Project Log: 'Privateer'

Good morning people!
I am terribly sorry, updates have been sparse of late. I have good news though! I now have my extra cabling and the SSD, so I'll be getting Win 7 installed in preparation.
I'm working my way through cable lacing, so may have some photos up for you soon!

The best news of all: the end (of the beginning) is in sight. This Thursday will see the Mobo ordered, and the Thursday after will see all of the remaining components ordered. I *should* have the thing alive on the Friday.
Not long now, Privateer.
 
Dedwoods42 said:
Cheers! :D It's a really great case. Very easy even for an idiot like me to work in!
Click to expand...

I love how sleek it looks and how much room there is!
I'm planning on getting into watercooling at some point but my nzxt phantom enthusiast is a bit limited.
it's definitely going to be my next case (unless corsair comes out with something even more appealing to me)

anyways, keep up the good work! (subbed)
 
Good day, all!
Friday brought with it another wonderful package from OCUK... The Z87 Sabertooth. Just gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.
Test fitting, with cabling:
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I've decided (for now) to do away with the cable lacing, however I may change my mind later on, and have the resources to do so.
This week will see the final push to having her up and running, as my laptop will be sold on Wednesday. Goodbye, Series 7 Gamer - you've served me well.
Come Friday, she shall live. Then comes the long road up to having her fully modded out and under water.
Not long now, people.
 
dazoO said:
We need more pictures, that last post isn't showing any picture for me, but great job so far!
Click to expand...
Cheers! Just the one for now, as the lack of daylight + poor phone camera have made getting any beauty shots impossible for tonight :-( Just a random photo - the only bit of lacing I'm leaving on currently is on the 6&8 PCIe power...
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So, this happened...
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This time tomorrow I'll be eating Haribo and getting her running :D
The 1866 DomPlat kit I was after was out of stock, but the 2400 kit was only £15 more, so it was a no-brainer. I initially intended to pick up the MSI or EVGA 780Ti, but both also out of stock. Conveniently the Gainward one dropped to the same price as the MSI! I would have grabbed the Inno3D card, but I'm a little reserved about buying from them as they don't appear to have the reputation of the other vendors.

The next update will (hopefully) be a working system!
 
So. The weekend was filled with both victory and tragedy. On Friday night I had her built and running. Posted first time, RAM set to rated, OS installed, drivers updated.
Saturday brought more updates and getting my drive allocations right - and tweaking everything to my liking.
Sunday I began gaming. Gave Borderlands 2, Tomb Raider and Metro: Last Light a run (everything still at stock) as benchmarks before settling down to play some Black Flag.
Then disaster strikes.
Something like 2 hours into gameplay - the system shut down. Then there was a pop. One of those nasty electrical pops. A burning smell.
It seems the PSU gave up the ghost, for seemingly no reason; a faulty unit I imagine. Absolutely heartbreaking. RMA requested, and we'll see what happens from there. I'll likely get in touch with Corsair too and see if they have any ideas. Everything was at stock and I hadn't touched any of the 860i settings in Link yet - so I don't *think* it's an error on my part.

Anywho - photos from the build for you:
Dat DomPlat doe.
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CPU and RAM in:
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Some GPU pr0n for you:
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GPU seated
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H100i installed too
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There she was. Since I couldn't change the colour of the GPU logo, I decided to match the CPU block to it and add purple light. (Temporary) Hnnnggg.
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Until next time, peeps. Hopefully she'll be resuscitated before long.
 
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So, after a couple of weeks - she should be back up and running soon. Replacement PSU is (finally) due back in stock with Corsair on Friday, then with me at some point after that.
Now is just waiting and trepidation, hoping that nothing else was damaged in the blowout. If so - Corsair may end up with an extremely aggressive me banging on their doors!

Sorry for the lack of updates people - hopefully we'll have some progress early next week! Then the upgrades can commence :D
 
LIVES!
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Thanks very much Grey_beard. It's good to be back :-)
Everything appears to have survived and the system is running smoothly, although the Link Commander is playing up. Should be an easy fix.
I'll have a full update this evening with the state of the project as I've been doing bits and bobs during down time - and an idea of what's next for it.
 
Right! Current state of the project:
Storage/backup drive is in. Speakers are in (and incredible). Next step is the sound card - then it's time to invest in a second 780ti...

Now that she's up and running again, it's time to start tinkering. First choice was obviously to OC the GPU. The 780ti really is a corking overclocker - sat at 1300MHz on reference cooler, and it rarely budges above 75°C under stress testing, and never over 80°C whilst gaming. Gorgeous. Not all that loud, either.
I'll start playing with the CPU when I have the time to go at it. RAM is absolutely fine running at rated. (2400MHz)

Some more photos for you:
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Small update for you this morning. I've got my Dominator Platinum Light Bars in the post currently - may well have them on tonight!
Next step is to pick up the Essence STX at the end of the week - and I've settled on a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50s.
The 780Ti is still sat at 1300MHz, nice and stable - and now my 4770K is up at 4.2GHz (stable after 12 hours of Prime95) at 1.2v. It gets to about 90 degrees C under stress testing with the H100i on quiet - but never above 75 under load in actual use.
Once the STX is in, I just have to pick up the external BD drive and do some small aesthetic changes, and Phase One is complete.
 
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More of the things!
Light bars installed on the DomPlats - how very pretty... STX is in, speakers mic & ATH-M50s ran out of it. Fantastic little bit of kit - noticeable difference in output cleanliness and quality throughout, and the headphones are sublime. My next step is a little way off yet as I have some things I need to spend out on in the meantime - but I've decided I need a second monitor and a dual arm stand, so I'll grab a 27" 1080p panel with a solid dual arm desk clamp next. Until then!
Some point soon I'm going to gut my cabling and start again - I need to have a fiddle with the link Commander and fan controller to fault find, and it's not quite as tidy as I'd like it to be throughout.
Most Recent:
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Edit: Nearly forgot! I've de-stickered the PSU again and have the Corsair badge on the side as before :-)
 
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