able to test absolutely I'll put in the mobo too, just in case. This is at Arias suggestion. The only other thing it could be is the cooler (the pump bit) or the chip, I can't get the back plate off the mobo again to try another cooler, and have no way of testing the chip anyway. Is it worth putting the chip in the RMA?

Cheers

RB

 

[Jupitus]

If it all came from Aria then I would check with them that they are ok with that first, and then include the whole lot for them to test...

 

[Kryten]

If you haven't already sent it back, do a quick self-test on the PSU.
Pull it out the case and remove connections to everything, plug it into the wall and use a paperclip to short pins 14 and 15 - that's the green one and any black one (there's one either side).
PSU should power up and remain on for as long as the pins are shorted. If it stays powered up it may well be worth getting everything out of the case and hooking up outside to rule out any shorts.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Thanks Kryt, I've already got it out of the case and onto some packaging material, that is how it was for the last test. Can a mobo or CPU problem cause the PSU to 'crackle'?

RB

 

[Kryten]

if there was a short on the mobo i'd expect any "crackling" to be there instead of the psu :|

Does the crackling continue when theres nothing plugged in and you power it up as above?

 

[Rubber Bullets]

i've got a feeling it did, but it's all packed up now for RMA. I'll let Aria sort it. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long.

Thanks again guys.

RB