August Project: Putting The Bits Together
Having weakened and gone and put down the dough on the video card, I figured I might as well as go all the way to the corner and build the thing instead of waiting for vacation like I'd been planning. It took just a bit over four hours from opening the first box to pushing the power switch for the first time, including a run to Fry's for an extra SATA cable. I've got about two dozen pictures, which cover the whole thing and are individually lj-cut if you, dear reader, want to save the bandwidth.
So here are all the tools laid out.
I actually got most of this kit from a training program in Texas trying to make unemployed people into Microsoft Certified System Engineers.
And all the components laid out after I cracked all the seals on the boxes.
From top-left: motherboard, anti-stat mat, CPU cooler, optical drive, CPU, SSD, Windows 10 distro, RAM, HDD, power supply, and video card.
But first, I have to get the case opened up.
As you can see, it has lots of space. I could easily run a RAID in there if I wanted. Fractal also leaves a number of spots for extra fans or watercoolers, if I ever feel the need to run things at close to their melting points.
The directions from Fractal are to start with the power supply.
I had a lot of fun trying to figure out where all of those cables in the lower-left of this picture went, let me tell you.
Here's the power supply installed with the fan blowing down through the bottom of the case, which I hope is correct. The power supply directions didn't say and the case has a vent on the bottom.
Notice I haven't tried to install all those extra cables yet?
Next is putting together the motherboard, CPU, and cooler.
Believe it or not, the CPU is that wee piece in the middle. Most of the rest of this is for the cooler.
CPU installed with thermal grease.
Although, if I were writing the directions, I'd suggest figuring out how the cooler's mounting bracket goes on the motherboard first. I got a good bit of thermal grease on my fingers trying to get the bracket in place.
I did eventually figure out that this part of the bracket went on the back of the motherboard.
And, evidently, you aren't supposed to peel off that green stuff that looks just like the backing of something sticky.
With the cooler on a bit crooked (which I didn't actually notice until later) it's time for the RAM sticks.
Here's the pairs of RAM sticks.
I ended up taking the CPU cooler fan off to get the RAM in, still not realizing I had it on crooked.
But, after getting it all in straight, I could mount it to the case.
Which was also a bit of an adventure, because not all of the holes in the motherboard actually had matching places to place screws on the case.
Then it was time to start cursing Electrical Engineers and their idolatry of the Lernean Hydra.
And that's only the power cables to the motherboard.
And see if I could figure out how to fit the video card in it's slot.
It looks like it's half cooler, which, by weight, it probably is.
And then, the hydra grows.
At first, I assumed it would go in the first two slots, but, as it turns out, it goes in the second and third slots, leaving the first one open for some kind of monitor connector.
Storage had a little confusion about where it should be mounted.
Fractal says the 2.5" SDD can fit on a bracket behind the motherboard, but the bracket was just the littlest bit too narrow and I had to put it in one of the regular drive bays. Fortunately, there still isn't a shortage of those.
But, do you notice any hydra missing?
Although Fractal's directions said to put in the video card before the storage, neither they or Gigabyte - the motherboard manufacturer - took into account that the SATA sockets are right under the video card. So I took it out and then discovered I needed another SATA cable, necessitating a quick run by Fry's.
However, Fractal does have a solution to some of the hydra problems.
One of the things that recommends the Fractal case is that it has about an inch of space behind the motherboard and a number of slots for you to stuff cables through, so they don't clutter up the main bay.
With some zip-ties and use of the included velcro straps, it comes out rather tidy.
Although I did have to wrangle it a bit, because that big tangle in the middle was a bit too thick for the back cover to go on initially.
Which makes the main bay quite tidy looking once it's all wrangled.
Although it would be even tidier if the video card had it's power supply cables coming out on the bottom. But I guess Fractal cases aren't common enough to warrant that, which is kind of a shame.
It's time to see if it all works.
Which it does, as far as I can tell without hooking up a monitor. There are a number of pretty lights, however.
Time to admire it's utilitarian black aesthetic.
Although, with the USB and headphone ports on the top, I'm going to have difficulty plugging anything into the front with the box under my desk. If it even fits under my desk.
Now, I just have to get Windows installed and transfer everything over from the old drive before I can have this.
