What I’ve Been Doing
Everything is installed and wired. The monitor should be here tomorrow so I can find out if everything works. I could have used another monitor, but I want to know if the hardware works as it should before I start loading software.
That single cable running across the motherboard is for 12 volt power and it isn’t long enough to route any other way, which is annoying because I have routed everything else out of the space. I get a feeling that the power supply manufacturer expected the connection to be located next to the main power connection which is at the bottom of picture.
At least there are no ribbon cables to block airflow.
I’m seeing how things go with the heat sink that came with the processor. If it doesn’t take care of the heat, I have another one that definitely will with copper heat risers and a 120mm fan.
6 comments
At least there are no ribbon cables to block airflow.
Heh. The biggest advantage of SATA, IMO :).
Your main problem is that the power supply you’re using was designed to be mounted to the right of the motherboard (as we’re looking at it here), but your case manufacturer chose to mount it to the left instead. I.e., the power supply is supposed to be mounted on the same side as the CPU, not on the other side. That appears to be an issue with a lot of computer cases nowadays which have moved the power supply for one reason or another (for gamer tower cases, usually so they can put massive fans at the top of the case), that’s one reason why I spec’ed a power supply at the top of my tower rather than at the bottom where a lot of the gamer type cases put it. Ended up with a slightly smaller fan at the top of my case becasue of that, but since I’m not overclocking and am using a relatively low-powered video card that tops out at a whole 36w power usage at full blast rather than one of those monsters that needs two 12v power connectors to power it, I don’t care — I still have way more airflow than I need.
The annoying part is that the power supply and case came as a package from the same manufacturer, so whoever chose them should have known that the power supply was going to be mounted at the bottom. I could build or buy an extension cable, but I am not planning on adding any cards at the moment, so I won’t bother. It’s just annoying in an otherwise well designed package.
I am leery of putting the power supply at the top as it would help the cats tip it over when they jump on top. I may add a fourth fan [not counting the fan in the power supply] to blow up to discourage somecat from sleeping on the top of the case.
My case is heavy and wide enough that a cat knocking it over is not a problem, even with my 18 pounders. And I agree about the morons who design a case designed to have the power supply in the bottom, and ship a power supply pre-installed that clearly was designed to be installed at the top!
I don’t really need a fan at the top of my case, but installed one there for much the same reason. Not that it stops the occasional cat from parking there to get a butt blow-dry from time to time :).
I installed Windows today and everything seems to be working. I need to move stuff around so I can get within cable range of my router for the heavy downloading to come to update and add the software I use. I don’t really trust wireless for those operations.
Excise managed to knock a 21-inch CRT off a table and it was heavier and more stable than this mid-tower case. Fortunately that didn’t implode, but I assume that if they build it, he will knock it over.
The way the new monitor works, I can attach the XP machine via the VGA port and the new machine via HDMI and then just switch the inputs to use it for both machines. That saves a lot of desk space. The video card in the XP supports 1600 X 900, which is close enough.
It looks like a lot of work, to me.
It is actually very simple, if the diagrams are well marked and big enough to read. Most connections are keyed so it is difficult to make a mistake. It just takes time.
I only need a screwdriver for the power supply and the motherboard, everything else was done without tools. You don’t have to spend the time I did routing cables, but I get a bit obsessive about that.