Monday was a 'snow' day, as we received about 8 inches of snow beginning late the previous evening and continuing throughout the day. As such, I decided to work from home.
In between writing blocks of code and working on a SharePoint installation, I began step-by-step assembly of the machine my home network has now come to know as Warbird. By the end of the day I had the motherboard, PSU, CPU & Fan, HDD, RAM, and GPU installed. All that was left was to mount the SSD. Just one slight problem...no place to mount a 2.5" SSD. Slight oversight on my part, but easily fixable. I hopped on newegg.com and quickly found a decent, well-reviewed adapter that included screws for less than $10 USD, and ordered it with 2-day shipping. In the meantime, I decided to hook everything up and make sure I could boot to the BIOS and check everything out. Everything looked good, all (connected) components detected and all fans running smoothly.
2 days later, the adapter came as expected. Mounting the 850 EVO SSD was simple, as expected, and I had the adapter mounted in the tool-less bay in no time. Closed up the case, grabbed my Win7 Home Premium DVD and began installation (I had actually considered making this a Linux only machine and installing only X-Plane via Steam, even to the point I booted it up with the ArchLinux CD in the drive preparing to install, but I couldn't see not installing P3D after spending the money on it, plus DCS and Orbiter 2015, so I balked and went with Win7 for the time being).
As of this post, The Windows install is complete, all drivers have been installed, and Steam is loaded on the 2TB drive. I have not installed X-Plane yet, and I need to download the recently-released 2.5 version of P3D before installing. Alas, the weekend is upon me, so daddy time begins which means zero time for installation activities until next week. I'm pleased with how quickly the build progressed though. This is my second build, and I couldn't be more happy with how smoothly everything installed. I believe I made the best choice in keeping this case as there is ample room for everything and excellent airflow throughout.
Pics of the majority of the process:
Spacers in place:
Motherboard - it looks so....moboey:
(for the life of me, as I was installing the mobo, I couldn't figure out why on Earth they mounted the SATA connections sideways on the right side of the board (black and gray connectors to the right of the 'eye' logo), so that they face the end. It made sense once the GTX 970 was in place, shown below)
CPU and Fan, Rear Case Fan Re-Mounted, Power w LED, Reset, HDD LED, and Front USB Connectors Attached:
GTX 970 in place, plenty of room. Sorry this one is so blurry, HDR setting on my iPhone 4S does this sometimes:
Mustek 2.5" to 3.5" SSD Adapter:
All in, ready to rock:
At this point I do not have the 'core' fan installed. I'm not sure (yet) that I need it. However, since I went with the stock CPU cooler starting out, that opinion may sway quickly. If so, I'll simply rearrange the power cabling to make room for the core fan and align it with the CPU to provide a constant front-to-back airflow straight out the back of the case and go from there. Worse comes to worse, I'll upgrade the CPU fan.
First BIOS Boot:
"Next time, baby...."
I can't wait to get P3D, X-Plane 10, DCS, and Orbiter 2015 Beta installed so I can stretch her legs.
Stay tuned, more pics/screenshots/videos to come (since I haven't been flying much lately, I need to put that GoPro on the desk to good use
).
Two Victor Uniform, clear of the active.
In between writing blocks of code and working on a SharePoint installation, I began step-by-step assembly of the machine my home network has now come to know as Warbird. By the end of the day I had the motherboard, PSU, CPU & Fan, HDD, RAM, and GPU installed. All that was left was to mount the SSD. Just one slight problem...no place to mount a 2.5" SSD. Slight oversight on my part, but easily fixable. I hopped on newegg.com and quickly found a decent, well-reviewed adapter that included screws for less than $10 USD, and ordered it with 2-day shipping. In the meantime, I decided to hook everything up and make sure I could boot to the BIOS and check everything out. Everything looked good, all (connected) components detected and all fans running smoothly.
2 days later, the adapter came as expected. Mounting the 850 EVO SSD was simple, as expected, and I had the adapter mounted in the tool-less bay in no time. Closed up the case, grabbed my Win7 Home Premium DVD and began installation (I had actually considered making this a Linux only machine and installing only X-Plane via Steam, even to the point I booted it up with the ArchLinux CD in the drive preparing to install, but I couldn't see not installing P3D after spending the money on it, plus DCS and Orbiter 2015, so I balked and went with Win7 for the time being).
As of this post, The Windows install is complete, all drivers have been installed, and Steam is loaded on the 2TB drive. I have not installed X-Plane yet, and I need to download the recently-released 2.5 version of P3D before installing. Alas, the weekend is upon me, so daddy time begins which means zero time for installation activities until next week. I'm pleased with how quickly the build progressed though. This is my second build, and I couldn't be more happy with how smoothly everything installed. I believe I made the best choice in keeping this case as there is ample room for everything and excellent airflow throughout.
Pics of the majority of the process:
Spacers in place:
Motherboard - it looks so....moboey:
(for the life of me, as I was installing the mobo, I couldn't figure out why on Earth they mounted the SATA connections sideways on the right side of the board (black and gray connectors to the right of the 'eye' logo), so that they face the end. It made sense once the GTX 970 was in place, shown below)
CPU and Fan, Rear Case Fan Re-Mounted, Power w LED, Reset, HDD LED, and Front USB Connectors Attached:
GTX 970 in place, plenty of room. Sorry this one is so blurry, HDR setting on my iPhone 4S does this sometimes:
Mustek 2.5" to 3.5" SSD Adapter:
All in, ready to rock:
At this point I do not have the 'core' fan installed. I'm not sure (yet) that I need it. However, since I went with the stock CPU cooler starting out, that opinion may sway quickly. If so, I'll simply rearrange the power cabling to make room for the core fan and align it with the CPU to provide a constant front-to-back airflow straight out the back of the case and go from there. Worse comes to worse, I'll upgrade the CPU fan.
First BIOS Boot:
"Next time, baby...."
I can't wait to get P3D, X-Plane 10, DCS, and Orbiter 2015 Beta installed so I can stretch her legs.
Stay tuned, more pics/screenshots/videos to come (since I haven't been flying much lately, I need to put that GoPro on the desk to good use
).Two Victor Uniform, clear of the active.
