My rig (updated)

[xamon]

Hello guys,

here is my rig I wanted to have the best machine I could get for the money I had. I wanted something that was fast, capable without having to skimp on any part. The result was very satisfactory. So without further ado, here is the list of component.

• Case: NZXT Phantom 410 SE Gunmetal edition
• Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155
• CPU: Intel Corei5 3570K
• Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 Dual-X OC
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 1600 Cas 9
• SSD: SK Hynix 128GB
• HDD: WD Green 2TB 7200RPM 64 MB cache.
• Power Supply: OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully Modular 80Plus Bronze
• Case Fans: 4x120mm XGIMATEK eXTREME silent.

I am super impressed by the Xgimatek fans. They aren't the best out there but they are actually silent on low and do a good job.

While picking the graphics card, I had some reservations about going with an AMD card. Talks about drivers issues were pretty much everywhere when one of their card was being mentioned. After some research and watching some of Linus benchmarks, I have found out that it was not all completely true. I even found out that their Never Settle drivers had increased the performance of their card significantly. The 7970 is turning out to be a very nice card so far. It is also a great value. I would recommend it to anyone out there on a budget.If you like physX, while it is possible to run it with this card, I would just go with Nvidia and save yourself the headaches of wondering if you could run it. The differences in performance at this level is so minimal (if you play at 1080p) that it really does not matter. If you play at higher resolution though, it is another story.

The motherboard was just the best for the price. It has so many features. A comparative board from say Asus is at least $20 more. It also helps that I got this board for $30 less than MSRP.

While building I did run into a few technical “problems”. The cpu power cutout was too small for my cable and I had to take out the pre installed fan, ran the cable and then put the fan back. The grommets from the case get taken off really easily. Almost every time I passed a cable through it they came partially off and I had to put them back in. Lastly, I did not buy a cd drive and my external one did not work. I had to borrow my sisters in order to install my software.

Overclock:

For the moment, I will leave the CPU at default clock until I get a better CPU cooler than the stock one. The 7970 is clocked at 1060 /1560 (core clock/memory clock). I believe that with this configuration, I will be able to get the best performance without taxing the hardware too much.

Temps:

With every fan controlled by the fan controller set to low, I get about 54C on the CPU while playing games on average and the GPU topped at about 60C. At idle, the CPU is at 38C and the GPU is at 33C. The ambient temperature is at around 72F.

So now that we got all of the technical stuff out of way here is the computer:

All the boxes:

External build:

Watching Newegg How to build a computer in the back :).

and it turned on :)

working with the case now:

Finished build and cable management:

On and all pretty

[PBaines]

Just need to get an aftermarket cooler and you will have a pretty sweet rig!

[Godly]

Great build. :)

[xamon]

Thanks guys, I am saving to grab an H80i. I also added a sound card since I took those pictures.

[Lawkodi]

Thanks guys, I am saving to grab an H80i. I also added a sound card since I took those pictures.

you should get a Swiftech H220 instead or maybe a Xigmatech Dark night Night hawk edition if you want air cooling

[xamon]

the H220 does not fit in my case without modding and the Dark Knight looks great, i might consider that one. Thanks for the suggestion. 

[Josh aka Vanilla Ice]

take some beauti shots and upload. Picture quality look pretty gud.....

[xamon]

I will take better pics of the whole thing soon. The stock cpu fan makes everything looks uglier though.

[slowdeath007]

congratulations man.nice build

[911^NEmeSis]

Very nice mate. Your build is also very similar to one that I'm planning :D

How did you find the Asrock mobo?

[XiaoPigs]

Great build man. Decent job with the cable management too.

[hiyayhi]

Sweet looking!

[Matrix19]

Will the CPU not bottleneck the GPU?

[Akula]

Solid choices in parts :)

[xamon]

@911^NEmeSis The Asrock motherboard is awesome. So much features for a great price. It is often on sale too so if you can find it somewhere cheap I would go for it. Another question, since we are already at the end of may why not just wait for Haswell and get a Z87 motherboard?

 

@XiaoPigs I have redone my cable management after taking those pictures and it looks much better. I will update this blog with new pictures sometimes this week.

 

@Matrix19 its a 3570k, I hardly think that it will be bottlenecking any graphics card anytime soon. 

 

@everyone else thanks :)

 

Also I am getting a Xigmatek Dark Knight II sometime soon and also I am saving some money to get some sleeving. The end result I think will look awesome.

[Techno.exe]

Question is how far do you really want to go with cooling ? if you're planning on taking it easy with the volts/clocks you should be fine with a mid range cooler (Hyper 212+ evo) if you want to take it as far as possible I would probably suggest looking into the all in one units or a custom loop. I have the H100i and I think its great and keeps my temps at a suitable level. Nice selection of parts and looking forward to seeing some custom sleeving in this build :3 

[xamon]

The dark knight II is all black and looks really good and to boot it performs very well (check out Logan from teksyndicate review on it). As for the OC I'm gonna do on it, I'm thinking 4.0Ghz so a very mild OC.ActuallyI might consider the 212+

As for sleeving, I would have done it earlier if I had the tools. The paracord from lutro's would have only been $10 which is dirt cheap. If I were to pick up all the tools I needed to do it, it would come up to about $50-60 so it becomes more of an investment especially right after buying this computer.

[xamon]

So here are some update on my build:

 

I ordered the Xigmatek Dark Night II Night Hawk edition last week and received it today. Just finished installing and so here are some new shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Royal_Rasta]

the phantom looks great in every color :)

[slo_koki]

I have the same MOBO and this build looks pretty good... DIY ON!

[xamon]

@royal yea its an awesome case

 

@slo the Asrock is a good motherboard. So many features at such a great price.

[kierden]

Nice Build, love the Phantom XD

[nickpc]

looks good