Post Your Computer Build

Discussion in 'Geek Cave: Computers, Tablets, HT, Phones, Games' started by The Alchemist, Oct 8, 2015.

  1. bengo

    bengo Friend

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    Water cooling + first PC build + expensive parts, sounds like a recipe for disaster ...
    Also as @TwoEars wrote, with big fans you can get nearly the same performance at lower cost + much less risk.
     
  2. lac29

    lac29 Acquaintance

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    Anyone here a member of https://smallformfactor.net/ ?

    I am probably building a S4M-C (might sell it and just get a Skyreach) and a Dan A4-SFX next year.
     
  3. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Demcifilters are good stuff, and if you're using dust filters, positive airflow is a given - or else dust gets in from every crack in the case.

    I've used them happily in every case I've built for the least few years.

    Great at filtering, and the best filtration/airflow ratio of any I've used, but in an absolute sense they do eat quite a bit of airflow, so keep that in mind.
     
  4. Jh4db536

    Jh4db536 Friend

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    The furnace / space heaters that I made for Black Friday. Monopoly money generators. I have solar and choose to make more than the .20 cents per kwh the utilities pay me. The goal is the break even on kwh generated vs consumed each month. Accomplished through scheduling off peak, auto sleep, wake up, adjusting to weather forecast, undervolting/limiting GPU tdp, idling individual GPU makes this possible.
    [​IMG]
    Top 1070ti (in progress..motherboard defective and only 4 cards working), middle is 1080ti, bottom is vega64.

    [​IMG]
    Old 2600k converted to ether Miner. 290x 280 hand me downs. Given the current prices of hardware and fake money, every available resources we could find were evaluated for profitability.

    [​IMG]
    for fun htpc, mobile desktop, use it for bluray encoding, all purpose use, work. Ryzen 7
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2018
  5. dark_energy

    dark_energy Friend

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    Updated my RAM and added another SSD.

    Processor: Intel 3570k 4.2GHz
    Motherboard: MSI Z77 G45
    Cooling: Alpenföhn CPU Cooler
    Memory: Corsair V. 1600mHz 8GB
    Video Card(s): ASUS R9 270 OC 1040/1450
    LCD/CRT Model: LG 32''
    Case: Bitfenix Shinobi
    Power Supply: Corsair TX 750 V2
    Crucial M4 128GB, WD Green 2TB
    Mouse: G502
    Keyboard: CM Quickfire Ultimate MX Brown
    Mousepad: SteelSeries 4HD


    Processor: Intel i5 3570k OC @4.2GHz
    Motherboard: MSI Z77 G45
    Cooling: Alpenföhn CPU Cooler, 2 Bitfenix case fans.
    Memory: Corsair V. 1600mHz DDR3 12GB
    Video Card(s): MSI GTX1060 6GT OC 6GB
    LCD/CRT Model: Dell Ultrasharp 24'' IPS 1920x1200
    Case: Bitfenix Shinobi
    Power Supply: Seasonic M12II-520
    Storage: Crucial M4 128GB SSD, WD Green 2TB, Kingston UV400 256GB SSD
    Mouse: G502
    Keyboard: CM Quickfire Ultimate MX Brown
    Mousepad: SteelSeries 4HD

    Latest titles (BF1 & FH3) are quite heavy on RAM, so 12GB setup makes more sense now.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2018
  6. SineDave

    SineDave Friend

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    @A1Gear I've been an overclocker for about 18 years, including watercooling. My only recommendation on your build, if you can change it is to avoid SLI, as it's awful. Many newer games don't support it properly, so you'd be better served by just buying a Titan V and a nice water block for it.

    Don't forget to assemble your entire cooling loop outside the case and run it for 24-48 hours to ensure there are no leaks before you put it next to all that expensive hardware.

    Finally, if you haven't purchased it yet, the PCI-E optane ssd is a real waste of money. I don't mean to offend, but in real-world usage, no M.2 SSD will be noticeably slower than the optane. It's even hard to find benchmarks where you can detect a noticeable difference that would be visible to a human.

