Panther's Playtime rig.

[pantherx12]

Hey techpowerup, I have the following components on their way to me! ( By Monday)

Thought I'd start a log to go with it

Case: NZXT Apollo Black Gaming Case - No PSU
PSU: Ezcool 700W Strada 14cm Fan PSU - 20+4pin 1x PCI-E 2x SATA
Mobo: ASUS M4A79T Deluxe 790FX Socket AM3 DDR3 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
Processor: AMD Phenom X4 905E 2.5GHz
Ram: Corsair 4gb (2x2gb) Ddr3 1333mhz Xms3 Memory Kit Cl9 (9-9-9-24)
Graphics: Will get with left over money, if possible will get a 5series ati card.


What does TPU think?

Went slightly over my original planed budget ( 300 pounds ha ha)

But then an extra 204 pounds came out of nowhere, and ontop of that birthday coming up so will have a bit of poundage from that.

Woo!

Log has started, scroll down for pics.

 

[EnergyFX]

Nice budget setup. Got any mods planned for the case?

 

[pantherx12]

Nice budget setup. Got any mods planned for the case?

I tend to mod as I come across things I don't like, so we'll see as I build


I actually got the case and PSU today, will take photos later.

The PSU is surprisingly good quality considering the price, comes in a really nice box, the PSU itself its sturdy and has some weight to it.

Shame mine came in horrible red D:

 

[tzitzibp]

good choice of hardware, man! like the case too!

piece of advice.... plan and list any possible and probable mods before you put everything in the case. It will make your life easier!

ps. I am sure that as soon as you upload some pics, many will provide ideas and advice on mods for the case!

ps2. say hi to Essex for me! I spent 2 years in Essex as a college student and had some great times there! (I lived in Witham and attended Chelmsford college 1993-1995)_ no comments on how old I am... please!

 

[pantherx12]

He he cool man, you said before when on your rig thread : ]

Yeah I can't wait for peoples suggestions, I love reading the project threads before of all the ideas + the neat photos!

 

[tzitzibp]

He he cool man, you said before when on your rig thread : ]

Yeah I can't wait for peoples suggestions, I love reading the project threads before of all the ideas + the neat photos!

sorry....I must be getting old! lol or I just miss my college days and jump on any opportunity to...remember! LOL

 

[EnergyFX]

I tend to mod as I come across things I don't like, so we'll see as I build...

I like your style

 

[CrackerJack]

Those cases have alot of room, and a little moding. You can have tons more. Ive got the blue case

 

[JrRacinFan]

Sick rig panther! Might I suggest using the 4550 til you can scrounge up more and pickup a HD5k when they hit retail.

 

[InTeL-iNsIdE]

EZcool psu ? :shadedshu you know there crap right ? I would at least reccomend something a bit better

 

[DaveK]

Corsair, Corsair, Corsair. Ditch the cheap PSU and get a good one.

 

[pantherx12]

I like trying other brands and stuff

Sometimes I find epic bargains.

I mean I shitty tsunami PSU runs an entire overclocked system, with no problems : ]



JR, that's what I thinking of doing, going to try and score a top end 5 series card if I can

( Top end single gpu card)

 

[tzitzibp]

Corsair, Corsair, Corsair. Ditch the cheap PSU and get a good one.

Enermax, Enermax, Enermax....

 

[InTeL-iNsIdE]

I like trying other brands and stuff

Sometimes I find epic bargains.

I mean I shitty tsunami PSU runs an entire overclocked system, with no problems : ]



JR, that's what I thinking of doing, going to try and score a top end 5 series card if I can

( Top end single gpu card)

Good luck running that pII overclocked what is it 125w stock ? with a hd 5 series card, 2x 20a on the 12v rails = crap, not epic bargain

 

[LittleLizard]

Antec, Antec, Antec!

Oh, and by the way, did u buy a cpu cooler¿

 

[pantherx12]

Good luck running that pII overclocked what is it 125w stock ? with a hd 5 series card, 2x 20a on the 12v rails = crap, not epic bargain

2 X 30 AMP.

Its enough : ]



No aftermarket cooler, will be an investment later when I start over clocking it.

 

[pantherx12]

Right first set of photos : ]

Only have the PSU and case at the moment but I've already fiddled ALOT XD

First just a shot of the case

I removed the side fan and the mesh and replaced it with one of my Hiper120 led fans

HDD cage is gone, it was just held in by screws so really easy to get rid of.
(Fan in photo is actual stock exhaust fan, this has been changed again, it is now another Hiper120 LED fan)

The PSU

From what I can see the internals are all pretty good, there is a lot of heat sink in there, should keep things cool.

( Took the spinny fan guard off at an attempt at a better internal shot)

The lovely sleeved cables

Box art, I wish I got sent the black one D:

And a note about the case, wire management looks like it will be an ass!

Will probably hack bits away eventually

 

[pantherx12]

Erm.. right, sort of got carried away and built the whole thing in 10 minutes <_<

So no building pics : [

How ever will post a pic of the finished system soon so people can suggest mods.

I'll also do reviews about the parts that I know enough about.

I decided to stick with the 905se, as there's only small differences in speeds vs the black edition @ at a minuscules 65w, I've already got the processor running stable 3ghz @1.150v (pretty much stock voltage)

From reviews I should be able to have it running @3.5 pretty easily, although I'll run it at 3.2 ( 955be stock speed)


Seems to be a pretty awesome processor : ]

 

[JrRacinFan]

I bet your first boot was kinda scary, doing all that building and then come acrossed a DOA part. Congrats!

Oh and nice clock on the cpu.

 

[pantherx12]

Ha ha yeah was nerve racking, especially with everyone warning me about cheap power supplies!


I'm really not looking forward to making the system tidy though, looks like I'm going to have to bust out drills and such like, there's just no where for wires at all.

Tomorrow I'll be getting a HDD ( tested it using the one from my parents system) Freezer64 heatsink and a wificard : ]

Will do a whole bunch of bench marking for you guys.

( For those interested @ 2.6 ghz the processor receives a score of 7.2 in windows seven performance)