So... This is my first gaming PC build that I'm doing. I've built a server before that is currently used as a Web Server, NAS and HTPC.

For this build I did not want to have a monster of a chassi as there is not that much room in my apartment, so I made the decision of going for a mini ITX form factor.

The part list:
* Intel i7 4770K
* Asus Maximus VI Impact
* Corsair Vengeance Pro Red DDR3 1866MHz 2x8GB
* Nvidia gtx780ti (reference)

The Case:
* Silverstone Fortress FT03B-Mini
* Silverstone SFX ST45SF-G 450W

As you can see the case will probably need some modding to be able to fit the GPU.
What I've read about the PSU is that it will be able to run the GPU which in this build will be the most power hungry component, but I don't think there will be enough margin for any overclocking of the system.

So I started by ordering the bare essentials motherboard, CPU, memory and the PSU. As I received the packages with the items I began to assemble them to test that everything was working.

Unfortunately the PSU started acting up and triggering the fuse in the house. Sent a message to the online shop where I bought the PSU and they sent out a new one quit quickly. The second PSU worked much better and I was ready for Phase 2 (Water cooling).

I usually enjoy the part of shopping for parts and then to unbox them very much :)

So now I had all parts to water cool the CPU. I went for a custom loop because I was thinking of water cooling the graphics card also but as you will see later I did not end up doing it.

I did a lot of research before starting to build and the most important thing that I got from it was that you should always test all your components and especially if you are water cooling to run the PC on water for at least 24 hours to make sure all fittings are properly sealed.

And lucky me everything worked with no leaks!

Next step was to work on the case. I knew from the beginning that the GPU I had chosen would not fit in the case. I've checked a couple of forums and other sites and seen people cutting out the bottom of the case to fit the GPU and as the GPU was about 1 cm to long I thought there would not be any issues cutting the case.

And everything looked good.

Finally it was time to assemble the whole PC.

As you probably can see from the pictures it is a very tight fit. But I managed to get everything in there.

Final thoughts

One thing that bugs me with this build is that even that the CPU is water cooled, when the radiator fan (the original case fan) is barely running there is a fan noise. I think I've identified it as the PSU fan. Next step will probably be to open up the PSU and replace the original fan with a Noctua one.