Description

Now Updated Pics of cable management

I decided after selling my macbook pro I was going to build my own computer. I really wanted to just play the sims 3 which was impossible to play on my macbook pro. After months of research I went with these parts. I had a budget of $1000 and that was it and I think I did pretty good for my first time. The build took me a totally of 5 hours to put together (might be slow but I just wanted everything to be right). I order all my parts from newegg too and they were great, everything came in 2 days and I got started on things right away.

CPU: I went with the i5-4670 because it was one under the i5-4670k. I really wanted the k but I didn't have the money and I knew I would have to get a cpu cooler with it and that was more $. But I don't see myself needing to overclock at all. The performance is great for me.

Motherboard: It was a pretty simple choice for the board I really wanted something with wifi and bluetooth and it had both and is good since I'm not overclocking. I think this board also as widi too (I don't see myself needing it but it's ok)

Memory: I got Team Vulcan memory. Number one I love star trek so the vulcan got my attention. 2nd is I got it on sale for 58 dollars! For now 8GB is all I need though in the future I do want to go to 16GB and when I do I will be getting vulcan memory again.

Storage: I got the WD Caviar Black because it seemed to be pretty good for games and it had all the storage I needed. I'm eventually soon going to get a samsung 840 or 840 evo 120GB just for performance but right now the WD is going very fast my OS comes up so fast almost as fast as the OS on my old macbook pro. My only thing I don't like is it's LOUD.

Video Card: Ok this is where things started to get hard there were so many options but in the end I found the card by looking on a list of cards compatible with the sims 3 and this was the second one from the top card and I looked at the price and it was perfect. I was on here one day and choose the xfx one by seeing the core clock rate and it was I think the 2nd or 3rd highest for the 7950 ( I don't know if it makes much of a difference) but I love the card. One day I plan to upgrade to something more powerful but this card should be with me for a long time. OH Yeah it came with 4 free games too which was awesome!( I got Hitman: Absolution, Saints Row IV, and Sleeping Dogs and Crysis 3)

Case: Oh my baby my baby. I love this case! First before building the computer I wanted something that was small because the computer was going to go in my room on my small desk. I love how with this case you have so many options with colors too. As far as building in it, it was great I didn't have problems with the size and the cable management was good too. My only complaint is the usb ports seem to easily move forward and backwards when plugging things in but it's not a huge issue. After using this case for weeks now I still love it and I open it up every 2 weeks to clean and things and it's really easy to do. The case though can get very dirty if you don't care for it. The front filter can be a bit hard to clean (as you can see the small amount of dust visible). I haven't found a way to clean it to wear it would look like new yet but I hope to get it looking like it did out the book. Also I have been carrying this case around my house and it's super easy to move, I plan to take it with me to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving and I expect the transport of it to be easy too.

Power Supply: The power supply was a bit of a challenge as far as finding one that would go with the case. I needed something in the 550w to 700w range so I went with 650. I hear that you don't want to go cheap on a psu so I did some research and it seems rosewill is a good brand and it is bronze certified so that was good. My only thing I had a problem with was putting it into my case. As most know the Prodigy's psu area is small and semi (what I have) and modular psu really aren't that good with this case. But I got it to fit, though I worry a little about the stress on the cables but that's more a case problem. Ok after weeks with this now I see I made a great purchase with this. It is extremely quiet I can never hear it and it works great.

Optical Drive: I know most people don't usually put these into their case anymore but most of my games are on a disc and I have dvds and I don't really plan on converting completely to digital yet. This OD does it's job and is great and cheap. After using it some more I have to say that it's extremely loud when a disc is in it. I was letting the windows disc reset my computer one night and I went to sleep and woke up to a loud airplane like noise and it was the OD. But if you don't use it very often you should be fine.

Operating System: I know some people don't like windows 8 but I like it. It took a while to get use to it but I download the classic start menu and that made it easier but I also got a free upgrade to 8.1 so when it came out I just uninstall it. But I didn't have problems with either and they run well. Update Windows 8.1 was working great for me but then a new update came and I updated it and I started having boot problems. Today my computer wouldn't boot to desktop at all, even after hours and hours of troubleshooting. So I had to wipe my drive losing just a day worth of stuff I didn't back up. I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with 8 or go back to 8.1. After trying to figure out the problem with my windows not boot it turned out my sata cable to my hard drive was a bit loose or it got wiggled a little so it wasn't a windows problem. But I've gone back to 8.1 and just love it though I'm not crazy about the way to get to the program page.

