PC Build Log: The Build

I decided to order most of the parts through Newegg Canada, who offered great deals on my chosen parts as well as replacement gaurantees in case any of them weren't up to snuff. After receiving the majority of the parts in the mail, the aniticipation and excitement of the impending build was almost unbearable. While waiting on the last box to arrive from the United States, I was able to coordinate with a good friend of mine, who has past experience in building computers, to have him give me a hand.

Stage 1: Motherboard Set Up

Once the  MSI 970 Gaming motherboard was out of it's antistatic bag, we started off with installing the AMD FX-8350 processor. Once it was locked into place, we turned to the cooler. The pre-isntalled cooling brackes had to be removed and were then replaced with the provided hardware to accompany the Hyper 212 EVO. This turned out to be one of the trickist parts of the build, both getting the cooler in the right configuration as well as gently installing it on the processor. After indetifying the dual channel RAM slots, the 8GB kit was installed as well.

Stage 2: Installation in the Case

Next, is was time to open up the case. First we installed the power supply with the air intake facing down to take advantage of the filtered intake on the bottom of the case. The motherboard's I/O shield was popped into place, followed by fitting the board itself and lining it up with the nine standoffs for mounting. Prior the final mounting, power cabes were run through management slots and inserted to avoid issues later on in the build. At this point, front audio, USB, power, reset, case speaker, LEDs and fans were all connected.

Stage 3: Drive Mounting

Next up was the installation of the three drives. First was the 256GB SSD, that would act as the boot drive, followed by the 500GB HDD for storage. The case feautres both 2.5" and 3.5" drive bays with tool-less installation sleds, making the entire process very simple. The story was similar when it came to the 5.25" DVD drive as well. SATA power and data cables were then all connected.

Stage 4: WiFi & Graphics Card Insertion

Next, three PCI slot covers were popped out to make room for both the D-link WiFi card (a late addition to the build) as well as the Radeon R7 370, which would take up two slots. Both were inserted into their respective PCI slots, secured with screws, and power was then connected to the graphics cards

Stage 5: Wiring

Finally, a little bit of cable management was done to remove any unecessary cables, reduce clutter and prevent any issues with cooling circuation.

Stage 6: First Boot

With everything ready, the machine booted up for the first time and we were greated with both the beautiful sight of the colourful LED fans and the MSI BIOS. After inserting a Windows 8.1 Installation USB stick and a quick reset, Windows then began installation. 

Be sure to check out Part 4: Benchmarking - Next Wednesday at 12PM