Just bought a HAF 932

[Justinat0r]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details


So I came home from work today, and my second monitor wouldn't turn on. It started flickering on me and I figured out that the monitor was fried. It was an old 19" so I didn't mind trashing it, but I decided to go to Amazon to find another one, and I ended up going with a 23" Asus monitor. I ran into a lot of neat stuff on Amazon and ended up buying a Cooler Master HAF 932 to swap all of my parts out of my Dell Studio case (which has terrible airflow) because I'm looking to eventually replace my i7-860 with a new mobo / CPU and try my hand at overclocking. This has been on my mind for a while now but I've never had a reason to go through with it until now. As a first time builder, is there anything I should be aware of or pay particular attention to while I put together my PC in my new HAF 932? I watched several Youtube videos of builders putting together PCs but I wanted to know if there are any common mistakes I need to look out for.

In particular I'm looking for advice on what order to install my components in, I know that I should do my mobo first, but is it important to hit a certain order for everything to go in nicely? Like PSU, then Mobo, then HDDs, etc?

I also bought a Crucial M4 SSD on the recommendation of many different friends of mine, and I wanted to know if the cloning software it comes with is generally satisfactory to copy your HDD / OS?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i01_details

I apologize if these are questions that are asked often but I am quite nervous seeing as how my experience with PC building is limited and I kind of did this on a whim.

 

[Jman13]

While not nearly as experienced as many people on this board, these are the things I've learned and are good things to keep in mind. The rig in my signature was my 6th full build.

1. First things first, make sure your motherboard standoffs are installed correctly. You'll get a bunch of standoffs in the case, and a bunch of holes in the case for mounting the board. ONLY have the standoffs you need to exactly line up with the holes in your motherboard. Having extra standoffs can short the motherboard to the case. Needless to say, this is.....bad.

2. Install the Processor, RAM and heatsink/fan on the motherboard BEFORE putting it in the case. If you've elected for a huge HSF, this can be fun when screwing the motherboard into the case, but for all but the very largest coolers, this is a non-issue. With most top-end coolers, too, you will more or less HAVE to do this because you'll be using a rear mounting plate for the cooler. If you use the stock HSF, or an aftermarket one with pushpins (or a clip if an AMD system), you can install it after, but it's much easier to do outside the case.

3. After you've got that situated, install your power supply into the case, and if it were a small case, any drives that could be difficult to install with the motherboard in place. Looking at the case you've chosen, though, you won't have any problem with drives after install.

4. Pop the motherboard / CPU / RAM combo in and screw it down to all the standoffs. Make sure you install the motherboard rear port plate that will come with the board into the rear of the case.

5. After that's all seated, hook up your motherboard to the PSU and the case, getting all the little button cables and LED light cables and such aligned. This is a lot harder to do when there are other cables in the case, so do it early. Once the motherboard is completely hooked up, install your video card and hook it to your monitor and see if you can post. If you post fine, you've done the hard part, and now you just put in all the drives, any peripheral cards you might have, and boot....if everything is hooked up right, you'll post, and you can then install Windows and enjoy your new machine!

As to the SSD....good choice! I love my M4. As to the cloning software, I don't know how well it works. I cloned my HDD to my SSD and it worked fine (though with a few hiccups...but I used Paragon's Migrate to SSD program), and the install was perfectly picked up and my machine was just as before, but much faster due to the SSD, but I installed my SSD after I had already completed my build, so it was the only new component. With a new SSD, new motherboard, new processor, etc....just do a fresh install of Windows. It'll be much cleaner.

 

[Charlie98]

You'll like the 932... with the caveat that it's BIG. I put my first build into a 922 (mid-tower) and thought that was almost too big. But, in any event, I like the case and it's very easy to work with. The 932 is so big, there really isn't any specific order you need to assemble, but there is a specific order you need to start your computer up in (with the new SSD.)

I would tend to agree with Jman... just do a fresh OS install on your new SSD. I reinstalled the OS on my old single-core laptop (without all the Dell bloatware it came with...) and couldn't believe the difference. It's worth the time and effort. You will have to install all the appropriate component drivers, etc, though. Or maybe just leave the SSD out until you get your new mobo/CPU, and then install a fresh OS with the SSD, that way you don't have to screw with the drivers just once.

 

[Justinat0r]

I decided to do a bit of upgrading last night and bought the Asrock Z68 mobo and an i5 2500k with a 212 cooler as well as another copy of Win 7 and 16 GB 1600 Corsair ram... so yeah basically a whole new Pc now. There goes my bank Acct lol

 

[ElFenix]

I decided to do a bit of upgrading last night and bought the Asrock Z68 mobo and an i5 2500k with a 212 cooler as well as another copy of Win 7 and 16 GB 1600 Corsair ram... so yeah basically a whole new Pc now. There goes my bank Acct lol

:thumbsup:

 

[Charlie98]

I decided to do a bit of upgrading last night and bought the Asrock Z68 mobo and an i5 2500k with a 212 cooler as well as another copy of Win 7 and 16 GB 1600 Corsair ram... so yeah basically a whole new Pc now. There goes my bank Acct lol

That's funny... I toyed with the idea of my first PC build and then finally decided to do it... in a few months after I planned everything. Black Friday came, I saw the ads for MicroCenter and Newegg... and, well... I had a working PC build in a week... :whiste: So much for taking my time and planning.

