POST YOUR SPECS

[Janmanden]

Hmm.. Good advice. It's odd that I never really thought about changing the fan of the PSU. It's just something I never dabbled in maybe because of all these big annoying stickers about warranty and erm.. uh, other risks. Besides I think I forgot to post my stuff:

 

Case: Aerocool VS-9

PSU: Chieftec CFT 650 14CS (650W)

Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth X58

CPU: Intel Core i7 960

Ram: 3x4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600

GFX: PowerColor AMD HD6930 1GB

HDD: Seagate Momentus XT 500GB

Snd: Onboard Realtek + Microsoft LiveChat LX-2000

 

Monitor: Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo SL3260W

Mouse: A4-Tech X7 XL-750BH

Keyboard: Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600

 

I removed my Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer, because when I was dealing with the initial heat and noise of my 'new' GFX the layout of the ASUS Sabertooth X58 didn't leave me much choice to keep it. I had to move the GFX to the first PCI-E slot, which unfortunately overlaps the only PCI slot on this motherboard.. and because.. I am lazy I haven't switched it back. Besides..

 

My cheap, but useful supermarket Lumatronic 5.1 surround sound system has suddenly stopped working, which means I am now using that Microsoft LiveChat LX-2000 which I actually acquired, because it's got a long arm for the microphone and thus I am able to wear the mic around my neck without using it as a headset. Unfortunately the LX-2000 hurt my ears and is almost completely unbearable after about an hours use.. So I've pretty much stopped listening to music and only use it for business calls. Not much use for a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer under such conditions.

 

I have generally had enough of cheap Samsung DVD drives, which barely last for a year before they get into trouble with everything, that cause you to check and clean it all in between all the kumbayahs you have to perform to keep frustration in check, that you can't play this movie or old game.

 

Now I've just got an external usb DVD drive, with a pretty long cable, which is quite nice, because I can keep my case away and my DVD on the table at the same time. I am starting to think, that it would actually be nice to have a box on the table that combines USB sticks and so one, because despite how nice some cases can be not all are that nice and all mostly noisy on some level. If I by the means of USB can remove all the things that require me to have my case around I could actually just keep it outside or somewhere else, underground or encased in concrete, where I can neither see nor hear it. Maybe I could simply put it into a freezer and be done with thoughts about cooling systems and considerations about switching to water cooling. That's probably too much work. Good ideas, thwarted by laziness. I'll just replace that fan on the PSU.

[Gensou]

Oooh... I like these kinds of threads. Glad to see I'm not the only one with an older PC to post about... may be 3 1/2 years old but it still screams

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 920

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME

RAM: 12 GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600 (6x2GB)

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-750TX

GPU: MSI N295GTX-M2D1792 GeForce GTX 295

HD1: OCZ Vertex4 256GB SSD

RAID: 4x WD Green 2TB HDD

Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech MX5500 and MX Revolution Bluetooth

Monitor1: ASUS VH226 22" LCD

Monitor2: Sony XBR9 46" TV (Yes I love having my TV as a monitor )

 

It may not be the newest out of the box, but it really gets the job done

[Huinehtar]

Here's my computer bought a year ago:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K (Sandybridge)

Motherboard: MSI Z68A-GD65

RAM: 8 GB (2x4) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz

GPU: MSI Geforce GTX 560 Ti

HDD: Seagate Barracuda Green 2 To

PSU: OCZ ModXStream 500W

Case: Zalman Z9+

CPU Fan: Scythe Ninja 3

 

O/S: Linux 64bit

Distro: Mageia 2

DE: KDE 4.8.5

 

And yes, it's Linux only, no MS Win ... !

Edited October 27, 2012 by Huinehtar

[khango]

Here's my computer bought a year ago:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K (Sandybridge)

Motherboard: MSI Z68A-GD65

RAM: 8 GB (2x4) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz

GPU: MSI Geforce GTX 560 Ti

HDD: Seagate Barracuda Green 2 To

PSU: OCZ ModXStream 500W

Case: Zalman Z9+

CPU Fan: Scythe Ninja 3

 

O/S: Linux 64bit

Distro: Mageia 2

DE: KDE 4.8.5

 

And yes, it's Linux only, no MS Win ... !

