Have any suggestions, advice, constructive criticisms, etc. on my new build?

[Dark Mantis]

Nice pics, I hope you are going to add them to our Members computer pics in the Customising section too.

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2373.0.html

[soarwitheagles]

Hi, nice build.  I cool my 1055t with a H70 also.   Great cooler, used a cooler master V8 but when oc-ing my temps were alittle higher than i would have liked-not that 48c @ 3.6 is that bad lol.

What are your temps as i like to compare to my own.   Mine are 20 idle and never seen it go above 34c @ 3.3

My mount of the rad is different than yours, i chose not to mount in the back of the case and suck up the hot air discharged by the graphics cards and psu.  I mounted the rad (pressure fit lol-works wonderfully) into the front drive bay of my 932.  It sits a few inches from the top exaust fan so the hot air never really enters the case and i can keep the rear 120mm fan for extra cooling.  A second plus to this is it does not take the whole back of your case up, covering the mobo from veiw

Hope the pics work

Anyways great build, looks very nice.

Cravinmild, awesome build!  I really like the way you mounted your Corsair H70...very creative.  You system looks beautiful!

My temps vary somewhat depending upon the temps of my computer room.  Right now the CPU temps are at 25.2.  Heavy gaming can knock it up to 35.

You know, this morning I was in Fry's Electronics after church and they had the CoolMaster HAF 932 for $65 with a free $60 Frio CPU cooler and heatsink.  Here's the ad: http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/FSI/Page.aspx?advid=200177&loc=53824&fsi=14894&version=Mercury&facing=false&pagenum=3

I have been comparing Coolmaster's HAF and Coolmaster's Sniper for some time now and I am still wavering as to which one to go with.

Although the HAF 932 is labeled as a full and the Sniper as a Mid case, each case is nearly the same in dimensions, with the Sniper being 1" wider.

The pros of the HAF are many:

240mm fans vs. 200mm
More room for HD's ect.
Very nice look..much better than the Sniper

The pros of the Sniper are also interesting:

Fans have adjustable speeds with built in controller
LED's may be turned on or off
Nice dust filters on all intakes

I sat there in Fry's this morning staring at and debating whether or not to purchase a couple of the HAF's....then decided against it for now.  The price was right [half price]!  I am not sure if I made the right decision.

Is it ok if you and DM can give me clear reasons why you two went with the HAF 32 vs. Sniper?

Please help me understand the why's behind the what's of the HAF 932.

I'm just not sure it would be all the much better than the Sniper and worth all the effort of transferring all the guts from the Sniper to the HAF 932.  The salesman at Fry's said I don't need a HAF 932 if I have a Sniper...hmmmm...interesting...but I am not so sure I agree with him.

I think the sale is good for two more days, so I can always run back and pick up a couple of the HAF 932's, sell the FRIOS on Ebay, and pay less than $25 per HAF 932.

Thanks,

Soar

[soarwitheagles]

Nice pics, I hope you are going to add them to our Members computer pics in the Customising section too.

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2373.0.html

DM, thanks for the nice compliment.  I would like to ad both the Intel build and the AMD build to the Customizing section.  I will wait until I can take some nice pics.

Your system looks absolutely awesome.  When I saw all the nice blue lights, I turned green....with envy!

LOL!  Excellent job DM!

Now, please tell me what are the reasons you went with the HAF 932.  Our local store has an awesome sale on then this week and I almost bought two this morning...but am still debating which is better, the Sniper or the HAF 932 [please see my post before this one].

Happy Holidays to you from my family to yours!

Soar

[cravinmild]

Its a great price for that case but if yours if doing as it should, being you can fit your cards and the heat is exceptable then i would stay with your case and put the money into a ssd-now there is some BAM! for your machine. One of the single best upgrades you can do IMO.  I saw my Intel 40 gig for $65 recently.


The reasion i gots the 932 was purely fluke.  It was the last part of my upgrade and decided that that was the day i would get a case-hell or high water lol.

Scoured the city and the only thing i could find were cheap looking things, one store took pitty on me and sold me the case (HAF 932 AMD Edition) from a future instore promo build they were planning.

