The new computer. Part 2

The previous part is here.

Assembling

Just to reiterate, with your case or with a motherboard, you have standoffs that connect the motherboard to the case. For this particular case, they were already attached but they were not very tight. And there is provided a tool that helps to tighten them. It is a good idea to tighten them before you attach the motherboard.

I assembled everything in the following order:

  1. Placed cooler brackets around the CPU socket.
  2. Placed CPU into the CPU socket and closed lever. Pay attention to its orientation.
  3. Placed power supply.
  4. Tighten standoffs on the case.
  5. Placed the motherboard into the case and screwed it to the case. 9 total bolts are required. Some look like they are fine, but they are not. Do not force them.
  6. Connected power to the CPU at the top left side of the board. It will be hard to do it later with a cooler attached.
  7. Connected 24-pin connector from the power supply to the motherboard.
  8. Placed memory. It is very close to the CPU cooler and it is better to place it before the cooler.
  9. Placed the thermal paste. You should not overdo it. I usually placed 5 dots of very small pea size (around 3mm). 4 of the near corners, but not too close, and one in the center. Remember this is not a sandwich. The thermal paste is supposed to just fill tiny imperfections between the heatsink and CPU lid that otherwise would be filled with air.
  10. Then I screwed the cooler to the brackets.
  11. Powered system and monitor diagnostic LEDs. They are located on the right side of the motherboard. Normally the CPU LED should be on, then the DRAM one and CPU LED should turn off, and then the light should jump to the VGA LED. But make sure, to give it some time. The first time the system takes quite a while to start because it training memory, etc.
    If the light is on the CPU LED then there is a CPU issue and perhaps the BIOS does not support your CPU and you need to update it.
    If the DRAM LED is on then there is an issue with your memory. Very often it means that some module didn’t lock in properly in the slot or it could be a memory incompatibility. Also, make sure that you check the motherboard manual and place the memory module(s) in the correct slot.
    When the VGA LED is on then it means that there is no video card detected or if you have a CPU with a video card then it means there is no video cable plugged into the motherboard.
  12. Then I powered it off and connected the video cable directly to the motherboard. As soon as I see something on the screen I power the system off because the cooler does not have fans attached. It is not a big deal but in general, I want to be safe.
  13. Then I attached fans to the CPU cooler.
  14. Next was SSD. Make sure to place it before you place a video card because it will be really hard to do if a video card is installed.
  15. Then I placed a video card.
  16. The attached front panel cables: power button, power LED, HDD LED. Then front Audio and USB.
  17. Then I attached the case controller to the power supply via SATA cable and I attached the case controller to the fan and RGB connectors of the motherboard.

Operation

When I powered the system the first time it asked some questions about resetting something and you needed to press “Y”.

The next step I typically do is to update the BIOS to the latest version. I also recommend resetting CMOS (I will explain why later). Recently AMD released a fresh version so make sure to update to that version because it fixed some issues and increased performance.

Then I entered the BIOS by pressing the “Del” key and set the XMP profile to “XMP 1”, then saved and restarted.

The next step I typically do is memory testing. I used MemTest86. I was trying to use MemTest86+ as well, but the computer just freezes at startup, and because this case does not have a reset button I had to power it off. Eventually, I took off the glass side of the case, so I could have access to the reset button but I couldn’t make it work.

After memory tests passed I started installation of Windows. But to my surprise, it crashed several times to the blue screen. After I installed Windows, it also crashed but this time I can check the dump file. It crashed in some DirectX DLL.

I reset CMOS and ran the Windows 11 built-in memory test. It also passed. But after that, it was rock solid. After that, I reinstalled Windows because god knows what failed during installation. To be honest I’m not sure if CMOS was helped or reset of the BIOS settings would be enough. Or maybe it was a completely different thing.

Anyway, after that, I run Prime95 in different modes and everything works great. After that, I ran Cinebench 23 and 24 and my system in general had a slightly higher score than what I found on the internet.

Then my relative complained that when they plugged the wireless mouse dongle into the top of the case, it sometimes lags. But after they moved it to the back of the base, it worked just fine. I’m not sure what it was and maybe that port connected to a different USB controller.

The video card starts fans only when needed and most of the time they are off. It is a good thing because it means less dust and noise.

Bonus part

I recommend using a box from the motherboard to store all unused bits like bolts, manuals, cables, etc. You may not need them today, but you may need them later. It is relatively big and spacious. It is relatively secure and it will not open accidentally when falls.

Conclusion

This setup was very quiet during normal work and relatively quiet under a very heavy load. I quite like it. I am also happy with its performance. It is not the fastest system in the world but it is quite fast for its money.

Setting up RGB requires a lot of time. A lot of extra cables and because this case is RGB, it should look good inside. And as a result, I rewired many cables multiple times. It looks very cool but I would never do it again.