[Erolunai]

Windows 7 installed this morning just fine
No internet connection just yet, I may have to wait until saturday for that, but that's alright, I'm still happy XD
I'll try to upload the pictures when I can :3

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Windows 7 installed this morning just fine

Sweet! Did you get all the drivers installed? Did you look in the device manager for yellow question or exclamation marks?

You'll have to work on that cable management in a couple days, now that you know you have it all plugged in right. Zip ties work wonders. Here is a picture of what my parents build looked like since I didn't have room to drill holes and the case doesn't allow it to put the cables on the backsides panel.



And if you ever want to upgrade to a better more expensive case, you can have it look like this... (Notice how all the cables are hidden behind the motherboard tray in between the back side panel of the case.) With drilled holes, but many cases have precut openings to do this.



Here is a video of one of my favorite youtuber's TJ Harlow on Cable Managment

Keep in touch! Congrats on the Build!

[Ferrari]

Windows 7 installed this morning just fine

Sweet! Did you get all the drivers installed? Did you look in the device manager for yellow question or exclamation marks?

You'll have to work on that cable management in a couple days, now that you know you have it all plugged in right. Zip ties work wonders. Here is a picture of what my parents build looked like since I didn't have room to drill holes and the case doesn't allow it to put the cables on the backsides panel.



And if you ever want to upgrade to a better more expensive case, you can have it look like this... (Notice how all the cables are hidden behind the motherboard tray in between the back side panel of the case.) With drilled holes, but many cases have precut openings to do this.



Here is a video of one of my favorite youtuber's TJ Harlow on Cable Managment

Keep in touch! Congrats on the Build!

[Erolunai]

Hmm ...
Admittedly, part of me is -very- reluctant to open up my case again to mess about - if something were to break or stop working, I'd.... well, not be very happy for a good long time.

Plus, I'm really not quite sure what I can do to sort out the cables...
If the motherboard were a bit larger perhaps it would be easier.
To get to the SATA slots, since the fan mount on the middle hard drive tray was in the way a bit, I had to slide the tray out, then plug them in, then slide it back in...

To my memory (if I remember correctly), there were two cables in the top left, about seven in the top right, and four in the middle right.
In my power supply, there are two cables with the molex connectors for the fans, one goes up, around the graphics card, and has one fan connect into each of the two connectors, with a smaller connector hanging loose and unused. The second cable winds around, with the furthest connector going into the two front fans (I couldn't pull the fan connectors apart, the amount of force needed was very discomforting.), with one plug unused and another smaller connector hanging off, unused.
The power supply also has the main cable winding around the graphics card to the top right, and again to the top left of the motherboard.
Two more cables were hooked up to the power supply to get to both the hard drive and the DVD writer (perhaps one could have been used if the DVD writer was moved down one slot?)
Finally, the power supply also has a red colored connector hooked up to the graphics card, which everything else was winding around.

Apart from the power supply, three cables; one for the power switch, reset switch, and hard drive LED, one split into two for the USB, and the numbered cable all wound around the side of the graphics card with the other cables to get to the bottom of the motherboard.
one wound around the top of the graphics card to the mid left to connect into the high definition audio (which, even with the old speakers, sounds AMAZING compared to the last computer!), the other audio cable was left unconnected.

Located near the top of the motherboard, the CPU fan is connected nearby - the cable was wound tight around the outer case of the CPU fan, though had to be unwound around a single peg to have enough distance.

Finally, along the right side, the hard drive and DVD writer are wound around the side of the graphics card to get to the sata connections.

Most of the cable traffic is definately coming from cables going around the graphics card's side.
I suppose several cables could have gone -above- the graphics card, but I just imagined that would make it -more- cluttered and ugly...

...and no offense, but I don't think I'll be drilling holes into my first computer case ^^;

I'll get some more zip ties, and that anti-static wrist strap should be here monday, so that will be of good use... I'll be cleaning up the mess from all the packaging this weekend as well, so I kind of just want to enjoy it for now XD


As for the drivers, while I had low hopes of getting the internet cables hooked up anytime soon, for the time being I used the CDs that came with the equipment, which worked alright for the time being.
Recently though, with my father's help, we got the internet hooked up nicely, and I managed to get windows updates.
However, after updating windows, I checked the device manager and there were no yellow or exclamation marks, no.
I even went through and checked each one to see if there were newer drivers available.
Though... I'm not sure if I have the latest version of directx.

