Build day... help please :-)

[TAKTAK]

did you not bend the flaps back?

(i didn't on me first build either )

[tensim]

I thought I had

I think it must've been bent back when I put the motherboard in (those tabs are deadly by the way, cut myself twice!!)

Now online and typing this on my brand spanking new PC... sweet!!

Now... what tests should I run and what monitoring programs should I download?

[tensim]

Also, how can I monitor temps from within Windows?

Thanks

[TAKTAK]

you can use everest or coretemp (coretemp tends to be innaccurate though)

good to hear that it's up and running

you need to run a stress test such as prime95, but monitor temps for a while and make sure that the fan turns on...

[UseItNow]

Congrats, see you had small niggles. All is working fine now?

[tensim]

Yep, all went fine, no real hassles to speak of

Just need to figure out a few things that are causing me headaches...

1) CPU fan isn't spinning up on the cooler, though it does occaisionally...
2) Can't seem to get the sound working for some reason... not sure why...

any one have any thoughts on these?

thanks

[UseItNow]

Just need to figure out a few things that are causing me headaches...

1) CPU fan isn't spinning up on the cooler, though it does occaisionally...

any one have any thoughts on these?

Is the CPU fan 3pin or 4pin PWM? If 3 pin, make sure you have it plugged in to the right fan headers of the 4 pin PWM motherboard CPU Fan header. Also, have you tried disabling a feature like Smart Fan on Gigabyte boards, where the fan alters its RPM, so that it's on full whack as usage with a 3 pin fan is useless on this feature as the fan itself doesn't have the 4th pin for this feature thereby behaving erratically. I remember you having the Abit X38, I'm not familiar with the Abit boards or what this feature might be called.

Just need to figure out a few things that are causing me headaches...

2) Can't seem to get the sound working for some reason... not sure why...

any one have any thoughts on these?

Is it onboard sound? Installed the drivers? You also have an ATI GPU, correct? These have their own onboard sound and hence cause the motherboard sound to deactivate/switch off when you install the GPU drivers. I can't recall where you switch it over back to the onboard sound of your motherboard, I think it was under Control Panel, Sounds, then choose the relevant hardware, your soundcard (if applicable), motherboard's onboard or ATI GPU.

You'll have to search around in windows unless of course you still have your GPU manual which should instruct you on how to set it up to use the onboard motherboard sound.

Those are my thoughts on what might be giving you the headache, take your time, read through the manual again on the BIOS feature as described above to see if something resembles that feature, then you could set up the fan to run at FULL speed. Best of luck.