My new gaming rig.

[midnightpulp]

First of all, thanks to Cry Havoc for your help. My first build in about 13 years went super smooth, which I know it wouldn't have without your input and advice.

Now on to the goods.

I essentially copied Havoc's setup aside from a few components.

CPU:

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/skuimages/large/I69-2500K-mainv01-jc.jpg

Case:

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/skuimages/large/C283-1223_main_image002_im.jpg

Awesome case. Three fans, loads of bays, and plenty of real estate, even for the monster video card I bought.

Video Card:

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/skuimages/large/A455-0574-mainv01-jc.jpg

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7280370&CatId=3669

Was originally going to go with a Radeon 6850 2GB, like CH, but Asus's pitch of how this card runs 20% cooler due to its massive triple slot design and promises of easy overclocking with their Smart Doctor software sold me. I have to say, I'm not disappointed.

Using the very simple and straightforward Smart Doctor software, I bumped up the speed of the processor from 742mhz to 930mhz. Then I put the card under load with Unigine's Heaven 2.1 benchmark, and it remained cool at around 50-54 degrees Celsius.

Motherboard:

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/skuimages/large/M452-6205-main01-jc.jpg

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=40755&CatId=6978

Made sure to get a board that is both Crossfire and SLI ready. This board also features a very user friendly bios that makes configuring your system and overclocking a breeze.

PSU:

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/skuimages/large/T925-2426-main02-jc.jpg

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6624663&CatId=2533

Again, made sure to get a component that would support a future Crossfire or SLI upgrade with no problems.

RAM:

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/skuimages/large/P33-6110-Main-JH.jpg

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5688415&CatId=4534

Okay, guys, gonna need your help here. This RAM is timed at 9-9-9-24 with a voltage of 1.65 and runs at 1333mhz. Currently, it's running at 1066 with timings of 7-7-7-20, which I understand the bios loads automatically because it's considered a safe default setup. I loaded the memory's XML profile, which changed the values of speed and voltage from 1066 to 1333mhz and 1.4 to 1.648, respectively. I figured it changed the timings as well. I restarted, and after a minute of bone chilling fear when the computer shut on and off rapidly, failing to boot up, I got a failed overclock message.

What I suspect happened is the XML didn't load the proper timings and only increased the the speed and voltage. Where I'm confused is that there are additional timings after the typical CL, tRCD, tRP, and tRAS, and I'm not sure what to do with those. Note that I haven't tried to manually change the CL, tRCD, tRP, and tRAS for fear that I might screw something up.

The other components are pretty basic. 500gb 7200rpm Sata-3 HD (I went relatively small, because it would take me a year to fill up a drive this size. No point for me to spend an addition 20.00 on 1tb drive when they'll likely be that price by the time I need). Run of the mill Sony DVD drive. Windows 7. No external sound card.

Total, with me ponying up 88.00 for overnight, was 1333 and change. I also have 55.00 in rebates to claim.

Final build:

http://oi53.tinypic.com/rjh013.jpg

[TDMVPDPOY]

do a 3d benchmark performance yo...

that mobo u got, the sli/xfire slots...are they 2x 16x or 2x 8x when with 2 cards?

[vander]

oh my god, why are people still building these monstrosities?

anything larger than micro atx = fail

mini-itx FTW

[ManuBalboa]

My first and only build was in a Custom Lian Li PC-G70 case. Full Tower was ridiculous after awhile but so nice when putting everything together.

[midnightpulp]

oh my god, why are people still building these monstrosities?

anything larger than micro atx = fail

mini-itx FTW

Um, how am I supposed to install 2 video cards using boards that small? And most of those boards have only two DIMM slots.

Not enough slots for what you need when upgrading = fail.

[leemajors]

oh my god, why are people still building these monstrosities?

anything larger than micro atx = fail

mini-itx FTW

If you have small, girlish hands, sure.

[Cry Havoc]

oh my god, why are people still building these monstrosities?

anything larger than micro atx = fail

mini-itx FTW

Sure, if you don't want to expand your system and you absolutely abhor keeping the case cool. I mean, why the hell do you need a small desktop anyway? Do you carry it with you to bed and plug it in like a laptop? I put my desktop under my computer desk and leave it there. It doesn't move. The computer desk has enough room for it, so what, exactly, is wrong with a larger case?

[Wild Cobra]

Did you say two video cards?

I'm far from an expert here but I'll bet you need a two rail power supply for the 12 volts, and video cards that take the 12 volts direct via cable.

That's a lot of power to ask the motherboard to handle.

Just how much 12 volt power does each card require? The PS only handles 64 Amps, but that's more than it's 750 watt potential.

[MannyIsGod]

I won't knock you because I know how I am but fuuuuuuck 88 for overnight. I think at that point I might actually just wait a few days. I usually do pay more for overnight though.

