'Privateer' Build log.

[Dedwoods42]

Good evening all! New to the forums, although I've been lurking around them for a while now. I have just embarked (pun intended) on a build - The Privateer - and I'd like to share it with you. For now, photos are taken on my phone and are a bit naff - plus it's rare that I'm actually in the house in daylight This is also my first build, although I've assisted with a few others, so I feel confident enough to get cracking myself.

As some of you may have guessed - the name Privateer comes from the fact that I'll be using as many Corsair parts as I can in this build, with the odd exception. For those unaware - that's what Corsairs were - Privateers. Government-employed Pirates, corsairs being specifically French. I shall most definitely be playing Black Flag on this one

So. Specs. As I'm on slightly awful Apprentice wages (weekly and all), I'm having to put this together over a chunk of time, taking into consideration what may drop in price, and what I can make use of now. Desk, mouse + mat, keyboard and monitor first - then everything else.
Oh yeah - Black & White theme.
Full list, in purchase order:
Phase One:-
Desk - Some lovely 10mm tempered glass and steel thing form Amazon [Got]
Mouse - Corsair Vengeance M65 + MM200 Compact [Got]
Keyboard - Corsair Vengeance K70, Brown Switches [Got]
Monitor - QNix Evolution II 27" 1440p LED IPS [Got]
(On a side note, brilliant monitor. Bought it on eBay from Korea, £264 with Perfect Pixel Guarantee and it arrived 4 days later in perfect condition. Got it up to 120Hz @ 1080p and 100% stable on 80Hz @ 1440p.)
Case - Corsair Obsidian 750D [Got]
Fans - 3x Corsair AF140 LEDs (white) to replace the ones in the case, plus an AF120 LED (you guessed it, white) - 1x120mm filter & 1x140mm filter. [Got]
Controller - Corsair Link Lighting & Cooling. This is now EOL so will likely be upgraded / added to fairly soon. [Got]
PSU - Corsair Pro AX860i 80+ Platinum + Corsair Individually Braided AX Series Cables (white) [Got]
Boot Drive (SSD) - Corsair Force LS 120GB [Got]
Primary Drive (SSHD) - Seagate 1TB SSHD 5400RPM [Got]
Storage / Backup Drive (HDD) - Seagate Barracuda 4TB 5900RPM [Got]
Optical Drive - Samsung SE-506BB/TSBD External BluRay-RW / DVD-RW Drive (I like my Blu-Rays, but couldn't bear to break up the front of the 750D)
RAM - Corsair Dominator Platinum 2400MHz (2x8GB ) [Got]
Mobo - Asus Z87 Sabertooth [Got]
CPU - i7 4770k + Corsair H100i. Looking for 4.0GHz+, which shouldn't be too difficult. [Got]
GPU - GTX780 Ti (Reference design for future watercooling) [Got]
Sound Card - Asus Xonar Essence STX (I'm a musician, and a bit of an audiophile) [Got]
Speakers - Corsair SP2500 [Got]
Headphones & Mic - I already have a Beyer performance mic that I can run though the STX, then a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50s [Got]

The sound card and speakers come later as they aren't necessary to have the build up and running.

Phase Two:
A second 780Ti for some SLI goodness. (Overkill, I know. POOWWWEERRR)
Double up drives, RAID 0 for boot & primary, RAID 1 for storage / backups. May look into more exotic RAID configs.

Phase Three:
Full custom watercooling throughout. Potentially moving up into a 900D for space.

I'll update with pictures as and when. First lot will be shortly after Christmas when the fans, controller and PSU are in the case.

I intend to update this main post purely with the most recent set of photos, leaving all of the photo/text/video updates chronologically throughout the thread.

Appreciate any feedback/suggestions.
Dedwoods42.

Most Recent:

 

[maniac]

This looks promising, one thing though, please make the initial chunk of text a bit more readable, skipping a line never hurt anyone.

 

[Dedwoods42]

Sorry about that - got a little carried away... Cut down to just the essentials, far more readable now.

 

[Snortan]

You should play Civ5 on it, got privateers there too .
Looks interesting, subbed.

 

[Dedwoods42]

I can't go back to Civ V, my last session was something like 16 hours and the work day afterwards nearly killed me Recovering addict Cheers! Will try and keep it updated in a timely fashion.

 

[Conchubair]

This looks like a good un!

 

[Dedwoods42]

Cheers! Hopefully the build itself will live up to the specs...

 

[Dedwoods42]

First (small) update:
I got my DisplayPort cable today, so am finally enjoying some 1440p goodness. What a difference! Surprised by how well my little GTX675M handles it.
I've now dropped out the front 3.5" bays, as I won't be using them, ready for the 120mm fan. I also got the first AF140 LED today, so have swapped out the standard exhaust fan for that. I've moved said standard fan to intake from the very front of the roof, nice and out of sight - although I'm curious as to whether anybody knows if I can still squeeze the H100i up there too? The measurements add up (just), so I'm hoping I can get both in. I've also started doing dummy cable management with twist-ties to get an idea of spacing. The 750D is a dream to cable manage in. I'll have the PSU and cabling in on Friday (20th Dec), so I'll throw some photos up that afternoon!

 

[Conchubair]

Looking forward too them pics. Love me some 750d

 

[Dedwoods42]

Another small thought - I can't stand leaving the AX860i standard, as the red 'AX' will look out of place. I'll attack it with some Citadel paints once it arrives, and make the 'AX' a nice gunmetal colour to suit the build a little better.
Expect quite a few of these mini-updates and ideas whenever something pops into my head!

