The Build

Now it was time to put everything together. This would be my first FULL build from scratch. Sorry for the sideways pictures, blogger doesn't let me rotate them...

So about halfway through getting everything in the case I see the e-mail about doing a bench test... I felt I was at the point of no return so I had to keep going!

This is my cheesiest " I'm so excited to do this!" face. LoL!

Opened up the case. Like mentioned nice and roomy. Rosewill certainly does make some good stuff. It is a solid case for sure. No flimsy tin crap.

Both drives installed. CD/DVD installed. The 2nd HDD is in place but won't get hooked up until the OS is in.

Next I put in the mother board. Yes I put the little brass things underneath. The little bracket that fits over the I/O ports on the back was a pain in the ass!

Next was to install the processor. First, I wanted to test it's durability to hammer strikes! Plus this step helped get the box opened.

Got the chip and fan in. This was the most stressful part of the whole thing. Not to mention the lovely plastic cracking sound I got when installing the fan and heatsink. Also found out thermal paste is already applied to the factory heatsink.

Next in was the RAM. Pretty nice stuff.

Ok, So, the graphics card is so awesome and beastly I had to modify the case to get it to fit... I didn't need that piece.. I hope. LoL!

Here is a crappy picture of the card in.

Little better shot here. You can see it takes two expansion slots in the back but only uses 1 PCI slot.

Last minute touches.

Connecting Power! I had to refer to the diagram from the manual to get the case lights powered right.

All wired for power! Tried to keep the wires clean for maximum airflow efficiency and style points. 

All closed up, shot of the back.

And the front. I was pretty happy I got some little stickers from some of the parts to put on the front of the case. Makes it look more legit.

Success! To plug this thing in and power it up and get to see all the fans spinning and that picture come on the monitor was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. Kinda like when you get a car started up that's been broken!

Little shot of the BIOS screen. All that's needed now is the OS and we'll see what this baby can do!