Building the Ultimate Gaming System VI

The Build

Now comes the “fun” part- building the system. As I mentioned on the first page, building a SFF PC is a pain, so every step must be made to avoid cramming, stuffing, and twisting- and everything must be done right, to avoid shorts and other major issues. So, how did it go?

Fairly well. Kinda well. Naturally, the regular order of building a PC (putting everything in the mobo and then screwing it in and connecting the rest) wouldn't work- for a variety of reasons. First off, I had to do some modifications to the cooling system on the video card- unsurprisingly, the thing was too big for the case, so I had to dick with it until it fit (dammit). Secondly, the Blue Orb II wouldn't fit in the case until absolutely last- after I had the mobo IN THE CASE. To top that off, the Blue Orb II has spring set screws, so one dick up in screwing the thing in, and I destroy a $300 CPU. Sweating time.

Things still went well. First off, I naturally got the mobo out and did the basics- I put the CPU in carefully, installed the video, sound, and TV in cards, and just cleaned the stuff up a bit. I stupidly put the Blue Orb II on, but then had to remove it (and the thermal paste) like an idiot- but everything was still nice and sound. By this time, I had gone and done the (pain in the ass) task of replacing all of the fans except for the front 120mm with the 80mm VANTECs, and installing one extra on the little pinholes (which I later had to remove to fit the video card in first). This took about 30 minutes, not surprisingly- screws can be a pain.

Then came the “fun”. Once I had gotten the mobo reasonably set up and the Optical drives lodged in their casing (which took about 10 minutes to find out that I had to set up a special adapter to use the top slot), I then took out the hard drive casing (so the Video Card would fit) and screwed in the motherboard. Step one... done.

From then, I installed the Blue Orb, which was just big enough to make installing everything else (from the front light indicators and power buttons to the P4 connector) a living pain in the ass. But it worked, and I was naturally happy. By then, my hands were covered in Arctic Silver, but I didn't care- it was working, so screw it.

Everything else was a breeze. The power supply fit in just enough to touch the heatsinks on the video card, but no problems come from that (as no power goes to the heatsinks), so no harm, no foul. Once I had everything hooked up and ready to go, my hands were bloody and I had gone through about three sessions of “turn on the PC and find out what got unplugged when I installed the Blue Orb”. Still- easy build, easy fix, and no major problems. Everything worked.

From then on, everything was your stereotypical funfest. I installed Windows XP (screw Vista), installed all necessary drivers, and I had me a new PC, ready to play ANYTHING I threw at it. The results?

Half Life 2 (max settings): 300 FPS
Half Life 2: Lost Coast (max settings): 250FPS
Tom Clancy Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter: About 150FPS
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: The high end of 100FPS

Victory! While my testing methods are by no means detailed or expensive (no boring 3D Max diagrams here), I can easily tell you this sucker can handle it- and very quietly, too. No overheating, no issues, no shutdowns- just pure, unadulterated fun.

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