Just looking before I leap...new PC final thoughts.

[GARoss]

I have to say the Solo case is terrific! I was surprised how heavy it was but a look inside explained why. Both sides are lined with plastic sound dampening, the tray for the SSD has rubber screw sleeves to isolate any vibration & all sheet metal is of a heavy gage. Everything is easy to get to. Very nice!

You got that suspended drive mounting thing figured out yet? I've never seen good pictures of it...

I'd have been driven nuts by the lack of RAM over a weekend---probably keeping you from mounting the motherboard.

The plan was to finish everything this weekend. Now...I gotta wait until the RAM arrives. I want to be able install it properly & don't think I can do this with the motherboard installed. Maybe it's no big deal. It would be great to have everything ready for Monday; just plug in the RAM & go. But, I've planned & waited a long time so what's a few more days?

I have some old DDR2 RAM (removed after an upgrade) that is about the size of the incoming Patriot RAM. It looks like the Patriot RAM will be easy to install with a little interference but would clear the fan without too much effort.

The Solo came with 4 pairs of HDD mounting slides. I have two 300Gb data drives to install & figured all along that I'd try the suspended mount 1st but can always fall back to the slides. I'll try to get some good close-up pics for you.

 

[GARoss]

Front fan. Rubber isolators makes it easy to install & hopefully, quiet running.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

What is that fan going to blow onto--a few inches from it?

Normally, you try to get it to blow on a spinning hard drive and I'm wondering if that fan location is better for that purpose than the one above it? Might be or might not be, depending on the Solo layout and where you plan to install drives.

Good high quality pic.

 

[GARoss]

What is that fan going to blow onto--a few inches from it?

Normally, you try to get it to blow on a spinning hard drive and I'm wondering if that fan location is better for that purpose than the one above it? Might be or might not be, depending on the Solo layout and where you plan to install drives.

Good high quality pic.

That's where the spinning drives will be; on the bottom. Should be no problem to move upwards if necessary.

 

[GARoss]

New RAM finally installed. Got at least 5mm clearance. MB is mounted as well as Graphic card. Photo has lens distortion so disregard curvature in photos. Steady as she goes.

 

[Dave76]

Looks good.

Ready for the next pictures

 

[GARoss]

Got a question. It appears that the Seasonic power supply (Welcome to Seasonic USA) has an unused EPS 12v 8P connector. I don't see any connector for this to be plugged into & I'm guessing that the PSU is used on servers or other types of MB that would need this.

Am I correct or am I missing something? :huh:

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Got a question. It appears that the Seasonic power supply (Welcome to Seasonic USA) has an unused EPS 12v 8P connector. I don't see any connector for this to be plugged into & I'm guessing that the PSU is used on servers or other types of MB that would need this.

Am I correct or am I missing something? :huh:

I think you are correct.

It's probably for a dual CPU motherboard?

All you should need is:

Main 24 pin to the mobo

Auxiliary 4 pin to the mobo (note: the motherboard connection for this could have 8 pins--in which case you will use only 4 of the 8. In my case (recent install of Seasonic 560 modular), I used the top 4 pins of the 8 pin on the mobo. The lower 4 pins were in fact unusable (keyed the wrong way).

Fans: molex cable if not direct to the mobo

Drives: the SATA cable. If you are lucky, you can get all of your drives to fit on one cable. Try to mount your HDs close to each other so the connectors on a single PSU cable can reach them. Normally, those SATA connectors are only 5 or 6 inches apart, so if your drives are 7 inches apart, you would have to use a second cable.

If your video card has power inputs, you should have something to connect to it as well.

 

[GARoss]

I have ATX 24P / 20P plugged into the ATX of the MB. I'm at work but I think I have the ATX 12v 4P plugged into the ATX_12V_2X4. This is a single 8 prong plug that I assumed went there.

There is another cable with a couple smaller connectors that I thought was EPS 12v 8P. When I get home I'll take a better look.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I think those 2 circled in red are all you need on a normal setup.

The smaller one is an auxiliary 12 volt. On my Gigabyte board, I used ONLY 4 pins of it. The connector from the PSU was an 8 pin split into 4 plus 4. The unused 4 are left flapping in the breeze. You'll have to check very closely regarding the keyways on the plug to see which 4 pins from the PSU will match up to which 4 pins on the mobo connector. At least, that is how it was on my very similar board. For all I know, your entire 8 pin may connect.

I connected my exhaust fan to a molex, but I did connect the RPM sensor on it to the sensor connector on the sys fan 2 header located at 7 oclock. Get out your eyeglasses to read which pin that is on your header in the manual.

Note that sys fan 2 is the only 4 pin connector you have, so it is probably the only fan header other than CPU for which you can monitor RPM.

When are you gonna actually flip the switch and see if it fires up?

 

[GARoss]

OK, not real sure as nothing is marked. On the MB is an 8 pin connector marked ATX_12V_2X4. All 8 male pins a used; none are blank or missing a pin. One of he PSU cable has an 8 pin & also two 4 pin. These are hard wired, not modular. The 8 pin looks like a perfect fit for the MBs ATX_12V_2X4 connector. The two 4 pin connectors are a slightly different shape. I'm betting on the 8 pin but how else can I be sure?