[TDMVPDPOY]

Did you say two video cards?

I'm far from an expert here but I'll bet you need a two rail power supply for the 12 volts, and video cards that take the 12 volts direct via cable.

That's a lot of power to ask the motherboard to handle.

Just how much 12 volt power does each card require? The PS only handles 64 Amps, but that's more than it's 750 watt potential.

a +750watt psu could handle 2 cards + other crap you got inside

[TwAnKiEs]

Nice build. If you game online I use the handle TXloveTounge69

JK!! ... maybe......:depressed

[Wild Cobra]

a +750watt psu could handle 2 cards + other crap you got inside
I'm not completely sold there. Some graphics cards require a real health amount of power. I didn't see the power requirements of those ones, but if they require 350 watts each, that's at least borderline. Then there are the circuit board traces. That is a single rail power supply and I didn't see anything in the specs about a pair of separate video board power cables.

Now I didn't do a search beyond the links information, but I would be concerned at the 12V power requirements of the card, and how much power two slots can furnish.

[Wild Cobra]

Took me some searching, but the recommended power supply is 550 watts for one video card. I'll bet you need at least 900 watts for two.

[midnightpulp]

Took me some searching, but the recommended power supply is 550 watts for one video card. I'll bet you need at least 900 watts for two.

Good point. But the description did state the power supply I purchased was SLI and Crossfire certified, which involves putting the PSU through a series of rigorous tests while running two video cards.

Could be marketing mumbo jumbo, though.

[midnightpulp]

I won't knock you because I know how I am but fuuuuuuck 88 for overnight. I think at that point I might actually just wait a few days. I usually do pay more for overnight though.

Figured that since I spent 1250.00 and UPS ground was 20.00, might as well shell out the extra 70.00 to get it here ASAP so the components don't bump around in transit for a week.

[leemajors]

Took me some searching, but the recommended power supply is 550 watts for one video card. I'll bet you need at least 900 watts for two.

It's weird, you can run three with 1200

[Wild Cobra]

It's weird, you can run three with 1200
???

If we assume the card requires 400 watts, then it leaves 150 for the system. To leave that 150 watts with two cards would require a 850 watt supply and a 1250 watt with three.

I don't know what the 550 watt criteria is based on though.

[leemajors]

???

If we assume the card requires 400 watts, then it leaves 150 for the system. To leave that 150 watts with two cards would require a 850 watt supply and a 1250 watt with three.

I don't know what the 550 watt criteria is based on though.

NVidia has a Recommended SLI PSU site, several 1200s are recommended for triple SLI systems.

[TDMVPDPOY]

you gotto remember when the psu says whatever watts you bought it at, it doesnt run at 100% capacity what it listed, expect only to see 80-90% over the long run

[ElNono]

That cards uses 330W @ peak according to tests online... A SLI setup uses about 420W @ peak

[IronMexican]

ricer case

[DMX7]

Took me some searching, but the recommended power supply is 550 watts for one video card. I'll bet you need at least 900 watts for two.

His power supply has the NVIDIA SLI & ATi Crossfire seal on it, so it's literally built for dual video cards.

[koriwhat]

oh my god, why are people still building these monstrosities?

anything larger than micro atx = fail

mini-itx FTW

watch out, people love their dump truck cases.

[Cry Havoc]

What's the matter, kw? You still not tired of the entire forum laughing at your stupidity? Or did you think everyone forgot about it just because Luva was outed as a Naruto fan?

[koriwhat]

What's the matter, kw? You still not tired of the entire forum laughing at your stupidity? Or did you think everyone forgot about it just because Luva was outed as a Naruto fan?

wtf are you talking about? btw, where's your little bitch at to back you up?

hands down, i'd still kick your ass... stop puffing that chest like you're something little fuckin' nerd faggot.

[Cry Havoc]

wtf are you talking about? btw, where's your little bitch at to back you up?

hands down, i'd still kick your ass... stop puffing that chest like you're something little fuckin' nerd faggot.

Still going the route of the "internet tough guy" combined with "7th grade smack talk", I see. Some things just never change. :lol

[Jt.ONE]

koritwat appears in yet another "my new gaming rig" thread


popcorn.gif

[koriwhat]

Still going the route of the "internet tough guy" combined with "7th grade smack talk", I see. Some things just never change. :lol

you're a bitch, get over it already bitch!

[koriwhat]

koritwat appears in yet another "my new gaming rig" thread


popcorn.gif

it's a fuckin' msgboard, get over yourself.

[diego]

hadn't come into this forum yet, turns out i recently built a rig too. Maybe I'll take pics when I get home.

I'm a little surprised at a couple of things though, so I'll ask...

1) Do you OC for fun or performance? Because with that kind of hardware there is no immediate performance need, IMO
2) Why not a higher clockspeed on the memory? 1866+ memory is cheap and the motherboard supports it, does this have something to do with OC?


