Tech advice requested

1st. Check the boxes for damage. Bent boxes, crumpled corners, water damage and such. If anything looks off, photograph it.

2nd. Open the boxes and check for internal damage to the boxes inside. Again, if anything looks off, photograph.

3rd. Open the final boxes. Same photograph rules apply.

4th. setup the machine for a test run "outside" the case. Use the boxes as platforms as needed.

5th. If everything works out, install in case. If it doesnt, consult troubleshooting steps.

 

This is the part that is getting to me. How can I install the processor and heatsink before fixing the MB into the case? The heatsink is large enough that it will make putting the MB in there with it on several times more difficult by getting in the way of easy access to the screw holes. Or at least I am guessing that is how it would go, maybe I'm overstating it.

Anyway, it'll be a day or so until I set it up, have to work overtime and I want copious free time to do it all in one go rather than being forced to leave it half complete.

 

Yeah it's large and heavy but it shouldn't block any of the 9 ATX screw holes.

And the paste that comes with the heatsink should be enough for a few applications. Just be sure to have some isopropol alcohol and fiber free cloth to clean the procesor off when/if you take the heatsink off.

 

Ahh! That's one thing I almost forgot!

I picked up a 3.5g tube of Arctic Silver thermal paste. How do I judge how much the the right amount? I'm thinking I should use the paste that comes pre-applied for the test and then remove the paste from the heatsink and processor for the final build, correct?

Yes, I know these are dumb questions but like I said I would rather ask 20 dumb questions and 1 right question in the mix than not ask at all and fuck it all up.

 

's not a dumb question.

General wisdom is a drop of paste the size of a rice grain. Which means the tube you got should last a WHILE.

 

Just double-checking on this, when you say fiber-free clothe, do you mean microfiber? Because if not I have no idea what that is.

 

Basically yeah. Coffee filters also work real well.

 

Ok, I'm now awake and have the time to focus on doing it right. Before I start, are there any other things you can think of that I might miss? Any little steps to make it easier to avoid a mishap?

 

Keep your screws close and always have a small flat head handy.

 

Ok, got everything connected and running, no DOA's, but there is an odd problem.

My BIOS will not add more than 2 of the SATA devices at a time. By this I mean there are only ever 2 on the boot list, the 250GB SSD and the optical drive in this case, and that was only accomplished by disconnecting the other SSD and the HDD to force those two to be detected.

They show up as connected in the BIOS info for the SATA ports, but they aren't in the boot options nor can Windows detect they exist.

*edit*
Some more information.

The Windows Install did see them as well, but when using Windows itself they are not showing as existing.

Installed the MB drivers and Video Card drivers, which was why I forced those two to be the ones it recognizes, and still nothing.

I would prefer a method that has a minimum of fiddling with the cables though. I have discovered a pretty big annoyance with the setup, at least when putting it together. The graphics card goes right over the SATA ports, and while it doesn't block them because they are at a 90 degree angle to the MB it does make them a bitch to plug or unplug anything into them without removing the video card, which is it's own hassle because it's sheer size makes that little lock switch hard to access as well.

I can't put it into the other PCIe slot either because that one only runs at 4x rather than 16x. Good thing I didn't decide to use crossfire, it wouldn't have worked worth shit with that MB.

 

....*sigh*

I blame the dehydration and generally feeling shitty the last few days for that little....whatever that was.

I haven't formated the drives. They show up in the device manager, but of course Windows Explorer which I was using to look for them only shows usable drives, so they did not.

Now to search the web for how to use the Win 10 formatting tool correctly or if I should get a different one. Also, it's splitting my 3 TB HDD into 3 sections automatically, 2 800 GB and 1 1400 GB sections before I even do anything. Just curious if anyone knows why it is doing that.

Oh yeah, video cable. My video card supports DVD-D and HDMI, which of the two would be preferable with a 19.5 in widescreen LCD monitor?

 

Partitioning. It's ostensibly used to help drive speed IIRC, but I've never noticed it myself. You can change it in the bios menu.

 

DVI

 

Kinda, it's dependent upon the type of partitioning you use. The old kind has a max limit of 2.2 TB due to the maximum amount of address limits that system uses.

Also, I think I'm going to have to downgrade to win 7. Win 10 has automatic enforced updates not just for the OS but everything, including my ethernet adapter and graphics card, and whatever updates it installs makes them non-functional so I can no longer connect to the internet and I revert back to onboard graphics.

Also, it's a freaking mobile port of an OS. Seriously, it is literally EXACTLY like a smartphone to use, save for a few extra features that are very hard to get to because they require very specific click paths to access.

 

Yikes.

 

Yeah, and Microsoft is playing some major dirty pool with that. Win 7, at 8 years old, is going for the same price as Windows 10, even though Win 7 has a 'free' upgrade to windows 10 that it also tries to force on you at every available opportunity unless you figure out how to block it.

*edit*

SCORE! Amazon has a deal on it though where I can snag it for less than $50 for some Christmas sale

 

Ahh, the joys of a fresh install. Sitting in the chair and randomly browsing, and posting, on a smartphone as various 'gotta be done' tasks work their way through the system.

 

I haven't played around on Win 10 yet (was waiting a bit more to let Microsoft work out all the bugs first), but you should be able to turn that off in the Windows Update settings.

 

You cant. One of the many things 10 fucks up.

 

Exactly this. There aren't any Update settings, the only option you have is to have it tell you that the update has already finished being downloaded and is installed and then prompt you to restart your computer rather then just restarting it the moment the install is finished and fuck whatever you were doing MS has important shit to put on your comp.

The only workaround I saw while looking for a way to disable that was to pay extra for the Pro version and using an admin tool to turn off automatic updates to your user account. Alternately on a wireless connection you could tell it that this connection has limited bandwidth and to not automatically install updates.

If you do not have either of those two qualifiers, well you're just shit out of luck then.

Also, the comp works great. You may have noticed this due to my extended absence as I punched dodos, rode dinosaurs, and got eaten by T-Rex's alot. ie. I've been living in Ark:Survival Evolved. My load time from desktop to in-game is less than a minute, which is insanely helpful when I have a video driver crash(Ark is in alpha, it has bugs like that still) while flying on a giant bird really high up and I need to reset my comp and get back ingame before I hit the ground from when I fall off the bird due to it detecting me disconnecting for long enough(a short discon, lesss than 30 sec doesn't boot you off the bird). Short load times have saved my ass more than once. ^_^

 

So as a question, I've seen Undertale mentioned a lot as some kind of great game, any thoughts QQ? Preferably non-spoilery as it seems like the plot is strong from the glimpses I've seen.

 

Fun game, bit hard at times but it's the fun kind. Decent plot as well.

 

And somehow I posted in the wrong thread, oh well.

 

If anyone is still watching this thread for some reason, someone else needs some tech help HERE.