-
My 2009 Computer Build
I thought it might be useful to create a thread with plenty of piccys of my latest build. Hopefully it will be instructional for the uninitiated in building a desktop PC, and the experts can have a good giggle at my expense :D
Please ask any questions or post any observations or comments, we haven't had a "Delta" type thread in far too long!
First up, the component list:
- Antec Twelve Hundred case (without PSU)
- OCZ GameXtreme700 Watt PSU (I already had this sitting unused in its box for a couple of years, bought in anticipation of a server build that never happened). I'm a little concerned that it's a touch underpowered.
- Intel Core i7-920 (I was going to get the i7-950, but I read so many reviews about the 920 being a great overclocker I decided to go that route, saving a nice £210.
- Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P motherboard
- Corsair XMS3 12 GB matched set of 6 x 2GB sticks of DDR 3 PC1333 RAM
- Scythe Shikuren CPU cooler
- XFX GeForce GTX275, 896MB graphics card
- Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty sound card (I love the X-Fi, but I agonised over whether to spend the money on this, now that onboard sound is so good)
- Hauppauge twin tuner DVT tuner card
- 3 x 1TB Samsung SpinPoint hard drives + 1 x 1.5TB Samsung Ecogreen drive (this will be for Media Centre / Videos only).
- Samsung Lightscribe DVD burners
- Assorted IcyBox drive caddies
I've benchtested the PSU and assembled the CPU, cooler and RAM today. Pics will be posted tomorrow.
-
SuperSparks--What are the intended uses for this PC?
-
Jim, it's really just intended as a general-purpose workstation. I do a lot of virtualisation, which is why I went for so much RAM. Apart from that, I do all sorts really, Photoshop stuff, a bit of video editing, a bit of programming, etc. I'll use it as a media centre. I may even try a few games on it (I've been saying that on every build I've done so far :D ).
-
Benchtesting the PSU. It's not essential if you don't have a meter or PSU tester, but it's nice to know that it isn't dead before installing :)
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im...2009/10/42.jpg
-
-
-
-
The CPU cooler installed:
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im...2009/10/35.jpg
Note that it is sometimes necessary to install RAM first, as some coolers interfere with some of the slots.
-
-
-
You sure are right about RAM sometimes needing to be put in before the Heatsink. I have a CoolerMaster Gemin II w/2 x 120mm Thermaltake Thunderblade Fans (w/green LED) on my #2 Desktop Computer that not only cool the CPU but also cool the RAM. This Heatsink is huge and covers all 4 RAM Slots. This is the biggest Heatsink that I've ever seen! I have this heatsink in a SuperFlower Mid-Tower Case and it's a really tight fit.
No, the 120mm fans aren't attached to the window. Can you see the RAM, didn't think so! There are 4 x 1gb sticks of G.Skill DDR2 800 PC2 6400. The Heat Spreaders are either Blue, Red or Black on the RAM, I can't remember which! The reason I can't remember is that my last 4 desktop builds have been with G.Skill RAM. I recently upgraded the RAM in our 4 laptops with G.Skill RAM too! Here's the pic:
http://pics.apartment808.com/users/b...mwheatsink.jpg
I didn't take pictures like SuperSparks while building any of my computers but here are the specs for my last build March-April 2009:
COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case w/4 x 120mm Case Fans - 1 Bottom Intake Fan**2 Top Exhaust**1 Rear Exhaust - 2 Intake Filters on the bottom of the case
Enermax Revolution 1050w Power Supply Unit 6/+12V @30a Modular Cabling
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition @ 3.0 Ghz Quad-Core Processor
Asus M4A79 Deluxe Motherboard
Zalman 9700NT HeatSink & Fan (Green LED)
4 x 2gb G. Skill DDR2 1066 PC2 8500 5-5-5-15 RAM 8gb Total RAM
2 x 1tb Seagate SATA 7200rpm 32mb Cache Hard Drives 2tb Total Hard Drive Space
2 x Lite-On 22x SATA DVD-RW w/smarterase & lightscribe22x DVD Burner
Rosewill 74 in 1 Card Reader
XFX nVidia GeForce 285GTX 1gb Video Card
26" Westinghouse Widescreen LCD Monitor L2610NW
Logitech MX5500 Keyboard/Mouse Combo - Bluetooth
Logitech z-640 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers
Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Microsoft Office 2007 Professional
Brother MFC-9440cn Color Laser AIO
Brother MFC-845cw Inkjet AIO
Brother QL-570 Label Printer
-
Nice rig Bugspop :) :) You are certainly not kidding about the size of the cooler :D
I like the chrome cable shrouds, did they come with the PSU or did you add them separately?
-
Nice rig there, SuperSparks...good choices. When the i7s came out, it was all over the web that the 920 was the way to go...cheaper and could oc up to 965 speed. Why pay more?