Personally, I find that OCing is not worth it unless you have old hardware that can't handle the task. Ive seen too many shiny new super systems hobbled / made unstable from OC, to the point where you end up playing with the bios more than the games (booting in under 10 seconds comes pretty handy at that point though :lol)


As far as SLI/crossfire, the price/performance ratio is pretty bad because they dont scale that well, its only really worth it when you can pick up a cheap 2nd card; but due to the power requirements and scaling issues, i think its preferable to sell the old card and get a new one. SLI certified PSU's dont guarantee compatibility because not all vid cards consume the same amount of power; even the same chipset card can have factory OC that changes the power drawn from the card. Also, some PSU's have fake certification and load/efficiency can make the same PSU work under some situation but not others (a friend has a SLI setup that requires 2 extra HD to be plugged in for it to work, take them out and the PSU's efficiency dips and you cant enable SLI even though the second card still appears in device manager)

Finally, I'm a little surprised to see you and CH went for AMD vid cards. The savings are marginal but Nvidia cards have more features (Physx, CUDA, better AA support). The only things that AMD cards really beat them on is multi display support and power consumption/thermal footprint. I hate to come off as a fan boy but the only time I had an AMD card it was very disappointing to have such limited support from developers (I remember not being able to get AA in several unreal engine games, missing out on Physx in batman Arkham asylum and the water effects in Just cause 2). I have a 23" on the desk for FPS and a 42" next to it for everything else, until they make screens without bezels mutli display setups are not for me, hence I prefer nvidia.

I'll see about getting pictures up, but my specs are:
core i5 2500
mem 8gb corsair pc 18666
hd: raid 0 3 x 1 tb sata3 (seagate drives)
mobo: asus p67 sabertooth
vid: gtx 275 (the only survivor of the last build, plan on getting a 560 or 570 next month)
case: antec p183 w/ CP 850 PSU

The HAF is a nice case if you plan on going SLI but since I dont plan on it I prefer the P183's ultra quiet, living room friendly design. Its got a front door that covers the drive bays and power button which can be locked (I have two toddlers so this is a great feature), no funny lights or windows, filters on all the air intakes, as close to silent as can be. The cable management is a bit of a pain compared to the HAF but once done it gets good temps.

The PSU is kind of overkill for my setup but because I have lots of drives and plan on getting a Fermi card, I preferred to have more than less. The CP 850 was a good deal packaged with the case, as its a PSU format exclusive to antec cases. Here in Chile selection is poor and prices are higher, so any little savings helps, especially on a high end equipment like this.

[ElNono]

He went for an ASUS GTX 570 video card... look at the link...

[Cry Havoc]

hadn't come into this forum yet, turns out i recently built a rig too. Maybe I'll take pics when I get home.

I'm a little surprised at a couple of things though, so I'll ask...

1) Do you OC for fun or performance? Because with that kind of hardware there is no immediate performance need, IMO
2) Why not a higher clockspeed on the memory? 1866+ memory is cheap and the motherboard supports it, does this have something to do with OC?


Personally, I find that OCing is not worth it unless you have old hardware that can't handle the task. Ive seen too many shiny new super systems hobbled / made unstable from OC, to the point where you end up playing with the bios more than the games (booting in under 10 seconds comes pretty handy at that point though :lol)


As far as SLI/crossfire, the price/performance ratio is pretty bad because they dont scale that well, its only really worth it when you can pick up a cheap 2nd card; but due to the power requirements and scaling issues, i think its preferable to sell the old card and get a new one. SLI certified PSU's dont guarantee compatibility because not all vid cards consume the same amount of power; even the same chipset card can have factory OC that changes the power drawn from the card. Also, some PSU's have fake certification and load/efficiency can make the same PSU work under some situation but not others (a friend has a SLI setup that requires 2 extra HD to be plugged in for it to work, take them out and the PSU's efficiency dips and you cant enable SLI even though the second card still appears in device manager)

Finally, I'm a little surprised to see you and CH went for AMD vid cards. The savings are marginal but Nvidia cards have more features (Physx, CUDA, better AA support). The only things that AMD cards really beat them on is multi display support and power consumption/thermal footprint. I hate to come off as a fan boy but the only time I had an AMD card it was very disappointing to have such limited support from developers (I remember not being able to get AA in several unreal engine games, missing out on Physx in batman Arkham asylum and the water effects in Just cause 2). I have a 23" on the desk for FPS and a 42" next to it for everything else, until they make screens without bezels mutli display setups are not for me, hence I prefer nvidia.