I anticipate at least one more trip to Fry's for a HDD cable before it's all done.
Also, this is likely to be the last post that I make from this computer, although I'll keep it around for a while in case I need something off the Mac side of it.
So here are all the tools laid out.
I actually got most of this kit from a training program in Texas trying to make unemployed people into Microsoft Certified System Engineers.
And all the components laid out after I cracked all the seals on the boxes.
From top-left: motherboard, anti-stat mat, CPU cooler, optical drive, CPU, SSD, Windows 10 distro, RAM, HDD, power supply, and video card.
But first, I have to get the case opened up.
As you can see, it has lots of space. I could easily run a RAID in there if I wanted. Fractal also leaves a number of spots for extra fans or watercoolers, if I ever feel the need to run things at close to their melting points.
The directions from Fractal are to start with the power supply.
I had a lot of fun trying to figure out where all of those cables in the lower-left of this picture went, let me tell you.
Here's the power supply installed with the fan blowing down through the bottom of the case, which I hope is correct. The power supply directions didn't say and the case has a vent on the bottom.
Notice I haven't tried to install all those extra cables yet?
Next is putting together the motherboard, CPU, and cooler.
Believe it or not, the CPU is that wee piece in the middle. Most of the rest of this is for the cooler.
CPU installed with thermal grease.
Although, if I were writing the directions, I'd suggest figuring out how the cooler's mounting bracket goes on the motherboard first. I got a good bit of thermal grease on my fingers trying to get the bracket in place.
I did eventually figure out that this part of the bracket went on the back of the motherboard.
And, evidently, you aren't supposed to peel off that green stuff that looks just like the backing of something sticky.
With the cooler on a bit crooked (which I didn't actually notice until later) it's time for the RAM sticks.
Here's the pairs of RAM sticks.
I ended up taking the CPU cooler fan off to get the RAM in, still not realizing I had it on crooked.
But, after getting it all in straight, I could mount it to the case.
Which was also a bit of an adventure, because not all of the holes in the motherboard actually had matching places to place screws on the case.
Then it was time to start cursing Electrical Engineers and their idolatry of the Lernean Hydra.
And that's only the power cables to the motherboard.
And see if I could figure out how to fit the video card in it's slot.
It looks like it's half cooler, which, by weight, it probably is.
And then, the hydra grows.
At first, I assumed it would go in the first two slots, but, as it turns out, it goes in the second and third slots, leaving the first one open for some kind of monitor connector.
Storage had a little confusion about where it should be mounted.
Fractal says the 2.5" SDD can fit on a bracket behind the motherboard, but the bracket was just the littlest bit too narrow and I had to put it in one of the regular drive bays. Fortunately, there still isn't a shortage of those.
But, do you notice any hydra missing?
Although Fractal's directions said to put in the video card before the storage, neither they or Gigabyte - the motherboard manufacturer - took into account that the SATA sockets are right under the video card. So I took it out and then discovered I needed another SATA cable, necessitating a quick run by Fry's.
However, Fractal does have a solution to some of the hydra problems.
One of the things that recommends the Fractal case is that it has about an inch of space behind the motherboard and a number of slots for you to stuff cables through, so they don't clutter up the main bay.
With some zip-ties and use of the included velcro straps, it comes out rather tidy.
Although I did have to wrangle it a bit, because that big tangle in the middle was a bit too thick for the back cover to go on initially.
Which makes the main bay quite tidy looking once it's all wrangled.
Although it would be even tidier if the video card had it's power supply cables coming out on the bottom. But I guess Fractal cases aren't common enough to warrant that, which is kind of a shame.
It's time to see if it all works.
Which it does, as far as I can tell without hooking up a monitor. There are a number of pretty lights, however.
Time to admire it's utilitarian black aesthetic.
Although, with the USB and headphone ports on the top, I'm going to have difficulty plugging anything into the front with the box under my desk. If it even fits under my desk.
Now, I just have to get Windows installed and transfer everything over from the old drive before I can have this.
I anticipate at least one more trip to Fry's for a HDD cable before it's all done.
Also, this is likely to be the last post that I make from this computer, although I'll keep it around for a while in case I need something off the Mac side of it.