Ganoncrotch said:
Cerebralbore101 said:
It is! That makes it easy then. Do NVME drives have their own PSU cable, or do they just get their power through the motherboard, like RAM sticks?
Now I'm just wondering how to figure out where to put the mounting brackets for the motherboard. Guess I'll read the case/motherboard manuals when they arrive.
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Sorry I had to head to work earlier, but the M2 drive really only has one place where you can put it, depending on the size you'll just have one screw to put into it to hold it in place and like most things in the case/board there's only going to be one way you can put it in and that's the right way. as Pem said they're pretty much just connect and they're good to go, sometimes (on slightly older boards now I think) you would need to enable the M2 ports on the board and there was some boards where you'll be disabling a SATA port when you enable the M2 drive, so just be aware if there is a mention in the manual about a certain one of the SATA ports being disabled when you're connecting a M2 Drive, that's normal for some boards so don't fret.
And yeah like Pem said and that's why I flinch on seeing mention of that strap, they are a thing which comes up in exams regarding handling of PC hardware, but honestly, how often do you see Linus clip himself onto the PC case which he is working on? once you are comfortable with handling PC hardware you would probably end up doing less damage to parts if you didn't have that dangling wire in the way of what you're trying to install in the machine, just basically when you're handling PC parts don't be touching gold connector edges if you can and be careful when you're putting the CPU into the slot, look for the corner which has the marker on the slot and make sure you have the right corner on the CPU, they only go in 1 way (correctly) and you don't wanna be damaging pins.
Just will say again if you have your old machine, use that as a trial run to take apart and put back together, PC's are like rifles when you watch things like Full Metal Jacket, when you get the hang of putting them together and taking them apart you can do it blind with no fear of damaging a part, but first time... you run the risk of shooting yourself in the $2000 foot. My last build of a Ryzen 2600/16GB ram/240GBSSD/3TBHDD/780TI/650wCosairPSU took around 10 minutes to go from box of parts... to installing windows, and the majority of that time was spent using a pair of plyers to bend back metal so that the 780TI could fit into the old case I was using for it :D (it was a backup gaming machine for my office.... it hasn't been turned on in about 3 months now, feel sorry for it) RIP HDD Caddy 2000 - 2017
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I finished my build. It took me about nine hours from start to finish. Here's the story...
1. setting the CPU into the socket was simple and easy.
2. I applied a little too much thermal paste. Cleaned it off and reapplied. Still a tiny tiny amount too much. But only a small 0.5 mm bead came out the side, after I locked the heatsink lever. Getting the fan clips on was a real bitch and a half. Going to take this apart tonight, and reseat/apply thermal paste a third time, with a little less paste.
3. Seated the Ram sticks in. This was fairly simple, but required a fairly large amount of pressure.
4. Got around to installing the M.2 drive. Couldn't find the standoff in the bags, or the M.2 slot. Turns out M.2 slots are really really tiny. The standoff was already on the board. Needed to install an ultratiny screw to hold the M.2 in place. Had to go hunting for something small enough to use as a micro screwdriver for this one. Finally got it with a very tiny, very sharp kitchen knife. I was ultra careful when doing this BTW.
5. Started to mount the mobo standoffs. Did I mention that almost every part I got came with the most minimalist instructions? In the end I just matched up the standoffs to the holes in the mobo and then to the holes in the case. Once I had all my holes marked I started to screw the standoffs into the metal case, before mounting the mobo. Almost forgot to put the I/O shield in. It popped in with ease. A few of the standoff holes for the case were not quite big enough, so I had to go find a screwdriver piece that could turn these little bastards. Luckily I had the perfect tool for the job.
6. While mounting the case there were a few screws that were a total bitch to get into place. My screwdriver was supposed to be magnetic, but it was too old I guess. Kept dropping screws. What I really needed here was a $50 bill and a 7 year old's hands. Anyway got it mounted.
7. Screwed in the PSU with the fan facing down as per instructions from both my case and PSU. Used the wrong screws though, so had to unscrew them and put in the four PSU screws.
8. Plugged in the CPU power cables (these were also a real bitch to get plugged in due to space constraints). Plugged in the mobo power cable.
9. Spent about two hours researching and trying to figure out what the 12 connectors coming out of my front case panel were for. Most were easy to find, but not the power switch, reset, power led, etc. Those were not obviously labeled. Finally found where the power switch, power led, reset, etc. went. Had to double, triple, and quadra check the connectors to these, making sure I had the + and - cables in the correct positions. Wasn't going to risk frying something.
10. Installed the GPU. It mounted at a very slight 0.5 degree angle, which was wrong, and I didn't like. Spent 30-40 minutes until I found out that I was using the wrong screwholes spots. There was a millimeter difference between the ones I was using and the ones that were the correct spots.
11. Plugged it in and hit the power button. It didn't post! Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!
12. My fucking monitor kept going into power save mode after 10 seconds of no signal. This was infuriating. Spent forever double and triplechecking wires. Turns out I needed to populate every last PSU connector on the graphics card, as per clearly written instructions from my GPU that I just missed.
13. It posted and told me I needed to put the RAM in the optimal spots. So I unseated and reseated the RAM.
14. Got a "no boot device available" message. Finally figured out that I needed to go into the mobo settings and change the boot order. Also figured out that it would only boot from my USB 2.0 on the back, because the front panel was USB 3.0. Yeah, my USB stick is old lol.
15. Installing windows.
16. Cleaned up the case a little, put the back panel on and went to bed.
17. Woke up, turned on the computer to install Steam/GoG/Chrome, etc. Wifi dongle wouldn't work automatically. Had to plug in ethernet, and get drivers for it.
18. All is good. Installing Steam. Lose power to my entire fucking apartment. My heart sinks into my chest. The only grounded outlet in my house also runs the fridge. Did I just trip the breaker? Is my apartment not wired to run this crazy rig? OhGODOHGODOHGODOHGOD!!!!!
19. Nope! Turns out the entire block lost power. Whew! Going to finish installing programs/drivers when I get home tonight.
P.S. I'll post pics when I'm finally done tonight. I just want to do a little more cable management, and reseat that heatsink fan with a proper amount of coolant.
