- Aug 24, 2011
- 11
- 0
- 18,510
Well, I've used this site many many times in the past few weeks for reference as I've been planning my first build to replace my old dying HP, now that I'm 15 i assumed I should build one myself suited to my own needs.
Here are the planned specs:
Reusing my mothers dead HP Pavillion Mini Tower case (bought and installed a new button/led kit for the front bezel)
ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3 Micro ATX Motherboard
AMD Phenom II 1090T Processor (this is a hexacore if you don't know) with stock cooler until i decide to get an H50 for noise
2, 2GB Dimms of Team Elite ddr3 Ram
600W power supply given to me by a friend
160gb IDE drive for booting and some software
320 and 120 gb SATA hard drives in RAID for onboard storage (ill use my 2tb external for most)
used 16x dvd burner for onboard optical support
External Blu-Ray burner i purchased new when they were just coming on the market (cost me $300 at the time)
And ill be using my 24 inch 1080p HDTV as my monitor, with onboard graphics until i can afford a semi decent graphics card.
i think its pretty good, it was under $400 spent since i had alot of the stuff already, using an old drive for booting simply because i had it, its not too slow or anything, and im not looking for a superpower/gaming rig anyway. I'm mostly here just to look for suggestions on the Graphics card i should use for this in the future, i only want moderate gaming power (mmos smoothly on high settings, fps just need to be playable.) I'll also try and post pictures of the build in process or just the completed build when the parts come in the mail.
EDIT: so first thing i have to say is, i made a mistake, its not an hp pavillion, its a compaq Presario case, no big deal, but different cases.
the build was quite easy though excruciatingly stressful at parts, i had tested the rig out of the case then was unable to disconnect the ATX power cable from the motherboard for a very long time, it frightened me, i didnt know if i would break off the port or scratch a connection on the mobo or what, it turned out ok in the end.
so on to the pics:
here is the skeleton of the rig, you can see the fan with leds i mounted in the front, it JUST fit and i had to break one clip off the side panel to make it clost with the fan there, the fan lights up so beautifully too bad the case bezel will cover it up most of the time.
Here is just an image to show you the case, it looks nice, i always liked these cases, sure it says compaq but whatever, i used lighter fluid to remove the old stickers from compaq and pu on the ones i got with the cpu and MOBO at the bottom, may not be able to see it in the pic....
an image of the frankenstein like inside, surprisingly these pictures make the cable management look exceedingly bad, when in reality it is bad but not as bad as youd think, air seems to move through the case quite nicely, and yes that is a diablotek power supply, thats what i recieved and i wasnt happy but it works! and so far everything the box promises its given me, i just hope it doesnt explode before i can upgrade to a modular one.
and lastly here is a screenshot of it playing a 1440p youtube video and portal 2 on high graphics settings, this is all using the integrated hd 4250 graphics on the motherboard, so they work exceedingly well since i get about 40 fps in portal 2 on high, of course its not a very demanding game. oh it should also be noted that the cpu has been slightly overclocked to 3.4 ghz.(fixed)
so theres the images of my first buid ever, so far, i know when it comes to desktops ill never buy stock, or even custom built by others again, this was probably the most fun thing ive ever done, from the purchasing to the cable "management" (3 cable ties and an empty 5.25 inch bay) i had so much fun and they feeling i got when i saw that splash screen and it passed POST was unforgettable. and really if it wasnt for this site i would have never been able to do this so thanks community.
Here are the planned specs:
Reusing my mothers dead HP Pavillion Mini Tower case (bought and installed a new button/led kit for the front bezel)
ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3 Micro ATX Motherboard
AMD Phenom II 1090T Processor (this is a hexacore if you don't know) with stock cooler until i decide to get an H50 for noise
2, 2GB Dimms of Team Elite ddr3 Ram
600W power supply given to me by a friend
160gb IDE drive for booting and some software
320 and 120 gb SATA hard drives in RAID for onboard storage (ill use my 2tb external for most)
used 16x dvd burner for onboard optical support
External Blu-Ray burner i purchased new when they were just coming on the market (cost me $300 at the time)
And ill be using my 24 inch 1080p HDTV as my monitor, with onboard graphics until i can afford a semi decent graphics card.
i think its pretty good, it was under $400 spent since i had alot of the stuff already, using an old drive for booting simply because i had it, its not too slow or anything, and im not looking for a superpower/gaming rig anyway. I'm mostly here just to look for suggestions on the Graphics card i should use for this in the future, i only want moderate gaming power (mmos smoothly on high settings, fps just need to be playable.) I'll also try and post pictures of the build in process or just the completed build when the parts come in the mail.
EDIT: so first thing i have to say is, i made a mistake, its not an hp pavillion, its a compaq Presario case, no big deal, but different cases.
the build was quite easy though excruciatingly stressful at parts, i had tested the rig out of the case then was unable to disconnect the ATX power cable from the motherboard for a very long time, it frightened me, i didnt know if i would break off the port or scratch a connection on the mobo or what, it turned out ok in the end.
so on to the pics:
here is the skeleton of the rig, you can see the fan with leds i mounted in the front, it JUST fit and i had to break one clip off the side panel to make it clost with the fan there, the fan lights up so beautifully too bad the case bezel will cover it up most of the time.
Here is just an image to show you the case, it looks nice, i always liked these cases, sure it says compaq but whatever, i used lighter fluid to remove the old stickers from compaq and pu on the ones i got with the cpu and MOBO at the bottom, may not be able to see it in the pic....
an image of the frankenstein like inside, surprisingly these pictures make the cable management look exceedingly bad, when in reality it is bad but not as bad as youd think, air seems to move through the case quite nicely, and yes that is a diablotek power supply, thats what i recieved and i wasnt happy but it works! and so far everything the box promises its given me, i just hope it doesnt explode before i can upgrade to a modular one.
and lastly here is a screenshot of it playing a 1440p youtube video and portal 2 on high graphics settings, this is all using the integrated hd 4250 graphics on the motherboard, so they work exceedingly well since i get about 40 fps in portal 2 on high, of course its not a very demanding game. oh it should also be noted that the cpu has been slightly overclocked to 3.4 ghz.(fixed)
so theres the images of my first buid ever, so far, i know when it comes to desktops ill never buy stock, or even custom built by others again, this was probably the most fun thing ive ever done, from the purchasing to the cable "management" (3 cable ties and an empty 5.25 inch bay) i had so much fun and they feeling i got when i saw that splash screen and it passed POST was unforgettable. and really if it wasnt for this site i would have never been able to do this so thanks community.
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