Whoops. Roy is two for two on corrections. Switch to the Ripjaw.

Time for some updates with legends of market timing. Good things come to those who wait, so long as you're willing to have some flexibility with parts and be vigilant on checking prices.

I decided to go with a 760 instead of a 750 for my video card. I was able to snag this for $224 yesterday. (It's up to $250 on Newegg today)

I didn't realize you needed to have been subscribed to Newegg's newsletter for 24 hours before you could use certain coupon codes, so I missed a sweet 25% off deal on the DVD-RW to get it at $13.50. (It jumped to $18 Newegg $16 elsewhere) Today it's back down to $14, so I'll be running away with one of those. Only $2 better than yesterday, but whatever.

The i5-4690K is still $240 on Newegg, plus today they added a $20 gift card with it, so I'll be buying it for an equivalent $220 and putting that gift card to work on the rest of the build. Unless I don't buy anything else from Newegg, which is unlikely.

Due to budget restraints. (I'm a bit poor, so I can't necessarily buy the best parts. I bought everything when I was working at McDonald's with no bills to pay)

Motherboard: Gigabyte (I actually got the Ultra Durable 4 package)
CPU: AMD FX-8320 (8-Core) Running it at 4.0 GHz right now.
CPU Fan: Zalman (Blue LED)
RAM: Corsair XMS PC12800 RAM - 8GB, DDR3, Dual Channel, Cl 9, PC12800, 1600MHz(4x2GB) [Can't find a link]
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 (2 Gb) [I aim to grab a 690 in the future]
Storage Drives:
1) PNY 120 Gb Solid State [This thing is amazing]
2) Western Digital Caviar Green 3 Tb [I keep all my games here. I have over 300, and it's only half-way filled up]
3) A 1 Tb drive that I got from my dad. Have no idea what it is.
Disk Drive: LG GDR-H10N [Bought this because there's a way to flash it to be able to play Gamecube games... Haven't figured out how to do that yet]
Power Supply: 750 Watt ATX
Mouse: E-3lue Cobra [This is the only external accessory I bought for my computer, aiming to buy a gaming keyboard when I have the money]
Case: Got this from my dad as well... It has a side panel to look inside the computer, with red LED fans. Plus my CPU fan is blue.
Monitor: I use my 32" TV.
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Aug 6 2014, 4:31 am by BloodyZombie117.

I would've bought only 2 sticks of 4GB RAM each, so you have upgrade options later.

The SSD is pretty cheap, so I'd be a bit wary of it lasting, but if it does it will probably serve you well. (I prefer Samsung)

The PSU has too many watts so it's more expensive than it needs to be (500W is more than enough) and it's no-name which is a no-go for PSUs!
PSU is the single most important component regarding quality because if it dies you don't want it starting a fire or frying your components. Send it back and get Corsair CX500.

It's been over a year since I got my PSU... Can't really return it... Besides, with the ultra durable functionality of the Motherboard, it's a lot harder to fry the system.
When I was buying RAM, I didn't know anything about it and thought I was ordering a higher grade stick... Besides, 8 Gb of RAM is enough for a lot of people... I'm not running a server here, so it's fine for me.
Also, PNY has served me well before... The only reason I don't have my flash drive is because I left it at work when I was with Wal-Mart... Most likely it got stuck on something underneath the scanner and fell into the trash can... Nobody signed into my Xbox Live Account, and I haven't been stalked yet... But it still could've been picked up. :l
I don't have money right now since I'm dealing with some life changes... So I don't see myself able to upgrade my computer anytime soon.

My build is complete, so here's how it went.

The Fractal R4 is indeed a heavy case. Very solidly built, plenty of room, easy cable management. There are only two bad things I can say about the case. One is that it only included 8 motherboard mounts instead of 9 like it said on the package, but I only needed six, so I don't even really care. The other is that I have no idea what some of the cables in the case are for and they aren't labeled, so the documentation could be improved. It is indeed built like a tank, and if I ever got into a fight with this case, the case would win.

Due to the age of my previous machine, I would imagine you guys would find my reaction to the processor entertaining. After unboxing it, I take out the fan and think, "okay, this is just a fan, where the hell is the processor?" It's wedged in the cardboard packaging around the fan, so I end up thinking, "this little piece of shit is a processor?" No trouble at all installing it.

The HSF was difficult to install, but I would assume most of that was my own ignorance and inexperience. I will still maintain that whoever designed the retaining bracket is a cruel, cruel person. I did a POST outside of the case and spent far too much of it figuring out how to install the damn thing. The documentation included could be improved for new user friendliness.

RAM is RAM. Installation of RAM hasn't changed.

The 760 is a nice graphics card. I've never installed a fresh card, but it was simple enough, no problems.

I was delaying on buying a power supply, but through some divine fortune, I was able to snag a SeaSonic SS-660XP2 for $80 post-rebate. 660W is an excessive amount of power for my build, but hey, 80+ Platnium fully modular SeaSonic. (My original build had me paying more for a not as good PSU.) This thing comes packaged like it's for a king. Fully modular, hybrid fan mode, fancy packaging, cloth pouches, cable pouches. Working with this power supply was a pleasure. I thought it would be difficult since I've never built before, but it wasn't at all, inside or outside the case.

So, after a while, I figured out which pins to short on the motherboard to do a POST. I was afraid I had screwed up somewhere, but it went well. It was the most excited I ever was about a system not being able to finish booting.

So then, onwards to installing in the PC. Took me awhile to stop being a newbie and mount the motherboard correctly. My case has a dust filter and spacers at the bottom, so I could point the power supply fan down. Routing cables to the motherboard was easy, the case is very well set up and easy to manage. Power routing was also simple, thanks to the wonderful full modularity of SeaSonic. Mounting the CD drive was easy. My reaction to the SSD was similar to that of the processor, though not as dramatic because I know flash drives can pack that much data into a similar space anyway. Very easy to mount inside the R4 as well.

Final build:


Decided to go without an HDD, might add more storage later. (second SSD for RAID backup?) Can possibly add a second video card later. (I sure do have room on the power supply, lulz.) Might try a sound card as well. Going to have some EggPoints to spend on something.

Thanks to everyone on SEN who helped with the build!

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Aug 9 2014, 4:46 am by Mini Moose 2707.

Thanks for sharing your experience.
Made me smile on occasion when you've stumbled upon the typical newbie hurdles - which of course, I also stumbled upon back in the day. Or the awe of quality packaging and realizing when the important things are the smallest.

Congratulations on your build overall and the deals. This baby will last you a long, long time, especially because you don't care about powerful graphics, but still got a pretty good one for todays standards.
Some storage when needed, another 16GB RAM in 5+ years and that'll be it. I expect most of what you bought to last at least 5 but probably 8 or more years.

Have fun!