POST YOUR SPECS

[Gorth]

Heh, I have an old P-IV with 4gb ram, which I'm soon going to put a hammer through the HDD (data protection all right) and put out for rubbish collection. A bit of a shame, as it has been running flawlessly for many years, but too big, noisy and slow has condemned it to obsolescence.

[syn2083]

Some upgrades coming soon, try to sit 1-2 generations behind cutting edge for budget

 

Main Rig:

 

Gigabyte P67A-D3-B3

i5 2500

g-skill ripjaws 8gb ddr3 1600

GTX 460 OC

SB Recon3D PCIe for DDL gaming - opti out to denon avr *ddl is insane* + analog to headphones for music (JVC HARX900)

Movies/Shows routed through gtx460 hdmi -> denon avr1713 5.1 (Polk center fr/fl - onkyo sub/rr/rl)

Sony Bravia 42" primary monitor

Samsung syncmaster 27" 1080p secondary

OS Windows 8 Pro

OS drive Mushkin 120gb-DX SSD

Storage1: WD Black 1TB

Storage2: WD Green 1.5TB

Storage3: WD Passport 1TB

 

DC/Media Server:

 

ASRock FM2A85X-ITX

AMD A10 5800K (PE-Kickstarter Reward) 3.8ghz + cooler master geminII

Graphics Integrated APU Radeon HD7660D + external Radeon HD6670xFire

GSkill Ares 8gb DDR3 1866

Corsair CX430M

Housed - Cooler Master RC-120A-KKN1

HDD:

OS (Win2012 Server Standard)

OS Drive - Intel 520 SSD SC2CW180A3 (180gb)

Streaming/App hosting: WD Black 1TB

File Server - light streaming: WD Green 2TB

Ext1 - WD Elements 3TB

Ext2 - WD My Book 2TB

[SophosTheWise]

I have just built my new computer and put everything together It was my first build and putting it together was kind of a puzzle. But I'm really proud :D

 

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB, 7200rpm, 64MB, 2TB

SSD: Samsung SSD 840 Kit, TLC, 120GB

GPU: Club 3D HD 7950 ‘13Series

CPU: Intel Core i7 3820 BOX, 3.6GHz

RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast, 4x4GB, DDR3-1866

Mainboard: Asus Sabertooth X79

Case: Cooler Master HAF X RC-942-KKN1

PSU: Club 3D CSP-D850CB, 850 Watt

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B5ST

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I have just built my new computer and put everything together It was my first build and putting it together was kind of a puzzle. But I'm really proud :D

 

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB, 7200rpm, 64MB, 2TB

SSD: Samsung SSD 840 Kit, TLC, 120GB

GPU: Club 3D HD 7950 ‘13Series

CPU: Intel Core i7 3820 BOX, 3.6GHz

RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast, 4x4GB, DDR3-1866

Mainboard: Asus Sabertooth X79

Case: Cooler Master HAF X RC-942-KKN1

PSU: Club 3D CSP-D850CB, 850 Watt

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B5ST

Good on you, the first rig always feels the most rewarding.

 

Current rig

MOBO: MSI Z87-G45

CPU: i5-4670k 3.4GHz

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 770

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2x8 DDR3 1600

PSU: Thermaltake Black Widow 850W

SSD: SAMSUNG 840 250GB

HDD: WD BLUE 1TB

 

Not really impressive, but suits my needs well enough.

Edited July 9, 2013 by KaineParker

[samm]

Well, it's just a pretty small step below the current high end components, so what's not to like?

 

Not really impressive, but suits my needs well enough.

[syn2083]

I have just built my new computer and put everything together It was my first build and putting it together was kind of a puzzle. But I'm really proud :D

 

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB, 7200rpm, 64MB, 2TB

SSD: Samsung SSD 840 Kit, TLC, 120GB

GPU: Club 3D HD 7950 ‘13Series

CPU: Intel Core i7 3820 BOX, 3.6GHz

RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast, 4x4GB, DDR3-1866

Mainboard: Asus Sabertooth X79

Case: Cooler Master HAF X RC-942-KKN1

PSU: Club 3D CSP-D850CB, 850 Watt

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B5ST

 

Congrats on the build! The first is usually tough, but once you start its hard to go back! Typically you get a much higher quality system for less money too. Nice looking setup, how do you like that case?

