Show Us Your Rig [4]

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Thanks,
Is it wrong to love your rig? lol...

Nope! You did the work and it went well, so why not love it?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

After I got my parts in, I carefully opened up the CPU socket on the MOBO to check the pins. Nothing looked bent but there were some little black holes that looked like missing pins so I snapped a photo of it and check with both ASUS and their user forum to make sure it was alright. It was. I tried dropping the CPU into the socket while wearing antistatic gloves (mental note: don't EVER do THAT again!) and it didn't line up quite right so I pulled it out and noticed what looked like might be a bent pin. When I took a lighted magnifying glass to it, it was slightly bent. After muttering some sweet nothings under my breath (something on the order of, "Oh, excrement!") and feeling sick at my stomach, I carefully pushed it over with a jewelers' screwdriver; it was a bit loose but it seemed to want to stay put. I went ahead and dropped the CPU back in (without the stupid gloves) and prayed it would stay put long enough for the CPU to clamp it into place. It must have because when I set it up temporararily on my desk using a spare PSU, it posted. I was showing a CPU fan error on the screen which was odd since the CPU cooler fan was spinning. I'm hoping that is just a settings problem.

I tested it the first time with only six of the 4GB RAM sticks installed since that was what ASUS recommended and the MOBO racognized all of them. I had bought the equivalent eight stick kit so I went ahead and and installed the last two sticks and, again, it posted, recognizing all 32 GB (I don't know if I'll need all that but since I plan on doing some video editing plus multitasking on the machine, I figured it couldn't hurt). Besides the CPU fan error showing on the post screen, the only error code showig on the LED displays were related to HDDs, not surprising since there were no HDDs hooked up.

After testing, I pulled the CPU cooler off to check the TIM. I had a tad too much (although not enough to have been a problem, especially since it's non-conductive) so I cleaned it off with 91% isopropyl alcohol and reinstalled the cooler, using a bit less TIM.

I can't install it in the case until after tomorrow since the MOBO didn't come with any mounting screws and, out of the dozens of 6/32 screws I have knocking about, not a one was the right length (mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble).

 

[essenbe]

Well done, Lady Fitzgerald, very well done indeed. I know how you were feeling at the bent pin. Been there, done that. Didn't get a T shirt.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Well done, Lady Fitzgerald, very well done indeed. I know how you were feeling at the bent pin. Been there, done that. Didn't get a T shirt.

That was the really bad part. At the very least, I should have gotten a T-shirt.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Nice work Lady Fitzgerald,
Sorry about the mobo mounting screws. But sometimes slow and steady wins the race. Any picture you can post for us hungry for visuals?

 

[paulstung]

Cheers guys , much appreciated comments , after 4 long busy weeks ,it has paid off , I'm looking forward to actually getting some use out of it before the next bunch of upgrades . I was thinking of going under full water once I upgrade my gpu , but with the temps I'm seeing I am rethinking that option . I'm looking into 3rd party gpu coolers namely the arctic cooling acceleros1+ , I have heard good things especially when 2 120mm fans are added .

. The cpu cooler is the Thermalright silver arrow , it's a beast of a cooler . At idle temps are between 23 and 27 and under full load prime for 45 mins it never reached above 55 . In my opinion it puts the H100i to shame . I've been so busy getting my rig back up to speed cos of parts failing , I haven't got round to changing my specs . I will sort it later

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Nice work Lady Fitzgerald,
Sorry about the mobo mounting screws. But sometimes slow and steady wins the race. Any picture you can post for us hungry for visuals?

Oh, you just had to ask. :devil2:

The obligatory pre-unboxing shot:

These are shots of the MOBO with the CPU, RAM, and cooler installed.

The CPU cooler is one weird looking thing but it was the only one I could find for the LGA 2011 that would cool adequately (I hope) and not be too tall for the case. I've got a 140mm fan with white blades that will match the case fans on order. The cooler fan can be easily swapped out without removing the cooler.

I got impatient and put the MOBO in the case and held it in place temporarily with a couple of case side thumb screws so I could foll with some of the wiring. I can't install the GPU card until I get and permanently install the MOBO screws. I snapped a couple of shots and will upload them in a bit.

 

[essenbe]

Lady Fitzgerald, I must say that is the neatest bench testing I have ever seen. Also, mobo screws usually come with the case. I'm amazed at how neat everything is. In fact, everything you do is very neat and organized. When I do that, there are parts, pieces and tools all over the place. Have you discussed this issue with your psychiatrist? :roflmao:

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Steve it appears everything stays so clean because the Lady has a secret........she builds her rig on the washer !

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Lady Fitzgerald, I must say that is the neatest bench testing I have ever seen. Also, mobo screws usually come with the case. I'm amazed at how neat everything is. In fact, everything you do is very neat and organized. When I do that, there are parts, pieces and tools all over the place. Have you discussed this issue with your psychiatrist? :roflmao:

:roflmao:Would you believe I have a B.S. in Psychology? (Seriously, I do, abeit a bit moldy.) Mayhap it's girl thing?

Actually, the bench testing took place on my desk (that's where the monitor is) and was anything but neat looking. I detest cleaning up at the end of a project so when I work, I clean up as I go so I don't have a huge, intimidating mess to deal with by the time I finish. It took only a #2 Phillips head screwdriver and a 2.5mm Allen wrench to put the cooler on; the other stuff didn't need tools.

I have no idea why the screws weren't in the box with the MOBO; everything else was. Oh well.

