Hello all, first build!

[superducky94]

Hey all, just wanted to introduce myself, I'm sort of new around here, and I figured why not do it with a build! 

 

I'll start off by saying this is such a fun community to be in, I really look forward to hanging around here. On a related note, since this isn't anything super fancy, I'll also be asking questions throughout, as I still have plenty that I want to learn about and explore with my little PC.

 

Let's get to it, here are the specs:

 

ASUS M5A97 Motherboard

 

Phenom II X6 1045T CPU @ 3.8 GHz

 

Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer All-in-one cooler

 

8GB Patriot G2 Series RAM

 

EVGA 670 FTW GPU

 

Western Digital 500GB and 1TB hard drives

 

some CD drive

 

Corsair TX650 PSU

 

Cooler Master Elite 430 case

 

Blue cold cathodes

 

and some pictures for you, not good at all, I can post better ones upon request.

 

 

 

 

 

Some notes about the build: the Cooler Master case looks cool and works well enough, but there are absolutely no cable management options, you have to do your best to hide it all behind the hard drive cages. One of those things I wished I looked into more or knew more about, but alas, I was not so knowledgeable as a first time builder. I managed to do the best job I could, and it looks pretty decent through the window, which is all that matters. Perhaps I'll upload a few pictures of it in the dark so you can see for yourself, the glare is too bad other wise. It should also be noted that I built this last summer, and it has been upgraded since then. I did not initially have that power supply (Cooler Master one blew out, I still RMA'd it, but the Corsair has been great for me). I threw in the lights, 1TB HD and 670 later down the line as well. I think that's all I want to say. On to the peripherals!

 

I use a Corsair K90 keyboard, Madcatz M.M.O. 7 mouse, Logtech HD 720p webcam, Bose headphones, a Dynex (36"?) TV that I use for everything, and a Blue Microphones Yeti USB microphone (not pictured, I use it for talking and recording bass trombone :P). I am very happy with all of them, save the TV, which is just kind of average for a lot a reasons, but I'm not getting a new one anytime soon. 

 

Here're some pictures for you:

 

 

Please note my mouse pad that is better than all of yours' :P (probably older too):

 

 

So that's my build! It's my everything computer, the most intensive things I do on it are games, but I do my fair amount of word processing, web browsing, whatever, and recording as I mentioned, though I don't do anything extensive there. I'd love to hear feedback, and now I have a few questions:

 

Any suggested upgrades? Just to tickle my fancy, not really looking to do anymore, but you know how that goes. Although, I have been looking at a few minor things. How worth it is it to throw in a SSD? Does it make more sense to use it as a boot drive or cache, and in the case of a cache, do you need one SSD per HD? In the case of a boot, how difficult is it to shuffle all your files around so you don't lose anything? 

 

I also think cable sleeving is cool, and since I can't really hide all those cables, I've considered I might want to make them look pretty. Any good guides/ kits that you recomend? How much does it usually cost? Not at all concerned about time or effort, I love working with stuff, tinkering and building, whatnot. 

 

And I was looking into a backplate for my graphics card, because it looks cool, worth it?

 

I think that's it for now, thanks for reading and any feedback.

 

Have a great day!

 

Ducky

[Theo]

Very nice!! What kind of temps are you getting on that cpu? Ive a 1090T with an H80 and not impressed with the temps..

[kemical]

wow its awesome, cant wait to start mine

[Conelton]

Welcome to the forum! :)

 

Looks like you did a good job keeping everything tidy even with limited cable management options in the case. Sometimes I prefer the look of a bunch of mis-matched parts stuffed into a cosy case with cables running everywhere compared to super-clean colour-schemed builds. There's something more personal about it. Anyway...

 

I would highly recommend an SSD. You will notice. Your boot times will drop dramatically and everything will just feel more responsive. I haven't heard much about caching but I'd recommend using it as a boot drive. There are a few programs out there that migrate your files for you. If you buy a Samsung SSD they even give you a copy of some software to take care of it.

