A new processor/graphics card...

Over the last week, I was successful in moving all of my hardware from my old case into the new one. That process sounds simple enough, but I can assure you that building into a case that essentially has room for only the components and cables you need is a pretty daunting process. It involved me having to wire and rewire and move and remove and put one part in to take another out and etc. Since the case was only 9.6 liters large, that meant all components would need to fit snug and be cooled properly. As I would find out later, however, this case actually was much more efficient in cooling my processor and graphics card than my old computer. Because the side panels were mesh, it allows for air to flow in and out through every side, the top, bottom, and side panels. My old case had a very small dedicated spot for intake (air coming in), and exhaust (air leaving the case)

And here is how my final product came out! In the first photo, you can see the graphics card, and how its positioned on one side of the case pretty much by itself. The two fans on the graphics card act as intakes to bring cold air to the GPU, so making sure that nothing was blocking that side was extremely important. On the flip side, You can see my motherboard and power supply situated next to each other, With cables coming from each being tucked basically wherever possible. The two large protruding cables are from the all-in-one cooler and radiator to the CPU. You can see that the radiator actually sits right on top of the frame. with two fans below acting as intake. This would allow for cool air to be drawn in from the top and exhausted from anywhere else that was needed. I find that most of the hot air escapes through the 5 rectangular holes on the back of the case, but because the side panels are mesh, it will escape wherever it needs to. One of the issues I first had when putting this all together was attempting to use 2 fans for the radiator support. You can see from the image that the two fans situated below the radiator are obviously different. This is due to the limited space above the motherboard. Unfortunately I was unable to fit a full sized fan there, and had to order a slimmer version in order to close the top on the case.

Once it was all closed up, I went ahead and tested it out!

(and of course, so did Kovu)

Needless to say, it was awesome having so much more room on my desk now, and my computer now more than ever performed even better due to improved temperatures from the design of the case. I was extremely thrilled with how it was working!

But of course, there's always something that could be better... Over the last moth, Nvidia, a popular computer component manufacturer, released a series of full sized new graphics cards that outperformed almost everything on the market. WIth my graphics card being only a few months old, you would ask yourself, 'Why would you even need to upgrade?' And honestly, I could try to justify it any way I want, but really I just wanted better performance.

Unfortunately, getting one of these graphics cards wasn't just as simple as putting in your Amazon cart and selecting 'buy now!' These cards were almost considered what is called in the computer industry 'a paper launch.' This is a term for a company or organization releasing a new technology that showcases what they are capable of making, but never plan to move to mass market or consumer. Customers were very frustrated with this due to the very limited amount of graphics cards that were available since release. Luckily for me, I was able to get on a waitlist at a local computer store and actually get the exact graphics card I needed to complete my build! I needed a very specific model and brand of this card due to the small form factor of my computer. Not many graphics cards beside the one I currently have would even fit.

And unfortunately, this was the exact problem I ran into. I did all my measurements correctly, and you can see that the card actually fits in the case! However, when attempting to close the side of the case, the mesh panel touches the center of the fans on the graphics card, causing them to stop spinning. This is very bad for cooling obviously, and I did not want to leave the case open and exposed for various reasons, most of them having to do with the cat.

With that, I packed the graphics card back up, and sold it to a friend who was very happy to have it!

During this process, however, I knew that opening the computer and pulling components out wasn't the easiest thing to do, so I decided that if I was going to upgrade the graphics card, I might as well upgrade the processor as well. I found the one I had originally wanted in my build online for a great price now, and found another friend who was interested in buying my current processor. I went with Intel's 9th generation i9 processor, and 8 core CPU that was also able to be overclocked to higher specifications. This was, at the time of its release, the highest end CPU available, and being able to get it at such a good price was a no brainier for me.