Building new rig today, what should I know? BIOS, cab' manag' etc etc

Associate
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Hi everyone,

I'll be building my new rig today and wanted to ask some advice relating my specific parts, if you own them, please advise. Thanks!
List of key parts is as follows:

  • Intel i7 920
  • Asus P6T
  • 12Gb Patriot 3x2Gb 1600MHz
  • Antec TruePower 750w Modular
  • Fractal Design R2
  • Corsair H50 w/c unit
  • Sapphire HD5850 (With CoDMW2,. anyone want to buy the game? I already have it).
  • Windows 7 Prof' x64
  • Asus Xonar D1
  • 4 x SATA II blue UV data cables, (with one right-angled end on each)
  • LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

There's other things in there too, but I'd like to know anything you can tell me about my new rig so I can take it all into account as I'm building. I want to know BIOS settings to make it run well, (I also want to O/C the CPU to about 4GHz),.. I want to know any tips or tricks for great cable management, keeping all, (and I do mean ALL), wires neatly tucked away and looking very tidy,... I want to know about sneaky tricks with the OS,.... great utilities I can download to aid me with improving performance of my HDD's (Samsung F3 1TB HDD & a Hitachi 500Gb Deskstar),..... *I' aware of: CPU-Z, Prime95, RealTemp,... what else would be useful/necessary? Anything to help with stability vs performance of my RAM,... tips on how to further improve the sound-dampening of the R2 case whilst keeping them sensible and practical;.... anything to help me with making sure the fans are balanced as sweetly as possible with noise vs cooling, (I have 4 Zalman Fan controller units, you know, the £3.50 single unit thingys),... I'll have 4 Akasa AK-195-WH 140mm fans,.. 2 Noiseblocker Multiframe S-Series MF12-S2 120mm fans, (for the H50, I would have bought the Akasa Apaches, but they were out of stock),.. I'd like to know what you think is best for ventilation,.. is there an optimum set-up you've found that works better than others? What about places to mount the Zalman fan controller units so they get both cold air flow, (they get hot apparently),.. and so I can ALSO access them from the outside of the case.
I'm going on a bit here, but I bought the hardware so it would perform at its best, (ok so not to anything extreme, but you get my drift),.. I'm not here to O/C the crap out it all - I just want it to be stable and to perform; especially as the whole lot cost me £1450.
So, you have here what I can think of as being what I want to know,.. ALL help would be massively appreciated; though credability will of course go to those who clearly know their stuff, but I promise not to ignore anyone else, beggars/choosers n all that. :)
Thanks for all the tips you can give me. I'll post pictures of my new build when complete! Should be kick-ass sexy I hope! :p
Oh, one other thing,.. I read on another post one guy asking about SATA ports, cables and using the right one/s for his HDD's,.. what?? It's confusing, but it was about getting the best performance out of his HDD's by selecting the right port for the right HDD.. I thought all the SATA II ports were the same and did the same job the same way,.. no? Am I ignorant? What am I missing?

I'm SOOOOO excited!! :) :) :) :D :) :) :) I think I'm having a day-long geeky orgasm. :D :p
 
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There is a lot there and it sounds like you haven't built too many PCs in the past. The term "running before walking" springs to mind here.

My first port of call in your case is to give the motherboard manual a good read, making sure you take note of anything that's relevant to the build. It's surprising how many of these manuals don't even get opened yet missing one piece of information could be critical.

Next, take time to familiarise yourself with all the components. Map out where everything is going to go and how you are going to route the cables before you install.

I think your priority is to get a machine up and running stable on stock settings. When your happy that everything is working then you can think about overclocking.

nice system by the way :)
 
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Don
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As Mr Huddy said, try the basics first, get your system stable, and just to let you konw that there is no guarantee that your 920 will clock to 4Ghz, but the H50 is a good unit to have for cooling

Stelly
 
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Reply #1 to Admiral Huddy

There is a lot there and it sounds like you haven't built too many PCs in the past. The term "running before walking" springs to mind here.
,....

nice system by the way :)


Thanks! I've built one rig before 100% solo from scratch, and other previous builds with hands-on help. This will be my second full solo build, so am not entirely new to it, but still a, (fairly competent), novice I suppose is fair to say.
I do read the manuals by the way, it's the first main thing I do; I take time to know what's being said about the board. :)
Hopefully I'll have more n more comments throughout the day - but at the end of it, I really can't wait to get shot of this flippin' laptop, it's ancient! :D Thanks for your tips Admiral Huddy. :)
Ok, so who else has tips, advice, tricks, knowledge for me? :)
 
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Thanks Stelly! :) Will buy cable-ties as soon as the stuff turns up. Still not arrived yet. Soon I hope. :)

Anyone else got any advice or tips etc on any BIOS settings to either allow me to NOT HAVE to do any O/C-ing, (X.M.P on the 12Gb's of Patriot?),.. or perhaps some actual settings I can copy to just get the best out of the motherboard, (not for overclocking as such, but general settings like AHCI or getting the best out of the features, maximising speed of data transfer, etc etc,.. but if you have general overclocking suggestions too, but please specify what settings are for what purpose so I don't end up forcing an own goal on myself, lol,.... then go ahead, thanks!),.