Keyboard: I didn't have a keyboard so I got the MK 320. It was cheap and does it's job. I didn't need a gaming mouse or keyboard just something simple and easy.

Case Fans: For christmas I asked for case fans. They just came today and the Noctua installation went very well. Now the BitFenix Pro 230mm fan was another story. It came with no instructions and the problem was that the screw holes have some type of problem where I they won't allow the screw to go in fully. Me being stupid (you can all laugh) I used a power drill to get them to go in all the way and I messed up the head, not a big deal I have more screws but I don't know how to unscrew it out now. Newbie Troubles lol

Other things I needed: I had to get a 4 to 3 pin adapter so I got one off of newegg for $4. I also had to get a DVI to VGA because I'm using my old TV for a monitor until black friday comes around. * Update my dad let me borrow his tv which has a hdmi port so I currently use that as my monitor so no more vga to dvi needed.

Future Upgrades: -SSD (birthday is around the corner so next thing) -Upgrade some parts and recycling the case and some things. -I now want to upgrade my graphics card (not because my 7950 is bad I just want to get something better) so I want a 770 4gb the Gigabyte one or either a Gigabyte 780. This is more of a dream right now but I can't wait to start upgrading and adding parts.

Comments

  • 74 months ago
  • 42 points

I decided after selling my macbook pro I was going to build my own computer. .. YES :D (congrats on the build too!) :)

  • 74 months ago
  • 42 points

Decent build but I would have gone with a better mouse and a larger capacity HDD since you could get a 2tb Seagate at the price you paid for the WD black 1tb. As far as the CPU fan is concerned check out the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, it's a lot quieter than the stock cooler, it's cheap, and sense you aren't overclocking the performance of the cooler doesn't really matter.

Quick rant: Why do you have to advertise you're a girl, if you're a girl gamer that's cool, if you are a guy that's cool too. But why do you have to put GIRL in all caps in your title? Just a way to get guys to upvote your build and go nuts with compliments IMO.
/rant

  • 74 months ago
  • 15 points

The truth has been spoken

  • 74 months ago
  • 17 points

Brace yourself for the neckbearded white knights though.

  • 74 months ago
  • 6 points

Well since it was made so obvious, can I post the obligatory **** or gtfo?

How are you finding that gfx card? Noticed a lot of reviews complained about heat.

I think you could manage your cables better.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

LOL! The card is running very cool even when playing games in high settings and under max load, the fans cool the whole side of the case and are great. Yeah I do think I could have done better but some of the cables are a little stiff so I plan to work on that eventually.

  • 64 months ago
  • 2 points

Haterz gonna hate. Nice build

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  • 71 months ago
  • 2 points

my neckbeard is sad now

  • 74 months ago
  • 14 points

Wow, it's "Rant 30" Already ;)

  • 74 months ago
  • 9 points

You know it

  • 74 months ago
  • 9 points

Although I see where you coming from, no one really gives this same thought to anyone else pointing out who built the computer. I've seen plenty of people point out age, father son, and various other thing, no on really cares. So why is it a big deal when some one points out they are a girl?

  • 74 months ago
  • 10 points

It's not meant to be acknowledged by everyone. I just know if I found a girl on here building a computer I would have liked to see it, just like a father/son maybe would have liked to view a father/son build.

  • 74 months ago
  • 4 points

Yeah, it certainly didn't really bother me or anything it was a very solid build, good job!

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

Thank you.

  • 74 months ago
  • 3 points

I think your a bad *** chick for building a computer I have even built my own yet. But it dosen't bother me

Continue this thread
  • 72 months ago
  • 4 points

EXACTLY. As a female, I am glad you mentioned being a female because then like you said, I could see the work of another person in my demographic. Especially considering women doing this is more rare, I'm glad you acknowledged it.

  • 72 months ago
  • 2 points

Thank you so much, I'm glad to see a fellow female :)

  • 72 months ago
  • 1 point

Yeah! Likewise, I'll send you my build when I'm done, just as an update :) You built yours for gaming, right, Sims?

