Project Carbine

Vivilacqua1 · July 6, 2015

UPDATE 2- http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/401291-project-carbine/?p=5447377

UPDATE 3- http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/401291-project-carbine/?p=5960757

Hello! Just the other day I was thinking about buying some parts for my computer, It was the day after whilst having one of those "shower thoughts" that I should post this to the LTT forum.

Here's how far I have come already. Back about two years ago when I was fourteen , I bought some parts to build my first computer. I was struggling to play the lightest games on my $300 asus laptop, My friend told me about how you could build pc's and stuff like that, I didn't think it could be done. When I got home I went experimenting and tearing apart ancient pentium 4 rigs that were stored in our closet because both my parents used laptops and ipads. Realizing how easy it could be done, I set to work getting summer jobs, and begging for money each week after completing my chores.

After just over half a year later, in the final weeks of 9th grade, I got my last part, a 250 gig Seagate HDD that I did no research on and paid $40 for. But at last, I could load up ubuntu and play some games.

I called it "The Fission Reactor" It got the name for two reasons, reason one- It had a green led fan on the side panel, reason two, it had an AMD A10 in it. When summer came and I was sitting bored and inside playing minecraft at 30 fps (still better than what that laptop had done) I found an ad for a summer job that paid $700. After lots of hard work, and walking around in the hot sun, I could upgrade my pc. with that money I bought an i7 4790k (nearly half my budget), a blue and black H-440, an asrock h97 pro 4, and some fancy blue led's.

Flash forwards afew months, I am unhappy with the blue and black color scheme. I decided to go with a clean and simple look at a low price, painting the blue on my h-440 a metallic silver. There are still some touch-ups that i need to do, and will get to those eventually. I used this post: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/171125-first-mod-ever-painting-nzxt-h440/ to help me along the way. But afterwards, I liked the effect, except for one part, the blue and black motherboard looked horrible with this new color scheme. Since I knew I wouldn't have it for much longer because I wanted to xfire( Thinking about the msi krait) I decide d to paint over the motherboard with a non conductive grey paint, I could not use the metallic silver because it was conductive. That long usb cord attatched to a wifi thingy is there because I'm in the far end of the house, and every little bit closer to the router helps.

TL;DR: I built a $500 computer, then realized I needed more power, so yay, summer job and new parts list!

This may take awhile, as I still need to save up some money, But I am posting this now as I can't be bothered to wait and I must purchase all my parts when I have the money, and not together at once.

Here it is as of now: For most of the inside pics I used flash so that you can see, but iin reality it is not that bright, nor is it that dark in the pics without flash.

Since gta v came out, I have been playing it alot (400+ hours) and I am unhappy with the 94 celcius that my gpu hits after about 10 mins. That is why I bought an NZXT kraken G10 aio mounting kit for my 290. I just bought this in white last night for $27. I plan to fit my h110 to it, and when I get $10 get a hyper 212 evo or save up a little more for a Corsair h90 for my cpu cooling. Since I want to xfire, I will buy another G10 and h110 for my next 290 (after I get the new mobo).

Here is the parts list for what I plan to upgrade to. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DPQKD3

Thanks for reading and for your suggestions!

Fulgrim · July 6, 2015

That case is not known for it's airflow, mate. I'd suggest looking for one with greater airflow, to help with that R9 290. With that non-reference cooler you should have no issues with temps.

Corsair 540 is a good case for airflow.

Vivilacqua1 · July 6, 2015

That case is not known for it's airflow, mate. I'd suggest looking for one with greater airflow, to help with that R9 290. With that non-reference cooler you should have no issues with temps.

Corsair 540 is a good case for airflow.

I've got a kraken G10 coming soon wich I will use to hook up my h110 to and have it exhaust through the top (same place as it is now, exept for the gpu, not the cpu.) Although when I do get another 290 and shove another h110 onto it, It will be set as intake through the front of the case, which will raise temps for everything else...

EDIT- The XFX cooler is known for its shitness, although it is quite a bit quieter than the reference. My vrm hits 102c with this card, so I am thinking of buying some small heatsinks for them. Many people do that for this card.

Fulgrim · July 6, 2015

I've got a kraken G10 coming soon wich I will use to hook up my h110 to and have it exhaust through the top (same place as it is now, exept for the gpu, not the cpu.) Although when I do get another 290 and shove another h110 onto it, It will be set as intake through the front of the case, which will raise temps for everything else...

That case of yours has rather restricted airflow mate. Throwing AIO coolers at it isn't the best/cost effective solution to the problem tbh.

Vivilacqua1 · July 6, 2015

That case of yours has rather restricted airflow mate. Throwing AIO coolers at it isn't the best/cost effective solution to the problem tbh.

yah, but it's quiet and to me it looks super nice. I would rather have slightly hotter temps (not 94 on my gpu) and it be quiet than have the full force of fan noise directed at me with cool temps.

Vivilacqua1 · July 10, 2015

UPDATE 2- Got the Kraken G10 today, mounted it onto my gpu, and moved the H110 from my cpu to my gpu. Now running stock cooler on the 4790k (For now.) Idle temps went from 51 to 42 Celsius, and load temps went from 94 to 62 Celsius, A 30 C DROP! I feel that I could tighten it a bit more and get slightly better contact, but I am too lazy to do that now, maby When I get my motherboard