Latest Shouts In The Shoutbox -- View The Shoutbox

[chip]

So I decided to go for it, have always wanted to do it and for some reason never have.

I purchased..

- Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Case

- AMD Phenom II Quad Core 945 3.0GHz

- 4GB Corsair ZMS3 DHX RAM 9-9-9-24

- DFI LanParty LP DK 7950FXB-M35H Motherboard running on the AMD 790FX/SB750 Chipset

- ASUS 4870 Radeon with GDDR5 RAM(512MB)

- WD 640GB SATAII HDD

- SONY SATA DVD R/W

- 22"Viewsonic 1080p LCD

There were other bits n bobs like the thermal paste and active heatsink.

Installation was pretty easy, the case has tooless features so installing the drives was a skoosh. PSU is mounted on rubber stoppers to prevent vibration and was also easily installed on the bottom.

Being my 1st ever built I was trying to be super careful to not break anything, one thing I was unsure aboutwas the installation of the heatsink, it doesnt install like the stock AMD heatsink with the retaining clip, I had to remove the plastic fitting that surrounds the CPU socket and screw the heatsink down in its place, I was a little concerned at doing this but it seemed to go in fine, was tooless also, using thumbscrewes to tighten the heatsink.

Applying the thermal paste to the CPU was also a little daunting, I was worried of not applying enough, or applying too much, I decided to place 3 small blobs on the CPU and spread it out with my fingers, in a sad sort of geeky way it was very satisfying as its something I have been itching to do for ages..lol

With CPU and heatsink installed, PSU and drives, I inserted the RAM into my slots and screwed the stabnd offs to the MB tray. Coolermaster had a screw guide for this to make it easier, even if it is pretty obvious where they go hehe.

Lining the IO shiled up with the MB rear ports was a bit tricky and it still isnt perfect but the MB is lined perfectlly to the stand offs and the io shield is perfectly flush with the rear of the chassis so this must be some sort of little descepency ebtween the 2. There isnt much of a gap and I am able to plug in components with no issues.

Routing the cabling was pretty easy, even though I havent made it look as tidy as it does in the pictures..lol It should allow the air to circulate pretty well, so it will do for now. Plenty of space inside the coolermaster.

Only issue I had was the fans not spinning, which tirned out to be jsut the top 200mm exhaust fan, removing this from the chassis allowed it to spin freely so I suspect it was screwed too tightly to the chassis, the case also came with a foot loose, but it was easilys crewed back in and the case suffered no signs of damage, seems pretty solid.

So there it is, my brand new AMD system, been wanting to try them out for ages, and I am very happy with it. Wish the whole chipset thing didnt confuse the crap out of me tho..lol

[Dash Rendar]

Awesome. Sounds like a sweet setup. Which means you're getting paid too much.

[DippyDappyCow]

Yes I agree, he should have only been able to afford a Dell with staff discount

[chip]

Bah, Dell with staff discount would be more expensive