Build Log: Marilyn

[TheMainMan]

So this build is somewhat of a bittersweet build. My S.O's grandmother passed away a few months ago and when the estate was settled, each of the grandchildren was given $1000 for something they needed. As my S.O's laptop is getting old and the netbook is mainly for notes, she decided that the money would go toward a computer. After convincing her that I could build something that would far out-perform what we could buy off the shelf at Future Shop, I set about the task of building the fastest thing I could for the money.

The PC is almost complete, the only thing left to do is put together the dedication plaque. The specs:

Intel Core i5 2500
Asus P8Z68-V LE
Corsair Vengeance 16GB @ 1600MHz
Gigabyte Radeon 6770 1GB
WD Caviar Black 750GB
WD Caviar Green 2TB
NZXT Source 210 Elite
OCZ ModXStream 700W
Samsung DVD drive

Windows 7 and Office 2010 also were included in the budget, and as my S.O is a student they were purchased through theultimatesteal.ca.

In the end I was less than $40 over budget, which was my gift to her (in addition to building it for her).

Enough talk, more photos! Let's start with all the goodies.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07189.jpg

You know it's a budget case when the box is brown cardboard!
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07190.jpg
Nicely detailed product features look good even without colour.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07192.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07194.jpg

Typical packaging though, the case was in great condition.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07196.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07197.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07199.jpg

The case was one of my favourite parts of this build. I usually prefer Cooler Master cases but chose the Source 210 Elite because of the features and the good reputation I've been hearing about NZXT products. You can see from the next few photos all the small details NZXT has put into this case that are typically not found in this price range. My main criteria was a bottom mounted PSU and lots of space for cable management.

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07202.jpg
It's a bit hard to see in this photo but there is 2cm of space behind the mobo tray and tons of cable tie mounts.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07203.jpg

Case accessories. NZXT provided all black screws for everything in this case including four for the PSU and a motherboard standoff driver (also in black) that makes installing the standoffs a breeze.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07204.jpg
Including one of the best manuals I've ever seen. My grandmother could have put a computer into this case with these instructions.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07205.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07206.jpg
The front faceplate has a perfect balance between being secure and easy to remove.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07208.jpg

Having the legend for what holes are used for each form factor is not uncommon but this is easy to read and actually uses full names.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07211.jpg

My only negative experience with this case was when I went to put the mobo in and noticed this.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07227.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07228.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07229.jpg

So I emailed these photos to NZXT customer service and told them what happened and they shipped out two replacement fans. A great customer service experience to back up a well made product.

Next installment: Putting it all together!

[SXRguyinMA]

Nice build! Yea NZXT customer service is top notch, I've dealt with them on a few separate occasions :D

[billygoat333]

I really like that case actually... very simple and elegant. Great modding platform!

[TheMainMan]

It's a very slick case in person. I would have loved to use a Fractal Design R3 or a Cooler Master Silencio 550 but neither fit the budget. This case blew my expectations away and was less than $50 CDN to boot!

Unfortunately, this one won't see any modding as my S.O. said no :(

[TheMainMan]

One thing I really like about this case is that it is pretty straightforward to get it disassembled.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07207.jpg
Fans removed so that I can take off the extra Molex pass-throughs as they won't be needed for this build.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07209.jpg
By carefully extracting the pins on the 3-pin connectors, I was able to seperate the extra connector without damaging either side. Then I used the existing heatshrink and re-heated it to cover my work.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07217.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07218.jpg
End result is a really clean looking connector with no added bulk of a passthrough :)

Stripped case awaiting some guts.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07212.jpg
Motherboard fresh out of the package.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07219.jpg
CPU and cooler installed.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07220.jpg
Now for the whopping 16GBs of ram that looks so pretty!
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07222.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07223.jpg
Now that the board is ready to be installed in the case, this is when I noticed the most annoying part about this board. It's supposedly a standard ATX board, however, in what was presumably a cost saving measure the three mounting holes furthest from the back I/O edge have been removed and the board shortened about an inch. I thought I had a photo of this but I can't find it so I'll try to take another when I get home after Christmas.

Sliding the ODD in was quick and painless due to very nice tool free clips (though I still use screws on the backside).
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07224.jpg

Time to take the PSU out of its shiny box. (This is the second PSU as the first was DOA due to a very thoughtless packing job at Newegg where foam peanuts were loosely added to the box. Needless to say the fairly heavy PSU settled to the bottom and probably met its end when the box was dropped at some point in transit).
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07213.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07214.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07215.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07216.jpg
For a fairly budget PSU it's nice to see the included mesh bag for the extra modular ends.

To finish this installment I give you the tangled mass of pre-managed cabling!
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Marilyn/DSC07226.jpg

[LooseNeutral]

Nice comp for the budget ...Doing the right thing for S.O. ... curious what you paid for that Cav Blk 750, I just had a WD Cav Blk 1tb take a dive on me and the price has doubled..like $200+now. still under mfgr warrenty - YAY ..rma next monday. Man,you would have to leave with that mangled mass staring at me ... I got a wiring disorder. that's like nails on a chalk board :p

[TheMainMan]

Thanks for the compliment, the S.O. agrees :D I paid $59 for it back in early October. I think it was about two weeks before the flooding when I picked up all the parts. I hear you on the wiring as I think I have the same, it certainly doesn't look like that now. Next update will have to wait until I go home after Christmas as I think I left the rest of the photos on my desktop.