Okay, so here's what this thread helped me produce (shitty iPhone pics ahead):
That's about the best I could do with cable management inside this case. I wish I could turn the hard drives around to hide those cables but the case prevents me from doing so. At least this way it's easy to remove drives if I need to.
Specs:
NEW
Case:
Lian Li LanCool K58W ($49.99)
Motherboard:
ASRock P67 Extreme 4 Gen 3 ($149.99)
OS:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit ($99.99)
CPU:
i7 2600k ($299.25)
CPU
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212+ ($22.51)
RAM:
8GB G.Skill Low Profile 1600 ($49.99)
PSU:
Corsair TX850 V2 850W ($104.74)
SSD:
Intel 320 120GB SSD ($169.99)
Storage: 2x
3TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA3 for RAID1 ($347.26)
Optical:
24x Lite-On Lightscribe DVD drive ($22.99)
Sound Card:
Asus Xonar DG ($17.60)
TOTAL: $1,332.30
REUSED
GPU: GTS 250
Storage:
640GB Western Digital Caviar Blue 7200 RPM 16MB Cache
Backup: HP 1TB Personal Media Drive
Monitor:
Asus 24'' LED (VS248H-P)
Speakers:
M-Audio AV 40
Those prices are what I paid after all of the discounts, mail-in rebates, and Amazon credits. It's more than I initially intended to spend, but I decided to splurge on some of the components (i7 instead of i5, two 3TB drives instead of two 1-2TB drives, a larger SSD) so that I won't want to upgrade for at least 2-3 years (hopefully).
I intend to add two 140mm fans to the top of the case (
any suggestions?) and I
might add 8GB more RAM just because I can. Once the GTX 670 Ti is released next month it will replace that GTS 250 (so add $350-$450 to my total) and then I will be completely upgraded.
For my first build everything went pretty well. Taking apart my pre-built HP Pavilion Elite m9500t to retrieve the GPU and hard drive was a massive pain in the ass and took forever (shout out to
this video from ColtsFan895 which demonstrates what a pain in the ass it was and without which it would've taken me even longer). That was definitely the hardest part, and once I finally had everything out I was worried that I'd broken something during the disassembly.
Putting the new stuff together was much easier. Installing the Hyper 212+ took me the longest because I'd already screwed the motherboard to the case before attaching the cooler's backplate so I had to do it over again. Even though I knew what to expect when installing the CPU and RAM I still winced at the noises I heard as I applied the necessary force. The mess of PSU cables was intimidating until I figured out which ones were for what and that I didn't need half of them (in the future I will definitely go modular). The case (Lancool K58W) is great and its almost completely tool-less design made installing the PSU, PCI cards, and optical/hard drives really easy.
After everything was installed it wouldn't boot and I was ready to cry, but the problem ended up being that the case's power switch (not the connector) was somehow out of place and I simply needed to remove the front and top panels and move it into place. I had to replace my PSU which was functional but
was making some bad noises. I also had a hard time getting the two 3TB drive set up with RAID1, but
I eventually figured that out.
Anyway, I'm very happy with what I've built. 30 second boots thanks to the SSD are invaluable. A huge thank you to Darkatomz
for convincing me that I'd notice a difference between the Xonar DG and my onboard audio. Holy shit do I notice a difference. My AV 40s sound amazing now. In Battlefield 3 it sounds like I'm actually standing on a battlefield. I'm also very happy with Windows 7 compared to Vista. I like the way libraries work (if there was something similar in Vista I didn't know about it) and it's nice that (at least so far) it seems to be remember my folder settings.
When I was reading about RAID while trying to set up RAID1 I took to heart the adage that "RAID is not backup" so now in addition to RAID1 on my two 3TB drives I have my 1TB external drive being used as a location for Windows Backup. I'm not completely safe but it's a lot better than the backup I had going before (none).
I originally intended to simply upgrade my GTS 250 but that turned into all of this. I've learned a lot along the way and this thread has been extremely valuable to me. Thanks a lot to everyone who contributes to it and to Hazaro and whoever else helps with the OP. It's truly a great resource.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...na&AID=10521304&PID=4003003&SID=1xav839yr384n
Crucial SSD now is $1 for 1gb!
I duno why Crucial is dumping their SSD, but $130 for 128gb...gotta grab em fast!
Hot damn, I was waiting for the 64GB to drop so I can get one for my mother's PC. $65! Thanks.