Putting PC Together, looking for advice

[ajocius]

And here is the picture from back side of the pc, where you can see that motherboard had to be moved more to the left. But picture above shows that FHS is already bended. To get to right position would require to move fan another 5 mm to left. Bending FHS applies pressure on CPU I think...

 

Thinking what to do. It is strange that many people seems managed to get the same compection to work. For example following page used same mobo, CPU cooler and case:

http://www.hardwarexl.com/index.php?option...=1&limitstart=3

 

So what can I do:

1. Change cooler but that is not cool decision at all...

2. Cut about 1 cm of the coolerfan metal blates on left side, so it would not touch the case. This seems doable, but is it safe? Would I loose a lot of efficiency in doing that?

 

Other options?

[Muffinman]

Nope, thats definately not a perfect fit.

 

As I see it you have two choices. 1: Return the Zalman and get a smaller cooler, or 2: Cut off some leaves from the cooler until none actually touches your cab wall.

 

EDIT: Oops, missed your last post.

 

BTW, i doubt cutting off some of the cooler would be a problem. The Zalman will still offer great cooling and low noise levels, even if you remove some material. Just be sure that the fan won`t touch the cab wall before starting.

Endret 28. april 2005 av Muffinman

[ajocius]

Thanks, do you know if cutting is safe? Do I loose a lot of efficiency?

 

I thought of another alternative as well, cutting the whole in the case, but then I guess it is bye bye to silence..

[ajocius]

So I finally decided to cut the hole in the bottom of the case. This helped to keep cooler in one peace and the hole will not be seen as it is in the bottom of the case. In any case, I would advice anyone trying to use Silverstone TJ06 and Asus P5AD2-E Premium with Zalman 7700 to know, that it does not fit. Distance between mobo and side of case is around 5 mm. Zalman goes 14.6 MM outside of mobo... so you have around 10 mm problem.

 

Another obsticle. Mist 500 is places so high in Silverstone, that one of the power cables ATX12V does not reach socket on the motherboard. What a shame. I drove around many shops in Oslo (Elfa, Clas Ohlson, Digitalinpuls) nobody seems to have that kind of extension. Cable ATX12V can been seen here:

http://www.microplex.no/rubweb/php/rd.php?...0BHE12&toc=5037

 

So I think to cut current cable and solder another cable in between, so the total cable gets longer. I know I will loose guarantee on MIST, but what could I do else??? People that I spoke at shops think it is not dangerous for mobo. I have in mind that quality of power supply would not change that much that it would effect performance???

[ajocius]

Well, I cut the PSU cable as well as no other advice was received. Soldered in extra cable and finally got all connections. Next obstacle was update of BIOS since I didn't buy CD. This might sound easy to experts but it really took me time to find free bootable CD software and if there is somebody else is searching for solution I definitely advice to use UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD)

http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

It is free, quite clear to use and has masses of possibilities to do without XP start up. And so it helped me to update BIOS without floppy.

 

Everything looks ok, CPU tempreture with low Alman settings is 44 C, which is acceptible. The only problem is that I get error message at a startup "CPU fan error" Press F1 to Resume. So I do, but my concious is not letting me sleep. I checked that power and control cables for CPU fan are plugged in. CPU fan that I use is Zalman 7700 Cu. One thing I noticed was that fan control plug had three pins, when mobo conection had 4 pins. Neverthelles it was clear how to connect due to the shape of the plug. On the other hand one connector is not used. Could that be a problem? If not, what could be the problem?

[ajocius]

yep, and funny enough, once I put Zalman to full power, there was no warning message at a start up. This is really something, isn't it?

[Zatôitchi]

Hehe I cant help you mate - just wanted to state the somewhat amusing fact that you certanly have managed to pick hardware that have given you quite a bit of a challenge :!:

[ajocius]

that was the whole point to rely on advices of this forum, since this is my first pc and I don't have much experience myself. So all the parts were listed many times here and advices by members that seem to have high attendance in the forum. On the other hand they disappeared now, when my problems poped up. Well, so far I find the way around and hope, what I write will help some others.

[Muffinman]

To solve your "cpu fan error" problem, enter bios and go to hardware monitoring. Set cpu fan rpm to "ignore".

 

Also, check if there is an option somewhere for "halt on". You should try to set this one to disabled i the above doesn`t help.

 

As for your hardware; it is very easy to give advice on individual components, but when it comes to large coolers as the Zalman it is not quite that easy. Due to its size, it can conflict with the case and capacitors/chipset coolers on the mainboard itself. Maybe on a different type of mainboard with the cpu socket located differently it would fit in your cabinet.

 

The bottom line is, the only ones who should advice on hardware when including such large coolers are those who know the exact components fit together.

Or do thorough research to check if things will fit.

 

Btw, I thought you were going for the Stacker there for a while...

[ajocius]

That is correct, I was going for Stacker, but then was adviced on Silverstone TJ06 due to its quitness and quality and because it is big. It really looks good and solid, no doubt about it. Just warning that it does not work in combination to Asus P5AD2-E Premium and Zalman7700 for new system builders! Unless, of course, you are ready to do some DIY.

 

I will search BIOS for ignoring CPU fan. But the question is why is it. By ignoring error message I will have quite startup for the system, but what if there is really a problem? I managed to get rid of problem by increasing fan speed to about 1200. No warning on start up and the tempreture is not red in Bios screen. However, why does it give me problem when fan speed is below 1200?

[Muffinman]

However, why does it give me problem when fan speed is below 1200?

The bios is probably set set to trigger the warning when the fan rpm drops below a certain threshold. The Zalman is operating at a very low rpm rate compared to a "normal" cpu fan, and you get your warning.

Endret 2. mai 2005 av Muffinman