My Computer / Build Log

[KingCub]

Hey everybody! Well, I thought that I should document this build that I started a few days ago, so here you go! If you have any questions or tips, feel free to comment!!

Specs So Far-
Name-Mnyama ~ Meaning 'Beast' in Swahili
Case-Corsair Air 540
Motherboard-BioStar Tz77 X E4
CPU-Intel i5 3570K running at 4.8ghz
RAM-G-Skill Ares Series 8GB DDR3 running at 1800 with timings at 11-11-11-28
GPU-EVGA GeForce 780 Dual Classified running at 115% power, GPU Clock= +135, MEM Clock= +350, V= +25mV
Power Supply-Corsair 750w Modular
DVD-ASUS DVD Reader/Burner OEM
Sound-ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card
Storage-1xCorsair SSD / 5xHDD for a total of 1.5 TB
CPU Cooling-NZXT Kraken X60 water cooling system
Case Cooling- 4xCougar CF-V14H 1xCougar CF-V12HP 3xCorsair Air Series SP120
Peripherals-Corsair K60 Keyborad, and SteelSeries Sensei gaming mouse
Lighting-NZXT Hue RGB lighting system


Parts-
Case- The Corsair Air 540. Dual section design makes it great for air cooling and water cooling. I bought it planning to do a custom water cooling loop in the future.

Spoiler: show

Motherboard+CPU- Good MB, can handle some pretty good over-clocks, along with the CPU. Funny thing, they just stopped selling this MB on most stores. I got a little hotter CPU then normal, but nothing I can't handle!

Spoiler: show

RAM- Nice RAM, and happens to match my system colors. Hope to get another 2x4GB to put my rig up to 16GB of RAM, now that Im doing a bit more art and photography on this computer.

Spoiler: show

GPU-Brand new 780. Really love this card! I bought and installed a backplate just for a few things. I was getting some sag so this helped a lot, and with water cooling this is needed! So might as well pick one up for cheap.

Spoiler: show

Power Supply-Simple 750w power supply that I have had since my first build. Never had any problems with it, so Im liking it!

Spoiler: show

Sound-I picked this card up on sale when I was down at the computer store a while back. I had been needing a sound card for a while, so might as well get in when its on clearance!

Spoiler: show

Storage-Just some hard drives. Nice that most of my hard drives are the small for factor, witch is really needed in this case! Just because this case has 5 SSD slots, and only 2 large form factor HDD slots.

Spoiler: show

Case Cooling- I have been using the Cougar fans for quite a while now, and really love them for radiator cooling. Then I like the Corsair fans for exhaust on the case.

Spoiler: show

DVD+Lighting- Just a simple DVD bay that I'm pretty sure everybody has. For lighting I use the NZXT Hue. Very bright light and the RGB is very nice to be able to switch up the colors. Only problem is that sometimes you can see the other colors mixing in, throwing off the color in some places. But nothing ugly looking.

Spoiler: show

Now, time for the build!

[Regulus]

Haha, you have a lot of work to do for that build! Hope it all goes well.

Is it just me, or is that case like 2x as wide as normal? And how does that light controller thing work, because I don't see any lights?

[KingCub]

[quote="Regulus"]Haha, you have a lot of work to do for that build! Hope it all goes well.

Is it just me, or is that case like 2x as wide as normal? And how does that light controller thing work, because I don't see any lights?[/quote]
Thanks!!

Yep, the case is 2x as wide because of the double chamber design of it. So on the window side, there is the MB, GPU and things like that. On the other side, there is the PSU, HDD, SSD, and all your cables. Just helps remove some of the items blocking good airflow in the front.

The box has a cable that connects to a strip of flexible LED lighting. Its just not shown here, sorry!

[Kiburi]

Nice!

I've seen that that case looks really nice on the side/on top of a desk.
Personally, I don't like it's chubbiness, but, it's still a cool idea.

LOL "This DVD Drive that I'm sure everyone has" I have that exact same one, haha

Liking the 780. You'll get awesome performance with that, I'm sure.
Holy... That's a lot of case fans, haha

Can't wait to see the build!

[OuRaion]

All looking good, though I have one complaint.

The sound card.
I, and many of my audiophile friends, all believe that sound cards are a waste of money, and no better (in some cases worse) than on board audio. I suggest you watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rXcJuEsy0
But since you bought it on sale a while ago, I can let it slide, hehe

I can't wait to see it completed!

[KingCub]

[quote="Kiburi"]Nice!

I've seen that that case looks really nice on the side/on top of a desk.
Personally, I don't like it's chubbiness, but, it's still a cool idea.

