Looking for thoughts on first build

[pilotmills]

Greetings everyone,
Found this community while researching my first build. Lots of good info here. I wanted to get the experts view on my first build components for a primarily photo/video editing rig and secondly a game rig for Flight Sim X and Civ IV mostly.
Here goes: (Sorry can't get the HTML to hot link)
Case: Rosewill R5604-SECC Screw-less Dual 120mm Fans ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

MoBo: ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

PSU: COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RP-550-PCAR ATX from factor 12V V2.01 550W Power Supply

Processor: Intel Quad Q6600

Video Card: PNY VCG88GTS32XPB GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16

HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 500 GB SATA Internal Hard Drive

RAM: 4GB total - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit

Optical: Lite-On 20x Super All Write DVD RW Drive

3.5'' floppy and all-in-one reader combo drive

Acer AL1916WABD 19" Wide LCD Monitor

Opting for Vista 64-bit. Looks like all of my peripherals have published Vista 64 drivers - hopefully they are not buggy. . .


So, sound like a winner, or is it too much? I want it to be future-proof (for say 5 years or so).
Thanks guys!

[Jamie Nixx]

Nice rig, my only gripes are that the case may be too small, and the PSU is rubbish.

Go for the Corsair HX520w or the Hiper type R 580w.

Corsair XMS2 Ram is cheaper on newegg (assuming you are in the US) and is better.

Vista 64 will still be a pain in the ass.

Apart from that, everything is looking good, motherboard is very good, GPU ect.

My only other suggestion is that, that rig will be wasted on a couple of not very high end games (even though it is for editing), live a little, go out and get Bioshock when you have finished building it lol ;) :D

[pilotmills]

Thanks Jamie!
I'm not totally up to speed on what makes one stick of RAM better than another. I looked at the specs for the XMS2 that you mentioned. It's gotten good reviews, as did the Ballistix that I was looking at. The latency timings for the XMS2 were published at 5-5-5-18, while the Ballistix were 4-4-4-12. When you're talking latency, doesn't lower values indicate faster memory, or at least better performance? They are within $1 of each other after rebates, so price isn't an issue.

If I find that I actually have some spare time once this thing is built and working, I will certainly go out and find some game to push it to the limit. Sounds like Biostrike is a popular one. Any others?

[Jamie Nixx]

Lower does indicate faster but XMS2 comes in CL4 as well....

XMS2 is much better when pushed hard, although all around it is better as well, i have used both brands.

As for games

Clive Barkers Jericho
Half life 2, EP1 and EP2
Call of Juarez
Call of Duty 4
Hellgate London
ES4 Oblivion
Crysis

[EnergyzeX]

Hey there fellow video editor,

I highly recommend adding a Video Editing card to your rig because it saves us a HECk load of time because it renders the preview in real time.

There are three companies (that I know) that sell Video Editing cards.


Matrox (Expensive but the best)
Canopus (Balance between performance and price...I think)
Avid (Not sure about this brand but have a read of some reviews)


I assume you've read my thread about my rig.
http://forums.mysuperpc.com/showthread.php?p=2795#post2795

And...yeah. I think a bigger and better PSU would be better (for the present and the future). Remember that the PSU only uses as much power as needed it won't be constantly performing at its max. output.

[pilotmills]

Hey EnergyzeX,
Yep, I saw your thread. Nice setup I must say! Maybe over the course of a year or so I will be able to upgrade some components on mine to match yours :D I will seriously look at the video editing card. How much time does it save you on a typical project?

[EnergyzeX]

I'm going to be pretty bold and say it roughly saves me at least 50% of the usual production time. It speeds up the preview rendering and the final rendering when it's all done.

I love it.

[pilotmills]

Well, I've got all the components together. I've installed the RAM, Video Card, CPU and cooler, connected all the power connectors that I can for now. When I booted it up for the first time, I got a "New CPU Installed" message, followed by a "Chassis intrusion detected - Fatal Error System Halted" message. I've since been able to get into the BIOS with the del key, but after about a minute, the system just shuts down. All the fans are turning, I get the beep that I expect when I start up, but I can't figure out what's causing the system to shut down. Any ideas?

[Jamie Nixx]

Clear the CMOS and try again.

[acidfire]

Right now building a computer and I have seen chassis intrusion detector in the motherboard manual. I'm using ASUS P5N-E SLI and there is a jumper (think that is what it's called) that you can setup to prevent intrusion into your case. The jumper turns it on and off. Look in your motherboard manual and see where the jumpers are at and make sure they are off. Mine came off but maybe by accident yours came on. Unless you are using the chassis intrusion detector then make sure you have your sensor setup right.

[pilotmills]

Same thing. Could it be the power supply isn't beefy enough for the 8800GTS?

[pilotmills]

Right now building a computer and I have seen chassis intrusion detector in the motherboard manual. I'm using ASUS P5N-E SLI and there is a jumper (think that is what it's called) that you can setup to prevent intrusion into your case. The jumper turns it on and off. Look in your motherboard manual and see where the jumpers are at and make sure they are off. Mine came off but maybe by accident yours came on. Unless you are using the chassis intrusion detector then make sure you have your sensor setup right.

