First Custom PC Build - "Valiant"

dudemiseter182 · 23 Apr 2016 at 22:21

Hi, writing this now, I have technically already begun but not finished my build, but for the purpose of this log, I shall backtrack to where it all began.

Part 1

The first thing I got for this build was the case, a Corsair carbide series Air 540. And I know what some of you may be thinking, this is a large and fairly expensive case for a first time build. Yes, this may be the case and I fully took this into consideration before buying it. But the reason I went with this case in the end was that this it is 'hopefully' going to last me through multiple builds, I wanted something future-proof, so I wouldn't need to shell out for another case later on down the line. Well, at least not for a while anyway. So I bought this case from Overclockers instore around late December 2015, at the time it was around £110-£115 I think, and I was happy with that as It gave me somewhere to start, something to focus my build around. I was very content, I had this awesome looking case and the possibilities could potentially be endless. But this was however my first build so I decided to play it fairly safe.

dudemiseter182 · 23 Apr 2016 at 22:34

dudemiseter182 · 26 Apr 2016 at 14:22

First of all, thank you to all those wishing me well on this, my first proper build.

Part 2

By January 2016, I was getting bored looking at my empty case, so I decided that I had enough money to get a fairly decent, but also budget-friendly motherboard. I decided on the Asus Z-97 Pro Gamer motherboard as it had support for SLI, something I hope to take advantage of in the future, good overclocking capabilities, useful for when I purchase the i7-4790k, an M.2 drive bay, and support for higher speed RAM. These are just a few of the reasons, but for the price I honestly couldn't see anything with better or even equivalent features.

Again, like with the case, I decided to purchase the motherboard from Overclockers. At the time, it was around £115 for this board, plus the additional £7.50 delivery charge, can't wait to take advantage of the free delivery soon from using these forums. All in all it wasn't too bad and it arrived a couple of days later, and I couldn't be happier to add my first piece of hardware to the build.

dudemiseter182 · 28 Apr 2016 at 22:10

So, I have ordered more parts for this build and they should all be here around next wednesday or so. The parts I have ordered are; Corsair CX750m PSU, Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2400Mhz (2x8GB) RAM, Intel i7-4790k CPU, Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler, and Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound.

Additionally, I have added in a couple of 'older' Western Digital 250GB 3.5" HDDs that I had lying around. I have done this so that once I have built the system I will have something to create as a boot drive and test all the hardware. I will definitely be swapping these out for a couple of WD blacks and an SSD of some sort, possibly a 480GB Kingston v300. Obviously these new drives will be added in when the funds become available to me.

A little side note, I shall be adding pictures of the new hardware as it arrives, so keep an eye out if you wish to follow how my build is progressing. And finally thank you for your kind comments.

dudemiseter182 · 28 Apr 2016 at 22:25

DSLR batteries died while taking photos of the hardware, so i'll reattempt later. Look forward to images of all of the above soon.

dudemiseter182 · 29 Apr 2016 at 13:57

Petelock said:
Just make sure that the DSRL is charged when you get the big boxes of goodies

Don't worry, the rest of the pictures will definitely be taken with the DSLR. The batteries are on charge now.

dudemiseter182 · 29 Apr 2016 at 16:02

Petelock said:
Nice. What DSLR do you have and what lens are you using out of interest (camera nerd)?

Hi, the camera I use is a Nikon D3100. With regards to the lenses, I tend to swap between the Tamron AF70-300mm and the stock Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm lens. It's not a high-end DSLR by any means, but it suits my needs perfectly.

dudemiseter182 · 29 Apr 2016 at 16:25

Again, apologies for the poor quality of the original images of the motherboard. Here are some better ones... enjoy.

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 02:30

The Memory. 16GB (2x8) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2400MHz.

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 02:44

The CPU. Intel i7-4790k.

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 02:58

The Power Supply. Corsair CX750M.

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 03:01

IO shield install.

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 03:05

Installing the motherboard.

Motherboard%20install%202_zps1b4elmkg.jpg

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 03:08

Installing the hard drives.

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 03:11

The system booted first time.

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 03:13

My new CPU cooler and thermal compound arrived today, I shall be removing components and fitting the new cooler tomorrow, so keep a look out for the updated system build. In the mean time here are a few images of the two items.

CPU%20cooler%20unpacked%20with%20thermal%20compound_zpsp5slabxq.jpg

dudemiseter182 · 2 May 2016 at 13:14

Petelock said:
Looking good. No shame in the d3100. I used to use a d3300 until very recently and just upgraded to a d750.

what graphics card do you have in mind for the build? I'm guessing something nice as you went for the 750w psu?

Nice, aren't d750's about a grand? Are you a pro photographer?

I was initially looking at a GTX 970, probably the Asus Strix edition, but after looking at the pricing I think a 970 Superclocked from EVGA might be a better option for the money.

dudemiseter182 · 3 May 2016 at 14:16

Nice, how much did you pay for the used d750? (If you don't mind me asking)

Thanks, solid advice. Hopefully more updates will be coming soon

dudemiseter182 · 3 May 2016 at 21:05

Sounds like a great deal.