The new machine went together without incident and is basically the same as earlier described. The parts arrived in 2 to 3 days, thanks to New Egg Premier membership and Amazon Prime membership making the shipping fast and “free”. The additional costs are absorbed by the free fast shipping. It’s maybe a wash, but fast and no-hassle are worth it.

I had a little trouble with the logistics of installing the “I/O shield” (shiny metal plate) into the back of the Corsair 200r case, but that’s just my fumble-fingers. And maybe putting in the eight screws to hold the Asus motherboard in place (and supply a ground). A magnetized screwdriver with a relatively long shaft in the #1 Philips size is almost necessary. I had to guess on how to connect the case front panel power switch because it shares power and ground with the front light. The placement of the mechanical connectors for the CPU cooler were not intuitive and the drawing (without words) were obtuse, taking a little head-scratching. But the build was basically a piece of cake.

The biggest concern I had was how to install Windows 10 Pro from a USB stick and with only a WI-FI connection. It turns out to be easy because booting from USB is a snap these days, by just selecting it. The ASUS WI-FI card at $60 has proven to be heaven-sent, fast and automatic install for Windows 10 (would have been a pain otherwise). Windows 10 just asked for my WI-FI password and it worked without incident. I used my Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse and the tiny USB adapter “remembered” its earlier pairing with these two devices and they “just worked”.

I later added an AZIO gaming keyboard and also mouse, which I both love. I got a keyboard with lighted mechanical keys (similar to Cherry Red switches) which considerably improve my touch typing skills over membrane style keys. The wired USB mouse has no lag, which really annoys me about a wireless mouse. Both of these are simpler devices, not requiring special drivers to run on Windows 10. The keyboard uses the standard built-in “gaming keyboard” Windows 10 driver, which adds special function keys for browser and a knob for controlling audio volume. So, with a little fore-planning, everything “just worked”.

Windows 10 has too much built-in spyware for my liking (way too much). I consulted a few Youtube tutorials and — this is important— installed Spybot Anti-Beacon. This allows you to disable dozens of built-in tattle-tale features in Windows 10. My phone is connected to the world and I treat it that way, but I prefer to be left alone for my personal property, like books in progress.

Windows 10 is fast and  a piece of cake to learn. We’re talking about a ten second boot with the SSD. Speaking of the Samsung 850 500GB Solid State Drive, it is worth the $150 price. Samsung has a download of the latest version of their Magician software which triples the speed of Samsung 850 or 950 SSDs for a single drive (typically your boot drive). It’s a Windows app that is single drive manager to take advantage of the drive’s architecture. Well worth it.

I’m pleasantly surprised at the improved WI-FI connection from the two 8 inch antennas sticking out of the back of the case. Netflix and HBOgo have just a beautiful display. Sharp, full-screen and flawless. Game of Thrones and House of Cards are a visual pleasure to see and listen to. The HD audio on the motherboard is a slight upgrade from the standard and well worth it. Needless to say, the top of the line video from the MSI GTX970 is a pleasure to view. Graphics processors are so improved over a handful of years ago. I would imagine even the built-in HD530 video would be ok for simple 1080p streaming. I’m talking about the intigrated video on the latest processors, but I don’t begrudge the overkill, even when not working the display hard with gaming animation or something like Photoshop.

So I did this because I like to put my time and attention into the gory details of the mainstream consumer technology. I don’t recommend it if you don’t have that kind of interest or time. There is a “bang for-the-buck” element, but it could easily not be “worth it” if you screw up on a few things or don’t have the time or interest. For me, this was an entirely successful adventure without a misstep. Your results may vary…..