Its very upgradeable and future proof too

[soarwitheagles]

Its a great price for that case but if yours if doing as it should, being you can fit your cards and the heat is exceptable then i would stay with your case and put the money into a ssd-now there is some BAM! for your machine. One of the single best upgrades you can do IMO.  I saw my Intel 40 gig for $65 recently.


The reasion i gots the 932 was purely fluke.  It was the last part of my upgrade and decided that that was the day i would get a case-hell or high water lol.

Scoured the city and the only thing i could find were cheap looking things, one store took pitty on me and sold me the case (HAF 932 AMD Edition) from a future instore promo build they were planning.

Its very upgradeable and future proof too

Cravin, ok, thanks for your good input.  I believe both cases have excellent qualities and good points.

Yes, my two Sniper cases are doing their jobs wonderfully.  If I cannot see a major improvement over the Sniper with the HAF 932 then I suppose I will stick with the Sniper cases.  We live on a ranch so there is lots of dust out here and this requires excellent filtering in computer cases or we would have dust monsters and that would not do.

I did hear the HAF 932's have a modification that uses ladies stockings for filters.  I am not sure how well that works.

Have you heard about this mod?

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar and thanks for the good wishes and the same back to your family.

The HAF 932 is an excellent case but I don't think I would swap the Sniper for it in your circumstances. I had to do a lot of modding to mine to get it how I wanted it (still messing now). The filters on the Sniper are a good bonus point and I had to make up my own, see below. I ended up adding most of the good points of the Sniper to the HAF but it has taken some work. The price is another story though and I can imagine why you are tempted. That's nearly FREE and is the best price in my book!

In all seriousness I don't think it 's worth the trouble Soar but I would still be tempted to buy a couple at that price for future builds.

[soarwitheagles]

Hi Soar and thanks for the good wishes and the same back to your family.

The HAF 932 is an excellent case but I don't think I would swap the Sniper for it in your circumstances. I had to do a lot of modding to mine to get it how I wanted it (still messing now). The filters on the Sniper are a good bonus point and I had to make up my own, see below. I ended up adding most of the good points of the Sniper to the HAF but it has taken some work. The price is another story though and I can imagine why you are tempted. That's nearly FREE and is the best price in my book!

In all seriousness I don't think it 's worth the trouble Soar but I would still be tempted to buy a couple at that price for future builds.

DM, absolutely beautiful machine you have made there.  I like the mods.  Very creative and perhaps very necessary to keep the dust monsters out!

I suppose I will follow you and cravin's good advice and pass on the HAF 932's for now.  I am sure better deals will come, and hopefully on some of the newer cases.

I have attached a pic of my twin monsters.

I'll take a pic of the interior guts a little later...I am so happy because I finally found a super deal on a EVGA GTS 450 Over clocked edition [$59 instead of $150], as well as a killer deal on Creative's PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Card [$69 vs. $199].  I look forward to installing these two components and then showing the pics.

Have a wonderful day!

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Ah! Twins! They look very nice Soar and will look forward to seeing some completed photos soon inside and out. Your Snipers are painted black on the inside aren't they? The 932 isn't and i had to strip it all out and spray it one day. It does look better for it though. The dust isn't so bad now as I got rid of the carpet and put down a nice hard floor which stops about 90% of the dust.

Are you sure they actually sell hardware at that price over there and you are not just saying that to wind us up?
I do find it hard to believe. There would be a riot over here if someone started selling hardware for those sort of prices!!!

[soarwitheagles]

Ah! Twins! They look very nice Soar and will look forward to seeing some completed photos soon inside and out. Your Snipers are painted black on the inside aren't they? The 932 isn't and i had to strip it all out and spray it one day. It does look better for it though. The dust isn't so bad now as I got rid of the carpet and put down a nice hard floor which stops about 90% of the dust.

Are you sure they actually sell hardware at that price over there and you are not just saying that to wind us up?
I do find it hard to believe. There would be a riot over here if someone started selling hardware for those sort of prices!!!

Hi DM!

Thanks for your nice compliments on my twin monsters...and yes, I will take some pics after installing the two new pieces of hardware [GTS 450 and the Creative Fatality Sound Blaster Titanium]...