 

Also Linux only here:

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 Ivy Bridge (i7 performance, but closer to i5 in price)

RAM: 16 (2x8) GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile DDR3 1600

Mobo: ASRock Z77 Pro4-M (This is the one thing I'd definitely choose differently if I did my rig over. But it does work.)

GPU: Radeon HD 7770 1 GB GDDR 5

HDD: Samsung 830 Series 120ish GB SSD (+ various SATA II disk drives I've had for ages)

PSU: SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze Modular PSU

Cooling: GELID Solutions Tranquillo CPU Cooler + Case Fans (So far I've been quite happy with these - they've been cheap AND quiet)

Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini Case

Monitor: ASUS PA248Q Black 24.1" 1920x1200 Monitor

 

Running Linux Mint. It's been a lovely system so far. I've been Windows free since 2006.

 

I also heartily recommend my CPU to anyone looking to save a few bucks off an i7.

[Humanoid]

Small updates:

 

As we wind into summer, I'm feeling the 'stock' cooling of my 7950 no longer being adequate for its purpose - it ramps up to ~60% fan speed under load, and even 50% is already audible in an unpleasant way. To that end, I've got an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 7970 on its way to replace the Twin Frozr III cooler - it was better than a reference cooler, sure, but in the same way that being hit by a car is better than being hit by a bus.

 

Also picked up a new keyboard, Das Keyboard with Cherry Brown switches. It's the new revision with media keys - I like the idea of having media keys, but am not fond of the implementation with an extra modifier key between the LCtrl and LAlt keys.

 

Finally, I am preparing to build a new mini-ITX PC before the year is out, though not for any particular purpose. Provisional specs are an AMD Trinity A10-5800K APU, ASRock FM2A75M-ITX motherboard, some DDR3-1866 RAM (APUs can really use the extra bandwidth generally), 256GB Samsung 830 SSD, Antec ISK-310 case. Undecided on whether to bother with an optical drive. Rest of the parts like a USB wi-fi stick, input peripherals and display I can salvage from older boxes. Not sure on O/S, in itself I probably would go Linux, but my dad has spare licences on a Win7 Family Pack from a couple years ago.

 

 

CPU: Intel i5-750 @ 3.33GHz with Prolimatech Megahalems cooler and 2x Nexus Real Silent 120mm fans

M/B: Gigabyte P55A-UD4P

RAM: 8GB PC10666 G.Skill Eco DDR3 1.35V 7-7-7-21

HDD: 808.8GB WD Green

SSD1: 128GB G.Skill Falcon II SSD

SSD2: 256GB Crucial m4

Video: MSI Radeon HD7950 Twin Frozr III with Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 7970 cooler

Sound: Asus Xonar Essence ST

ODD: Pioneer DVR-216 DVD-RW

FDD: Sony 3.5"

Case: Antec P182B with Scythe Slipstream 800-1200rpm case fans

PSU: Seasonic X-650

O/S: Win7 Pro 64-bit OEM

Mouse: Logitech MX1100

Keyboard: Das Keyboard Professional Silent (Cherry Brown) with Media Keys

Display: 2x Dell U2711 27" IPS

Speakers: Audioengine A5 2.0

Headphones: Alessandro MS-1i

Gaming Peripherals:

- CH Products F-16 Fighterstick USB

- Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar

- Logitech Dual Action gamepad

- XBox360 Wireless controller for PC

 

 

 

HTPC:

 

CPU: Intel i5 2300 with stock cooler

Video: Intel onboard HD2000 graphics

M/B: Asus P8H67-M microATX motherboard (first gen, complete with the potentially faulty SATA ports, too lazy to RMA)

I/O: Astrotec 4-port USB 3.0 expansion card

RAM: 4GB Kingston ValueRAM

SSD: 128GB Crucial m4 SSD

ODD: LG BD-RW

Storage:

