Once more unto the breach...

Bart_Hunt

Bart_Hunt

Bart_Hunt

Associate
Joined
12 Jan 2013
Posts
2,066
Location
Gdansk, Poland
Hello guys

It's been a while since I built a PC and I didn't expect to build one so fast after coming back to Poland. As some of you know, I lived in UK for past few years ;)

Anyway, I lived in my parents house, which is a horrible experience, so decided to rent a place. I've seen the room, it's really big, so I decided I need to build a new PC to make it less empty ;)

I won't be building a watercooled rig thi time, as that is far out of my reach right now, but I decided a high end air cooling will be sufficient for my needs.
For once I didn't want to have huge case. Some of you probably remember how big my last project was (case over 3 ft tall). This one will be much smaller :)

My choice of components:

Case: SilentiumPC M50 Alea Cube Case
CPU: i5 6600k
Mobo: Asus Z170M-Plus
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 8 GB 2400Mhz Red
Cooler: Rajintek Tisis
SSD: Crucial BX100 250 GB
Optical: Pioneer DVD-RW
GPU: Asus GTX 970 DCU II
PSU: BeQuiet Power Zone 650W Modular "80+ Bronze"
Monitor: 22" Acer IPS 6ms
Headphones: Creative Fatal1ty
Periferals: Some random keyboard, mouse and usb WiFi stick ;)
Total cost: around 1k gbp.

The color theme is... hmmm... hard to call it a theme as there are all kind of colors :)
I might work on it later, but right now I just want this rig up and running.
Besides I didn't have much choice in what gear I can buy - yeah, the situation on the PC market in Poland is that bad.

I ordered all the stuff already and it will arrive at my place in a few days, so you may expect some pics in a few days.

Just don't laugh when you see it :)
 
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Thanks.
I had a choice to buy this one or Phanteks evolv matx case, this one cost 100% less and have good reviews. CPU cooler clearance is awesome - 220mm. Maybe I will build a custom loop in this case in the future.
 
Yeah, I am happy as well :)
The colors actually won't be that 'rainbowy'.
Mostly black, white and red.
Rajintek Tisis is a huge cooler so it will cover most of the northbridge if not whole.
I am just a bit concerned about the size, I heard some comments about it interfering with taller ram sticks, and I chose G.Skill Ripjaws.
I guess I will see in a few days.
 
Hello guys

I received all the stuff already, it was so quick - 10 hours before specified time ;)
I didn't do anything with it yet, just unpacked few things and got rid of cardboard boxes.
Took me over 2 hours to do all that.

I will start assembling the rig on Sunday, so you can expect some photos by the evening that day.
Two things thou: Rajintek Tisis is the biggest cooler I have seen so far. It's almost twice the size of Megahalems. I really did not expect that. There will be just about 2 mm clearance from it to the GPU backplate.

Second thing, the case was cheap and I expected that It will look cheap, but I had a nice surprise (maybe except really cheap looking windows, they are not made from acrylic :( ). The rest is very nice, the plastic used is the mat version, instead of gloss. It have removable air filters for fans on top and PSU at the bottom of the case.
For this price, I am impressed so far (except for the cheap windows ofcourse).

Thanks for all the comments, keep'em coming :)
 
Hello guys

It took me longer to move things to new place than I imagined.
Then I had some small problems with Windows updates, so today is the first time I can actually write anything.
I promised to post some pictures of the build and here they are :)

1. SilentiumPC M50 Alea (some Chinese rebranded case), side panels are off:

DSCN0007_zps96u5khae.jpg


2. Testing the size of Rajintek Tisis :)

DSCN0008_zpsep85upxz.jpg


3. Motherboard. Asus Z170M-Plus.

DSCN0010_zpsenn3lkts.jpg


4. SSD. Crucial BX100 (very fast beast).

DSCN0022_zpsconcgiid.jpg


5. GPU. Asus GTX 970 DCU II.

DSCN0024_zpsseiki20x.jpg


and backplate

DSCN0025_zpsqwr2whj2.jpg


6. PSU. BeQuiet Power Zone 650W Modular (to big for this case).

DSCN0019_zpsswp37dox.jpg


7. CPU Cooler without fans, fitted to motherboard....

DSCN0012_zpsft46enbw.jpg


8. ... and fitted into the chassis.

DSCN0017_zpsay6avsio.jpg


9. Plugged in the GPU, but there is a problem...

DSCN0026_zpsddweslic.jpg


10. But there is a solution to every problem, with a bit of thinking and ... modding :)

DSCN0027_zps1u3tfb0o.jpg


11. I had to remove the 5.25" bay, but everything works now and here is the result:

DSCN0029_zps9mpimlhu.jpg


As you can see I could plug in power cables easily.

12. Two final shots of the case with panels on:

DSCN0032_zps62fijoeb.jpg




DSCN0033_zpsnehtvhba.jpg




I have to say that I really like the case.
Despite the materials it have been build with (steel and cheap plastic), it doesn't look bad at all.
Case have air filters included at bottoms (PSU), in front (200mm fan) and top (2 x 120/140 fans).
The case is very light and have some nice features.

The problems are:
Small space for longer PSU's. I think mine is to long already (175 mm, 160 mm should be max).
Cheap looking windows.
Quality of cuts, some edges are a bit rough.
4 expansion slots - you can't do a crossfire with my motherboard in this case.


I didn't install any additional fans on top of the case for exhaust, because the temps are perfect. It is mostly because of the huge heatsink. GPU isn't heating up at all, with backplate so close to it.
The fans are spinning at low speed, around 30%.
I haven't done any stress testing or overclocking yet, I think I will give a few days. I used MX-4 and I want to give it some time to settle.

Well, that's it for now.
I will be doing some small changes in a few weeks - I need to add some fan Y extensions and do something about PSU cables.

Oh, the case cost approximately 35£ :)
So good enough for the price and can't expect to much from it.

I won't be watercooling this rig, at least not to soon - it would require some modding, including cutting some of the panels inside the case and I just don't have the tools for that right now.


Comments appreciated as usual :)
 
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