First ever full build

[Danny Ocean]

Hey everyone!

 

I've only recently got into the linus shabang but because I'm a student I've managed to go back and watch ALL THE THINGS in a (relatively) short amount of time.

 

Mostly time in which I should be revising for exams. Ahem.

 

I've been assembling PC's every now and again since I was a kid, but there's enough time between builds for me to forget everything technical I knew to build the thing. I use my PC primarily for gaming, and also picture editing and (of course) office stuff. I also like to plug in controllers to play games with my friends, and it's moved both around the the house, and from home to student land, so I'm quite keen to keep it small and relatively tough. I'm pretty strong, though, (I pick things up and put them down regularly) so it doesn't need to be very light as long as it has good hand holds.

 

Because it so often lives in my bedroom, and a childhood spent in quiet Exeter has made absolute silence a necessity for a good nights sleep, I'd also, ideally, like to have a fanless, noiseless design. All while looking a million pounds. A slot-loading drive will be included for when we're watching DVDs or whatever.

 

Easy, eh?

 

I've got the whole summer coming up now and I'm in a position where I could feasibly drop my entire third student loan payment into the dream PC I've never had. I've had fairly good components for a long time, but what I've always wanted was to make my own PC case. I've found the Manchester hackspace and I intend to use their facilities (including a pair of fancy schmancy 3-d printers) to build the thing. I will fund it with the student loan payment (£1,125.50) and selling either some or all of my current build:

 

PC Part Picker:

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Danny-Ocean/saved/4mZY

 

Case: Bitfenix Prodigy

SSD1: Crucial CT128M4SSD2 128GB

SSD2: Samsung 840 pro 256gb

HDD1+2: 2x Samsung 103SJ 1tb.

Mobo: Asus P8Z77I deluxe

CPU: Intel i5-3570k

GPU: MSI GTX 770

PSU: corsair ax760

RAM: 8gb corsair vengeance 

Cooling: h80i on the CPU, everything else stock.

Monitor: DGM27- a 27" 2560x1440. I also quite like using a second monitor for office work (and SupCom) but I'm yet to find one with the same pixel density so bleh. 

 

The GPU isn't *quite* good enough to run the games I like on the highest settings, and I'd like to be able to do that. Ideally in a single-GPU solution so I can stick with M-ITX, but I'd consider moving to M-ATX for the extra potential RAM and PCI slots. I'd consider SLI/Crossfire.

 

There's also some old dell speakers, some corsair v2000 headphones, and M&K. 

 

I'm happy with selling everything. I'm not too attached to it, as I only built it as a SFF pc to cart to and from university. 

 

Before I start assembling a case, I need to know what I'm going to put in it. So my initial questions are these:

 

1. Should I sell the whole thing as a unit or sell it part by part? Are any parts worth keeping? I'm thinking of selling everything-in-one for like £1300, but I have no idea if that's a saleable price or not.

 

2. Using probable dosh (or components) from step 1+ £1,125 of student loan, what do you think I should grab?

 

3. Heat is a big issue here if I don't want fans. I don't know how to think about dealing with the heat output. My main idea is to use riser cables to rotate the GPU or GPUs (to narrow the box), water cool everything, and run it all through a massive radiator that'll likely be the same size again as the box, or bigger. Would that even be feasible in its ability to dissipate all that heat passively?

 

It's difficult because I'd like to keep it relatively small. The same sort of volume as the current bitfenix prodigy would be good.

 

Other stuff:

 

- I need Wi-Fi. This motherboard has it, but for some reason I've never been able to get it to work, and I'm having to use a USB dongle. Is this me, or the motherboard? Or what?

 

- Games I play: New games at highest settings possible, usually. Also a lot of X-Com, SupCom, Civ, Skyrim with tonnes of mods, and such. I'd be good to get a nice high framerate. At the moment the FR sometimes makes me feel a bit sick, because it's just a *bit* too slow.

 

- As much as I love my old deathadder it really is filthy now, and I'd like to replace that. The keyboard is ok, but I don't think it'd be appropriate sitting next to the awesomeness that will be the new PC. I'd like to replace this too, if it's not sold with the PC. And the speakers.

 

Hell, all the peripherals could use replacing.

 

Also, I suppose it's about time I changed to windows 8. It's just so awkward to use... ugh. I've heard there's ways to make the interface as windows 7, though.

 

If there are any questions that need answering please ask! All the advice I can get is greatly appreciated!

 

(I had an i7-920 from the last build at home, but my parents threw it out. I raged so hard.)

[ForsakenLive]

While you can squeeze a few extra bucks from selling everything separated, it will be much less of a hassle to clean the system, make it look as good as new and sell it all at the same time as whole rig.

 

What case have you been putting your eyes on? That's how good builds start most of the time.

I think a Node 304 with a nice air cooler and some premium fans might be a great build. However you will need much more space if you plan on water cooling down the line.

I don't really know much good WC ITX cases besides the Prodigy, Phenom or colossus, which are basically the same case. And going twice for the same thing can be boring.

Have you thought on moving to a compact mATX build?

[Danny Ocean]

While you can squeeze a few extra bucks from selling everything separated, it will be much less of a hassle to clean the system, make it look as good as new and sell it all at the same time as whole rig.

 

What case have you been putting your eyes on? That's how good builds start most of the time.

I think a Node 304 with a nice air cooler and some premium fans might be a great build. However you will need much more space if you plan on water cooling down the line.

I don't really know much good WC ITX cases besides the Prodigy, Phenom or colossus, which are basically the same case. And going twice for the same thing can be boring.

Have you thought on moving to a compact mATX build?

 

I'm thinking about £1000 ono? Would that be about right? I've not sold stuff like this second-hand before.

