Budget Build

[mvitkun]

UPDATE:1/4/2014:

I added a CNPS 9900 MAX-B to the system along with a 1TB HDD and 60GB kingston SSD.

 

Build I did a little more than a year ago i5 2500K 8GB 1600mhz CL9 ram TX650 psu GTX 480 TZ77A motherboard Zalman Z11 + hitachi deskstar 320GB HDD (from old pc) cost me around $580 cost 179.99 for the cpu and paid only $54.99 for the motherboard thanks to microcenter having $50 off when you buy compatible cpu and mobo. mobo with cpu installed
As it is now:
http://i.imgur.com/xXoTljp.jpg]
http://i.imgur.com/GaPBuXV.jpg]
Added an SSD and HDD so now the cost is ~$700
 
installed with random psu I had lieing around before the TX650 got there. with graphics card installed graphics card without heatsink or thermal plate (idk what it's called) Arctic Cooling twin turbo heatsink being stupid I forgot to order the extra ram sinks for the GTX 480 so I had to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive,and since I already took off the thermal pads.....now I don't have a graphics card for two weeks.thats what I get for being impatient and taking the heatsink off right away. random fiddling around,slightly better cable management,moved fan temporarily. GTX 480 with Twin Turbo heatsink installed and with Cougar 140mm fan installed in the bottom right,and the blue led fan still in the bottom. how it is now.Cougar 140mm fan moved to 5.25" bay,led fan moved back to front,cable management cleaned up significantly,dvd drive moved to top bay, back of case overall really happy with the cable management,but I wish that there was a hole for cable management near the psu instead of the entire bottom being exposed. something like this where the cables can be easily hidden behind a the case,even if they have to be routed horizontally like mine had to be down the floor of the case to the HDD and DVD drive. along with that if they gave it a USB 3.0 header instead of a USB 3.0 passthrough would make this case ideal.but for $44.99,can't really complain. will upgrade as I can...planning to either buy another HDD,something like the Seagate ST1000DM003,or a cheap heatsink for the 2500K like the hyper 212 evo.

[Theo]

I'd spend sometime improving the cable management! Also instead of buying another hdd, if possible save some more money and get an ssd, you ll see a biiiig difference there!

[mvitkun]

I'd spend sometime improving the cable management! Also instead of buying another hdd' date=' if possible save some more money and get an ssd, you ll see a biiiig difference there![/quote']

not sure how you'd have me improve the cable management,the only thing I see that I could improve is the 8 pin power connector,and I can't route it any other way since the cable management hole for the cpu power is blocked by the motherboard.

as to the SSD.I know it would be a huge improvement,and if it were anybody elses build I'd say the same thing.

but I wouldn't buy anything less than a 256GB SSD,and I don't intend to spend $200 on an SSD.......

yeah I know I could go for a 60-128GB SSD,but if I bought an SSD I'd want it to have a large portion of what I use on a semi-regular basis,and a 128GB SSD would not be able to fit all my files.

I do want one,I mean SSDs are silent, way faster,way better looking,etc.

and the HDD I mentioned above is 2-3 times faster than my current HDD,and my current HDD,while it's not fast,it's not uber slow.so I think the HDD above would be plenty fast enough for me

[Theo]

Yeah its just that 8pin that kinda stands out for me but if theres no other way then its perfectly fine like that!

As for the ssd, i have a 90gb one just for OS and main programs like antivirus, drivers and stuff and all the rest on the hdd, even those will benefit from having the ssd, and it makes a huuuuuge difference!

[mvitkun]

Yeah its just that 8pin that kinda stands out for me but if theres no other way then its perfectly fine like that! As for the ssd' date=' i have a 90gb one just for OS and main programs like antivirus, drivers and stuff and all the rest on the hdd, even those will benefit from having the ssd, and it makes a huuuuuge difference! [/quote']

yeah the 8 pin bothered me a bit too,but looking through the window you can't see the way it's wrapped around the top there so it's fine.

I realize that I could go that route but think of it from my perspective.

I like to edit videos,as a hobby,the faster the storage device I have the faster it can access the files allowing for a more fluid workflow.but if I can't put those files on the new storage device it'll remain the same.