[Gorth]

I remember my very first build. Forgot to attach the fan to the CPU. Wondered why it kept stalling and stopping 2 seconds into POST. Then I noticed something was missing and touched the CPU with my finger tip, giving a slightly startled yelp of pain (it was very hot). Those were the days [/nostalgia]

 

Nice build indeed. I wish I could add more RAM to my current system, but unfortunately ye olde Gigabyte motherboard doesn't want that.

[Humanoid]

My first build was one of those bare-die Athlons. If I'd forgotten to attach the fan I'd probably have seen blue smoke pouring out from my case within those two seconds. Also used a shim because I was terrified of crushing the core during heatsink installation. Still, I'd rather that now than Intel's playing silly buggers with their poorly coupled heatspreaders since Ivy Bridge.

 

 

And yeah, I'm still down to 4GB of RAM due to a faulty stick and really ought to get some more, but these post-spike prices, eugh.

[syn2083]

Mmm first builds. Mine involved the p3 coppermine and a heatsink put on backwards back when lips on the bottoms of heatsinks were still a thing.. Damn box wouldnt get past the ram check before freezing. Thankfully no lasting damage!

 

My friend on the other hand.. he built his at our computer shop at school where the teacher decided it would be funny to put his finger near the turned on computer's cpu.. not on it, but near.. one static discharge arc later, lots of swearing and finger holding, and a cloud of smoke later and my friend was out a computer..

[Bokishi]

In my last build (right after the exploding mobo/psu episode) I had the CPU fan on, but not securily. So I overclocked and ran Intel burn test to test stability, and notice my temps were shooting past 150 degrees C. I was like hmm that's not right and noticed the fan was barely touching the CPU. Thankfully no damage

[Humanoid]

The Intel push-pin HSF mounting system is excreable, I don't know why they've stuck with it so long. I wouldn't mount an Intel HSF in-place on the motherboard without being able to inspect the back side of the mounting holes. AMD's current stock mounting system is infinitely better.

[Humanoid]

Hmm, a week to the year of the last system update. I've just bought ALL THE DISKS. It's not actually installed yet, but on the way. I was a bit suspicious of some parts possibly on the brink of failure, and also wanted a clean Windows install - the repair install I did a couple months back was useful, but still too much cruft (and sfc is reporting another corrupt system file). So instead of mucking about with old stuff and trying to find issues which may or may not be there, I decided to go for a proper cleanout.

 

In: 240GB Sandisk Extreme II, 250GB Samsung 840 EVO, 4TB Western Digital Red, 8GB G.Skill DDR3U-1600

Out: 128GB G.Skill Falcon II, 808GB Western Digital Green the remaining 4GB G.Skill ECO DDR3L-1333 (removed a pair in the interim when one stick failed)

 

---

 

CPU: Intel i5-750 @ 3.33GHz, Prolimatech Megahalems, 2x Nexus Real Silent 120mm

M/B: Gigabyte P55A-UD4P

RAM: 2x4GB G.Skill Sniper DDR3U 1.25V

HDD: 4TB Western Digital Red

SSD1: 240GB Sandisk Extreme II

SSD2: 256GB Crucial m4

SSD3: 250GB Samsung 840 EVO

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

Sound: Asus Xonar Essence ST

ODD: Pioneer DVR-216 DVD-RW

FDD: Sony 3.5"

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

PSU: Seasonic X-650

O/S: Win7 Pro 64-bit OEM

Mouse: Logitech M950

Keyboard: Das Keyboard Professional Silent (Cherry Brown)

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

- XBox360 Wireless controller for PC

Edited October 23, 2013 by Humanoid

[Humanoid]

Not really an interesting picture, but I finally got done installing the new parts so I took a picture of it. Cool that the fans are captured looking like they're totally still there, the PC is well and truly on.

 

 

I took the opportunity to remove the pointless 120mm fan that's in the middle of the PSU + HDD chamber. Not like a single 5400rpm HDD and two SSDs actually need any cooling. The only other modification of note is that the exhaust fan at the top of the case is not there. I removed it when initially building this system and blocked off the grille with some crappy foam taped onto the top of the case.

