[Review] My custom-built desktop

[Sprint]

So I decided to buy a new desktop (my first own actually) and knew it from the beginning that I would build it. It may seem wrong that you build your first desktop but I go in IT-school so that wasnt a problem

I will post it all up in 3 parts:
-The Case
-The intestins
-The performance

So I will start off with the case.

I bought a NZXT Apollo Steel as Orange



The case


The wires


Mainly took this cause it was cheap and good looking (=perfect)

Its equipped with 2x 120mm Fans, one with blue leds
Has 5x 5,25" bays
Has 5x 3,5" bays (3 HDD, 2 universal)

Pros
-Cool looking
-Good airflow
-Big window
-Lots of drive bays
-Silent case fans
-Lots of leds

Cons
-Fingerprint magnet
-Side window has high static electricity generation

This is actually pretty good, as the side window draws dust to it and the fan intake grill gathers dust really effecient. Has been running 3 weeks now and allmost no dust inside (not running 24/7)!

-Doesnt damp the sound from CPU/GPU fans at all really

[Sprint]

2: The hardware

OCZ STEALTHXSTREAM 600W
SAMSUNG 20X IDE DVD+/-RW LS bulk
SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.11 500GB SATA2 32MB
Asus P5Q
BUFFALO 4GB DDRII 800 KIT RETAIL
Gigabyte HD 4850 PCIE 512M GDDR-3 2X DVI
VISTA HOME PREM, UK, 64BIT OEM
INTEL Q6600 CORE 2 QUAD 2.4GHZ (Rev. G0)
BENQ 20,1" G2010WAP VGA 3000:1 1680x1050

Vista score:
Processor: 5,9
Memory: 5,6
Aero: 5,9
Gaming: 5,9
HDD Rate: 5,9

solid scores and this is with no hardware OCed

The Desktop aint the most silent (The GPU fan is the biggest noise maker) and the air flows with speed trough the case (it actually blows so much out at the back that it pulls air from the empty fan slot) and it has one 120mm fan intake and one 120mm exhaust + the PSU fan.

The raw power it contains is brutal, Im used to the speed of laptops wich is overall slower, but now I got about 4x the power (basing on 3DMark score) and it just flies
Ran Crysis Warhead yesterday, native and maxed out (no AA) and I did not notice a single frame jump or frame plunge. I dont have any frame rates right now as Im having some problems with the drivers (causing RSODs (red variant of BSOD)) but only with Crysis, no other game.

Pictures have arrived!


The desk



Other hardware: Razer Deathadder, Shakoon Majestic 5.1 Headset, Logitech slim keyboard

[Sprint]

All 3dMark06 scores taken on 1280x1024
All parts on stock frequencies

3DMark06: 11550
wPrime: 17,247 sec

Games:

Crysis Warhead:
Highest settings in the tunnel, solid fps no jumps (no exact framerates). Looked awsome!
Out of tunnel, had to turn down the settings to "Gamer". Solid fps of 30 altough there was some occasional plunges a bit now and then when things got a bit more explosive.

[sszero]

Can you do me one favor? Measure ( in inches ) from the I/0 at the PCIe 2 slot to the 3.5"/5.5" bays and tell me how far that is ( I need to know to compare the HD 4870 because I wnat the black/blue version of that case ).

[Sprint]

27,5cm = 10,8 inches from the metal plates to the bay rig


Update: Hardware comes today (friday) and Im grabbing it around 3pm. I wont be able to take any pictures while mounting as I wont be doing it at home.

[J.R. Nelson]

Hey, thanks for posting! That's actually a very cool looking case.

[Sprint]

No problem. Im pretty much finished with this review but if someone wants me to run some bench, take a pic or 2 over something or need an aswer post it!

JR delete that "updated" post to clean it up, thanks

[Fittersman]

sweet build, but i think it would drive me nuts having to open that front door every time i wanted to put in a CD.

[usapatriot]

With a little cable management it will look sick!

[Sprint]

Iv been trying to do some cable management but the cables are taking the victory!

Ill be updating with a couple new pics and some more about the case wich Iv found out lately.