- 2TB WD Green HDD - internal

- 2TB Seagate Barracuda LP HDD - internal

- 2x 3TB 7200rpm Seagate GoFlex Desk external

- Vantec HX4 quad-bay 3.5" HDD enclosure, housing 2x 2TB Seagate Barracuda LP

O/S: Win7 Home Premium

PSU: Corsair CX-400 PSU

Case: Antec Fusion Black

Mouse: Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball

Keyboard: Logitech K520 wireless

I/R:Logitech Harmony 650 remote control

Sound: Onkyo SR-578 HT Receiver

Speakers: Monitor Audio Bronze BR-2

Display: 46" Samsung B650 CCFL LCD TV

Edited November 3, 2012 by Humanoid

[Gorth]

Keyboard: Das Keyboard Professional Silent (Cherry Brown) with Media Keys

Once you get used to mechanical keyboards, there is no way back

[Sensuki]

IBM Model M for lyfe

[Humanoid]

Unfortunately Unicomp want $50 extra to ship a 'new' Model M over the Pacific. Anyway, while I'm not unhappy with my brown switches, in hindsight I'm thinking I probably would have preferred the higher actuation force of blue switches.

 

As for the GPU cooler, I've successfully installed it now after probably the fiddliest time I've had of installing any PC hardware. There should be a minimum dexterity score requirement listed on the specs. That said, performance is great, looping Heaven for a while and my load temperatures are down 15-20°C and there's no real noticable ramp up in fan noise as the fan speed increases.

[jonvel]

Unfortunately Unicomp want $50 extra to ship a 'new' Model M over the Pacific.

 

Given your experience with the "browns", I think that you might agree that the extra $50 might actually have been worth it. I love my Unicomp, and would have paid easily an extra 50 for it. Far better than any other keyboard I've owned, since I had that model m back in the eighties.

 

CPU i950

GPU 6870

3x 2gb ram

HD WD 640 gig black

Other specs don't matter

 

My Linux server is my old core2duo 6750 plus 4g ram and some old 300ish gig HD. GPU is an old x1950 that I should replace with somethin a lot more efficient. (12.04LTS)

 

Also have a laptop (HP envy 15 gen 2) that I use occasionally.

[casa]

New and still not fast enough for NWN2!

 

Just had to say....

[Gorth]

New and still not fast enough for NWN2!

 

Just had to say....

 

 

Ok, so what exactly *do* you have inside your computer if it can't run NWN2? Is it a performance or a compatibility problem (Intel display chips generally sucks at anything more complicated than Solitaire)?

[casa]

It was more meant as a statement about NWN2's horrible performance even on modern hardware...thought I'd vent a bit while I'm at Obsidian's front door. Of course it runs, and yeah I play at high settings, but it can still bring my graphics below 20FPS at times, contrary to a lot of modern games like Skyrim. Quite something for a 2006 game that isn't named Crysis.

The only fault in my setup is that I don't have a nVidia card and therefore no "the way it's meant to be played".

 

Core i5 3470

Radeon HD 6850 (transplant from old comp)

8GB RAM

 

etc. etc.

 

NWN2 always ran horrible on ATI cards with high quality shadows (half of them not even visible, because point light shadows only work on nVidia cards), but I thought on a new comp the CPU would make up for it... sigh.

[Gorth]

Ah, I use nVidia cards now, since my ATI cards seemed to be very short lived before failing. Replacing the coolers with water blocks as the first thing means no warranty, even though they rarely lasted 12 months (see Gfx card thread). I have a 590 Gtx card now and it runs like a dream, even if not the newest generation anymore

[LadyCrimson]

I'll always be a nVidia gal, until they stop making GPU's. Still love my 590gtx. Hasn't given me any trouble at all, outside of running warm (normal) since I don't have liquid cooling. That said, I'm unlikely to ever spend that much on a GPU again.

[Bokishi]

I've been all nvidia for 9 years now

[casa]

Ah, the good old ATI vs. nVidia fandom....

 

At this time I'd consider a nVidia again if the price/performance ratio was better. For the same performance (in all games but NWN2) you have to pay 50% more on the nVidia side. AMD can give me all I need for around 150 Euros at this moment (7850) or a tad more for the preferable 7870, while the first nVidia card Id seriously consider is the 660Ti for 260, way out of my price range.