I'll see about getting pictures up, but my specs are:
core i5 2500
mem 8gb corsair pc 18666
hd: raid 0 3 x 1 tb sata3 (seagate drives)
mobo: asus p67 sabertooth
vid: gtx 275 (the only survivor of the last build, plan on getting a 560 or 570 next month)
case: antec p183 w/ CP 850 PSU

The HAF is a nice case if you plan on going SLI but since I dont plan on it I prefer the P183's ultra quiet, living room friendly design. Its got a front door that covers the drive bays and power button which can be locked (I have two toddlers so this is a great feature), no funny lights or windows, filters on all the air intakes, as close to silent as can be. The cable management is a bit of a pain compared to the HAF but once done it gets good temps.

The PSU is kind of overkill for my setup but because I have lots of drives and plan on getting a Fermi card, I preferred to have more than less. The CP 850 was a good deal packaged with the case, as its a PSU format exclusive to antec cases. Here in Chile selection is poor and prices are higher, so any little savings helps, especially on a high end equipment like this.

The last Nvidia card I had (8800 GTS) burnt out on me. 3 of my friends had the same exact card and every one of them died the same way. Nvidia refused to cover it. I don't understand how getting one bad card equates to ATI = bad. The 8800 was a seriously deficient video card, I haven't seen any kind of failure rates in ATI boards, and price/performance ATI is as good/better than Nvidia across the board. PhysX is overrated, as is Cuda... how many games actively use those? "Better AA support"? Subjective, considering every modern video card is created to use AA at extremely high levels.

The HAF makes almost no noise at all, I love the case. 2x200 mm fans... they are whisper quiet, man. I'd rather have a tiny amount of noise and get the best cooling possible. Being able to hear my computer when the house is completely silent is a small price to pay for keeping my parts cool.

[ElNono]

I've personally had bad luck with ATI. Two X1300 died on me in a row, within 6 months... never had an issue with NVidia...

Cuda is actually used quite a bit, just not necessarily by games. If you're running a hackintosh, Grand Central on the OS will recognize Cuba-able cards and just add the GPU as just another general purpose computing core. That means every program can use it even if you're not writing Cuda-aware programs.

Programs like the latest Photoshop also have Cuda acceleration on them, and the speedup on most filter raster ops is quite noticeable, especially if you're using high-end floating point raw imagery, which most good DSLR produce nowadays.

I'm pretty sure ATI will have it's own form of Cuda sooner or later, and wouldn't be surprised if Win8 comes with built-in generic support a la OSX.

[midnightpulp]

[QUOTE=diego;5203356]hadn't come into this forum yet, turns out i recently built a rig too. Maybe I'll take pics when I get home.

I'm a little surprised at a couple of things though, so I'll ask...

1) Do you OC for fun or performance? Because with that kind of hardware there is no immediate performance need, IMO
2) Why not a higher clockspeed on the memory? 1866+ memory is cheap and the motherboard supports it, does this have something to do with OC?


I was just playing around with ASUS's Smart Doctor software, which provides relatively hassle free overclocking. I'm in no way equipped to do a manual overclock of either the GPU or CPU. As it stands, I run the GPU and CPU at stock speeds.

As for the RAM, the deal was good, and from what I've read, the difference between say 1333mhz and 1600mhz RAM is negligible when gaming.


As far as SLI/crossfire, the price/performance ratio is pretty bad because they dont scale that well, its only really worth it when you can pick up a cheap 2nd card; but due to the power requirements and scaling issues, i think its preferable to sell the old card and get a new one. SLI certified PSU's dont guarantee compatibility because not all vid cards consume the same amount of power; even the same chipset card can have factory OC that changes the power drawn from the card. Also, some PSU's have fake certification and load/efficiency can make the same PSU work under some situation but not others (a friend has a SLI setup that requires 2 extra HD to be plugged in for it to work, take them out and the PSU's efficiency dips and you cant enable SLI even though the second card still appears in device manager)


Wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the info.


Finally, I'm a little surprised to see you and CH went for AMD vid cards. The savings are marginal but Nvidia cards have more features (Physx, CUDA, better AA support). The only things that AMD cards really beat them on is multi display support and power consumption/thermal footprint. I hate to come off as a fan boy but the only time I had an AMD card it was very disappointing to have such limited support from developers (I remember not being able to get AA in several unreal engine games, missing out on Physx in batman Arkham asylum and the water effects in Just cause 2). I have a 23" on the desk for FPS and a 42" next to it for everything else, until they make screens without bezels mutli display setups are not for me, hence I prefer nvidia.

I went with a GTX 570.


I'll see about getting pictures up, but my specs are:
core i5 2500
mem 8gb corsair pc 18666
hd: raid 0 3 x 1 tb sata3 (seagate drives)
mobo: asus p67 sabertooth
vid: gtx 275 (the only survivor of the last build, plan on getting a 560 or 570 next month)
case: antec p183 w/ CP 850 PSU

Nice build.


