P7 Lynnfield Asus P7H57D-EVO Custom Build

Finally decided to upgrade my ancient 7 year old Processor and motherboard. Decided to get a few extras and to upgrade the case as well. My old computer just stopped working one day. The motherboard was very old so I assumed either it or the processor had gone and decided to just build a new a system. When I finally got the new system together it still didn't work. Turned out the old Motherboard and CPU were fine... it was the video card. I have the BFG 285 GTX which I love. (Even though BFG is appearantly getting out of the graphics card business. (TomsHardware)) I was fairly depressed that it was my video card. However BFG products come with a lifetime warranty so I have that out for RMA. In the meantime I am using a GT240. Its not the fastest card but it seems to get the job done and without any supplemental power to boot. I was able to play DDO in DX10 on ultra high all with no lag. Portal max everything runs fine. Even those super high resolution trailers on apple run find on this card. (Which I would not have suspected, being a mid range graphics card.)

System Specs:

• Case: Lian Li Lancool PC-K62 (NewEgg)
• Power: Antec 650W True Power (If you plan to SLI Go Bigger... Like 1200W)
• Motherboard: Asus P7H57D-V EVO (NewEgg)
• CPU: Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz (NewEgg)
• Video Card: BFG 285 GTX 1 GB* (BFG)/ Nvidia 240 GT (NewEgg)
• Ram: 8 Gigs Kingston HyperX (NewEgg)
• HD: Dual WD 640 Black Drives. [RAID 0] (NewEgg)
• Touch Screen Cooling System: AeroCool Touch 1000 (NewEgg)
• Monitor: ViewSonic VA2626wm (NewEgg)
• Other: Asus DVD Burner, Kiosk Card Reader (NewEgg), Logitech 5.1 Surround Speakers (NewEgg), Performance MX mouse, Pro 2000 cordless keyboard (NewEgg), Cyber Power UPS (NewEgg)

Here is a look at the inside. (Click on the image for a better view) I am not done perfecting the wiring but you can see its fairly clean in there. Once I put the BFG back in I will clean up the wiring.

This system was a lot of fun to put together. Lian Li did a great job on their tooless design. The one unsettling part was the stock cooler intel puts out. I wasn't sure if it had clicked into place. Fortunately there is a giant hole under the processor and you can just look. :)