 

All in all I am extremely happy with my current card, even though it is on the lower end of gaming cards. If it wasnt for NWN2, which is the only game one totally has to have a nVidia card for, apparently.

 

Also, I switched to AMD cards again after disastrous experiences with the 8xxx series of nVidia cards, I had 2 warranty replacements for a 8800, all sudden deaths, and the 8600M GT in my laptop died as well. Back then AMD cards also seemed to have a much better image quality, but that was a subjective matter. Not saying the 8800 was a bad card, it was probably the best of the generation... if it just kept working...

 

Also biased though because I could never forgive nVidia for killing 3dfx.

Edited December 19, 2012 by casa

[LadyCrimson]

Voodoo!

 

...I have nothing against ATI cards. They're a fine option. I just tend to prefer nVidia's software interface/options and drivers. Plus I could care less about who might have that slight performance edge per new card release. Started with them, they haven't given me any trouble personally, so I stick with them. I don't like change I guess.

[Humanoid]

One factor in the loyalty of a non-trivial subset of customers is likely whether they were affected by nVidia's "bumpgate" - an systematic engineering flaw to do with thermal cycling that took a good while to be fixed (or even admitted to) that caused a large range of their chips to degrade and fail unusually fast. I had a 7900GT fail in this manner, and a similar-generation notebook GPU that would have almost certainly suffered the same fate (based on reports from owners of the same chip) if that notebook wasn't stolen.

 

This problem also spawned the vaguely comedic, but effective notion that you could bake your video cards in the oven to fix them. It did sort of work as a stopgap, restoring function for a few months at a time perhaps, if you were comfortable with the idea of having toxic chemicals at high temperatures sitting in your oven.

 

 

Fortunately there's been no problems of that magnitude for either vendor since then, a good 4-5 years ago now, so fairly comfortable going either way. Personally I weigh price:performance but the price side of the equation is inclusive of third party cooling since I'm yet to find factory cooling I would remotely label as satisfactory in terms of noise in any recent product.

[Gorth]

Heh, sounds similar to the problem I had with ATI cards for a number of years, never lasting 12 months when you could run them at full speed (because of superior cooling),

 

Voodoo... I had the original Orchid 3Dfx first generation card

 

Edit: Slightly on-topic, put in an online order for a Corsair 240gb SSD (Neutron GTX) and a WD Velociraptor 1TB drive. Will probably add two WD Caviar Black 4TB after New Year (not that I expect anything delivered before mid January anyway). Darn Lian Li cases are still constantly *not* in stock.

[Humanoid]

I never had a 3dfx card, my first 3D accelerator was actually an nVidia, heh - their first serious effort, the Riva128, which replaced my S3 VirgeDX. It was faster than a Voodoo1, but made some terrible tradeoffs in terms of image quality, most noticeable in the primitive dithering of greys, which looked mostly like white with black pepper applied to it. Fortunately they managed to turn it around, and with the TNT/2, overtook 3dfx by virtue of doing 32-bit colour just about as fast as the Voodoo3 could do 16-bit colour.

 

 

Also on topic, and by a sort of coincidence, I see the Antec ISK300/310 case that I want is also out of stock in most reputable stores. Am in no rush to build my miniITX system since I have other ongoing projects (such as building two road bikes) but I did want to try to get the parts while I'm on holidays in Melbourne.

[casa]

Am in no rush to build my miniITX system since I have other ongoing projects (such as building two road bikes) but I did want to try to get the parts while I'm on holidays in Melbourne.

 

Since you mention it, that's actually the route I went. My last desktop was a giant Mac Pro (oldest model), and I just wanted something small, less power hungry and quiet (I could never complain about the noise of my old machine, but power consumption must've been bad).

 

I went with a relatively inexpensive but efficient setup after I somewhat fell in love with this case:

 

 

The very cool thing about this case is that even though it's mini-ITX it has room for full lenght PCIe cards with 2-slot heatsinks, and more room for HDDs than I never need. And I think it looks rather nice, even though I bite my rearside for not going with the white one - the black one isn't half as elegant.