I like gaming and games benefit by having lower loading times,but if I can't fit them on the new storage device it'll remain the same.

for me a 2-3 times faster HDD,that can fit all my files on it and still have around 700GB remaining would be more beneficial than an SSD that I would fill up with as much as I can,and then still end up unable to put everything I want on it.

think of it this way,my current HDD has around 50MB/s reads and 40MB/s writes.for todays standards that is slow,but it performs well enough for me that I'm not too bothered by it.

so from my perspective something that should have around 130MB/s reads and 100MB/s writes will be plenty fast for me.

[Theo]

Yeah its just that 8pin that kinda stands out for me but if theres no other way then its perfectly fine like that! As for the ssd' date=' i have a 90gb one just for OS and main programs like antivirus, drivers and stuff and all the rest on the hdd, even those will benefit from having the ssd, and it makes a huuuuuge difference! [/quote']

yeah the 8 pin bothered me a bit too,but looking through the window you can't see the way it's wrapped around the top there so it's fine.

I realize that I could go that route but think of it from my perspective.

I like to edit videos,as a hobby,the faster the storage device I have the faster it can access the files allowing for a more fluid workflow.but if I can't put those files on the new storage device it'll remain the same.

I like gaming and games benefit by having lower loading times,but if I can't fit them on the new storage device it'll remain the same.

for me a 2-3 times faster HDD,that can fit all my files on it and still have around 700GB remaining would be more beneficial than an SSD that I would fill up with as much as I can,and then still end up unable to put everything I want on it.

think of it this way,my current HDD has around 50MB/s reads and 40MB/s writes.for todays standards that is slow,but it performs well enough for me that I'm not too bothered by it.

so from my perspective something that should have around 130MB/s reads and 100MB/s writes will be plenty fast for me.

Oh okay for that use then i'd probably go the same route! Get one of those 2tb ssd's that cost like 1k lol

Actually buy two and send one my way :D

[mvitkun]

update:

-I had to remove the motherboard but I finally routed the 8 pin cpu power through the cable management hole.

-top fan had something go out, pretty sure the bearing, switched it out from the top exhaust to the back exhaust and rattling stopped.

-moved back exhaust fan to bottom

 

 

really happy with how it looks now, definitely not getting any better than this as far as cable management goes.

[IVIeLt]

How does that aftermarket heatsink hold up? I've looked at a few but didn't wanna risk it.

[joelthezombie15]

How does that aftermarket heatsink hold up? I've looked at a few but didn't wanna risk it.

that isnt aftermarket that is the stock intel one unless you are talking about something else.

[IVIeLt]

that isnt aftermarket that is the stock intel one unless you are talking about something else.

 

Talking about the cooler on the Graphics card

[joelthezombie15]

Talking about the cooler on the Graphics card

OHHHH i totally over looked that lol sorry

[mvitkun]

Talking about the cooler on the Graphics card

sorry the forum didn't tell me about your post lol.

 

it holds up great.

 

with a gtx 480 @ 800mhz core 2004mhz mem 1063mV I get 73C max.(21C ambient)

perfectly silent even at 100% fan speed.

 

it does give a bit of sag to the card,I use the pci auxiliary cables to keep it from sagging too much.

 

the memory does heat up more than it did previously,but I haven't had any issues with it at all.

 

I'd say go for it,not much of a risk,what card did you want to use it for?

[mvitkun]

update:cable management finalized.

back of case:

[AdamG1401]

Using those same GPU coolers on my cards right now. 2500k and a 480 is a nice spec.Overall, nice build. Cable managment at the end looks nice. Only other thing i'd ask is do you have any plans to upgrade your CPU cooling? If and when the forum gets a selling section, i'll be putting up a h80i. Figured that would fit in nicely with this. (not trying to promote my selling of things, just saying that an H80i would look and perform well!)

 

Well done!

[mvitkun]

Using those same GPU coolers on my cards right now. 2500k and a 480 is a nice spec.Overall, nice build. Cable managment at the end looks nice. Only other thing i'd ask is do you have any plans to upgrade your CPU cooling? If and when the forum gets a selling section, i'll be putting up a h80i. Figured that would fit in nicely with this. (not trying to promote my selling of things, just saying that an H80i would look and perform well!)

 

Well done!

lol thanks,glad you thought it looked good.

