Building a PC - Some questions for experts

Powka

Honorable
May 4, 2012
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10,680
Everybody kept saying that building a rig is very easy, well... I beg to differ. But I hope some experts here can help me out maybe? I need your advice! Here are some of the parts that I'm using, and I'm not very tech-savvy at all:

Case: Raidmax Viper GX
MB: ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s
CPU fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - CPU Cooler with 4 D
HDD: Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB - OEM
SSD: 120G INTEL SSDSC2BW120A4K5 RT
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
GPU: ASUS GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB 128-B
CPU: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) S
PSU: Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W Continuous @4

Got everything from Newegg.

Questions:

1. How do I know which cable of the Raidmax Viper GX case goes where? I figured some of them out, but I have others that aren't connected to anything, and there's no manual for the case. Are there any guides online? I couldn't find any, only reviews of the case.

2. Some 4P Molex male cables (Case) can't be connected to their female counterparts (PSU) because those four pins are so loose they don't fit properly, on few separate cables. How do you guys do it?

3. My CPU fan Hyper 212 Plus doesn't fit the motherboard (even though a few people assured me that it will, PCPartPicker seemed to agree, and Newegg didn't have any problems with compatibility). I spent about 2 hours trying to find a way to utilize it, but there's no way - it simply doesn't fit. Is that possible? I ended up using the stock one, but I'd like to install the aftermarket one instead as it seems a lot more powerful.

4. What cables does my Western Digital HDD needs? I found that I can connect a PSU power cable to it, but that's about it. It didn't come with any, so do I have to buy them now online separately, really? I also got an SSD, that one came with all the necessary cables so I just plugged those in.

5. On launch, I get "CPU Fan Error!" message. What does it represent? Should I be worried?

I got the whole setup running last night, got the launch image, etc. but not everything is connected inside the case yet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Yesterday was a frustrating day. Never again am I going to attempt this venture. All that stress is definitely not worth the money...
 
Solution
1. The front panel should have a large connector which plugs into the USB3 header on the motherboard, and smaller ones that go to the front panel header on the motherboard (these are for the power and reset buttons, and the LEDs). Case fans either have a small 3- or 4-pin fan connector or a large 4-pin Molex connector. The 3/4-pin fan connectors go into 3/4-pin fan headers on the motherboard (the number of pins doesn't have to match). The 4-pin Molex connector mates with a Molex connector from the power supply. Some fans will include an adapter from small 3/4-pin fan connector to Molex, so you can pick where to connect them.

2. Never had that problem. Shitty case might be responsible, or maybe you're trying to connect something wrong...

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
Read the CM instructions for your motheboard. It will fit. You have to remove the mounting bracket on the motherboard, and install the one that comes with the cooler. It is called you bought a low quality case. You have to work with the molex connectors a bit. You will often have unused cables, if your motherboard doesn't have certain connections. Read the motherboard manual. It will illustrate the various connections to help you out. You need a sata cable for the HDD. It should have come with your motherboard. You are stressing, because you didn't fully research what you needed to do, before you got started. Also read your manuals. :D
 

XiiD

Distinguished
Oct 17, 2010
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18,540
1. by case cables do you mean from your PSU? or from you actual case as in power on button and fans etc, I found a lot of mine actually connect to the motherboard not to the PSU cables (most PSUs label there cables)

3. Are you struggling to fit it to the motherboard or is it literally to big for the case? I had a lot of problems back in the day getting a AMD stock cooler onto the board. If you are struggling to fit it make sure you read the coolers instructions and just brute force it a little.

4. some motherboards come with the appropriate cables it will be about 4 cms wide ribbon like cable.
 
1. The front panel should have a large connector which plugs into the USB3 header on the motherboard, and smaller ones that go to the front panel header on the motherboard (these are for the power and reset buttons, and the LEDs). Case fans either have a small 3- or 4-pin fan connector or a large 4-pin Molex connector. The 3/4-pin fan connectors go into 3/4-pin fan headers on the motherboard (the number of pins doesn't have to match). The 4-pin Molex connector mates with a Molex connector from the power supply. Some fans will include an adapter from small 3/4-pin fan connector to Molex, so you can pick where to connect them.

2. Never had that problem. Shitty case might be responsible, or maybe you're trying to connect something wrong?

3. Yes it does. Did you turn the backplate the right way round? One way is for Intel, the other is for AMD.

4. SATA data cable as well as the SATA power connector from the power supply. The motherboard should come with two SATA data cables, otherwise you can buy them pretty cheap.

5. CPU fan has to be plugged into the CPU fan header or the motherboard will freak out.
 
Solution

Powka

Honorable
May 4, 2012
101
0
10,680
Thanks for the help guys! I'll refer to some of these once I get home and get back to building the rig again (in the office now). I'll provide some pics, too, for better reference.

In terms of the case and 4pin Molex cables, it could be a crappy case, I'm not sure. I paid $80 on $20 promotion for it, so pretty cheap I guess.

@Sakkura,

3. The problem is with the backplate (http://www.ninjalane.com/images/hyper212evo/install_backplate.jpg). The backplate cannot be mounted this way because it doesn't align AT ALL with the holes on the MB, not even close. I cannot use the stock backplate, because then I can't use that metal mount on top of the MB for the cooler. Any thoughts? I'll provide pics later today.

5. It's plugged in, but I still get the error. What else could it be?