Always wanted to build an actual custom PC, recently got a bunch of free components and decided to take the plunge

AudiTTFan · October 6, 2021

Budget (including currency): $300-450 CAD (Still Incomplete)

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Older racing games such as the mid-2000s Need For Speed titles, and sometimes console emulators

Other details:

Since my web browsing machine (a 2006 Acer Aspire T180 with upgrades to nearly everything other than the motherboard itself) isn't exactly up to the task of running modern games, or older games, or the last Windows Live Photo Gallery, I set out to build the best computer possible for the least money possible. My dad's friend happened to just have an Asus P67 board (B3) with a 2500K and an EVGA GTX 470 sitting on his kitchen table after finally upgrading his old build, so I took up the chance and scooped them up for free.

I then decided to use some of my birthday money I hadn't figured out what to spend on yet, and decided to get the case I've wanted to own since the day I first found out about it, a white Fractal Meshify C (and for only $114 CAD!) Next up on the list are a PSU and SSD, although that'll be done soon when my RM650 and 500GB Samsung 860 Evo arrive.

Sorry for taking this picture in portrait view

I also decided to put the system into the case this evening so I could get the chance to manage some of the small I/O cables before I'd have to deal with all the larger PSU cables, just to familiarize myself with the Meshify C's cable management features. After peeling off the tempered glass, I went upstairs, leaving the dog alone with it. Whoops.. As it turns out, the microfiber cloth Fractal provides for the tempered glass isn't exactly effective at cleaning off dog slobber marks. One damp cloth later, the panel was back to its original shine. I'll be sure to give more updates as this goes on!
NOTE: I did NOT build it on the carpet, it's only there because I wanted to show it to some family members who were visiting earlier

Dog slobber and a tempered glass side panel. A match made in my worst nightmares.

Somerandomtechyboi · October 6, 2021

2500k is a very old cpu so you will have to overclock it to get any sort of decent performance out of it, pref ~5ghz since these cpus were knows to hit 5ghz pretty easily but if you dont got a good cooler then ~4.6 is still acceptable

Death zone 2v, Absolute max "safe" 1.7v, max reccomended 1.6v (vcore)

95c max, reccomended 80c or under

Case is expensive for a build like this, prob should have spent more on other stuff like storage or ram (single channel aka single stick ram will cripple your performance by around 30%), atleast itll last 10 years