The time has come for an upgrade!
The smell of new hardware, it just never stops me from getting all happy and giggle, like a child opening a new Lego set.
After 5 years, my Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400’s life with me has come to an end. After all of the games and multi-tasking stuffs that I have done with it, from Counter-Strike 1.6 to Battlefield 3 and from Windows Movie Maker to Sony Vegas Pro 11, it’s time to bid goodbye.
Here’s the last photos of him as I cleaned my computer. I got kind of frustrated when I saw the amount of thermal paste that the guys from PC Express has installed on the processor. It’s just too much, that’s why my cooler doesn’t get all the heat from the processor, hence the overheating.
Anyways, here are the photos of my new rig!
The Motherboard looks so sleek inside my Gigabyte GZ-G1 case and those blue accents from the heatsink complements well with the black board.
Here’s a close up of the board before placing the processor.
And here’s a shot after.
Here’s when I applied the thermal paste on the processor.
It should be noted that only a pea sized amount should be applied because these stuff will spread when you finally apply the cooler. You don’t want the paste to go over the metal shield and onto the processor chip, it will not end well with your newly bought Haswell processor.
After putting on the thermal paste it’s time to put on the cooler. Then onto CABLE MANAGEMENT.
Cable management, as they say, is an art. Although it’s just arranging cables on the back of the chassis/case to make the front look nice and tidy, this procedure also helps the air flow inside your case. Proper cable management can help reduce 1 – 2 Celsius of total heat inside the case. It may not be too much, but it WILL help.
Here’s the shot of all the cables that I have to fix.
Here’s a blurred shot of me connecting the front I/O onto the motherboard. I hated this part, the front I/O are all separate pins and I have to insert it there one by one. Good thing the connectors were all color coded, hence the easy installation. +1 to Gigabyte for that!
There’s my EVGA GTX 560 saying hi to everyone
I routed the Front Panel audio connector and the Front USB 2.0 at the back then inside a tiny opening on the side of the Power Supply so that the cables won’t hang around on the front of the motherboard.
I also routed the Front Panel power button, reset button, HDD LED and Power LED on the back of the mobo then through a big hole beside the Power Supply.
For the SATA 6Gb connectors, I didn’t twirl it around like what the technicians did with my past build. I routed it at the back so that there won’t be any SATA’s hanging around in the front for the world to see.
Now for the main power.
For the 24-pin ATX main power connector, I also routed it to the back and out just on the side of the connector so that it wouldn’t look messy.
And the finished product.
It still looked messy though because the Chassis doesn’t include the black rubber holes so that the back of the case, where cables will be routed and stored, won’t be seen.
But still, at least there will be enough airflow through the case.
Here’s an airflow chart of my case. The blue arrows indicate the cold air, red’s indicate hot air.
I currently use negative airflow, which means that most of my fans are blowing air outside. Only my two Front 120mm fans are blowing air inside.
I have an 80mm fan on the top rear part of the case exhausting air from the chassis and another 2 120mm fan on the side panels that help exhaust air coming from the graphics card.
Negative airflow also allows less dust buildup inside the case because less dust is being sucked in by the fans.
Here’s the new stickers that I got from the upgrade!
And here’s a picture of the rear of my chassis.
Here’s some more glamour shots of the new build. You can click on the image to view the full resolution!
If you guy’s still haven’t seen my parts unboxing yet, you can check it out here!
Intel i5-4670k Unboxing: http://wp.me/p3OBbF-2i
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Unboxing: http://wp.me/p3OBbF-1Q
Some links that could be useful for your next build:
Affordable Desktop Options
(http://cwelizabethscott67.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/affordable-desktop-options/)
Building a Midrange PC
(http://thebytekitchen.com/2013/09/17/building-a-midrange-pc/)
Building a Gaming & Photoediting PC with Zach and Pat
(http://pattoole.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/building-a-gaming-photo-editing-pc-with-zach-pat-haswell-nvidia-700-series/)
Build a PC DOA Reviews
(http://wildwoodinfoblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/build-a-pc-doa-reviews/)
Peripherals that you can consider with your next builds:
Tech Unboxing and First Impressions: Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013
(http://thatreviewer.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/tech-unboxing-and-first-impressions-razer-blackwidow-ultimate-2013/)
I also updated the “My Rig” page on my blog! Check it out here!
(https://gamertechreviews.wordpress.com/about/my_rig/)
More unboxings to come soon!
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