Okay, so, I got my case in the mail two Tuesdays ago. However, the same day, I received an e-mail that day from newegg with special promotions. One of the offers was for a better version of the Antec 300: the
Antec 300 Illusion. The original case was around $50 including shipping... and so was this one. XPPP I was frustrated since the Illusion has two extra fans (~$30 value) and all but the back case fan have blue LEDs (which I really wanted originally). So, I contacted newegg with my situation and they allowed me to RMA the original case for a refund. Sexy. <3
So, the rest of my parts came the next day (Wednesday), but obviously I had to send the case back so I was unable to start building. I think I got the Illusion case by Friday, but I remembered that I forgot something... The CPU was OEM, so it didn't come in the original box with a stock fan. So, I had to order some type of cooling solution (i.e., the sink/fan that yoshi linked to tyvm). Since it was Friday, though, the order wasn't even processed until Monday, and I didn't get the fan until Wednesday (last week).
So, Wednesday or Thursday of last week I started getting everything together to start building. I practiced putting the heatsink on a few times since the AMD clips to mount it were a bit orzy, but I finally figured it out. Well... I went to put the thermal paste on the CPU and spread it, but it was kinda hard or dried up and just stuck to whatever I tried to spread it with (tried both an old credit card and a plastic sandwich baggie). Cleaned off the CPU with rubbing alcohol, tried again, same thing. At this point I was about to strangle someone, but realized that I'd end up having to blow more money and get some Arctic Silver 5. HOWEVER, it was about 8:45pm and most stores were closing at 9. Fuck. So, I drove up to a Radio Shack nearby just in time to grab a tube. Got home, put it on the CPU, and it spread sooooo nicely. *grumbles about the retarded dried up paste*
blah blah blah [size=85]think you'll be gettin' this nah nah nah[/size ]boring storyline -- Finished building a while later, got the case upstairs to my room, plugged everything in, checked settings in BIOS, installed Windows 7, and passed out. It's been a few days now, and everything seems to be working perfectly. CPU temp is nice and low, other temps are great, fans are pretty and blue, etc. It's so nice to be able to just use my goddamn computer without worrying that it'll overheat every five minutes. My laptop would hit almost 50C when IDLING, so it was a real pain... *grumble*
This was probably a boring story, but thanks again everyone! I really appreciate it. *insert picture of Konata :3ing*
Final list of parts:CaseMoboCPUHeatsinkRAMGPUInternetzHDDCDVDPSUMouseKeyboardSpeakersWindows 7Total Cost (after rebates and sans monitor): ~$690
Wheeee