 

Inside is a 80€ Asrock H77 M-ITX mainboard, which is all I ever need, along with the specs I posted above (Core i5 3470, 8GB, HD 6850) and a 430W PSU.

The whole thing is an excellent gaming machine, I might upgrade the graphics again in the near future but actually it already runs everything I throw at (but NWN2) it easily. And it's finally not a huge tower anymore but a relatively small and quiet system that doesn't hurt my electricity bill half as much as the old one. Intel stock cooler must be replaced with a silent one, but that's it. And just mentioning because I come from the Mac as main work machine and this was a huge issue for me: It makes a decent and zero-problematic Hackintosh too, OS X runs just as fine and stable as on my old Mac now.

[Bokishi]

Updates

 

i5 2500K @ 4.2ghz

EVGA Z68 SLI 1155

G.Skill Ripjaws X 16GB DDR3 1600MHz

EVGA Kepler GTX 680 2GB

SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium HD

Intel 40GB SSD (SRT Cache)

2x 1TB + 2TB Hitachi Desktars 7200rpm

Coolermaster GX 750w

Razer DeathStalker keyboard

Mad Catz RAT 7 mouse

Sennheiser HD 595 Headphones

1x Dell 3007WFP HC + 2x Dell 2007FP in 4960x1600 config

[Jarmo]

Phenom II x4 @ 3.0 GHz

8 GB / 750 GB (up from 4GB)

AMD 7700 (side from GTX280)

 

4yrs, still alive, barely.

HD, Power or motherboard is dying, vista all clogged up, hd full.

[WDeranged]

Can't remember if I've posted in this thread but here's my current spec.

 

Antec One case + a load of overpriced fans

 

Gigabyte GA-x58-USB3

Intel i7 950 @ 4.01ghz

Corsair H70 water cooling + more fancy (PWM) fans

6gb Corsair RAM 1600mhz

 

EMU 0404 Soundcard

Line 6 Toneport UX2

 

Corsair 1000w PSU

 

Vertex 2 128gb SSD

WD Caviar Green 2tb

WD Caviar Green 3tb

 

Geforce GTX 580 @ 900mhz

Dell U2311H Monitor

 

Logitech M500 mouse

Windows 7 x64

 

Two years and going strong, the most reliable PC I've built in recent memory

Edited December 28, 2012 by WDeranged

[Deraldin]

Oooh... I like these kinds of threads. Glad to see I'm not the only one with an older PC to post about... may be 3 1/2 years old but it still screams

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 920

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME

RAM: 12 GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600 (6x2GB)

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-750TX

GPU: MSI N295GTX-M2D1792 GeForce GTX 295

HD1: OCZ Vertex4 256GB SSD

RAID: 4x WD Green 2TB HDD

Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech MX5500 and MX Revolution Bluetooth

Monitor1: ASUS VH226 22" LCD

Monitor2: Sony XBR9 46" TV (Yes I love having my TV as a monitor )

 

It may not be the newest out of the box, but it really gets the job done

 

"Older" pc? Deraldin am cry.

 

Asus M2A-VM

AMD 5000+ Black Edition OC @ 3.0Ghz

Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Heatsink

4GB Corsair PC-6400 RAM

HIS Radeon 4870

Corsair 450VX PSU

OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD

WD Black 320GB + 1TB HDD

Coolermaster CM 690

BenQ 24" G2400WD LCD

 

Changes since I last posted in here are in bold. SSD was picked up as an OS drive during a grand opening sale. I snagged 2 of them for $100 each which was a considerable savings at the time. Don't remember when I picked up the 1TB. The 4870 was mentioned before, but I never updated the list. My old OCZ ram crapped out on me. I'm not entirely sure when but I think my problems with source engine games have dramatically decreased since the replacement. I've had those problems for years, but they only happened in source engine and nowhere else. My blue screens seem to have disappeared after the swap as well. >_>

 

I only spotted 3 worse computers since my last post in here and 2 of those were laptops so it looks like I've reclaimed my title of "Deraldin of the Damned System".