It's begun.. psionic98s 1st build!

Ok so I'm pretty sure that I've gotten all the parts now.. course I'll find out later I need cables, but thats besides the point. I didn't have a ton of time to put too much together due to it being near midnight when I started tinkering.. here's some pics of the parts and the beginning.. more to come.


Panaflo 100+cfm for hsf..sorry camera couldn't zoom in and sharpen the image.. next buy perhaps!


Thor's Hammer


EVGA x58 mATX mobo


G.Skill 3x2gb cas9


Enermax 720w modular psu


ASUS 5770 .. when you can't afford the real thing!




HAF 922 with mobo and psu in place..

more to come!

Looks good so far, loving the red theme. If you want to take a photo of your fan, try taking it from far away and then crop it on the computer.

red/black is ftw. Those are going to be my next build's colours for sure!

I agree Black and Red is an awsome theme choice... It's what I'm doing too... posting pictures of mine soon too.

Might as well jump on the band wagon. That was my thought for my next color combo too.

Pics look good! Keep em coming.

Black and red used to be very popular, blue kind of took over for a while. Glad to see red coming back though

No pics, but quick update. Mounted hsf (while in case.. stupid move cause of space, but i got it!), memory in, vid card in, one of the hds to use for raid0 in, dvd drive in, some cables are routed good, but not tied yet.. tried to get an initial post.. failure.. so yeah.. time to take it all apart and see what I might have done wrong!

Already tried "bare minimum" setup and that was failing to post too.. i get the debug led of "FF" which is Boot, but never passes that stage.. ideas if you got em are welcome!

black and green is also ftw... need more black/green support

Another quickie update.. pics might not be up until after the holidays as I probably can't work on it again until the 26th.. that being said..

I removed everything from the case, ran the "basics" off a cardboard box and I posted... so then I put the mobo back in, reconnected the basics+all ram+dvd+fans and posted.

The only thing I haven't put back on is the HSF.. so i have a question.. on the back of the mobo the CPU lockdown has a big silver rectangle that goes around the back of the chip.. the hsf boltthrough plate looks like it touches this plate. Is that any worry for grounding/shorting?

I also hooked up the case power/led buttons etc except for the front panel usb etc.. so that could be it too.. but pls reply with opinions on above question about backplate.

Also, the CPU power wires run over what I think is the NB heatsink (top left of the mobo).. should I worry about that overheating and causing probs with the wire sleeves? Its so ugly to have that wire drape over the top of the mobo, but its very very tight coming through the top opening behind the mobo tray.

YoMatta said:

black and green is also ftw... need more black/green support

Click to expand...

I was going to do black/green, but since nearly every component I was buying was already red or black i figured why ruin the trend! The hsf looks like its nickel plated, so its darker too.

bump..someone answer questions in #9

Does it just slightly touch it or is it pressed directly against it? I wouldn't worry about shorting if its just barely touching.

Also, you should try to re-route the cables to avoid placing them in an excessively hot place.

Good luck with the rest of the build!

There is no problem with the backplate and the HSF bracket touching. The backplate bolts directly to the socket latch mechanism on the front of the motherboard, which is already in direct contact with the CPU... so you have nothing to worry about. What you need to look out for is contact with electrical components, but most well designed HSF backplates have already been tested with most/all motherboards for compatibility.

Ok, I lied, I played some more..

Everything setup, semi-wire managed, win7pro x64 loaded and running on one of the 80gb drives.. so far so good.. gotta learn how to turn the fans down though..atm every one seems to be running at 100% which is way to freakin loud.. i know the panaflow is set to run 100% and thats fine on the hsf, but the rest are loud..


Anyways, ran the system a good hour just playing around in windows.. temps (ambient is like -1c or 30f in my basement in the winter atm) system never crept above 20c.. hopefully i can download some apps and get it testing everything..

Question is where to start.. memtest is an obvious, but beyond that what should I be running/checking/doing before working on moving to raid0 on the OS and installing the storage drive? I will OC it as well.. figuring for now ill just up the multi and check ram timings.. only goin for modest 3.8ish area

If you haven't already you should read this tutorial on how to oc. I used it for my first build and its a really helpful guide. Gives you all the programs you should use and what to do with them and whatnot.

Good job getting it working!

Hey champ it looks great.
I really wanted the Thors Hammer but i couldnt fit in in my case so i had to go with the Achilles.

dude, pics, keep them rolling

the hammer is big.. and the fan i got with it is a 3pin so its always on max.. 100+cfm.. its kinda loud, but very cool hsf so far!