My New Build finally finished

[Enmitynz]

Hey guys,

I saved my pennies for far too long but finally this thing is up and running. Really happy with the end product. Only slight gripe I have is the Sapphire 7970GE Vapor X cards were bigger than anticipated, rendering my PCI Xonar DG soundcard useless. Gunna have to get a PCIE Soundcard on the cheap - (on that note, what would you guys recommend as a good but reasonably priced gaming soundcard? must have optical)

Heres a couple of pics of the PC taken tonight.

Full Specs are :

i5 3570k Quacore CPU @4.6Ghz (cooled with a Corsair H100 self contained liqiud cooling unit)
8GB of Mushkin Frostbyte DDR3 1600mhz ram
Asus P8Z77-V Motherboard
2 x Sapphire HD7970 Ghz Edition Vapor-X 3GB Graphics cards in crossfire
Corsair HX850V2 850W Power Supply
OCZ Vertex 4 Indilinx 128GB SSD for operating system
OCZ Vertex 2 90GB SSD for main games

.. and a 1TB + 3 x 320GB HDDs for storage all spinning inside the Cooler Master CM Storm Stryker Full Tower Chassis.

No modifications really, other than zip tying that 200mm fan in front of the GPU's haha.

 

[Crap Daddy]

Very nice. Congrats!

 

[Enmitynz]

thanks man, really appreciate it

 

[Frag_Maniac]

...what would you guys recommend as a good but reasonably priced gaming soundcard?

Why not just go with the Pci-Ex variant of the same thing?
ASUS Xonar DGX 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Expre...

Nice looking build, but dual GHz Ed Vapor X 7970s are kinda overkill for the display listed in your sys specs. Are you planning to upgrade to 2560 or a multi display setup?

 

[lyndonguitar]

Nice build! how much did it cost ya?

 

[Mindweaver]

Nice build!

 

[Jetster]

Nice

That's a lot of pennies

 

[Enmitynz]

Thanks for the replies guys, yeah the dgx is probably gunna be the card for me price? Well roughly $2500nzd. But i kept 3hdds and a ssd from my previous build so saved a little money there. Next on my list will be a 27" monitor with 2560x1600/1440 as i cant stand the bezel inbetween multi monitors.

 

[MT Alex]

Your new rig looks really nice, in fact, it looks way to nice to leave those fluorescent transformers all willy nilly in plain sight.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Your new rig looks really nice, in fact, it looks way to nice to leave those fluorescent transformers all willy nilly in plain sight.

I was about to say the same thing. Move that stuff behind the motherboard cage.

Nice rig though, I like the GPUs.

 

[Enmitynz]

yeah you guys are right, it does look fugly having it all so exposed. But the length in the cables are not long enough to route behind the motherboard tray while keeping the cathodes in the ideal places. Think i might just rip them out - its cramping my style haha.

 

[tastegw]

Looks really clean, I like it!
I bet you are stoked at how it performs.

 

[Enmitynz]

Thanks man, yeah im loving it aye its chomping through games with ease. Together with radeonpro now supporting dynamic vsync its the smoothest gameplay ive ever experienced.

 

[MT Alex]

yeah you guys are right, it does look fugly having it all so exposed. But the length in the cables are not long enough to route behind the motherboard tray while keeping the cathodes in the ideal places. Think i might just rip them out - its cramping my style haha.

A nice spot for a cathode is right behind your rad on the roof of the case. I have one there and it adds a classy and subtle glow to the components below, and his completely hidden.

Those transformers fit well in the slot created by the 5 1/4" bays, where the cavity behind the motherboard tray is the deepest. Also, you can use any speaker wire or anything else to lengthen the cables. Black tape would work fine, no soldering needed.

 

[GamerGuy]

Very, very nice work there!

 

[Enmitynz]

A nice spot for a cathode is right behind your rad on the roof of the case. I have one there and it adds a classy and subtle glow to the components below, and his completely hidden.

Those transformers fit well in the slot created by the 5 1/4" bays, where the cavity behind the motherboard tray is the deepest. Also, you can use any speaker wire or anything else to lengthen the cables. Black tape would work fine, no soldering needed.

Hey man you mean on the top but the innermost side? Ill take a look later and scope that shit out.

Gamerguy, thanks man! Im fully stoked with it aye.

 

[Enmitynz]

So what do you guys reckon now that i've removed the cathodes and that ugly ass box? although the glue mark on my PSU is proving to be difficult to remove and looks just about as bad as before lol...but yeah...tried the household cleaners like Jif and Spray and wipe at first, then tried to gently use a paint scraper...nope...isopropyl? i thought this was a winner, but nope..cant get the shit off lol. It was superglue so if anyone has any tips to remove the glue from my PSU you'll be forever in my debt haha...anyway, heres some pics of how its looking now. Still waiting for the soundcard too btw.

 

[Jetster]

First try a heat gun or hair blower. If that doesn't work you can try a little bit of fingernail polish remover. (Acetone) But do a little test spot out of sight as it may take the paint off as well. But the heat should do it

 

[Enmitynz]

thanks man i'll give that a go

 

[micropage7]

i use cajuput oil to remove any left glue
after removing glue i use soap

 

[PLAfiller]

My two cent: use terpentine, it removes any residual glue from stickers or sticky substance or oil nad it won't remove the paint. I use it when I remove stickers from my bikes frame. And it is very quick this way- it'll take you a minute literary.

 

[Enmitynz]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, IZKoce, i think i'll give your suggestion of terpentine a go as I have no idea what cajuput oil is lol I can get terpentine from my regular supermarket so i'll pop down and get some probably tomorrow.

In other news, Asus Xonar DGX Soundcard has been ordered will be here in a couple of days.

 

[Huddo93]

All you need now is a 2560x1440/1600 monitor!

Great build by the way, looks really clean!

 

[Enmitynz]

thanks man! and yup, just need a 2560x1440/1600 monitor for sure, need some prices to drop or someone to sell me one second hand sometime very soon haha.

Until then i'll just get some little bits n bobs like a braided motherboard power connector from NZXT, another case fan for the bottom of the chassis and probably some more, but less ugly lighting lol

Will probably get around to replacing the fans on the H100's rad too, they're pretty noisy when the heat comes on, plus if I use different fans i'll just route them out of sight and control them via the chassis fan controller which will look even cleaner around the cpu area.

Any fans I get i'd like to be white, which limits me immensely if I want decent fans but tbh id only be worried about the performance of the rad's fans as now that the 200mm is zip tied in front og the gpus, there's plenty of airflow and im now just filling gaps and nit picking haha.

 

[Primalz]

Bro if you wanna get rid of the glue, you need WD40. That shit will eat any glue up for brekkie...