specgaming's FD Arc Midi R2 (2010 mid-budget)

[a.kei]

Hi guys! After watching a lot of buildlogs I decided to rebuild my PC just to make some photos for you.

My machine is mid-budget build from 2010, updated few times with SSD, case, CPU cooler etc.

More info tomorrow, I broke my keyboard and typing with the one that I found laying aroud is too difficult for me  :angry:

What I care in my PC is silence, and looks, which I would like to improve, but at the moment I'm trying to save money for intel platform. I'm planning Haswell at beginning of 2014  ;)

I've got a lot of plans to improve esthetics (blanking plates, backplates, sleeving etc.), but.. money  :unsure:  For now I hope you will enjoy the pics!

 

 

PROPER INTRODUCTION

 

In 2010 my dad said: "This is your budget, it's the last PC I'm buying for you." and that's when I really started to be into PC, tech and all that kind of stuff.

As I was gaining more knowledge in this industry, my taste was raising, so I was upgrading my rig as I could, with small things, to be little bit faster, cool, silent and good looking.

My dream for today is Gigabyte's matte-black PCB motherboard, and an intel CPU. I just started saving money for GA-Z87X-D3H and i5 4670K, hopefully I'll get them in December +/-,

then I can do false-floor, 5,25" blanking plates, GPU backplate, more fans, sleeving and lighting. Here's how it went to today's state. 

 

Case: Aerocool VS9 > SilentiumPC Gladius GD800W > Fractal Design Arc Midi R2

Motherboard: Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 (brown PCB, too much blue, not right angle SATA, argh..)

CPU: AMD Phenom II 955BE Quad Core (really bad one, can't even beat 3.8Ghz)

RAM: Kingston HyperX Genesis 2x2GB 1600Mhz CL9 DDR3 (now I would choose black ones)

GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC (Windforce 2x)

PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD > later added Crucial M4 128GB SSD

Cooling: CPU - Prolimatech Megahalems Black with Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition PWM fan & 3x standard FD 140mm fans, possitive air pressure all the way! 

 

I used to do some ESL gaming, I was working on Intel Extreme Masters Katowice ('minion' job.. bring mi this, put it together etc.), and I'm a SteelSeries fanboy..

My peripherals:

Dell U2312HM 23" IPS Display

SteelSeries Siberia V2 USB Headset (white <3)

Gigabyte M8000X Mouse (when it breaks I'll go with sensei raw, just to go retard all-steelseries gear)

SteelSeries QcK + Gaming Surface (used to have QcK Aion Asmodian Edition, but never really played Aion, lulz)

Media-tech supermarket rubbish grade keyboard (that I broke yesterday, still have some broken keys.. one day I'll buy mechanical SteelSeries 6G V2 or Apex RAW, because of the the price)

 

Photos shot in my green-walled room with dad's Nikon D3100 + Sigma 55 - 125 lens.

 

 

 

OCZ ModXStream PSU was good at the beginning. After fanswap from 135mm fan to Noiseblocker PK2 140mm fan it's quiet, but in the future I'll aim for fullmodular, quiet PSU that I can sleeve easly.

Current PSU will be painted in the near future I guess.. I love having everything matte-black!

 

 

 

 

 

Gigabyte's GTX460.. not a good overclocker just as my CPU, likes throwing artifacts at me.. well, I can live with that.

Painted first fin of GPU cooler and PCB's edge matte-black, I'll redo it in the future, because the outcome isn't too good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that wasn't thrown to case, more likely to my stomach   :wub:

 

 

 

 

 

Motherboard.. too much shades of blue, brown PCB.. I always wanted matte-black Gigabyte motherboard like 990FXA-UD3, but you know, budget.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just love the esthetics of Prolimatech's CPU cooler! If you can find better looking one, you can bite my dessert.

 

 

 

I would love to hear some feedback about the build, what I can do to improve esthetics.. without spending too much money, and what you think about the photos. Maybe I should make them smaller?

Also any tips about my language are welcome, I'm Polish (well, I know my nation is a bunch of duches in youtube comments, but what can I do..), so after all most of my practical english was learned from.. Linus, TinyTomLogan and others ...

 

I know there's not too much to comment, but please do.. It makes me happy.. really.

[TicTac]

Wow man looking good love the photos so far!

[a.kei]

Thank you! I will update first post today with more text and photos.

[Axis]

really nice ambient light you got goin on those photos

 

and the rig looks good too :P

[a.kei]

Thanks Axis

 

Updated first post, If you like to know what's going on, go ahead and read it

Some shots of finished rig.. I don't like the quality, but can't really do anything about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About cage.. there lives my little monster.. called Steve.. the hamster!

[crocski]

heart attack on a plate I LOVE IT ! :wub:  What is it??! Steve looks good. but back to the plate :D  

[alpenwasser]

Nice rig... and nice pics. Very good use of natural light from the looks of it.

[a.kei]

heart attack on a plate I LOVE IT ! :wub:  What is it??! Steve looks good. but back to the plate :D  

Cage is in the background of few pictures, there lives Steve:

 

Thing on a plate was .. base that I don't know how to call in english, kiwi, raspberries and whipped cream, if my vocabulary is right .

 

Thanks for the comments! alpenwasser, it's difficult to shot photos because lighting is too aggresive, and my camera can't catch what's in direct light and what's in the shadow :/.

I joke to my parents when they say something about IKEA, that I need some soft boxes to light up my room xD.

[Nicktrance]

Looks really sharp, nice photography, also... now I'm hungry...