LOL "This DVD Drive that I'm sure everyone has" I have that exact same one, haha

Liking the 780. You'll get awesome performance with that, I'm sure.
Holy... That's a lot of case fans, haha

Can't wait to see the build! [/quote]
Yep, I have it up on my desk! Hate the dust that they get on the floor! It seems really nice so far. Just waiting now to OC it and do some performance testing on it!

Thats a lot!?! Ohh, here is my 'collection' of all my fans! (18 Total)

Spoiler: show

[quote="OuRaion"]All looking good, though I have one complaint.

The sound card.
I, and many of my audiophile friends, all believe that sound cards are a waste of money, and no better (in some cases worse) than on board audio. I suggest you watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rXcJuEsy0
But since you bought it on sale a while ago, I can let it slide, hehe

I can't wait to see it completed![/quote]
Yep! I totally agree with you. Getting a dedicated audio card is completely useless, unless you have professional studio quality headphones to go along with it. I would have never gotten this one if it was not for the sale!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Day one of the build!! After lots of boxes unpacked, and music turned all the way up, it was time to start!

Getting the MB was a lot simpler this time around, thanks to the open room that this case gives me. Once that was in place, I like to start with the main power cables in next. Now the problem was getting the cables all neat! Im a huge freak about cable management, so I spent a good time planning all the cables routs about.

Next I like to set up all those stupid tiny cables setup at the bottom of the MB. I honestly hate how fat the USB 3.0 cable is, but I did my best to tidy it up. Used black electrical tape to wrap the smaller cables up and to finally wrap them to the base of the USB cable. Besides that little fan cable there, it was all looking good!

Then I started getting the internal lighting set up, so thats what that black strip is to the left of the case. Got that all run around the case, under the lip of all the case lights so that it is hidden!

Now, the one complaint I have about this case is the cable management! Like I said, Im a freak when it comes to this, even in the backside of the case. Although there is a ton of room in the back, there are very few cable tie-downs and terrible routs to take when laying them all out. But I did my best!

Here you can see how the PSU sits in the case, on its side in the back section. This is really nice as it hides all the ugly that the PSU brings to the table! Also above it is a brilliant design that corsair has. Its a little holder for all SSD's that you have, and the holder can also be separated to hold more or less drives in it.

Now I just quickly installed the two drive bays, also laying on there side. I also like how they did this, as I like the look of it and it takes up a lot less room. Then I installed the three front intake fans. The case also came with a really nice magnetic dust filter (not shown) that makes cleaning very simple.

Now that all the main components where in, next was the smaller bits!

[Kiburi]

HOLY FANS!

Awesome! I actually really like the look of this build!

Your cable management looks heavenly compared to mine... I need to get in there sometime and reroute some cables.....
Oh, and I need to add some lighting. Might go with the HUE as it looks pretty neat.

[KingCub]

[quote="Kiburi"]HOLY FANS!

Awesome! I actually really like the look of this build!

Your cable management looks heavenly compared to mine... I need to get in there sometime and reroute some cables.....
Oh, and I need to add some lighting. Might go with the HUE as it looks pretty neat.[/quote]
It is! I love the Hue, the colors are all really nice and it has a bunch of different settings for things like brightness and things like that.

------------------------------------------------


Now there is always a time in a build that something has to go wrong for me. And this was that time.

I planned to have my 3x fans at the fount of the case, then my 280mm with 4x fans in a push-pull setup. Now all of the case details say that it can support push-pull, but apparently not with my motherboard. So after wondering for a while what the bottom fans kept getting stuck on, I finally found it. The heat-sink on the MB what just a few mm to high, preventing both bottom fans from sliding into place.

But wait! It gets worse! Once I finally decided that the only other place I could fit my push-pull radiator was on the front, moving the 3 fans to the top of the case. Sadly, then I could only fit 2x120mm up on the top, leaving out a fan. But, then moving the fans out of the front, things went wrong. After unscrewing 3 of the 4 screws on the fan, I kept wondering why the last screw was taking so long to come out. Turns out that the area around the screw in the fan came off. So it was just spinning around in the fan, not coming out. My only option was to force the fan out, snapping it off. Then the screw with the part of the fan was still in the case. Next I had to get wrench to hold the back in, then unscrew the last screw out. After all that was done, I started removing the other fans. The second fan came out pretty easy, but then I hit another problem. The last fan had the same problem as the first, forcing me to do the same thing as the first fan.

After all the hassle was finished, it was time to hook up the radiator. Nothing too special happened now, just had to re-applie the thermal past, and plop the pump into place. The fans where put into place, two on the front and two behind the radiator. Another problem was the amazing dust filter. Once the fans where placed in front, there was no other room for the filter. Not a huge issue, but defiantly something that bothers me! Also decided to get the RAM into place. Pretty easy stuff, right?

Almost done now! Just final things and boot-up time!

[Kiburi]

Looking good!

[nalasimba83]

you BUILT this?