Build of shame...

[SolidSonicTH]

I was waiting to install the necessary SATA-to-molex power adapter to get the front fan working before I posted this. So here we go.

 

SPECS:

Case: Zalman Z9 Neo Plus Blanc

Power Supply: Corsair AX750 (from my last PC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z270X-DESIGNARE

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K (that feels overpriced), delidded and liquid metal cooled with Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra

Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB Platinum (bought during Amazon Prime Day; have a Deepcool GAMMAXX GT as a backup cooler)

RAM: 16GBx1 DDR4-2400 Crucial RAM (the matching DIMM is being RMA'd hence the "Build of shame" title)

Main Storage: 512GB Samsung 970 Pro M.2 NVMe SSD

Secondary Storage: 6TB Western Digital Black HDD (plan to add a 4TB later)

GPU: 8GB ASUS DUAL-GTX1070-O8G GTX 1070 (from my last PC; waiting for Nvidia's next generation GPU before that gets upgraded)

Optical Drive: ASUS BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray burner downgraded to 4K UHD Blu-Ray playback-compatible firmware 3.00

 

There is also a Gen 2 USB 3.1 bracket expansion in the bottom expansion slot.

 

Originally I wasn't going to build this until next year when Nvidia's next offerings were actually available but I pushed it ahead when I wanted the 32GB of DDR3 RAM my old gaming PC had in it to use in my home server (so I'd have more VM overhead, along with upgrading the CPU to handle more threads).

 

I also plan to get a gaming monitor for my birthday next month (if someone could pitch a 144 Hz, FreeSync-compatible, 1080p, 27", preferably curved display that would be hype).

[pizapower]

It's so good to see a fellow disc drive user.

[SolidSonicTH]

19 minutes ago, pizapower said:

It's so good to see a fellow disc drive user.

It actually forced me to mount the radiator reverse of what I think it's supposed to be. I also chose my case based on needing the space for it.

 

Everything seems fine, though.

[vanished]

Looks good!  You said the 7700k felt overpriced, how much was it?

[jiyeon]

It's a nice build! Are you going for a white theme? You could perhaps look into cable extensions to enchance the visuals.

[SolidSonicTH]

1 hour ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Looks good!  You said the 7700k felt overpriced, how much was it?

$300, used. In 2019 that seems a bit over the top for a CPU that isn't compatible with a current generation motherboard but I really wanted to use the DESIGNARE motherboard so I had set out to use a 7th gen CPU from the outset. I couldn't find anything cheaper, though.

 

1 hour ago, seoz said:

It's a nice build! Are you going for a white theme? You could perhaps look into cable extensions to enchance the visuals.

Not particularly, I just like the colors and illumination in general.

[vanished]

3 minutes ago, SolidSonicTH said:

$300, used.

Ah, I think you might be very right then.  I see used offers for around $150 - $225 USD, and you could also get a brand new 3600 for $200 which would be more powerful in everything from games to other tasks.  But, if you avoided buying other hardware by going this route than you very likely saved money overall so it's a matter of perspective.

[Shreyas1]

Ayy that's my graphics card

[SolidSonicTH]

The replacement 16GB stick will be here Monday, my PC will be complete!

[SolidSonicTH]

UPDATE: So...my RAM arrived...and it still failed.

 

Turns out I had to extract the entire motherboard (was a PAIN; cases with great cable management seem to have handicaps when it comes to disassembly) because I noticed something out of sorts with the CPU socket. After getting my eye right up against it, I saw I had two bent pins. Using a SIM tool and guidance taken from Linus, I reset the pins then reassembled the computer. And now it's finally running properly, all 32Gs detected and in proper dual channel mode.