Negative Scanning PC - The End Game

bungo63

Folks, I thought I would give you an update on my PC Build, the objective of which was to facilitate scanning of negatives and producing images using Photoshop elements. You can see my original post here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=86494017

This was my first ever attempt at building a PC and I an indebted to all the folk who contributed advice in defining the best config for my needs. I can certainly recommend them.

[B]Shopping List[/B]
Processor Intel Core i5-4570 Box, LGA1150 €173.87
Cooler Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel €17.89
RAM 16GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 €109.19
HDD WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's €56.18
SSD SanDisk SSD Ultra Plus 256GB Desktop €159.50
PSU be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 500W - bulk - €53.86
Card Reader LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht €3.32
Wifi LAN ASUS PCE-N15 €14.90
CD/DVD Asus DRW-24F1ST Bulk Silent €19.90
MoBo ASUS B85M-G (C2) €66.54
CASE Cooler Master N200, mATX-mini-Tower, schwarz, ohne Netzteil €33.58
OS Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit €39.80
Voucher -€10.00
Shipping €18.99
Total €760.58

The final build diffred slightly from the final reccomendation in that I opted for a single large SDD from Sandisk and improved the processor slightly.

I will admit that using my Sony Bravia TV is OK, but I do need to get a proper monitor as PSE does need one if you are going to use it properly. My screen resolution is not high enough and edges are a bit pixely.

Ordering & Delivery
Used HWS, PCFrits and Amazon. No problems. Everything came within a week. I've written some post on my HWS and PC Fritz experience. It seems I was luckier than some people who have ordered more exotic components maybe.

Performance.
Its amazing! I've put the OS on the SSD and directed all my files to the HDD, Boot up take around 10secs, photoshop starts up in 1-2 secs and all operations in photoshop are near instantaneous. Compared to what I've seen on Youtube this is pretty good and faster than some apple based systems. I'm not knocking Apple but as I explained in my original post I was thinking of buying a MacBook at one point.

The WD 1TB Blue HDD is near silent and very fast - so much so that I find myself double checking the SSD to see if things are being written there incorrectly. So I can endorse Bloodbath's posts discussing the merits of the WD 1TB Blue HDDs.

Components.
The Coolermaster NB200 is a neat mini tower which has acres of space inside it. If you want to have up to 5 SSDs then then should be on your to-look-at list. It has two fans so make sure your MoBo has two controller headers - my one doesn't.

My unit is under the desk with the front fan permanently on so there is a constant fan noise but it is not too distracting.

The samsung CDRW unit fits flush in the case - not like the unit hat appears in one of the you tube video reviewing the case

The logilink card reader works OK and looks the part in the case.

The CPU cooler was simple to fit once I had worked out how the little pegs had to be used. The accompanying instructions has very small illegible diagrams. Clamping it on to the processor was a leap of faith!!

The Asus Mobo fitted in the case Ok once the mounting ins were positioned. The metal strip that goes in the PCI slot is very flimsy and has little "fingers" around the holes which need to bent to allow the connector sockets to fit properly. Of course you only notice the ones impeding the connectors once you have screwed the board down. I think it took four fittings to get it all in properly!

One issue I have found is that the connector from the Case front panel USBs does not fit tightly on the MoBo header is was easy to slip off. I had to wrap some insulating tape around it to make sure it stays on.

Building - physical
Took me about three hours but I wasted aroudn 30 mins on the CPU cooler pegs and refitting the Mobo into the back plate.
Cabling everything up was relatively easy. I had envisioned a beautiful loom but had to made do with a bit of spaghetti here and there - but no ones going to see it!

Building - logical
Win 7 -Dell OEM re installation disc - loaded to SSD OK.
Loaded drivers from Asus disc - all USB port became disabled under windows. Had to get a PS 2 mouse from work to complete driver upgrade - this restored USB ports.

Win 7 upgardes - loaded OK in parts and required a umber of attempts but eventually all loaded up. Card reader USB port became disabled during this process but eventually restored itself.

During the upgrade process the machine would not complete a restart restart and would get hung on the ASUS netbios screen. Manually closing the screen and existing the bios enabled the PC to resume booting up and presumably complete the upgrades. An alternative method was to manually close down the machine and restart it once upgrades required a reboot. Once everything was loaded the machine has settled down and I haven't seen this problem again.

I watched the Newegg 1/2/3 videos on Youtube about three times to familiarize myself with the build process - well recommended.

CONCLUSIONS

1. Bang for buck, building a PC is far better than buying off the shelf

2. Its not as hard as you'd imagine. Theres good advice and help on boards.ie and lots of product specific videos on Youtube.

3. Speccing out the shopping list is probably the most daunting part as theer are some many varient. The Boards.ie contributors are really very good in this regard. Try reading about three months worth of latest posts and your get familiar with the preferred componet combinations.
Do the reccomeded builds work. Mine did and you don't see many/any complaints posted so I presume that builds that are adopted do work

4. Buying from HWS. No problems there - especially if you can deliver to a destination where there will be someone to accept it . It also much cheaper than Ireland. Amazon can be cheaper but watch their exchange rates

5. Keep your nerve - especially when things hiccup. Try to complete loading all the latest drivers and upgrades and hopefully everything will right itself.

6. If you have a PS2 port and a mouse - keep it handy.

7. Newegg build 3 vid suggests the order for upgrading drivers. It may be worth upgrading windows first then the drivers. In my case I think this may have avoided some hiccups. I'm not sure exactly, but I am sure there will be opinions out there.

Finally
My son thought this was quite amusing and just another geeky thing his dad was doing. Now he wants me to build a PC for him when he goes to college! He has his eye on one of the new compact BitFenix cases:D

BloodBath

Good stuff. If you want to make it quieter you should be able to reduce the fan speed of your cpu cooler and case fan in the BIOS.

I got the WD blue info from someone else. I think it was monotype.