Regarding prices on hardware...yes, this last week was the well advertised "Black Friday" event in the USA when vendors drop prices significantly all over the nation...and there were some awesome deals.  I purchased several items...Western Digital had External 2TB HD's dropped to under $70 so I bought everyone I could find.  Some people purchased hundreds of them.  I'll sell the units I purchased here in the states in the new year...it is a nice way to fund my computer building hobby DM!

Years ago, before we had the recession, the deals were even better.

Alright, have a wonderful day there and again, kudo's on that incredible 932 build with the magnificent mods...wish I had more time to play around with computers...I would definitely try a mod on a 932 here...at $25 a unit it would have been a great deal!

Soar

[cravinmild]

I heard about the filters for the 932 but choose not to have any, I perfur the lower temps and i just clean extra with cans of compressed air.  Nice grab on the sound card, i have the same one.  One thing i have noticed with that card is it doesn't like heat, pressed between two graphics cards would cause it to overheat and stop functioning.  Most pics i see of the card instaled show it loaded above the gc so you may want to take that into acount when you instal it.  Also, there is a front panel header for the frount 3.5mm jacks at the back of the card........amazing to see how many people hook their front headers to the mobo because they did not realize that.

Enjoy,

[soarwitheagles]

I heard about the filters for the 932 but choose not to have any, I perfur the lower temps and i just clean extra with cans of compressed air.  Nice grab on the sound card, i have the same one.  One thing i have noticed with that card is it doesn't like heat, pressed between two graphics cards would cause it to overheat and stop functioning.  Most pics i see of the card instaled show it loaded above the gc so you may want to take that into acount when you instal it.  Also, there is a front panel header for the frount 3.5mm jacks at the back of the card........amazing to see how many people hook their front headers to the mobo because they did not realize that.

Enjoy,

Cravin,

Thanks for the fresh info on the HAF 932 and the filters and sound card and the jacks...

You are very fortunate to be able to use a computer with no filters...I need an excellent filtration method because we live out in the country side on a large ranch with lots of horses, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, snakes, etc. and there is dust everywhere here...esp. in the dry months...I normally need to blow out all computers every month due to the dust...even with the excellent dust filters that the Sniper has....

Believe it or not, I use an air blower that I normally use to blow up Omni-Kin Balls!  It works perfect!

Now about that sound card...thanks for helping me understand the heat issue...I will definitely do my best to keep it away from the other cards and give it proper ventilation.  Will this sound card work well for music and is there an accompanying equalizer or is it more manufactured for gaming purposes?

My main purpose in purchasing this card was for even better sound quality for music and movies...am I barking up the wrong ally on this?  The Gigabyte MB seems to have have excellent sound quality already but I thought I might be able to improve upon it.  Will I see a noticable difference or should I just be happy with the onboard Gigabyte sound card?

Soar

[cravinmild]

Going from onboard sound to a dedicated sound card is like turning your speakers on for the first time.  Even mobos with good sound (including xfi) are not as good as a dedicated sound card.  The creative sb card is a gaming card, all though far better than onboard sound but at the end of the day its still a gaming card and after awhile you start to notice that.  Im not saying i have an awsome sound system and im no audiophile but any one who is would tell you to go for a better card for movies and music probley more expensive.................... in our world but maybe not where you come from, land of the almost free computer parts lol.  Still a great buy as i like to game so no buyers remorse here.

PS  looks awsome in the side window with its little white X-FI lite shining out all bright and all.

[soarwitheagles]

Going from onboard sound to a dedicated sound card is like turning your speakers on for the first time.  Even mobos with good sound (including xfi) are not as good as a dedicated sound card.  The creative sb card is a gaming card, all though far better than onboard sound but at the end of the day its still a gaming card and after awhile you start to notice that.  Im not saying i have an awsome sound system and im no audiophile but any one who is would tell you to go for a better card for movies and music probley more expensive.................... in our world but maybe not where you come from, land of the almost free computer parts lol.  Still a great buy as i like to game so no buyers remorse here.

PS  looks awsome in the side window with its little white X-FI lite shining out all bright and all.