 

[Justinat0r]

That's funny... I toyed with the idea of my first PC build and then finally decided to do it... in a few months after I planned everything. Black Friday came, I saw the ads for MicroCenter and Newegg... and, well... I had a working PC build in a week... :whiste: So much for taking my time and planning.

Yeah, I still have (correction: had) quite a bit left over from my tax return, and I was browsing Newegg last night, and I couldn't help but think to myself, "Wait, why am I getting a brand new PC case and putting in a crappy dell motherboard?" The i7-860 that was in it, I'm not sure what to do with. I think I might sell it or Ebay it possibly, because the processor is just fine. I'm really excited but also nervous that I'll mess something up in the process of building it. I guess as long as I'm patient and do my research I'll be fine but I just spent so much money my head is spinning.

Now that I'm home from work and not posting from my Kindle Fire I can give you guys a breakdown of what I bought.

PC Tower Case:
Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 (RC-932-KKN5-GP)
CPU:
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
Mobo:
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM:
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9
CPU Cooler:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/AM3+
SSD Drive for game files and OS:
Crucial 256 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT256M4SSD2
OS:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
Monitor (The thing I was originally ONLY going to buy 😱)
ASUS VH236H 23 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black

The only thing I will be reusing from my old case will be the PSU, which is a Cooler Master 600W, and my Radeon 5770 which I will be upgrading when the Kepler cards come out and push down a bit on these prices Radeon prices. Right now I'm seriously considering a Radeon 7870, but I need to see Nvidia's high/mid range offerings before I decide for sure.

If anyone sees any compatibility issues with the things I bought please point them out, because I want to be sure to ship it back right away when I get it if that is the case.

 

[Justinat0r]

Okay.. so I just got it last night. This case is HUGE! I was worried for a minute that it would even fit under my desk!! So excited for this weekend when I put this bad boy together.

 

[Jman13]

Weekend? Stay up late and build that puppy tonight! (I know that a first build take longer, but I can build a PC now in about an hour or two, and most of that is the thermal paste and cooler installation.) For a first build you'll be looking at probably 3 hours or so, plus the installation of Windows (which should go relatively quickly given you'll be installing on an SSD.)

My latest build I did in 30 minutes, though that was without any cable management and such, and I already had my drives and such in the case, since I reused my old case and all the drives.

 

[Justinat0r]

Weekend? Stay up late and build that puppy tonight! (I know that a first build take longer, but I can build a PC now in about an hour or two, and most of that is the thermal paste and cooler installation.) For a first build you'll be looking at probably 3 hours or so, plus the installation of Windows (which should go relatively quickly given you'll be installing on an SSD.)

My latest build I did in 30 minutes, though that was without any cable management and such, and I already had my drives and such in the case, since I reused my old case and all the drives.

I wanted to do it tonight but I'm worried about messing up the CPU. The way everyone has warned me about bending the Cpu pins kinda freaked me out so I'm stalling I think lol

I am also concerned about installing the cooler with the right amount of thermal paste... I dunno, I think ill watch some Pc building videos on youtube tonight the at least put together and install the mobo

 

[WT]

The way everyone has warned me about bending the Cpu pins kinda freaked me out so I'm stalling I think lol

I am also concerned about installing the cooler with the right amount of thermal paste... I dunno, I think ill watch some Pc building videos on youtube tonight the at least put together and install the mobo

Pins ??? Ehhh, no pins on an 1155 !! Worry not !! Just make sure the two semi-circular cutouts on the chip match the corresponding pair of bumps on the socket itself. Easy peasy, lemon squeazy.

Apply thermal paste about the size of a pea in the center, or spread it out using a folded over BRC (business reply card found stuffed into all magazines). Either way, it's an easy process covered by hundreds of videos online. I have the HAF 912 and its a huge case, but easy to work on/in.

 

[Jman13]

Agree with WT about the pins. With these newer sockets, it's as easy as possible. Line up the CPU, drop it in and close the cover. Pretty much impossible to hurt anything unless you jam your finger directly into the socket.

As to applying thermal paste, since you have a Direct Contact Heatpipe cooler, follow these instructions:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=170&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=5

Once you've got the CPU, heatsink and RAM installed in the motherboard, it's as easy as slamming a video card in there, hooking up the power supply (don't forget to hook up the PCI-E power to the video card if it needs it) and connecting your drives to the motherboard. Boot 'er up and install the OS. Enjoy speedy goodness!

 

[Justinat0r]

So I just put it all together, it's amazing! I'm still running the stock cooler (because I'm waiting to get my new graphics card before I put on the Hyper 212 cooler) and my new CPU (i5-2500k) isn't getting any warmer than 45C under full load. Not only that, but games that I played in my old case that would make my current card (reference 5770) run hotter than 95c are topping out at 80c and averaging 70C. I never knew how much of an effect the ventilation of your case has on your components, I thought it was a little bit but mostly the cooler of the component was the main factor. Holy cow!

 

[Justinat0r]

..

 

[VirtualLarry]

pics of completed build?

 

[Jman13]

Yeah, give us pics! Does this case have a cutout on the backside of the CPU so you won't have to remove the motherboard to install your 212+?

45C under normal loads sounds good, but I'm guessing this isn't under something like Prime95 or Intel Burn Test. If so, that's really, really impressive (and may even be too good to be believable). My 2500K with the stock cooler hit mid 70s for P95 at stock speeds. (and now hits mid 60s on P95 overclocked with my TX3).