My 900$~ Sandy Bridge Build

[imnotashinobi]

IMGUR Album

Case: NZXT Lexa S
This case turned out a lot better than i thought it would at it's price. It is relatively light and comes with plenty of fans and the placement seems very well thought out. It's a nice size and just small enough if not admittedly a bit cramped at times.

MoBo: ASUS P8P67
Unlike some others, I did not have major problems with this motherboard. The only real problem I had was that it didn't detect my HDD after clearing the CMOS from an update once. That was quickly resolved by a restart and me staring down the boot device LED. I stare down all the red lights on the mobo if they last too long...

PSU: Seasonic X-Series Modular 80+ Gold 750W
Got it for 130$ . Rated very well and nicely packaged. Also, it is hella dense.

CPU: i5 2500k
It's awesome.

Video Card: EVGA GTX 460 SSC+ w/ Backplate
I'd like to see a review on this particular card compared to the FTW version, a reference 460, and the ref. 470 they all hope to unseat.

RAM: Mushkin 1333 DDR3 2GB x 2
Does what it says. No problems.

HDD: Spinpoint F3 1TB, WD Green 500GB x2
The F3 seems cool. I don't know what to look for in terms of how good it is as an HDD... I just understand that it has high numbers for a low price. The WD Greens are recycled from an older build for my brother and rescued from a dysfunctional external drive I had.

CD/DVD +/-RW: ASUS
It's quiet except when using the ASUS mobo drive disc. Also, the software it comes with doesn't properly detect it, strange... but it works for what I need at a cheap price. All the ASUS CD's seem to be the only problem >_>

CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight
While playing Left 4 Dead 2, a nice team mate offered it to me for the cost of shipping because it was incompatible with his CPU. So I ended up getting this cooler for 10$. Campaign mode has some of the nicest people. A nice contrast to VS mode kickers =\; it's just a game... sheesh.

Future upgrades:
-Performance:
GTX 460 in SLI
a new cooler once i need to OC
MORE RAMMMMMZ
a top 140mm fan and possibly 2 smaller intake fans behind the mesh cover of 2 drive bays. i need to do more research on case cooling.
replacement motherboard
-Extras:
BD+/-RW
Memory Card Bay
A 1920 x 1200 monitor to be cool and i prefer 16:10. I have a "decent" home-made projector that gives me 100 inches across already!
More storage with low power consumption and an SSD wayyyy into the future when 1GB=0.5$ or less.
Cable TV Tuner [depending on how much i like TV by then. will probably be cut...]

[Andrew J]

Very nice! Are you planning on returning the motherboard in the future because I presume you're using 4 SATA ports?

[timcrna]

Dude --
Nice Cable Management and a nice build.

[imnotashinobi]

and: thanks! unfortunately, i guess i will have to. at least, this time i will be smart enough to plug in the sata cables first. removing the cpu is gonna be a pain thanks to the cooler and the heatsink though. i think i'll buy some after-market paste at that time because thermal grease isn't fun to work with...

tim: thank you very much. i put a lot of time into it. i still think i could do better on cables, but not by much. i'll get to rethinking the layout once the new mobos come in. the back looks nice too modular FTW.

[Hogrock]

Love the color coordination. All black, very sleek.

[imnotashinobi]

hog: thank you very much. your build looks killer too. and most likely would be able to handily beat mine >_>. the color coordination just happened to work out that way. except for the ram. i like mushkin's silverline look. although i should have opted for the blackline. darn budget... the pc overall reminds me of dead space because of the blue tones green lights and grayish spotlighting from the cooler. glad someone else noticed the color scheme :3

[windez]

You did a good job!

[MathieuB]

Very nice job, sleek build

Mind if I post some pics on the HR Facebook group?

[imnotashinobi]

Very nice job, sleek build

Mind if I post some pics on the HR Facebook group?

Hardware Revolution has my blessings

Now the world can see my invisible SLI.

[Phrosty]

That is an amazing case and looks fantastic. I am a little jealous that it's not mine