Continue this thread
  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

didn't bother me either.

  • 74 months ago
  • 7 points

I personally think that mentioning you're a girl was justified. You don't see many builds done by females often, and most males usually think of females as not being into this sort of thing.

On the cable management note, a modular PSU and zipties are definitely the way to go. Since this is a Mini ITX build, you likely wont get it looking perfect, but it has the potential of looking a lot better than it does now. +1

  • 74 months ago
  • 3 points

Thanks very much. I was thinking the same you don't see a lot of females on here often it be nice to see more. I will be working on the cable management though.

  • 74 months ago
  • -3 points

/rant still didnt need to put girl on all caps, your a great builder, and it makes you look like you need the attention of men to justify that. Which you don't

  • 69 months ago
  • 2 points

Hmmm... I'm a girl too, and there are 2 of my builds in this site. I think is a skill, taste and greats amounts of common sense thing, not a gender thing (even so, we girls build better and cuter machines hehehe. Just kidding!) No matter what, your pc is simply wonderful. Right now I'm saving for a new build for my bedroom, using the same motherboard model than yours. Congrats!!

  • 74 months ago
  • 5 points

YES YES THAT QUICK RANT WAS REALLY NEEDED. BLESS YOU.

  • 74 months ago
  • 4 points

My computer and cpu are running very cool I'm actual very surprised at how cool. I know it'd be cooler with a cpu cooler but for now it works. No I didn't do it for attention. During my search on here I didn't really see any girls building computers so I thought it be relatable for other girls and it be nice to see other girls too.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

I am a girl! Wait... No nvm. I couldent tell the difference. Forgive me.

  • 74 months ago
  • 4 points

I think it was a feminist remark.... Like I am a girl and I can do things boys can do, which is nice to know. but I dont like the assuming they made with us all being sexist.

But I will probably blow my pc up in my face when I build it so... Kudos!

  • 71 months ago
  • 1 point

Have you missed the long-running joke in the pc nerd world about nerd's never getting laid let alone see a girl? It's been around for decades. How is she not allowed poke fun at the joke just because she IS the girl. smh

  • 74 months ago
  • 7 points

Looks like a great build, though the cabling could use some work (you generally don't want cables obstructing airflow to any of the major parts of the system). Otherwise looks great! Solid parts, and good reasoning behind each purchase.

  • 74 months ago
  • 3 points

Okay All jokes aside. Your build seems nice overall, besides my personal bias for your motherboard size & power supply I won't let that cloud my judgment or feedback. All I could really suggest is that you immediately reconfigure your "Cable Management" because it's preventing a large flow of air from circulating in the case properly especially due to it's size it's a must(if the case feels abnormally hot that's why).

Rant 30: Also from @daes79 I don't see the point of why you put down "Girl" in all caps, is it a way to gain more attention for yourself, more upvotes, comments, Page views, etc, I mean Rule 30 was made close to 8yrs ago it's no longer relevant IMO. /rant

  • 74 months ago
  • 0 points

Tips for cable management? I'm defiantly not seeking attention it's very similar to "first build" for sorting. I clicked on a bunch of builds for people around my age that had "16, 17, 18 year old" in there title just to see what there builds looked like it's the same for girls I'd liked to see what other girls builds look like too. It's not to be meant for anything other than sorting and relating.

  • 74 months ago
  • 3 points

In my opinion, It is cool that she is advertising that she is a female, because she is leading the way for other girls to start building computers for themselves; without all of them having to go through this. I totally agree with Mishiy, their point is very valid. If you keep doing this, you will scare all the girls away. That's my rant; and sorry to those who dodnt want to hear this...

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Thank you so much well said. I hope other girls won't get scared off because building your own computer is a great thing and for girls it is rare and they should show their hard work.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

congrats on your build! very good! +1

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

Personally I would have gotten the Caviar Blue Hdd since there cheaper and other than that Really good! Also would have waited to get the new 270x GPU

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

I looked at the 270x and I was really upset for a couple hours but I did some research and the performance is very similar so I think it's ok I don't have to have the newest card.

  • 74 months ago
  • 5 points

The 270X is a rebrand of the 7870, so the 7950 should be a fair bit better, especially at that price.