Would be interested in seeing Real Temp readings on the cpu temps.
-
Yes indeedy, will post on how I get on with overclockingm and temps and stuff :)
Now for more pics - here is the case in the nude:
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im...2009/10/30.jpg
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im...2009/10/31.jpg
-
-
-
SuperSparks,
I think what you see is the Split Wire Loom at the bottom of the case. When I first got that case I had all of the wires put inside that stuff. Can't remember where I got the idea at, but over time and 4 computers later I have basically all of the wire loom taken out (but not all of it). I bought the Wire Loom at a place called D & B Sales here in town. They sell Car Stereo stuff and all knids of tools (hand and power). They had 3-5 different sizes 1", 3/4", 1/2", 1/4" & 1/8". It's really a PITA when you change the motherboard, processor, heatsink and PSU which I did 3 or 4 times with this case.
BTW, don't know if I said anything, but your rig looks great too! That case looks huge! I stepped up from the mid-tower in the pic to a CoolerMaster full-tower. I love the full-tower as for the room. Both cases have some very nice features. The CoolerMaster has 6 or 8 slide out Hard Drive caddies that have rubber gromets to keep down the vibration. Then the 5 1/4" bays have a button on the side, push it and the CD\DVD ROM slides out. This case is almost next to silent and very well constructed. The case is awesome but I don't think it's as big as yours!
Here is a link for the case as I don't have any pictures:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119138
-
Antec and select specs Dimensions 20.20" x 8.40" x 22.90"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129043
Yours.
Dimensions 24.72'' x 10.5'' x 23.54''
Interesting difference, but when cramming extra drives in. . . .
-
I would have never thought that my case was bigger than his case. I think that they uncluded the Exterior Rails in the Height & Width Measurments. If you take those away the sizes might be about the same. But from SuperSparks pics I would have sworn his case was bigger. Guess it's all in the way they arrange the interiors of the cases. I really like the features in the case I purchased and would never change my decision. I felt the same way with my last case and it lasted through 4 computers before I grew tired of it. Both cases cost me 2 bills so you can bet I'll make them last for a long time to come. It might be another 4-5 years before I purchase another case unless this one somehow breaks. BTW, I still have my SuperFlower Mid-Tower for my #2 computer. My #3 desktop computer has the old style Beige Full-Tower Case.
It is loaded with:
Antec Neo HE 500w Power Supply Unit Modular Cabling
AMD Opteron 170 2.0 GHz Dual-Core Processor
Asus A8N-e Deluxe Motherboard
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 HeatSink Fan
2 x 1 GB G.Skill DDR 500 PC 4000 RAM
Seagate 2 x 120 GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drives
Seagate 80 GB 7200rpm ATA Hard Drive
XFX nVidia GeForce 7800GT w/Arctic Cooling Silencer5 Video Card
LG DVD-ROM DRD8160B ATA 16X DVD-ROM
Lite-On 18x DVDRW SHW-160P6S ATA 18x DVD Burner
Leadtek TV2000XP RM PCI Tuner Card
Logitech x-530 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers
Logitech MX700 Keyboard/Mouse Combo
DCLCD DCL20A 20.1" Widescreen (Sceptre) LCD Monitor
Windows XP Pro 32-bit
Microsoft Office 2000 Professional
-
Great thread Nick.
Is the PSU at the bottom of the case or do you have it upside down?
-
I know full towers take up more room, but the extra versatility you get is well worth it. The Antec case on my AMD X2 rig, which is being passed onto Mrs SS, dates from 2003 and is on it's third set of innards now :)
Uri, the PSU does go in the bottom, and I think I prefer it there. I'm finding it a lot easier to keep the cables tidy in this build, which is in part due to the PSU position, and in part due to the case's excellent cable management design.
-
-
-
Because then I can fire it up for the first time, to make sure there are no major problems. It's better than getting to the end only to find that it won't run and then having to start disconnecting things in order to troubleshoot. Plus you get the really nerve racking bit over sooner :D
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im...2009/10/24.jpg
-
Always a good step to do before finishing the build and finding out it won't post.
My #3 computer is in a Full-Tower Case with the PSU in the Top Section. For some reason it's not at the top, it's about 4-5" down from the top. IMO this was a huge waste of space. Guess people didn't think about conserving space 10 years ago when this case was made.
My CoolerMaster Full-Tower is like your Antec Case and has the PSU All the way at the bottom of the case. I think that I really like it there too for the same reason.
As for the cable management I've also been using the in my last 3 builds a PSU with Modular Cabling. You only need to plug in to the PSU the wires your system will need to operate. If down the road you need another power connection you only need to plug in another cable. I absolutly love these PSU's. #1 computer has a Enermax Revolution+ 1050w, #2 Computer has a Thermaltake ToughPower 700w and #3 computer has a Antec NEO HE 500w.
