so i built a new pc back in feb and took a bunch of pics. didn't know where to post them, totally forgot about this subforum until now, so here we go!

specs:
asus crosshair formula iv
amd phenom ii x6 1090t
ripjaws 8gb pc1600
xfx radeon hd 6870
1tb wd sata iii caviar black
ultra x4 750w modular psu
zalman 9500 cpu cooler
asus vh238h 23" led monitor
logitech g500
thermaltake esports challenger pro


i pretty much had to start from scratch with new keyboard/mouse/monitor/etc. since my last build was from 2004 , only thing i reused was my acrylic case. so basically i went for good deals and bang for my buck with solid components with room for upgrading in the future, oc'ing when i need it, etc. i do a little bit of gaming, not a lot, but i still wanted a decent setup. and if you know anything about me you'd know that i like to modify/personalize things, so i wanted to go for a black/red theme with everything.




here's everything thrown together just to get it up and running.



wires everywhere..



front panel



then i ordered all the modding stuff consisting of: new fans, sata cables, 100+ ft of wiring, cpu cooler, heat shrink tubing, sleeving, pins, connectors, fan filters, switches.



i just had to clean up the messy wiring so i started from scratch.








modded the cpu cooler fan next. the zalman 9500 originally comes with green led's in the fan, which obviously wouldn't go with my black/red theme, so i had to swap them out.

stock:







done, shortened wires, sleeved, with a red connector.



had to mod the case a little bit. cut out the fan openings to get maximum airflow and cut out the switch area to fit the new switches. also made a custom aluminum switch plate to match.
the aftermath:




finally, the finished setup.



made a custom mount for the 120mm fan in the optical drive area out of an old acrylic psu cover i had, worked perfectly. also replaced the blue led's in the card reader with red ones






also i should make a note about the wiring. thank god for multimeters.. if i hadn't done continuity tests on the original cables that came with the psu, i probably would have fried everything. i originally made the new cables as extension cables where pin 1 would go to pin 1 and so on, but for some mind boggling reason, ultra had a lot of them switched around coming out of the power supply, so i had to depin/repin/check/double check. but it all worked out well thankfully.

anyways hope you guys like!

Very clean nice build.

Very nice work!

Z

Oh those cables look nice. If I had the time, I'd love to do something like that strictly for cooling purposes. I'm all about stealth; no LED's, no noise.

thanks guys!

yeah the wiring took quite some time to do and it's still not 100% in my eyes, but it's good enough for now.
also, the fan filters are awesome. they get caked up with dust and i have to clean them about every 2 weeks, but the inside of my case is still 95% dust/insect free after 5 months

m tr4nch wrote:the fan filters are awesome.

Oh god what I would do for some fan filters. I recently took apart my entire laptop to clean the intake part of it's cooling system. Can some one make a DIY fan filter guide because many cases don't come with them.

RCA wrote:Oh god what I would do for some fan filters. I recently took apart my entire laptop to clean the intake part of it's cooling system. Can some one make a DIY fan filter guide because many cases don't come with them.

laptops are definitely the worst. i've had to disassemble and clean my xps (seen in the 2nd pic) plenty of times since i first got it. when i start idling around 70 degrees i know it's time to clean it lol.

i'm not sure i've seen any laptop fan filters anywhere, but the ones for desktop towers are pretty cheap. well worth the $4 each or whatever it was.