Description
This is my first build where I put effort into cable management, and my Phanteks Luxe helped quite a bit. I probably could have hidden the wires a bit better, but I'm nervous about forcing them to bend too sharply at the connection point (I'm a wimp) so I allow them to stick up a bit.
Despite the fact that my 4790k gave respectable stability at 4.7 GHz, I ticked it back to a more modest 4.5 just to ease the strain as I keep my computer on 24/7. The stock fans that came with my 100i were garbage, so I replaced them with 4 high performance Corsairs in a push-pull, and I got much better results. Overall, I'm incredibly happy with how everything turned out. Please ignore the inconsistencies in ram and wireless card (upgraded a week after the initial build because I figured I might as well).
The price is a bit wonky because I have several hundred dollars in peripherals that I use for various tasks (I swap out my keyboards and mice for different games), but I honestly feel it has been money well spent. Hopefully the photos came out alright.
Edit: Since this got more attention than I anticipated, I'm feeling up to writing more about it.
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core: I wanted a new Haswell chip to replace my aging i7-2600. The 4790K was at the right price point and seems to be one of the better price/performance i7s out there.
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 X 2: I already owned one set (16 GB) and wanted to upgrade to 32 GB, so I simply bought a matching pair. "Why do you need 32 GB of ram?" -- I do video editing and rendering can make full use of every bit of ram to speed the process up.
Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" SSD X 2: They were some of the fastest, most reliable drives on the market when I bought them several months ago. I went with 2 256 GB drives over a single 512 GB because I prefer to use one drive for booting and select programs and keep another drive empty to record video onto. For organizational sake, it's much easier for me to have separate drives for this. After filling the second drive, I simply move the 60 FPS video onto my spinners.
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0: I run a single 1080p monitor due to limited desk space, and the 970 just can't be beat for the price in my setup. I was wait-listed and managed to snag my card in the 15 minutes they were in stock before being sold out again.
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower: I was deciding between this case and one of the Corsair full towers, and the Phanteks just seemed like better value. The cable management, built in fan controller, 10-color lighting, and just overall smart design impressed me immensely. I added an extra lighting strip to fill out the inside of the case, and thankfully Phanteks makes a strip specifically for the Luxe that matches the preexisting lighting.
Corsair 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V: I bought an amazing velvet bag, and for some reason they gave me a 1000 watt power supply with it. I figured I might as well use it.
Asus PCE-AC68 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1: My desk is in the basement and several walls away from my router. I bought a matching ASUS dual-band AC router, and the signal is incredible.
Corsair K95 RGB: RAAAAAAIIIINNNNNNBOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWSSSSSSSSS
Comments