The HAF is a nice case if you plan on going SLI but since I dont plan on it I prefer the P183's ultra quiet, living room friendly design. Its got a front door that covers the drive bays and power button which can be locked (I have two toddlers so this is a great feature), no funny lights or windows, filters on all the air intakes, as close to silent as can be. The cable management is a bit of a pain compared to the HAF but once done it gets good temps.

No complaints whatsoever about this case. Love it. And as CH said, it's very quiet. About PS3 slim quiet.

[diego]

ah I skimmed through and thought that was also an AMD, the board design just looked more like one, sorry about that.

Agree to disagree Cry, I guess it comes down to what games you play. For the short time I had a Radeon, the games that I was playing at the time had better support from Nvidia. AFAIK Batman Arkham Asylum never got AA support from ATI, not to mention the Physx effects which were pretty cool (that's the reason I splurge on a vid card, eye candy. If over 60fps, I'll choose eyecandy over an extra 5-10-50 fps). I remember also that Bioshock and some other UE3 games it was difficult to get AA working, requiring changing engine files and editing .ini 's- I can do that stuff, but I'd rather play the actual games than dick around with settings. For better or worse nvidia spends more time/money with developers so that their cards get more support, to me that is worth something. Maybe AMD are better now, but I remember getting the nvidia card to replace it and the picture quality of several of the games i was playing improved. CUDA isnt huge, but if you do photo/video editing it helps. Still, it's a tech that actually lets you use that huge GPU you have in there, again to me that is a good thing.

yeah I know the mem speed doesnt make a huge difference but generally there is little to no price difference, thats why it struck me as odd.

Wasnt knocking the HAF, I had one myself its a nice case, roomy and very cool. I especially like the drive mounting systems. But with all the fans and intakes, after 6 months or so it will get noisy- not lawnmower noisy, but more than a design made to be quiet. I checked the link and I had the 932, that had 3 230mm fans, so maybe that was a little louder than the 922 you guys have. Its a style choice, especially if you have SLI/OC/a lot of components you'd prefer a cooler case, and if you are willing to maintain the fans regularly or replace them frequently (as in 1-2 times a year) there isnt as much difference. But if you don't run that hot and prefer sleekness (in look and sound), there are nice alternatives. I have the PC in the family room and use it as much for games as I do watching movies, and thats when I appreciate a quieter setup with less lights to put books in front of :lol

Didn't get around to taking pics, my wife bought a laptop and asked me to set it up for her, and tonight I'm going to the pub for the celtics heat game so maybe tomorrow.

[Cry Havoc]

Agree to disagree Cry, I guess it comes down to what games you play. For the short time I had a Radeon, the games that I was playing at the time had better support from Nvidia. AFAIK Batman Arkham Asylum never got AA support from ATI, not to mention the Physx effects which were pretty cool (that's the reason I splurge on a vid card, eye candy. If over 60fps, I'll choose eyecandy over an extra 5-10-50 fps).

I run Battlefield Bad Company 2 on max detail @ 1080p. Every little piece of eye candy turned on. No slowdown. It's incredible.


I remember also that Bioshock and some other UE3 games it was difficult to get AA working, requiring changing engine files and editing .ini 's- I can do that stuff, but I'd rather play the actual games than dick around with settings.

This is because Bioshock, while being a great game, was not coded particularly well. For many moons after it came out, a lot of players had severe mouse lag, in the 50+ ms range, which is just unacceptable for a game with FPS elements. Don't fault ATI here, it wasn't their doing. If their cards had so much trouble handling AA, you wouldn't see any top tier titles that were running well on them, which is just not the case. Crysis and Crysis 2 both run on max detail as well.


For better or worse nvidia spends more time/money with developers so that their cards get more support, to me that is worth something. Maybe AMD are better now, but I remember getting the nvidia card to replace it and the picture quality of several of the games i was playing improved.

Agree to disagree. I'm pretty sure that if you saw BC2 on my system you'd change your mind a bit. Maybe not.


yeah I know the mem speed doesnt make a huge difference but generally there is little to no price difference, thats why it struck me as odd.

I'll take the 2GB of RAM that the 6950 has over the 1.2 GB that the GTX570 has. Obviously the 570 is a little faster, but at higher resolutions the 800 megs of RAM is going to make a difference down the road.


Its a style choice, especially if you have SLI/OC/a lot of components you'd prefer a cooler case, and if you are willing to maintain the fans regularly or replace them frequently (as in 1-2 times a year) there isnt as much difference.

I don't plan to replace the fans for at least a couple years. There are tons of reviews on the case at Newegg, no one mentions the problems you bring up. Strange.


But if you don't run that hot and prefer sleekness (in look and sound), there are nice alternatives. I have the PC in the family room and use it as much for games as I do watching movies, and thats when I appreciate a quieter setup with less lights to put books in front of :lol

I've done the sleek thing. It got old after a while. I wanted a case that made it clear that there was some serious hardware under the hood, so I went with the HAF -- incidentally one of the highest rated PC cases on the market.


