The Build Saga: Part Fifteen.

We are officially on the home stretch. The PC is assembled. All major parts and pieces are inside. I will have picture very soon. The case still needs a little lovin' and I'd like to put in my non-crucial media player before I snap pics. I've also got another fan to install. Turns out that the sweet 230mm fan that people were raving over and swearing fit into this case... does not. I have a $20 huge white fan that I have no use for. Who the fuck is going to need a 230mm white case fan? FUCK! I ordered another 200mm, same as what I got to go with the one that was already in the case. It will mount just fine, just so long as it has clearance with the video card. The video card looks like it MIGHT cause me some trouble, but we'll have to see.

 My shopping list is pretty small now. Picking up some Noctuas to replace the fans in the case. Grabbing a Blu Ray player because I fucking want one. Getting the 200mm NZXT case fan just so that I've got something on the side. After that we are done. Complete!

 I've got a couple of monitors and a mount ordered. I decided to go with the ASUS VS239H-P monitor, twice over. 23 inches, matte-like screen, VESA compatible, black on the bezel, IPS and competitively priced. The mount seems pretty standard. It's made by Tyke. It has some pretty good reviews, is not insanely expensively and looks easy to use. I actually watched some YouTube videos about the mount, because I wanted to see what I was in for. It looks pretty good. I'm excited to get the monitors and get them attached. Again, pictures are coming soon. I will have complete pics of the PC, as well as some shots of my desk and my monitors.

 Since I've got everything together, I figured that I would run some benchmarks. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but without overclocking I can say that I am very pleased compared to my old rig.

Used the defaults for 3DMark, not sure if I can even use anything else.  In the top 25% seems pretty good.

Heaven kind of hurt my feelings.  I was expecting to be closer to the 60 FPS mark.  I'll take it, though.  Maybe with some overclocking I can hit that mark.  I ran this test at Ultra Quality, Extreme Tesselation, 1920x1080 fullscreen at 8xAA.  It was unforgiving.

I've never run Valley before.  My first experience wasn't so bad.  I thought the benchmark itself was gorgeous.  Even though I tried to ignore it, all of the colors and outdoor landscape sucked me in.  I maxed out the settings here, too.  1920x1080 fullscreen with 8xAA with Extreme HD Preset.  I pushed it pretty hard.

The Build Saga: Part Fourteen

Oh video card, where art thou?! I've got my new PC pieced together. I've got Windows on the SSD. I've started installing certain games to the other SSD. I've got Steam setup. I just need one... final... piece. The video card. I ordered it quite a while ago. It packed up and was out the door quickly, but then got stalled. After sitting for almost two weeks (8 business days) I decided to shoot an email out and see what the hold up was. Well, turns out they gave me a shitty tracking number. Not that it wasn't sitting there, but it was one of those hand-off deals and one of the carriers just hadn't updated correctly. It was still sitting in the same shithole, just with incorrect info. That info made the tracking looking scarier than it needed to. It was corrected and has now, amazingly, nearly landed at my door. I really look forward to getting this beast in. I plan to go and check out monitors OR do some interweb shopping for them here very soon. Woo! I am going to have to buy a new keyboard. It is official. My Thermaltake MEKA G1 is dead. I thought I had already killed it, but I fired it up and it worked to my shock and surprise. I got a few more months out of it, but I am now on a garbaged-out, beaten and used Logitech domed key keyboard. =X I want to make a switch to Browns, I think. I really liked black, but having to bang on my keyboard to get something out of it kind of sucked. I haven't looked at Thermaltake's latest offering, but I think I am going to look around this time. That worst part? I was just telling someone at work how fucking awesome the MEKA G1 was. It was the best keyboard I've ever had, for sure. I've got a couple of fans and a media drive to pick up, but nothing major. I should have the majority of the rig setup very soon. I should have my "battlestation" updated with new monitors and a proper keyboard in the near future. It's hard to motivate yourself to spend 100+ dollars on a keyboard when you are gonna get MAYBE 8 hours a week to even use it. I'll wait until I've got some days off before I go down that road. I can't wait to get my new monitors and get them setup. I will be handing my old monitor over to my wife. She has an old school 17 inch CRT display that will land in a closet or a dumpster. She will probably be happy with this nice, big 23 inch Samsung beast that I've got now. I really wanna setup my desk with a multi-monitor mount and do this right! Pretty stoked about it.

The Build Saga: Part Thirteen

The video card has been ordered.

