I finished my 775 Xeon Mod build today, less a more powerful PSU. I started with a...

[Josh Swanger]

I finished my 775 Xeon Mod build today, less a more powerful PSU. I started with a freebie ASUS Essentio circa 2009 and wanted to see how far I could push the system for as little as possible. I kept a few parts; the case, motherboard, DVD burner, and data drive, and got a slew of new to me parts to liven her up a little. Here are the before and after specs:

Before-
CPU: Pentium E5300 (775) Dual Core 2.6ghz w/ stock cooler
Motherboard: ASUS P5QL-VM EPU w/ Locked Essentio BIOS
GPU: Onboard
RAM: 6GB Nanya DDR2 @ 800mhz
750GB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm HDD
No case fans outside of stock CPU cooler. None.

After-
CPU: Xeon X5460 (771) Quad Core 3.37ghz w/ CM Hyper 612v2
Motherboard: ASUS P5QL-VM EPU w/ Modded Retail BIOS
GPU: EVGA GTX 660 Superclocked
RAM: 4GB Nanya, 4GB Mushkin Silverline DDR2 @ 708mhz
120GB Kingston SSDNOW V300, 750GB Seagate Barracuda
SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card
PCIe USB 3.0 adapter
2×120mm fans modded into front panel, 1×80mm rear exhaust
New 3.5 I/O and 5.25 adapter w/ 2×2.5 drive slots

Total project cost: $185

 

[Calvin Verheijen]

Not sure if i prefer the window or the closed panel, but the amount of things you did to this are downright impressive.

 

[Mike W. Mills]

Good work for the money! :] And a good idea with that PCIe USB 3.0 add-on card as well.

 

[Josh Swanger]

Pushed my RAM frequency up to 1062mhz from 708. Lets see if it makes a difference.