 

Oh, and that hard drive just sitting there is my old one, connected while I pick and choose which of my old files are worth keeping. I mean it's an 800GB hard drive and I have a 4TB now, so I could just copy the lot over (it's pretty much full), but eh, it's spring so I might as well do some spring cleaning.

[samm]

Haha, looks quite alike to my PC (same case, CPU-Cooler, PSU and a closely related GPU-cooler, also removed upper HDD-bays)

Edited November 19, 2013 by samm

[Humanoid]

Since that photo I've taken out the 120mm fan that's clipped to the back of the heatsink, and swapped in the slower and quieter Scythe Slipstream fan that used to occupy the lower PSU bay in place of the rear exhaust one. Unfortunately the leftmost fan on the video card cooler has failed, and by the relative lack of dust on it compared to the other two, it seems to have failed some time ago. Fortunately that's the least important fan and isn't directly blowing on anything important, GPU temperatures under load are still great and it ran Heaven on loop for several hours testing with no glitches. Unless it catastrophically fails one day, I'm going to leave it until 20nm GPUs are out at the earliest.

 

Unfortunately I'm now battling a weird case of coil whine. Not sure what it is, since the usual suspect is a video card under load, but it's happening at idle and it demonstrates no fluctuation whatsoever whether I do put it under load or not. Maybe it's just that I quietened down the overall fan noise from the machine that the whine is more noticeable. C-states and speedstep can also cause it, but toggling them off hasn't done anything for me either. And it's not a Windows setting off some sort, since it exhibits the same behaviour if I boot off a Linux USB livedisc.

 

A bit torn. Maybe it is time for a new PC, but it feels like a waste, especially since it's got OEM Win7 that's not transferrable. I mean I'd like to have new goodies like SATA3, USB3, faster boots and those other little bonuses from newer platforms. But on the other hand, I don't need more CPU performance at all, and am loathe to reward Intel for their cheapskate Haswell release. Am also annoyed that due to my PCI soundcard combined with the three-slot video card cooler, I can't get a micro-ATX board next time around - the lowest bay on those boards is pretty much always another PCI-E slot.

 

 

 

I wonder if it wouldn't be ridiculous to use a Kaveri machine as my desktop for a while...

Edited November 20, 2013 by Humanoid

[Gorgon]

Getting the mounting rail to fit and the fan to clip on without being able to see what one was doing on that Mugen was a pain. I cut myself twice. After spending ages trying to get the themal grease completely smooth and even on the back of the die, I'm sure it was all mushed and scraped when I finally got the cooler on there. Temps are fine though.

[Gorgon]

 

 

 

CPU : Core i7 / 3.5 GHz / LGA1150 Socket / 8 MB L2 / Intel Boxed

CPU Cooler : still looking into options. 

 

 

Board :

MSI Z87-G45 GAMING

Intel Z87 Express / ATX / CPU: 0 / LGA1150 Socket / 1066 MHz / 1333 MHz / 1600 MHz / 1866 MHz / 2000 MHz / 2133 MHz / 2200 MHz / 2400 MHz.

 

 

Ram :

Kingston HyperX 4 x 8 GB

4 x 8 GB (32 GB) / DDR3 SDRAM / PC3-12800 / 1600 MHz / ? Bit / ? ns / CL9 / 1.5 V 

 

 

GFX:

Radeon HD 7950 3mb (salvaged)

 

 

Case:

Fractal design redefine series 

http://www.fractal-d...-r4-black-pearl

 

PS:

Corsair TX750W

http://www.corsair.c...wer-supply.html

 

Storage:

 

Samsung 840 EVO MZ-7TE250 250 GB SSD.

 

Kingston SSDnow 90GB (salvaged)

 

Samsung 1TB spindle (salvaged)

[Guest Slinky]

Hows that Fractal R4 case? Any complaints? Planning to build a new PC next year and that case is currenly on my list.

[Keyrock]

Starting this month, I'm tightening the belt (will be tough in the next few weeks with holiday shopping) and trying to put at least $100 (hopefully closer to $150) a month into a special, separate computer fund, for my planned future new rig.  I dub this "Operation Haswell-E".

Edited November 22, 2013 by Keyrock

[Humanoid]

I can get ~$20 off some selected Haswell CPU and board combos that are tempting me somewhat. But being so close to holidays where I'll be away for a bit, I'm kind of held back. Options are a 4130, 4570, or 4770, all standard versions.

