[Build Log] Illya - The air cooled Prodigy [Update 12-27-13: Introducing Illya! Final Build Log]

[ForsakenLive]

Can you tell us more about those filters? How are they gonna be attached? Will be hard to clean them? Do they restrict a lot of airflow? I 'd like to add them to my rigs if they work as intended!

[isHypnophobic]

sweet build, got myself a prodigy too. Currently modding it to fit a m-atx mobo, you can check it out in case mod subforum if you want. Subbed.

 

Will check it out, man!

 

Can you tell us more about those filters? How are they gonna be attached? Will be hard to clean them? Do they restrict a lot of airflow? I 'd like to add them to my rigs if they work as intended!

 

I'm intending to attach these when I get my bitfenix SP 230mm fan. Basically  these filters will be attached with cable ties! Here's how I'll attach them:

 

 

I'll be using black coloured ones for the actual build. To connect it to the panels you simply route these through two ventilation holes and tie them down. Also try to get these away from the middle as possible. The puncture points can let in dust.

 

Cleaning is easy, the back of the package has instructions. "Spray the dust filter with water until all collected dust is removed. Reinstall when dry."

 

I'll have photos of the installation when I get more parts. I'll also test how much this restricts the airflow when I get the 230mm fan. Stay tuned!

[Pingypoker]

Looks promising. Followed.

[Andrew48]

looks cool so far. 

[isHypnophobic]

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Update: 12/18/13

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Evening people of LTT! Wow, it's been almost 3 months since my last update. I apologize for that--college got me busy and I had to make money for the rest of the build. Finally, I've got all the funds together. In this update I'll be talking about the parts that came in as well as my latest PSU mod. Here goes nothing, let's get this update started!

 

My parts list has been updated! Old parts will be in blue and new parts in green.

 

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Gfx Card       : ASUS GeForce GTX 760  ---> MSI TwinFrozr GTX 770

RAM              : Kingston HyperX Black Series 2x4gb ---> Kingston HyperX Red 1333 2x4GB

Storage HDD : WD Black 1TB  ---> Seagate Barracuda 2GB

 

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Now a few of the parts have arrived! I'm pretty excited since Illya's pretty much coming together.

 

 

First up will be my intake fan: Bitfenix's Spectre Pro 230mm. It's gigantic for an intake but since I'm going with an all whoosh-cooled build, I'd like to have a ton of airflow throughout the case.

 

 

The fan can move up to 156.27 CFM @ 900 rpm. Noise levels are rated at around 25.6 dBA so it's pretty quiet. Remember that bigger fans generate less noise due to their low rpm while moving a ton of air. I'll report temperatures when she's completed.

 

 

My Motherboard of choice is Asrock's Z87E-ITX. This little gem seems to be overlooked a lot in terms of Haswell mITX choices--most favored competitors would be ASUS's Impact and Deluxe as well as EVGA's Stinger.

 

 

Even though it doesn't have 'bling' that the other MoBos offer, the Z87E-ITX can go toe-to-toe with the other brands. This guy's packed with 6 SATA III ports, 802.11ac wifi, and a pretty decent Realtek ALC1150 audio chipset.

 

 

Here's a somewhat blurry photo of the 6 x SATAIII ports, the 802.11ac wifi, as well as the Z87 chipset running this shindig. For the low price of $139.99 (as of 12/18/13) anyone building a haswell based mITX should consider this MoBo.

 

 

Handling my OS and a bunch of programs will be Kingston's HyperX 120gb SSD. This little guy will keep Illya quick and snappy. Imagine boot times at around 10 seconds. (Coming from a background of all Alienware laptops with HDDs, THAT is fast for me.)

 

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MOD TIME!

 

 

Alright now for the aforementioned PSU mod! I decided to spice up the interior of my case by wrapping carbon fiber around the PSU. I used 3M's DI-NOC 422 here. It looks good and I love it's weaved texture.

 

 

I would like to take this time to thank the awesome peeps at Seasonic for allowing me to keep my warranty even after this mod.

