UPDATE 9/17/13: All parts are here except the case i live in Washington state and the case is currently in Oregon so i might get it 9/18/13
Parts are on the way and i need to get prepared for when i start building it and after im done.
Anti-Virus is a must for me i download a lot of stuff but whats the best? I use comcast and Norton comes free but it can be a hassle especially when i know a file is safe but Norton says its not.
What kind of drivers will i need to download?
How do i change the ram speed? i know ram doenst come at its normal speed and mine will be 1866 so im guessing it will start at 1600 but how ill i change that?
Still a little confused about the Front Panel connectors and how to plug them in.
Using the Fractal Design R4 and i see from everywhere that the cable management is great but is there a right way to do it?
Ill probably think of more questions while i wait a week or more until all my parts come but is there anything else i might want to know?
First off for drivers, make sure that when you first boot your computer into windows after you reach the home screen to allow windows to download everything from the download center, in the start menu. I'm going off windows 7 here though. After all of the updates have been finished, connect to the internet via an ethernet cable, go on internet explorer and download chrome/firefox and use that. Next you will need to download drivers for your GPU, Motherboard, soundcard, some monitor apparently need them, and so do some SSDs(but thoughs are usually just Trim utilities, to keep the SSD fast).
to get all the application and utilites you will need, they will be downloaded a bit outdated but when you start most of them up they will allow you to update. Though I recommend downloading the Anti-virus and all that separately.
Next you will want to download anti-viruses and such, anything free from Norton is bad, basically just bloatware. I don't know about comcast. I would get Malwarebytes, Avast free anti-virus, and CCleaner.
For RAM there is a chance that it will be on another frequency and all you will have to do is go into the BIOS and change the timings and such to what they have it on the box the RAM came in.
I have a Fractal R4 as well and the Front panel connectors will plug directly into the motherboard, they will even explain it in both the manual for the motherboard and case.
If you need anything else, just PM me or reply here.
Thank you so much but this is a lot harder than i thought. I guess it probably would have helped if i showed you my parts list so here it is http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1DoBr Where would i get all the drivers from? Im kinda new to this but how to get into the BIOS?
Alright, you will need to get drivers for your Motherboard and your Graphics card. You will want to get your drivers for the Motherboard directly on the Asus website and for the Graphics card directly from the nVidia website as they will both provide the newest version of the drivers. It's recommend that you try and get the beta drivers if they are available, but what ever version they put out will be fine. You will have to to do some digging but you should be able to find the drivers easily on the sites.
Now to enter your BIOS, all you will need to do is when your computer turns on, the first thing you get is an ASUS branded splash screen and when that happens press F2 on your keyboard and it will direct you into the BIOS, to set your RAM timings and such. Just make sure you save what you do before having your computer restart.
Very nice build BTW. I would try to get an SSD though to put windows on though, just so your boot times will be a lot faster. Besides that, it's beautiful. Also Windows 7 Pro, but that's more of an opinion based thing.
THANK YOU so much, I was so tempted to get a SSD. I understand that a SSD helps boot times and faster loading for programs on the SSD but i just thought it wouldn't really be worth it to me right now. Next month when i get more money i was thinking about upgrading by buying a SSD but then i would have to go through the hassle of moving windows to the SSD but thats next month i might do it or i might not.
Oh and another question. How about Temperature, How hot can things get before they start to not work? My current computer stays pretty cool but there's not much going on inside it so im worried that my new computer will get too hot but i doubt that it will since i see a lot of people using this case and my parts.
This applies to just about any computer. And this should all be done after you install your drivers. You shouldn't have to worry about your temps. Just make sure you install your heatsink correctly. Make sure your case fans are plugged in and everything. Here's a vid that shows you how to apply TIM to your CPU...
Yeah, as long as you keep both your GPU and CPU under 90 degrees on load, they should be fine. Just make sure you put on some good thermal paste. Make sure you out the cooler on correctly especially if it's a water cooler. And in the future adding an extra fan or two to the case couldn't hurt for temperatures. Though the Hyper 212 EVO is a great heat sink for the price, they even give you little things to attach another 120 mm fan. My 6300 hits about 30 Celsius on idle(with light internet browsing and steam open) at the stock voltage, though I'm probably going to overclock soon, once I add a couple of fans. This is with a Hyper 212 Evo with the 1 stock fan too.
Also the case your using has amazing air flow and you will not be able to hear the system, I have the case my self in black with a window and sometimes worry that none of the fans are running it's so quit. The only thing that you should think about is energy consumption(not even that big of a deal, a lot of Intel fanboys make a huge fuss about it and exaggerate how much more power it uses) , but your Gold certified PSU and the power phase design on your Motherboard take care of that without a problem.
Also i recommend you register your products, especially your PSU as EVGA offers probably the best warranty on the market. Were you will receive your replacement item with in 3 days and the warranty lasts 10 years.
The thing about an SSD and your OS, is that it is best to get it when you first build your computer, to put it on the there first. There are programs to move your OS from a hard drive to an SSD but a lot of them are glitchy and can corrupt windows. the best way would be to re install windows entirely, but to do that you would have to format your entire hard drive, which would be a pain. But if you just want to get an SSD to put programs on like Autodesk or any Adobe products on there, they do increase load and rendering times a lot. You could also put some games on there like Skyrim or Fallout on there, it will not help out with you FPS what so ever, but putting the game on an SSD will increase the speed of load times, like when you boot the game or when you go into a new area/exit a house.