a few questions from a new builder

[memetootoo]

Hey guys, a few weeks ago you guys encouraged me to build my first computer. It has been slow going, but I'm glad I took on the project. The build ended up being:

Maximus IX Code
NZXT Kraken X62
i7 7700K
NZXT H440
G.SKILL 32GB TridentZ Series 3200MHz
ASUS Sound Card Essence STX II
1080 AMP Extreme

I have a few questions, that I was not able to figure out for myself online, hoping you guys can help me out again.

1) Can I build my new computer and then swap the SSD from my existing computer and do a factor reset? Will this cause issues? I don't want to wipe the SSD before putting it into my new computer, because I"m honestly not confident that I put the computer together without error.
2) There's a cable called the HD audio coming out of my case, should that go into the motherboard or to my sound card, I seem to be reading conflicting info online?
3) In pic. 1 below, can you guys confirm that if the usb 2 header is #2 and the USB extension is #1. I have my CPU cooler plugged into #1 and the USB 2 wire from my case plugged into #2. It looks like the usb header is right above the usb1314 lettering, but it doesn't actually fit, so I thought it might be referencing the section to the left of it.
4) Does GPU placement matter? Should I put it at the bottom of the desktop for aesthetics, and have my sound card above it? Or towards the top pci express slot, and my sound card below it. The former looks better, but I imagine the latter will give the card more space to push out hot air?
5) Lastly, in pic 2 my wire situation is a bit of a mess and I have a lot of random wires coming out of my cpu cooler. Any reco on if I can do anything differently, it looks like such a mess, and I was hoping to keep it clean. Doesn't look like much can change, just so ugly how it loops above the ram.

Thanks for your time, I appreciate it!

http://imgur.com/a/BUuuy
http://imgur.com/a/gXmng

[Nellah]

1) Can I build my new computer and then swap the SSD from my existing computer and do a factor reset? Will this cause issues? I don't want to wipe the SSD before putting it into my new computer, because I"m honestly not confident that I put the computer together without error.

Swapping OS drives between PCs is not fun with Windows 10 even for someone who's put together dozens if not a couple hundred PCs. You might be able to sysprep the drive before deconstructing your old computer though. If you don't have any important data on it, just wipe it; and if you do, get the data off, then wipe it. I've heard plenty of horror stories about old drivers messing things up in very creative ways.

2) There's a cable called the HD audio coming out of my case, should that go into the motherboard or to my sound card, I seem to be reading conflicting info online?

Most guides online assume you don't have a sound card because Windows 7 and I think Vista removed a lot of support for hardware sound processing. Win10 has it back and I think Win8 did too. Plug the front panel audio into whichever device you're using to produce audio.

3) In pic. 1 below, can you guys confirm that if the usb 2 header is #2 and the USB extension is #1. I have my CPU cooler plugged into #1 and the USB 2 wire from my case plugged into #2. It looks like the usb header is right above the usb1314 lettering, but it doesn't actually fit, so I thought it might be referencing the section to the left of it.

I'd consult your motherboard manual for that. If it doesn't fit it doesn't sit, so don't jam it in; manual should say what those pins actually are. You appear to be correct though, the header is probably #2.

4) Does GPU placement matter? Should I put it at the bottom of the desktop for aesthetics, and have my sound card above it? Or towards the top pci express slot, and my sound card below it. The former looks better, but I imagine the latter will give the card more space to push out hot air?

Yes it certainly does, only the top slot on that motherboard is a x16 electrical, the rest are x8 and x4. Put the GPU in the top slot always unless the top slot is broken.

5) Lastly, in pic 2 my wire situation is a bit of a mess and I have a lot of random wires coming out of my cpu cooler. Any reco on if I can do anything differently, it looks like such a mess, and I was hoping to keep it clean. Doesn't look like much can change, just so ugly how it loops above the ram.

Could route them behind your motherboard. Doesn't look like you have a whole lot of other options.

