So.. Let me bring you upto speed.
Ordinarily it would just be a case of bolting everything in wiring it up, check the jumper switches and away we go. But being as i want to pimp the case a little - its not quite so simple.
First I had to change the feet. Bought some shiny LED ones from the intertubes for about £4. Had to drill out the holes that already existed in the feet so I could get the LEDs through. I think the result is quite tacky...
Until you turn it on...
Cool huh?
Unfortunatly this left me with a lot of staggly bits of wire that didn't look good.
So i created a template for a false plate in the base by putting the
PSU in and drawing around it. Then I cut it out so the plate didn't sit under my
PSU or it wouldnt have married up with the case and fitted in correctly. End result is something like this;
Next I put the board in. Can I just say at this point that this is a fine looking piece of kit. I love the stock heatsinks on the
NB and the UV glow... But we will come to the UV glow...
However, when i got the board in. I realised that the IP/OP panel didn't match up. I switched to the fascia supplied with the board but it still didn't marrry up correct. So some fine "hammer based" adjustments were made
. End result;
Perfect...
It was at this point i messed about checking my jumper settings and doing that standard "user manual" sort of stuff.
I put the GPU into PCIe 1 (x16 slot). Initially when I looked at the Graphics card i seriously didn't think it would fit in the case. Its massive! Thats proof of how long it was since I built my last PC. I was also suprised to see that the card appeared to be almost upside down. Why did ASUS make the cooler face downwards? Surely heat rises. Plus it would have made everything look a lot better! I'll forgive it though if it plays Farcry2...
I then popped the Bernstein Audio Module in. Was a bit suprised to see that the wire for it wasn't green and UV like the supplied
SATA and IDE cables but never the less. A computer needs sound and i wasn't about to shell out for a sound card at this stage. The last sound card i looked at getting; the Razer Barracuda AC1, got slated in its reviews and i only really wanted it so i didn't have to mess about with crappy splitters to get my Barracuda Headphones to work. Plus they are still selling on eBay for about £100!
I also found that the position of the audio module won't realistically allow for a second Graphics card (as some of you may remember i plan to double my graphics in x-fire later on) so it may well have to be changed out in place of another soundcard in the not too distant future.
The
ram DIMMs were next to go in. Placed into 1+3 slots respectivly. They should run as dual channel in that configuration.
So far so good... It was then that I started work on the fan controller.
It was also around this time I started to get angry... See the Zalman ZM-MFC2 has 3 functions. Controls upto 4 fans (1 of which being a 4 pin for the processor), Monitors Power usage through the power supply and checks the temperature of upto 4 components. And while the latter of the functions wouldn't be difficult to set up the primary function of the fan controller i.e. controlling the fans would be a little more difficult.
The Antec 300 case is supplied with 2 fans. 1x Big 140mm fan in the top and 1x 120mm in the rear. Each fan has its own 3 speed adjustment switch and each comes with a 4 molex connector. This means that the fans will draw their power from the
PSU directly and not through the motherboard. The fan controller however, requires the fans to be plugged into the controller and the motherboard through 3pin connectors. So I can't get the fan controller to work with the case fans.
It was then i realised that the fan controller had only a 0.7amp maximum output and that although it would turn over 4 fans that each of the fans would have to be small to stop my fan controller from exploding. So i resided myself to only being able to use the fan controller to control the fans on my GPU and CPU. However, it is nye on impossible to find out the output of stock cooling for either my e8500 wolfdale or my ASUSTeK EAH/4870/HTDM. And then I found out that their is good reason for this... Apparently the fans on both these products automatically adjust when they are being used to suit the cooling needs of the components. End result... a £35 box that controls no fans but allows me to see the temperatures of my components rise but not to alter my fan settings accordingly. Oh and it measures power output from my
PSU... Surely everest home edition does that and isn't that free?
Anyway. I still have the CPU to fit and an IDE HDD to add from my old rig. I also want to put some UV cold caths and maybe a few other bits. I also have to make a case window but I am still trying to finalise the design of that. Oh and just because i couldn't wait... Here is a pic of it so far under UV and a pic with the Tempate in the base. I am thinking of making the tempate out of either checkerplate or Perspex. If it was perspex I could sandwich an image between 2 sheets in the base on acetate and back light it. What do you think?
Switch[uK]... should have researched his fan controller harder...
after the hassle you've had.
![Switch[uK]'s Avatar](http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/avatars/switch-uk-.gif?dateline=1224158633)
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