I had seen that in the manual and tried setting the jumper to the other setting, and even removed it completely, but still got the message.:(

[Jamie Nixx]

Have you done what acidfire suggested?

The chassis intrusion connector needs a jumper on it, it can also be disabled in the bios, have you tried all of these?

[pilotmills]

Gotten the chassis intrusion to go away, but the system still shuts down after anywhere from 15-60 seconds, even in the BIOS setup screens. . .

[Jamie Nixx]

CPU may be overheating, go into the bios and look at you hardware monitor before it shuts off.

Also, i know that i suggested the Corsair HX520, did you end up getting it?

[pilotmills]

I couldn't cancel the order by the time I read it. If the CPU looks like it's not overheating, then I will probably return the PSU and try the HX520 like you suggested . . . standby for the status of the CPU - and thanks for the assistance!

[Jamie Nixx]

No worries glad to help, hope you get it all sorted out soon.

[pilotmills]

Well, the CPU was at 85C, now it's down to around 60C and it's been running for 5 mins or so in the BIOS screen. That still seems very high to me. I'm not too impressed with the design of Intel's cooling unit. I am having a real hard time getting it set firmly. I'm guessing that's the main issue here.

[Jamie Nixx]

85DegC :eek: holy crap.

Even 60 is way to high, are you sure all the pins are pushed in?

[pilotmills]

CPU is set in the holder tightly, and the cooling unit is in as far as she'll go. It's not wobbling so it's as good as I can get it. It's stable at 59C now . .

[Jamie Nixx]

Get another cooler asap, AC freezer 7 pro is one of the best and cheap as well.

Looks like Intel messed up again on the Quad core front, over the past few weeks they have been guilty of selling them with coolers that can't cool them well enough, another member had the same problem.

[pilotmills]

crappy deal. I guess I'm glad that that is the only thing wrong so far. Should be an easy fix. Thanks! I'll update you when I get the new cooler and start work again.

[pilotmills]

I got a Cooler Master heatsink and fan for the CPU to hold it over until I get the AC Freezer 7. I started it up this morning to see how the new fan did and it kept it around 40-45C. Sill seems a little warm, but much better than before. So I decided to go ahead and install the DVD-RW and HDD. Well, got all the power connectors hooked up and data cables set and hit the power button - nothing. Now, even after disconnecting all the power and data cables for the DVD and HDD, still nothing. I'm not feeling too good about that. Tried clearing the CMOS again, no luck.

[Jamie Nixx]

What, absolutely no power at all?

[pilotmills]

Well, I should say that there is an LED on the MB that illuminates when it's receiving power. That actually does light up, but nothing when I hit the power button. No fan movement, not even a quick start then stop. I've checked the wires to the power switch, they are still connected, still connected to the MB. I'm lost.

[Jamie Nixx]

Are they the correct way around?

I personally would take out everything bar the mobo and CPU and coolers, and completely rebuild, take out the PSU, and look for signs of damage.

Consult your manual for troubleshooting, your motherboard is getting power, so maybe you have dislodged something while putting in the drives.

[pilotmills]

PSU looks fine, no smoke marks or melting going on. Disconnected everything and reconnect it, still nothing. I'm just not happy about not knowing what part is giving me problems. I don't even know where to begin to figure out if there is something with the MB, PSU, the prewired case connections . . .

[pilotmills]

Okay. I stepped away from it for a bit and came back and redid it yet again. Stupid me, the jumper for the CMOS clearing procedure was in the clear setting, not the normal setting. The things you learn from the first build . . . Off to continue the trek.:D

[The Wise Monkey]

Heh, glad you got that first thing sorted out. :)

[Jamie Nixx]

Silly billy lol :D

[pilotmills]

Yea. I feel like an idiot! :rolleyes: Now for my next rookie mistake. Vista 64 is installed. However, when I installed it, I partitioned the HDD into an 80 and a 420 GB setup. I installed Visa on the 80GB partition, but now I can't access the other 420GB of space. Other than that, all seems to be well! Feels good to have gotten this far, even with a minor embarrassing setback :)

[Jamie Nixx]

We all make silly little mistakes mate, its all part of it :D

Hope you get it all sorted, those games are out there waiting to be played and those video's are out there waiting to be edited lol :D

[The Wise Monkey]

You need to format the other 420GB as NTFS before you can access it - do this via the Disk Management plugin that Vista already has installed.

Go to Run...->type mmc->click add/remove snap in->add->Disk Management

[pilotmills]

Thanks Wise one! I will give that a go when I get back from my trip. Can't wait! This has been a lot of fun.

[Jamie Nixx]

Glad its been a lot of fun for you, if i had had as much trouble when i built my first computer, i would have chucked all the components out the window, set them on fire and then stamped on them lol :p

Lets hope you don't run into anymore problems :D