 

Situation: I've got a spare brand new SSD, RAM, and a bunch of 2TB HDDs which I need excuses to dispose of so I can upgrade them to the upcoming 5TB models.

 

First thought: My HTPC is built on a first-stepping Sandy platform with the SATA bug which means all the SATA2 ports, which I am using, will die in time. So I'm thinking of taking it apart, throwing it in a cheap case and using it as a backup PC and test rig. Then rebuild the HTPC with Haswell, which in a first for Intel IGPs can handle 23.973Hz video correctly.

 

Or: I can do the same thing with my desktop instead. Downside will be that the backup will have to be a full-sized ATX case which is rather inconvenient. And frankly I was hoping that my next gaming CPU would be more than a simple quad-core.

 

 

 

If I didn't have to buy a new OS (would have been fine with Linux for the spare box, but alas both Win7 copies are OEM) I'd have already done it. Blah.

[Gorgon]

Hows that Fractal R4 case? Any complaints? Planning to build a new PC next year and that case is currenly on my list.

Nice and roomy inside. 3 optional fans and one fan speed/voltage selector for all of them. The only flashy part about it is the blue power LED. I like it fine. 

[Guest Slinky]

Cool. I have seen some reports the front side microfone jack tends to break, but I have no use for it so I think I can live with that.

 

Starting this month, I'm tightening the belt (will be tough in the next few weeks with holiday shopping) and trying to put at least $100 (hopefully closer to $150) a month into a special, separate computer fund, for my planned future new rig.  I dub this "Operation Haswell-E".

Same here, except it's called "Operation no quality booze or anything else fun for DD for few months" Originally I planned to wait for the next generation intel CPU's with 8 cores, but I probably would need to sell my kidney and spleen to afford them and DDR4 they need. Also my current rig has served with honor and needs to depart with dignity soon, so can't really wait for their price to drop.

[Humanoid]

Unfortunately I'm now battling a weird case of coil whine. Not sure what it is, since the usual suspect is a video card under load, but it's happening at idle and it demonstrates no fluctuation whatsoever whether I do put it under load or not. Maybe it's just that I quietened down the overall fan noise from the machine that the whine is more noticeable. C-states and speedstep can also cause it, but toggling them off hasn't done anything for me either. And it's not a Windows setting off some sort, since it exhibits the same behaviour if I boot off a Linux USB livedisc.

 

I think I've solved the problem, and it's a doozy. It's possibly the most baffling thing I've experienced in all my years of tinkering with PCs.

 

Was it one of the prime suspects - the video card or PSU? Nope. Was it a secondary suspect -  a monitor, hard drive, SSD, sound card or speakers. Nope. My router, my ethernet over powerline setup? They buzz, but nope. My fluorescent lighting? Haha, nope. The mouse? Uh oh. But wait, the mouse isn't brand new, I've had it for a while. Wait, I've just gotten a new mouse pad which was free with some other stuff I bought...

 

Yeah, the one most offensive source of annoying electronic noise in my setup is in fact something non-electronic at all. The surface of the new mouse pad for whatever reason is causing the mouse to generate more electric whine, or somehow amplifying it, even when it's stationary. Good god, all that component swapping, hours spent messing around with the PC internals, the bloody tinnitus. IT WAS A STUPID SLAB OF RUBBER.

 

What's more, it was a WoW Cataclysm mouse pad - being an obsolete expansion probably explains why they were giving them away. So damn you Bobby Kotick for crimes against my ears! Grrrrrrrarrrrrgh!

 

 

EDIT: Worse still - ignorance is bliss. Now when I move my mouse, I'm acutely aware that it's going to be generating electric noise. So even on less noisy surfaces I can notice it now. I'm ruined now. Dammit.

 

EDIT: Swapped to a G700 mouse I bought a couple years ago (back when the sheer volume of buttons would have been a help and not a hindrance) and used for 10 minutes before deciding I didn't like the ergonomics. But it's significantly quieter than the M950 so it's what I'm using now. Ah well.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Humanoid

[Gorgon]

What's the point of a mouse pad though. The lazer ones don't need a smooth surface. 

[Humanoid]

Doesn't glide smoothly on my faux-wood laminate desk. And sweat.