[BUILD LOG] 'Aurous' + a bit of history

[TopplesS]

Hello LTT and wider tech community.

 

Thought I'd start a log on my up-coming build finalisations and give you a bit of history while I'm at it.

 

_________________________________________________________

 

MY QUEST FOR SFF began when my old LanBoy Air system was dragged around to the regular LAN nights work was hosting for the local community. It has handles (winning!) and every panel is made of mesh (sucked when it came to dust). I loved the case for the fact that airflow was not going to be an issue, and it looked pretty rugged. I got the blue variant and instantly hated it. It was more a purpley-blue and just generally looked rubbish. Unfortunately the yellow and red variants didn't suit my build at the time so I was stuck with the blue. This changed later on...

The specs for the old beast were as below:

 

- Intel i5 760 (eventually OC'd to 3.4GHz on stock cooler)

- ASUS P7P55D-E LX

- 8GB DDR3 1333MHz

- 2x128GB Samsung 830 RAID0

- 2TB WD Green

- ASUS GTX570 DCUII

- Zalman 600W 80+ Bronze

 

The Antec stayed on as my workhorse for a good two years before I decided to give the case a bit of a touch-up. The blue had to go, so I stripped the case back to bare bones and started the prep for a new coat. I loved the modularity of the chassis, there was so much you could do with it.

I ended up finishing the job in 3 days, which was an horrendously short amount of time for a paint job, but I was starting to get withdrawals from the lack of PC access. I fully sanded, primed, bottom- and top-coated the machine in two days, working on it morning and night either side of work hours. Finally the weekend came and I still had the clear coat to layer on. I did the first layer brilliantly, sanded it back... then just got sick of waiting and sprayed a nice thick layer onto the case. It came up brilliantly save for the few running spots. I quickly reassembled the case and got all my gear back inside.
 

[see here for album of work done]

 

_________________________________________________________

 

THIS BUILD STAYED ON for another year or so before I started getting sick of the performance of the machine while playing BF3. With BF4 on the cusp of its release I decided an upgrade was on the table. I umm-ed and arr-ed about sticking with ATX, going for mATX or even jumping down to mITX. I eventually decided that I didn't want to keep lugging around something to size of ATX/mATX to the LANs and mate's places, and mITX was going to be the winner. If it was going to be small, it had to be the most powerful I can make it.

 

I ordered in a few parts for the build. I was taking my time with this, not going to rush into anything. I made sure my decisions were justified before ordering parts because this whole mITX prospect was such a large jump away from what I was comfortable with. I copped a fair bit of criticism from family/friends for straying away from the 'norm', though if anything else, it spurred me on.

 

I ordered the following gear:

 

- Bitfenix Prodigy White + window side panel

- ASUS Z87I-PRO
- Intel i7 4770K

- Corsair Vengeance Pro 2x8GB 1600MHz

 

... and got stuck into the install. I'm pretty sure the actual build time took about an hour, and the cable management took about three. I'd get it almost finished then my brain would chip in with 'I'm sure there's a better way of doing this', so I'd start again. Finally got it finished and started to load Windows, left it overnight to settle into its new surroundings.

 

[see here for album of build]

 

_________________________________________________________

 

A COUPLE OF MONTHS later Corsair decided to break my heart and announce the Obsidian 250D. It looked absolutely brilliant and I knew I had to have it. I couldn't look at the Prodigy the same afterwards. It was like all the imperfections came out at once. I've lived with them up to this point - only looking in disgust at the Prodigy when I have to.

 

But I don't need to anymore; today I have ordered the next set of hardware for my rig-in-the-making:

- Corsair 250D
- Corsair H100i

- SP120 PWM Performance Edition x2
- AF140 PWM Quiet Edition x1

 

I should be seeing these tomorrow, so I'll update the thread with the new gear.

 

_________________________________________________________

 

I am yet to buy a new PSU (currently have my heart set on an RM 650) and GPU; the latter of which is the biggest headache. I really am hanging out for a GTX790 or equivalent, though I may have to wait around for the 800 series. Dual-GPU would be nice but if I can't then I can't. Oh and no I'm not forking out $3500 for a Titan Z, and the 295 x2 is ridiculously large and won't physically fit... also not a fan of AMD.

Stay tuned for more, I have got some big plans for this little beast...

[Guest]

Should be interesting

[Hecknologist]

The next 6 months or so will an interesting time for the gpu market, seeing what is planned following 20nm delays. I hope that something worth waiting for is in the pipe-line for the near future... we'll see I guess

[m1n1h4mm3rd]

This is going to look really good with the colour scheme sorted out. Looking forward to seeing more.

[TopplesS]

I'm a bit late with the update, I've just had a bunch of procedures done and it's knocked me out for a few weeks.

I've got the H100i strapped to my 4770K and temps are brilliant; I'm not overly impressed with the kit due to the pump giving a rattling noise. Also Corsair Link is RUBBISH. It is literally worse than BF4 in it's current state.
All the appropriate fans are installed, I've removed the stock ones and retained for possible future use, and replaced with 2x PWM SP120Ps on the cooler and 1x AF140Q for front intake.
Case is beautiful, and wider than I imagined. I'll give a proper update to the build and hopefully get some finished pics up soon, once I get LEDs and a GPU.

[asquirrel]

The rattling noise, from what I've read, is very likely air bubbles inside the pump. Various forms of physical persuasion may knock them loose. I'd recommend trying this as air + water pump = premature pump death.

[Tearass]

I would recommend getting an aftermarket cooler. Something small of course. My reasoning is because stock fans are usually loud. Correct me if I'm wrong but I expect the i7's cooler to be loud, no?

[m1n1h4mm3rd]

I would recommend getting an aftermarket cooler. Something small of course. My reasoning is because stock fans are usually loud. Correct me if I'm wrong but I expect the i7's cooler to be loud, no?

 

As stated in his most recent comment, he is using the Corsair H100i.

[Tearass]

As stated in his most recent comment, he is using the Corsair H100i.

 

Ah yes, I've just seen that now. I'm afraid that happens too much with others and I.

[TopplesS]

The rattling noise, from what I've read, is very likely air bubbles inside the pump. Various forms of physical persuasion may knock them loose. I'd recommend trying this as air + water pump = premature pump death.

Thanks for the tip mate. I've given shaking and bumping the PC a go, even got the base of a screw driver and knocked the pump a bit. It does seem to have quietened down a fair bit, however it's still noticeable, especially when the system is idling. Might just have to return it I think!