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Hello everyone! Welcome to my build log. Originally this machine was supposed to be Intel based, indeed I had already bought an i7 3930k and motherboard to go with it. However, things didn't quite work out with the case I was going to use, the Fractal R4 white with side window. I was unhappy with several things, including the volume of my chosen cooling solution; the NZXT Kraken X60. Money became tight so I sold off the Intel parts and had to make a choice...
In the end, I chose to go back to my AMD roots. I had been using their CPU's since back in the Thunderbird days with great success. I could have picked the i5 3570k for just a little more than I paid for the FX 8320, but I have had that CPU before and was not overly impressed by it. I enjoyed my time with an FX 8150 previously so the 8-core found its way into my rig again. I had planned to use the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3, but the new UEFI system is far from complete and it was not delivering what the hardware would do. Back to the store it went, and I settled on the slightly more expensive but very nice Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 board.
I chose the name "Wintergreen" based on the color theme and the AMD based platform. I decided green and white would be nice, and something not very common among the masses of blue/black and red/black builds. For the term relating to AMD, wintergreen was originally a word to describe plants that did not lose their leaves in the winter, now commonly referred to as evergreens. I think this suits it, because AMD is surely in a cold, hard winter right now but still chugging along. They haven't withered up and died yet, so with new 8-core consoles coming out and games appearing that can utilize this CPU properly (BF3, Crysis 3) it seems that spring might be right around the corner.
![biggrin.gif]()
I apologize in advance for the crappy pictures I might take. My camera is a terrible $79 bargain bin thing that has been dropped too many times, and the poor lighting in my apartment is more than it can handle. I'll try my best to make it look halfway decent with the limited skills I have.
Anyway, most all of my budget was blown on the water cooling, so I had to be a little frugal with the rest of the build and re-use most components I already had. Here is the hardware list:
Watercooling parts
And of course, the thing everyone wants. Pictures! This post will be edited with hardware pics later as I have to use the machine to type this up right now.
A few weeks ago I picked up my case from Jim at Caselabs. They are about 35 minutes away from me, and it was really neat talking to him and actually meeting the person behind all the emails when I was deciding to buy it.
![DSC02677.jpg]()
The gigantic 25lb box from Performance PC's has arrived today finally:
![DSC02694.jpg]()
Lets set up all the water gear for a nice family photo with the SM8 in the background (oh yes, there will be Mayhems dye):
![DSC02695.jpg]()
In the end, I chose to go back to my AMD roots. I had been using their CPU's since back in the Thunderbird days with great success. I could have picked the i5 3570k for just a little more than I paid for the FX 8320, but I have had that CPU before and was not overly impressed by it. I enjoyed my time with an FX 8150 previously so the 8-core found its way into my rig again. I had planned to use the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3, but the new UEFI system is far from complete and it was not delivering what the hardware would do. Back to the store it went, and I settled on the slightly more expensive but very nice Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 board.
I chose the name "Wintergreen" based on the color theme and the AMD based platform. I decided green and white would be nice, and something not very common among the masses of blue/black and red/black builds. For the term relating to AMD, wintergreen was originally a word to describe plants that did not lose their leaves in the winter, now commonly referred to as evergreens. I think this suits it, because AMD is surely in a cold, hard winter right now but still chugging along. They haven't withered up and died yet, so with new 8-core consoles coming out and games appearing that can utilize this CPU properly (BF3, Crysis 3) it seems that spring might be right around the corner.
I apologize in advance for the crappy pictures I might take. My camera is a terrible $79 bargain bin thing that has been dropped too many times, and the poor lighting in my apartment is more than it can handle. I'll try my best to make it look halfway decent with the limited skills I have.
Anyway, most all of my budget was blown on the water cooling, so I had to be a little frugal with the rest of the build and re-use most components I already had. Here is the hardware list:
- Case: Caselabs Merlin SM8 (White/Reverse ATX)
- CPU: AMD FX 8320
- Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Rev 2.0 990FX
- Memory: 16GB Patriot Viper 3 DDR3
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 660 SLI
- OS Drive: Samsung 830 128GB
- Games drive: Samsung 840 250GB
- Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB
- PSU: NZXT Hale90 850W
Watercooling parts
- Radiators: Alphacool UT60 480mm full copper x2
- Pump: Swiftech D5 Vario w/ EK X-Top CSQ Plexi
- Fans: Bitfenix Spectre PWM green LED
- Fittings: Monsoon 7/16x5/8 Green compressions
- Tubing: Duralene 7/16x5/8
- CPU Block: EK Supreme LTX Nickel CSQ
- GPU Blocks: EK FC670 Nickel CSQ x2
- Reservior: Bitspower water tank Z-Multi 250
And of course, the thing everyone wants. Pictures! This post will be edited with hardware pics later as I have to use the machine to type this up right now.
A few weeks ago I picked up my case from Jim at Caselabs. They are about 35 minutes away from me, and it was really neat talking to him and actually meeting the person behind all the emails when I was deciding to buy it.
The gigantic 25lb box from Performance PC's has arrived today finally:
Lets set up all the water gear for a nice family photo with the SM8 in the background (oh yes, there will be Mayhems dye):
