Well, this build went so smoothly last time, I’m just amazed how out of practice I am, but to review we are putting a 4590s into this box (3GHz/3.7Ghz turbo boost, iCore 5, 4 cores, 4 threads) and here are the traps:
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Because of the way the AC power cable is, you do have 65mm of height, but you need a cooler which is 92mm wide so it doesn’t interfere. I ordered the NH-L9i for this as I just couldn’t stand use an Intel stock cooler with its push pins. But for right now, I unscrewed the AC and put in a bigger NH-L12, wow that is a tight fit!
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The documentation says it is USB 2.0, but the front panel looks USB 3.0 and has that as a connector. Confusing.
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The Antec has a nice 150 watt power supply, but thius ASUS board needs an 8-pin EATX connector, so you need to get a $5 Molex plus 4-pin EATX to 8-pin EATX to get it to power up.
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The thing doesn’t come with wifi in it, man that should be standard, so make sure to remember (I didn’t to buy an 802.11ac/Bluetooth) mini-pci Express. Of course once you do, you have to take the heat sink off (again!) to get it in there. The question is which one and there is a good Intel vs Qualcomm shootout and the Qualcomm chipset wins at least for 802.11n. And there is a wide range of Intel cards as well with the top end offering dual stream 802.11ac (800Mbps!) called the 7260HMW. That card was 4-5x faster but of course you need a dual stream 802.11ac access point, but it’s cheap at the price of $35 at Newegg.