 

 

You'll need these fabulous tools to bend the carbon fiber vinyl to your will--a hairdryer, measuring tape, and a knife (thanks mom for lending me your fabulous tools). I measured the PSU and decided that I'll need 75mm x 160mm for the sides and 150mm x 160mm for the top.

 

 

Cut once, measure twice. Make sure you have enough to cover the surfaces in question. More is better in this case since you can always cut the excess.

 

 

All done! See the bend at the top of the PSU? You would want to use the hairdryer on the Carbon fiber so that it wraps well around there. Heat helps it go around curves and bends smoothly.

 

 

Here's the other side (Kinda?) I'll upload how it looks inside that PSU cage when the actual full build day comes. The parts are all ordered, it's only a matter of time before they arrive.

 

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That's all from me for tonight. Really sorry again for the late update here. Things got rough over the last 3 months.

 

If you peeps have any question and or suggestions let me know! Thanks for checking out this update of mine. Have a good one!

 

 

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Next up:

Update #4 [12/19/13] GTX 770 and awesome new art!

[Rossco]

dayum that psu is NICE!

[nkucz]

I'm doing the same thing for my fan filters, except I bought ModRight premium fan filter material from FrozenCPU

[isHypnophobic]

I'm doing the same thing for my fan filters, except I bought ModRight premium fan filter material from FrozenCPU

 

Nice! How's that going for you? Does the air flows fine?

[nkucz]

Nice! How's that going for you? Does the air flows fine?

Not sure yet, ordered it today but I think it should be okay

[isHypnophobic]

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Update: 12/19/13

New Parts, New Art!

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Evening again LTT peeps! Now that I've secured enough to buy all of the parts, these updates are going to arrive more often. I drove out to pick up my GTX 770 from Newegg's will call centre. I gotta say that I'm pretty excited to get my hands on this thing. Also after talking to Newegg's PR department they gave me the NVIDIA Holiday Bundle despite the deal being technically expired.

 

On top of the new card, my girlfriend drew my PC build as a character! Me thinks her seeing me get really into this first PC build inspired her to draw me things? So a shout out to her for that! Check out her stuff on her tumblr and deviantArt. The photo will also be a hyperlink to her site.

 

  

 

I love how she incorporated my build into a character! I'm really grateful for these pieces. I mean she even got the BitFenix and CM logos on her.  This is most definitely Illya in anime form.

 

Alright time for Illya's graphics card to make it's debut! Oh and as a new bonus, the photos link to their respective higher resolution versions.

 

 

That dragon looks awesome. But yes here it is, MSI's GTX 770 with their Twin Frozr IV cooler. This card is armed with the GK104 graphics processor--the same one that the old 680 was sporting. Is this a re-badge? I think it is sort of a re-badge?--the processor might be the same but the 770 sports higher clocks (Base Clock @ 1046) and memory speeds (GDDR5 running @ 7.0 Gb/s).

 

 

Opening the box reveals a sleek black box with MSI's Gaming Series insignia engraved right smack in the middle. Although most people will think that the 770 is a re-badge, I would like to think of it as an improved re-badge since it also comes with all the upgrades that the 700 series entails. That includes GPU Boost 2.0!

 

 

 

Look at that sexy shroud! We can see the Twin Frozr IV in it's full glory here. These babies should keep the GPU nice and cool. Thus, allowing me to achieve higher OC's with the 700 series' GPU boost 2.0--this type of OC tells the GPU to run at as fast as it can so long as it is under a user-defined temperature limit.

 

 

There are 2 x 8pin pci-e slots ready to gulp in fuel for this thirsty card. At it's peak, the 770 eats up 230w of power. So if you're thinking of grabbing this card and overclocking it make sure you have enough energy headroom.

 

 

I'm going to wrap up the photo shoot with a closeup of the shroud. All-in-all I'm pretty happy with where this build is going. I gotta ask though, anybody else with this graphic's card? If so what are your experiences with it?

 

Thanks again for taking the time to read this log! Hopefully people find it useful. As usual, any comments and suggestions are welcomed. Have a good one guys!

 

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Next up:

Update #5 [12/19/13] Post-Holiday Assembly!

