New System Build Day 3

Finally got a chance to get back to the system build today. Managed to get a good deal done in about an hour and half. Didn't want to work on in longer as the weather is still an issue. It warmed up and everything is melting but the ground is still cold so as soon as water dripping hits it it's instant ice. Wasn't going to take a chance walking back in the dark with possible black ice. Anyway back to the build.

I started with something simple but wanted to do it before I forgot and had to take everything back apart. I installed the rear bezel for the motherboard.

Next I wanted to make sure the PSU would fit so I opened it up. Nice bag it came in and another bag for the cables.

Quick test fit in the case. Looks like it will be just fine.

Now back to the motherboard which is still sitting on top the box. Quick installation of the 2 SSD drives. Simple remove 1 screw, insert in slot, put screw back in. Still amazed at how small these are. Nearly 1TB and it's smaller than a memory chip.

Next came the memory. 64GB of memory.

Memory installed on the motherboard. Took it off the box to install it. Box is too flexible of a surface to get a good seat on the chips.

It was time. Motherboard was ready to be installed in the case. If you noticed 1 SSD is missing in the pic. One of the screw holes to install the board was under the drive so I had to take it out to install the board. Put it right back in after this pic was taken.

Now the real fun. Getting that water cooler installed. First though the 2 8 pin connectors and the CPU fan cable had to be installed as the connectors couldn't be accessed with the cooler installed in the case. Also hooked up that rear fan. There were enough fan connectors available that I didn't need to install it on the connector under the cooler. At least that one can be changed easily if needed.

And the radiator is installed. Clearance with the power cables == 0. No room to spare. Good thing I bought a modular PSU. Made this a lot easier that it wold be with the whole PSU and other cables to deal with too.

Finally the pump is installed on the CPU. Power connectors from the 2 radiator fans hooked up to the pump as well.

It was nearly dark out so that's where I stopped for the day. Probably wont get to finish the build until Sunday. Need to do some grocery shopping tomorrow so doubt I will have time to work on it. At least the rest of the build should be relatively straight forward. If I had used a rack mount case and air cooler and not been sick I could have done the whole build in about 2 hours. Well guess it would have still taken 2 days due to waiting on the second SSD. Still it would have been a lot easier.