teh_moleman

Hi,

I've just starting building a new computer and I have a few issues.

First of all, the one that worries me the most. I was installing the processor (Core2Duo E8400 on a Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L mobo) and I triple checked that I had the notches matched up right and everything was nice and set before pulling the lever down on it. But right as I was about to lock it in, I heard some very distinct metallic "clink" noises. I'm sure it wasn't the lever locking into place that made the clinks, but I decided to leave it locked rather than trying to take the processor back out to see if anything happened and making things worse. Considering everything I've read on this has said the locking process should be zero-force, zero-pressure, etc. I'm afraid I may have broken something. I guess I may be overreacting, but any cracking or dinging noises from circuit boards always make me cringe.

Next problem concerns the power supply. I'm using a Cooler Master RC-690 case, which has the power supply on the bottom. Every cable reaches just fine except for the CPU power cable. It could reach the socket, but it leaves almost no slack, meaning the cable's in the way of the video card and all other expansion slots. I searched on Newegg and can't find any extensions for that particular cable. So am I out of luck and need to find a different power supply? or am I just not looking in the right place for an extension cable?

Finally, installing the stock CPU heatsink pretty much sucked cause of the plastic pushpin mechanism (give me old fashioned screws anyday) Anyway, those things didn't want to lock into place, so the heatsink kept rocking back and forth each time I tried pushing them in, which may have messed up the tiny bit of thermal compound they included on there. I don't plan on doing any overclocking anytime soon, so I'll stick with the stock cooler, but should I go through the trouble of buying new thermal compound to redo it? or is it probably fine as is?

Thanks in advance for any help.

kris23

the amount of paste on the cooler is far too much for the CPU to use. the most you need is the amount of a water droplet to effectively conduct the heat. yea you could use some new paste

but before you do anything, try setting everything up without the cooler and see if the system even boots up but turn it off right after you see the boot screen as the CPU will be building heat up right away.

heres the best thermal paste on the market:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835202006

the best way to remove the existing paste is using alcohol to dissolve the paste

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OldBuzzard

I take it that you are referring to the 4-pin one that is at the top left on that MB?

If so, then when you order the paste from Newegg, get this:

Newegg.com - Athena Power 12" P4-12V (4Pin) connector Extension Cable. Model Cable-AD09 - Cables

I have a CM690. I used that so I could run the 4-pin cable behind the MB tray. I ran it thru the hole in the bottom on the MB tray, added the extension, and then ran that thru the hole in the MB tray at the top.

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Judas

the 4 push pin design is one of my favorite cpu heatink mounting setups..

grab something that you can put under the motherboard (so your hands aren't directy touching it, like the foam that usually comes with the motherboard or the plastic for that matter)

make sure all the push pins are fully turned (until they stop) the direction oposite of the arrows on the push pins suggest (as the arrows show the way to release)...

then essentially wrap both hands around the motherboard with the thumbs on individual corners oposite of each other (aka, don't try to push the pins down on 1 specific side, try to balance it by push say the push pin at the top right corner and the one at the bottom left corner and then switch up for the other 2 for an even and smooth mounting).

as for the clinking sound..... there is indeed a bit of preasure when flipping up the lever on the cpu socket lock. As it has to put enough preasure on the cpu itself for the motherboard pins to make good solid contact, as the mechanism for locking in place has a fair bit of metal on metal clicking...

lastly, you psu that came with that case.. do you have a model number..

generally every case i've had come with a PSU has been completely inadequate for modernday machines..... barely meeting the requirements or not even meeting them at all.. it's quite irritating to see a 400 watt PSU with 2 6pin PCI-ex connector and 1 8pin PCI-ex connector not to mention dozens of other connectors and cables. While the psu is rated 400 watt, the 12v rail which is the most important now, is barely pushing 20amps all by itself... that's barely enough to get most motherboard and cpu's running in good shape let alone try and power 2 pci-ex cards.

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kris23

isnt the cable an 8 pin now? i think that its better to get an 8 Pin extension

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teh_moleman

Thanks for the replies so far.

Yeah, the connector I'm referring to is the 4-pin next to the CPU. The extension OldBuzzard linked seems to be the right one. While I'm at it, may as well order a 24-pin ATX extension as well since that one's pretty tight too. Well, there go my hopes of getting it set up this weekend

Judas, the PSU didn't come with the case. It's an OCZ StealthXStream 600W supply. It has all the connectors I need, but apparently they cut costs by chopping the cables in half. Some of the reviews mentioned that, so I guess I brought this on myself. Oh well, gotta learn my lesson somehow.

The whole system just in case, especially for any power supply concerns:

Cooler Master RC690 case
OCZ 600W power supply
Gigabyte EP45-DS3L mobo
E8400 processor
GeForce 9800GTX video card
4 GB Corsair DDR2-800 ram
DVD burner (IDE, not SATA)
500 gig SATA hard drive
Vista Home Premium 64-bit