I have been thinking of building a computer for some time now. My last computer build was about 7 years ago. I was looking for something that I can use as a server. I wanted the ability to add a lot of hard drives and RAM so I could run multiple virtual machines. I started purchasing individual parts over the last month as I came across good deals. I planned on reusing an Antec case that I had.
Here are the parts that I purchased:
- Asus M4A79XTD EVO
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (3.4 GHz)
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus heat sink
- CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
- 4 GB G.Skill DDR3 RAM F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ (overclocked to 1600 MHz)
- Hitachi Deskstar 1 TB SATA HD
- Lite-On DVD burner
- ATI PCI video card
- Antec 220 SOHO case
- Dual boot (Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Server 10.4 x64)
Motherboard: Asus M4A79XTD EVO
Picking a motherboard was not an easy task. I was looking for something that would be somewhat future proof and could support a lot of RAM. I also wanted the ability to overclock my CPU and RAM in the future if needed. I stumbled across the Asus M4A79XTD EVO. It seemed to meet all my requirements. It uses AMD’s latest socket AM3 techonology. This would allow me to upgrade to a hexacore AMD processor in the future. The motherboard also supports up to 16 GB of DDR3 RAM. 7 SATA ports allow me to add plenty of hard drives. There is no onboard video so you will have to add a video card. I put in an old ATI PCI card. This computer will be used headless most of the time. The Asus M4A79XTD EVO supports crossfire if you need some serious graphics capabilities.
The Asus M4A79XTD EVO unboxed
Heatsink/Fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Choosing a fan was a difficult task. There are many air cooled and water cooled options out there. Prices can range from $25 to well over $100. I came across a review from Tom’s Hardware that rated the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus as the best bang for the buck cooler. It is a very large, impressive looking unit so make sure you have a case that is large enough to house it. The heatsink and fan will need to be installed with the motherboard outside of the case because of its large size and mounting system. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus consists of a 4x Direct Contact heat pipe technology. It comes with one 120 mm fan but can house a second 120 mm fan as well. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus comes with a universal mount that can accommodate many Intel and AMD socket motherboards. It consists of a back plate that mounts to the bottom of the motherboard and an X shaped bracket that holds the heatsink on top of the CPU. The 120 mm fan needs to be removed to allow access to mount the heatsink. I used the Cooler Master thermal compound that was included. It went on fairly easily. I am not sure how it compares to Arctic Silver thermal compound but I have had no issues yet. There was just enough clearance between the heatsink and motherboard to get my RAM installed.
Universal mount attached to the bottom of motherboard
Heatsink, fan and X bracket
Test fit of X bracket
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (3.4GHz)
I decided to go with AMD because it offeres a better value compared to Intel. The AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition is a 64 bit processor. It features a quad core design and has a L3 cache. It utilizes AMD’s latest 45nm design and provides visualization support. The AMD Black Edition CPUs have an unlocked modifier so the processor can be overclocked. I am running at the stock speed of 3.4GHz but like the option to overclock in the future if needed. A fan was included with the CPU but I used Cooler Master for better cooling.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
CPU installed in motherboard
RAM: 4 GB G.Skill DDR3 RAM
This is a great set of RAM for the money. It is a dual channel kit that runs at 12800 MHz out of the box but can be overclocked to 1600 MHz if your motherboard supports it. It comes with heat spreaders to help dissipate heat. It was narrow enough to fit under my heatsink. I ran Memtest86+ for 24 hours without any errors or crashes.
Memory installed with heatsink
Power supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
The CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX is a basic 650W power supply that gets the job done. It is 80 PLUS Certified so it runs pretty efficiently. It has plenty of connectors to power all your devices. It is not a modular cable design but they are nicely wrapped in black mesh. I was able to tuck all the unused cables into the top of the case.
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
Putting it all together
I reused an old Antec SOHO tower case. It has plenty of space to clear the large heatsink. The case can hold up to 6 hard drives so there is plenty of space for future upgrades. I used a LiteOn SATA DVD burner with Light Scribe technology. This is my first Light Scribe drive. It is pretty amazing how it creates labels on the surface of a DVD. I put an old ATA DVD drive to easily copy CDs/DVDs. An old ATA hard drive is configured to dual boot Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu Server 10.4 x64. The 1 TB SATA hard drive serves as a place to save data.
Final Assembly
