There are 3 guides here. Rig setup --> Raid and SSD --> WC and links.
Will gradually work on these set of faqs. For now bear with this as i get my thoughts and notepads settled. I originally wrote this guide for the 790i and 790i ultra as a guide for people new to building their own rigs. Now I think theres a need for the x58 as well.
Sometimes even the most experienced of us can forget certain things.
I made this little step by step process originally for myself, since i do forget sometimes. But I figured I might as well share it. Hope this helps.
First here are a couple things you will need to prepare for safety and checking.
- Lavalys Everest (benchmarking/monitoring - not neccessary)
- memtest86+ v2.01(MUST - youll find out why)
- LinX (Needed testing for stability - take care when testing with this)
- Prime95 (MUST - try to run a 10-16hr prime stable)
- OCCT (I usually run OCCT first before i run a Prime 95 torture test)
- Realtemp - (check your temps)
- Drive Sweeper (YOU DEF NEED THIS - from guru3d.com)
- CCleaner (I love this nifty freeware! and im sure you will too)
- Auslogics registry defrag (Great freeware - you dont need this if you use SSD)
- Auslogics HDD defrag (Still good, just dont use it on your SSD)
- GPU-Z (nifty program to check your video cards)
- CPU-Z (a nifty program to check your voltages and settings)
- ATI tool (for testing video)
- Furmark (again a tool for testing vga cards)
- EVGA precision (a great tool)
- Latest bio in a floppy or 'bootable' USB flash drive (I prefer bootable USB drives)
(a simple google will find you these programs, guru3d.com also has them)
when you start constructing your tower,
Start with: - 1x graphics card
- 1x 2gb ram stick in 2nd dimm slot from your CPU
- proccessor w/ heatsink (DO NOT FORGET YOUR THERMAL GEL!!!)
- install all your fans
- 1x SATA DVD drive
- 1x HDD or SSD (or 1x raid)
- 1x floppy drive for bios and raid updates (not needed if you plan to use a USB drive)
- Do not forget to check that you plugged in everything right before powering up.
The following guide below should be followed in order. - Update to Latest or stablest bios first (this is your choice)
-When updating the bios you must clear the CMOS before and after you update.
(Turn off PSU, press the CMOS reset button, wait a couple secs, turn your PSU backon)
(Remove power, move jumper, remove battery, press on/off button for 10secs, reassemble in reverse order.) (one way to check if you've really cleared the CMOS is by entering the bios and checking if the date has been reset to something like January 1 2000 or something like that)
- Manually set your memory (RAM) timings and voltages in the bios!
(Set according to factory settings of your ddr3 ram)
- Memtest86+ ram stick #1 in Dimm slot (verify with 3-5 passes)
- Once ram stick#1 passes test remove that ram and place ram #2 in the same slot you tested
- Memtest86+ ram stick #2 in Dimm slot (same verification)
- Memtest86+ ram stick #3 in Dimm slot (same verification)
- Memtest 86+ All sticks of ram at the same time (just for safe measure, again 3-5 passes)
- If both sets pass good for you.
If everything passes at this point congrats. Your ram is good and you dont have any bad dimm slots. - Ready your Raid array. (Please read post #2 on how to set up a raid array)
(Skip this step if your not using Raid)
- install OS of choice (My personal suggestion is Windows 7 x64)
- Don’t forget to turn off auto update
- Once you are done with all the mumbojumbo dont do anything yet.
- Reboot your PC into Safe mode
- Once in OS (Safe mode), Use driver sweeper (from guru3d.com) to clean all the crap drivers windows installed - Make sure that its thoroughly cleaned. This might require a couple of reboots back into safe mode. What you want to see in driver manager is "VGA Adapter" not "GTX285"
- Install drivers for GTX200 card#1 after cleaning crap drivers
- install other drivers 1 by 1
- DO NOT install Certain 'unneeded' nvidia utilities
- Install all the drivers you can find here on Evga
A tried and true method to setup SLI (this is useful for updating drivers as well).
Start with only 1 graphics card, make sure to turn off windows autoupdate and auto new hardware search. 1) use driver sweeper in windows (downloadable from guru3d.com)
2) boot into safe mode
3) driver sweeper to make sure once more (usually there are files that remain)
4) install drivers for 1 card only (make sure you only have 1 card plugged in)
5) boot back into windows normally and check device manager
6) plug in the second card with the SLI bridge
7) boot into safe mode and install the drivers for that card (not really needed)
8) reboot and check device manager in windows normal
9) enable SLI
NOTE: It is recommended to test your VGA cards 1 by 1 before setting SLI You should be good to go without problems, until you try to OC anyway.
When you OC remember to take note of your settings every time and do so slowly little by little!
KEEP A LOG BOOK! I’ve followed this setup meticulously for 3 790i boards, around 6 x58 rigs and have had no problems aside from a dead FDC controller on 1 board... I dont really use floppies any more anyway... So if this doesnt work for you... then you prob are unlucky with a busted board or part or something... or you didnt follow what I said and you just kicked yourself in the...
Good luck!
Links for when your in trouble:
EDIT2 (some extras i thought might help for the wondering):
Note1: Do not start your PC with USB/firewire/or any form of external device aside from your mouse or keyboard. External devices such as HDDs not only cause slow down for the bios, but also may cause a freeze on startup. Hook em up when you get into windows and you shouldnt have a problem. This goes for ALL mobos and all laptops.
Note2: People seem to not realize this but.... Windows XP DOES NOT support quad SLI!
Hardware (
with links)
CPUs: 1) i7 920 D0 (nuff said)
2) w3520 (its ok i took the plunge and my 920 was better sigh..)
Heres a list of ram ive personally used on the X58 classi board that has worked and ive OCed: 1)
Mushkin 6GB (3x2gb) ddr3 sdram 1600 (PC3 12800) - 998691 this is why i love mushkin ram =P
2)
Corsair 6GB (3x2 gb) dd3 sdram 1866 (PC3 15000)
PSU:
List of Compatible PSUs for the X58 Some suggestions for heatsinks and gels (and others): Thermal 120 xtreme
megahalem
Noctua NHU12P (comes with 2 fans!)
Arctic Pro 7 Heatsink and fan isnt too bad....
Arctic MX-2 (good thermal grease for the clumsy. I might switch to this myself)
Arctic Silver 5 thermal gel Scythe Fans (quiet and good airflow) (I use these fans on everything)
Noctua Fans (quiet and good airflow) (likewise I use these in combination with scythes)
Scythe fan controllers are nice. They have a Card reader + fan controller combination that I use on all 3 of my towers.
Liquid cooling: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=5152 http://www.realredraider.com