Girlfriend's PC Build Log + My UPGRADE Log

[Necromonger]

Hey guys, thank you guys for all the feed back. I need your help as these two builds come along.

Backstory:

I've been dating my girlfriend for over 5 years. We moved in together a little over 2 years ago and ever since, she fell in love with my PC. For over a year now my girlfriend had been hinting at wanting her own, but always turned down the offer because she thought it would cost thousands of dollars (Well now my budget appears to have broken it ). Her birthday is in August, so I really want this to be super-extra special.

 

She recently gave me the green light to build her PC after watching some E3 2015 trailers and I totally freaking said YES!!! At first she didn't think I would go along with it. She didn't want me to spend my money (she wanted to buy some of her parts), but then we started receiving her PC parts and each time she gets happier and happier. Now, since her build is coming along faster than anticipated (my prediction was late August), I decided to increase her budget.

 

Girlfriend's Old PC Build:

CPU: Intel Core i5 4460

MOBO: Asrock H97 Pro4

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 1600MHz

GPU: (Donated) MSI R9 270X 2GB

PSU: (Donated) Thermaltake TR2 600W

Storage: 250GB SSD

Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite

Budget: $600

 

NOTE: I was planning on donating her my PSU and GPU. 

 

Girlfriend's NEW PC Build: Green = Have/Purchased Red = Not Have/Selected

CPU: Intel Core i5 4460

MOBO: Asrock H97 Pro4

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 1600MHz

GPU: MSI R9 390 8GB

PSU: EVGA 210-GQ 750W 80+ Gold

Storage: Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB SSD + Samsung 850 Evo 500 GB SSD

Case: NZXT S340 Matte Black/Blue

Budget: $800+

 

My PC UPGRADE: Green = Own Red = Selected for UPGRADE

CPU: Intel Core i5 4670K

MOBO: MSI Z87 (Forgot Name)

RAM: Kingston Fury HyperX Blue 2x4GB 1600MHz

GPU: MSI R9 390 8GB

PSU: EVGA SuperNova 750W 80+ Bronze

Storage: WD 2TB HDD

Case: NZXT S340 Matte Black/Red

 

Things I still need:

I need to get custom PSU cables, since my build will be black and red and hers will be black and green, I need green and red PSU cables. I would also love to find a nice water cooler for our CPUs that is LED backlit with changeable colors, green and red. Alternatively two different but similar water coolers, one being green backlit and the other red. Can someone please tell me where to buy such cables and/or link to water cooler? Thank you!

 

Peripherals needed:

The only logical peripherals for my girlfriend's build are Razer, but the older non-RGB keyboards and mice. Most likely Razer Blackwidow 2013/2014 with blue or green switches, Razer Naga mouse, and Razer Kraken 7.1 headset.

 

During late July to beginning of August, right before fall semester(August 27th), I can crank up my budget to around $400 per week. 

 

TEASER: 

 

Only Parts For Now

 

 

 

07/14/15 - Still waiting on RAM to arrive. Next purchase will be SSD!

 

07/16/15 - RAM got here. Looks so pretty.

 

 

UPDATE: 02/16 - 03/16

 

Okay so a lot happened from when I first started her build to now... Basically I got into a car accident, lost my car, lost my job, and had to put her PC build on hold. She was very understanding and supportive however. Unfortunately I could not completely finish her build as you will see.

 

As the parts were sitting in the closet for months my girlfriend decided to help out. I didn't want her to buy any of her parts but seeing as I was without a job she insisted. Slowly, little by little she bought the last few components. She bought the 250GB SSD around December from money she got through Christmas gifts. Then late January to early February she bought the power supply. Then she purchased a second SSD (not sure why). She did all of this all the while she helped me with school. I told her that I could already piece her PC together and boot it up to see if the CPU and motherboard still worked. 

 

Last week I put her PC together and was able to boot into BIOS (or UEFI BIOS) the first time. Did not have any problems and was relieved. Everything was detected and working. This last weekend I bought her a copy of Windows 8.1 64bit through Kinguin, installed and verified Windows 8.1 and put a smile in her face. She was so happy that her very own PC was working and it honestly made me feel really good about myself for once.