    I wish you the best of luck using piping instead of flexi/bendable acrylic tubing, as that's really difficult to work with as a beginner.
     
  7. PacoTaco

    PacoTaco Friend

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    Here's my build:

    Cpu: i7 8700k @ 5.0Ghz - 1.28v
    Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S w/ Noctua Chromax fans and heatsink covers
    Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus Hero X
    Ram: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200Mhz 16GB
    PSU: EVGA Supernova G3 750W
    Case: Fractal Meshify C
    Storage: Samsung EVO 1TB SSD
    GPU: MSI Gaming X Trio 1080ti
    Monitor: AOC AG271UG 4k GSYNC
     
  8. Sqveak

    Sqveak Friend

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    Location:
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    BATTLESTATION (work & play)

    CPU: Ryzen 7 1700
    GPU: Radeon RX 480 (8GB)
    RAM: 16GB G.Skill Flare-X F4-3200C14D-16GFX
    SSD: 1TB Samsung 960 PRO
    PSU: SilverStone SX500-LG
    mobo: ASRock AB350 Gaming-ITX
    case: NCASE M1 (black)
    cooling: EK-FC RX-480 w/ backplate, EK-Supremacy MX AMD, EK CoolStream SE 240, EK-XTOP SPC-60 PWM, FrozenQ M1 NCase Reservoir, 2x Noctua NF-F12.


    NERDBOX (linux)

    APU: AMD A10 7800
    RAM: 8GB Crucial BALLISTIX Sport VLP (DDR3-1600)
    SSD: 128GB Samsung 850 PRO
    PSU: SilverStone Nightjar 520W Platinum Fanless
    mobo: ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+
    case: NCASE M1 (aluminium)
    cooling: NOFAN CR-80EH


    shared monitor: Dell U2417H
    backup monitor: Samsung SyncMaster PX2370

    The Dell has a stupid low input lag when used in its native resolution and a very nice factory colour calibration built in.
    Unfortunately the lag is higher in non native resolutions as noted here: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2417h.htm#lag
     
  9. barelyincollege

    barelyincollege Nice Pit Bull

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    Location:
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    CPU: i5-4690K
    GPU: Zotac GTX 970
    SSD: 256GB Samsung 850 EVO
    Case: White Corsair Air 240

    When I built this PC, I couldn't get the damn thing to boot, even though I did everything right. Over the next few weeks, I tried everything to fix it: breadboarded outside of the case, tested every component and different monitors at home, checked for case issues, replaced the power supply, motherboard and RAM, even had Intel issue a CPU exchange because I couldn't think of anything else to swap out. After I'd spent $700 swapping out different parts and a local repair shop couldn't figure out the problem, I forgot about it for a while to preserve my sanity.

    A few weeks later, I was watching a movie on my TV/monitor and got the usual popup about a software update. I don't know why, but I decided to check the changelog, which said something to the effect of: "...fixes HDMI handshake issues for PCs introduced by last update."

    The TV/monitors I have at home are the exact same model in different screen sizes. A few days before I built my PC, all three of them had received the same automatic software update that borked compatibility between my PC and the displays' HDMI inputs, and I didn't realize it because, well, when your computer doesn't work on three displays, of course the displays aren't the problem.

    Updated the software, hooked up the PC, turned it on...and was greeted by a perfectly fine computer that had been working the whole time. Thanks, Samsung.
     
  10. g_mr_p

    g_mr_p New

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    After roughly a decade of slumming it on various laptops, my desktop-less life is no more. Been chipping away at this passively-cooled "media PC" on and off as the parts arrive piecemeal. Won't put out crazy monster numbers, but runs as expected and is completely silent; heatsinks work pretty well.

