Build Log : Project Skint (MM build)

Sayso

Sayso

Sayso

Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2008
Posts
3,451
Location
Chelmsford
Welcome to my new build log, what im trying to achieve is a decent budget rig with most of the items bought from the members market.

Components so far

CPU: X2 550 AMD phenom, why did i choose this, because im hoping to unlock it to a QUAD, this was bought from the bay.

Case:Lian li 350 a nice small case bought from MM (thanks Tute)

PSU: Mod extreme pro 600W bought from MM

Cooling: Im going to watercool the CPU, i have a few bits lieing around from my previous build plus i have bought a pump, Feser 120.1 RAD and single bay reservoir from MM, the plan is to use my current waterblock an EK supreme with an AMD bracket provided at the cost of a couple of pints by JonJ678 (thanks mate)

Mobo: this is where i cheated a bit and bought from Overclockers.

RAM: This might be another purchase unless i get get 4Gb DDR3 from the MM in the next week or so.

HD/DVD drive etc: im going to use bits i have in the loft.

GFX card: HD5750 bought of of MM, this might change depending on the outcome of the build.

Now the purpose of this build is that i currently run a bit of a beast (I7 920 and over £400 of watercooling gear in a custom T07) i want to see if day to day i see much of a difference from a build that cost me over £1500 to a build that will end up costing me around £350....if i dont will sell the beast and buy all top spec parts for this project Ie SSD, a 5870, blue ray drive etc

As i start i will post pictures, results etc.

Thanks for looking
 
I did exactly this a couple of months ago fella for a friend. Its deffo a worthwhile exercise.

I managed to build the below:

MSI P35 Neo 2 FR - £30
C2D E6750 + Akasa 966 Cooler - £55
4gb Corsair PC6400DHX Ram - £40
XFX 1gb 4850 - £50
2x Seagate 320gb Drive (For raid 0) - £40
Tagan 430w Modular PSU - £38
Samsung DVDRW Drive - £10

All bought from the MM..

Akasa Freedom Xone Case - £46.99 (the only thing bought new)

Total Cost - £309.99 (had a budget of £320) and I gave him the X-Fi Fatality for free.

Chip clocked to 3.6ghz straight away without any hassle and loads at around 51c under that cooler.

Friend couldn't be happier with his rig.

Dodgy phone pic:

Akasa.jpg
 
Last edited:
Ok bits have arrived so im ready to go, have placed the RAD in position and im trying to figure out where to put the pump, to cut down on cost i have 2 mobos, if the chip wont unlock will fit the cheaper one.
Have got 6G of DDR3 RAM off of the MM, its a tri channel kit but with the money i saved i will give it a go in dual channel (if not i will just add it to my main rig)

pictures.

the beast in action
P1000160.jpg


some bits :)
P1000164.jpg


The case
P1000165.jpg


The RAD and pump in the case
P1000168-1.jpg


Get in your basket im doing a build log !!!
P1000152.jpg


Stay tuned!
 
Will be interested to see how much of a difference there is from day to day stuff. Btw what graphics card are you running in your i7 rig?
 
A 4890.

Wont be able to do anything this weekend, but next is running outside the case on stock cooling to see if i can unlock to a quad.
Im still waiting for the RAM to turn up before i get stuck into the full build.
Also im swapping out my current water block to a heatkiller in my main rig so i can use the EK block on project skint.
 
OK update time, i have now been running the system for a couple of days and for the price it is a great little PC, can run any game i throw at it at playable frame rates, im mainly playing MW2 at the moment and it runs at max setting on 1600*1090 at above 90 FPS.
The case is silent, small, and the watercooling keeps the CPU at below 30C at load.
The board im using due to an amazing ASUS disaster is the cheapest board i could find so no quad unlocking/ddr3, but im able to run at 3.8Ghz happily.
I still haven't totally buttoned it up but i will come to that in my conclusion....now for some piccies :)

CPU block fitted.
P1000198.jpg


testing testing.
P1000193.jpg


Sorta in :)
P1000208.jpg


Internals.
P1000206.jpg


watercooling.
P1000205.jpg


How its staying for a while :)
P1000209-1.jpg

P1000210.jpg


Now for the downside....i suppose this was always inevitable ITS NOT FAST ENOUGH!! coming from an overclocked I7 920 i always knew there would be a speed difference, and in the games i have tried (Far Cry2, MW2, Dragon age) the difference is so small as not to be noticeable, but i didn't realise how much i would notice it in day to day operations, i usually have about 6 windows open , loading/surfing with multiple windows/flash game playing/music on etc and the dual core suffers badly when doing this.

Now the only problem is i fell in love with the smaller case...so im starting a new project..PROJECT:tight squeeze should be starting in the next couple of weeks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom