Need Help 4 a High End Build

[Spaceye]

These are only some parts I've been looking at so if you would like to give other suggestions please leave a comment I could get all the help I can get.

Windows 10

Display:
43" 4k Monitor (Already bought)

CASE:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QZH23S/ref=twister_B009VZ3YVC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1


MOBO: (Where I need the most help..suggestions please!!)
1.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MSWF8L9/ref=twister_B01N0R...…
2.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019U0VWKW?tag=cnet-viglink-2...

RAM: (16GB DDR4 3200Mhz LED RAM??
1.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0GSOYC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


SSD: (Not Sure if I want to spend the extra $380 to get twice the performance yet, would be nice though. what do you guys suggest?)
1.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JCXXRQO?tag=cnet-viglink-2...…
2.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LWQ9LYV?tag=cnet-viglink-2...

CPU COOLER: (Even though I would like to get one with a fan and heat sink for the looks it does seem a bit smarter to go with corsairs Liquid cpu cooler doesn't? If only it had some LED's to help light up the case.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019955RNQ?tag=cnet-viglink-2...


LGA 2011 CPU: 6800k or 6850k?? (Thinking of going with 6850k)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FJLA8NI?tag=cnet-viglink-2...

PSU:
1200Watt CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold

 

[lehtv]

What is the PC used for?
Do you already have a graphics card?
Do you have a budget?
Are you planning to overclock?

I don't think LGA2011v3 CPUs are worth buying now that Ryzen is out and you can get 8 cores and 16 threads for just $330. By comparison, the i7-6800K has 6 cores and 12 threads, and costs $60 more. The i7-6850K makes even less sense, all you get vs. i7-6800K is higher stock clock speed and more PCIe lanes.

Both of those motherboards are LGA1151, they're compatible with i7-7700K, not i7-6800K/6850K. i7-7700K is still a decent buy for a high end PC - after all, it has the highest single thread performance of current CPUs. The downside is it's only a quad core, Ryzen 7 1700 absolutely wrecks it in heavily multithreaded tasks.

PCIe SSD's make no sense now that M.2 NVMe SSD's are a thing.

 

[Spaceye]

I will be using the pc for 4k Gaming and movies, Photoshop, and Light Video Editing.

My budget is $2,000 but prefer $1,500

USA, California.

Reusing these parts from my old pc...

GTX 960's,
Power Supply: 1200W Silent pro Gold Model# RS-C00-80GA-D3
and several internal Hard drives for storage.

I wont be overclocking.

Dell 43" 4k multiclient monitor P4317Q

I plan on building the pc asap

Motherboard features? Ummm..this is where I need the most help...I know Id like USB 3.0 and SLI support of course. As for the SATA please refer to the SSD's in my list.

I'll have to look into rysen

 

[Spaceye]

What is the PC used for?
Do you already have a graphics card?
Do you have a budget?
Are you planning to overclock?

I don't think LGA2011v3 CPUs are worth buying now that Ryzen is out and you can get 8 cores and 16 threads for just $330. By comparison, the i7-6800K has 6 cores and 12 threads, and costs $60 more. The i7-6850K makes even less sense, all you get vs. i7-6800K is higher stock clock speed and more PCIe lanes.

Both of those motherboards are LGA1151, they're compatible with i7-7700K, not i7-6800K/6850K. i7-7700K is still a decent buy for a high end PC - after all, it has the highest single thread performance of current CPUs. The downside is it's only a quad core, Ryzen 7 1700 absolutely wrecks it in heavily multithreaded tasks.

PCIe SSD's make no sense now that M.2 NVMe SSD's are a thing.

I'll be using 2 GTX 960's I currently own.

Budget is 2,000 but prefer 1,600

I've never overclocked but It might be something I'll get into in the long run.

I hadn't looked at and processors until now tbh... you're right tho I think I will be going with AMD on this one. Thank you.

As for the cpu cooler, I was looking at cooler masters MasterAir Maker 8 but not sure if it's AM4 compatible...

Any suggestions on a great mobo? Does it matter much if I go with amd on it as well?

 

[Spaceye]

Here is a revision of the list of parts...love some suggestions for mobo guys. Not sure if the cpu cooler is compatible with AM4 though..it doesnt look like it.


