First Build, "THOR"

Posted by Cpsgames on Jan. 18, 2013, 9:19 p.m.

As the title suggests (and some have read from my Facebook post), I've finally built my own PC! After my old PC (really not that old, actually, from '08) died, I decided I wanted to build one rather than deal with another pre-built.

Pre-Build Plan

I did a lot of research from /r/BuildAPC and various other websites before building my parts list. I was on a budget, but figured I should spend more on the "core" functionality. I always wanted to get a full case just so I had lots of room for wire management, CrossFire (if I decide to in the future), and liquid cooling (depends on the previous, and if I decide to do a lot of overclocking). I eventually got this part list.

The Build

I had a friend come over to help assist me with the building, since he built one about 4 months ago, to make sure I didn't end up breaking something. We also both wore "grounding wrist band" things just to make sure we didn't accidentally static shock anything. I started taking pictures late, which I regret :(. Note: The video card in the pictures has been updated, as it was ooooooooooooooooold.

Yay!

Got the motherboard mounted with the RAM, CPU, and graphics card on it. PSU mounted, and various case wires hanging down.

Here I got the drives mounted, and the wires "somewhat" organized. There are 3 drives because my one from my old PC was thankfully working! I later spaced them out just to help with air flow and cooling.

Here's a picture of the wire management side. It wasn't the cleanest, but I managed to clean it up a bit more after this picture was taken.

The end result! I love the case. :3

Here's a picture of the LEDs. My phone's camera didn't do it very much justice. The front LED is a bit dimmer than I had hoped, but the top lights are great.

Post-Build

I named it THOR, mainly from what you see in the last picture. That was fun. Took us about 6 hours. I had a lot of issues getting some of the drivers to work at first, or even boot at all, but that ended up being the second hard drive I ordered being DOA (dead on arrival). I sent it back, and should get it back in the mail by next week. Sad, but it isn't a "required" part or anything, so I can still use my computer. I got to say I love the quick boot time :3.

That's that. Add me on Steam if you haven't yet "Sir Boner Hardalot, III" and maybe gift me a game to test my build? :)

Comments

flashback 11 years, 3 months ago

That's the same mobo I bought recently (and if that's an FX-8350, the same processor too). Good choice, from what I've experienced so far.

Cpsgames 11 years, 3 months ago

Yup, it is. Great processor. I do a lot of video & audio editing, development, and console emulation and it does fantastic for the price. I love the UEFI BIOS. Much more modern.

flashback 11 years, 3 months ago

My biggest problem with the processor is that DebugMode frameserver can't serve out frames fast enough to keep all eight cores busy, really. If I do an intermediate format, I can get fantastic performance for x264 encoding (using MeGUI).

Cpsgames 11 years, 3 months ago

Never used DebugMode frameserver, so I can't comment. :/ But that sucks.

aeron 11 years, 3 months ago

Looks awesome man, I'm jelly. That chassis handles the cables well, I wish mine was more like that. And holy piss that processor O_O

flashback 11 years, 3 months ago

Quote:
Never used DebugMode frameserver, so I can't comment. :/ But that sucks.
Oh, even with the bottleneck, it's totally worth it over my old processor (and Adobe's h264 encoder) - way smaller, higher quality files (in some cases dramatically smaller, especially with animation).

JuurianChi 11 years, 3 months ago

I like the structure of the case, it looks roomy.

Cpsgames 11 years, 3 months ago

Quote: aeron
And holy piss that processor O_O
It's nice. :3

@Juurian: I noticed that after I took the picture, hahaha. I have no idea what was even on TV right then, it was already on. :l

Alert Games 11 years, 3 months ago

awesome PC bro!

Moikle 11 years, 3 months ago

yup, that is the same case I used for my brother's friend's PC

only the PCI cover things had some strange latch mechanism which annoyed me so I removed it and just used good old screws