DVR/Media/Gaming Rig

[dacanova]

This summer I'm gonna start this build. It will take me a while for a few reasons: most of my money from internship is going towards tuition, my gf wants me spending 95% of my money on her, then bills/food, and not much on myself, and finally I don't have a better paying job. I want a blacked out system that will play my and my roommates movies, replace our cable box and dvr, and provide me with a better gaming experience than my Dell XPS 15 L502x.

 

Case: Define R4 Blackout Edition

Cpu: undecided, likely haswell refresh

Motherboard: ASUS Z87 Sabertooth for its armor to blackout the motherboard. This is decently priced as open box item or on ebay

GPU: a 750Ti for the time being, not sure which one as of yet

RAM: 2x8 GB, may start with one stick of 8, Kingston Hyper X Beast. I loved the look on the Sabertooth MOBO

HDD: WD Green 4 TB, I'm considering surveillance quality HDD

SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB, I may go with a cheaper/slower option depending on budget//sales

5.25" bay converter: Silverstone's 5.25 bay converter is so i can remove the drive bays and have a cleaner look/make future watercooling easier.

ODD: just a blu-ray reader, whichever one is cheapest at the time.

PSU: I would like the corsair RM 750 for silence, but my budget may force me to buy a semi or non-modular psu and lower wattage for the time being.

OS: I get my OS for free from my University via Microsoft's Dreamspark, so one thing is free!

TV Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV Quad Tuner, this will great to record my, my roommates, and my gf's shows, and with mcebuddy i can convert to .mp4, remove commercials and put them on a usb or whatever i want.

CPU Cooler: Cooler MAster Glacier 240L

 

Upgrades (When I have more money):

More Ram for the heck of it and to fill the empty slots

Better GPU and waterblock

240 mm rad

Noctua Fans, dye them black

Sleeved Cables

FrozenQ 250 mm Liquid Fusion Resevoir with Matte Black helix

Ice white Fluid

 

I may have to do a paint job on the tv tuner card, but i want to have blacked out system. When I have the water cooling i would like to have the uv cathode pulsing so there is one bright spot, like a heart beating, seen through the tinted window eerily illuminating my components.

 

This will prob take me some years to complete, but it is my general goal.

[Flight1sim]

you could buy a better case for that price

 

 

Like the 750D, which i believe is $159 on newegg, or you can wait a while for the 450D for $119

[dacanova]

you could buy a better case for that price

 

 

Like the 750D, which i believe is $159 on newegg, or you can wait a while for the 450D for $119

 

That is true, and I have thought about it. I still won't be buying anything for a couple months, so my mind could change. The nice thing about the blacked out edition is everything is blacked out, and because this is intended for media purposes the define r4 silence optimized features are welcomed. The define r4 is only 110 on newegg right now, so who knows what it'll be when I am ready to purchase. Plus I like that the define r4 will hide my ODD. Is there another silence optimized case you'd recommend for watercooling at or below that price point?