Cravin, thanks for the education on sound cards.  I have only owned on sound card in my life and that was some years ago.  I never realized most dedicated sound cards are much better than the onboard sound cards...but it sure makes sense when you compare the difference between onboard GPU's and dedicated GPU's.

Speaking of GPU's I just installed the long awaited GTS 450 SC and I am very happy with it.  After waiting an entire year I now have Direct X 11!

Now about this new sound card...

I've just completed reading over 60 reviews on this Creative PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Card...

I noticed a pattern: most people either were totally in love with it and gave it stellar reviews, or, they hate it with a passion and vowed to never purchase Creative ever again!

Not many in-between'ers.

Most Creative Sound Blaster Hater's were complaining about 1] Driver issues, 2] Poor tech support, 3] Wires that broke easily.

I did find two reviews where the guys explained very carefully how to do the install.  I was hoping to ask you if you have any comments on this...

Here's one guys recommendations:


Other Thoughts:

Install Log: Made sure onboard sound in bios was disabled

1) Uninstalled audio drivers, which included using device manager for uninstall of motherboard sound drivers then shut down.

2)Connected cables to pci-e card then put card in slot.

3) Connected cables to external I/O drive BEFORE slipping drive into case.

4) Start Win 7 and shut off Anti Virus and all other progs.

5) started Creative Install disk then rebooted at completion.

6) Ran Creative autoupdate and basically repeated entire install process, restarted.

7) Ran windows update and voila new update for creative gets installed, restarted

Ran creative autoupdate again and once more 2 more updates were installed bringing me to final driver version of 2.17.7. BTW it took this last update to get the lights on I/O drive to come on. LAST THOUGHT...after every update and restart, make sure you shut down all running programs every time, this will minimize potential conflicts. Good Luck and enjoy the awesome sound!

So that is quite a detailed instruction.

Other reviewers swore to never use the auto updater but to go directly to Creative's website for the drivers...

Have you any thoughts on the install process?

I'm hoping to do it right.  If do experience lots of trouble with it and cannot troubleshoot it, I can always pack it up and sell it for more than I paid.

But I really would like to have a nice sound card operational on this system.

Can you share any insights you learned?

And, where are you?  Which part of this beautiful planet/

Soar

[cravinmild]

I have read many reviews including instals for this card also.  Most are not overly possitve but to play devels advicate, most people are idots.  Both of my instals were different. The first one was basic the second i custom instaled and it allowed me to instal the parts i wanted-drivers and creative console launcher, the rest is filler. 

  My process was easy,  first i shut down the pc and put the card into the mobo-plugging in the front panel FIRST (3.5mm jacks or the front panel device as in your case) to the sound card as its easyer this way.  Start up the pc > bios > disable onboard sound (will not disable front jacks even if plugged into the mobo) > restart > launch the software (dont use the disk it came with-dl from creative labs here):

http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&CatName=Sound+Blaster&subCatID=208&subCatName=X-Fi&prodID=17813&prodName=PCI+Express+X-Fi+Titanium+Fatal1ty+Champion+Series&bTopTwenty=1&VARSET=prodfaq:PRODFAQ_17813,VARSET=CategoryID:1

only use these drivers if your sure that is your card other wise get the drivers for the card you have, it does make a differance

Cut and paste to your top bar if the link does not lite up lol-its a long one.  I assume your card will come with the front device and not just the card, other wise you either got the pro series or never recived the front panel control box.  I have the pro series so my card does not have that extra device.

You can go for a complete instal (i did it the first time and it took forever) or custom instal and pick the parts you want-mostly garbage extras,  you really only have to instal the drivers NOT the whole package.   My sound card crapped out everytime it over heats which causes me to pull the card- replugg the card in > uninstall drivers > reinstall drivers,  it works everytime.

Im from beautiful BC  Canada,  mid way up the and in the centre.  110c in the summer and -30c in the winter, Lots of sun.  We have alot of cattle ranches and orchards around.  Im about 3 hours away from Vancouver which is ranked one of the most beautiful citys in the world and the most expensive place to buy a home in Canada..........go figure.

[Dark Mantis]

Wow that's really hot in the Summer Just as well you Canuks are a hardy bunch.