Windows 10

Display:
43" 4k Monitor (Already bought)

CASE: (What can I say I love how big it is, if only it came with wings)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QZH23S/ref=twister_B009VZ3YVC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

MOBO:
(Still need suggestions for mobo, should I go with AMD as well or does it matter?)

CPU:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06W9JXK4G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

RAM:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0GSOYC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

GPU:
2 GTX 960's (From old PC)

SSD:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E1T0B-AM/dp/B00OBRFFAS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1492364732&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+850+evo&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin:6797521011

Storage:
1T WD Caviar Drive, 400Gb Spin Drive old PC came with for boot drive, a 3T Seagate backup plus and an external 4T seagate personal HD.

CPU COOLER:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B12DQ38/ref=crt_ewc_title_dp_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

PSU:
1200Watt CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold

 

[lehtv]

Display - Nice. For a smooth gaming experience on 4K you definitely need to upgrade your 960 SLI.
Case - I'd recommend saving money here, there's just no need for a behemoth $200 case. You don't even need space for a large number of hard disks or any 5.25" drives.
Mobo - The socket of the motherboard needs to match the socket of the processor, so for an AM4 processor you need an AM4 motherboard.
CPU - The 1800X isn't worth the extra cost over the 1700, clock speed is the only difference here. You get much more performance per dollar with the 1700.
RAM - That's specifically for Intel and unnecessarily expensive.
GPU - At your budget and for 4K gaming, I'd sell the GTX 960's and buy a GTX 1080 Ti which is the only single GPU capable of actually running demanding games smoothly on 4K at high settings. It's more than twice as fast as GTX 960 SLI so it's definitely a worthwhile upgrade, and obviously avoids all of SLI's pitfalls.
SSD - good but MX300 is better value
Storage - OK, but what's the "400GB Spin Drive"? You mean a regular old hard disk? I don't think an old, slow, low capacity hard disk has any place in a $1500-2000 build. You have plenty of other storage space.
Cooler - Since you're not overclocking, you'll be fine with basic CPU cooling. I'd actually suggest giving Ryzen's 7 1700's stock cooler (Wraith Spire) a try, by all accounts I've seen it is quiet and performs well enough at stock settings. You can later upgrade the cooler if it's not to your liking but I have a hunch you'll be fine with the Spire. In any case, spending any more than $30 or so here is just throwing money away.
PSU - OK

Here's a complete parts list:

Case Fractal Design Define R5 with window $101 @ amazon (you can take the upper HDD cage out)
Fans (stock fans to front + ) Silent Wings 3 140mm PWM $20 @ newegg (to the rear slot)
CPU, motherboard and RAM: Ryzen 7 1700, Asus Prime X370 Pro, Corsair LPX 2x8GB DDR4-3000 $580 @ newegg
- the X370 PRO is a very good overclocker board in case you want to overclock in the future, picked it due to $30 off in the combo deal
GPU: Asus GTX 1080 Ti Strix OC $760 @ newegg (could be cheaper elsewhere when in stock)
SSD: Crucial MX300 1050GB $280 @ amazon

aaand that's it. = $1741

 

[Spaceye]

Display - Nice. For a smooth gaming experience on 4K you definitely need to upgrade your 960 SLI.
Case - I'd recommend saving money here, there's just no need for a behemoth $200 case. You don't even need space for a large number of hard disks or any 5.25" drives.
Mobo - The socket of the motherboard needs to match the socket of the processor, so for an AM4 processor you need an AM4 motherboard.
CPU - The 1800X isn't worth the extra cost over the 1700, clock speed is the only difference here. You get much more performance per dollar with the 1700.
RAM - That's specifically for Intel and unnecessarily expensive.
GPU - At your budget and for 4K gaming, I'd sell the GTX 960's and buy a GTX 1080 Ti which is the only single GPU capable of actually running demanding games smoothly on 4K at high settings. It's more than twice as fast as GTX 960 SLI so it's definitely a worthwhile upgrade, and obviously avoids all of SLI's pitfalls.
SSD - good but MX300 is better value
Storage - OK, but what's the "400GB Spin Drive"? You mean a regular old hard disk? I don't think an old, slow, low capacity hard disk has any place in a $1500-2000 build. You have plenty of other storage space.
Cooler - Since you're not overclocking, you'll be fine with basic CPU cooling. I'd actually suggest giving Ryzen's 7 1700's stock cooler (Wraith Spire) a try, by all accounts I've seen it is quiet and performs well enough at stock settings. You can later upgrade the cooler if it's not to your liking but I have a hunch you'll be fine with the Spire. In any case, spending any more than $30 or so here is just throwing money away.
PSU - OK

Here's a complete parts list:

Case Fractal Design Define R5 with window $101 @ amazon (you can take the upper HDD cage out)
Fans (stock fans to front + ) Silent Wings 3 140mm PWM $20 @ newegg (to the rear slot)
CPU, motherboard and RAM: Ryzen 7 1700, Asus Prime X370 Pro, Corsair LPX 2x8GB DDR4-3000 $580 @ newegg
- the X370 PRO is a very good overclocker board in case you want to overclock in the future, picked it due to $30 off in the combo deal
GPU: Asus GTX 1080 Ti Strix OC $760 @ newegg (could be cheaper elsewhere when in stock)
SSD: Crucial MX300 1050GB $280 @ amazon

aaand that's it. = $1741

Thank you lehtv I really appreciate your help.

Case:
I actually spent hours looking for the one I want and Im still feeling like I didnt look enough haha .I tend to really like large cases tho cause they offer a ton of room and they just look cool. thank you for the case suggestion
Mobo:
I've been looking at the Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero but someone told me its overkill for my needs and TBH Im not very good at knowing what features I need but these are some that I have been looking at.
CPU:
I keep getting told the same so I'll go with the 1700 but not the 1700X?? because its only 100mhz more?
https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Ryzen-17...&ie=UTF8&qid=1492459325&sr=1-1&keywords=1700x
RAM: Why not the 3200MHz version??
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143UM4TC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&tag=hardfocom-20
GPU:
Just might do that after I try the GTX 960's on the new build.
SSD:
MX300 it is.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IAGSDUE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Stoage:
You're are right. Guess I just didnt want to have it laying around if its still a good drive. It's basically over 10 yrs old tho haha.
CPU Cooler:
Tbh id like one that looks impressive...I dont mind spending a little extra here.
This is one I'm looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/Cryorig-Ulti...eywords=Cryorig+R1+Ultimate+CR-R1A+Dual+Tower
MOBO:
You wouldnt go with Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero or Gigabyte GA-AX370 instead of Asus Prime? If no,may I ask why?

NZXT Phantom 820 Case
Asus Prime
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
Crucial MX300 1T
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16Gb (2x8GB) DDR4
Cryorig R1 Ultimate

Total: $1,247

 

[Spaceye]

Kind of thinking about the X370 Taichi for the motherboard instead... any opinions?

 

[dlerious]

The Taichi is at the top of my list along with the Crosshair VI and maybe Gigabyte Gaming K7. It'll be a while until I build though and the cost is almost certainly going to be over 2K. So far I have the R7 1800X, Seasonic Prime 850 Titanium PSU, 2x16GB DDR4-2400 FlareX RAM, and Caselabs S8 case. I'll have some drives coming soon - Sandisk 960GB Extreme Pro and Samsung 850 Evo 1TB NvMe. I'll definitely be running VM's and possibly unRaid so 2 or 3 4TB spinners are likely. Graphics and monitor are still up in the air until I decide how much gaming I'll be doing.

 

[lehtv]

Thank you lehtv I really appreciate your help.

Case:
I actually spent hours looking for the one I want and Im still feeling like I didnt look enough haha .I tend to really like large cases tho cause they offer a ton of room and they just look cool. thank you for the case suggestion

The Define R5 is actually very roomy and easy to build in

Mobo:
I've been looking at the Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero but someone told me its overkill for my needs and TBH Im not very good at knowing what features I need but these are some that I have been looking at.

Kind of thinking about the X370 Taichi for the motherboard instead... any opinions

MOBO:
You wouldnt go with Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero or Gigabyte GA-AX370 instead of Asus Prime? If no,may I ask why?

The question should be posed the other way around. If you have to always have a reason not to buy the most expensive product, you'll end up spending all your money on things you don't need.

However, I'll say why I would buy the Asus X370 Prime. In general with motherboards, if you don't know whether you need a particular feature, then you don't need it. All motherboards (even the cheapest ones) have a set of common, basic features and connectivity that suffices for the vast majority of people. The Crosshair, Taichi and Gaming K7 are all high end boards directed at demanding users who overclock their CPUs with high end cooling solutions. As such, they are definitely overkill for someone who (a) doesn't overclock and (b) doesn't know what features he needs (i.e. = not a demanding user per se). Don't get bought in by the appeal of "high end" marketing, just buy the X370 Pro, it's already very feature packed and just as high quality. I'd have suggested a B350 motherboard if it wasn't for the combo deal.

CPU:
I keep getting told the same so I'll go with the 1700 but not the 1700X?? because its only 100mhz more?
https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Ryzen-17...&ie=UTF8&qid=1492459325&sr=1-1&keywords=1700x

Yes, because it's only 100MHz faster, it's not worth paying that much extra for. You can manually overclock a 1700 to 1700X or 1800X speeds if you want. But even without OC, you won't notice a difference real life between the different Ryzen 7 models. They're all 8 cores with 16 threads and with clock speeds in roughly the same neighborhood. In addition the X models require you to buy a third party cooler while the 1700 comes with a stock cooler that works fine at stock settings, so you save money there as well.

RAM: Why not the 3200MHz version??
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143UM4TC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&tag=hardfocom-20

Because it's more expensive and the extra speed doesn't really matter. But sure if you want to pay $20 for 200MHz faster RAM, go for it . It's just $20.

GPU:
Just might do that after I try the GTX 960's on the new build.

Isn't it clear that 960 SLI is weak for 4K just by looking at benchmarks? It just seems so unnecessary to install the 960 SLI. It's like using a single 750 Ti in a $1000 1080p gaming PC - could easily afford a GTX 1060 or 1070 and get double or triple the fps.

Tbh id like one that looks impressive...I dont mind spending a little extra here.
This is one I'm looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/Cryorig-Ultimate-CR-R1A-Heatsink-2xXF140/dp/B00HUHC3WY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&
qid=1492460290&sr=1-1&keywords=Cryorig+R1+Ultimate+CR-R1A+Dual+Tower

What does it matter what the CPU cooler looks like when its sitting inside a case where you can't see it anyway? I'm confused .

Is your intention to simply decorate the CPU with a large hunk of metal and plastic, in hopes of making the build seem more powerful than it actually is to those why take a close look inside your PC? Why not just use a cooler that does the job?

 

[Spaceye]

The Define R5 is actually very roomy and easy to build in




The question should be posed the other way around. If you have to always have a reason not to buy the most expensive product, you'll end up spending all your money on things you don't need.

However, I'll say why I would buy the Asus X370 Prime. In general with motherboards, if you don't know whether you need a particular feature, then you don't need it. All motherboards (even the cheapest ones) have a set of common, basic features and connectivity that suffices for the vast majority of people. The Crosshair, Taichi and Gaming K7 are all high end boards directed at demanding users who overclock their CPUs with high end cooling solutions. As such, they are definitely overkill for someone who (a) doesn't overclock and (b) doesn't know what features he needs (i.e. = not a demanding user per se). Don't get bought in by the appeal of "high end" marketing, just buy the X370 Pro, it's already very feature packed and just as high quality. I'd have suggested a B350 motherboard if it wasn't for the combo deal.


Yes, because it's only 100MHz faster, it's not worth paying that much extra for. You can manually overclock a 1700 to 1700X or 1800X speeds if you want. But even without OC, you won't notice a difference real life between the different Ryzen 7 models. They're all 8 cores with 16 threads and with clock speeds in roughly the same neighborhood. In addition the X models require you to buy a third party cooler while the 1700 comes with a stock cooler that works fine at stock settings, so you save money there as well.
Because it's more expensive and the extra speed doesn't really matter. But sure if you want to pay $20 for 200MHz faster RAM, go for it . It's just $20.


Isn't it clear that 960 SLI is weak for 4K just by looking at benchmarks? It just seems so unnecessary to install the 960 SLI. It's like using a single 750 Ti in a $1000 1080p gaming PC - could easily afford a GTX 1060 or 1070 and get double or triple the fps.

What does it matter what the CPU cooler looks like when its sitting inside a case where you can't see it anyway? I'm confused .

Is your intention to simply decorate the CPU with a large hunk of metal and plastic, in hopes of making the build seem more powerful than it actually is to those why take a close look inside your PC? Why not just use a cooler that does the job?

Reason why is because I may like to OC in the long run but I'm sure I'll get well enough results with the Asus Prime so I'll go with it..

Well... I guess to get first hand experience to see how much of a difference the 1080 over 960 sli makes on my system. I'm curious if it would be worth while to run a 960 as a dedicated physX card.. I know not many games support physX tho...any thoughts?

Cause I like looking at cool looking large hunks of metal and plastic with led lights through the computers side panel

 

[lehtv]

I'm curious if it would be worth while to run a 960 as a dedicated physics card.. I know not many games support physix tho...any thoughts?

Not worth the hassle. Even in games that do use PhysX, a 1080 Ti is plenty fast on its own.

Cause I like looking at cool looking large hunks of metal and plastic with led lights through the computers side panel

Cases with tempered glass windows are worth checking out, normal plastic windows look like cheap toys in comparison. You might like the Phanteks Enthoo Luxe, available in black or gray with in-built RGB lights. Much better looking (in my opinion) than the NZXT Phantom 820, probably better quality, and a little less expensive.

 

[Spaceye]

Not worth the hassle. Even in games that do use PhysX, a 1080 Ti is plenty fast on its own.





Cases with tempered glass windows are worth checking out, normal plastic windows look like cheap toys in comparison. You might like the Phanteks Enthoo Luxe, available in black or gray with in-built RGB lights. Much better looking (in my opinion) than the NZXT Phantom 820, probably better quality, and a little less expensive.

It's not a bad case but I tend to like cases that aren't square and have more design elements to them.

Should I do more than 16G of ram since I use photoshop and video editing software?

Thanks Lehtv

 

[lehtv]

You'll most likely be fine with 16GB RAM. Can always add more later.

 

[lukart]

The Taichi is at the top of my list along with the Crosshair VI and maybe Gigabyte Gaming K7. It'll be a while until I build though and the cost is almost certainly going to be over 2K. So far I have the R7 1800X, Seasonic Prime 850 Titanium PSU, 2x16GB DDR4-2400 FlareX RAM, and Caselabs S8 case. I'll have some drives coming soon - Sandisk 960GB Extreme Pro and Samsung 850 Evo 1TB NvMe. I'll definitely be running VM's and possibly unRaid so 2 or 3 4TB spinners are likely. Graphics and monitor are still up in the air until I decide how much gaming I'll be doing.

You cannot go wrong with the Taichi, I tried one for a build and it's pretty amazing. And definitely have decent juices to overclock all those CPU cores.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Reason why is because I may like to OC in the long run but I'm sure I'll get well enough results with the Asus Prime so I'll go with it..

Well... I guess to get first hand experience to see how much of a difference the 1080 over 960 sli makes on my system. I'm curious if it would be worth while to run a 960 as a dedicated physX card.. I know not many games support physX tho...any thoughts?

Cause I like looking at cool looking large hunks of metal and plastic with led lights through the computers side panel

Other posts suggest you are going to switch your plan to build an AMD machine. I was only going to offer an observation about your interest in the Maximus boards for Intel.

Those are top-end boards, and they are good. But you would be paying for extra features to which you might otherwise be indifferent. There are plenty of good boards in the $180 to $250 range which would be great for overclocking. If you don't want to overclock, you shouldn't be spending $500 on a motherboard.

But I'm guessing this is resolved with the X370 Taichi AMD board. That's a reasonable outlay, given your plans and ambitions.

 

[Spaceye]

Finally got the parts and ended up going with the Asus ROG Crosshair for the motherboard and Thermaltake Water 3.0...

some of you are saying whhyyy I know it!:LOL:

Also started using some paint I had for the inside panel of my XPS 720 case to test out how it would look...I think im liking the results!

Can anyone recommend a good scratch proof epoxy coating or something I can use for the exterior after I paint the whole thing black??

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Finally got the parts and ended up going with the Asus ROG Crosshair for the motherboard and Thermaltake Water 3.0...

some of you are saying whhyyy I know it!:LOL:

Also started using some paint I had for the inside panel of my XPS 720 case to test out how it would look...I think im liking the results!

