Qamra, a 'PayItForward' Build

[mb67]

Hello all, mb67 here, and first I want to apologize for this lengthy intro, but I wanted to share a project build I completed back in Feb.

 

I kind of need to explain a little background before I go forward with the thought process of this build: Last year a neighbor who knew that I was "One of those computer techie types" (His words) approached me with an old Dell Optiplex 780 and said that it doesn't work but if I could get it to work, I could have it. Well challenge accepted! It turns out that that it just had one 2GB RAM stick that was bad, a Core 2Duo processor, and an old-but-dead 80GB 5400 RPM HDD. I ordered 8GB of DDR3 RAM, used a spare 128GB SSD, and found a Core 2 Quad 9550 online for super cheap and got the system running for a grand total of $85. Since I really didn't need this system (My main rig is pretty stout) I found a local charity group that gives computers to kids of low-income families and gave it to them. I felt so good about doing that, that I decided to find out more about other charities and came across #payitforward. 

TL;DR - 'Fixer-upper' project turned into charitable work going forward.

This is where I come into 'Qamra', a project build that didn't start out the way it wound up. Originally, this was going to be a "slap a bunch of decent lower-end parts into a  case and give it away' build, but as things usually happen with me it morphed into a more involved and costly project for an artist friend of mine who was in need of a computer upgrade.

I live in Southern California so when Paul (from Paul's Hardware) & Kyle (from BitWit) announced their 'Swap Meet' back in November I decided to drive up there from my home in San Diego and see what I could find. I wound up buying Paul's Fractal Design Node 804 and was going to use that as a basis for the build. 
My one and only picture from the event-Jay (JayzTwoCents) talking to a squinting Paul while Kyle looks unsure of what's going on.

It was then that my artist friend asked for some computer advice and I found out that his 10 year old system was on it's last leg and he couldn't afford to get anything new, and the light bulb lit in my head that this 'pay-it-forward build' was going to be for him. 

'Qamra', a character that he created, is 'small but mighty' so that was going to be the theme for this build. 

I found out that the Node 804 wasn't going to work for his desk/setup situation so I decided to get the Corsair Carbide 88R Micro-ATX case, as it was small and also had a slot for an optical drive (requirement). Since I made that change, I decided to make other changes along the way.

Parts List:
Corsair Carbide 88R Micro ATX Case
Intel i5 6600K Processor
MSI Z170M Mortar mATX board
Cryorig H7 CPU Cooler
G. SKILL Ripjaw V DDR4 16GB Kit RAM (2 x 8GB )
Gigabyte GTX 1070 Mini GPU
LG Blu-Ray Burner
SanDisk Ultra II 250GB SSD
Toshiba 3TB HDD
Corsair AF 120 x 6 case fans
EVGA G3 550W PSU
CableMod custom cables
Custom made transfer decals of the artist's work

Whew, that got out of hand quickly

Anyway, since Qamra is the theme, I used her three main hair colors: Blue, Green, & Pink and expanded upon that. 

First thing was to paint the fan rings and intake vents blue, green & pink to try and color match the custom cables & decals:

Next is the CPU and H7 Cooler

I'll stop here for now, but more will be on the way soon.

[themctipers]

my pc has the same performance as that ..

 

is that an ide connector on the side?! an actual reason for me to upgrade my pc, ide.

[mb67]

1 minute ago, themctipers said:

my pc has the same performance as that ..

 

is that an ide connector on the side?! an actual reason for me to upgrade my pc, ide.

No IDE connectors for this build. His build was actually worse than the Core 2 Quad- it had the Core 2 Duo E8400.

[themctipers]

Just now, mb67 said:

No IDE connectors for this build. His build was actually worse than the Core 2 Quad- it had the Core 2 Duo E8400.

and im typing this on a core duo t5600.

 

i thought that was an IDE connector on the side, ive never seen that type of connector.. wonder what it is. upon closer inspection it's sata. never seen that style, it's always been on the motherboard facing the case panel for me.

[mb67]

Just now, themctipers said:

and im typing this on a core duo t5600.

 

i thought that was an IDE connector on the side, ive never seen that type of connector.. wonder what it is. upon closer inspection it's sata. never seen that style, it's always been on the motherboard facing the case panel for me.

Yes, the SATA ports are side loading on this motherboard.As I post further into the project I came to really like this mATX board. It OC's better than the MSI Z170 Gaming G45 that I have in my own build. (I might publish that one here too, but I'm nearing completion of my revamp build, and that's definitely going to be posted.)

