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mccann
08-10-08, 10:19
So here we go, just a few pictures to show my build, its the first time I've built in 3 years and it was even more simple that the last one.

Spec:
Zalman GS1000 case
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Asus P5Q-e motherboard
Corsair 2gb PC2-8500 Dominator RAM
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 HDD
OCZ 780W Modxstream PSU
LiteOn DVDRW
Zalman CNP97000 CPU Cooler
Zalman ZM-MFC2 Fan/Power Controller
Sapphire HD 4850 graphics
Saitek Cyborg gaming keyboard



I underestimated the size of the case

http://hotimg8.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild001.jpg

All the bits before they are assembled

http://hotimg14.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild002.jpg

CPU and cooler installed

http://hotimg16.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild005.jpg

Case showing hot swap SATA drive - a very handy thing

http://hotimg14.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild007.jpg

Motherboard mounted inside case

http://hotimg25.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild011.jpg


Close up of board

http://hotimg8.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild015.jpg

Picture showing the Zalman ZM-MFC2 fan controller

http://hotimg17.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild021.jpg

And thats it really, had a lot of fun doing this build, planning to upgrade the ram in the future, add another graphics card for crossfire and perhaps another HDD depending on how fast I fill this one.

Vista installed with no problems and appeared a little slow at times, but once updated and all drive installed I can't really say anything bad about it.

Thanks to the guys who offered me advice in my previous thread, its nice to know you can come here and always get some free advice :mrgreen:

marsey99
08-10-08, 10:38
gald to see ytou got it all together with no hicups, nothing worse than saying yep that will work only for sombody to put it all together and no get it to post.

question we all want to know is , how fast will she go :D

if you do get chance to run any benchmarks post you scores in the overclocking section m8 :D


looks nice btw :) just, 1 word of advice. if you get bored 1 day, dont try and take the heatspeaders off the dominators with a screwdriver, it gets messy :D

mccann
08-10-08, 10:45
hehehe I'll take your word on the heatspreaders :)

Its running stock at the min as I'm not really upto speed on overclocking, I'm sure there is a guide knocking about here somewhere, and I'm off work today so I'll have a poke around and see what I can come up with, ofc any advice on overclocking would be great :D

Aaron
08-10-08, 11:32
I really like the look of that fan controller... :)

mccann
08-10-08, 11:36
I really like the look of that fan controller... :)

Its had mixed reviews by people, some complaining you can't see it at an angle etc. Looks fine to me, I guess some people are just hard to please :mrgreen:

coiler
08-10-08, 11:40
you got a completed full pic of inside of case? give an idea of cable management etc - looks like its got a lot of hiding holes

Monkey
08-10-08, 11:45
I wish my build was going as smoothly as yours has :P

mccann
08-10-08, 12:00
you got a completed full pic of inside of case? give an idea of cable management etc - looks like its got a lot of hiding holes

Here ya go mate

There are little loops to hook cable ties around on this side, but I think they could a put a few more in for cables travelling horizontally.

http://hotimg23.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild024.jpg

Could have tided this up a little more but was just itching to get it going by the time I had got this far. :mrgreen:

http://hotimg15.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild026.jpg

mccann
08-10-08, 12:01
I wish my build was going as smoothly as yours has :P

I'm kinda disappointed that mine went so smoothly, I was looking forward to a bit of fault finding/troubleshooting, its the only way to learn :mrgreen:

coiler
08-10-08, 12:43
Here ya go mate

There are little loops to hook cable ties around on this side, but I think they could a put a few more in for cables travelling horizontally.



Could have tided this up a little more but was just itching to get it going by the time I had got this far. :mrgreen:

http://hotimg15.fotki.com/a/81_132/238_174/ComputerBuild026.jpg

The seperate PSU compartment looks kinda nice, is that an intake or exhaust fan down there?

mccann
08-10-08, 12:57
That fan is exhausting, perhaps it should be intake?

coiler
08-10-08, 13:18
That fan is exhausting, perhaps it should be intake?

it looks like there is a bit more case under that fan? is this an empty chamber or does it go directly to the desk?

mccann
08-10-08, 13:54
The case stands on two feet, lifting it 35mm off the actual surface, more or less, yea it goes to the desk apart from that space.

jonwoad
08-10-08, 13:58
I like the hot swap bay in the case :)

coiler
08-10-08, 16:12
intake would be good for cool air to get sucked through psu and to blow onto gfx card and also up to cpu, exhuast through the back and top if possible.

mccann
08-10-08, 16:22
Aye top and rear are exhuasting also, ill turn it over later on :)

Monkey
08-10-08, 16:33
I'm kinda disappointed that mine went so smoothly, I was looking forward to a bit of fault finding/troubleshooting, its the only way to learn :mrgreen:
I suppose yeah.

What ive learnt is to double check the voltage of the ram :P

And later tonight i may just learn that you need to install vista 64bit with only 2gb of ram in

Certain ram anyway

Ill see later

Nice build by the way

nft99
08-10-08, 16:47
nice case :) it is a bit on the large side

excellent choice of cpu cooler :thumbsup: i find mine bit noisy on full :( turn it down to about 75%

alexnifty
08-10-08, 18:33
Well done mate :thumbsup:



I really like the look of that fan controller... :)

Could not disagree more. That thing looks like a cheapo car stereo to me. Its a matter of taste but I want little retro dials to turn and no digital display.

But don't get us started on fan controllers!