PCPartPicker part list

To be ordered
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 PWM 120mm  Fan
Case Fan: 3 x Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 140mm  Fan
Optical Drive: Asus Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer
Monitor: 2 xAcer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($149.99 @ NCIX US)

Ordered
Logitech G500 Laser Mouse
Thermaltake Meka G1 Keyboard
Windows 8 Professional (64-bit)
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
Gelid GC-Extreme
ASRock Z87 Fatal1ty Killer Motherboard
Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
Corsair H100i Liquid CPU Cooler
Kingston Blu Red 2x8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast (White/Red) ATX Case
NZXT FS-200RB Red LED Case Fan
Antec HCG-750M 750W Semi-modular Power Supply
BitFenix Spectre Pro 230mm Fan
Intel Core i5-4670K Processor
ASUS DirectCUII nVidia GeForce GTX 780

We are getting very close to the end.  I am still debating about the monitors, but this is my choice as of right now.  I am still trying to decide if I want one larger (27 inch) monitor or two smaller (23 - 24 inch) monitors.  Either way I will probably pick up a new display and give my wife my old one.  She will be excited, I hope.  She just inherited my Phenom II 955BE with 8 gigs of RAM and a Radeon HD6870.  I will probably need to get her a new drive.  Her drive is 160GB and very loud and very old.  I think a 250GB SSD may be in her future...

I am very excited to get to the end of this process.  I have assembled most of my parts, but I have yet to really take an enthusiast approach with it.  I have not setup my SSDs to be optimized.  I have no fooled with Corsair LINK.  I have no overclocked or adjust anything (other than my RAM which was surprisingly easy).  I look forward to next month when I will get the chance to take a break and really fool with all of my new toys.  It will also be just in time to give my wife a special birthday and HOPEFULLY get into a shift that allows me to see my family.  As much as I love my new PC, I'd love to spend some time with my family, too.

I am really thankful that my brother came over and hung out with me while I put all of this stuff together and helped out A LOT.  I get a little anxious about things like this when I build for myself.  I mean REAL anxiety, here.  He will be bringing by a nice camera to take some pictures soon, once we get it all finished.  We wanted to get some build video, but did not.  We might still take some, but it won't be progressive.  I also ordered some case badges for about 6 bucks to fix in the color scheme that will really put the finishing touches on it, I hope to get a chance to show those off on this new rig, too.

The Build Saga: Part Twelve

I know that it has been a while.  I disappeared while the majority of my packages shipped.

Almost everything has arrived.  The Blu Ray player, some replacement fans, a video card and some monitors (if I choose to get them) are all that is left.  The Blu Ray player will probably be the cheapest one I can find, since I will use it sparingly.  The replacement fans will all be Noctua.  I am getting the ASUS DirectCUII GTX 780.  I have looked at a few different monitors, but it looks like I will either be picking up a couple of Acer 23" monitors (H236HL BID), a couple of ASUS 23" monitors (VS239H-P), or a nice 27" monitor (
ASUS VE278H or maybe an IPS/PLS).  

My brother and I got together and put the PC together.  We didn't get any pics of the build, because we forgot the camera.  We had to rush to get it put together.  We got a late start and then had to finish up early.  Being responsible isn't always fun and doesn't always support your hobbies.  A dad's work is never done.  We will snap a few pics once the entire process is complete.

The board is in, but no major cable management has been attempted.  The H100i is in and mounted and seems to be working fine.  I haven't had a chance to punish it or overclock it, yet.  The RAM worked almost perfectly.  It showed up as CAS9 1333, but switched easily to the XMP profile of CAS10 1600.  The SSD drives are silent and very fast.  It is quite an enjoyable experience.  I am using the onboard video, but haven't done much more than setup Windows and browse, honestly.  I am still a little paranoid about the SSD.  I've felt a couple of stutters or pauses as I go to open a program and I can't tell if it's a hard drive thing or a CPU thing or if I am just imagining it.  I was kind of expecting instant access. =P

The video card should be here by NEXT weekend, so that is a bummer.  Won't have much more to provide, other than maybe some pictures, until then.

The Build Saga: Part Eleven

We are now official in the double-digits.  Wow.

This is where we currently are:

2 x Noctua NF-F12 PWM 120mm  Fan (~$50)
3 x Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan (~$65)
Noctua NF-A14 FLX 140mm  Fan (~$23)
Asus Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (~$60)
Samsung SyncMaster 2333SW 23" Monitor (Purchased)
Logitech G500 Laser Mouse (Purchased)
Thermaltake Meka G1 Keyboard (Purchased)
Windows 8 Professional (64-bit) (Purchased)
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (Purchased)
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB (Purchased)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium (Purchased)
Gelid GC-Extreme (Purchased)
ASRock Z87 Fatal1ty Killer Motherboard (Purchased)
Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD (Purchased)
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD (Purchased)
Corsair H100i Liquid CPU Cooler (Purchased)
Kingston Blu Red 2x8GB DDR3 1600 RAM (Purchased)
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast (White/Red) ATX Case (Purchased)
NZXT FS-200RB Red LED Case Fan (Purchased)
Antec HCG-750M 750W Semi-modular Power Supply (Purchased)
BitFenix Spectre Pro 230mm Fan (Purchased)
Intel Core i5-4670K Processor (Purchased)

We are waiting for packages to arrive.  All I have left are replacement case fans, a Blu Ray drive and some cables if we need them for hooking this all up.  Oh, yeah... I'm still missing a VIDEO CARD!

