Back in the last week of August I built a new computer and I’ve been meaning to write a post about it. This was the first time I’d attempted to do something like this, sure I’d replaced graphics cards, added more RAM, connected hard drives up and what-not but I hadn’t built it all from scratch before. There were certainly some “OH ****!” moments during the day.

The spec of my machine was (and still is) quite a beast, Overclockers.co.uk had (for some reason) sent me an e-mail offering me a 10% discount on my next order (bet they’re regretting that now, I got £100 or so off my order!) so I was able to get better parts than I originally intended.

Specs

• Antec Twelve Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
• Corsair HX 620W PSU
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz Processor
• Nvidia GeForce GTX280 1024MB Graphics Card
• GeiL 4GB 1066MHz Black Dragon DDR2 RAM
• Asus Xonar DX Sound Card
• Samsung 1TB Hard-Drive
• Samsung DVD-RW drive
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-Bit

Here are most of the parts I got, the primary exception being the case. I ordered the sound card at a later date when I realised how rubbish on-board sound was. Some of the parts in the images above were for my mum’s new computer that I offered to build at the same time.

I got started well enough. I took out the motherboard and fitted the processor and RAM from outside the case. I had some problems with the fan/heatsink, for starters the separate processor fan/heatsink kit that I was going to use didn’t come with enough screws to fit it in properly. In the end I decided that I’d just use the stock kit that came with the processor as I wasn’t intending to overclock. After this I screwed the motherboard into the case.

I forget the order that I did this in but then I added the graphics card (which is HUGE by the way! Oh my…) and the disk drives, I had no problems with that either.

Then came the PSU.

Oh it was easy enough to fit, in fact I have nothing against the PSU itself. It does a fine job. However you may have noticed that in this particular computer case that the PSU actually fits to the bottom instead of the top. I can see why this would be useful, air-flow is improved as it leaves room for a large fan at the top of the case (where the PSU would normally be) for heat to come out of. This design, however, is not so great if you have the case standing up vertically while you’re still fitting parts to the case. With screws. Above the PSU fan opening. And you sometimes drop things. Like screws.

Yes, I dropped a screw in there. And it happened to be just small enough to fit in but just big enough that it wouldn’t come back out. It took me the best part of two hours to get it out again without voiding the warranty of the PSU.

*sigh*

Eventually though I did get it out, and I moved onto connecting everything else up (carefully, with the case on it’s side). I connected up all the internal data and power cables (which I left as a horrendous mess incidentally, I’m scared to go back in there) and booted it up.

It’s very purty with the lights…

Oh yes. Everything else went off without a hitch, I installed Windows yada-yada-yada. And had no more problems after that. All I had to do was fit the side panel back on.

Tada!

And I was done.

-Thomas

Edit: Here are a couple of other photos.

Note my incredible cable management skills. And that accursed PSU fan sitting there at the bottom! Argh!

In all this case has something like six fans built-in, with the option of adding more. Overkill? Perhaps. But at least they’re pretty!