 

The only item she is missing at the moment is a GPU. She said she'd try to save up for it and that she was okay with waiting another month before she can play her games. 

 

Didn't realize one pic had my personal email. Please don't spam it guys. Its the email I am using to await my university admissions.

 

 

I know this isn't the latest and greatest of builds, but it was something I wanted to do for my girlfriend. Additionally I've decided to put my personal PC upgrade on hold until I can recover from this mess. I still plan on doing a full PC build guide on mine and her build, she has actually allowed me to still fiddle with her PC for the moment while we try to get the GPU. I owe her so much though, without her I don't think I would have made it through Fall 2015 semester and start my Spring 2016 semester. She helped with with transportation and food last semester and helped me with some books this semester as well as continued to help with transportation and food. I am already on the verge of transferring this Fall(2016), just awaiting for confirmation of admission from the schools I applied to and if I get accepted it will be because of her help, financially and emotionally. I'll probably post and update to this with which schools accepted me etc.

 

Anyways... I really wanted and still want to make her PC a bit special. Her favorite color is green and unfortunately the parts I chose did not match her favorite colors, what things could I do to make her PC stand out? Something that I could perhaps add through light modding / painting. Or should I leave her PC like this, black and blue? (BTW my PC is black and red) She didn't seem to mind that it was black and blue, but did mention it wasn't green lol

[,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

She can take half your shit for moving in. Not a great idea.

 

Cool build, I personally don't spend that much money on people.

Get pictures.

[alpenwasser]

- snip -

I'm liking the idea. Question though: Where do you live? Might make advice easier with regards

to where to purchase. And are you looking for fully custom cables or would extensions also be

acceptable? 

 

She can take half your shit for moving in. Not a great idea.

This might very much depend on where he lives. Besides, not everyone likes being a hermit, human

beings are social animals.

Anyway, let's focus on the actual topic and not try to give relationship advice which passed

its due date several years ago.

[,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

I'm liking the idea. Question though: Where do you live? Might make advice easier with regards

to where to purchase. And are you looking for fully custom cables or would extensions also be

acceptable? 

 

This might very much depend on where he lives. Besides, not everyone likes being a hermit, human

beings are social animals.

Anyway, let's focus on the actual topic and not try to give relationship advice which passed

its due date several years ago.

 

Must stay pure, no contact, no outdoors. No one, nothing. Stay pure friends.

[Necromonger]

I'm liking the idea. Question though: Where do you live? Might make advice easier with regards

to where to purchase. And are you looking for fully custom cables or would extensions also be

acceptable? 

 

This might very much depend on where he lives. Besides, not everyone likes being a hermit, human

beings are social animals.

Anyway, let's focus on the actual topic and not try to give relationship advice which passed

its due date several years ago.

 

I live in Southern California. Newegg has been the speediest shipper as I think one of their warehouses is located near me. Last year when my girlfriend bought me the K70 using their super egg saver shipping, I got it next day! Same went when I got the Corsair M45 house mouse and H2100 headset. Stupid autocorrect.

 

Now for PSU cables, I am not sure... I've never used custom PSU cables so I don't know. I don't know where to get them or which cables to get.

[Catman007]

She loves PC's and video games? Marry her Life is short and you should enjoy it to the fullest. I support you effort 100% to make her happy with new build and the components you have chosen are really fine and seems to me like you gave a good though on what to get. Only thing you should consider is Razer. Most of their products are for competitive gaming and if you aren't into that you will be wasting a lot of money that you can spend on your or hers build. Ofc if you get a good deal on it a whole different story. For casual gaming you wont notice a difference. To me more important is the shape of the mouse or keyboard. You don't want to buy a small or uncomfortable mouse or keyboard trust me. Naga is only good for one type of games : MMO RPG's. There, it shines like a freaking diamond. I got one when I was playing WoW arena but later regret it cause I left the game 2 months later lol. Its a very good mouse but I could have got a better card back then or CPU for the money I spend on one mouse.

