Pictures of my i7 build

[ricno]

After getting a lot of help from members of this board I have bought and built my first computer in something like 10-15 years. It was a lot of learing and also very fun. I thought I should share my final specification and some pictures if there should be any interest.

The final build:

Case: Antec P183
CPU: Intel Core i7 860
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-E LX
Memory: 2x4 GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz (will buy 8 GB more soon)
GPU: XFX RADEON HD5770 XT 1GB GDDR5
Power supply unit: COOLER MASTER SILENT PRO ATX12V 2.3 600W
Harddisks: 3 x SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB
Case fans: Akasa Apache Black 120mm (replaced the built in)
CPU fan: ARCTIC COOLING FREEZER 7 PRO REV.2

My main reason for the computer is to use as a home workstation, mainly running virtual machines for testing server operating systems. So far has my impressions been very positive, it works very well with many virtual machines (through Vmware Workstation 7.1) running at once. I will upgrade to 16 GB of RAM soon to remove any memory bottleneck, which I have two memory slots left for.
I have not tried any game yet, but I suspect most will run without problems?

The built in fans in the Antec P183 case was a bit too loud for me so I replaced them with the Akasa ones, much better.

Do you have any comments on this systems? Any components that could have been different? I have been away from PC hardware for many years and want to learn as much as possible.

 

[mrhoshos96]

great build mate. and GREAT CABLE MANEGENMENT TOO

 

[nukemaster]

Nice and clean. My cables are a mess

 

[WR2]

First class job in cable management.

Are those Akasa Apache fans working out for you?

Anything you would have done different or recommend for the next person looking for a similar build?

 

[jim donalson]

nice

 

[ricno]

Thanks!

Are those Akasa Apache fans working out for you?

Yes they do. Actually after installing both I tested disabled the top one, and the temperatures were still fine so now I am only running with the one at the back. Perhaps if I put more load on the system I have to enable it again.

Anyway, they are a lot less loud then the builtin two. I was a bit surprised of the sound of the original two, as the rest of the case was such top quality. I really like it. Compared to other cases I have had in the past that were too small, difficult to open, tight, sharp edges and so on, this was so nice to work with. Besides, I also like the look of it. Other cases often recommended here seems a little bit too much like a space ship to me.

Anything you would have done different or recommend for the next person looking for a similar build?

Nothing really. As noted above I would replace the builtin fans of the Antec P183, and depending of how much gaming that will be done I would perhaps recommend looking at another graphic card. My GPU is not really tested, except from lowering the fan RPM with MSI Afterburner as you recommended in another thread.

I am also glad that I saved two slots for adding more memory. I should be able to run with only 8 GB if I was forced to, but going up to 16 later means that I will not have worry about it for a long time and can start as many VM:s as I like without trouble.