Scalpel Please!

Now before you get started in on me with the "where have you beens" or the "you don't call any mores" or the "you don't love me any mores" I know it's been a while since the last post, and I have good reason for the lack of content.

What? You thought I was going to tell you?

Well I recently built a new computer for the purpose of playing games, specifically Final Fantasy XI; which I've played since the North America beta test back in the summer of 2003. Up until about a month ago I've played exclusively on the PlayStation 2, but decided it was time for some change. Some of the limitations of the PS2 had started to cause me issue that only the PC could resolve.

So I went and ordered all the pieces I need for a new computer and got to work. At the time of the original build I decided to save some money at the start and not buy a big beefy video card. FFXI is an old enough game that just about any onboard video card these days would more than do the job, but I would upgrade soon. Here's what I picked up.

• AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Quad-Core Processor
  
• ASUS M3N78-VM AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
  
• APEVIA X-QPACK2-NW-AL Case w/ 500W PSU
  
• Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2
  

I also bought an 250Gb HDD and a DVD drive, but the whole deal ran me roughly $500. Ultimately not bad considering it's a Quad core CPU, 4Gb of RAM and a case small enough that it wouldn't require another room to house it's massive~ness.

Everything arrived on a Thursday around 1PM or so, and by 4PM I was gaming. System ran like a charm, and would do everything I need from it until the final steps were carried out a month later.

Fast forward a month and it's time to complete the process.

1. Buy a new video card
   
2. Get second monitor
   

The video card was coming anyway, and I figured if I was going to upgrade why do it half assed? A second monitor on the system would allow me to do so much more, and I've had a number of computers in the past with a dual head set up and I missed it. So, on to the packing list.

• EVGA 512-P3-N879-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB
  
• LG Flatron 19" W1952TQTF
  

Now here's where the fun kicks in. The 9800 GTX+ is roughly the size of New Jersey, and for those of you who don't speak geek that MicroATX case is very limited on size. Now I knew the card would fit into the case, just there wouldn't be any more room in there for anything else. I fit the graphics card into the motherboard's slot, do a little slight bending to get the tray slide back into the case and then notice this.

See New Jersey there requires additional power for the fan as well as all the extra work the card's doing. Only problem is the cage that houses optical drives is clearly in the way. That means I don't close the case or I don't connect the recommended but ultimately optional power connector.  Because not using the additional power connector could reduces the card's life, I went with this option.

So as the cables out of the back of the case consume my desk, the case fan in the back also blows right across my keyboard. So after 10 minutes at the machine my fingers turn blue and freeze to the keys.  I have it set like this because I can't close the case, and this is the best place for it all open face like it is.

So as I look at that image it occurs to me to just cut out a chunk of the cage, connect everything and slide mobo tray in and be finished with. Only issue holding me back is my lack of tools to perform the task. Two weeks go by and I pick up a rotary tool and get home on Friday night at 11:30.

I gut the machine, get started and realize it's midnight and I'm making a crap load of noise. So I give up, decided to go spend some QT with my PS3 and just leave everything set up for Saturday.

On Saturday I did some extra set up and then got to work. Took like 90 minutes to do all the cuts, it didn't turn out very pretty in the end but I got it done.

So as you can see she fits in just fine, and the cable connects and I can go through tie down all the cables, wires, and put the cover back on.

I thought I was going to end up putting the machine on the floor under the desk, but the problem is there are 3 other machines down there so there's no room really. All the other computers are in full ATX cases and one of them is like 3.5' tall so it's not a situation where I could stack them. After spending an hour going through all the crap on my desk I decided to just leave it on the top of my desk. When I rebuild my gateway after the New Year I'll stack the cases then. But the case is all closed up, my desk is clean - no clue how long that will hold true - and here's the end result.