Obsidian Build (Corsair 250D)

[JazmaN]

Hi Guys. I've decided to work on a brand new project. In the past my projects have been upgrades of my main rig with new components or moving into a new case or upgrades of my old spare rig in the same way.

Anyway this time I've decided to do my first proper build of a brand new rig starting from scratch. It's by no means the first time i've build a computer but it is the first time i've started from scratch with every single component.

My initial Idea was that I wanted to build a small but fairly powerful gaming rig that doesn't take up too much room but can still hopefully perform well. After looking around for a little bit I decided to build into a Corsair Obsidian 250D Mini-ITX case with a Red/Black Color Scheme.

Specifications:

• Case: Corsair Obsidian 250D Mini-ITX
• Motherboard: MSI Z97I GAMING AC Mini-ITX
• CPU: Intel Quad Core i5 4570 @ 3.20GHz
• Memory: 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Kingston HyperX Fury, Red Edition
• PSU: Corsair RM 750W Fully Modular
• Graphics: MSI GTX 750 Ti Twin Frozr 2GB OC Edition
• HDD: Western Digital 1TB 3.5" SATA-III Caviar Green

Cooling:
The Cooling I'm not too sure about yet, The case comes with 2 stock Corsair fans which are okay, you'll see in the images that they are grey. I'm still trying to decide which fans to get and whether or not to find Black one or Red ones.

As for the CPU cooling I'm not sure about that Either. There is room to fit a rad so liquid cooling is an option. Any suggestions / Advice about either of the two above would be very welcome.

Cabling:
The PSU comes with a stock black cable kit. It's not braided and the sleeves are plastic and stuck together which I don't like that much. while I wait for cable kits to come back in stock I'm trying to decide between a Red cable kit or a black Cable kit. Again any suggestions are welcome.

I have ordered and received most of the components so here are some pictures to start off with

Some of the components Arrived First:

Corsair 250D Mini-ITX Case:

MSI GTX750 Ti Twin Frozr OC edition

MSI Z97I GAMING AC

I was slightly Disappointed with the Cable kit that comes with the PSU because its just plastic and rubbery and looks like it'd make cable tidying a bit difficult.

I was also disappointed with the Graphics card because the Bessel that covers the heat sync is made of plastic which I think is a slight let down. I previously had a GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr and this was made of metal which I preferred. Also this card doesn't require an 8-Pin power supply as it draws its power directly from the motherboard, which confused me to start off with as I've never had a Graphics card that doesn't need a power supply.

So all I'm waiting on is to decide on the cooling and what color cable kit to go with then I'll be on track to complete the project. As usual any feedback / suggestions is welcome and I hope people Enjoy

 

[MadShadow]

Looks like a solid, little rig, you have there. There is one big thing that stands out to me, and that is the stock cpu cooling... Why?
Also go for a WD blue, as opposed to green. Greens are way too slow, and are not really even meant as primary storage drives.

 

[JazmaN]

Looks like a solid, little rig, you have there. There is one big thing that stands out to me, and that is the stock cpu cooling... Why?

I have said in my post above, I am not sure about the cooling yet and still trying to decide on it and have asked for suggestions

 

[MadShadow]

I have said in my post above, I am not sure about the cooling yet and still trying to decide on it and have asked for suggestions

Oh, sorry, I must have missed that . I would recommend something like an H75, or even H100i.

 

[JazmaN]

Oh, sorry, I must have missed that . I would recommend something like an H75, or even H100i.

Thanks, I think I'll have a look at them I'm stuck with the Caviar green HDD for the time being. Will be uploading some more pics shortly

 

[JazmaN]

I've done a tiny bit of work on it so far. Unfortunately the braided cables I need wont be back in stock until mid July so that's slowing me down I've decided on a cooler, I went with MaddenShadow's suggestion of the Corsair h100i.

I've done some basic fitting just to see how it looks in the case etc. So I've fitted the Motherboard, PSU and HDD

Power Supply -

Fitted into the case

I/O plate and Rear of case so far

They fit quite well In my opinion. Tomorrow I'll probably post another update, I'l be fitting the CPU with the stock cooler and the Memory just to see how it looks and test if it works.

I've decided to swap out the front fan with a 140mm Red LED fan. Wondering if I should keep the fans that came with the Radiator or install Red LED fans onto that as well, although Im not entirely sure if there's any point in that. As usual opinions and feedback are welcome

 

[Svnder]

I'm very curious to hear if you run into any issues with the main power cable interfering with the H100i fans, given the odd, top-side location of the 24-pin connector on this motherboard, which forces the cable to be plugged in up against the H100i. I'm very interested in this motherboard, but I want to know if the configuration works out, as I already picked up the H100i.

 

[JazmaN]

I'm very curious to hear if you run into any issues with the main power cable interfering with the H100i fans, given the odd, top-side location of the 24-pin connector on this motherboard, which forces the cable to be plugged in up against the H100i. I'm very interested in this motherboard, but I want to know if the configuration works out, as I already picked up the H100i.

That's a very good point, I completely didn't think about that. I know that it would be a tight fit and there wouldn't be much room between the fans and the motherboard but forgot about the cables... So I've done a quick fit of the Radiator for the H100i to see how it fits... see below and let me know your thoughts.

It fits but it's very tight and you'd struggle to unplug that cable without taking the radiator off once its clipped in. The wires themselves don't actually knock against the fans so it's okay there just got to be careful. Also you can only position the radiator with the tubes at the back of the case because the front fan gets in the way. Even then its a tight fit for the tubes .

Mistake number 1... Now im trying to decide if i should return the cooler

 

[JazmaN]

I decided not to return the cooler and have improvised instead,I'll show more of this in a later post. I haven't really been able to do much with this build lately because I'm waiting on the cables to arrive, they should hopefully arrive some time this week as they have been made and shipped.

Decided to fit the GPU to see how it looks / fits.

IT fits nice and snug. With this GPU I have the plus side that it draws power directly from the motherboard so I don't need to worry about routing a cable to it.

Once the cables arrive I'll have more updates and pictures. I plan to fit the Radiator and pump properly and test to see if everything is Okay

 

[JazmaN]

Another Short Update. My Custom cables arrived. I ordered a 24-pin cable, Sata Power cable and am still waiting on the 8-pin CPU power cable.

I've decided to go ahead and fit the CPU Cooler / Radiator and the two cables I have

The 24 Pin could have been a bit shorter but too late now

another angle

I've also routed some of the cabling under in the space underneath the radiator, above the hard drive cage to better hide them. Once the Side is back on you wont be able to see them

I decided to have the radiator fans so that they are pulling air into the system instead of pushing it out, this also helps to stop the cables being hit by the fan blades

Another update soon hopefully

 

[RickPlaysWarr]

Another Short Update. My Custom cables arrived. I ordered a 24-pin cable, Sata Power cable and am still waiting on the 8-pin CPU power cable.

I noticed the same thing, had to make my own short 24 pin cable for my 250D. Also you put the radiator pulling the same direction, however I put my radiator after the fans so its next to the Motherboard. No worries of hooking cables at all.

--Rick--

 

[JazmaN]

I noticed the same thing, had to make my own short 24 pin cable for my 250D. Also you put the radiator pulling the same direction, however I put my radiator after the fans so its next to the Motherboard. No worries of hooking cables at all.

--Rick--

Luckily because of the direction of the fans it won't hook I was considering putting the radiator before the fans but decided to go with this instead