My Black/Red theme build! I shall call it: The Vampire!(1st build)

[Megazero]

So... after stucking with my i5 2400 (stock cooler) and ASUS P8Z68-V LX for quite a long time (I have this because when I build it I was a completely noob and I leave it all to my friend) I finally gather enough money to upgrade my CPU + Motherboard and with it a watercooler as well. Since in the end I have to change the case as well this become a full build instead, so before we go in, here's my part list, all belong to my old computer, except the CPU, Mobo, CPU Cooler and case~

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($319.99 @ Newegg) 

CPU Cooler:  Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ TigerDirect) 

Motherboard:  MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($167.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory:  Kingston HyperX 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($44.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory:  Kingston HyperX 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($44.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage:  Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 

Video Card:  MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card  ($729.99 @ Amazon) 

Case:  Aerocool Xpredator X3 Devil Red ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply:  Cougar POWERX 700W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($85.97 @ OutletPC) 

Optical Drive:  LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer  ($29.95 @ Amazon) 

Case Fan:  Corsair Air Series AF120 Performance Edition (2-Pack) 63.5 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($29.99 @ NCIX US) 

Keyboard:  Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($135.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Mouse:  Razer Naga Molten Wired Laser Mouse  ($124.59 @ Amazon) 

Other: LG E2241T-BN 21.5 inch FULL HD Monitor (Purchased For $120.00)

Total: $2134.40

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-04 10:47 EDT-0400)

 

So let's begin. Also I should note something, I'm living in Thailand right now, and my room is all the way outside of Bangkok center, which is the only place that have hardware stuff, so my journey began on 12:30PM from my room, and I reach the shop at 3PM, bring my old case with me since I'm going to sell it as well, through all the 50km way with 3 different type of transportation vehicle from vans,bus, sky train (BTS) to taxi, it's a nice work out once in a while~

Once I reach the shop, the one that I'm going to buy most of my stuff dont have the GD65, so I have to go over to another one to grab it, and when I comeback all I needed is ready

So it's time to begin building, since I'm going all the way from home to here, I dont want to missing something and have to go all the way back to get it, I asked the guy in the shop to help me build it right at the shop, this prove to be a right choice. The first thing I have to do is to choose the new case, and this baby just catch my eyes right away

This is the Aerocool XPredator X3 Devil Red, I cant find many useful info/review on this case so I will sum it up with my own experience: the case look nice, but really heavy. It come with 2 big case fan, 1 140mm and one 200mm with red LED, on the front panel it have a power button, 2 USB 3.0, 2 fan controller nad headphone/mic jack, which is nice but I dont really like the fact that it dont have USD 2.0 on it. It's really heavy but there's no real handle so it's not easy to move this case around, though I'm pretty sure I wont move it around that much. The left side panel have a big windows in shape of ... a dragon head I guess? Look more like Eagle to me. Right panel is just a plain metal panel, which is kind of a pain if the cable putting to the back is big and messy. But I really like the top, which have a V shape fin with a slide to open/close it. When open the air flow is much better, and while close it's dont do much but it's a nice touch.

So first I disassemble the case, then I mount the CPU to the motherboard and mount it all to the case. Oh! I learn from Linus! I put all 4 panel in the box so I dont scratch it or anything Guess it's pretty common sense but then...

Next up is the CPU cooler. I've never play around with water cooler before so I ask the guy in the shop to set it up for me. After we discuss a little bit I decided to do push/pull so I go out and buy a pair of Corsair AF120 Performance Edition, and so the guy on the shop start mounting it to the case, with the stock fan as pull outside of the case itself:

Which turn out to be a disaster. We soon found out that the top panel with those "dragon fins" wont allow us to mount the fan on top of the case, so we put all of it back inside the case, still in push/pull configuration.

After that I put back my SSD, HDD and optical drive, and then the top panel, with only the top panel on, I'm starting to understand why it's called "Predator"

So the hard part is completed... or is it? Coming after the top panel is the true nightmare in every build: cable management. I did put all the cable to the back of the motherboard but it's a sight to see... took me quite alot of time to deal with it

After that is that part that I like the most in every build: putting in a graphic card. Awh~ if only everything was this easy~ So now with the full system in place, we run some test on it, flash the BIOS of the Mobo to the newest version, installing drivers and stuff.

So all that's left is putting back all the panel, and bring it back home (which by the time I finished is already 5:30PM), proved to be another challenged task as no taxi driver agree to go that far, I did managed to get one in the end, at double the normal cost. So now that's the build have finally say still at my room, it's looking pretty good, run really quiet, and truly powerful.

I do realized that it's not 100% black/red due to my GPU and Ram, but they are both old part so I cant really help it. It did create a quite nice light in the dark thought, with the Red of the H100i, the Blue LED indicator on the GD65, and the Green of the GPU, 3 basic colors :3

So that's the end of my build log. As for why I call it "The Vampire"? There're 2 reasons. First: it look so cool in black and red like that, second: It "sucked" all my saving money in one go... so there you have it~ Thanks for checking my build.

[SSOB]

Wow Black and Red! What an awesome new and very original that color sheme is. 

 

OT: Nice specs , the case however is not to my liking but that's very personal i guess.

[Fred Castellum]

Nice.... It looks pretty good. 

 

I also couldn't help but notice the world only god know's figurine on your speak. Don't know the other two though. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

YAY, more black and red. 

 

Pretty nice specs though, and I'm liking the Haqua figure. 

[Paulandpedro]

Thats sweet. I use those corsair fans. They look great in black and red builds.

