ShadowNoon
New member
Greetings! So, I'm not particularly experienced with this sort of thing but I figured I would put together a project log of (technically) my first full build.
To give a little backstory, I'm a graphic designer, I've had a Macbook Pro for about 5 years and an upgrade is long overdue
I chose to go with MATX mostly because I really like the look and form factor of Bitfenix's Phenom. I'm more comfortable with the general layout of Micro ATX as opposed to Mini ITX which is why I decided to go that way.
To be totally honest, going into this I knew it wouldn't be an easy build because of the form factor and it doesn't help that I don't really know what I'm doing. But, having said that, if I'm going to have troubles and it's a tricky build, my mistakes will probably be helpful for anyone wanting to build in this case.^_^
Rig Specs:
i5-4670K
Corsair H80i
Gigabyte H87M-D3H
Kingston V300 240GB SSD
EVGA GTX760 ACX
Kingston HyperX 2x4GB
Corsair CX500M
Bitfenix Phenom MATX
Extras:
Asus VN247H 23" LED monitor
Razer Deatherstalker Ultimate
Razer Naga 2014
Had a few shipping problems due to where I live so there are a couple of pictures I forgot to take, you'll have to forgive me
Had to buy a Samsung external disk drive so I could install my OS, I'll probably only use the damn thing once but it was pretty reasonably priced and the most convenient way of installing my OS for me
Had a bit of a goof here, at first I unscrewed the plastic that holds HDDs and I foolishly tried to slide it off and was confused when I realised it can't slide off.
I totally was not aware that you literally had to bend it off which I didn't think to do because man-handling it was the last thing on my mind.
Ended up threading one of the screws trying to get it off the second time so I ended up having to fold a piece of paper enough times so that I could put the SSD in and have it be pushed against the screw holes. Pain in my ass but it's what I get for being a dumbass :lol:
Very, very tempted to get another 240GB SSD but we'll see -hehe
Based on the fact I'll be gaming and doing graphic design, for the most part I believe the i5-4670K is going to just about do everything I need and there's always overclocking potential there if I want it.
First off, I put both fans up top as intakes and installed the PSU. I'm going to wait about a month before I get the GPU so for now the top fans are both intake and the H80i fans will both be exhaust. If anyone has any criticism, I'm open to it!
I'm terrible at taking pictures and I only have an iPhone 5c so I'm trying my best :lol:
A clean, straightforward motherboard, love how dark it is. It's Crossfire only and it's been a huge problem finding an AMD GPU that's good bang for my buck because of all the Litecoin miners out there which is partly why I haven't bought my GPU already, I'm still a little undecided. The GTX760 has roughly the price point and performance I want but I'd rather get an AMD equivalent so I could have the option for Crossfire in the future, any ideas?
More updates coming soon!
To give a little backstory, I'm a graphic designer, I've had a Macbook Pro for about 5 years and an upgrade is long overdue
I chose to go with MATX mostly because I really like the look and form factor of Bitfenix's Phenom. I'm more comfortable with the general layout of Micro ATX as opposed to Mini ITX which is why I decided to go that way.
To be totally honest, going into this I knew it wouldn't be an easy build because of the form factor and it doesn't help that I don't really know what I'm doing. But, having said that, if I'm going to have troubles and it's a tricky build, my mistakes will probably be helpful for anyone wanting to build in this case.^_^
Rig Specs:
i5-4670K
Corsair H80i
Gigabyte H87M-D3H
Kingston V300 240GB SSD
EVGA GTX760 ACX
Kingston HyperX 2x4GB
Corsair CX500M
Bitfenix Phenom MATX
Extras:
Asus VN247H 23" LED monitor
Razer Deatherstalker Ultimate
Razer Naga 2014
Had a few shipping problems due to where I live so there are a couple of pictures I forgot to take, you'll have to forgive me
Had to buy a Samsung external disk drive so I could install my OS, I'll probably only use the damn thing once but it was pretty reasonably priced and the most convenient way of installing my OS for me
Had a bit of a goof here, at first I unscrewed the plastic that holds HDDs and I foolishly tried to slide it off and was confused when I realised it can't slide off.
I totally was not aware that you literally had to bend it off which I didn't think to do because man-handling it was the last thing on my mind.
Ended up threading one of the screws trying to get it off the second time so I ended up having to fold a piece of paper enough times so that I could put the SSD in and have it be pushed against the screw holes. Pain in my ass but it's what I get for being a dumbass :lol:
Very, very tempted to get another 240GB SSD but we'll see -hehe
Based on the fact I'll be gaming and doing graphic design, for the most part I believe the i5-4670K is going to just about do everything I need and there's always overclocking potential there if I want it.
First off, I put both fans up top as intakes and installed the PSU. I'm going to wait about a month before I get the GPU so for now the top fans are both intake and the H80i fans will both be exhaust. If anyone has any criticism, I'm open to it!
I'm terrible at taking pictures and I only have an iPhone 5c so I'm trying my best :lol:
A clean, straightforward motherboard, love how dark it is. It's Crossfire only and it's been a huge problem finding an AMD GPU that's good bang for my buck because of all the Litecoin miners out there which is partly why I haven't bought my GPU already, I'm still a little undecided. The GTX760 has roughly the price point and performance I want but I'd rather get an AMD equivalent so I could have the option for Crossfire in the future, any ideas?
More updates coming soon!
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If you're going for positive pressure you can set the rear and bottom as intake - Much healthier airflow
