My 1st PC since "05

[Crash_Dummy]

I'll start with a little back story first, if you're interested, if not then just skip ahead.
I was a big pc gamer back in the day, pre PS3 era. I was so tired of switching between Nvidia and Radeon cards and trying to figure out which driver for each worked best with each game. Enter the PS3 and Xbox360. I gave up on pc. Now, I waited to buy the new PS4 and XBONE and a year after I decide to get them they start announcing new ones already. I decided that if I was gonna start spending so much again then I would rather do it on a pc and have fun with it. On a whim I bought an Alienware laptop at Best Buy and then got the Graphics Amp with a GTX 1080. All was good, but I got an itch, I tried to ignore it, but it just kept intensifying. I would watch videos on YouTube and see all these cool rigs and the parts that were used, I wanted one so bad, but I didn't have room to put one. Then one day I saw a case that was the size of a console and could house a full graphics card. After researching that I was about to pull the trigger with some skepticism. I was nervous about the cramped space for my first build. I also couldn't find a mini itx board with all of the options that I wanted, Bluetooth, WiFi, m.2, thunderbolt capabilities and so on. Enter the Node 605 by Fractal Design. I had a space next to my receiver that could fit an HTPC, which I never heard of until recently. It could fit everything I wanted and looked smooth too. I just wish I could see inside of it on a daily basis because I am truly proud of what I've accomplished my first time out. All I had ever done is add ram, change video cards and power supplies, and that was over 10 yrs ago.
Surprisingly I had very few issues. The first one being the thermal paste. I was just so nervous about applying to much or little from what i read either one was bad. It didn't give me problems but I must've watched 6 different videos before applying it. The next was installing the video card, the card wouldn't line up with the slot on the motherboard. It was only off a millimeter or 2 so I braced the front of the case with one hand and gently pulled on the rear then was able to slide it in place. The next issue was that I couldn't fit the hard drive cage in because it was hitting the power wires on top of the video card. I had to bend them right out of the connector. Then for cable management I crammed them all either between the front plate and hard drive cage or through the hard drive cage, which was no simple feat. After I had everything together it was time to hit the power button....then nothing. Turns out that I must've pulled out part of the 28pin connector from the power supply side, but for a time I was seriously panicked. No problems with the bios setup except that it didn't recognize my wireless mouse but it did the keyboard. Then I went to install windows. I got to where you have to click the terms agreement and since I didn't have a mouse I was screwed. So I had to run to Walmart down the street and bought an $8 mouse and all was well. I am using one 950 pro as a boot drive as well as any apps that I download. The second 950 pro I am using for games, mostly those prone to longer load times. The WD Black is for other games and pics/vids. I attached some pics I took along the way, let me know what you all think.  The ram is in the wrong spot on the pics.  I found out while looking in CPU-Z that it said I was in single channel mode and I have fixed that.  It made a pretty good change in my benchmarking scores and with frame rates in games.

Here's what I have inside:Intel 6700k O.C. 4.53ghz, 32 gb G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200 set at 3193, Asus Z170 Deluxe, 2 512 gb Samsung 950 Pro's, 1 3tb Western Digital Black, Noctua NH-D9L w/ an extra NF-A9 (needed after overclocking), NVIDIA GTX 1080 F.E. O.C.  2088mhz , ram O.C. to 10500, 3 120 mm Arctic F12 pwm 74 cfm intake fans, 2 80 mm Arctic F8 pwm 31 cfm exhaust fans.  Powered by a Corsair RM 850x gold full modular psu.  All stuffed inside a Fractal Design Node 605 and controlled by a Logitech K800 wireless keyboard and an MX Master Bluetooth mouse.  I originally only had the 3 120 mm fans (2 in/1 out) in there but after overclocking the temps on the cpu were nearing 85 during stress testing with Prime95, so I added the 2nd cpu fan and turned around the 120 mm exhaust to make it an intake and added the 2 80 mm exhaust fans.  What you can't see in any of the pics is that in the back right corner where the exhaust fans share a corner with an intake fan I put a shim from the corner of the case to the corner of the cpu cooler to guide the intake air directly at the cooler and to keep the cpu exhaust air headed outside of the case.  I didn't want the intake fan blowing the exhaust air towards my gpu. 

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• Haven't pulled the 2nd 950 pro out of my laptop yet but there is the expansion card for it.
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• There's the 2nd 950 Pro!
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• All settings fully maxed including hairworks
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