Edit: I checked the manual and screws weren't in the package contents list.

 

[Britton30]

Yup, as Steve said board mounting screws and stand-offs come with the baggies of parts in a case.

My ex-father-in-law holds a PhD. He once said, well he often said, we all know what BS is, MS is More and PhD is piled higher and deeper. Hi wife has a PhD too, so I called them a pair 'o'docs.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Steve it appears everything stays so clean because the Lady has a secret........she builds her rig on the washer !

I work on the washer because it's a convenient height that is easier on my almost 64 year old back. Its being metal helps with avoiding ESD but that's just a bonus.

I have the case laying on its side on the infamous washing machine right now to avoid the weight of the cooler damaging the MOBO since I have only two temporary screws in it right now but I had it upright earlier to fool around with the wiring a bit. I stood up again briefly to take these two photos:

I had to temporarily remove the fan power hub so I could remove PCIe covers. I also had to replace the slot cover that had a couple of USB 2.0 sockets because the cables coming out were a lousy half inch too short to make it to the headers (mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble). Fortunately, ASUS included a cover that had two USB 2.0 sockets (not that I really need one) and an s-SATA socket (which the MOBO doesn't have but could come in handy someday) that had cables that were plenty long. The cables and sockets were already black (except some white lettering I took a felt pen to) so all I had to do was remove them from the cover and paint the cover and screws (with a felt pen; really "high tech" but it works).


This photo shows the 24pin cable and the Molex I recently added (the top cable; the connector you see facing you is the original one for a future card reader/USB 3.0 hub). It was a wee bit snug in there.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Yup, as Steve said board mounting screws and stand-offs come with the baggies of parts in a case.

My ex-father-in-law holds a PhD. He once said, well he often said, we all know what BS is, MS is More and PhD is piled higher and deeper. Hi wife has a PhD too, so I called them a pair 'o'docs.

I usually qualify my B.S. with your ex-father-in-law's definition. I like the paradox.

 

[M1GU31]

Like that heat sink you have there paulstung and the case looks really tidy.

 

[Britton30]

If possible can the cooler rotate 90° clockwise? It may give more space to access the RAM on the right side.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

If possible can the cooler rotate 90° clockwise? It may give more space to access the RAM on the right side.

I had checked that but it wouldn't fit. Also, I wouldn't be able to install the top center MOBO screw (the cooler has to be installed before installing the MOBO in the case).

Believe it or not, I actually installed a stick with the cooler installed; that won't happen once the GPU card is in. I can't install that until I get those STUPID screws.

 

[paulstung]

It is mate , I did try it that way but it had just about the same clearance as it has already ,plus it looked a bit odd . It's no biggie the heat spreader came off easily enough . The new ram I'm hopefully getting is low profile any way , also I'm looking into 120mm fans to swap out the 140's ,cos the top one is resting on the top heatsink . The fans currently on there although are good a lot of the air being produced is blowing around the fins of the cooler . Surely it would be better to have the fan directing air straight through the fins rather than around . The plan is to keep the center 140 and change the outer 2 .

 

[essenbe]

It doesn't take long to clean up after a build when it wasn't very neat and organized to begin with. I have several boxes of parts, very loosely organized. It does have it's benefits though. If a part goes out, you have another to replace it with, if you can find it. A couple of months ago, I decided to organize the boxes. I realized I had a complete computer except for a case. So, I bought a $130 case and built a backup rig with the spare parts. I guess there are several ways to look at it, but to me, I have a very good computer for $130. The parts were doing nothing before I put them together. I guess that's why my Wife calls me a pack rat. She must be right. I even have boxes of boxes. I keep every box that a part comes in usually. How's this for a $130 computer? And don't start on how neat it should be. Specs are in my specs as 2nd rig at the bottom.

 

[essenbe]

It is mate , I did try it that way but it had just about the same clearance as it has already ,plus it looked a bit odd . It's no biggie the heat spreader came off easily enough . The new ram I'm hopefully getting is low profile any way , also I'm looking into 120mm fans to swap out the 140's ,cos the top one is resting on the top heatsink . The fans currently on there although are good a lot of the air being produced is blowing around the fins of the cooler . Surely it would be better to have the fan directing air straight through the fins rather than around . The plan is to keep the center 140 and change the outer 2 .

Paul, your cooler was modeled after the Noctua NH-D14 which is set up pretty much the same. They intentionally made the fans 140mm to help cool the surrounding area. I have a D-14 I use in my other rig. A weird thing happened with mine. I had to do some work and take the fans off. When I replaced them, I only replaced the middle 140mm fan. I was going to replace the 120mm later, when I could see better. But, I found that it ran about 4°C cooler without it. Go figure! Obviously, I never replaced the 120mm.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...I have several boxes of parts, very loosely organized. It does have it's benefits though. If a part goes out, you have another to replace it with, if you can find it...

That's a might big if. I go nuts looking for stored parts.

...I guess that's why my Wife calls me a pack rat...

That describes me to a "T". It comes with having ADHD.

...How's this for a $130 computer?...

Not too shabby. Methinks you got your money's worth. This is my first build so I don't have much in the way of spare parts.

What bites my backside (besides tall dogs) is most vendors/manufacturers require the original packaging for warranty returns so I have a boatload of original boxes knocking about I have to hang onto until the warranty expires (mutter, mutter, mumble mumble). One of these days, I'll get ambitious and try to nest as many of them as I can.