New build questions and concerns

[simplestudent]

Hello Tom's Hardware community,

I turn to your collective knowledge seeking some advice. I have recently purchased and assembled my new computer with the assistance of some your members however I have a couple questions and concerns.

First this is what I am working with.

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 (CMPSU-850HX) 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Transfer Kit

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact"

My first concern comes when I boot. I get a message "CPU Fan Error". Now I'm currently using the stock fan as I need to modify my Hyper 212 to make it work in this case. I will explain more on this later. When I enter the bios these are the numbers I'm reading.

CPU_Fan 1002 RPM
PWR_FAN 675 RPM
CHA_FAN_OPT 682 RPM
CHA_FAN1 355 (Increased since start to 431)
CHA_FAN2 378 (Increased since first start to 438)

My CPU temp at startup was 32c and is now sitting at 37c.

CHA_Fan1 is hooked up to the fan attached to my side and is a 200mm Fan. The CHA_Fan2 is my front fan and is a 230mm fan. Both of these fans came with the case. Are these numbers too low or the fact they are so large require them not to spin as fast? My two top fans are both running High 600 RPM. Did I get faulty fans? Is there a way to adjust there speed in my bios? I do plan on OCing my i5 in the future so the airflow is important to figure out now.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this post and offer any advice you may have.

 

[BuBzXXL]

Hmmm..... If theres something wrong with the CPU cooler, I probably wouldn't use my computer lol... I dunno though I never had a problem like that...

 

[Raiddinn]

You don't have to worry about fan RPMs that slow.

The bigger the fan, the slower it needs to turn to move the same amount of air.

However, I would pay attention when the computer says "CPU FAN ERROR" to you.

Are you sure that you plugged it in correctly?

It sounds like it might be trying to tell you that it isn't connected right.

- Edit - i just wanted to say that you got a nice collection of parts, not much could be done to improve it in any way.

 

[BuBzXXL]

When'd you buy your EVGA 680? There selling like crazy!!

 

[Guest]

go into your bios, if it is anything like my P8H67 and look at:

it may be too high, try setting it to 500 or a little lower to get rid of that warning.
(i think i remember reading about that when i first got my board)

 

[simplestudent]

As I noted before I need to modify my Hyper 212 Cooler in order to make me comfortable putting this on my machine. My First and major concern is the back plate.

As you can see the foot bends up. My concern came when I went to install it. I ran into this scary situation.

In the top right section where the foot would rest are 3 solder points. I think I am able to remedy this buy putting some washers under the feet raising the back plate off of the motherboard. I have rubber washers and nylon washers. Would one work better then the other? The only other issue that I would have is on the bottom left of the back plate.

The bottom left corner of the plate will press against the case as the cut-out could be just a bit bigger. I believe I can fix this problem by cutting the tabs off of the back plate that are used for AMD setups. If that's not enough I guess I make the cut-out on the back of my computer just a little bigger. Thoughts?

 

[simplestudent]

When'd you buy your EVGA 680? There selling like crazy!!

I was able to pick it up April 4th from Tiger Direct. Had to keep an eye out for it. Best of luck in your search.

 

[simplestudent]

You don't have to worry about fan RPMs that slow.

The bigger the fan, the slower it needs to turn to move the same amount of air.

However, I would pay attention when the computer says "CPU FAN ERROR" to you.

Are you sure that you plugged it in correctly?

It sounds like it might be trying to tell you that it isn't connected right.

- Edit - i just wanted to say that you got a nice collection of parts, not much could be done to improve it in any way.

Thanks it took me awhile to find them all and to get them picked out. Much to the assistance of the fine people here. Thanks again Tom's Hardware.

 

[simplestudent]

I still don't understand why two of my 200mm fans run faster though. What about the spacers I will be using for my back plate. Rubber or Nylon. Does it really matter?

 

[Raiddinn]

Most people use metal if you mean what I think you mean.

It doesn't matter.

The place where the screws go into the motherboard is not electrically connected to anything else so the likelihood of metal screws or standoffs causing a short is nearly zero.

 

[simplestudent]

Another question hopefully it's something simple. I currently have 1 ssd and 2 hdd in my computer. I'm able to see all 3 drives in my bios and hardware manager however I don't see one of them under "My computer" to actually access it. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

 

[Guest]

most likely the one not seen isn't partitioned.

 

[Raiddinn]

Either that or it is partitioned by something that Windows doesn't recognize.

If it is partitioned with something like ext4, then good luck getting Windows to recognize it.

If you think it is partitioned with some kind of FAT or NTFS, then try switching both of the cables that are connected to the drive that can't be read with cables connected to a different drive.

Also, if it is an "alternative" hard drive, for lack of a better word, it will be tough to get Windows to recognize it.

I had a hard drive that was pulled out of a DVR that I shoved in my computer and Ubuntu recognized the drive right away. However, after many dozens of hours of troubleshooting the only way I could ever get Windows to recognize the drive was to boot into Ubuntu and then restart into Windows. It never once worked cold booting into Windows or restarting from Windows into Windows.

I don't think there is any way for me to fix that drive or Windows in order for the two to peacefully coexist.

From where I sit, it is just not a hard drive that was ever meant to be recognized by Windows.

If you pulled the hard drive from any place other than a computer, you could have the same problem.