[Megazero]

Wow Black and Red! What an awesome new and very original that color sheme is. 

 

OT: Nice specs , the case however is not to my liking but that's very personal i guess.

Case is pretty much limited here in Bangkok, I do see the big one like 750D (Actually I think I saw every single case that Linus did a review on) but I want to go with Black/Red so I choose this one. It's kinda weird since some say it's mid tower some say it's full tower, though compare with like 750D or 900D it's really is smaller.

Nice.... It looks pretty good. 

 

I also couldn't help but notice the world only god know's figurine on your speak. Don't know the other two though.

Haqua The other 2 is Kotori from Rewrite and Kud from Little Busters!

[Anthony10]

Looks awesome! That blue ram though :{ yudodis

[Rorgash]

normally one would think hardware and computer stuff would be insanely cheap in Thailand... seeing as A TON OF IT is made there

[Oshino Shinobu]

Case is pretty much limited here in Bangkok, I do see the big one like 750D (Actually I think I saw every single case that Linus did a review on) but I want to go with Black/Red so I choose this one. It's kinda weird since some say it's mid tower some say it's full tower, though compare with like 750D or 900D it's really is smaller.

Haqua The other 2 is Kotori from Rewrite and Kud from Little Busters!

You could mod the GeForce logo to white so that it doesn't take away from the black and red as much as the green does. 

[Guest]

Man, that's a small desk!

[Megazero]

Looks awesome! That blue ram though :{ yudodis

 

 Because I bought that 2 years ago when I have no knowledge on hardware + dont care about the look at all... I regret it

normally one would think hardware and computer stuff would be insanely cheap in Thailand... seeing as A TON OF IT is made there

Well not really... the Mobo + CPU + CPU Cooler + Case = ~800USD here...

[GamerDude]

 

Well not really... the Mobo + CPU + CPU Cooler + Case = ~800USD here...

I was at Panthip Plaza walking around and checking out Thai prices and they are just as bad as my neck of the wood, in fact, more so. I feel for you dude, hardware prices here in our part of the world is just nuts. Black and red theme build are quite common simply because this color combo looks awesome, just awesome. I'm an RoG guy, so black and red motif's my thang as well. Here's mine....

[Megazero]

I was at Panthip Plaza walking around and checking out Thai prices and they are just as bad as my neck of the wood, in fact, more so. I feel for you dude, hardware prices here in our part of the world is just nuts. Black and red theme build are quite common simply because this color combo looks awesome, just awesome. I'm an RoG guy, so black and red motif's my thang as well. Here's mine....

yeah, I bought mine at Pantip as well. It's bad but we dont have any other choice so...

[GamerDude]

yeah, I bought mine at Pantip as well. It's bad but we dont have any other choice so...

Nope, I'd not gotten mine from Panthip Plaza.....not from Thailand actually, though I'm in Asia. Since you use so little space on your desk, why not put the new PC on your desk, on the right side. That way, you can see the glowing lights within. Also, since it's relatively dark inside your case, why not add some aquarium RGB LED modules inside so you can have a choice of nice LED colors. I did that on my rig actually....I have no problem matching my keyboard LED colors to my rig, these are slightly older pics, I had not gotten my individually sleeved extension cables then....

 

My CM Storm Trigger Cherry Green with red LED backlight....

My CM Storm Quick Fire TK Cherry Blue with blue LED...

My DS3 Cherry Green with white LED....

My DS first gen Cherry Blue with green LED....

My DS2 TOTD Cherry Brown with yellow/orange LED...

 

The aquarium RGB LED mod cost me very little, only about the equivalent of about 20USD for the six RGB LED modules, the controller box + wireless remote and a 12v adapter. Since the LED is powered via external 12v adapter, I don't even have to turn on my rig for the LED to come one. I sometimes use the RGB light to brighten my room at night when I've turned off all other light in my very dark room.

[Megazero]

Nope, I'd not gotten mine from Panthip Plaza.....not from Thailand actually, though I'm in Asia. Since you use so little space on your desk, why not put the new PC on your desk, on the right side. That way, you can see the glowing lights within. Also, since it's relatively dark inside your case, why not add some aquarium RGB LED modules inside so you can have a choice of nice LED colors. I did that on my rig actually....I have no problem matching my keyboard LED colors to my rig, these are slightly older pics, I had not gotten my individually sleeved extension cables then....

 

My CM Storm Trigger Cherry Green with red LED backlight....

My CM Storm Quick Fire TK Cherry Blue with blue LED...

My DS3 Cherry Green with white LED....

My DS first gen Cherry Blue with green LED....

My DS2 TOTD Cherry Brown with yellow/orange LED...

 

The aquarium RGB LED mod cost me very little, only about the equivalent of about 20USD for the six RGB LED modules, the controller box + wireless remote and a 12v adapter. Since the LED is powered via external 12v adapter, I don't even have to turn on my rig for the LED to come one. I sometimes use the RGB light to brighten my room at night when I've turned off all other light in my very dark room.

That's a very nice case and setup

I did consider putting LED in, but then I think of my high electricity bill, also because I put it under my desk I dont see it that much... As for why did I put it inside the desk, not on top of it, I dont feel comfortable putting something that heavy and expensive on top of the table where I could somehow drop it, plus my desk surface is really small as well,so if I want to do something else with books and paper usually I just put my keyboard over the remaining space to get some space.

My Keyboard only have green light, and I really like how it feel so I wont be changing it anytime soon, and all the light I would ever need in the night is from the monitor and the keyboard itself so it's ok for me

And I didnt know Pantip are in other country as well