 

For cable sleeving there's a guide here but I'm not sure how good it is as I've never read it through. The source is very reputable though.

 

Hope this was helpful :)

[superducky94]

Double post, I'll put some pictures here tonight

 

EDIT: Here's more of what I get to see.

 

.

 

 

[superducky94]

Very nice!! What kind of temps are you getting on that cpu? Ive a 1090T with an H80 and not impressed with the temps..

 

 

I just did a quick check for you using AMD Overdrive. At idle I'm sitting at 32* and under load with the included stress test I'm sitting at 48-49*. I'm really quite happy with the little Thermaltake cooler I have, it works quite well, fits in my case and keeps the temps pretty reasonable, on top of the fact that it's rather inexpensive. 

[superducky94]

Welcome to the forum! :)

 

Looks like you did a good job keeping everything tidy even with limited cable management options in the case. Sometimes I prefer the look of a bunch of mis-matched parts stuffed into a cosy case with cables running everywhere compared to super-clean colour-schemed builds. There's something more personal about it. Anyway...

 

I would highly recommend an SSD. You will notice. Your boot times will drop dramatically and everything will just feel more responsive. I haven't heard much about caching but I'd recommend using it as a boot drive. There are a few programs out there that migrate your files for you. If you buy a Samsung SSD they even give you a copy of some software to take care of it.

 

For cable sleeving there's a guide here but I'm not sure how good it is as I've never read it through. The source is very reputable though.

 

Hope this was helpful :)

 

Thanks for the help! I'll look into a Samsung drive then. And thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it. I can actually kind of understand your fascination with something not perfect, it's good to change things up once in a while. I still will check out the sleeving though.

[Conelton]

Thanks for the help! I'll look into a Samsung drive then. And thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it. I can actually kind of understand your fascination with something not perfect, it's good to change things up once in a while. I still will check out the sleeving though.

 

Other SSD manufacturers might give you software too, I just know Samsung do because I bought one. Don't let that limit your choice (although the Samsung 840 Pro is actually the SSD I would buy if I needed one today). I think any standard backup/recovery software will do an OS migration but don't quote me :')

[Puffy75]

Geat first build way better then mine.

[Nicktrance]

Finally somebody else with the same case as mine :). Cable management is not very good, but lots of airflow and good dust filtering for the price :). You do have slightly better specs than me though xD. 

[superducky94]

Finally somebody else with the same case as mine :). Cable management is not very good, but lots of airflow and good dust filtering for the price :). You do have slightly better specs than me though xD. 

yeah, it's a nice looking case, it's just a bit of a pain to work with some time. And yes, you can't argue with the price, Cooler Master does make a quality case as well. 

[TicTac]

Nice screen XD but really nice build man!

[superducky94]

Thanks! I was obviously on the forums lol. I meant to minimize the window to show my desktop. Just started messing around with rainmeter:

 

[Theo]

 

I just did a quick check for you using AMD Overdrive. At idle I'm sitting at 32* and under load with the included stress test I'm sitting at 48-49*. I'm really quite happy with the little Thermaltake cooler I have, it works quite well, fits in my case and keeps the temps pretty reasonable, on top of the fact that it's rather inexpensive. 

 

I hope those are right temps cause these chips are known to report false temps in some programs, example i use asus probe it which i think shows the actually temp, whereas coretemp/real temp show temperatures lower than the actual temp, They would show me an idle temp of 30, while the ambient was 24C which is just no possible with just an H80

[superducky94]

well I mean it's AMD's software, so i'd think that I'd have the best luck there, short of actually getting some real temperature monitors.

[DinckelMan]

Can i buy your mousepad please?

[superducky94]

Idk man, it would cost you a pretty penny =p. In all seriousness it's unfortunately not that comfortable and I'll probably replace it soon. Maybe I'll frame the old one or something.

[old reece frost]

My OCD is killing me on that Water 2.0, otherwise, very good build

[superducky94]

I know, I'm not super happy with the placement, but the tubes run the best when it's positioned that way.