[JAKEBAB]

Why do I have to find things that arnt finished yet dammit I hate waiting

[isHypnophobic]

Why do I have to find things that arnt finished yet dammit I hate waiting

 

Hah, hey sorry about that. The parts are coming, it's just a matter of time!

[isHypnophobic]

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Update: 12/26/13

Post-Holiday Assembly!

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Good Evening and Happy Holidays people of LTT! I hope everyone had an amazing Holiday. Here's a big update for you guys, all of Illya's parts have arrived! This is my first time assembling a PC and overall I really enjoyed myself!

 

Stay tuned though, I'll be uploading final build photos tomorrow after I find her most stable overclocks. Why? I can't close the side panels until she is completely finished--that includes OCing.

 

And as usual, all photos will hyperlink to their higher resolution versions. Now onto the assembly photos!

 

 

Let's start off with a photo of my workstation. I had to steal the dinner table For builds like this one, you'll need a surface that won't carry any static charge--wood and rubber are great examples.

 

 

My RAM Modules of choice: Kingston's HyperX reds. It's XMP Profile recommends it to run 1600Mhz @ 1.5v, however, I'll let these run a little slower: 1333Mhz @ 1.35v. If needed, I'll bump it up to 1.5v.

 

 

Say "HELLO!" to Illya's 4670k. At stock, this runs at 3.4Ghz but since it's got the "k" denomination this i5 is unlocked. I'll be aiming for a 4.4Ghz overclock. Hopefully, she won't eat a ton of voltage. I'll post temps and voltages in the final build update

 

 

Great! I didn't mess up the CPU installation! Remember to line up the notches on the chip with the notches on the CPU slot. Try to lower it in with an almost straight vertical angle. As you lock down the arm, there will be more force required here.

 

 

Phew, so RAM modules are in. I try to line up the notch first and don't force anything in. At first I did not check and almost tried to force it in the slot! Apply force on both sides at the same time if you can until the retention arm clicks shut.

 

 

It's time to attach the heart of this air cooled build. I'm relying on the Dark Rock 2 to give me cool temperatures even after a full 1.1Ghz increase from stock clocks.

 

 

This particular cooler screws down from it's backplate--making it easy to install onto an mITX Motherboard.

 

 

Motherboard assembly is complete! It's looking great so far. Take note that although the heatsink fan fits on top of the memory modules, I still moved the 135mm fan 2 heatsink fins above it's original position. Illya will be carried around a lot so I just wanted a little less contact between the two parts.

 

 

The PSU is installed! I love the way the carbon fibre mod turned out. It's a subtle upgrade but it gives the interior a touch of sleekness. If you're interested to see how I did this mod, click here.

 

 

I opted to mount my Boot SSD on the floor under the drive cage. This helps with cable management because the SATA Power Cable will only need to be in one spot. Whereas if I placed the SSD on the side panel, I'll have to manipulate the cable to do some acrobatic flippy stuff. And trust me, it doesn't look as good as it sounds.

 

I, however, hit a problem with this bottom mount-- the SATA Power cable was too thick--the cable with multiple chaining power sockets. I came up with two solutions to this problem:

 

 

Solution A: I personally went with this one due to stability. It involves using longer screws and placing a small piece of folded paper under the SSD. This gives both the space I need for the connector and the security of using real screws.

 

 

Solution B: A tad less effective but it looks cooler(?) I managed to get this mounted by taking the AMD brackets from my CPU heatsink kit and taping the brackets onto the bottom of the case. My main concern was that overtime the tape would fail.

 

 

Here's a "before cable management" photo. I honestly did not expect it to take 30 minutes to figure out the best way to manage cables! But a few bent wires and a ton of zip ties later, I've managed to at least keep them out of the way. I believe I forgot to take a photo when it was all done! I'll take another photo for the final build update.

 

 

She's coming together now! I decided to spoil myself a little by purchasing some nice aftermarket 6+2pin PCI-E connectors to go with my MSI 770 GTX. Any ideas on how I should go and showcase these?

 

 

She posts on the first try! It helps to have a to-do list and check it twice! I also had one of Linus' build guides on my laptop as reference--it was really useful when I was unsure how a certain part needed to be installed.