Didn't get around to taking pics, my wife bought a laptop and asked me to set it up for her, and tonight I'm going to the pub for the celtics heat game so maybe tomorrow.

:tu

[diego]

Ok, got those pics up, not the best lighting but you can appreciate the style of the case (i picked up a 560 and took the pics after putting it in)

the bottom area looks a little untidy but most of those cables are against the back panel, I chose to put the hard drives there to keep the main system components and vid card on their own; there is an intake fan on the front blowing on the drives, and the PSU has fans on both ends so that bottom area has 3 fans pushing air from the front to the back.

the main area has an intake on the top and another blowing out the back

under the TV you can see the old mammoth 275, that thing was at least 1.5" bigger than the new card...

http://i53.tinypic.com/30kf4fr.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/1zh0bj9.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/29yo7md.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/2nteps9.jpg

[diego]

oh and Cry, maybe there is less dust in your environment but here its pretty rare for a fan to stay quiet unless you clean it (even worse when you smoke like I do). Filters help quite a lot in keeping the components dust free.

[leemajors]

Dang, uncluttered case. You only have one drive? I think I have 4 shoehorned in mine, but I am more about media storage and conversion than performance these days.

[Cry Havoc]

oh and Cry, maybe there is less dust in your environment but here its pretty rare for a fan to stay quiet unless you clean it (even worse when you smoke like I do). Filters help quite a lot in keeping the components dust free.

Nice setup, although that desk looks a bit cramped.

I'll throw up some more as soon as I get my new monitor here. Can't wait. Going for 120hz. :tu

[ElNono]

Just an update on what I was talking earlier about Cuda:

KGPU: Enables CUDA programs to be run from the linux kernel (http://code.google.com/p/kgpu/)

[ElNono]

That case and mobo look great, BTW... any idea how much power that thing draws in general?

[diego]

there are 3 hard drives in the bottom drive cage, with room for one more, and the empty space next to the video card is for another drive cage which has room for 2 but I removed it since I dont use it.

not sure about the power draw, but I figure around 650-700w (I had a 600w PSU that wouldnt post with this setup, but a 750 did so it has to be between there)

Part of the desk clutter is because I had just put in the new video card, part because the PC is in the family room and everyone uses it! I also only moved recently so I still have to settle in, I only got the tv table the day before taking those pics and it didnt have the locks put on the doors, once they are installed some stuff will go in there.

[Cry Havoc]

http://i.imgur.com/hodi9.jpg

My completed setup. I don't plan to add anything else to it until I decide to crossfire my 6950s.

The new display (the monitor on the right) is an Asus VG236HE 120hz. It is absolutely incredible. Never thought there would be a tangible difference between 60hz and 120hz, but it's as plain as day when I'm switching back and forth. I highly recommend the Asus. It's gorgeous, although if you're in a bright room, don't go for it, as it's a highly reflective screen.

[Veterinarian]

who is this girl??.....Seriously, Kat does what she does as well as anyone-suck,assfuck and happily take cum to the face. One comment about the stuntcock who I`ve seen referred to on this site as "homeless-looking". He invariably does a good job in all his scenes..underrated,stays hard, doesn`t talk throughout, and always cums.But in the end, lets enjoy Kat.....forever 19.

[leemajors]

No one asked, but here is my setup I have for my home office - work on the right, PC on the left. The IKEA Galant desk is just perfect for me. A buddy of mine has one in a dark finish, but I couldn't pass up the $40 price difference with the white melamine. I still have room for a longer extension on the right too. And yes, it's messy but my daughter says it's her office at night :lol

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb64/beestrofowler/photo.jpg

[TDMVPDPOY]

http://i.imgur.com/hodi9.jpg

My completed setup. I don't plan to add anything else to it until I decide to crossfire my 6950s.

The new display (the monitor on the right) is an Asus VG236HE 120hz. It is absolutely incredible. Never thought there would be a tangible difference between 60hz and 120hz, but it's as plain as day when I'm switching back and forth. I highly recommend the Asus. It's gorgeous, although if you're in a bright room, don't go for it, as it's a highly reflective screen.

how much you bought ur table for? im looking for one like that...glass...

previous workplace had something like that

[Cry Havoc]

how much you bought ur table for? im looking for one like that...glass...

previous workplace had something like that

$200 shipped from amazon.

[leemajors]

That is a nice desk CH, I can't deal with glass tabletops tho (or keyboard trays). That and it would make me really nervous with my daughter around. She's responsible but less glass surfaces the better

[Cry Havoc]

That is a nice desk CH, I can't deal with glass tabletops tho (or keyboard trays). That and it would make me really nervous with my daughter around. She's responsible but less glass surfaces the better

Yeah, maybe not the best, but I will say that the glass is pretty damn thick and it's tempered. I dropped one half of it on the ground while holding the other side by accident and it didn't even make a sound like glass when it hit. No scratch or crack, either.

