My computer rigs.

[Teejay187]

Hi,

Before I got the taste of modifying my cars, I spent most of my money on computers. Build, sell, trade, overclock.. all of that shit. Here`s what I got meow.

First. The server that runs this forum.

Specs:

Case: Corsair C70
CPU: Intel i7 3770K
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z77
RAM: Kingston HyperX 1600Mhz 2x4Gb
Controller: RocketRAID 2720SGL
HDDs: 8x1,5TB RAID5 (10,5TB) and 2x OCZ Vertex 2 60GB in RAID1 for system.
PSU: Corsair AX850
Cooling: Corsair H70, 6x120mm low speed fans
Cost: Rougly 2500$





Second. The primary PC for 3D applications, gaming and pleasure.

Case: Corsair C70
CPU: Intel Core 2600K (4,8Ghz)
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth P67
RAM: Corsair Dominator GT 1866Mhz 4x4Gb
HDDs: 2x OCZ Vector 120Gb in RAID0. Read/write = 1100/1000MB/s
GPU: 2x nVidia GTX680 in SLI config.
Cooling: Custom water cooling (600x120mm aluminium rads in total)
PSU: Enermax 1000 Watts
Cost: Rougly 5000$



And some progress pics. Took me about 3 months to get it finished.

[Waffles]

Pretty. I build quite a few for other people, my personal gaming rig sucks balls. Odd...

[Commanche]

Pretty. I build quite a few for other people, my personal gaming rig sucks balls. Odd...

Same here.

[spitefulcheerio]

That gaming rig is intense....shit makes my taint tickle.

[bigx5murf]

I've been on the same desktop more or less since 2002. Pretty much use till something breaks, then replace with whatever combo deal is good on newegg type of deal. So it's kinda frankenstein creation, that's certainly outdated in some areas.

Phenom ii x4 920 @ 3.6ghz (my 4th CPU since 2002)
6gb DDR2 (yes ddr2, not a typo lol, got 2gb during 2006 upgrade, added another 4gb a year later)
asus m4a78 Plus (bought refurb 2010, only because previous asus mobo couldn't supply enough power to phenom 2, 4th mobo, MSI died within 2 years, replaced with gigabyte died after 3 years, next 2 asus, went outdated before dying)
radeon 6850x2 (before that I had 4850, 3850, an onboard radeon, a 2nd generation geforce, can't remember the model)
2x WD blue 500gb HDD (was running a bunch of smaller ones, 45gb ibm deathstar, 120 wdc, 250 hitachi, 250 wdc) and yes I really do I have an original still functioning ibm deathstar, probably the only one in existence
OCZ 700w modxstream (2nd one, first one died a week before warranty ended, had an antec 550w before, still alive, but can't feed the phenom2 or the crossfire gpus)

[Mazduh]

I used to build my own custom rigs and stuff... Just got boring. I hardly ever use a desktop computer anymore anyways. Plus I hate keeping up with the latest and greatest video cards etc. The second you buy one it's obsolete.

[bigx5murf]

I used to build my own custom rigs and stuff... Just got boring. I hardly ever use a desktop computer anymore anyways. Plus I hate keeping up with the latest and greatest video cards etc. The second you buy one it's obsolete.

That really isn't the case anymore, I remember it being that way in the early 2000s. But after xbox and ps3 really got popular with FPS. Almost all PC games were console ports, and none of them really took full advantage of the extra hardware.

As a result my gpu upgrade schedule actually kept me playing just about everything on the market at full effects at 1920x1080. I had a radeon 3850 from I think 2006-2008 (was using 1680x1050 I think), upgraded to a 4850 and was good with that until the release of the 6850 in 2011. Earlier this year a few of the newer games were starting to slow down my single 6850 gpu, added a second one for $75 from ebay, and I'm in the clear for the time being.

2.5 upgrades in 7 years ain't so bad.

[Teejay187]

2.5 upgrades in 7 years is pretty good.

I think I have done about 10 or 15 upgrades in that time.

My upgrades in chronological sorting

Pentium 4 3Ghz and 7600GS (Did 4,8Ghz on water)
Core 2 Duo E6600 and 7800GT
Core 2 Duo Q6600 and 2x4850
Core 2 Duo Q6600 (New and with ability to do 5Ghz) and 4870x2
Core 2 Duo Q6800 and 5870 (later became 2x5870 in CF)
Core i7 920 and 6870
Core i7 2600k and GTX580 Phantom (Later became 2xGTX580
Core i7 2600k amd 2xGTX680 (Current)

The ones I can think of. Fav was Q6600 and 4870x2. Played Crysis at High/Ultra. Sold it at double what I paid.

[bigx5murf]

I remember hating multi-gpu setups when I first experienced them. But I gotta admit, it's come a long way, micro-stuttering is barely noticeable meow, and it's way less glitchy than it used to be, just works most of the time. Not to mention the performance increase is a legit 100% increase, not like the 30-50% it used to be.

[UrbanFuturistic]

I used to build my own custom rigs and stuff... Just got boring. I hardly ever use a desktop computer anymore anyways. Plus I hate keeping up with the latest and greatest video cards etc. The second you buy one it's obsolete.

I got tired of it as well. It was about 2008, and I forget what was wrong exactly, but I had a P4 computer. I upgraded(Sidegrade?) with an eMachines(that I still have btw, its an Athlon 64 x2 4200+) and a video card, I almost want to say a 7300GTS. It was cheaper than building my own, surprisingly. For whatever reason I was having a really bad issue with artifacts and other problems in WoW(It was Burning Crusade still and it was in Blades Edge Mountains, the spines would produce all sorts of problems for me and it was nigh unplayable).

