[Build Log] The Monolith

[DexRain]

So my first personal system build in over 3 years, and the most amount of money I've ever spent at one time, it's not every day you get 3 years worth of tax returns all at once, so I decided to go big

Pardon a few of the crap quality pictures, cell phone camera ._.

First off, here's my current box, still very capable (and shiny)

 

Asus Crosshair IV Formula

AMD Phenom II 965 BE @3.9GHz

Coolermaster V8 R1

G-Skill Sniper 8gb (2x4gb) DDR3-1600

Diamond Radeon 6870 1gb reference card - primary GPU
EVGA nVidia Geforce 8600 GTS 512mb - second monitor

Corsair TX750-M Modular PSU

SanDisk Extreme 256gb SSD - OS Drive

WD Caviar Green 1.5tb - WD Caviar Blue 500gb - WD Caviar SE16 200gb - storage drives

TSST CD/DVD combo burner

Antec 1200 Rev.1

 

My GF is getting this lovely old girl, though I'll most likely be adding a second 6870 in the near future, and she's going to be changing the fans / LED's from my Murica! red white and blue theme to green and purple.

Edited May 3, 2014 by DexRain

[DexRain]

And now, the new parts, big pile of shiny things here

 

Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z

AMD FX 8320 Octo-Core

Phanteks PH14C cpu cooler

G-Skill Trident-X 16gb (4x4gb) DDR3-2400

MSI Gaming Series Radeon R9 290 Twin Frozr IV 4gb GDDR5

Antec HCP-1000 1000W 80plus Platinum fully modular PSU

SanDisk Extreme II 240gb SSD

WD Caviar Green 1.5tb - WD Caviar SE16 160gb - WD Caviar SE16 500gb

LG CD/DVD Combo Burner

Xigmatek Elysium Super Tower

[DexRain]

Getting the case ready for parts, this thing is MASSIVE, it's going to look great when I get the rest of the LED's I want (ran out of money right now haha)

 

Going with an orange and white theme for the lights, when I get the money for them at least, working with what I've got for now

[ccokeman]

For an AMD based build not bad! 

 

Playing with a 9590 and CHVF right now myself. 

[DexRain]

Motherboard, hoping the Crosshair V performs as well as my Crosshair IV has

Looks kinda small in that monster of a case

Ram, goin to have to pull those heat spreaders off to fit it under my cpu cooler though.

Those 4 sticks look like they're packed in pretty tight, I should have enough airflow in this baby though.

Phanteks PH14C next to the stock AMD heatsink, just a wee bit bigger.

Got both fans on it, I'll be adding a third fan i the middle probably next week.

I knew it was going to big but holy crap, this monster takes up like half my motherboard!

PSU and Optical Drive installed, front panel headers connected to mobo.

Hard Drive racks moved to the top of the case, cup holder installed, I really like having my burner and cup holder at the bottom and my HDD's at the top, it just makes more sense from an airflow perspective, my PSU has a bottom intake, so the optical drives aren't blocking airflow to any componants like they would if they were mounted up top

[ccokeman]

Just an FYI. One of the fans goes in between the two cooling towers on the heatsink, not one on each side!    

[DexRain]

Yeah I know, gonna get one for the middle when I get my next paycheck (bills ate all of this check) I actually have it all put together right now and it idles at 14.c at 4.3GHz and tops out at 43.c running Prime95, so they seem to be pulling air through the heat towers pretty nicely none the less

[ccokeman]

What are you using to get your temperatures? 

[DexRain]

CoreTemp, I keep my house around 55~60.F all year though, so that may have something to due with those temps.

 

Hovers betwen 18~23.c under low load

Edited May 4, 2014 by DexRain

[DexRain]

Back to the build progress I guess (even though it's already done ^^; )

Hard Drives, the HDD's were all pulled from my old box, the SSD is new, the 2 Caviar SE's have been in service for over 5 years now.

Planning on getting a 1tb Velociraptor to use as a Steam drive with my next check, I've got 200+ games so I need the storage, debating on that or a larger Caviar Black

The crown jewel, so to say, MSI Gaming Series Radeon R9 290, hoping to pick up a second one with the next bonus I get.

Sits nice and flush with my heatsink.

A few closer shots of the cable management, I'm thinking of getting cable wrap for the front panel wiring and fan leads as it looks a bit, well, bleh with all those multicolored wires

The blue fans are only temporary, but don't look too bad in the meantime, and, well, they were just sitting around my house not doing anything usefull (replacing them with orange LED fans when I get the money)

 

And yes, the big 200mm on the side is mounted on the outside of the side panel, I've got a fan grill in the mail, and I plan on making some sort of cover for the sides of the fan (possibly wrapping it in a flexible LED strip as well) Going to dril a hole in the side of the case to run the fan power wires through some time tomorrow, running it through the liquid cooling grommets on the back of the case for now

Edited May 4, 2014 by DexRain