First EVER build and forum post. HELP!

CK_LUDA

CK_LUDA

CK_LUDA

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Location
Birmingham
Hello! first i would like to say thanks for any of your kind posts. Ive never used a forum before so im sorry if this is completely wrong.;)

I have been planning my first ever build for over a month now after i had a terrible Alienware experience. painstakingly collected bellow is my current list of parts. The only part i have to insist on is the Bitfenix prodigy.

case: Bitfenix prodigy
motherboard: Asus p8z77-i deluxe
graphics card: gtx 680 kfa2 ltd oc v4 (white)
RAM: corsair vengance 2x8 (16gb)
processor: I7-3770k
cpu cooler: NZXT Kraken (140mm for the back)
psu: ??? fully modular but need help!
Front fan: 200 or 230mm but im not sure if i have to lose the drive bay to get 230?
storage: 512gb ssd and 120gb ssd

This is a gaming rig but will hopefully be used to render work for Cad projects as well.:confused:
 
I would also like to state that i love colour co-ordination! an will be putting a lot of effort to get it to a max of three colours for the whole build including case.

THANKS FOR ANY HELP
 
I would hold off on building for a little if you can, Intel's next gen of chips are released in early June, and Nvidia are releaseing their 7xx series of cards as well within the next month.

What's your budget?
 
My budget tends to expand depending on what i see and like but the Alienware i sent back was £1700 and it would be nice to save on that price. so i was thinking around £1500. At the moment i think the 680 is a great card at a decent price and i wouldn't want to spend more than £500 on a gpu but when the new series come out im guessing the prices will fall on the current gen?
 
Well we normally get to see some of the motherboards before the processors are released but I think you'll be looking at the Asus Z87i-Deluxe,
it looks like it has the similar VRM board as the Z77 version which means overclocking should be fun:


As far as lighting goes Avexir does some pretty decent RAM with LEDs, here Although they do sell white light versions as well.
 
I will have a look at that avexir ram sounds cool!
two things that i would love to know though and without having pc building knowledge are:
psu to fit the bitfenx prodigy? has to be fully modular and white if possible.
and the NZXT kraken. can it fit in the back of the case (140mm radiator and fan)?
 
It will depend on how much power you need from it, officially the case supports 140mm PSUs, but you can fit 160mm PSUs into it, you may struggle a little bit with bending the wires etc though.
Have a look at this project build, they managed to get a Corsair AX 850 in there ok and that is 160mm.
Cooling wise you can fit 140mm or 240mm Rads into the case. the 240mms need to be mounted to the roof on the case, the 140mms can be roof mounted or on the back.
 
Hi CK LUDA, welcome to OcUK forums and I hope you find the information you need.

I feel I must ask why you like the Prodigy so much? I ask as it is much larger than it might look in a picture and is really more of a mATX case. There are various other cases which are much smaller and can still put very powerful builds in.

That said I won't bring it up again unless you do first. So with this build in mind small isn't really something you have to think about really which leaves you open to a very wide choice of components.

I like asking questions so another for you - are you going closed loop watercooling for an overclock or something else? There are many air solutions that can provide good overclocks while cheaper and quieter.

If you are interested in keeping a colour scheme please give us an idea of what colours you are looking at. You might want to look to buy some pre-braided cables (or braid them yourself).

Is this computer going to be moving (LAN parties etc) or fixed position?
 
Thanks for the welcome!
first of all small is not a requirement i just struggle to find a case i like and i love the looks of the prodigy. The pc i just sent back was huge! i would like my build to be smaller than that or though i do like mid towers and really liked the in-win h-frame. I've pretty much picked all these parts after i picked the gpu and case. i know that is bad but when i started looking at building my own i had no knowledge what so ever. Since then my obsessive personality has driven me to research the hell out of pc building to the info i have today.
Secondly water cooling is optional it just tends to look tidy and do a good job in small cases from what i have read. On average i read that it was also quieter.
Finally i did look at braided cables but have no idea where to buy them or what cables to get. The colour scheme i was going for was white with blue accents. So the odd blue bit but mainly white everywhere when it came to the prodigy i thought this looked best.

P.S. Its not moving anywhere if i can help it!
 
ozzymundo said:
I would hold off on building for a little if you can, Intel's next gen of chips are released in early June, and Nvidia are releaseing their 7xx series of cards as well within the next month.
Click to expand...

+ 1 New Nvidia cards are revealed next week and Intel's new CPU's are out in 3 weeks. I'd wait if you can.
 
CK_LUDA said:
Fan wise can you fit a 230mm fan at the front and have a disc drive? i herd it was 200mm if you wanted both.
Click to expand...
Not sure about other brands 230mm fan, but I fitted the BitFenix Spectre PRO 230mm Blue LED in my Prodigy case fine while keeping the disc drive bay intact. Takes quite a long time to figure how which way and what holes to mount the fan though, since the provided info wasn't too helpful.

But the fan on 12v is a bit too loud for my liking...I use the provided 7v adaptor cable and the noise level is much more acceptable, with the fan still shifting plenty of air.

I have also gotten the windowed panel as well, and I can tell you that using it instead of the default panel with vent holes WILL increase the temp of your graphic card/GPU by at least a few degrees.
 
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CK_LUDA said:
I thought the bigger the fan the quieter it was?
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Usually that's because they are spinning at a lower rpm. But for example, the BitFenix Spectre PRO 230mm spinning at 900+ 10% (990rpm) would be louder than a 120mm fan spinning at 1000rpm due the how big it is.

I think most other brand 200/230mm fan spin at around 600rpm by default and won't go faster than that, so with the BitFenix Spectre PRO actually give people a choice to quietness for performance, or performance for quietness. The BitFenix Spectre PRO 230mm fan on the 7v adapter cable would make it spin at may be around 550-600rpm which would be reasonably quiet.
 
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