With my beast completed and setup I downloaded Fraps(free PC benchmarking software http://www.fraps.com) to see what scores I can produce with Crysis on my current setup. This is what I get on High setting 1920 x 1200:

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Last week I had the depressing experience of finding out that my brand new motherboard was DOA. With an anxious wait for it to be returned and tested, my supplier came back with NFF (No fault found). Baffled by this, since between the three of us at work, performing every test possible and still not getting it to work, I waited for the motherboard to be returned and hoped that by some bizarre thing, I'll install it and it would just work. This however didn't happen and with just the motherboard plugged in and the hard disk, the same thing happened. The CPU fan will start for less then a second and then shut down. The motherboard didn't emit any beeps and all three of us threw our hands in the air still uncertain as to what the cause of the problem was. This called for a call to one of my colleague's dad, an IT genius, and having explained everything to him, he asked if the 12V rail was plugged in. 12V rail!!!!!! Didn't we all slap each other on the back of our heads. To explain, the Corsair 600W comes with a 12V rail you also plug into the motherboard, which we missed. The beast started to roar, somewhat quietly within my heavily sound-proofed Fractal case and I was dancing the jig with the thought of bringing home my PC Beast.

The completed beast with windows being installed.

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Yesterday all the parts for my PC Beast build arrived (excl. Graphics card) and within just one lunch break, we managed to build the entire Beast. With only a minor set back with installing the CPU fan, it was a flawless build. The Fractal Case has proven to be a very versatile and well thought out case, with the cables well hidden, the final look being very clean and neat.

We thought that we could boot up without the graphics card, but realised that the P67A UD3 Motherboards doesn't even come with any graphics ports, not even a VGA input. A little disappointed we couldn't boot up, I was forced to make a final decision for my graphics card and settled on the HIS Radeon HD6870, which will arrive later this week.

An unexpected surprise was the discovery of the PSU led, which glows neon blue from beneath the case when the computer is turned on. Flashbacks of Tron and even Pimp my Ride was discussed. Very bling, bling. 

Arrival of all the parts.

Motherboard CPU and PSU installed.

Completed beast.

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I chose the Fractal Define R3 for it's minimalist and sleek design, and more than pleased by it's size and solid sound-proofing. It's quite heavy, made of steel and aluminum, but I don't plan on moving it around once I build it. It comes with 2 fans, front and back, with the front fans coming with washable filters. All the noise suppressors can be removed for adding more fans making the total of 7 fans (2 front, 2 top, 1 rear, 1 side, 1 bottom) if needed. The only thing that I'm unhappy about is white drive bays and the white back plates and white fans. It's only a minor thing, but you would think that when one buys an all matt black case, one would want everything to be "all black".

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Finally it's here! The first phase of my PC Beast Build has begun with an email from reception that a parcel arrived, eagerly and briskly walked downstairs to bring the parts up to the studio. I've only waited a week for them to arrive, but still hyper-excited, like I was 10 again, awaiting Christmas morning. The parts that I bought are:

- Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3R-B3 Motherboard

- Fractal Design Define R3 Black

- Intel Core i5 2300

Both colleagues are just as excited about the project and have willingly put their hands up to help me with the build. I can't wait to get stuck into it.

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