[diego]

Nice setup Cry, the HAF certainly works better when it is under the desk. I'm not much of a fan of glass desks for mostly the same reason as Leemajors (kids, what they dont break they dirty), but it looks like a very comfortable setup.

oh, remember this-

For better or worse nvidia spends more time/money with developers so that their cards get more support, to me that is worth something. Maybe AMD are better now, but I remember getting the nvidia card to replace it and the picture quality of several of the games i was playing improved.

I am self quoting because I read this interview today from John Carmack:


PCG: If you were to buy a graphics card right now, what would you get?

John Carmack: Let me caution this by saying that this is not necessarily a benchmarked result. We’ve had closer relationships with Nvidia over the years, and my systems have had Nvidia cards in them for generations. We have more personal ties with Nvidia. As I understand it, ATI/AMD cards are winning a lot of the benchmarks right now for when you straight-out make synthetic benchmarks for things like that, but our games do get more hands-on polish time on the Nvidia side of things.

Nvidia does have a stronger dev-relations team. I can always drop an email for an obscure question. So its more of a socio-cultural decision there rather than a raw “Which hardware is better.” Although that does feed back into it, when you’ve got the dev-relation team that is deeply intertwined with the development studio. That tends to make your hardware, in some cases, come out better than what it truly is, because it’s got more of the software side behind it.
link (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/11/id-softwares-john-carmack-picks-a-side-in-the-nvidiaamd-gpu-war/)

[DMX7]

No one asked, but here is my setup I have for my home office - work on the right, PC on the left. The IKEA Galant desk is just perfect for me. A buddy of mine has one in a dark finish, but I couldn't pass up the $40 price difference with the white melamine. I still have room for a longer extension on the right too. And yes, it's messy but my daughter says it's her office at night :lol

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb64/beestrofowler/photo.jpg

Is that a UT diploma? What was your major?

[leemajors]

Is that a UT diploma? What was your major?

English

[MannyIsGod]

That is a nice desk CH, I can't deal with glass tabletops tho (or keyboard trays). That and it would make me really nervous with my daughter around. She's responsible but less glass surfaces the better

Honestly, I just hated how much cleaning they took. So much more than a regular desk to look clean.

[Cry Havoc]

Honestly, I just hated how much cleaning they took. So much more than a regular desk to look clean.

The problem with buying a "regular" desk is that they are typically much heavier, more expensive, and cumbersome to assemble/disassemble. The main thing though, is the space. Most corner desks I've seen have just enough room for one monitor, and I knew I was buying at least one additional display. I saw photos of this desk with dual monitors and it still had extra room, so I pulled the trigger. Looks nicer than the photo suggests, as it's a bit blurry. Not bad for $199 and about 35 minutes of assembly.

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah I agree that real desks are more expensive. I'd love to have a nice real solid wood desk but seeing as I plan on being mobile over the next few years thats not going to happen. I had a glass desk before and the pluses you mentioned are true but I also remember thinking I needed stock in Windex.

[vander]

Sure, if you don't want to expand your system and you absolutely abhor keeping the case cool. I mean, why the hell do you need a small desktop anyway? Do you carry it with you to bed and plug it in like a laptop? I put my desktop under my computer desk and leave it there. It doesn't move. The computer desk has enough room for it, so what, exactly, is wrong with a larger case?


I haven't had any problem with overheating. a little when I overclocked just to see how hot it could get, but without overclocking my cheap i3 and 6850 can play Starcraft 2, Portal 2, or whatever at max settings, 1920x1080.

so what is the the need for space and dual video cards? I can upgrade to another card easily when the time comes that I actually need it for something.

IMO, in an elegant desk setup, the tower is not seen, especially those hideous "gamer" towers with their windows and LEDs... gross

chip technology is getting smaller and smaller, cooler and cooler, there's no need for the common gamer to stick with these behemoth cases, that is so '90s, or early 2000s, or whatever

[jman3000]

I'm going through a similar, albeit more budget conscious, build right now.

So far this is what I have:

AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition ($82)

8 GB Corsair XMS memory 4x2 ($60)

650W PSU - 780 max 650 stable($40)

AM3 m-atx 890GX MoBo ($100)

80GB Intel 320 SSD ($160)

So far all of that has me at just under 450 dollars and I'd like to stay under 800 if possible.

I'm probably going to go with a 6850 ($150) since it seems like it gives the best bang for the buck and I'm leaning towards a rosewill armor case because I'll be able to get it for around $50 and it comes with 6 pre installed fans. Cooling is a big issue for me since I try to run my AC as little as possible and quite honestly it gets hot in my apt. Don't want to add heat to an already hot case.

