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First Post & First Build

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08zombie

New Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Hello everyone this is my first post for my first build.

Recently my wife's laptop took a crap, we have 2 dell desktops at the house but one is very old and one is extremely slow. I'd like to cut my losses on them and build a better performing PC. I don't do any PC gaming so I'm not SUPER concerned about having a video card. It's also something that I could add on later if need be. If you have suggestions for a build with a video card I'm open to them. I've been browsing around the interwebz the past few weeks gathering information / watching videos on PC builds. I took a PC building class in college but since it wasn't something I use in my line of work I didn't retain it very well. Seems simple enough to put everything together though. Doing a PC build doesn't scare me at all.

A few needs of mine/ours:
  • I am looking to utilize both monitors that we have for the build. They are both a little older and use VGA inputs. New monitors would be way out of the budget for us right now.
  • PC should be able to handle both Autocad & Microstation since it would be nice to work from home if I need to. My wife sometimes would use the PC to work from home but not doing anything crazy.
  • Windows 10 is what I'd prefer, I use 7 at work though.
  • My wife would like it to look nice and not be too expensive. It should definitely be a better performer than a store bought unit without costing too much.
  • We would both be using the PC for music storage and my wife would need a decent amount of photo storage. I figure 1TB would be plenty for what we would need. Again I could always add more later down the line.

Here is a build I compiled this morning that I thought was a decent looking: www.pcpartpicker.com/p/hLF2Hx

I am open to suggestions and changes. I'm not 100% attached to a case so if you have a cheaper/better alternate let me know (Big fan of the window on the side though). The nzxt s340 was a strong contender. I am also open to including a video card as long as it doesn't break the bank. The power supply I selected is oversized for potential future video card. I am looking to start this build very soon.

Thanks in advance for taking some time to look through this. Looking forward to any input that more experienced folks have. :thup:
 
Last edited:
Welcome!

What is your budget? That is going to make it easier for people to help you out.

Josh
 
That seems like a decent build for your usages to me. Keep in mind, though, that while modern Intel motherboards/CPUs support multiple monitors, you'll want to convert either the DVI or HDMI output to VGA to use both of your monitors, so you'll need a converter cable.
 
Dlaw said:
That seems like a decent build for your usages to me. Keep in mind, though, that while modern Intel motherboards/CPUs support multiple monitors, you'll want to convert either the DVI or HDMI output to VGA to use both of your monitors, so you'll need a converter cable.
Click to expand...

OK well that's reassuring. That's a simple solution and exactly what I thought it would be.

Any suggested improvements that wouldn't impact the overall cost? I'm still playing around on the pcpartfinder.
 
The only thing I would add is an SSD for your boot drive and any apps that can benefit from the speed (likely your work software and whatever you use for photo editing). I would go 240GB at a minimum for your boot drive. Something like this or this would work great for you.
 
Update:

The last of the parts were delivered yesterday. Since my wife was busy I decided to go ahead and see how far I could get. My original plan was just to pull out the manuals and look over them....... but of course I didn't do that.

I didn't take hardly any photos of the process since I was trying to concentrate on everything was doing. It was very interesting and frustrating at times. After reading it a million times about how hard you have to push on the CPU clamp and how nerve-wracking it would be I didn't believe it. Well I can 100% agree with how anxious you feel pushing that tab down.

I realize now that it is 100% together that I do infact need a GPU. Not only for performance but for aesthetics as well. The case seems kinda empty. Luckily it is something I can add once I find a great deal. I'm taking suggestions for GPU's under $150 but I will also head over to the GPU section to do a little research. Thinking something like this: EVGA GTX 950 SC. But I can officially say I've built my first PC! Going to finish up setting up today after work.

