ps-gunkie

Alrighty, I built this baby about a week ago. This can count as my first complete build log, there's no old crap in this, everything is brand new except for my mouse (Razer Diamondback 3G), and half of my RAM and my GPU (Zotac 9800GT); bought those 2 months ago, so .

A little something about some of the pics in here (yes, I know there's a lot of them ). Some, mostly towards the end, are terrible quality, and too dark; that's because my parents took the camera with them and I had to finish it off with my cell phone camera, but meh, crappy pics is better than no pics at all I guess.

On to the actual build log. Here's a list of what's being used for this build:

Case: Antec P183
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 E0
CPU Cooler: TRUE Black + Scythe S-Flex 1600 RPM
Power supply: Corsair HX750
GPU: Zotac 9800GT Synergy 512MB
RAM: 4x 2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 MHz
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Optical drive: Samsung SH-S223Q
Sound card: Asus Xonar DX
Card reader: Trust Media Connect Bay CR-3600
Fancontroller: Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus
Speakers: Creative Inspire T3100
Mouse: Razer Diamondback 3G
Keyboard: Razer Lycosa
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP2
And my crappy 14" monitor

Thank that about sums it up, on to the pictures!

__________________

ps-gunkie

Let's take a look at all that awesomeness =).


First off, the case, first expensive case I've ever had, I was quite excited .


Very well packaged, gotta love that!


My precious... Beautiful .


Nice interior, it's not painted, but that doesn't matter much seeing as there's no window in the case, and no need for it either, the case itself is pretty enough .


Interesting place for the accessory box, taped into the lower HDD bay. I wonder what's in that box.


The a nice assortment of screws, the keys (didn't know this case had a lock on it, nice surprise), mounting thingies for a fan in the middle of the case, re-usable cable ties (in addition to the ones already installed), and mounting brackets for 5.25" devices.


What's next? This bad boy is .


Surely looks nice in all this pretty packaging .


And here he is at last, pretty =).

__________________

ps-gunkie

PSU is in, looking all awesome in there. Used the tape used to hold the accessory box in the HDD bay to keep the fan cables out of my way, can't figure out why Antec didn't use shorter cables, it's not like you need long cables, seeing as they don't plug into the motherboard, but into the fan controller at the back of the case instead.


On to the motherboard!


Damn, can't see it yet =(.


Oh, there it is! Lots of stuff that comes with it, never seen a board with this many manuals either.


Definitely not a fan of the colors, but eh, can't see the board once it's in the case anyway, and the important thing is performance, which I'm sure will be ok .


Q9550 to go with the board .


Now what are we going to cool that baby with? Stock HSF? Never . Pretty black box =).


Yup, it's black (regular ones were out of stock).


Fan mounted. First time using this method of mounting a fan to a heatsink, found it rather difficult to figure out tbh .


Comparison with the stock Intel HSF... LOL! Also, I had to get the fan off to mount the HSF, manual (well, not really a manual, but meh) didn't mention this. Ended up mounting the fan differently as well.

__________________

ps-gunkie

Threw in my new set of RAM, my other one (just like this one) was added later, it was still in my old machine at this point.


5.25" devices installed. The card reader was a pain though, the holes to mount it with were just holes, you could push a screw in, but it would just fall out again. As a result of this, the device wiggles when you push a card in, but oh well. Ended up switching them around to this:
Fan controller
Card reader
Optical drive
Empty


Motherboard in .


Looks like it's gonna be close; there's only a couple of millimeters between the TRUE and the side panel, but it fits, and that's what's important .


Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB drive, nice .


Drive in.


Next up, my very first sound card, and I have to say, I'm amazed, first time I booted Windows on this computer and installed the drivers, I spent hours sitting there listening to FLAC files and stuff =).


The card itself.


Card in!


Decided to peel off the protective plastic here, awesomeness!

__________________

ps-gunkie

Continuing with the case, didn't expect it to be this shiny, but I don't mind it one bit .


And another one!


Back of the case so far.


Cable mess ftl .


Oh gawd.


Graphics card (Zotac 9800GT Synergy) in and cleaned up, will be improving the cable management soon though.


From another angle.


The back, there should've been a bit more space for thick cables like the motherboard connector, but with a bit of messing around, I figured it might work.


And it did! Yay!

__________________

ps-gunkie

God, this had to be the best looking case I've ever seen =).


Rear end finished.


Sorry for the crappy quality and darkness of the next couple of pics.

What's this? Ooh!


Never would've guessed it would be this shiny, looks like a mirror to me, even though it's not the mirror edition... Oh well.


More shininess, this is a dust and fingerprint magnet, found that out the hard way already . Exactly why I didn't want the mirror edition, shame it still looks like a mirror.


Lit up, it's better than my old Saitek Eclipse II, but not as bright, which is a downside. Might have t look up that mod some other guy did to get the brightness up ;D.





Next to my trusty Razer Diamondback 3G, they go well together .


And the last thing to throw in; the new speakers, awesome little set, and great subwoofer, I love them!


Everything set up! Don't mind my crappy desk btw, I've been planning on repainting it, but I never get to do it . Also switched things around a bit, but this is close to the final setup.


And that's all, thank you all for watching .

__________________

SniperXX

Nice build. I love that case.

__________________
Want to get ~25,000PPD folding on your i7 running a Virtual Machine?

EVGA 680i FOR SALE

i7 920 @ 4.2Ghz
HT off for now, still testing.

HEATWARE

O o
/¯/___________________________ _\
| BBBBBAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
\_\¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯/

ps-gunkie

Thanks for the comment . I love the case too, I'm mentally slapping myself for going with cheap cases for so long now . It's been absolutely amazing to work with. Might put some more pics up after I finish redoing some of the cables and stuff .

__________________

R00ST3R

Nice Rig there man!

__________________
Absolutely graphics when hardware!

**The Megahalems Club**

I_dalder_I

Nice little set up man that's a huge improvement over your old rig, you should run some bencmarks and post them also put that sub woofer on the ground to lessen vibration and make it sound better. You don't want it in your face lol

__________________
I just cant get a good sig dang it