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.
You know it's a budget case when the box is brown cardboard!
Nicely detailed product features look good even without colour.
Typical packaging though, the case was in great condition.
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.
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.
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.
Including one of the best manuals I've ever seen. My grandmother could have put a computer into this case with these instructions.
The front faceplate has a perfect balance between being secure and easy to remove.
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.
My only negative experience with this case was when I went to put the mobo in and noticed this.
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!