  • 74 months ago
  • 0 points

Yea but the 270x has True Audio if intersted in music and audio. And support will be last longer than older generation cards ex. Radeon 7950

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

No, it doesn't have True Audio. Only the R7-260X and the upcoming R9-290 and R9-290X do. NOT the rest of the series.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

I think its pretty good, but if it was my build, I would have managed the cables better, other than that its a really good build. Being a 16 year old myself, I also had to sell my laptop to build my computer. great Build!!!

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Yeah cable management isn't really my strong suit but I hope to work on it. Have any tips? Some of the cables are stiff and hard to move and some are short too like the sata cable to the hard drive.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

You could try and get extenders.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Even if you just use twist ties or cable ties, try using some of the premade cable management holes. Just clean up what you can. For the stiff cables you could probably (Don't blame me if anything bad happens) apply moderate heat to loosen up the cable. Hope This Helps!

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

I used the holes on the side of psu area for routing but their aren't routing for the cables connecting to the motherboard which seems to be the problem. Yeah I don't feel confident enough to heat up the cables but thanks for the tips.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

Nice build lady! Good parts. I like the mini itx cases. Different.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

Good build. Congrats on the accomplishment. Glad to see you are proud of yourself, too bad most are jumping to it as a want for attention. As others have said about the cable management, it needs to be worked on... Zip ties are your best friend for managing cables. It sucks and can be time consuming but it's worth it. +1

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

Thanks very much, I'm very proud of myself and so is my family. Any tips for cable management? Some cables are zipped tied but some I'm worried to tie because I don't want to put too much stress on them.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Don't be afraid of bending the cables too much. The biggest place to be weary of stress is at the connections.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Ok I will be bending them more to get them together and neat.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

As a female who is also about to build a PC* just to play Sims again this is great! I'm in love with those BitFenix Cases also. :D

*yeah I'm a Mac user & love it but I still miss my Sims! (I went as far as Bootcamp but the crappy graphics cards in my mini & MBP didn't help)

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

I totally agree! I used bootcamp for a long time and when trying to play the sims 3 my macbook pro would get so hot it would burn my lap and make the top of my desk so hot and the crappy graphics like you said were terrible! I wish they would fix the game on the mac side but I doubt they ever will because I got great performance and graphics on the mac side before some of the patches. I missed my sims too for so long but now I'm back to playing like I use to. I hope your build goes great and you will get the chance to enjoy your sims!

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Great choices! :D

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Out of curiosity why didn't you go with the Prodigy M? That way you would'v had room for Crossfire in the future if you wanted to. Pretty good job for a first build, but the cables could have been managed better.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

I looked at the M before buying this case I do like the possibility of CF but right now I prefer to have one gpu because the games I play aren't that demanding and I play on one monitor and probably will for a long time. But if I do ever do want to do crossfire or get two nivida cards and sli I'd probably get another case one bigger than the prodigy just so I can really make my dream machine without size limitation. I asked this before but I like to get more than one opinion, do you have any tips for cable management?

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Twist ties. Lots of them. I think I saw a couple, but IMO the more the better. Bundle up your cables and route them up against the walls of the case if they're long enough. Thats the bulk of it, and a modular PSU does help. A great one is the EVGA SuperNova series, 80+ Gold, modular, and not too expensive. But a really good job done overall , especially for a first time builder.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Is the XFX card working well? I want it, but haven't heard many reviews.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

I would recommend this card to anyone running on one or two monitors. I run all my games at maxed out settings and 1080p with no lag or anything. The card runs cool and I was worried about that. I think if I were to get another gpu I'd go with XFX again.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

Nice build, well thought-out except maybe your psu. Not a fan of Rosewill psu's.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

"I'm using my old TV for a monitor". If your TV has a VGA input, I bet it has an HDMI input. HDMI cables are pretty cheap. Free speakers from the TV, too. Also, I would have gone for the Prodigy M, which looks the same from the outside, but supports a Micro ATX mobo inside, with the power supply up front.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

I wish my tv had a hdmi input but it doesn't but I do have an hdmi cable that I sometimes hook this computer up to my dad's tv and I much prefer hdmi it looks a lot better.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

aha

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

to be honest get rid of the optical drive and get an external drive it just takes away from the beauty of the case