I'm going to try to cannibalize a friends old HDD of around 250 gigs for general storage. The 80 gigs the SSD brings should be plenty for the OS, a couple games, and any other information I want to access with greater speeds.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[gordon46]

sound good and the price is not bad for all you've bought

[jman3000]

Thanks.

I should be receiving the final components via mail sometime during the middle of the week. After everything is said and done I will have spent about $700. In hindsight, even though it was something I really wanted because of the OS boot up times, by leaving the SSD out I could have made it an even better deal.

I can hybrid crossfire the radeon 6850 with the integrated graphics card on the MoBo and I should be able to OC the CPU to about 3.8 Ghz safely.

Building a PC from scratch was extremely rewarding and fun. I plan on building a replacement computer for my moms computer sometime next month as well... but that shouldn't cost her more than $200.

[jman3000]

Came out pretty nice if I do say so myself. Boot time from the moment I hit the power button to navigating Windows is about 15 seconds.

The red led's are a bit gaudy, but they can be turned off easily enough from a button on the top of the case.

Also installed an all in one media reader in the 3.5" bay and it's been extremely convenient for me.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5395/001wxl.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84/001wxl.jpg/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[DMC]

I used to build my own and did for years until it became too much of a hassle returning memory or power supplies due to early failure.

I order online now.

CH, that's a nice setup you have. Have you ever considered getting bigger monitors that mount on the wall instead of on your desk? I was going to go with two 40" Samsungs since I do a lot of work from my home office, but my friend says his are an eye strain after a while. What do you think?

[Creepn]

Why are you guys still buying magnetic harddrives? SSD is where it's at.

[Creepn]

$200 shipped from amazon.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I have that same exact desk that I bought from Big Lots for $99 and it's a little bigger than that.

TDM, if you want that desk, go to Big Lots, or Ill just sell you mines for $60. It's in my storage.

[jman3000]

Why are you guys still buying magnetic harddrives? SSD is where it's at.

I have an 80 gig intel 320 and to be honest they are great for OS, games, and other programs that you want to open in a hurry, but IMO they just aren't worth it to store miscellaneous things just yet. Price per gig it's just dumb to get a SSD for things that a normal HDD will open a millisecond later.

Plus the failure rate in the new technology is much higher than in normal HDD. That's why I went with the slightly more expensive intel brand because the others had failure rates that were almost 1%.

[Creepn]

Plus the failure rate in the new technology is much higher than in normal HDD. That's why I went with the slightly more expensive intel brand because the others had failure rates that were almost 1%.

I'll have to disagree with you there. The failure rate is dramatically reduced because there aren't any moving parts within a SSD. It's all flash memory and will last 5 times longer than a HDD.

I do agree that the price per gig is expensive though but that's why you should store everything on an external HDD anyway. Keep as much as possible off of the main drive and your computer will stay fast.

[jman3000]

It may not have any moving parts, but it's still considered an emerging technology and thus haven't been perfected just yet. I did a lot of research when considering drives and I read waaaaay too many pissed off people who were burned by OCZ, Kingston, and Crucial brand SDD's.

If it can get to where it's about 4 times the price per gig of a HDD then I'd say make everything SDD... but as it stands a 750 gig sdd is about the price of a house payment whereas a similar HDD is a nice dinner out.

[TDMVPDPOY]

yeh the intel ssd is the one to get if you have the money, they dont fck up as usual like the other brands

as for magnetic hdd, lol they are for storage man, i need to get a 3tb drives......

[jman3000]

Added another monitor and it's really bad ass. Especially with hydra.

Might have to go for the trifecta.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/1016/27982925287988138872610.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/825/27982925287988138872610.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[vander]

woot!

Z68 mini-itx motherboards hitting the marketplace!

not sure if I should get the Zotac now or wait for a few more choices and reviews

[Cry Havoc]

http://i.imgur.com/hodi9.jpg

Present setup. Loving it.

[leemajors]

that's just begging for a third monitor tbh

[Cry Havoc]

that's just begging for a third monitor tbh

Maybe when I SLI my 6950s I'll get a 3rd. For now I'm happy with two... most of the games I play these days don't benefit from 2/3 monitor setups, and most of the top end games are demanding ENOUGH to play on one screen as it is, esp. considering the main display runs at 120hz/120fps

I DO have a Logitech Driving Force GT, so when I get a good PC racing game... mmmm... might have to change that. :king

[TDMVPDPOY]

Maybe when I SLI my 6950s I'll get a 3rd. For now I'm happy with two... most of the games I play these days don't benefit from 2/3 monitor setups, and most of the top end games are demanding ENOUGH to play on one screen as it is, esp. considering the main display runs at 120hz/120fps

I DO have a Logitech Driving Force GT, so when I get a good PC racing game... mmmm... might have to change that. :king

f1 pc u fag, get that