At the time, I had a girlfriend who had a Mac Mini. Between that and the G3 iMac I had gotten at a garage sale for $3, I decided I was going to switch. I bought a C2D white iMac and never looked back. Until the lcd screen decided it wanted to die. After this, I was in the process of trying to move back to Chicago and so while I was there I bought a cheap used PC off a guy on craigslist who was selling bunches of them. It worked good from 2010-2012, except I was really limited in what I could do because it was a half-height Asus designed to be more of an HTPC solution. And it was older. When I got back to Florida, I found that it really wasnt any better than all the stuff I had in my closet so I started buying up parts because I couldnt afford another iMac.

Because of this, I decided it was time to build again, and AMDs APU's were interesting. I had an A4-3300, and an A4-3400. I bought two because they were cheap and decided why not build two of them. But they were disappointing, so I upgraded almost instantly to a i3-2100, and from there Im currently on an i5-2500k. All within six months. My next step was going to be Ivy-bridge, so I had made sure to buy boards that would do Sandy/Ivy. But since they released Haswell and I can have the processor and mobo for the price of an Ivy proc, Ive decided Im gonna go that way instead.

So, as it sits:

i5-2500K
Foxconn H67S
8GB DDR3 10600
120GB OCZ SSD
500GB HDD
250GB HDD
GeForce GTX650

I like buying used stuff because I enjoy the haggling. That and you get last weeks stuff at a steep discount because someone has to have tomorrows best today.

In the mean time, the only upgrade I see for myself on the immediate horizon is a GeForce GTX650 Ti Boost.

[UrbanFuturistic]

Oh, also, I can remember when water cooling was only for the truly dedicated. I used to read build threads where guys would have to go around and buy house plumbing bits, car bits, fish tank bits and so on just to piece together a working setup. On this latest round of building I was so surprised that you can meow buy kits to water cool your CPU for around $100. If I OC'ed more(I never really have wanted to OC much, Ive played with it and had success, though not like some other people, but its just never really been my goal because I dont game hardcore) I would totally buy one and try it out, as from what Ive read, people are getting pretty ok results with them.

Anyone remember peltiers? I wonder if anyone still uses them.

[bigx5murf]

Lexus uses Peltiers in their seats

[iRoadster]

I need a new computer.
I currently have a nearly unusable Mac Mini. It is a steaming pile of crap. I'm really tired of Mac/apple and want to try and build a gaming rig, or even just mocking one up as it might just a pipe dream. I realize I'd have to re-learn the PC format as I've only used Macs for the majority of my life. With next gen consoles coming out I'd think the PC world would still leagues ahead in terms of performance. I'd just need it to run high rate games/Internet/high def movies. Nothing too complicated and I don't have much money to spend on it if I do decide to make one.
Any suggestion?

[phillyb™]

this whole thread is greek to me

[bigx5murf]

I need a new computer.
I currently have a nearly unusable Mac Mini. It is a steaming pile of crap. I'm really tired of Mac/apple and want to try and build a gaming rig, or even just mocking one up as it might just a pipe dream. I realize I'd have to re-learn the PC format as I've only used Macs for the majority of my life. With next gen consoles coming out I'd think the PC world would still leagues ahead in terms of performance. I'd just need it to run high rate games/Internet/high def movies. Nothing too complicated and I don't have much money to spend on it if I do decide to make one.
Any suggestion?

TBH, I think owning a PC is like being a car enthusiast, don't expect a machine with appliance reliability, not early on at least. There will be bugs to work out, because it's a high performance machine. There will be a learning curve, expect more maintenance etc etc.

Basically, a mac is like a stock lexus, toyota reliability, decent at everything, looks nice, comfortable, quiet etc. A PC can encompass everything from you typical rice out civic/240 janky rust bucket, to supercars, to kit cars. Each will have it's own unique quirks to deal with.

[iRoadster]

I totally get what you're saying, but I'd never associate the previous two Mac Mini's that I've had as having a Toyota like reliability. They both burnt out their CD drives and Mac hard drives mysteriously fill up with junk that can't be accessed so it can be deleted to clear up space. The one I currently have has something like 90gb of space that's taken up by seemingly nothing. I don't care if they look nice I just want it to work properly.

[bigx5murf]

I'm a huge pc proponent/Mac hater. But at the same time, I've been messing with pcs since 1995. I don't recommend people dive into custom building pcs unless they have a decently experienced local friends to run to for help. Or an excess of googling/forum patience.

If you still insist, give a budget and expected use. Then I'm sure quite a few people can list and build with their various opinions, giving you multiple options. Personally, I prefer amd builds for beginners, despite giving up ultimate performance, they've shown a history of leaving easy upgrade paths. Not only that, their integrated options are a few generations ahead of everyone else despite the fact integrated sucks compared to discreet options.

[Highschool]

this whole thread is greek to me

NERDS!

[Teejay187]

The first piece of art on my wall

[UrbanFuturistic]

Yo, whats up with that video card?

[Teejay187]

It`s dead and outside warranty.

[bigx5murf]

It`s dead and outside warranty.

bake it to bring it back to life

[Teejay187]

Uhm, I might try that. It has been laying around here for years meow.

[phillyb™]

check this out - http://imgur.com/gallery/Zm6w1

[Commanche]

check this out - http://imgur.com/gallery/Zm6w1

That is badass.

One day.. :)