# Evolution X - i7 Bloodrage



## apheX? (Jan 7, 2009)

Hi, 

This is my first proper build in which I have ordered all parts myself and constructed. Not only that but it is my first Paint Mod. So this is kinda my first. 

I might as well explain why I chose to name it Evolution X, this is because my dream (affordable) car is the Mitsubishi Evolution X the car has Performance, Looks and Attitude and this is what i want to reflect in this build! The Colour theme was Black and Red because of many different reasons;
1. The Evo X (Car) looks good in either Black or Red
2. Black and Red together is teh sex
3. First time this Colour theme is able to be completed, away with the BLUE!







*The Specs*
CPU: Intel Core i7 920
CPU COOL: CoolerMaster V8
RAM: Corsair Three way channel DDR3 1600mhz 3x1GB - TR3X3G1600C8D
MOBO: Foxconn Blood Rage 
GPU: eVGA GeForce GTX260 216 55nm
PSU: Corsair HX620w
CASE: Thermaltake Armor+ MX
FAN(s): Thermaltake Thunderblade (Red led)
DVD 1: HP 1060i 
DVD 2: Sony DRU-V200S-B 
Monitor: Samsung T200 20"
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500
Headset: Cyber Snipa Sonar 5.1 
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech G15 / Logitech Revolution MX
Mouse Mat: Nova Winner II
EXTRA: Zalman ZM-MFC2 / Primer Grey Spray / Matte Black Spray

Some of these I already have and have had for a while - long time now. These are the Speakers, Headset, Keyboard/Mouse, Mouse Mat and the Monitor.
Errrmm I think I covered everything there. 

*The Mod*
My first mod and hopefully will be a success because if not i cant buy another case really.  I will be painting the interior of the Thermaltake Armor+ MX black. The plan is 2 Coats of Black Primer Spray and 2 Coats of Flat Black Spray which should do it 
I have just received the case today and will start taking apart what I can without too many screws and taping up areas that are needed to be.
I will be going out and buying Paint tonight or tomorrow and will get some pictures up of the paint work soooon.

*The Plan (If you cant see it already)*
The whole build/mod will be in favour of making the sexiest case ever (IMO) Black and Red. love the two colours together and every component will follow this.

Black Case with Black Interior Mod
Black/Red Motherboard
Black/Red CPU Cooler
Black/Red PSU
Black/Red GPU
Black RAM
Black DVD Drives
Red Fans
Oh and im being Honest here..... the monitor and headset are a coincidence and happen to be Black/Red.

I will be also attempting my first proper cable management and this will be done behind the Motherboard/HDD cage.
With the Zalman Fan Controller I hope to keep the 3 fans as quiet as possible whilst not gaining too much heat.
I will taking the side fan off and it will stay like that! muha

I will run some benchmarks once the build is constructed, atm the delay is the Blood Rage which is taking ages to come out!!:shadedshu

Lets Hope this all goes to plan and works!

Subscribe and you shall be updated as this build comes together! Pictures and Benchmarks to follow!


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## J-Man (Jan 7, 2009)

That Foxconn is over priced.


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## steelkane (Jan 7, 2009)

Watching


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## exo17 (Jan 7, 2009)

Seems like a very nice build! I recently saw the Blood Rage on custom pc mag and it looks sweet. gl


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## Binge (Jan 7, 2009)

Might I be able to convince you to go water?  These are honestly the first CPUs I would say I'd want on water instead of air.  You'll know if you ever really tax it


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## MRCL (Jan 7, 2009)

I'll keep an eye on your build for sure. Wonder how that Bloodrage looks in a case.
Oh, and I like the theme you picked! Hopefully you make something nice out of the Armor, imho its a fugly case


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 7, 2009)

w00t!

I'm going to watching this like a hawk as I'll (hopefully) be jumping on the Bloodrage bandwagon at some point.

For those of you that haven't already read it, AnandTech have a hands on of the first revision Bloodrage.


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## Silverel (Jan 7, 2009)

InnocentCriminal said:


> w00t!
> 
> I'm going to watching this like a hawk as I'll (hopefully) be jumping on the Bloodrage bandwagon at some point.
> 
> For those of you that haven't already read it, AnandTech have a hands on of the first revision Bloodrage.



lol, yeah, but they threw in those horrid looking blue ddr3 sticks...:shadedshu


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## EnergyFX (Jan 7, 2009)

J-Man said:


> That Foxconn is over priced.



That was rude and unnecessary.  

Aphex, congrats on getting the parts you WANTED and getting started on your first build.  I'll be watching.


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 7, 2009)

Silverel said:


> lol, yeah, but they threw in those horrid looking blue ddr3 sticks...:shadedshu



Yeah they did, and it completely ruined the look, but aesthetics weren't really covered in the review tbf.


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## apheX? (Jan 7, 2009)

i havnt got all parts yet  waiting on the Blood Rage.

Getting the paint tonight, will start spraying tomorrow 

Also i know i could of got even better RAM like the Dominator GT which is Black/Red and awesome specs but the price killed it for me


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 7, 2009)

w00t!

Before and after shots... right?


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## steelkane (Jan 7, 2009)

They would have looked good. you could always wait for the price to drop, then get them


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## apheX? (Jan 7, 2009)

InnocentCriminal said:


> w00t!
> 
> Before and after shots... right?



yeeahh. I also tried the Armor Jr Side Panel (without the 230mm fan and fins on teh side) and it fits but think ill stick with the Armor+ side panel and just remove the fan. 
Actually, ill take a pic of how it looks:




steelkane said:


> They would have looked good. you could always wait for the price to drop, then get them


You know i can almost replicate the looks. The Head spreader thats red can be removed and painted  I might try at replicating the performance but i dunno where to start with changing mem latencies, i wouldnt change the speed as 2000mhz is no point.