 

I plan to upgrade cpu cooling last,because I seem to have a decent chip and can run 4ghz at 1.27v on the stock cooler stably with below 80C on prime95.

my upgrade plans are in this order.

1.1TB HDD (ST1000DM3000)

2.different heatsink 

3.small SSD

 

though I don't think I'd want an h80i,aside from the fact that it would have been used and have no warranty,I simply don't trust AIO's,I have this constant fear that I'll put it in my system and the following sequence would occur (this is assuming that I bought one new with a warranty):

 

me: (huge sparkling eyes) "everything worky so well now" 

god: "I'm bored" (sigh) "I wonder how mike would react if I f**ked with him right now" (weakens one of the joints on the h80i)

H80i: "ooooohhhh yeah,I been waiting for so long to take a leak"

me: (still  haven't  noticed) 

H80i:"oh f**k what did I just do.......wasn't me"

me:"NOOOOOOOOO....WHAT HAVE YOU DONE".....(calls corsair customer service)

Corsair TS:"hello this is Corsair Technical Support,how may I help you"

me: (sobbing) "ummmm.....m..my H80i leaked coolant all over my graphics card,motherboard,and power supply,all of which now don't work.I'd like to know if corsair could compensate me for those products.

Corsair TS:"Okay please wait a moment while I see what I can do"

me:(sobbing)"o..okay"

Corsair TS: "I'm sorry we stopped reimbursing customers in full for damage caused by our products,the most we can offer you is xxx"

me:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[hardware junky]

great looking build bro! cant wait to see what it looks like with the aftermarket cpu cooler. if your worried about using a water cooler then try something like the thermaltake frio. i use it and it was nice!

 

 

My Build Log

[RFM-PC]

Functionality over looks (when you dont have the money) :P 

[MasterCableManagementMan]

Your cable management is significantly bad.

I should know.

Im an expert.

[mvitkun]

Your cable management is significantly bad.

I should know.

Im an expert.

okay mr expert,glad to see your confident on the internet.

though even if your cable management is so great I couldn't care less,because as your title states your a "Newbie"

and despite your confidence leaking out of you you haven't posted your amazing build.

 

on top of that you didn't point out any areas that I could improve on whatsoever.

 

I do on the other hand appreciate you taking the time to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the thread to post this comment, :),and I apologize greatly that skimming through this build was such a waste of your time. ;)

[MasterCableManagementMan]

okay mr expert,glad to see your confident on the internet.

though even if your cable management is so great I couldn't care less,because as your title states your a "Newbie"

and despite your confidence leaking out of you you haven't posted your amazing build.

 

on top of that you didn't point out any areas that I could improve on whatsoever.

 

I do on the other hand appreciate you taking the time to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the thread to post this comment, :),and I apologize greatly that skimming through this build was such a waste of your time.  ;)

On my spare time, apart from being the master of cable managing, I do a lot of amazing builds. Here is my most amzing build. do you even lift?

 

[MasterCableManagementMan]

okay mr expert,glad to see your confident on the internet.

though even if your cable management is so great I couldn't care less,because as your title states your a "Newbie"

and despite your confidence leaking out of you you haven't posted your amazing build.

 

on top of that you didn't point out any areas that I could improve on whatsoever.

 

I do on the other hand appreciate you taking the time to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the thread to post this comment, :),and I apologize greatly that skimming through this build was such a waste of your time.  ;)

MFW he thinks I scroll all the way to the bottom to post in thread. MFW there is a "Reply to this topic" button on top of thread.

[mvitkun]

On my spare time, apart from being the master of cable managing, I do a lot of amazing builds. Here is my most amzing build. do you even lift?

 

yeah I lift a bit,could you stop trolling my thread though lol.

[ShadyHost]

hey can we get some benchmarks? haha

[mvitkun]

hey can we get some benchmarks? haha

not sure if you're being sarcastic but I did a few already

3D mark 2013

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/511306

 

Unigine Valley

 

pretty good score in my opinion for the extremeHD preset,not nearly as good as your rig lol.

 

[ShadyHost]

nah I wasn't being sarcastic. I have never seen benchmarks from a 480 and since I just sold my 460 to a buddy today I was curious how bad it was compared to the 480.

 

so that whole build cost sub $600?