The AMD cards are still impossible to come by for any kind of reasonable price.  the 30-60% mark up still exists for everything that is available.  I am still mulling over my choice for a GTX 770 or GTX 780.  I've had some of my parts for almost a month now.  I am itching to get it all put together.  I know that I can use my HD 6870 until I get a card, but I know that I'll yearn for a card the whole time.  Most of my games will perform the same, since I'll be reusing the card.  The SSD and better CPU should help a little.

I have enlisted the help of my brother to take some photos and videos of the build process.  I want to document it so that I can put it up.  I'll post a link to a gallery here.  Put it on imgur.  Get it up on Reddit.  And... put it up on the website that I am going to work on this year.  With my brother and a couple of friends I plan to tackle a bit of webpwning.  I've registered a domain, got hosting, got some people on board and I am wanting to unveil my PC build there.  Woo!

I can't wait to wrap this project up and get down to some gaming!

The Build Saga: Part Ten

Phase One complete?

I've received the motherboard, CPU, RAM and SSDs.    I've knocked out some of the key components.  I have plenty of other parts and pieces to collect.  I've gone over my future choices over and over again and I think I want to make some changes.  The more I consider the changes, the more I wonder why I want to make them.  There is a reason why so many builds are so similar, because it just works.  A lot of people have the same component list because those are the ones that are the best and they know they are reliable.

Next on the list is the case, PSU, another stick of RAM and a CPU cooler.  The NZXT Phantom in White with black and red accents should look great!  I'll be picking up an NZXT HALE82 700w PSU, too.  I've never used or owned an NZXT case or PSU.  I am hoping that they are both satisfactory.  Both products seem to have overall positive reviews and no glaring defects that drive me away from them.  I am hoping these unique products and their design can shake up my boring black and blue LED'd monolithic case theme that I've had for nearly a decade.  I need to grab another stick of RAM, because I'm a big, dumb idiot.

The cooler is something that I am still very concerned about.  I've never done water cooling.  I've always wanted to, but never had the patience or money.  Over the last 5 or so years a lot has changed and AIO CLCs (all-in-one closed-loop cooler) have become very popular.  They are also rather easy.  I am quite smitten with one in particular, the Corsair H100i.  I hear the Link software blows and people constantly say that the gargantuan air coolers are better.  I don't really want a huge slab of metal hanging off of my motherboard anymore, I'd like to try something different.

I'm really trying to move outside of my comfort zone here.  I'm proud of my component list, but I've been at this so long I feel like I need to really give new stuff a try.  I'm trying new things and new brands.  I'm hoping the experience is good...

Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB DDR3-1600
Case: NZXT Phantom (White/Red) ATX Full Tower Case
Thermal Compound: Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme
Power Supply: NZXT HALE82 700W Fully-Modular Power Supply
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i Liquid CPU Cooler
Total: ~ $550

Once we are done with that, I will need to pick up case fans, a Blu-Ray reader, and... a video card.  Hopefully we have more choices for video cards by the time we get around to that!  I have ranked my video cards as follows ASUS > MSI > Gigabyte > EVGA/XFX, this is for both AMD and nVidia.  The ASUS cooling solution is very good.  The quality and craftsmanship of the MSI cards (Twin Frozr) are excellent.  Gigabyte's Windforce is very good, but can get pretty loud, too.  EVGA and XFX have warranties that prove that they stand behind their products... and if they don't you can at least get another one with relative ease.

Case Fan: BitFenix Spectre Pro 230mm  Fan
Case Fan: NZXT FS-200RB-RLED 200mm  Fan
Case Fan: 2 x Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 140mm  Fan
Optical Drive: Asus Blu-Ray Reader/DVD/CD Writer
Total: ~ $175

Video Card: UNKNOWN!
Total: ~ $325 - $550

The Build Saga: Part Nine

With orders placed and other getting ready to be placed, I feel like I can finally now down what this build will contain.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer
Memory: 2 x Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" SSD
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" SSD
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
Case: NZXT Phantom (White/Red) ATX Full Tower Case
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm  Fan
Power Supply: NZXT HALE82 700W Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (64-bit)
Keyboard: Thermaltake eSPORTS Meka G1 Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech G500 Wired Laser Mouse
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2333SW

I did some looking and I decided on this case.  The NZXT Phantom.  It has some very nice features and THIS one looks amazing.  I may have to do some modifying to get a 200/230mm fan in the side, but I'm okay with that.  It has a built-in fan controller and plenty of space.  It is easier to find than the Azza 9000, too.  Both cases are great.  I'm trying to break out and try some different things.  I've been doing black cases with windows and blue lights for a pretty long time now.  I need a change.

I'm going to throw in some Noctua fans to make everything flow the right way.  I might even toss a couple on my heatsink eventually.  I'm not a huge fan of Kingston, but I'll give their RAM a shot since I wasn't able to cancel more order and I'm getting some anyway.  LAWLZ.

I've been looking into some case badges, because I'd like to keep with the theme here.  Hoping to find some correctly color coded badges for the case.  I'm totally getting a Jumpman (Jordan) logo for this beast, too.  CPU showed up today, the motherboard, RAM and CPU cooler should be here by the end of the week to meet and greet with the hard drives.  I am excite.