[alpenwasser]

Now for PSU cables, I am not sure... I've never used custom PSU cables so I don't know. I don't know where to get them or which cables to get.

Well, fundamentally there are to ways you can go:

1) Fully custom cables. This means that you have custom cables which go from your PSU

to whichever component they power. Upside: cleanest solution. Downside: Usually more

expensive.

2). Extensions. Your stock PSU cable go into the extension and are hidden behind the

M/B tray (usually), the extension then runs from the end of your stock PSU cable to

the component, and is the only visble part. Downside: Not as clean, total cable length

is longer, can be a bit of a pain to hide the cable part you don't want seen. Upside:

Usually more affordable.

As for where to buy, off the top of my head, these come to mind:

http://www.lutro0customs.com (currently offline due to site upgrade)

http://ensourced.net/

http://www.icemodz.com/custom-psu-cables/

http://pexonpcs.co.uk/

and riptide sleeving, though I'm not sure if they're still active.

I'm sure there are more, maybe our US members know somebody else as well.

And of course, you could always do the cables or extensions yourself. It's not that

difficult, and the tools and supplies aren't too expensive, but it does take a lot

of time and patience to do (lutro0 has a very comprehensive suite of tutorials on

youtube, so it shouldn't be too hard to learn if you really want to go that way).

[Necromonger]

She loves PC's and video games? Marry her Life is short and you should enjoy it to the fullest. I support you effort 100% to make her happy with new build and the components you have chosen are really fine and seems to me like you gave a good though on what to get. Only thing you should consider is Razer. Most of their products are for competitive gaming and if you aren't into that you will be wasting a lot of money that you can spend on your or hers build. Ofc if you get a good deal on it a whole different story. For casual gaming you wont notice a difference. To me more important is the shape of the mouse or keyboard. You don't want to buy a small or uncomfortable mouse or keyboard trust me. Naga is only good for one type of games : MMO RPG's. There, it shines like a freaking diamond. I got one when I was playing WoW arena but later regret it cause I left the game 2 months later lol. Its a very good mouse but I could have got a better card back then or CPU for the money I spend on one mouse.

 

Yeah she loves video games. Before she met me, she used to play WoW on an old Dell PC that had Intel integrated graphics. Other than that, she played PS2 before she moved in and League of Legends when she started taking over using my laptop. Right now, all she plays is The Sims 3 and League of Legends on my laptop and Skyrim on my PC. I think it's really cute though when she plays. Just watching her reactions when both of us play League of Legends together and do something crazy like get a triple or quadra kill. LOL

[Necromonger]

Quick question guys/gals..

 

When naming your PCs, how do you pick the names for your PCs? I've noticed a lot of people name their builds or PCs. Kinda want to do that when I complete these two builds/

[Guest]

Quick question guys/gals..

 

When naming your PCs, how do you pick the names for your PCs? I've noticed a lot of people name their builds or PCs. Kinda want to do that when I complete these two builds/

 

Since my core components mainly come from MSI I chose the name for my planned watercooling project somehow related to the MSI dragon, but currently I also have a name which relates to a name I simply like. But that's my approach to it, maybe someone else chose a more conventional way like relating to the color scheme.

[alpenwasser]

Quick question guys/gals..

 

When naming your PCs, how do you pick the names for your PCs? I've noticed a lot of people name their builds or PCs. Kinda want to do that when I complete these two builds/

I've had a weakness for ancient mythology since early childhood, so I usually go with ancient Greek/Roman/Egyptian deities.

[Tarou]

Yeah she loves video games. Before she met me, she used to play WoW on an old Dell PC that had Intel integrated graphics. Other than that, she played PS2 before she moved in and League of Legends when she started taking over using my laptop. Right now, all she plays is The Sims 3 and League of Legends on my laptop and Skyrim on my PC. I think it's really cute though when she plays. Just watching her reactions when both of us play League of Legends together and do something crazy like get a triple or quadra kill. LOL

Oi oi my gf's the same (except no WoW or skyrim hahah). In LoL I jumoed in and my team mates ran off but she jumped in as Kata, Ult'ed and saved my ass while she got a Penta

[Tarou]

Quick question guys/gals..