Spart'.
 
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I wouldn't worry to much about AHCI. Just fire up the system and see how things go.. the BIOS should take care of itself.. However as you say you may need to select XMP but that should be about all you need to do, other than change the boot order.

Work with stock settings for awhile, stress it out .. then play around with overclocking later. There's a usefull overclocking thread here which has all the information you need.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18131841&highlight=930

I know you're eager.. but one step at a time.. :)
 
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Sound advice!

I wouldn't worry to much about AHCI. Just fire up the system and see how things go.. the BIOS should take care of itself.. However as you say you may need to select XMP but that should be about all you need to do, other than change the boot order.

Work with stock settings for awhile, stress it out .. then play around with overclocking later. There's a usefull overclocking thread here which has all the information you need.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18131841&highlight=930

I know you're eager.. but one step at a time.. :)

Indeed I am eager, yup. :D
I'm going to take it slowly, but of course it's not often the regular gamer gets to build, so of course there might be things which could be looked at later and had said about it: "Now why did no one tell me that before?!",... I'd like to be as much in the know as I can so as to avoid making silly and potentially expensive errors. I'll break the system in gently,.. maybe try an overclocked CPU tomorrow after leaving it running at stock tonight; that's great advice, yet I'd have not thought of it due to my eagerness to get it all OC'd and running at max; having said that, I think I just need to apply some common sense - though it's all about using the common sense with what's known. If I don't know about something, (aka motherboard general settings for example), then no amount of common sense would be of much use.
I'm pretty sure I can do the build, but it's those small, lesser-talked-about topics relating to specific hardware & software that I may end up completely over looking. Makes sense, right? Hope so,.. :D
Thanks again Admiral Huddy, good one! :)

Spart'.
 
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It does make sense and you wise to ask. However, providing you've applied the correct method of TIM application on the CPU and you use the motherboard standoffs (yes people do forget) then not much can go wrong. Even if something isn't connected, then the system will pre warn you with an alarm.

Building is a lot easier than it used to be.. otherwise the likes of OcUk just wouldn't thrive on the industry.

Will look forward to seeing your finished results - good luck :)
 
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Its always good to have some high quality TIM, and its lasts forever!

Stelly

I bought some Arctic cooling MX-3. Should be just fine. :) You know, a few years ago I was thinking,.. besides issues of expense, noise and practicality,... what would it be like to run a PC from inside a modded refrigerator unit? :D Yes, seriously, it crossed my mind several times,.. but hey, I know just how daft it sounds - imagine it though! :p :D

Back to the serious stuff; what things should I avoid doing? You know, anything less obvious,. taking into account the specific hardware I bought? I have a USB stick to transfer Google Chrome to the new OS,.. erm,. I bought some cable straps, may get some cable ties later today when stuff has been delivered. I discovered that the HDD's close proximity to the door of the R2 means having to use right-angled ended SATA cables, (SATA II obv'). I'll be using a Samsung F3 1Tb & a 500Gb Hitachi deskstar. I'll partition part of the F3 into say an 80Gb partition for the OS,. save the rest for Games, Music, Por,. oops, I mean videos :D and the like,.. Anything useful about Windows 7 Prof' x64 I should know about? I did some research on youtube for vids of installing W7, but it's so like Vista it's simple enough for sure, god knows I installed Vista enough times,. grr, sub-standard 3rd party software and buggy-a55 Vista, plus installing ALL the updates from FRESH install to fully up to date rig took about 9hrs or so! Mental! Also gobbled up HEAPS of HDD space - I think though that W7 takes about 20-25Gb for a fresh install with OS-specific updates, right? I'll install other non-specific updates and programs to other partitions so as to help keep the OS fast and responsive.
That's all I can think of at the moment, no doubt I'll think of other stuff before the day is out! :p
I'll report back if I have any other thoughts, but feel free to leave your own - any help, advice, tips, tricks, sneaky-ones you have, l wanna know! Just refer to my list of hardware at the top of this thread to see if there's anything specific you know about it, then drop me a reply! :) Thanks!
 
Don
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Windows 7 is a great OS (never thought I would be saying that about an MS OS without any Service Packs) 64 bit flavour runs most 32 bit programs no problem... should be cool....

Stelly
 
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