Anyone into PCs? Post your rigs here!
 

Car guys tend to have a bit of computer geek in them, so I figured a thread to nerd out in would be fun. I don't have new pics (still have to tidy up the case) but here is where my rig is at now:

- Core i7-2600K @ 4.5GHz, Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU cooler with 120mm push/pull fan setup -- Idles at 25*C, sees 55-57*C at full load
- ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3 mobo
- 16GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600 (4x4gb)
- 2X 2GB Sapphire 6950 Dirt3 Edition cards in CrossFireX (currently running with the stock shaders and stock clocks)
- OCZ Vertex III 60GB SSD (for OS)
- OCZ Vertex II SSD (for applications)
- WD Caviar Black 1.5TB & 500GB HDDs for storage
- ASUS XONAR-DG sound card
- Corsair TX750 PSU
- Cooler Master CM690II case
Monitors: 3x Acer H233H 23"

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1...00/Desktop.jpg

Post up your rigs with pics if possible (I'll have some up of mine soon) and talk shop! :tup:

I'd like to build something also, but for somewhere around the 1k-1500 mark. I don't know if i could use my old dell xps 600 case, it's pretty big and roomy inside. I've only got the one lcd screen and it's a 24inch.

subscribing.


real rig still pending, but my matlab, et al rig:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ser101/010.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ser101/004.jpg

this is a dell 820EP (t7600 processor; NVidia Quadro NVS 120M 512MB, 4gb RAM) laptop, dell MINI 10v hacked to run snow leopard, and a UBMB on 4gb RAM with a 128GB samsung SSD).

All of this is ~4-5 years old and in need of replacement shortly...:mad:

You can build a very good system for that price, especially if you can reuse some parts from an older build.
Also, if you can, try to get a student copy of Windows 7 (if you know anyone), helps cut a lot of cost.

I don't have any active pictures of my system currently but will try to get some.

Probably not. Dell cases are (or at least they used to be) BTX form-factor and won't fit an ATX mobo.

But a new case isn't all that expensive anyways. You can get an Antec 300 or 900 (or any other nice case) for around $50-100. You could put together a real nice rig for under $1500 since you already have your monitor.

Current set up:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
Motherboard: AsRock 990FX Extreme 4
CPU: AMD FX 8120
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V6GT
RAM: G Skill Sniper 8GB 1600
Video Card: XFX 6870 (still waiting on getting another 6870 for xfire)
Hard drive: Hitachi (3tb, 2tb) for storage, Seagate 700gb 7200rpm (I know, I need SSD for OS)
Power Supply: Don't remember brand but it's a 700w xfire ready
Monitor: Cheap AOC 23", lol

I was on the fence about overclocking around 4.5ghz but I don't think the V6GT would be preferable for that. I would've liked to go with Corsair H80 or Antec 920. I know the monster case can even fit either the Noctua DH-14 or the Corsair H100 with room to spare but I don't know if I want to overclock that much.

PS, wow I didn't realize you could go 4.5ghz with the Hyper 212.

How do you like the Bulldozer? Almost all of the press I have seen on them hasn't been too impressive (no doubt it's still a fast processor, though) but for the price they are pretty interesting.

I've heard that Windows 8 is supposed to make better use of the cores and threading.

Yeah it's a pretty nifty cooler. I could probably run it a little higher and still be fine but I want to keep load temps under 60C.

I run BF3 really well in Eyefinity with my current setup, so I don't think I will push the OC any further. I will however unlock the 6950s to the 6970 shaders and play with the core and memory clocks. Probably this weekend.

The nice thing is my ASUS board is Ivy Bridge ready so I can upgrade if they turn out to be significantly better than Sandy Bridge.

Cool, i'm not in the know when it comes to what parts to get and where. I've taken a few apart and back together again for an old job so i can do the work. I'll just need help on what to get and where the good deals can be found.

Well if you let me know exactly what you plan on using the computer for and a price range I can put some options together and I'm sure everyone here can help too.

Lies! No one is going to help. :p

Price range 1k-1500 or so. Use racing/star wars/shooter games, and i really like watching subbed anime with great picture and sound. I know the dell stuff is not that good but i do have the 5.1 computer speaker setup that came with my xps.

:icon18::roflpuke2::bowrofl::tup:

How did I know the OP was gonna have a brand-new system?

What I don't see is any type of RAID or real-time offsite backup. WTF is wrong with you?

It's almost 2012, Steve. We don't store porn on our own drives anymore. :p

Let the TROLLOLOL begin.

:icon14:

:drool:

It's all right. Yea, I've seen all the bench marks and press about them. Funny thing is that I was going to go with the i7 2600k or i5 2500k. I was running an AM3+ board already but with a 965BE. Coworker of mine needed a computer asap and he needed a processor. I had no choice but to get an FX chip. My original plan if I stuck with AMD was to wait for the newer chips coming out in 2012. I'm not totally bummed out about the FX though.