 

[maniac]

Another small thought - I can't stand leaving the AX860i standard, as the red 'AX' will look out of place. I'll attack it with some Citadel paints once it arrives, and make the 'AX' a nice gunmetal colour to suit the build a little better.
Expect quite a few of these mini-updates and ideas whenever something pops into my head!

I like the idea, just make sure to make it looks as "stock" as possible, I prefer it to be the wrong colour than a half arsed job

 

[Dedwoods42]

I like the idea, just make sure to make it looks as "stock" as possible, I prefer it to be the wrong colour than a half arsed job

100% agree - just a subtle, careful repaint of the AX, everything else left exactly as is

 

[Dedwoods42]

Small update time:
PSU, cabling and some cable management bits ordered this morning. I also grabbed some dust filters for the extra intake fans that I'll have running. My thinking is: more fans, lower RPMs = quieter
Also, I was being a fool by questioning whether I could get the rad in the roof with the extra intake - as I'm running it in pull, so it's that fans that'll be up there anyways... I won't be able to get the PSU in or do the little bit of painting until Saturday morning - and that's provided I'm not working, so I'll throw some teaser photos of my desk and the empty case up tomorrow afternoon.
On a side note, I've started picking out components for the custom loop - liking the look of that XSPC dual Bay res with a pair of D5s. I'd swap the LEDs out for white ones and produce my own faceplate for it that will sit flush with the front of the case, and fill the face - offset forward from the res. Probably with the Corsair logo cut into it, to fit the build. Loving everything that EKWB make too, and rigid tubing FTW.

Pictures up soon, promise!

 

[Jordan]

This is gonna be sweeet!

 

[Dedwoods42]

This is gonna be sweeet!

Cheers! I certainly hope so

Some teasers for you. Apologies for the camera quality...

Everything lit up... Wallpaper also

Drive cage arrangement.

Against the monitor, for scale.

 

[Conchubair]

Looking well there!

 

[Dedwoods42]

Right! Niiice big package arrived from OcUK yesterday (20th) which contained the PSU, cabling, dust filters and some cable management bits. Double Haribo too, a Merry Christmas indeed!

Anyways, I've ferreted away the cables, management bits and one of the filters until they're required. For now, the 140mm filter is on and the PSU is in. I've attached the filter on the outside of the case to remove any tiny risk of it interfering with the fan, and it hides under the magnetic roof cover perfectly Turns out that painting the PSU logo was unnecessary, as de-stickering was easier and cleaner - then replacing it with the rather lovely included case badge. It seemed a shame to not make use of it, and I'm extremely pleased with the results.

Looks totally standard from the outside...

But is concealing the filter nicely. Not worried about airflow restriction too much, as this is a pretty unnecessary extra fan as it is.

The case looks nice and tidy with the PSU like that. Also, the first LED fan is in!

Close-up on that case badge. Very pleased.

That's all for now, folks - probably until after Christmas - as the Link Commander + Lighting & Cooling Nodes will be going in, as well as the other three LED fans on Boxing Day. Have a lovely Christmas all!

 

[Mark3Max]

Looks like a nice start , I also like the 750D , Very nice case.
Looking forward to seeing how this one comes together .


"Subbed "

 

[Dedwoods42]

Looks like a nice start , I also like the 750D , Very nice case.
Looking forward to seeing how this one comes together .


"Subbed "

Cheers! It should all come together pretty quickly throughout January

 

[Dedwoods42]

Another update! This'll be it until some time in January as Christmas has left me skint

The LED fans are in all round, as well as the Link Commander. I've placed Cooling node behind the motherboard tray, which has meant that all my fan cables and temperature sensors can run from it without any extension cables, which is a bonus!

The lighting node is in the front of the case, with the LED strips ran from it, framing the front of the case. One at the front, under the cabling coming out of the PSU and one in each top corner. The cables are out of sight already, although I may add some hooks and cable ties if they end up bothering me.

Cable work has begun, with everything I have currently twist-tied in place. The 750D really is a dream to cable manage in. I'm yet to order the braided 24 Pin, so that will come along with the next order.

In doing this, I also ran into a bit of an issue - one that I may drop Corsair a line on. A bit of a gripe. The 750Ds lovely SSD/SSHD/SlimHDD cages in the front of the case are, as I'm sure many of you know, oriented flatways up the case. This is great for displaying them (I'll be doing something with the stickers to make them a little more colour scheme friendly), but not great for cabling with Corsair SATA Power cables. Both the standard and braided cables are flat - perfect for running up a standard HDD cage, but also impossible to run up the flat mounts, shy of running loads of extra cabling. My solution is to stick an NZXT white braided Molex to 4 SATA Power cable on my next OcUK order, as the cables run out of the back of the connectors instead on the sides, and should be able to curve to each drive. Saves me having unused Molexes in the bottom of the case too. Anyways - PHOTOS!

Hnnnnggg. Link Commander. Love a bit of tidy Aluminium.

Bottom dust filter in.

Front LED fans in.

Starting to run cables. Just temporary - they'll be even tidier once everything's in

With the controllers powered, I can test lighting out with the PSU self test Obviously it only runs in default blue without software intervention, but they'll be white to match the fans.

Front fans lit up.

More in Jan. Just need to get drives and RAM, then I can sell my laptop for the Mobo, CPU + Cooler and GPU