 

I don't know... I suppose it would be sensible to go for more expensive fans, but that little noise just drives me mental. There's also the challenge of water-cooling which I'm quite keen on. Plus it could look amazing.

 

I was actually thinking that, if anything, I'd nick the frame from a media PC case. The idea I have is very roughly sort of like this:

 

 

(I am amazing in paint, I know. I should sign it really.)

 

EDIT: This sort of concept: http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/systems-2008/lian-li/tremeloes/lian-li-pc-a01-htpc.htm but more compact and with a better integrated, larger, rad.

 

With the box on the left being the actual PC case, and the box on the right being the radiator. I suppose it'd be best to view it as a stupidly high-powered HTPC strapped to a massive radiator to remove the need for fans. With a WC loop to move the heat from the components to the rad.

 

All those cases are wide because of the orientation of the mobo. Why not mount it vertically like normal? And then lower the profile of the graphics card(s) by using risers to mount them flat and vertically (so the sockets face down), perhaps with some extra risers for the DVI/HDMI/etc so all the ports are still on the back of the case.

 

M-ATX is definitely an option. They're cheaper, with more slots and more power for the money. But they're also bigger, as are the cards that would inevitably fill the expansion slots.

 

Don't worry, my hands are ludicrously small. If I splay one fully the distance from little fingertip to thumb tip is only 18cm.

[ForsakenLive]

I don't know if £1000 is a bit much. You can sell the system for u$s 1000, that's for sure.

 

The quietness on WC loops comes from fans spinning slow on the rads (don't need more than that) and getting a good pump and running it on a low setting.

 

The 'little noise' you described can also appear on good fans, specially if they are PWM. However getting some seriously nice fans, and running them straight up to a PSU, using a low voltage adapter (5v or 7v), is going to be even quieter than the pump. For example some B12-1 NB-eloops (120mm static pressure optimized fan) can deliver 57.3 m3 (cfm), at 800rpm at only 8dB (yes, only 8). However this fans can go as high as $28-$30. (don't know much about UK pricing).

 

There are HTPC cases that can support rads, and they are also some very compact mATX options. Let me scout the web for a while and see what I find, I'm bored and have plenty of fun looking at tech products.

[WoodenMarker]

What games are you trying to play at highest settings?

1. You could just replace the fans and suspend the hard drives.

3. Not the cheapest solution but very doable.

 

Have you made sure to download your motherboard or wireless card's drivers?

[Danny Ocean]

I don't know if £1000 is a bit much. You can sell the system for u$s 1000, that's for sure.

 

The quietness on WC loops comes from fans spinning slow on the rads (don't need more than that) and getting a good pump and running it on a low setting.

 

The 'little noise' you described can also appear on good fans, specially if they are PWM. However getting some seriously nice fans, and running them straight up to a PSU, using a low voltage adapter (5v or 7v), is going to be even quieter than the pump. For example some B12-1 NB-eloops (120mm static pressure optimized fan) can deliver 57.3 m3 (cfm), at 800rpm at only 8dB (yes, only 8). However this fans can go as high as $28-$30. (don't know much about UK pricing).

 

There are HTPC cases that can support rads, and they are also some very compact mATX options. Let me scout the web for a while and see what I find, I'm bored and have plenty of fun looking at tech products.

 

 

Had a chat with some other peeps and they persuaded me to do a GFX upgrade and focus on the case mod. Got a bit carried away with the prospect of loads of money I guess

 

 

What games are you trying to play at highest settings?

1. You could just replace the fans and suspend the hard drives.

3. Not the cheapest solution but very doable.

 

Have you made sure to download your motherboard or wireless card's drivers?

 

I kinda wanna go for the wow factor. It's a dream of mine and a good challenge.

 

Yeah I did everything I could but it just won't connect. It may well be the router, but then why are everyone else's laptops and phones working, and the USB dongle? I've got the right frequency n such.

[ForsakenLive]

Had a chat with some other peeps and they persuaded me to do a GFX upgrade and focus on the case mod. Got a bit carried away with the prospect of loads of money I guess

 

 

 

I kinda wanna go for the wow factor. It's a dream of mine and a good challenge.

 

Yeah I did everything I could but it just won't connect. It may well be the router, but then why are everyone else's laptops and phones working, and the USB dongle? I've got the right frequency n such.

I guess it does make sense. Getting some very nice fans, modding the case (or modding some cheap HTPC case), and selling your GPU to get a more powerful one is a choice.

[Obama8MyKFC]

AMD Kaveri A10-7850

MSI A78M-E35 Mother Board

Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 Case

8 GB G.skill Ripjaws X RAM

Samsung 840 Evo 128 GB SSD

1 TB Western Digital Black Hard Drive
200 W Corsair CX 200 Power Supply

 

Any suggestions to improve it. As you can see I'm on a budget

[Danny Ocean]

I guess it does make sense. Getting some very nice fans, modding the case (or modding some cheap HTPC case), and selling your GPU to get a more powerful one is a choice.

 

Would you say I should go with at least one or two super-quiet slow-spinning fans even if I go down the "Fanless" route? Just to keep all the little chips cool and have a bit of airflow around the components?

[ForsakenLive]

Would you say I should go with at least one or two super-quiet slow-spinning fans even if I go down the "Fanless" route? Just to keep all the little chips cool and have a bit of airflow around the components?

totally!, the heatsinks on motherboard, while passive, depend on airflow going through the case.

Look at Rosewill Hyperborea fans, they are impressively quiet for their price (under $10). They are not the coolest or better performing fans, but are compentent and very quiet.

[WoodenMarker]

Would you say I should go with at least one or two super-quiet slow-spinning fans even if I go down the "Fanless" route? Just to keep all the little chips cool and have a bit of airflow around the components?

You can't go fanless--not unless you're going with a low powered and underclocked system.