After the relatively short wait for the shipping parts to arrive, I turned lazy to plugin all the parts and build a new system. Well the weekend came and I finally got the itch to start – that’s what I like to believe personally. In reality, my roommates were getting mad at me for keeping the living room so messy with all these boxes…. 
Well Anyway, here is how my PC used to look previously: Pretty simple, got things done (until recently) and had tons of space to breathe. The wires look cluttered a lot but I could live with that OR so I thought. I’ve still got my mother’s genes of organizing things and computers are no different. Before we begin, there was some shopping to be done though.
Plenty of roomspace - the old PC configuration
My existing heatsink was adequate but it created a lot of noise when it spun at higher RPM. A quick trip with Vineeth (my band’s rythm guitarist) to bestbuy got me a ThermalTake V1 Black Widow for $44 (courtesy Bestbuy Employee discount), PC maintenance kit and couple of rechargeable batteries for the wireless mouse and keyboard. ($10). Now I needed to remove the processor and put it on the new board.
Turns out that I need a highly concentrated (99.99%) isopropyl alcohol solution to remove the thermal compound from my heatsink and processor. A quick internet search suggested ArctiClean Step 1 & 2 by Thermaltake. I ordered it online but could not wait for 3 days to assemble my PC and settled in for 91% isopropyl alcohol from walmart pharmacy as a temporary workaround. Another quick trip to Radioshack bought me 2 CPU case fan pads, a can of compressed air and some cable sleeves. Lets begin with the cleaning part:
Took me a while to open every screw on the case and here is what my PC disassembled looks like:
My PC from inside out
It took a lot of time fix the new motherboard on the tray because I forgot that it was a removable tray (made things a lot easier later on). This is how the new MOBO with the organized cables look like. The thing on the top left is the new 700w PSU.
Time to screw in the new MOBO
Inserting the CPU heatsink was a pain in the a**. The copper fins were paper thin and I got about 20 cuts all over my hand before I could apply all the connectors. The thing is frigging HUGE – the new modular PSU cables did not help at all because they wont bend easily around corners. I’m not sure if I applied the heatsink according to the instructions but figured I’ll do it correctly with the ArctiClean compound is shipped.
The Frigging Huge Thermaltake V1
It was time to test the PSU and all hell broke loose. The system would not power up no matter what I did. It would give a short beep (lasting for 1/8 second) and then die on me. I removed all connectors, tried the old PSU, tried the new PSU on old MOBO, etc and after 3 hours came to the conclusion that I needed to clear the MOBO BIOS to boot up. Silly me!!! – could have saved a lot of time if I had done that beforehand. The MOBO booted up fine and the new heatsink looked awesome. I had to replace the side panel case fan to make room for the huge fins.
Awesome CPU Lights
Well anyway,plugged in the final part: the friggingly huge EVGA GeForce 9800 GT GPU.
The monster EVGA 9800 GT
Booted the system and did not get a display. Messd around with different outputs (HDMI, DVI-1, DVI-2, VGA) and managed to get an output. Activated Windows again and all drivers were downloaded except for the chipset SM Bus. Went to ASUS support site, downloaded 600MB of driver setup and I am all set with my new system. The CD-drive does not work yet and I suspect that it is due to a damaged PATA cable – I’ll fix it later or order a new drive.
The Final Product
December 21st, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Hi,
though i failed 2 understand the jargon, i atleast know that not all doctors are tech-retarded.
i wud like to assemble one of those for myself one day.
I liked the ‘why does it take forever to say goodbye?’ post. Even I will be facing a similar situation few months down the line. But kudos to you both for being together inspite of the distance factor.
Cheers. Keep posting.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 am
Hi Kaustubh. Yeah I know its a bit hard to understand and I think I should have added a disclaimer before the test of the post… hehe. Well anyway, I’m a hybrid creature when it comes to interests and that’s what keeps me ticking all the way.
I know its tough to be apart but believe me, love grows more that way. You’ll really start to appreciate the smaller things in life which you took for granted. Like that little goodbye kiss [:D]