    CPU : i7-8700k (delidded, repasted w/ TG Conductonaut, undervolt+OC)
    GPU : EVGA Geforce GTX 1060 (6GB, slight OC)
    RAM : Corsair Dominator Pt (2x 16GB)
    SSD : 2x M.2, 2x SATA (all Samsung, all 0.5TB)
    Mobo : ASUS Prime Z370-A
    Chassis : HDPLEX H5 v2 (+ CPU/GPU cooling hardware)
    PSU : custom 400W AC/DC adapter --> HDPLEX 400W DC-ATX converter
    PCIe x1 : Pink Faun I2S bridge (half-height)

    CPU heatsink/heatpipes, one of the M.2 SSDs, industrial power socket + connector (that doesn't melt under load... don't ask)
    [​IMG]
    Graphics card + heatsinks, Pink Faun card, one of the SATA SSDs, DC-ATX converter and disgusting nest of power wires
    [​IMG]
    Similar footprint to the Holo Spring underneath, slightly longer and taller
    [​IMG]
     
  11. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    I'm really starting to consider a "silent" pc build, while I can't go fully silent as I like to have good airflow, I am planning to switch to a Fractal Design define r6 once the blackout version is available. I am also probably going to switch from my current h100i to a noctua air cooler. The h100i is easily the loudest part of my system right now, and it's running 2x noctua ippc fans.
     
  12. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    I used to build gaming pc's in mini fridge sized cases. I did this for many years. Dropping $500 on the latest graphics card was nothing in order to get 5-10 more fps. Now times have changed. I don't play pc games anymore. And I've built a near silent desktop pc that I've had for about three years now that is the size of a largish shoebox. I miss gaming sometimes but never enough to jump back into the pool.
     
  13. dark_energy

    dark_energy Friend

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    I just use SpeedFan to controll my fans, i have invested like 30€ on fans and my PC is dead silent most of the time, only makes some noise under heavy load/gaming.
     
  14. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    I still game about 10-15 hours per week and cherish the time I have to do so. I would love to build a quiet little mini itx pc or something similar.

    I tried to use speedfan but I couldn't get it working right.
     
  15. dark_energy

    dark_energy Friend

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    First make sure which fans make the most noise with speedfan. Then you can start tuning, try temperatures and noise with prime95(CPU) and Furmark(GPU) or similar.

    Configure fans for lower rpm in BIOS. If BIOS config is on high rpm, then SF won't be able to lower some fans.
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2018
  16. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    Thanks for the video, looks pretty straight forward.

    Do you think I might need to reapply thermal paste if my CPU temps spike up to 60+ with short usage spikes but during sustained moderate use it doesn't get over 60-70c? This is with stock clocks.
     
  17. dark_energy

    dark_energy Friend

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    Thermal paste should last some time, but yes, if you have sudden spikes to 70C it might be that you need to reapply the paste.

    I think I had at least one GPU that was quite new, I put new paste and temps went down 5-10 degrees C.



    This MX-2 paste works quite good for me.

    https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/products/cooling/thermal-compound.html
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2018
  18. Galm

    Galm Still looking for Little Red Riding Hood

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    These days that kind of temp is fine. The chips are getting rated for higher and higher temps. They put 8700ks in laptops now (I didn't typo that yes the real desktop chips) that can hold their clocks up to nearly 100C without real damage. That never used to be the case. It'll still shorten the lifespan a bit but not as much as it used to.

    I'd probably want to repaste my cpu if I started hitting closer to 80C. Have you messed with undervolting at all? If you're at stock clocks (or even mild OCs) it's an easy way to lower temps.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2018
  19. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    I disabled my overclock due to the temp spikes and my aio fans speeding up to match, the sound of which is pretty annoying. It didn't stop the spikes but it's alot less now. I think when I have time I will reapply thermal paste since it's pretty easy to do with an aio.

    Thanks to both of you.
     
  20. Galm

    Galm Still looking for Little Red Riding Hood

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    Oh I didn't realize you have an AIO. What is your actual cpu? A repaste probably will help, those temps are higher than they should be for a cooler like that. WIth an 8700k those are temps I'd expect with a pretty hefty overclock over 5GHz.
     

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