Of course the Enermax is the best of them all but it came with a really nice price tag too!
-
I like those modular power supplies too. Having said that, I find with nearly every on of my builds, that I end up using virtually all the plugs in any case, so there is no real benefit to getting a modular. On this build I've ended up with one Molex and two floppy connectors spare :D
-
Guess if I would have looked I see that you have numerous Hard drives and at least SLi or Crossfire. That would take up quite a few more cables.
I usually only have 2 hard drives, 2 optical drives and 1 video card, sometimes a floppy or a Card Reader. But I have been known to add more than that from time to time. If I was a gamer I would probably go with SLi or Crossfire but I really suck at games.
-
I love this thread :D
Now I might not be afraid to add a stick of ram or two myself :D
-
I certainly hope it does encourage you, and others, to do something like that. In actual fact that is how I started down the road of building my own 'puters - adding a single stick of RAM :D
Here's the next batch of pics, starting with putting drives in the drive cage:
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im...2009/10/22.jpg
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im...2009/10/23.jpg
-
And adding a drive to a trayed caddy. I should explain my plan regarding drives at this juncture; The two internal drives in the cage will be for data, and the drive in the caddy will be for Windows. My thinking behind this, is that should I ever wish to run it as a Linux box Or any other OS), I can just slap different caddy tray with another drive in it, and I won't need to mess around with complex boot menus and hidden partitions, etc. I've also added two trayless caddies, one for media drive that can store TV recordings, videos, etc. When it fills up, I can easily just put in another HD. The other trayless caddy is empty, nd can be used as a quick and easy way of reading data from any other HD without having to mess aroun with cables.
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/im...2009/10/21.jpg
-
-
I really wish I had taken pictures of the step by step when I put one together. There is too much Excitement & Adrenaline with me wanting to get it up and going. I then don't take the time to Take Pictures.
It looks like a great plan with your hard drives. I have to keep it simple around here. If I did a setup like yours I would confuse my wife. She has trouble downloading something and knowing where she downloaded it to. If I stored on a different drive she'd never get it. So I keep it simple. She even has trouble installing software sometimes, but it's not as bad as the downloads.
-
Well with 6 hdds, folks do get lost with my rig.
But naming them sure helps me out a lot.
-
I've used caddies for years. Can't remember the last time I mounted a hard drive internally. I use two of them and run the top cable to IDE 1 and the botrtom cable to IDE 2 (or SATA 1 & 2). I use a convention where the top drive is the Master drive and the bottom drive is the Slave. I then put my operating systems on there own Master drive and pop them in as wanted. Complete isolation is wonderful. I keep one large drive jumpered as Slave and pop that in the bottom to do Image backups of all systems when desired, then remove it and store it---it doesn't sit inside running all the time putting wear and tear on it. Critical files and pictures I keep backed up on CD or DVD also. I keep a couple of spare drives in caddies for experimenting with OS's and other odds and ends. I find this method very flexible and convenient. Always build a new system this way.
-
That's good to hear that it works well for other folks. I've got an extra caddy that I'm going to install in my Core 2 rig, which is going to be my secondary PC, then I can swap drives between them if needs be - transferring Media Centre files can be a pain even over a gigabit LAN.
Mrs SS has just got my old AMD X2 rig to replace her ageing Dell. It's in an entirely different league to what she has had before (and has Vista instead of XP), so I've got some teaching to do, and she's got some learning. At least I've been able to set it to back up her docs, so I won't have to spend hours trying to recover disappeared Word documents that are needed urgently for her university course, like I did the other day :rolleyes:
-
I think I may just add 1 of those to my computer and store our photos on it. I do back them up on DVD but it would be nice to have 1 drive just for that purpose. Right now we have 4 desktops and 4 laptops and photos on all of them. I could share photos from 7 of the computers and then I can move them to the caddied drive at my convience.
Like I said, my wife is the main problem around here. My daughter isn't much better than the wife. If I could get them to save things where they are supposed to be saved it would be easy, but since they don't it's not! Think I'll give the caddie idea a go in one of my open bays.
BTW, Are there any specific caddies that are better than others? What type do you use and why?
-
I think they are probably much of a muchness really, there is very little to them, especially the trayless SATA ones. I like IcyBox because of the build quality - they also claim a minimum of 50,000 drive insertions before you wear the contacts out, which should be enough :D
These are the trayless ones:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/IcyBo...D-Black-Colour
And these are the trayed ones:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Icybo...uminum-Plastic
-
bugspop1--I don't know where you're located but here in the US I've always used Kingwin and have never had a problem with them.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&searchbtn.y=0
-
-
