New computer time - 2015-02-21 7:07 AM
Finally got sick and damn tired of my old buggy machine, so I whored myself out for some coin and bought a new one. Certainly not the highest of the high-end machines, but it's high enough for me.
ASUS Z97-DELUXE ATX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards Z97-DELUXE
Originally, I was going to grab Asus' Intel-based X99 Deluxe motherboard because I wanted to be able to use DDR4 RAM, but I later found out that it would only work with fifth generation i7 CPUs--which are expensive as fuck. So I went the z97 route instead.
Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150
$300 was as much as I was willing to spend on an i7. Fourth generation should be decent enough for the rig.
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
LG WH16NS40 Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 16x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter
CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD
Corsair gives you a shit ton of stuff with which to maintain your power supply. I wasn't expecting a custom pouch with a series of detachable power cables and zip ties. Nice.
Sapphire Radeon VAPOR-X R9 290X 8GB GDDR5
The GPU is the crown jewel of the machine. I wasn't originally going for something this high end, but I found this--typically $650 dollar monster--for $350 and I just couldn't resist.
Rosewill Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case CHALLENGER-U3 Black
Whatever case I got, USB 3.0 front paneling was essential. Little did I know there would be complications with the size*.
I might add two more fans to the side vents. Not sure yet.
Acer S241HLbmid Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor
I went the Bmid route for the internal speakers. Maybe I should have gone a little wider though. I'm not certain.
Logitech Speakers Z130
Cheapy $25 5-watt speakers. All I really need since I'm not a sound connoseiur.
Razer DeathAdder Chroma - Multi-Color Ergonomic Gaming Mouse
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Stealth Edition Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
I didn't plan on spending a lot of bucks on high quality interfaces, but the $15 generic infrared mouse stopped working right after only a month of use and the chiclet keys on the $12 keyboard keep causing typing errors--and lack of a backlight was infuriating when I had to do work in the dark.
*If you didn't already notice, the Sapphire R9 290x is a little under a foot long--easily the largest graphics card I've ever owned. The thought had occured to me before I bought it that there would be some crowding issues, but I didn't consider for a moment that Sapphire would design a card that wouldn't fit in at least a standard ATX....
The card was just long enough to overlap with the 3.5 bay and the top lefthand corner of the HDD storage tower. The card would not seat under those conditions.
A friend suggested that I get another card or another case. My response: "Fuck off."
I drilled the rivets out of the 3.5 bay with a titanium steel bit and very carefully pulled the damn thing out after two frustrating hours of trying to get a correct angle on each one. Hard part done.
After that I took a powered handsaw to the bottom tower. The process of cutting it took about forty-five minutes. I took about fifteen minutes to smooth out the jagged edges with only relative success. Finally, I put the HDDs in the tower to make sure I got the right distance before applying the zip ties. Worked like a charm.
ASUS Z97-DELUXE ATX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards Z97-DELUXE
Originally, I was going to grab Asus' Intel-based X99 Deluxe motherboard because I wanted to be able to use DDR4 RAM, but I later found out that it would only work with fifth generation i7 CPUs--which are expensive as fuck. So I went the z97 route instead.
Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150
$300 was as much as I was willing to spend on an i7. Fourth generation should be decent enough for the rig.
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
LG WH16NS40 Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 16x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter
CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD
Corsair gives you a shit ton of stuff with which to maintain your power supply. I wasn't expecting a custom pouch with a series of detachable power cables and zip ties. Nice.
Sapphire Radeon VAPOR-X R9 290X 8GB GDDR5
The GPU is the crown jewel of the machine. I wasn't originally going for something this high end, but I found this--typically $650 dollar monster--for $350 and I just couldn't resist.
Rosewill Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case CHALLENGER-U3 Black
Whatever case I got, USB 3.0 front paneling was essential. Little did I know there would be complications with the size*.
I might add two more fans to the side vents. Not sure yet.
Acer S241HLbmid Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor
I went the Bmid route for the internal speakers. Maybe I should have gone a little wider though. I'm not certain.
Logitech Speakers Z130
Cheapy $25 5-watt speakers. All I really need since I'm not a sound connoseiur.
Razer DeathAdder Chroma - Multi-Color Ergonomic Gaming Mouse
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Stealth Edition Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
I didn't plan on spending a lot of bucks on high quality interfaces, but the $15 generic infrared mouse stopped working right after only a month of use and the chiclet keys on the $12 keyboard keep causing typing errors--and lack of a backlight was infuriating when I had to do work in the dark.
*If you didn't already notice, the Sapphire R9 290x is a little under a foot long--easily the largest graphics card I've ever owned. The thought had occured to me before I bought it that there would be some crowding issues, but I didn't consider for a moment that Sapphire would design a card that wouldn't fit in at least a standard ATX....
The card was just long enough to overlap with the 3.5 bay and the top lefthand corner of the HDD storage tower. The card would not seat under those conditions.
A friend suggested that I get another card or another case. My response: "Fuck off."
I drilled the rivets out of the 3.5 bay with a titanium steel bit and very carefully pulled the damn thing out after two frustrating hours of trying to get a correct angle on each one. Hard part done.
After that I took a powered handsaw to the bottom tower. The process of cutting it took about forty-five minutes. I took about fifteen minutes to smooth out the jagged edges with only relative success. Finally, I put the HDDs in the tower to make sure I got the right distance before applying the zip ties. Worked like a charm.