Soldato
Here is just a quick build I put together over the last 3 or 4 hours. Thought I would share just in case it helps anyone.
Going with a two card setups for 2 rigs for a variety of reasons. I'm putting 1 rig in the living room and one in the kitchen. 2 cards will be the perfect amount to keep a room at ample temps without the room getting overly hot like they would with 4 card setups. (Also means central heating will be firmly off)
Spec list
Total = £737
Now most would say going with a 4 card rig would be better and much cheaper, I don't think it would, well that much anyway. For a start you would need a 1200w-1300w PSU (£200) A better motherboard something like a 990FXA-UD3 (£110), you are going to need risers which are going for around (£15 each x 4 = £60), a case of some sort (£40) just built one for another rig using aluminium tube which cost me about £50-£60 in total). So replacing these with the above and two extra cards comes to = £1400 ish
Anyhow the case
Nice smart case, probably not the best for this kind of stuff but was at a discounted price, will get back what I paid when it comes to sell.
Side panels off and a look on the inside. Wanted to improve airflow as you can see a lot of restrictions inside. Wanted to mod it but without hurting the resale value and stock look.
First cage out
2nd one riveted in so a quick drill and out it comes
Now to remove one of the most useless fans I have ever seen. Seriously the breath of an ant moves more air than this!
To replace with these bad boys at 150 CMF (would have preferred NZXT FN-200 Fans as are higher RPM but not in the UK yet.
Unfortunately bitfenix decided to hide the screws behind the 5.25" bays to remove the top cover so you can get at the fan, without leaving access to the screws
They even state in manual remove top cover to replace fan yet no indication on how to, now I know why. Anyhow had to remove the 5.25" bays which I didn't want to but hay makes no difference to me. All can go back in whenever I want / or sell on.
Anyhow as you can see, much beefier fans, thick and with larger motors.
Still to many restrictions inhibiting flow, so decided to cut out a hole. On the inside hidden away so stays within my goals of not affecting resale value.
Nice clean cut, took about 5 mins on dremel. Still felt there were to many restrictions with the front panel grill slots. Was going to just cut it all out then came up with an ingenious idea of just removing slits leaving a good 1cm gap in-between each. Cut from behind with dremel, cleaned up with a blade.
As you can see looks as good as stock, but with much better airflow.
That's it for the modding, an hour or two later we have it fully assembled (spent a little bit too much time on cable management for what it is but heck if your going to do it, do it right
Plus will aid in airflow.
Going with a two card setups for 2 rigs for a variety of reasons. I'm putting 1 rig in the living room and one in the kitchen. 2 cards will be the perfect amount to keep a room at ample temps without the room getting overly hot like they would with 4 card setups. (Also means central heating will be firmly off)
Spec list
- AMD A4-4000 3.00GHz / £32
- **B Grade** Gigabyte F2A75M-D3H - FM2 DDR3 - £48
- TeamGroup Xtreem LV "Frost Edition" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit / £30 (only using 4GB £60 Total)
- **B Grade** Bitfenix Survivor Tower Case - White - £50
- 2 x MSI R9 280X Gaming / £440
- 650W SuperFlower Golden Green HX "80 Plus Gold" / Free (With another Purchase but lets call it £50)
- 2 x BitFenix Spectre PRO 200mm Blue LED - Black / £32
- 120GB Kingston SSD / £55
Total = £737
Now most would say going with a 4 card rig would be better and much cheaper, I don't think it would, well that much anyway. For a start you would need a 1200w-1300w PSU (£200) A better motherboard something like a 990FXA-UD3 (£110), you are going to need risers which are going for around (£15 each x 4 = £60), a case of some sort (£40) just built one for another rig using aluminium tube which cost me about £50-£60 in total). So replacing these with the above and two extra cards comes to = £1400 ish
Anyhow the case
Nice smart case, probably not the best for this kind of stuff but was at a discounted price, will get back what I paid when it comes to sell.
Side panels off and a look on the inside. Wanted to improve airflow as you can see a lot of restrictions inside. Wanted to mod it but without hurting the resale value and stock look.
First cage out
2nd one riveted in so a quick drill and out it comes
Now to remove one of the most useless fans I have ever seen. Seriously the breath of an ant moves more air than this!
To replace with these bad boys at 150 CMF (would have preferred NZXT FN-200 Fans as are higher RPM but not in the UK yet.
Unfortunately bitfenix decided to hide the screws behind the 5.25" bays to remove the top cover so you can get at the fan, without leaving access to the screws
They even state in manual remove top cover to replace fan yet no indication on how to, now I know why. Anyhow had to remove the 5.25" bays which I didn't want to but hay makes no difference to me. All can go back in whenever I want / or sell on.
Anyhow as you can see, much beefier fans, thick and with larger motors.
Still to many restrictions inhibiting flow, so decided to cut out a hole. On the inside hidden away so stays within my goals of not affecting resale value.
Nice clean cut, took about 5 mins on dremel. Still felt there were to many restrictions with the front panel grill slots. Was going to just cut it all out then came up with an ingenious idea of just removing slits leaving a good 1cm gap in-between each. Cut from behind with dremel, cleaned up with a blade.
As you can see looks as good as stock, but with much better airflow.
That's it for the modding, an hour or two later we have it fully assembled (spent a little bit too much time on cable management for what it is but heck if your going to do it, do it right
Plus will aid in airflow.
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