 

 

There you have it! Illya's almost to completion! All there is left to do is find the most stable OC that I can squeeze out of the i5 4670k. After that's done I'll do a final photo shoot showcasing the finished product with the GPU installed and all the LEDs up and running.

 

A lot of hardwork went into this build, mostly working part time to pay of it. That took a long time and I apologize for the delays in updates.

 

Feel free to leave comments and suggestions! Thank you all for reading or viewing this update! Have a good one everybody

 

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Next up:

Update #6 [12/27/13] Introducing Illya, the Air Cooled Prodigy!

[zxcvbnmmssdh]

Looking good, love the color scheme. Keep it up.

[Muffinator]

Love it! Looks great!

[isHypnophobic]

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Update: 12/27/13

Introducing Illya, the Air Cooled Prodigy

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Evening LTT! Is everyone ready for the new year to start? Hah, hopefully. Anywho, it took a while but after 3 months I've finally finished Illya. She isn't the fastest nor the flashiest but since I've created and worked to build her, I feel proud. Thanks for the positive responses and suggestions. I'm really happy with how she turned out. So without further adieu, I would like the present my very first PC to the LTT community: Illya, the Air Cooled Prodigy.

 

As per usual, all photos hyperlink to their original resolution versions.

 

 

There she is! I know that due to the popularity of the Prodigy, there are a ton of these builds out there. But my Illya's unique to me. As they say: "there are many like it but this one is mine."

 

 

Side panels are off! I've finally installed the muscle of this build, MSI's, Twin Frozr IV GTX 770. And with it she's ready to take on anything I toss at her. So long as it's at 1080p.

 

 

Up top we can see one of the stock Bitfenix 120mm Spectre fans that came with the case. Right behind it is the centre of Illya's Air Cooling, Be Quiet's Dark Rock 2. I'm surprised by how much it can cool up my OC'ed CPU! Oh those crazy German engineers. Screenshots of temps will be at the end.

 

 

As promised, I've included a photo of the "bad" side of the case. Yes folks, this is my sad attempt at cable managing--oh the horror! At least they're hidden away by that side panel

 

 

I've dimmed the lights a tad to show how the Dark Rock 2 glows red under those Silverstone LEDs! Hopefully the red-ness makes it go faster

 

 

Remember that air conditioning filter I've bought to keep my 230mm from taking in dust? I'm happy to report that there is no loss in air intake volume! So if you can, use these things. They're great.

 

 

I'm really not so sure if those cables show up well enough But I guess it's better than the default unbraided stock connectors.

 

 

I still love the sleekness that my carbon fibre modded PSU gives. I mean yes it's a small addition, but I think its effective!

 

 

Back IO and the general behind of the build. Nothing much to say here actually.

 

 

Back to back photos showcasing how my LEDs shine in the dark. Those red dotted accents on the sides are not intentional at all! I do like them though.

 

 

We've come full circle. Thank you all for following and/or viewing this newbie's first build log. I had a blast while learning a lot! I never expected building your own computer can be this fulfilling. This won't be my last, that's for sure. Maybe I'll get myself a windowed side panel? That's most definitely something I'll think about. Anyways, thanks again peeps.

 

Ah yes! As promised here are Illya's temps and overclocked screenshots:

 

 

Stock Speeds she runs 31-35c on idle, while she heats up to 52c on full load.

 

 

Illya's i5 CPU isn't the best OC'er, hitting 4.4Ghz with a vCore of 1.29v. Sadly, she also cannot run a 1:1 CPU ring bus without BSODing. So as you can see, the bus speed is at 4200Mhz.

 

 

Here are her 3DMark stats! Is 69th percentile good for my specs? I'm not so sure but maybe I can increase that a little bit more.

 

 

And there you guys go! A finished build ready for the new year. May there be more years to come Thank you all for viewing my build log. As usual if you have a comment or suggestion, don't hold back! Reply and I'll make sure to read it.

 

That is it for me, I hope you all have a safe and awesome New Year's celebration! Have a good one everybody!