I might get away with the paint drying quickly as well as its really cold outside (in the minuses)

Sorry for bad image quality, did it quickly with my phone. And the Armor+ Side panel still has that plastic protective thing on it.


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## Silverel (Jan 7, 2009)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Yeah they did, and it completely ruined the look, but aesthetics weren't really covered in the review tbf.



I know, and it was such a mistake imo. lol, a board that looks like that... I mean really? It absolutely should have had an aesthetic review factor. Consider how many people are going to just LOOK at that board, bust off in their drawers, and throw money at someone to get their hands on it. 


btw, those Corsair sticks are hot sex.


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## apheX? (Jan 7, 2009)

i ended up getting Grey Primer and Matt Black both are spray but yeah... results should be good 

Stripping the PC for spraying, will take that black thing out in the bottom right and I Still need to cover all the holes up with masking tape.


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## apheX? (Jan 8, 2009)

Finished my first paint mod 

1st picture is with 2 coats of primer.
2nd picture is with 2 coats primer 2 coats matte black. Grey area on the bottom left wont matter at all as the window covers that up 
3rd picture, another shot of the paint work done 

Sorry for the bad quality btw

I've also just reinstalled the back fan for now and installed my 2 optical drives.

Next progress will occur when i get my hands on the Blood Rage!


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## InnocentCriminal (Jan 9, 2009)

SWEEEET!



Nicely done! I mean, more more!


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## steelkane (Jan 9, 2009)

Paint looks even, nice job


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## apheX? (Jan 14, 2009)

Well, quite a while now i know. I keep having to just look at it 

Ive just received my 2 Red LED fans for the front and back and i installed the 500GB HD into the HD cage. 

Ive been in contact with a rep from Foxconn about where the Blood Rage is regarding to the UK and if itll be ages until the UK get it he said he can hook me up with a distributor in Taiwan baring in mind the extra postage. Still waiting for his reply about whats going on in the EU/UK.

The Blood Rage is the only thing that is slowing this build down. Once i have the mobo i can get everything else just like that. Was waiting to order the mobo with everything else from the same website for cheaper postage you see 

Im also waiting on the GTX285 to compare price/performance to decide between either the GTX260 55nm or the GTX285


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## philbrown23 (Jan 14, 2009)

dood with a build like this saving $5 on postage should mean nothing. you are looking at spending almost 2k so fuck it just buy the board from one place and the rest from another, it much better than waiting for nothing, as I have heard UK wont see bloodrage for a while.


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## apheX? (Jan 14, 2009)

philbrown23 said:


> dood with a build like this saving $5 on postage should mean nothing. you are looking at spending almost 2k so fuck it just buy the board from one place and the rest from another, it much better than waiting for nothing, as I have heard UK wont see bloodrage for a while.



 still, i wont be able to do anything if i got everything else like the cpu, psu, graphics card etc.


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## apheX? (Jan 21, 2009)

Little Update

Got my PSU, Fan Controller and Core i7 

Installed the PSU and Fan Controller and im still waiting on the Blood Rage  Thats all i need now as i have decided to ditch the GTX260 

Reason being is its price, need to save money so i can get a car! So will wait for something to crop up on ebay (9800gtx/GTX260) or wait for the 55nm to drop down in price.

And yeahh  the current graphics card which ill use in it will ruin the whole look as it has a green pcb :shadedshu


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## apheX? (Feb 1, 2009)

Finally got a hold of the motherboard!!! 

Am now starting to install it.

Oh yeah, and for some reason it came in a LG box...  but all is well and the packaging was great.


Sorry about the quality I couldn't be bothered to make it look good.
Occured a problem as well  the picture with the motherboard in with the RAM and CPU all in etc i got to installing the CM V8 and realised I need to install the bracket!

dw finishing images will be better


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## steelkane (Feb 2, 2009)

Board looks good,, I notice you have no holes cut for W/M, now would be a good time for it.


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## InnocentCriminal (Feb 2, 2009)

"Get on the snake under coca cola covered skies!"

More updates when y'ready... 

How much was your mobo?


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## apheX? (Feb 3, 2009)

more updates on the way! 

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?FOX-BLOOD

£275.99


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## InnocentCriminal (Feb 3, 2009)

Fuggin' hell!

Some people are saying there's a recession on, but you wouldn't think it. 

Nice one dude!


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## apheX? (Feb 3, 2009)

lol im the one keeping these companies going 

btw.

First run of the system. According to Vista it only has 2.4GB of ram and on start up i read that the RAM is at something like 1066MHz ?? Do i need 64bit? i thought 32bit could have up to 3.5gb which is exactly what i have.


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## InnocentCriminal (Feb 4, 2009)

Don't forget that 32bit operating systems take into account graphics memory, sound cards and the a like. I'd definitely recommend going to a 64bit OS if you can.


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## apheX? (Feb 11, 2009)

I hide the wires behind the HDD cage but here are the pics, sorry for the wait.
Oh and im on 64bit and all is good wit that 

Will run benchmarks soon. 

EDIT: i couldnt be arsed to put the V8 bracket in so i just put the thing on top lol and im going to do something about that anoying bright blue led on the mobo.
Sorry for the bad quality btw.


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