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

AHHhhh, you snatched up one of the XFX cards when they were like... 180 after MIR. They're back up to 245 now. :,(

Nice build, it will run well for you for a while. If you decide it starts getting slow, you may want to add an SSD. Check out the Kingston V300 120 GB SSD. Should be like... 80 bucks. Makes your boot up time insane. Not that fastest SSD, but for the price, I don't think it can be beat.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Yeah I was very lucky when I got the card they are so expensive now in some places. Yeah I'm asking for a ssd for Christmas so I will be getting that along with some case fans

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  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Just curious, why did you get the WD Caviar Black over the Caviar Blue? Could have saved some money for a drive that is (basically) the same.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

The black has more performance then the blue and since it might be awhile until I can get an ssd I need the extra performance boost. But the only reason I would say for someone to get a blue is either if they aren't doing demanding task like gaming or editing and or they are going to pair it with an ssd and put stuff like microsoft office and not very demanding programs on it.

  • 71 months ago
  • 1 point

Hey, question here. Do you use the antenna for the wifi? Mine will be sitting right next to my router and I didn't know if it's necessary. Thanks.

  • 71 months ago
  • 1 point

Yes I do. I really don't like the look of it so I just bend it sideways so it's not viewable but I haven't tested if wifi works without it I'm sure probably not.

  • 70 months ago
  • 1 point

Great build!

  • 69 months ago
  • 1 point

Thank you :)

  • 69 months ago
  • 1 point

I really dig the case-- looks great on the outside. Don't see a horizontal IO panel very often :D Though it looks like the design makes cable management a bit more challenging. (Let's be honest… the truth is that modern case design has really progressed to make cable management more versatile. Back in the day, cases didn't have little ports all over route cables through to keep them out of the way.)

Great build!

  • 69 months ago
  • 1 point

Thanks! The case was really nice to build in and I love the format of everything. If I ever do buy a new case I'll stay with bitfenix but I hope to keep recycling parts in this case. Though the cable management is a bit hard as far as making things look nice but it works good enough to keep the computer from overheating.

  • 74 months ago
  • 0 points

Good pick of parts, and as Dj said earlier, there is no real point in putting GIRL in the title, there is no dispute with Boy/Girl fights in PC building. IMO Better CPU Cooler, and Cable management NEEDS to be redone, this amount of obstructing cables, with the stock cpu cooler will seriously heat up.

Overall, nice picks for parts.

  • 74 months ago
  • 2 points

You and that dj whatever need to get over the girl thing

  • 74 months ago
  • 0 points

Good build, but why would you need to include that you were a girl? sure it's rare, but you make it look like you want attention.

  • 74 months ago
  • -1 points

I don't trust rosewill power supplies pretty shoddy design from what i have heard i would have gone with corsair or seasonic but i may be wrong just going off what i heard. Mouse and keyboard are pretty bad for gaming i would have gone with Microsoft Sidewinder X4 for the keyboard and a G500s but that would come to about 116.37 Pricey but better in the long run. But other than it is a decent build. Also i Agree with DjArtifact don't advertise you are a girl it is clear you are looking for attention.

  • 74 months ago
  • 3 points

As referenced here, the Rosewill Hive 650 is a tier 2 PSU... Perfectly fine.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

For the keyboard I rarely do serious gaming I mostly and by mostly I mean everyday I play the sims which is mostly mouse intensive and just typing names, so I really didn't need a gaming keyboard or mouse. As I also use it for school which works well too. At first I really wanted a corsair but I was stuck on semi modular and the semi modular one was more expensive at the time.

  • 74 months ago
  • 1 point

I just thought that a mid/high end computer should have a gaming keyboard/mouse but that's my opinion. I am also very weary of power supplies not made by corsair or seasonic because i am a worrier lol.

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  • 72 months ago
  • 1 point

Oh I hate the color of the fan too but it's totally made up by the performance. I do use it as a exhaust in the back of the case and it is awesome. There is no hot air in the case since I got the fan I'd recommend it to anyone now. I see why everyone likes them so much. Maybe one day if I get tired of the 230 in the front I will put two 140 or 120 in the front.