For performance so far...
The screen is at 1680 x 1050, and it looks absolutely beautiful!

I've been looking for a few things to test the new graphics and speed, but I'm not really sure what to use. I've tried a few DVDs, though the latest games I own would be the orange box and command and conquer red alert 3.
I tried the latter, C&C RA3, which for some reason told me the recommended settings were to keep things minimal and that turning the graphic quality up (which I did anyways, it's a brand new card, it should be able to handle it, right?) could cause it to become unplayable...

The sound and video is all absolutely beautiful, maybe I'm just overly excited for it, but for some reason I thought it would run a bit faster, though it does obviously run a lot faster than anything else I've used ^^

edit: and yes, no pictures just yet, sorry - work called me in early and I've been falling in and out of sleep when not playing around with the new system XD
I'll try to get a good night sleep and get the pictures online later today.

Edited by Erolunai, 05 February 2010 - 04:07 AM.

[Ferrari]

I've been looking for a few things to test the new graphics and speed, but I'm not really sure what to use.

You asked for it, so here are all free programs for benchmarking your computer. You can run these on your old computer or a friend's computer to compare. Also, you can go online and see what other geeks computers are benchmarking at with similar or better hardware, etc.

Cinebench R10 is a popular one for benchmarking. When you click on "(rendering xcpu)" how many seconds does it take to load the image? Mine takes 56 seconds with 8 logical processors... your processor has 4 logical processors.
3D Mark Vantage is another one. The free version is a one time run and you have to give them your email address to get the trial key. I scored P5357 3D Marks, 31159 CPU score, and 4198 graphics score.
PC Wizard 2010 is an excellent System Tool that shows you temperatures, fan speeds, all of your hardware, and more. (If you do a custom install, keep the "web updates" as your hardware is so new... it may not even be fully recognized by PC Wizard 2010 yet)
CPU-Z is a useful utility to see ALL of your CPU info. What does the QPI or FSB in mhz register? Let me know. My QPI is 2388mhz, about 2 times faster than a core 2 duo or core 2 quad with a FSB of 1333mhz.
HD Tune will benchmark your hard drive. The higher the mb/s the better. Your hard drive (as is mine) is probably the slowest component in your system... this is common for most people... SSDs (Solid State Disks) are newer, faster, but cost A TON! Something to think about upgrading years down the road when the costs have come down.
Speedtest.net Click on different cities to see if you internet is the speed you pay for.
Another real world test is open like 5 programs right in a row (at one time) and see that your computer should handle this fairly well... I bet your old computer would die.
Also Windows 7 (as does Vista) sort of has it's own "Score" it gives. Do this: Click start (windows logo), click Control Panel, Click Performance Information and Tools. What is your score for each component? You may need to run the "assessment test" for the first time to find out. My system is supposedly better than yours (except for the graphics card) My scores are Processor 7.4, Memory 5.9(I only have 3gigs), Graphics 6.8, gaming graphics 6.8, Primary hard disk, 5.9.

Though... I'm not sure if I have the latest version of directx.

I think this is downloaded when you install games... I guess you can go HERE and download it and install it.

maybe I'm just overly excited for it, but for some reason I thought it would run a bit faster

I think in time you'll realize this computer can do a lot more than your old one, or even some new ones out there.

Edited by Ferrari, 05 February 2010 - 09:13 AM.

[Erolunai]

Sorry about the wait! I've got the pictures ready!
I am starting to realize that it's a really, really, -really- nice computer
And it's getting me to look up more computer-related topics as well. ^^






The above two images are just getting everything sorted and looked at - I was so excited and nervous at the time XD



Got the CPU and heatsink in!







A few inner shots of finishing up the work...



And the finished system, all neat and tidy and beautiful<3!



Finally, a little peek through the side window. ^^

As for the scores that are given...
Processor: 7.3
Memory: 7.5
Graphics: 7.4
Game Graphics: 7.4
Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

[Ferrari]

Your setup looks awesome, the cables aren't as bad as you described... I've seen worse LOL!

I am starting to realize that it's a really, really, -really- nice computer

Good, I'm glad you are realizing that, it is a very nice computer.

As for the scores that are given...
Processor: 7.3
Memory: 7.5
Graphics: 7.4
Game Graphics: 7.4
Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

Those are really good scores! You will have a lot of fun with this computer, I'm sure. Congrats on the build! Let me know if you have any more questions. Good luck...

Edited by Ferrari, 06 February 2010 - 05:45 PM.