first off, my apologies for not having pics to put up just yet. i have taken a ton, but i haven't had the time to process the raw images off my camera. i promise i'll get them up tomorrow. no excuses!
second, i want to say thanks again to everyone who offered advice and contributed to the various threads i've started in the past several weeks. an especially big thanks to enginurd, danny bui, hardwareguru and shiro for their patience in answering my barrage of questions.
so, in case you forgot, here are the specs of the build:
intel xeon x3440
cooler master hyper 212+ hsf
gigabyte ga-p55-ud4p
4gb gskill ddr3 1600
xfx radeon hd 5770
seagate 7200.12 500gb hdd
sony optiarc dvd burner
coolermaster rc-690 case
corsair 650tx psu
swapped out all of the stock case fans for 1200rpm scythe slipstreams and i swapped out the fan on the 212+ for a scythe pwm.
i must say, i'm a little surprised at how smoothly the build went (aside from the damn dog!) considering how long it's been since i last built a machine. my last build was a socket 478 p4. the toughest part of the build, by far, was cable management. i tried to save a bit by going with a non-modular psu. next time, i'll spend the extra money and save myself the headache. with a little patience though, i was able to get everything tucked on the back side of the motherboard tray, and overall, i'm pleased with how clean i was able to keep things.
for now i'm doing a ghetto fan mod with twist ties in the 5.25 bays. would like to do something a bit better there. other than that, i'm going to keep an eye on temps and maybe see about installing some additional case fans. i have a feeling i won't need them though. i'm not planning on any oc'ing for the foreseeable future.
the biggest news, and what i imagine most people will be interested in, is that my x3440 worked in a p55-ud4p. i had absolutely zero issues. the machine posted on the first try and within seconds i was installing win7. i'm honestly a little surprised with myself. not a single issue. not one loose connection. i somehow managed, after all these years of rust to shake off, to pull off a build without a hitch. well, there is the hitch with my dog (see my other thread in gen hardware) but nothing build related. :]
i'm so stoked to start using this baby! i guess the thing to do now is get started with getting all my apps setup. i'm also wondering about running that intel stress test to burn in the processor. is that necessary? i believe i've read that stress testing the cpu will allow the thermal grease to cure effectively. (i used some mx-2.) so far, the machine has only been run briefly, long enough to get win7 installed. after all the time i spent with cable management (plus i just took my time in general) i ran out of time to get any further.
so yeah, she's done! i feel great about it! thanks for the help folks!
pics are coming soon!
second, i want to say thanks again to everyone who offered advice and contributed to the various threads i've started in the past several weeks. an especially big thanks to enginurd, danny bui, hardwareguru and shiro for their patience in answering my barrage of questions.
so, in case you forgot, here are the specs of the build:
intel xeon x3440
cooler master hyper 212+ hsf
gigabyte ga-p55-ud4p
4gb gskill ddr3 1600
xfx radeon hd 5770
seagate 7200.12 500gb hdd
sony optiarc dvd burner
coolermaster rc-690 case
corsair 650tx psu
swapped out all of the stock case fans for 1200rpm scythe slipstreams and i swapped out the fan on the 212+ for a scythe pwm.
i must say, i'm a little surprised at how smoothly the build went (aside from the damn dog!) considering how long it's been since i last built a machine. my last build was a socket 478 p4. the toughest part of the build, by far, was cable management. i tried to save a bit by going with a non-modular psu. next time, i'll spend the extra money and save myself the headache. with a little patience though, i was able to get everything tucked on the back side of the motherboard tray, and overall, i'm pleased with how clean i was able to keep things.
for now i'm doing a ghetto fan mod with twist ties in the 5.25 bays. would like to do something a bit better there. other than that, i'm going to keep an eye on temps and maybe see about installing some additional case fans. i have a feeling i won't need them though. i'm not planning on any oc'ing for the foreseeable future.
the biggest news, and what i imagine most people will be interested in, is that my x3440 worked in a p55-ud4p. i had absolutely zero issues. the machine posted on the first try and within seconds i was installing win7. i'm honestly a little surprised with myself. not a single issue. not one loose connection. i somehow managed, after all these years of rust to shake off, to pull off a build without a hitch. well, there is the hitch with my dog (see my other thread in gen hardware) but nothing build related. :]
i'm so stoked to start using this baby! i guess the thing to do now is get started with getting all my apps setup. i'm also wondering about running that intel stress test to burn in the processor. is that necessary? i believe i've read that stress testing the cpu will allow the thermal grease to cure effectively. (i used some mx-2.) so far, the machine has only been run briefly, long enough to get win7 installed. after all the time i spent with cable management (plus i just took my time in general) i ran out of time to get any further.
so yeah, she's done! i feel great about it! thanks for the help folks!
pics are coming soon!