Since the beginning of November I have been slowly gathering the parts I need in putting my first PC together, the final pieces were purchased by my wife as a Christmas present. I decided that I wasn’t going to start piecing it together until I could sit down over the festive period and focus on everything, partly because I feared a problem along the way.
A lot of the fun was actually found during the research stage, I must have changed my mind a dozen times on various parts from which CPU cooler to which MOBO I was going to acquire, I must also say that these forums were absolutely priceless when it comes to researching a first build. The big plan was to use a new and unwanted Bitfenix Colossus case which I picked up for £60 (the box hadn’t even been opened) with a mixture of a few 2nd hand and mostly new parts based around an i5 – 2500k. I already had a second hand machine I was using which was housed in a Corsair Obsidian 800 case.
It wasn’t until I sat down to start my build that I realised how much bigger and better the Corsair case was so the plan changed, I decided it would be good practice to take the inners out of the 800D and put them into the Bitfenix then I would assemble my new build in the old 800D case. Everything went like a breeze, I would recommend to anyone build your own PC it has given me so much satisfaction. I have already opened her up again and popped a few extra fans inside and just like a teenager with his first car and ‘go faster stripes’ I have added a splash of lighting.
The big question is now what, I can’t wait to have another go, is it just me or is it a bug that you get once you have completed your first build? I guess overclocking is the next route but as I am only a small gamer would I gain much satisfaction in pushing my machine to a higher limit?
Here are a few pictures which I took and a full specification at the bottom (in case anyone is interested).
Above - Cover off and doing my best witht the mass of cables, I will probably change the white for black, I wasn't sure how white cables would look with white lights.
Above - Three 120 fans out of a total of 8 if you include the one on the CPU cooler 4 x 120 and 4 x 140
Above and Below - Cover on lights on and all powered up
Corsair Obsidian 800D – Second hand £120.00
Corsair HX620 – Second hand £50.00
ASRock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3 £145.89
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 - £37.50
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz – £155.99
1TB WD Black – Second hand £50.00
ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCU 2 TOP - £172.79
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler - £24.99
Pioneer DVD + CD Writer Second Hand £12.00
With the fans I purchased a mix of new and second hand, when I say second hand they were in the classifieds on another forum advertised as unused and boxed. Again the research was fun finding the best way to cool the 800D case I know I have gone overkill but I have a 140 Corsair fan in the base sucking air in to a second 140 Akasa Illumination fan, three Sharkoon Eagles in the top blowing air out and another 140 illumination blowing out on the rear and finally a 140 Eagle behind the HD cover. I am not sure of the lighting, it can be switched off and from an angle it looks great head on a little too bright.
A lot of the fun was actually found during the research stage, I must have changed my mind a dozen times on various parts from which CPU cooler to which MOBO I was going to acquire, I must also say that these forums were absolutely priceless when it comes to researching a first build. The big plan was to use a new and unwanted Bitfenix Colossus case which I picked up for £60 (the box hadn’t even been opened) with a mixture of a few 2nd hand and mostly new parts based around an i5 – 2500k. I already had a second hand machine I was using which was housed in a Corsair Obsidian 800 case.
It wasn’t until I sat down to start my build that I realised how much bigger and better the Corsair case was so the plan changed, I decided it would be good practice to take the inners out of the 800D and put them into the Bitfenix then I would assemble my new build in the old 800D case. Everything went like a breeze, I would recommend to anyone build your own PC it has given me so much satisfaction. I have already opened her up again and popped a few extra fans inside and just like a teenager with his first car and ‘go faster stripes’ I have added a splash of lighting.
The big question is now what, I can’t wait to have another go, is it just me or is it a bug that you get once you have completed your first build? I guess overclocking is the next route but as I am only a small gamer would I gain much satisfaction in pushing my machine to a higher limit?
Here are a few pictures which I took and a full specification at the bottom (in case anyone is interested).
Above - Cover off and doing my best witht the mass of cables, I will probably change the white for black, I wasn't sure how white cables would look with white lights.
Above - Three 120 fans out of a total of 8 if you include the one on the CPU cooler 4 x 120 and 4 x 140
Above and Below - Cover on lights on and all powered up
Corsair Obsidian 800D – Second hand £120.00
Corsair HX620 – Second hand £50.00
ASRock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3 £145.89
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 - £37.50
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz – £155.99
1TB WD Black – Second hand £50.00
ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCU 2 TOP - £172.79
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler - £24.99
Pioneer DVD + CD Writer Second Hand £12.00
With the fans I purchased a mix of new and second hand, when I say second hand they were in the classifieds on another forum advertised as unused and boxed. Again the research was fun finding the best way to cool the 800D case I know I have gone overkill but I have a 140 Corsair fan in the base sucking air in to a second 140 Akasa Illumination fan, three Sharkoon Eagles in the top blowing air out and another 140 illumination blowing out on the rear and finally a 140 Eagle behind the HD cover. I am not sure of the lighting, it can be switched off and from an angle it looks great head on a little too bright.
