Never built a PC before so I'm here..

[Ericmopar]

I swear the hardest thing is just waiting for everything to get delivered.

Yep, combined with Christmas anticipation syndrome, I don't envy you.

[artimrj]

I swear the hardest thing is just waiting for everything to get delivered.

Sure is, 13 days waiting to get my system. Lost 2 weekends and 1 was a 4 day weekend. Fortunately I have a wall of DVDs to occupy me.

I have been up past midnight all this week since getting. Have not done much but move things around trying to get all my hard ware in the case. I am almost done with the rebuild now.

[Ericmopar]

Here's mine, now I want you guys to show me yours.

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[bpetit]

Oh fine

The in progress pics.
https://www.facebook.com/brennan.petit/ ... 656&type=3

I started about 12pm and finished about 7pm. And the cables are already tied up neatish. (side note: I need to find another sata data cable, MB only came with two.)

IMG_0051.JPG

[Ericmopar]

Nice. Is that a silent case design?

[bpetit]

Yup, you don't even hear the 212 evo at full spin rpm. Also comes with 2 fans already with a controller.

I dunno if I did the thermal paste right. It's usually idling at 39C-41C. Core temps are 44-45C (got Arctic MX-4 type on it)

[bpetit]

Definitely going to re apply it in an X Shape. as I think put too little to cover the area with the pea method.

[BillS]

If you're going to reapply the thermal paste, be EXTREMELY careful cleaning the old off. Don't let it go beyond the edges of the flat surface where the CPU resides. Also, don't apply too much of the new and have it oozing out of the edges, like cream cheese on a bagel.

[Ericmopar]

The age old argument.
I prefer the "Line" method. LOL
Use non conductive thermal compound and running over won't be an issue.
You don't want too much paste on there as that will actually insulate the CPU from the cooler.
On a fresh cooler install, it will take a good load and some heat to melt down the paste and make a better contact. IE it will run warmer the first few times.
I can vouch for Antec's, CoolerMaster's and Artic Silver pastes. I've used all three with great success and no more than 1 degree of difference in use. (within the realm of error)

[bpetit]

I just did not put enough the first time around. So I did a small X seems to be much better.

[peterhayes]

BP

I just did not put enough the first time around. So I did a small X seems to be much better.

Just curious how did you know that a small X was better?
If you lifted the cpu off to look - there is a chance of trapping air when you reseated it?

With thermal paste you are only looking at max 3 - 4 micron thickness ie to "fill in" the "gaps" between the cpu and the cooler plate, so as everyone says thinner is better and no matter what type of paste that you use it should not spread beyond the margins of the cpu and cooler.
The most important part is where the cpu sits on the die (that's the only bit generating heat) - if that's covered the rest is relatively unimportant. But its easier to cover the whole area in a thin film.

Regards
pH

[bpetit]

I actually cleaned the CPU and cooler and reapplied it.
Temps came down about 1C so I guess it wasn't such a big deal after all

[buzz456]

First power up. Working fine this morning.

New computer.jpg

[jalsina]

Nothing so neat as a new box and full new components.

That was about a month ago:
A change of motherboard (EVGA mobo with a Q6700 and 4GB of DDR2 memory)
to:
MSI Z97 PC Mate with an Intel i7-4790K and 16 Gb of Corsair DDR3-2400 memory

Preparing the new motherboard, outside the box:

mobo0.jpg

Before....I was facing a very dusty box and a hrd work to clean everything including box fans:

mobo1.jpg

In the middle..... cleaning finished, motherboard set, cabling under way:

mobo2.jpg

After:

mobo3.jpg

Finally I had some trouble getting Windows 10 activated (required going back to 8.1 and I decided to benefit of a full clean install).
Particularly this phase was complicated because I did not have any SATA DVD-ROM in the house.

Enjoying the little rig so far

[Ericmopar]

Nice work you guys.