First boot up. What a gratifying feeling. I love the way this case looks too. I bought the blue fan for exhaust and moved the fan that was there to the front for additional intake. (2 in, 1 out)
20160215_195915_zps1batxomn.jpg


Window Panel on.
20160215_203130_zps9m6zgppc.jpg

20160215_203100_zpsw042pegm.jpg
 
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Vary nice build it looks good, Put up some pictures of the drive bays. Are you going to game, if you are not you don't need GTX 950 SC unless you are going to use it for CUDA calculations.

list the components you have?
 
need to work on cable management but other than that it looks fine
the intel stock hsf is also facing the wrong way, it would tightened up that pwm cable if it was positioned normally /ocd
 
wingman99 said:
Vary nice build it looks good, Put up some pictures of the drive bays. Are you going to game, if you are not you don't need GTX 950 SC unless you are going to use it for CUDA calculations. list the components you have?
Click to expand...

CPU- Intel Core i5-4590
Motherboard- ASRock H97M PRO4
RAM- G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Storage- WD Caviar Blue 1TB
PSU- Corsair CX 430W
Optical- LG DVD/CD
OS- Windows 10

Not planning on gaming for now.


Joe88 said:
need to work on cable management but other than that it looks fine
the intel stock hsf is also facing the wrong way, it would tightened up that pwm cable if it was positioned normally /ocd
Click to expand...

I thought the cable management wasn't awful for my first attempt! lol It's a lot tougher than it looks to get all the cables neatly in there. It's especially noticeable with a white interior and black cables. When I crack it open again I'll do a little more tucking around but for right now I'm happy with it. Maybe some white wire loom would help it a lot?? There were 1 or 2 wires that I couldn't route in the back because they were a little short.

I noticed the HSF was off 90 degrees. I was worried about the cable hitting the fan blades if I put it on the other way. For now same deal, I'm not concerned about it. Maybe next build or upgrading this one I'll fix that. Can I simply pull it off and re-install without cleaning off thermal past and reapplying???
 
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I would not worry about the orientation of the Heat sink fan, you can pull HSF off without replying TIM once on a stock build, I have done it when I don't have new TIM. I would just enjoy the RIG.:)
 
wingman99 said:
I would not worry about the orientation of the Heat sink fan, you can pull HSF off without replying TIM once on a stock build, I have done it when I don't have new TIM. I would just enjoy the RIG.:)
Click to expand...

Awesome! I probably won't worry about it for now. Still searching around for video card information. It's seeming like $150 is very high of a price range for my needs. I could probably drop that a lot. I'd like to use both monitors that I have (currently 2 VGA) but with the ability to upgrade monitors later on. So I'm thinking it will need 1 VGA, 1 DVI-I & 1 HDMI. That way I can use the VGA + DVI (w/ adapter) for now and later switch to HDMI + DVI (w/o adapter). Seems like a lot of video cards fall into my needs.

I replaced the old Dell yesterday and reorganized the desk/office. Here is a lights off shot that I thought looked pretty cool.
20160217_184523_zps24aehl2e.jpg


Now we just need a bigger desk to allow space for 2 monitors.
 
08zombie said:
I thought the cable management wasn't awful for my first attempt! lol It's a lot tougher than it looks to get all the cables neatly in there. It's especially noticeable with a white interior and black cables. When I crack it open again I'll do a little more tucking around but for right now I'm happy with it. Maybe some white wire loom would help it a lot?? There were 1 or 2 wires that I couldn't route in the back because they were a little short.

I noticed the HSF was off 90 degrees. I was worried about the cable hitting the fan blades if I put it on the other way. For now same deal, I'm not concerned about it. Maybe next build or upgrading this one I'll fix that. Can I simply pull it off and re-install without cleaning off thermal past and reapplying???
Click to expand...
its not awful by any means, just needs tidying up a little, zip ties are your friends ;)
you also have some spare psu cabling just sitting at the bottom?
you should just remove those
right angle sata connectors would do great too, looks like you have a loop in your sata connector just out in the open, put the extra cable length behind the tray

White braided cables would look fairly nice and would fix your problem of the cpu power connector not being long enough
you can expect to pay about $10 each though
 
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