What computer/OS are you using?

[Red-Machine]

Yes.  Like the slot blankers, it will fuck up airflow if it's not installed, which means the system won't be able to cool itself properly.  It also does some other things that I forget.

Also, how many fans are in that thing?

[Dr. Kraus]

I'm fine with that and do realize it.

Is the I/O shield required? This shows more blue for the place it's going, to be honest.

I recommend putting it on, keeps the dust out and unwanted things falling in （・ω・ノ

[Krizonar]

I'm not sure, the slot bankers were tear away (like the I/O shield) and no extra ones came. The graphics card also went into a very odd one and takes up another one as well.

It has 2 fans,
it has one air funnel and has air vents on the side panel,
I'm not including the fans on the cpu or gpu.
This is a fairly open aired case as it is, so I'm not sure what harm could be done really. It pulls air from the front and the side out the back.

It also runs very cool, even to the touch.

@Kraus: don't worry about cleaning, I clean like everything like all the time

[Red-Machine]

There should have been an I/O shield included in the motherboard box.  And why did you remove all the slot blankers?  You should have only taken out the ones you needed to to fit the graphics card.

[Krizonar]

There was, but there are no additional slot bankers.

And because it looked cleaner with all out or all in.
Plus, since they didn't send me any replacements, I didn't think it would do any harm to remove them, since if it did, they would have sent a few replacements for broken ones, etc.
Besides, this thing still needs wireless and bluetooth.

[Red-Machine]

You're not gonna notice a lack of symmetry with the slot blankers because:

a) the slots are facing the wall
b) the slots with missing blankers will be occupied by cards

Go down to your locak computer store or Radio Shack or whatever and buy some screw-on ones.  Either that, or go scrounging for some off junked PCs (make sure they're screw in, if they're just tear off they'll do you no good because you won't have anything to fix them to).

No offence, but removing them all simply for aesthetic purposes is kinda dumb, since you won't see them and them not being there causes a load of airflow problems.

[Krizonar]

I was not intending to have the back of my computer against the wall, but the left side of it parallel to the wall. This way, the blue glows out the side and back, it also positions it to receive assistant cooling from the fan in my room.
This case has many ratings that point out how open-aired it is and how easily it cools itself due to this technique. If temperatures ever do get a bit high for my taste, though, I will install the I/O shield and try my best at the slots as per your advice.

One of the slots was bent when I bought this, by the way, so I took that one out regardless.

[Dr. Kraus]

@Kriz: for your monitor problem you should try the on board video first to test the cable, then if that works make sure the card is placed all the way inside its port

if neither of these work then its your cable, if the mobo video works then its something with your card.

One last thing, if you have a high end card that takes up two slots then make sure you have power going to it because many high end cards need direct power from the power supply to function properly!

Good luck mai boi（・ロ・ノ

[Red-Machine]

Kriz, that smoke could have been something to do with the graphics circuitry.

[Dr. Kraus]

Kriz, that smoke could have been something to do with the graphics circuitry.

GREAT SCOT, RED COULD BE ONTO SOMETHING HERE!!!!

Also, if you took my "Yes." thing about the smoke seriously I was just joking around with you that is usually a bad sign （・◇・；

[Nichi]

On Red's suggestion over in Topicless, I've gone to Intel's website to try and find the drivers he mentioned. However, there's two different current versions; I have no idea which one to use.

The first one
The second one

According to the scan I ran from their site to see what drivers I needed, everything is up to date; including the SATA drivers, which where provided on the disc that came with my motherboard instead of using the Windows generic drivers. So, I'm really not sure what to do...

[Krizonar]

The smoke was clearly not coming from the graphics card (the smoke was coming from near the top, near the wires in front of the PSU, the graphics card is on the bottom), but I DO think the graphics card is not working, despite the fan working. Though yes, it's getting power and is all the way inside its port.

This mb has no onboard video, so I'll most likely just send the whole thing back and get knowledge for my time working with it.
I kept all the boxes and stuff just in case, so I'm going to get like 90% of my money back according to their RMA stuff.

(I also think the DVD drive is busted)

[Nichi]

If that means you're giving up, than don't. I'll admit, even 2k wasn't perfect when I first built her; she had a lot of weird bugs at the start, like not wanting to turn on, but I eventually worked it out and she ran great.

Of course, this coming from the guy who puts down the entire idea of SSDs because of the terrible experience I've had so far with them...

[Krizonar]

Work on boxing all this crap or work on computer...


both seem equally daunting...

/looks at giant pile of boxes

[Nichi]

I'd suggest sending the graphics card off for a replacement first, since that seems to be where your problem lies. It's worth a shot before you decide to scrap the entire project thus far