Halfway through a computer build

If the mobo and a video card is all you need, how much can you spend?

What is the primary goal for this computer?

reply to post by staple


For gaming.

Alright, so I have my graphics card, and my motherboard is coming on Wednesday. I'm going to order the power supply tomorrow and that's the majority of the parts.

Later in the week I'll make other purchase with the odds and ends. Mouse, Windows, that thermal paste stuff. And the wifi card. Anyone have advice on that? Best way to do it?

Here is what I have laying around:

i5 3470
Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77
MSI R7850 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC
8gb Cosair RAM (2x4)
DVD-RW player/burner
500gb hard drive
Rosewill Blackhawk case
CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W PSU
Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard

reply to post by enjoies05


Personally, I always pick the motherboard first.
Buying RAM and CPU leaves you open to incompatible hardware.

How easy is it to add on another hard drive after the first building of the computer?

reply to post by enjoies05


Pretty easy. Your case should have ample drive bays for more then one hard drive. My case is from 2007 and it has 6 extra drive bays not in use.

Well I have all my parts that I need. Planning on attempt number one of building a computer tomorrow afternoon.

Originally posted by enjoies05
Well I have all my parts that I need. Planning on attempt number one of building a computer tomorrow afternoon.

Congrats. I am slowly purchasing parts for a new build as well. I still need the motherboard and cpu. It is my first build as well.

Hopefully everything works out for you. Good luck on your new build!

Just spent 6 hours getting it all put together.


First boot in a few minutes..

Fail!


First test boot, the fans came on, the lights. No beep though, and nothing came on the screen. I guess tomorrow I'll take it apart and try and redo it?

Hope it wasn't expensive!

It's the DRAM light that stays red.

My RAM is CMX8GX3M2A1333C9

In my motherboard manual it doesn't show under the compatible RAM options. It only has a C9 - 4gb verison and a C7 - 8gb version. So it doesn't have mine but it does have two similar ones. I'm assuming that means mine isn't there for a reason?

Any way I put it it in I get the Ram light.

I took it out and booted with no RAM and got some beeps.

Think it's as simple as incompatible ram?

reply to post by enjoies05


Generally RAM problems will give you one long beep.

What RAM , Motherboard and CPU have you got ?
I will be able to tell you if it is not compatible.

reply to post by rigel4


I have

CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1333C9
i5 3470
Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77

In motherboard manual it lists these under compatible RAM:

CMX4HX3M1A1333C9 4gb
CMD8GX3M4A1333C7 8gb


Just tried Cosairs site. They have a RAM compatibility finder thing and my ram was not listed for my motherboard.



edit 2: using that finder I just bought a different set of RAM that is compatible with my motherboard.

reply to post by enjoies05


Have you tried booting with only one stick in? Try it booting it with each stick separately and do so in each of the available RAM slots on the motherboard.

More frequently than the industry cares to admit, RAM sticks constantly ship with errors. There are plenty of programs out there that will test it, but youll need to at least get it to POST.

If its DDR3, and your board accepts DDR3, it should work. The only time "compatibility" stuff comes into play is in specialized applications. Even the speed of the RAM will generally adjust to whatever has the lowest limit. Typically, this is done automatically but with some boards needs to be manually adjusted.

There are quite a few different things that could be causing your issues in addition to this. Everything from a faulty stick of RAM to a dog hair in the processor socket. It could also be an issue with your monitor.

edit: When you say the fans spin up, can you also hear the HDD or the fan on the GPU? Have you tried connecting a monitor directly to the motherboard? Have you tried a different monitor and/or GPU? Have you tried booting it with different sticks of DDR3? There are quite a few things that could be going on. Even just down to a cable that isnt seated properly all the way up to possibly frying your motherboard because you didnt ground yourself while working on it (you did ground yourself, right?). Oh, and depending on the computer and its default settings, it may not "beep" at all. Did your mobo come with a small speaker (usually about the size of a thimble with 2 wires coming off that are ~1 inch long)? If not, dont expect a beep since there isnt anything to make a beep! Even with normal speakers connected, with a new computer it may require the drivers to be installed first.

The lack of a POST screen means that you can only approach it from the hardware end of things. Taking it apart, then putting it together is a good approach. The more you do it, the better youll get. Generally, I can get a computer together and booted within 30 minutes, and that includes triple checks of everything I am doing along with custom cooling (though water cooling takes a bit longer). Just takes some practice.

Well that doesn't sound promising.

When the RAM comes I'll take it all apart and try to boot up outside of the case I guess and then hopefully it works and I can rebuild it.

reply to post by enjoies05


I will right back , need to do a little
reading for you .

Edit: The poster above has pretty much covered what i was thinking.
I doubt it is compatibility either!