[memetootoo]

Swapping OS drives between PCs is not fun with Windows 10 even for someone who's put together dozens if not a couple hundred PCs. You might be able to sysprep the drive before deconstructing your old computer though. If you don't have any important data on it, just wipe it; and if you do, get the data off, then wipe it. I've heard plenty of horror stories about old drivers messing things up in very creative ways.


Most guides online assume you don't have a sound card because Windows 7 and I think Vista removed a lot of support for hardware sound processing. Win10 has it back and I think Win8 did too. Plug the front panel audio into whichever device you're using to produce audio.


I'd consult your motherboard manual for that. If it doesn't fit it doesn't sit, so don't jam it in; manual should say what those pins actually are. You appear to be correct though, the header is probably #2.


Yes it certainly does, only the top slot on that motherboard is a x16 electrical, the rest are x8 and x4. Put the GPU in the top slot always unless the top slot is broken.


Could route them behind your motherboard. Doesn't look like you have a whole lot of other options.

Swapping OS drives between PCs is not fun with Windows 10 even for someone who's put together dozens if not a couple hundred PCs. You might be able to sysprep the drive before deconstructing your old computer though. If you don't have any important data on it, just wipe it; and if you do, get the data off, then wipe it. I've heard plenty of horror stories about old drivers messing things up in very creative ways.


Most guides online assume you don't have a sound card because Windows 7 and I think Vista removed a lot of support for hardware sound processing. Win10 has it back and I think Win8 did too. Plug the front panel audio into whichever device you're using to produce audio.


I'd consult your motherboard manual for that. If it doesn't fit it doesn't sit, so don't jam it in; manual should say what those pins actually are. You appear to be correct though, the header is probably #2.


Yes it certainly does, only the top slot on that motherboard is a x16 electrical, the rest are x8 and x4. Put the GPU in the top slot always unless the top slot is broken.


Could route them behind your motherboard. Doesn't look like you have a whole lot of other options.

Thanks for all your help, I just finished my build! You definitely saved me a lot of headaches in my first build. I really appreciate it!

1) I had to plug my water cooler's USB connector into the USB 2.0 header. I tried plugging in the USB cable into the rog_ext socket on my MB, but it looks like the USB 2.0s in front of my case are not working. I may have misunderstood, but from what I read online, it sounded like the rog_ext was essentially another USB header? Do i need a USB header expansion?

2)The USB 3.0s on the front of my case also do not work, so I'm wondering if I did something very wrong! They all work in the back though, so I'm wondering if there's a defect? I have my USB 3.0 cable plugged into the USB 3.0 header, and the USB cable plugged into the rog_ext socket.

3)My ram is rated at 3200, but when I use the XMP profile on 3200, the computer does it boot. It does boot on 3000mhz though. I know ram speed doesn't matter too much, but I'd like to get what I paid for. Any additional thoughts would be appreciated.

[Deleted]

1) I had to plug my water cooler's USB connector into the USB 2.0 header. I tried plugging in the USB cable into the rog_ext socket on my MB, but it looks like the USB 2.0s in front of my case are not working. I may have misunderstood, but from what I read online, it sounded like the rog_ext was essentially another USB header? Do i need a USB header expansion?

2)The USB 3.0s on the front of my case also do not work, so I'm wondering if I did something very wrong! They all work in the back though, so I'm wondering if there's a defect? I have my USB 3.0 cable plugged into the USB 3.0 header, and the USB cable plugged into the rog_ext socket.

1) You got 2 x usb2.0 headers. From your 1st photo, one is the one above where it says usb1314 and the other is the one exactly on its left (middle one of all those 3 headers). The one you got red marked as #1 in your photo is not a usb 2.0 header. So connect both your Kraken and usb2.0 case headers on the two i mentioned and all should work fine.

2) The usb 3.0 header for your cases top panel is above your sata ports. You connect the cases blue usb 3.0 there (the bigger one). If you have it there, have updated motherboard's drivers still don't work then something is broken. Either the case usb3.0 or mobo's is faulty.