As for Windows 8, yea, supposedly Windows 7 isn't optimized for multi cores as it seems when it schedules tasks. Both Intel and AMD should get a good performance increase with Windows 8.

Here is the budget build that I did for my GF:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 840 (3.2GHz)
Motherboard: MSI 880G-E45
RAM: 4GB Corsair DDR3-1333(I think?)
HDD: Seagate 1.5TB (bought it before the prices jumped because of the shortage)
GPU: 1GB MSI R6770
PSU: Cooler Master 460W
Case: Thermaltake mid-tower

We did this for less than $600 and it runs BF3 on High at 1680x1050 with ease.

and, since we're talking potential builds....any help appreciated

Budget: 800-1200 USD
Use: general web browsing, FPS shooters, MATLAB

Prefer to stick with intel for a variety of reasons. Already have a monitor I can use, but pretty much nothing else.

What will the gaming resolution be?

monitor(s) are 1920x1080. gaming resolution will be whatever my budget can get me comfortably into

That would probably be plenty for my needs and at that price i could get two more monitors.

For under $1200 I would probably stick to a single monitor. 2x screens is kind of weird for FPS due to the bezel, and 3x screens requires at least two GPUs to play BF3 at nice settings.

You could probably do an i7-2600K and a 2GB 6950 for under $1200 since you already have monitors.

Well, you wouldn't want to try to play any games with a multi-monitor config with this system. Plus the R6770 only supports two. For a single monitor configuration it's a great performer, though.

Asus, Intel 980X Extreme 4.4Ghz Setup
 

Enjoy


Over $5K setup.

Ok cool, see that's why i need some help. :tiphat:

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

$49.99



XFX HD-695X-CNDC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #: N82E16814150550

$279.99
$259.99




Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W Bronze W0382RU ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular ...
Item #: N82E16817153136

$89.99


CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10
Item #: N82E16820233246
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy

$149.99

ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Item #: N82E16813131792
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$189.99

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I72600K
$299.99

Subtotal: $1,059.93





SSD?

Check out the Corsair Force 3 GT line. They have pretty good reviews. I have OCZ Vertex II and III and have been satisfied with them.

One of my New Year's resolutions is an upgrade to my Windoze (gaming) platform.

I'm waiting for the new Radion HD 7000's to hit retail, as well as the new AMD chips. Then probably going the route Steve did with the OCZ solid-state drives for OS and apps to replace my HDD's. I'd go Fusion-io but they are priced too high for my wallet. My case is a ten-year old server tower that currently holds eight internal Western Digital 500GB SATA drives and has five front-loaded bays for CD/DVD etc. Both OS and apps are running RAID5 with the OS RAID on the motherboard and the apps RAID powered by an Adaptec 2405Q Storage Controller. I'll prolly pick up another Adaptec controller and move the OS drives off the MB when I buy my SSD's.

Power supply is a Thermaltake TP-1350M in the cable-management series.

Screens are two Samsung Syncmaster 23".

New Mobo is still in research stage, but it will definitely be AMD-based and probably another ASUS. It's amazing what can be had for under $250 right now. :tup:

Also considering an iMac upgrade to the new 27" model, which is incredible.

I wanted to do an AMD build for the $/performance ratio but I really couldn't justify it considering how well Sandy Bridge performs relative to the new Bulldozers in everything I am interested in.

Thanks to the holiday sales, I picked up my 2600k for $269.99 and got $50 off my ASUS board at Microcenter over the weekend... so those deals really pushed me over the edge. I only ended up spending maybe $20-40 more than I would have with an FX8120/8150 and I get better performance plus the option to upgrade to Ivy Bridge. Works for me.

Also to note... I've had Gigabyte, MSI, and now ASUS boards. Without a doubt the ASUS is the nicest one I have ever handled. Very well done!

That said, I still love AMD for the true budget builds. I am going to put together a Phenom II X4 option for Kaien when I get home. And it will give him the option to go Bulldozer in the future if he needs to. :tup:

:happydance::happydance:

http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...70-photo-1.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...77-photo-3.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/jeffb...79-photo-5.jpg

here is the new beast.

http://www.christophersmith-op.com/w...1/10320571.jpg

i overclocked the transistor :|

That's some bad stuff you got there jeff...

curious what you use your current rig for
they are sick, but a totally different animal

Would i still be able to use my cd/dvd player/burner in a newly built computer?

Yeah if you have a 5.5" drive that you want to port over you can do that. But new CD/DVD burners are like $20.

:tup:

I've always wanted to build my own rig. Far too lazy and knowing me, I'd blow my budget buying the expensive stuff. If my Dell XPS craps out, I'll definately know where to go for advice.