Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Storage Installation

Building An Intel-Based MicroATX Gaming PC On A Budget
By , Arne Weigold

3.5” Cage: Hard Disks

A maximum of two 3.5” hard disks can be mounted on frames and inserted into the cage. No tools are necessary. Deepcool came up with a nifty design for these.

Typically, the mounting frame has to be bent out of shape in order to insert a drive. Deepcool's frame, however, slides apart, whereupon the hard disk is inserted. Then the frame is collapsed, trapping the disk in place. From there, the complete assembly is inserted into the cage.

2.5” Drives (SSDs and HDDs)

Deepcool also cam up with an innovative design for the 2.5” cage. First, four rubber standoffs are screwed into the SSD (or 2.5” hard disk). You don’t need a screwdriver, as there is very little friction.

The SSD cage is at the bottom of the case, behind the PSU. It sports an interesting latch mechanism.

The latch allows you to clamp the SSD into place.

Slightly lift the lever if you want to remove the SSD again.

5.25” Bay: Optical Drive

In order to access the 5.25” bay, the front bezel has to be removed. While this may sound difficult, it isn’t. Just pull the bezel off. It grabs the sheet metal with four hooks.

The 5.25” bay is right underneath the top cover, and the optical drive interferes with the optional top fan. You have to choose between one or the other.

Alas, the optical drive cannot be mounted without a tool. use one screw on each side, at minimum, to secure the optical drive.

Add a comment
Ask a Category Expert
React To This Article

Create a new thread in the Reviews comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

Display all 60 comments.
Top Comments
  • 33 Hide
    TheMentalist , September 5, 2014 2:27 PM
    AIO watercooler, $100 case, $150 SSD in a budget build? Nice joke.
  • 25 Hide
    Nestor Turizo , September 5, 2014 2:43 PM
    Noob question: Isnt a stock, on air i5 for 200 usd aprox. a better option than a cheap processor + fancy cooler for 200+ usd?
  • 24 Hide
    bernie456 , September 5, 2014 2:22 PM
    Anyone in their right might is not going to spend $100 on the case in a budget build, let alone one as ugly as that one.
Other Comments
  • 3 Hide
    Amdlova , September 5, 2014 1:45 PM
    What i can say. Ugly. Prefer the bitfenix cage... all that cheap plastic...
  • 14 Hide
    Amdlova , September 5, 2014 1:50 PM
    Promoted by DeepCool. and MSI.
  • 24 Hide
    bernie456 , September 5, 2014 2:22 PM
    Anyone in their right might is not going to spend $100 on the case in a budget build, let alone one as ugly as that one.
  • 3 Hide
    Ben Van Deventer , September 5, 2014 2:25 PM
    It's not ugly, it's "steampunk"
  • 33 Hide
    TheMentalist , September 5, 2014 2:27 PM
    AIO watercooler, $100 case, $150 SSD in a budget build? Nice joke.
  • -2 Hide
    pierrerock , September 5, 2014 2:34 PM
    And this is why i would not buy a G3258 if i have to get a Z97 Board. I know H81 Boards can now overclock this CPU, but there is a lot of chances that this board would not have a bios recent enough for this CPU. and since you buy a G3258, there is little chance you have another LGA 1150 CPU in your sleeve to flash the bios.

    I would get a X4 760K with a better GPU instead of a G3258 with a more expensive motherboard...
  • 7 Hide
    Ethan Feinhaus , September 5, 2014 2:35 PM
    The only problem I have with this is that you're trying to describe a budget system with a water cooler. When one is building a budget system, there's no reason to have a water cooler when the stock cooler would function well enough.
  • 25 Hide
    Nestor Turizo , September 5, 2014 2:43 PM
    Noob question: Isnt a stock, on air i5 for 200 usd aprox. a better option than a cheap processor + fancy cooler for 200+ usd?
  • -3 Hide
    pierrerock , September 5, 2014 2:46 PM
    Quote:
    Noob question: Isnt a stock, on air i5 for 200 usd aprox. a better option than a cheap processor + fancy cooler for 200+ usd?