I'm hoping to try everything Friday; that is if I can lose my fear of frying something!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

OK, not real sure as nothing is marked. On the MB is an 8 pin connector marked ATX_12V_2X4. All 8 male pins a used; none are blank or missing a pin. One of he PSU cable has an 8 pin & also two 4 pin. These are hard wired, not modular. The 8 pin looks like a perfect fit for the MBs ATX_12V_2X4 connector. The two 4 pin connectors are a slightly different shape. I'm betting on the 8 pin but how else can I be sure?

I'm hoping the try everything Friday; that is if I can lose my fear of frying something!

The mobo connector with 8 male pins is just like mine. I did not mean to imply that the motherboard 12 v connector had missing pins. It does not.

The only question is which of the 2 PSU cables fits it.

Look closely at the shape of the connectors on the PSU cables--or at the mobo connector. Some of the 8 pins are probably U shaped and some are probably square. Those shapes amount to keyways in that you can't put a U shaped female onto a square male, etc.

So it MAY be that only one of the 2 possible cables has the right females in the right order to match the mobo plug. In that case, you know which one to use.

Look at the PSU cable with the two 4 pin connectors and again look at U shaped versus square. Can either of those two 4 pin connectors fit either on the left end or the right end of the mobo connector?? If not, you know the other cable is correct.

If both PSU cables will fit on the mobo connector, I would think that the cable with two 4 pin connectors is the right one. That is the way it was on my PSU. Only 1 of the two 4 pin connectors would fit and there was only 1 way it could be oriented to fit. My best guess is that this is the proper connector, but you have to hope that the keyways force you to conclude only one of the two cables will even fit at all.

Try to fit both in all possible ways. If only one fits, that's it.

My best guess is that the PSU 8 pin is for server motherboards with 2 CPUs.

 

[GeneO]

I have ATX 24P / 20P plugged into the ATX of the MB. I'm at work but I think I have the ATX 12v 4P plugged into the ATX_12V_2X4. This is a single 8 prong plug that I assumed went there.

There is another cable with a couple smaller connectors that I thought was EPS 12v 8P. When I get home I'll take a better look.

I think you want the EPS 12V into that 8P header. You might not need the additional power now (8 vs 4 pin) but maybe in the future. Just check with the Gigabyte manual - I am pretty sure it accepts EPS. Your Power supply manual or info on Seasonic's web site should pin it down for you.

Lookin good there.

 

[GARoss]

Thanks. There are 3 hardwired cables with connectors. One can only go into the ATX 24 pin connector. One of the other cables has an 8 pin shown in the pic. This single 8 pin connector fits perfectly into the ATX_12V_2X4. The other cable has two 4 pin connectors similar to the pic. They are not identical but close. Put together, these two 4 pins might plug into the 8 pin MB connection.

I believe the 8 pin is correct. Even the wire coding is the same which makes me believe the voltages would be the same (thanks high school electronics class! ).

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The other cable has two 4 pin connectors similar to the pic. They are not identical but close. Put together, these two 4 pins might plug into the 8 pin MB connection.

Find out if they will or will not fit combined or if either half will or will not fit anywhere into the 8 pin mobo connection.

If they will not, then the other 8 pin cable is clearly correct.

If either half or both will, the question remains open, but I am not sure it would matter if both choices supply 12 volts.

 

[Wordsworth]

Thanks. There are 3 hardwired cables with connectors. One can only go into the ATX 24 pin connector. One of the other cables has an 8 pin shown in the pic. This single 8 pin connector fits perfectly into the ATX_12V_2X4. The other cable has two 4 pin connectors similar to the pic. They are not identical but close. Put together, these two 4 pins might plug into the 8 pin MB connection.

I believe the 8 pin is correct. Even the wire coding is the same which makes me believe the voltages would be the same (thanks high school electronics class! ).

What Seasonic has done is combined old with new to cover all bases. Just use the 8 pin connector as it will be a slightly easier connection, and cable tie the other off to the side since it's hard rather than modular. If you care to, you can read a little about cable versions and history at this site.

Hope you're having fun with your first build.

 

[GARoss]

Hope you're having fun with your first build.

Inch by inch! But, having fun!

 

[GARoss]

This looks like the 4x4 connector. I don't believe both connectors would fit into the ATX_12v_2X4 connector. Maybe one side but not both. The 8 pin does so I'll go with that one.

 

[GARoss]

I have an Gigabyte GV-R567OC-1GI rev2.0 graphic card which doesn't require additional power.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Looks like you are home free!!

I don't know how much you intend to do with cable management, but I'd think your first task would be to ensure you don't have any DOA parts--before you spend any time tidying things up just right only to find out you have to regroup or send something back.

Front panel connections, fans, and drives and you are ready.

I'd say you are within an hour or so of FIRING IT UP!! Which we all want to see.