small Mediacentre / Gaming Rig

Xelene · 20 Oct 2011 at 20:25

It's time for a new build. Last time round I was going for a Silver/Blue desktop powerhouse. This time the goal is for a small, powerful, quiet, cheaper media centre beast. Again, i've chosen a Silverstone Fortress; this time the tiny FT03.

I'm not really planning to overclock it yet, because it just doesn't need it.

The device is going to be running games and videos at 720p via the stunningly good value (at the time) Panasonic 37px80 Plasma

Here's whats inside:

Silverstone Fortress 03
Enermax 600W 80 PLUS GOLD
Gainward GeForce GTX 560
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB
Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA
Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H Intel Z68 Motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K
Antec Kúhler H2O 620
Samsung Slot Loader
Logitech DiNovo Mini Keyboard

Need to source a BlackGold DVB-T2 twin Freeview HD tuner for it still.

Xelene · 20 Oct 2011 at 20:26

Obligatory box shot:

Naked:

PSU In:

This was my BIGGEST problem with the case, those are unshielded mains pins. Yes I got a 240V AC Mains shock off it, and yes it hurt. Had to fix it with Electrical tape.

Mobo in, spent a while wondering about standoffs at this point.

Cooler in, more complicated than it needed to be.

First time a PC booted first time for me in over a decade:

My desk:

It's a nice build, some case issues - the electric shock thing is REALLY REALLY bad, and once you get the gfx card in it's a challenge to route cables. Don't put in a long card.

Fans need replacing as it's a bit noisy.

Xelene · 2 Nov 2011 at 21:16

*bump*

dav3evans · 4 Nov 2011 at 16:44

I really like those cases and have thought about going for something smaller. That's a good spec too, I'd just be a bit concerned in general for heating issues.

What's the issue with the "electric shock thing"? I've never heard of that before now..

Xelene · 4 Nov 2011 at 21:08

dav3evans said:
I really like those cases and have thought about going for something smaller. That's a good spec too, I'd just be a bit concerned in general for heating issues.

What's the issue with the "electric shock thing"? I've never heard of that before now..

Its a good case overall, the problem was unshielded bare metal pins carrying mains voltage. It zapped me when I was plugging the case in to get it earthed, the way the case is set up I grabbed both sides to try to guide the cable in.

The fact that there are 240V bare metal pins exposed is very very bad design, or maybe a failure of quality control. I was lucky, the shock resulted in 2 pin size burns in my fingers and achy muscles upto my shoulder for a few days.

It could easily kill someone.

dav3evans · 4 Nov 2011 at 23:42

sldsmkd said:
Its a good case overall, the problem was unshielded bare metal pins carrying mains voltage. It zapped me when I was plugging the case in to get it earthed, the way the case is set up I grabbed both sides to try to guide the cable in.

The fact that there are 240V bare metal pins exposed is very very bad design, or maybe a failure of quality control. I was lucky, the shock resulted in 2 pin size burns in my fingers and achy muscles upto my shoulder for a few days.

It could easily kill someone.

Good to know. Still, nice design and a good build =]