    Yeah a I5 would totally be better, but as for gaming, it would not push a 750 TI much more than a G3258 would. But you are right to think that a water cooling is not a good idea budget-wise
  • 3 Hide
    lp231 , September 5, 2014 3:42 PM
    Why isn't the total mentioned for this budget build? Also the price for the ram, aio cooler, optical drive are missing. I had to add those in by guessing the most acceptable price for those missing parts and total with what was price listed came out to almost $840. At that price, it's not a budget build. Budget build is suppose to be around $500 or less. $600 is consider a huge headroom.
    AIO $ 80, ODD $16 , RAM 8GB (2x4GB) $73
    Most of these budget build makes no sense when there is no strict budget cap. Next time when there is another budget build and there is something that just got to have it, but cost like $100 more, let's up the price cap and still call it a budget build!
  • 4 Hide
    JackNaylorPE , September 5, 2014 3:52 PM
    I'd have to call that build "Nebuchadnezzar" .... reminds me of Morpheus' ship in the Matrix movies
  • 2 Hide
    dovah-chan , September 5, 2014 4:08 PM
    Could have said that it was a balanced intel build instead of a budget build. Kinda not very balanced either.... not sure how to feel other than wat.
  • 12 Hide
    iam2thecrowe , September 5, 2014 4:17 PM
    Would have been better off forgoing the watercooling and ssd in favour of a haswell i3 and a better gpu.
  • 1 Hide
    Riemenschneider , September 5, 2014 7:09 PM
    Quote:
    AIO watercooler, $100 case, $150 SSD in a budget build? Nice joke.

    exactly my first thoughts. I'd go with a Fractal Design Core 1000, an EKL Alpenfohn Sella, and just get a MX100 256GB instead of the HDD. If you really need more space, you can always get a big HDD later, or just buy an external USB 3.0 one, or use an NAS or cloud. Also a good 300W PSU should be more than enough for this system, even if you overclock to 4.5 GHz.
  • 6 Hide
    zero2dash , September 5, 2014 7:14 PM
    I would never buy a computer case that looks like a cheap electric razor. Could just be me though...
  • 6 Hide
    Avus , September 5, 2014 9:03 PM
    for a budget build, i won't use a $100USD case...
  • 1 Hide
    TheMentalist , September 5, 2014 9:05 PM
    Quote:

    exactly my first thoughts. I'd go with a Fractal Design Core 1000, an EKL Alpenfohn Sella, and just get a MX100 256GB instead of the HDD. If you really need more space, you can always get a big HDD later, or just buy an external USB 3.0 one, or use an NAS or cloud. Also a good 300W PSU should be more than enough for this system, even if you overclock to 4.5 GHz.


    Yeah, but in a budget build I would use a HDD only. Games these days are about 20-40gigs. That's a lot. SSD's will only increase the loading times, nothing else, no graphical improvements. I would just go with a WB black and spend the saved money on a better CPU/GPU.

    And a 400-500W PSU would be the better way, since good 300W PSU's are hard to find everywhere. Plus if the graphics card gets pumped up, the power will too. The Seasonic S520II is the best budget PSU right now.
  • -5 Hide
    Baumy15 , September 6, 2014 12:30 AM
    for $801 dollars (aus) I got an
    G3258 $79
    MSI Z87M GAMING motherboard $179
    Kingston hyper x fury black $99
    western digital caviar blue $69
    2nd hand 500W psu $15
    2nd hand GTX 660 $140
    3 coolermaster sickleflow x green fans x3 $12 ($36)
    1 bitfenix spectre pro 200mm green $27
    gigabyte k7 force keyboard $59
    razer naga hex green $79
    and a generic cd rom $19

    this is a nice looking budget build and performs really well

    and if you where to buy a new GTX 660 it would be $199
    and a new 500 w psu it would be $49 so it would be $895

    and the G3250 can be overclocked to 4.5 on the stock cooler for me.

    I play watchdogs a lot high textures and ultra graphics setting and I get between 25-50 fps average is around 40fps

    this is a high performance budget build and stays really cool
  • 0 Hide
    Baumy15 , September 6, 2014 12:34 AM
    and this case is also a ripoff of the aerocool ds cube same internals just different panels and different exterior
Display more comments
React To This Article