When naming your PCs, how do you pick the names for your PCs? I've noticed a lot of people name their builds or PCs. Kinda want to do that when I complete these two builds/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twins_in_mythology

Some names of twins in mythology.

I wasnt sure if you're both got the same gpu/case or if she was getting yours.

but names of twins if you're PC's have some parts that are the same

[Necromonger]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twins_in_mythology

Some names of twins in mythology.

I wasnt sure if you're both got the same gpu/case or if she was getting yours.

but names of twins if you're PC's have some parts that are the same

 

Thank you for that link! 

 

Both of our PCs will be similar when finished.

 

I got her the NZXT S340 case because I thought it was simple and clean(she doesn't like cases that look like transformers or fighter jets), but now after looking at it I want one too. As for GPUs, originally I planned on donating her my current GPU (R9 270X) and current PSU (Thermaltake TR2 600W), but because we both plan on playing the heck out of Star Wars Battlefront 3(Shes also a freaking Star Wars fan!!!), I want her to play on high/max settings with good FPS. So for this I decided to up her budget and get her an R9 390 too.

 

These two builds will end up costing me over $1300(probably more, but each week that budget gets lower and lower as I get parts), but ultimately think it will be worth it. Another thing this build gives me is motivation to do things. Each week I get more and more motivated. I've been itching for the moment to use some of my building experiences when putting her desk together. That will be the next project once her PC is built. 

[Tarou]

~Snip

[Necromonger]

@Tarou

Can't quote on mobile site!!!!

Yes, I've been looking at several build logs and plan on doing an album. Maybe video too. These builds won't be finished until end of August though.

I'll keep updating this and the other threads as I get parts and begin to assemble/prep the builds. I also plan on modding/painting my girlfriend's S340, so that may have a mini mod gallery.

[Necromonger]

Her RAM was supposed to arrive today. Never got here. Damn you USPS! Better have not lost my package. 

[g4m3cr34tor]

For the CPU cooler, maybe take a look at the Raijintek Triton AIO coolers. They come with clear tubing and can be ordered with predyed liquid. 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA66Z29F0448&cm_re=Raijintek-_-9SIA66Z29F0448-_-Product - red version

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA66Z29E8183&cm_re=Raijintek-_-9SIA66Z29E8183-_-Product - green version

 

Each of them are $94.99 and free shipping as of when I searched it up.

[Necromonger]

For the CPU cooler, maybe take a look at the Raijintek Triton AIO coolers. They come with clear tubing and can be ordered with predyed liquid. 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA66Z29F0448&cm_re=Raijintek-_-9SIA66Z29F0448-_-Product - red version

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA66Z29E8183&cm_re=Raijintek-_-9SIA66Z29E8183-_-Product - green version

 

Each of them are $94.99 and free shipping as of when I searched it up.

 

I've seen those, but have heard a lot of bad things about them. Also they are not LED backlit. I'll consider them though.

[g4m3cr34tor]

@Necromonger. If you want, though it will be totally overkill, maybe the H-240X from Swiftech?

[PeggersXtreme]

Quick question guys/gals..

 

When naming your PCs, how do you pick the names for your PCs? I've noticed a lot of people name their builds or PCs. Kinda want to do that when I complete these two builds/

I usually name my PC in relation to the color of the components and usually put it with a type of animal no idea why but my new build i'm working on is called Project Yellow Panther because it is a Black and Yellow Themed build lol

[Necromonger]

Zombie Thread!!!!!

 

Please don't chop my head off admins!

 

The project still continues, somehow. I've got her PC booted and running Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit. This is my first SSD build and dang is it fast to boot. My aging PC takes about a min to boot, which isn't bad, but her PC boots in seconds!

 

I've managed to piece her PC together with her help and we are still missing the GPU. Maybe if things get better I will try cable mods, but for the time being I used the stock EVGA cables that came with her PSU. 

 

Peripherals I've collected for her PC:

E-Element RGB Keyboard

Utechsmart Venus MMO mouse

Old Dell monitor (donated from her mom)