Monkey
08-10-08, 18:34
Or lack of fan controllers

alexnifty
08-10-08, 18:38
That's the thing which we aren't to get started on! :p

Veering wildly back onto topic; I really like how you can tidy the cables away like that. I would need to take a saw to my Antec 900 to get anything like that :(

Monkey
08-10-08, 18:45
The cable management on my cosmos s is awsome, just need to sort it all out now, do you reckon it would be hard to shorten the GPU cables? :P

Seriously though, like you said a while ago, build it, check it works, tidy the cables

And ill be doing that on friday as i have the WHOLE day off. WOO HOO!

Aaron
08-10-08, 18:46
Could not disagree more. That thing looks like a cheapo car stereo to me. Its a matter of taste but I want little retro dials to turn and no digital display.
Really? The fan controller I had in my old XP2400+ box was a bit like that.. It was brushed aluminium and had six 3 way switches and 6 dual colour LEDs on it - switches were kinda like this (best picture I could find :lol:)
http://www.automaticdoorparts.com/prodimages/Besam/3-Way-Position-Switch.gif
I think at the moment, i'd be more interested in something that gives information on the PC status as well as control. I particularly like the real time power consumption feature.. Probably only be used for the first few times I switched on the PC with it in, but it's still be interesting..

But don't get us started on fan controllers! :lol: :lol:

alexnifty
08-10-08, 18:47
Probably best to tie up any slack cable with a ziptie or two. Would invalidate your PSU's warranty if you start hacking at its cables.


EDIT: Aaron I mean Dials, not Switches

Monkey
08-10-08, 18:50
Its modular! Oh actually, the cables came with it... DOH!

Gonna tidy it up somehow though, ill post pictures before and after, still have to plugin the side fan though

Oh and by the way, the fans were pretty quiet except for the first second of switching the pc on obviously.

Still might replace them all with super quiet ones

Ill order better fans from aria when they have some better FAN CONTROLLERS

Monkey
08-10-08, 18:51
Ooops, sorry about that :lol:

Aaron
08-10-08, 18:51
Ah ok fair enough.. :)

alexnifty
08-10-08, 18:57
Ah ok fair enough.. :)

Although retro switches get a :thumbsup: from me!

If anyone been in a morris minor then I want switches like the ones for headlights and wipers in those :mrgreen:

Aaron
08-10-08, 19:39
:lol: :lol:

That would also get a :thumbsup: from me..

alexnifty
08-10-08, 21:49
If I could turn my pc on with one of those it would be AWESOME!

Monkey
08-10-08, 21:52
One word, millenium uh, ah **** two words, falcon :P

Best looking pc i ever did see

Apart from mine ofcourse :mrgreen:

By the way, everyone should get themselves a Hyundai W240D

Best screen i have ever seen

Sell your souls people, its well worth an eternity in hell, your all going there anyway :P

alexnifty
09-10-08, 00:01
By the way, everyone should get themselves a Hyundai W240D

Best screen i have ever seen

Sell your souls people, its well worth an eternity in hell, your all going there anyway :P

Looks good, couple of positive reviews on the site too. Not sure I like the shiny finish though, I prefer matt.

coiler
09-10-08, 09:45
Well done mate :thumbsup:




Could not disagree more. That thing looks like a cheapo car stereo to me. Its a matter of taste but I want little retro dials to turn and no digital display.

But don't get us started on fan controllers!


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Nexus Vantec fan controllers!


http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr57/coilercat77/homernex.jpg

alexnifty
09-10-08, 10:53
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Nexus Vantec fan controllers!


http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr57/coilercat77/homernex.jpg

EXACTLY the fan controllers I wishe aria would stock. :evil::evil::evil::evil:

Looks like we got started on them after all.

Monkey
09-10-08, 14:30
fan controllers
<<< me thinking some unnamed company should stock them, and soon

jonwoad
09-10-08, 14:33
it has been passed to the product managers so keeping on about it on here wont help :P

Monkey
09-10-08, 14:36
Sorry, fan controllers you say?

jonwoad
09-10-08, 14:39
not gonna work :P

Monkey
09-10-08, 14:43
I think if they notice we are talking about fan controllers they may actually order something worth a glance

jonwoad
09-10-08, 15:08
any more talk of fan controllers and I will start deleting posts and reducing post counts :P

alexnifty
09-10-08, 15:36
Aria's policy is to deny all knowledge of this mythical object know as the "fan controller"?

:p

jonwoad
09-10-08, 15:37
whats a fan controller?

wonderlust
09-10-08, 15:40
doesn't he control the railway in the thomas the tank engine books?

jonwoad
09-10-08, 15:41
lol

wonderlust
09-10-08, 15:41
Oh that was that the Fat contoller, my bad...:D

coiler
09-10-08, 15:44
http://goodwilljester.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/fat-controller.jpg

mccann
09-10-08, 17:57
This has gotta be the biggest hijack since the great train robbery :D

alexnifty
09-10-08, 18:00
It pretty normal for the 3rd page of a post on these forums to be wildly offtopic :lol:

Can sometimes be found back on track at around page 5 :chairfall:

mac124
09-10-08, 18:35
pffft page 2 and all bets are off, well normally anyways.

M4T VW
10-10-08, 12:39
http://goodwilljester.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/fat-controller.jpg

Where did you get that pic of me!:evil:

tystar
10-10-08, 13:25
that was taken using his long range lens on his camera ;)

marsey99
10-10-08, 15:57
pffft page 2 and all bets are off, well normally anyways.

init just :D

back to op :)

some black elecrical(insulation) tape on the fan and front panle wires will make them blend in better than the rainbow they are atm. other than m8 you do have a very nice tidy build and its hard to give tips when theres little to fault :D

M4T VW
10-10-08, 22:09
I dont use electrical tape in PC's any more. It gets hot and becomes unstuck leaving the glue stuck to the cables/case.
I now just use cable ties to tie them out the way or all together.