Can anyone recommend a good scratch proof epoxy coating or something I can use for the exterior after I paint the whole thing black??

I don't get it . . . . the case has a charcoal finish . . . and you want to paint it black. And if you wanted to paint the case, you'd do it before installing any parts. Because -- if you paint it afterward -- you'd best remove all of those parts.

Generally, if the case exterior surfaces are bare metal, you'd use a primer first, then an enamel suited to the primer. If the case is aluminum, the primer is different than you'd use for SECC steel. If the case has an enamel coating of its own, you would probably sand it, add perfunctory primer coat, and then the enamel.

Since you're going to all of the work and trouble (or incline to it), consider ALSA Corporation and their chrome paint system:

Killer Chrome

You could investigate further making it "scratch-proof." Just be sure you use ALSA's own black undercoat before applying the chrome layer, and not some black enamel you purchased at the hardware store.

If done right, it sure beats stripping all the paint off the metal chassis and surfaces, cleaning it up, taking it to a business that does real chrome-plating, and paying the price for it.

Be sure you use the appropriate enamel for the appropriate surface. Plastic surfaces are best painted with an enamel made for plastics.

 

[Spaceye]

I don't get it . . . . the case has a charcoal finish . . . and you want to paint it black. And if you wanted to paint the case, you'd do it before installing any parts. Because -- if you paint it afterward -- you'd best remove all of those parts.

Generally, if the case exterior surfaces are bare metal, you'd use a primer first, then an enamel suited to the primer. If the case is aluminum, the primer is different than you'd use for SECC steel. If the case has an enamel coating of its own, you would probably sand it, add perfunctory primer coat, and then the enamel.

Since you're going to all of the work and trouble (or incline to it), consider ALSA Corporation and their chrome paint system:

Killer Chrome

You could investigate further making it "scratch-proof." Just be sure you use ALSA's own black undercoat before applying the chrome layer, and not some black enamel you purchased at the hardware store.

If done right, it sure beats stripping all the paint off the metal chassis and surfaces, cleaning it up, taking it to a business that does real chrome-plating, and paying the price for it.

Be sure you use the appropriate enamel for the appropriate surface. Plastic surfaces are best painted with an enamel made for plastics.

Thank you for all the info, I've begun doing the paint work on the nzxt case... the xps case I only tested some rustoleum on the inside of the side panel as you can see in the last pic of my previous post, but yes I do plan on taking everything out of it before I start doing anything on it hahah.

On to the AM4 nzxt build this thread is about...

Here are a few pics of the sanding and painting process

If you look at the top cover of the case on top of the pic you can see a noticeable difference between the gray tone nzxt gave the case.

Clear coating might not be 100% scratch proof but it is starting to look darn better than how the case originally came in.

 

[Spaceye]

On a different note...I tried to start up the pc for the first time while I'm waiting til Friday for some things I need to finish the clear coating on the case and only the Motherboard LEDS lit up after I turned on the power switch on the back of the psu... nothing happens when I use the switch on the case... what gives? Do I need to push the start button on the motherboard after I give the system power? this is my first real build so I'm hesitant to press it before I get an answer...so I don't Fup anything lol

One thing I've been curious about... it seems the case is missing the PLED two pin connector and the system warning speaker 4pin connector...I'm assuming this particular case just doesn't come with them, or am I some how wrong cause they are nowhere to be found after Tripple checking the cables.

You can see in the image below the power sw on the top right, he led bottom left and reset under the power sw... but no PLED?!

Can I get a Go on the Motherboard Start button? Or is it something else I'm over looking?

 

[EliteRetard]

From the photos everything seems to be hooked up correctly...though I can't quite see the CPU power connectors (are they on an extension cable?).
I'd say double check all the connections to make sure they're plugged in snug and just confirm RAM is in the proper slots.

If everything is good and the case power switch wont power it up, you can try using the reset switch for power. Just put the reset plug on the power pins. I have run into situations where a case button was bad. Rare for both power and reset to be bad though, so it's worth testing (there's no risk in using the reset switch as power switch). Actually if you can get to the little PCB the case uses for it's switches and such you can investigate it for problems too (a wire torn loose from solder can certainly cause the issue).

If none of that works, there may be some other issue. Could be grounding somewhere, or worst case a dud part like MOBO/PSU...will have to try some other diagnostic steps.