System Builder Marathon Q3 2014: Budget Gaming PC

Assembling Our Gaming Box

The build itself was rather simple, and almost everything went according to plan.

I prepped the case, noticing Rosewill didn’t skimp on its bundled hardware package. There were five sets of 3.5” drive rails, one of which was already installed and securing a dual-2.5” drive adapter. Four sets of clips were supplied for the three accessible 5.25” bays; the top location is already taken up by front-panel connectivity. And around back, the seven rear slots were all populated with removable mesh slot covers, rather than cheap break-out tabs. The 11 brass standoffs were a welcome sight, as was the 5 mm socket adapter for tightening them down with a Philips head screw driver. Rounding it all off was a short buzzer speaker and a small, but sufficient paper installation manual.

Fair consideration was also given to cooling. The bottom-mount power supply location is outfitted with a removable dust filter, and two of the three installed fans had connections for a three-pin motherboard header and a Molex plug. I used the Molex plugs, only requiring the motherboard to power the one rear 3-pin-only fan.

I installed the processor and bundled cooler, taking note of the heat sink’s copper slug. After installing the system RAM, it was time to start filling the case.

One issue I faced was that the Challenger is not fully compatible with small mATX motherboards. It only includes five of the six standoff locations our board required. And behind the lower-right hole, Rosewill instead locates a pressed-in space for tying down cables and wires. I had to exercise caution attaching the SATA cables, since that corner of the board didn't get any support. Thankfully there are only two expansion slots, and our graphics card fit snugly.

Otherwise, the build came together nicely. The wires and cables were plenty long, and cable management kept the interior tidy.