[themctipers]

2 minutes ago, mb67 said:

Yes, the SATA ports are side loading on this motherboard.As I post further into the project I came to really like this mATX board. It OC's better than the MSI Z170 Gaming G45 that I have in my own build. (I might publish that one here too, but I'm nearing completion of my revamp build, and that's definitely going to be posted.)

im pretty sure overclocking has to do with your cpu mainly

[mb67]

Just now, themctipers said:

im pretty sure overclocking has to do with your cpu mainly

No matter what I did, I couldn't get my 6700K above 4.4GHz in the Gaming G45. I tested it in this 'Qamra' build just to make sure that the CPU wasn't bad; Sure enough, I was able to get 4.7GHz no problem. 

[themctipers]

Just now, mb67 said:

No matter what I did, I couldn't get my 6700K above 4.4GHz in the Gaming G45. I tested it in this 'Qamra' build just to make sure that the CPU wasn't bad; Sure enough, I was able to get 4.7GHz no problem. 

rip

 

im having voltage and thermal limits on my 3770k (im not pushing 1.38v for 4.5ghz no matter what. 1.27v for 4.4 is good enough lol)

[mb67]

1 minute ago, themctipers said:

rip

 

im having voltage and thermal limits on my 3770k (im not pushing 1.38v for 4.5ghz no matter what. 1.27v for 4.4 is good enough lol)

I now understand why Amazon had that greatly discounted price on the Gaming G45 board: Regularly $179, I got it for $90 new from Amazon. 

[mb67]

Okay, so once the paint dried and tape removed this is what the intake vents looked like:

Side note: I'm really new to modding and don't have the proper tools to get things done, and that's why I have to admit that it was more challenging to get the intake vents painted the way that they are than I had originally thought.  

 

A couple of shots of the fans installed

[mb67]

Hehehe, I even did the Blu-Ray Burner 

Mobo/CPU Cooler installed. Notice the G.SKILL RAM lettering is colorized too. 

[mb67]

OK, so at this point it's time to get the cabling in place on the board, but I ran into a snag: The case's USB 3.0 cable won't plug into the board header because the header is angled at 90 degrees, which conflicts with the thickness of the cable itself and the cutout in the case for cable pass-through. I'd have to either take a Dremel to the case cutout, get a different motherboard with a vertical 3.0 header, not use the cable at all, replace the cable with one more friendly, or use a low-profile USB 3.0 header extender cable, which is exactly what I did.

I ran into another problem: the label on the side of the PSU didn't want to come off so easily, but I eventually got it.

Everything started to look like it was coming together when I ran into my next couple of hurdles: First, the pre-drilled SSD mounts are configured to mount the SSD's on the backside of the case, and I didn't want it that way. The included SSD/HDD screws were too short, but luckily I had some leftover screws from my other builds and i was able to secure the SSD facing the interior side of the case. 

The next hurdle was my error in ordering the custom cables way too long in relation to the case layout/PSU location. There simply was way too much excess cabling that didn't have a place to stack neatly, and the case didn't nearly enough room on the backside to tuck them away. Also, the case cutout for the 8-pin EPS cable was impossible to route the cable through the backside of the case so I had to route it through the front side . Fortunately the top fans hide most of the cable from view. 

This picture also shows just how little room there is for cables to pass through the openings to the motherboard. Needless to say I wasn't liking the case very much at this point. 

I wasn't happy with the way the cables were routed so I tore it apart and redid them, only to get more frustrated with the too long cables & lack of space for pass through. I am glad that I went with the Gigabyte 1070 mini at this point, as I would have had a more difficult time getting the 8-pin PCI-E cable routed. I also had to remove the fan that I originally had on the backside of the CPU cooler - there simply wasn't enough room to work with it. 

She boots! I was just playing around with the BIOS getting the RAM to 3000MHz and the CPU to 4.4GHz in this photo, but I eventually was able to OC the CPU to 4.7GHz stable.

I was waiting on some more decals to arrive as the interior was looking a little sparse, so once they arrived The SSD and PSU got the decal treatment. Also, time became my enemy and I had to deliver the system to my friend. I wanted to go back and tidy up the cables a bit more to my liking, but I just ran out of time.I do like the colored anodized aluminum thumb screws for the HDD cage and side panels though.

Put together, she looks really nice. Overall I'm happy with the way it turned out, and my friend absolutely loves it, which makes this project a total success!

Comparison shot next to my main rig -