Maximum PC

My budget build is pretty much done and only need a few extra components. Right now it is up and running.

CPU/Motherboard: AMD Phenom II X6 1045T/Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 [$180 (-10)]
RAM: Corsair XMS 1333 8GB [$53 (-20)]
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 60GB [$65 (-10)]
PSU: NZXT Hale82 650W [$88 (-22)]
Optical: LG 22x DVD Burner [$16]
Case: Antec 302 [$64 (-5)]
Fans: 2x Kingwin 120mm [$8]
OS: Ubuntu 12.04 [Free]
Video Card: EVGA eGeForce 7600GT 256Mb [Free, from a good friend]

Paid $480 but after my rebates come in, the cost will only be $410.

I want to add Windows 7, get an HDD when prices come down, add a multi-card reader, and maybe a fan controller. So this may end up around $550.

If anyone is building their first PC, I reccommend the Antec 302. The panels are a bit flimsy and thin not a big deal since it isn't being moved around much. Also the paint job isn't the best, with air bubbles and not a smooth finish. The rear mount fan has a small cable so I had to do some DIY extension using the "3 pin to molex cable" Antec provided (as seen in the duct tape wrapped wire in the pic below). Its very easy to manage the cables, has 2 quiet fans, and USB 3.0 internal Header support.

And Ubuntu only takes up 7 or 8GB on my SSD so plenty of space to add Win7.

Special thanks to all who helped me figure this out, especially JBaz and Danthrax66.

And the Pics:

I spent a few hours working on the cable management and even tried cable lacing on my Kingwin fans. It's not the best lacing but good enough for me. Overall, putting the parts together, cable management, software installation, and running tests on the components took me a few days to complete.

So, you got the MicroCenter deal? Nice! Looks great!

I got that same cpu/board combo w/ that Zalman Z9 they had on sale. I also have to recommend it (used in 3 builds already including mine ) I went w/ Linux Mint/xfce debian (LMDE) since my old linux workstation already ran 'buntu 10.04 LTS and wanted something different.


Phenom X6 1045T/Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 $160 ($10 MIR)
Corsair Vengenance LP 16G (2x8) CL10 $116
Zalman Z9 $35 ($10 MIR)
Corsair CX430 v2 $45 ($20 MIR)
CM Hyper 212+ $26
ODD (same as yours) $16

Total ~$400 ($40 MIR)


These I already had / reused, estimated value:

Sapphire 5670 1G/GDDR5 $60
Seagate 1Tb pull/refurb ~$100


So my total was potentially $560 said and done, $520 if I ever get the rebates . I got the x6 when it dropped from $110 to $100, so that is probably why my combo is slightly cheaper. Yes that is an obscene amount of memory, my intention is to run about 4 VMs under virtualbox concurently with the base OS. so far nearly a dozen people told me the PSU is too weak, yet the PSU calc puts it at 260w min / 310w recomended <shrug> IMO it will work just fine. Even at 6 HDDs I am still 360W recommended, if I decide to make it my fileserver I will probably migrate all the hdds to it and put it on my kill-a-watt and see what it is actually pulling.

One gotcha I ran into with that case - had to bend the rim of the rear edge to make the 212 bracket fit (was hitting the bottom of the case, causing a misalignment of the rear i/o panel, you can see my wrench scuff marks )...

hyper 212 / Z9 case mod to make bracket fit:



Other that that it was relatively painless build. Didn't spend a whole lot of time with cable mgmt just but them behind the board with a few zip ties, and put the remaining cable slack in the hdd bay. One thing about the Z9 it is QUIET (kind of why I went with the 212 plus, quiet under full load )

side / no panel:



side / front / bottom:


Cheers!

The taxes are included which is why it was closer to 180 than $160

Nice build man. Just wish HDD prices drop faster.