War and Peace

[Mgutierrez33]

Hey all. Just made a significant purchase for my rig that finally, in my opinion, made it worth posting up here.

I named this machine "War and Peace." The reason for this is because everything that has happened with this computer since it's initial build has been an uphill battle... but when I DO finally get everything sorted, there is usually a long period of time where nothing goes wrong and everything is buttery smooth. It will most likely always be a work in progress, as the OCD in me will not allow me to rest until it is perfect... and once more hardware/mods are released/thought of, it's no longer perfect and needs to be improved upon x-).

System Specs:
Corsair Graphite 600T (Gunmetal)
Silverstone Braided Cable Extensions
Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
AMD FX-8350 @ 4.4 Ghz (1.36V)
Corsair Vengeance LP 1600 Mhz memory (2x4GB @ 2133 Mhz)
EVGA GTX 560 SC 2GB (930 Mhz core, 2200 Mhz effective memory)
Corsair H100i w/SP120 Quiet Edition fans
AF 120 Quiet Edition rear intake
Crucial M4 128GB SSD
Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD
OCz 500W Semi Modular PSU (I NEED to ditch this as soon as funds allow for it)

Some glamour shots with the side panel on.

Plans for this rig include placing a priority on replacing the GPU, as it is now getting long in the teeth, the PSU because it's garbage, and finally getting a custom waterloop done. When the times comes for the watercooling bit I will start up a proper build log, but as of right now funding is pretty tight and I was barely able to afford the motherboard at this juncture. Ultimately, the goal is to mount a 360mm rad in the roof cavity (need a rad with a split end tank where the barbs mount to do this) and a 200mm rad in the front. This SHOULD be enough to incorporate the CPU and two GPUs before I run into issues with temps.

Notice I didn't take any shots of the cable management. This is because by my standards it's trash, and it will be getting redone as soon as I can afford a PSU anyway, so not really a need to "show it off" or "ask for advice" on it just yet x-). Otherwise, thar she be... me mighty vessel! Hope to see you all throughout the forums!

:beerchug:

 

[Mgutierrez33]

Wow, tough crowd x-)

 

[Devo234]

that looks really tidy mate.
only thing i would change is rerouting the pcie cable to the lower grommet to make it that bit tidier...

cant wait to see the custom loop

edit:
you need to get a dust filter on that rear fan dude cuz thats an intake at the minute

 

[Mgutierrez33]

that looks really tidy mate.
only thing i would change is rerouting the pcie cable to the lower grommet to make it that bit tidier...

cant wait to see the custom loop

edit:
you need to get a dust filter on that rear fan dude cuz thats an intake at the minute

Yeah I can't wait to see the loop myself... but dat money... plus I gotta get rid of my VERY rapidly aging 560. Still a solid card overall but it's too power hungry for what it doesn't bring to the table.

The cabling was a huge point of contention for me. I tried routing it through the lower grommet and it just didn't look right to me at all. I hate the placement of the PCI-E ports on this card, but you are right, even THAT is kind of sloppy.

As for the dust filter, at some point I will get to it but at the moment it's not actually making a bit of difference in terms of dust in the case on account of my case pressures being (apparently) right where they need to be to leave all but the finest dust particles from getting in. I also regularly go in and clean the case out regardless of the front dust filter, and BECAUSE of the lack of the rear dust filter, but you are right of course. I DID have a dust filter on it at one point, but I found that it was reducing the air coming through from the fan too much for me to feel like it was worth it at the time. In all fairness, it WAS a crap filter x-).

Right now I am kind of at odds as to what video card to go for as the replacement for this one. I'll be looking to spend something around 300-ish on whatever card it is, and based on the current deals I am presently leaning towards an HD 7970. Problem is the selection of cards that are compatible with water blocks restricts me a LOT based on what is available in my area in terms of cards that notoriously have consistently good ASIC scores. I ALSO want to wait and see what the Volcanic Islands cards brings to the table (disclaimer: NOT a fanboy of AMD inherently, just so happens that for what I want performance-wise and what I had access to at the time my rig happens to be AMD-based) when they are announced in September; you know, maximize the staying power of my purchase.

Thanks for your input