New Build Report - Q6600 8800GTS - With Pictures

My build has been assembled and working for the last week, so I thought it was time to go over the process of putting it together. I took lots of pictures along the way and wanted to share in case it might be interesting/useful to anyone.

If you want to know why I built the computer, and my original thought process go here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] em-monitor

Here is how I came to the decision to buy the parts I did:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ll-trigger

For the record the total cost, with shipping, but before rebates was: $1,405.72 Rebates should come to just under $100.

I purchased mostly from New Egg, but did get the Q6600 from clubit.com to guarantee the G0. I also had to get the HS from jab-tech, since New Egg did not carry the TRUE.

The shipment from New Egg via UPS came superfast. I ordered Friday morning, and it was shipped by early afternoon. It was here on Monday. Fed Ex, on the other hand was a disaster. Very disappointed with their service, and it took almost a week to finally get the part. (In their defense I did pay for FedEx Home, which says 2-7 Days delivery, but it was in my town for 3 days before they finally got it to me.)

So here are all the parts (except for the CPU) sitting on my dining room table, waiting... :



While I waited for the Q6600 to arrive, I lapped my heatsink (with thanks to Graysky)



After the CPU arrived, I started to break out the individual pieces. Here is the P182 after I installed the PSU:



Next I removed the DS3L from its box and protective anti-static bag:



I was a little worried about the OEM CPU, but it installed perfectly. It was a little disconcerting that it came in a plain box, wrapped in bubble wrap with no packaging.



Putting the HS on was pretty painless. The stupid fan clips probably took me longer than anything else. They do not fit on well, and I'm still not 100% that I did it right, but hey... it worked.

Here is the Motherboard, all ready to get installed into the case. I went with the Antex Tri-Cool 120mm for the fan, just so all my fans would match. Dorky, I know...



Here is the DS3L, in the case. I was worried about the standoffs, but it all lined up perfect. I installed one stick of RAM now, and one later after the VISTA install.



Next came the Optical Drive, Hard Drive, and adding the power cables from the Modular 520HX. It was definately a tight fit on occasion. Especially down at the PSU, and at the very top of the case... adding the ATX_12V was a MAJOR PAIN. It took me forever to get it in... I had almost given up. It was essential that I had a friend there to feed me the cables. All the case cables were tough too, but not terrible. Just frustrating to make sure they all were going the right way.

I added the two "optional" fans to the case, so I put the HDD in the lowest cage. The GPU was awesome looking and I was very happy that it fit with the extra fans. Its a little tight behind with the cables, but not bad.

Note on the 7200.10 - If anyone is thinking about putting together a similar build... you've GOT to remove the jumper to have the drive run at full speed. Since it was OEM, there were no instructions, and I took me awhile to research exactly what to do with it.

Here is what the inside of the case looked like in the end. It is BY FAR the nicest the inside of my case has ever looked. THANK GOD for the space behind the mobo tray to put the wires. All the people who told me it was a waste to spend the extra money on the P182 over the 900 were wrong, at least for me, and this picture is proof:



I POSTED okay, made my adjustments in the BIOS, and put the VISTA DISC in the drive. Installing Windows is always an adventure, and these are the perhaps the scariest words in the English language:



But it worked! Here is the computer, in its place, with the Monitor that started it all:



I did have one scary moment, you can read about if you'd like... basically all hell broke loose and I thought my computer was ruined. But the problem went away, and has not resurfaced... so... yeah... I like to pretend it never happened.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] lems-build

Here is an interesting thread with results on my benchmarking with 3DMARK06:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ng-results

I found that PCMARK VANTAGE works great with Vista 64, incase anyone is looking for a good benchmark. My score out-of-the-box with no OC was 4578. I'll post an update after I OC.

I am in the process of OC'ing, and right now I am at 3.3Ghz with no stability problems. I'll update when I get to my target of 3.6Ghz (knock on wood).

Thanks to aevm, g-paw for the advice on the build, cnumartyr, Evilonigiri and graysky for their great tutorials and FAQs on Overclocking, and everyone else at Tomshardware who helped along the way!

Althius