Initial power up

[Sam98]

I got my EVGA GTX 580 SC card today, it was the last piece for my new build. This has never been powered up before and I was looking for tips before I turn it on for the first time. I have unplugged the WD hard drive for now, and only the SSD is plugged in, everything else is plugged in and hooked up. Here is a list of the components installed. No software installed as of yet.

Corsair 600T case
Corsair TX850 PSU
Corsair Force GT 120 GB SSD
Corsair H100 Liquid CPU Cooler
Corsair XMS Triple Channel Memory, 2000 MHz, 24 GB
ASUS Rampage III Formula motherboard
Intel Core I7-960 Processor, 3.20 Ghz
Western Digital 1TB HDD, Caviar black
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
ASUS 24X DVD burner
Sony Blue Ray writer
AFT Media reader
ASUS WiFi card
Logitec Z623 speakers
Logitec MK550 keyboard and mouse
Windows 7 Utimate
LG IPS236 monitor

Also, do you leave the stickers on the graphics card board, seems like they could possible start to melt? I am referring to the ones on the circuit board like the serial number and such.

 

[GenericUser]

You should be fine. You won't be hurting anything if you start it up with everything hooked in, but at the same time if you really feel like playing it safe it won't hurt it either if you only have the SSD hooked in. The stickers shouldn't be an issue, you would want to leave those on too in the event you would have to RMA a part. I've never had an issue with a sticker on a video card.

 

[Sam98]

I'm in the bios, it recognizes my CD/DVD, the BluRay, and the Corsair SSD. Should I exit the bios first and then put the Windows 7 disk in, or put the disk in first and then exit the bios?

 

[QuietPC]

Exit bios, put the CD in and go ahead and install windows. After you have that done and it's working plug in the hdd and format it so its ready for use.

 

[Sam98]

Thanks, Windows is loading. It wouldn't install from the ASUS, so I switched to the Sony Drive. Weird, it listed 1st boot from the ASUS, then the Corsair, then the Sony.

 

[Sam98]

Windows installed without a problem. I powered down and hooked up the WD hard drive, and now the bios doesn't show my SSD drive and is trying to boot from the WD drive, and can't. What is up with that?


Solved this problem, I was looking in the wrong place for the drive, found it and made the change, working fine now. Lots of software to install.

 

[Sam98]

Exit bios, put the CD in and go ahead and install windows. After you have that done and it's working plug in the hdd and format it so its ready for use.

How do you format the drive in Windows 7? It says I need to initialize it first.

 

[QuietPC]

Here's a walkthru (there are lots on the web): http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/format-hard-drive-windows-7.htm

 

[Sam98]

Here's a walkthru (there are lots on the web): http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/format-hard-drive-windows-7.htm

Thanks for the help! It ended up that I was selecting the wrong box, I was selecting the small box all the way to the left instead of the box with the drive capacity. All of this is new to me, I smack myself in the head when I can't figure out this stuff and it's just something stupid.

 

[QuietPC]

Thanks for the help! It ended up that I was selecting the wrong box, I was selecting the small box all the way to the left instead of the box with the drive capacity. All of this is new to me, I smack myself in the head when I can't figure out this stuff and it's just something stupid.

It's a learning process. All good now?

 

[Sam98]

It's a learning process. All good now?

All drives are working now. I'm loading the Asus drivers and software. I'm wondering how to find out if the memory is in XMP mode, and where do I put the CPU in Turbo mode? Asus software or bios?

 

[Sam98]

I ran Passmark and got a score of 3021.2 before tweaking anything, how does that look? Looks like my CPU was above average for the model at 6900 and change.

 

[aqe040466]

I'm in the bios, it recognizes my CD/DVD, the BluRay, and the Corsair SSD. Should I exit the bios first and then put the Windows 7 disk in, or put the disk in first and then exit the bios?

Okay you are in the BIOS did you change the SATA setting from IDE to AHCI? I ask this because you are using SSD, for the SSD to function to its full performance it should be in AHCI mode not IDE mode.

 

[Sam98]

Okay you are in the BIOS did you change the SATA setting from IDE to AHCI? I ask this because you are using SSD, for the SSD to function to its full performance it should be in AHCI mode not IDE mode.

Not yet. Also, I ran PCMark 7 and got a score of 4389, I noticed it said my memory was at 533 MHz, is that right for 2000 MHz memory? 3DMark 11 score at 1280 X 720 was P6323.

 

[Sam98]

I changed to AHCI, will the WD hard drive still work correctly?

 

[aqe040466]

I changed to AHCI, will the WD hard drive still work correctly?

Off course it will work, The BIOS recognizes right.

 

[aqe040466]

Not yet. Also, I ran PCMark 7 and got a score of 4389, I noticed it said my memory was at 533 MHz, is that right for 2000 MHz memory? 3DMark 11 score at 1280 X 720 was P6323.

Go online and download CPU-Z and H/W Monitor, these are monitoring software for any PC's. and its free.

 

[Sam98]

Best answer selected by sam98.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey