Post Your Computer Build

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

  1. iFi audio

    iFi audio MOT iFi Audio

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    If someone can confirm: is it only me, or are GPU prices dropping right now?
     
  2. OldDude04

    OldDude04 Friend

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    Certain cards are trending slightly lower. HERE is a good place to check price trends per card.
     
  3. HeadFoneDude64

    HeadFoneDude64 Facebook Friend

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    Alrighty, I'm back home and have upgraded the GPU and RAM on my main rig:
    R9 5900X + GB X570 Aorus Xtreme + 2x 16GB DDR4 3600MHz + XFX MERC 310 RX 7900XTX
    [​IMG]
    While I was upgrading, I'd also gotten 2x 2TB NVMe M,2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 SSDs. The Lunkup riser cable, though expensive, is worth every penny, no BSOD or WHEA error, runs the RX 7900XTX at PCIe 4.0 with SAM (Resize Bar) enabled.

    And my 2nd rig is partially done, still have some tidying up to do, will post a pic or two completed rig when done
    R9 3900X + GB X570S Aorus Elite AX + 2x 16GB DDR4 4000Mhz + Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6900XT
    [​IMG]
    I've also added a 500GB NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen2 x4 drive for OS, and a 2TB Teamgroup NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4 for games, including a 4TB Leven JS600 SATA SSD for games as well.

    Oh yeah, OT, but while I was at it, changed the cables on my cans for shorter and more manageable ones which I'd gotten from Aliexpress. Also got a new pair of earpads for my Grado GS 1000i too.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2023
  4. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    I’ve always built my PC’s for years but last year for a few specific reasons I sunk my money into a gaming laptop instead.
    It’s an Asus RoG Strix 14” with Ryzen 9 5900X and GTX 3060. We’ve been pretty happy with it for our gaming and usage. Since I bought it I upgraded to 32GB of RAM, added a Glorious Gaming customizable mechanical keyboard, a Logitech G Pro mouse and yesterday I added the Dark Matter 27” 240hz gaming monitor that I got at Monoprice for $104 (!). This monitor deal just blows my mind for the price after gaming on it for a couple of hours. What an incredible deal. Anyway, laptops are not interesting to look at but here’s a casual snapshot of my setup with a candy wrapper and some monitor trash. :) Now I need a bigger desk.

    if anyone is ever looking for a great monitor cheap then I highly recommend this one. I wanted 1080p for maximum framerate and was worried about big pixels but psshh.. it looks fantastic and plays great with 240hz and 1ms response.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Amfibius

    Amfibius New

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    I have five computers at home! Three desktop systems, all running Windows 11: 1 desktop system for myself, 1 for wife, 1 for the hifi system. 2 laptops, one for me, one for my wife. These pictures are of the silent, fanless PC that I built for the audio system. These are old pics, the internals have all since been upgraded.

    [​IMG]

    The case is a Streacom FC10 with the optional CD slot.

    [​IMG]

    The card you see on the left of the PC is a RME HDSPE-AES32 professional sound card. It can output 32 channels of digital. It is mounted on a PCI-E riser. You may have noticed there is no PSU. I am using a LPSU (not pictured). I am using onboard motherboard graphics with no graphics card, because I don't play games.

    [​IMG]

    The CPU is an Intel i9-9900. The heatpipes are bolted on to the side of the case, and the entire case is a passive heatsink. I get CPU temperatures of 50C (idle) and 60C (under load). As you can see: no fans at all. The PC is dead silent.

    [​IMG]

    These are the LPSU's.

    [​IMG]

    The monitor is a 22" touch screen mounted on an Atdec arm. From certain angles it looks like the monitor is floating on thin air. I can reach the monitor from the listening position and control music playback directly from the touchscreen, or I can use my tablet. The keyboard is a wireless Logitech K830 with its own trackpad and has dedicated media buttons. Pity they don't make this any more.

    Why do I need such a powerful computer to play music? Because the crossover is generated in the PC. I bypassed the passive crossover in my speakers, and I bought an 8 channel DAC as well as 8 channels of amplification. The crossover is created in the PC, which sends 8 channels of digital to the DAC. The advantage is that I can also apply driver correction, time alignment, room correction, and upsample everything to DSD. All these require a lot of grunt. When I first built the PC in 2016, it had an i7-6700 in it which could not keep up with the load. The new CPU can.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2023
  6. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Finally bit the bullet on a new GPU to finish up this build.

    Replaced my old GTX 1070 with an RTX 4070ti. The size difference is comically large:
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    Also swapped in a Nextstorage 2TB NVME for boot and games. The Crucial P5 Plus went into my PS5.

    So far so good. Can get right around 60fps with raytracing in Cyberpunk on my ultrawide monitor, which is what I was shooting for. DLSS3 or whatever gets me over 100 with not too much degradation in quality. While I am extremely happy with the results, it still makes me cry a little that my "mid-range" computer cost about $2200 to build, when the last one was closer to $1000. Time to sell off some audio gear...
     
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  7. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Yeah, it’s insane. With DLSS off, I get like 20fps in CP2077 Overdrive mode at 4k on a f'ing 4090. Absolutely stunning once you pop DLSS on and get decent framerates.
     
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  8. ColdsnapBry

    ColdsnapBry Almost "Made"

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    That's a cool build! I've used a Streacom case as a HTPC before and they are really nicely built cases.
     
  9. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    So, last week, I built a $20K+ computer…

    My firm works with an independent contractor for 3D rendering and his aging computer was too slow to keep up with demand. We are good friends and basically his main client, so we bought him a $16K rig from Dell thinking that the support they could provide on such an expensive machine would be better for us since I was the most experienced/knowledgeable computer guy and the most I have have ever spent on a computer build was the last one I posted (a touch over $2K all in). Well, out of the 9 months we have had it, it has worked for about a month total, with various crashes, some of which I haven’t seen before. It is basically the PC of Theseus at this point as they replaced the processor, motherboard, ram, and graphics card. At any rate, while we are still dealing with Dell in another round of troubleshooting, he decided to invest big time into himself and build a new rig. I got the privilege/stress of building it. Our renderer watched hours and hours of youtube videos and got strong preferences in his head, so the build is a compromise between what I thought was appropriate and what he really wanted.

    [​IMG]

    Processor: AMD Threadripper Pro 5995WX

    CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3

    Motherboard: ASRock WRX80 Creator

    RAM: 512GB Nemix DDR4

    GPU: 2x RTX A6000

    Storage: 2TB + 4TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus NVME

    PSU: Seasonic Prime Platinum 1600

    Case: LIAN LI V3000 PLUS

    Fans: 11x NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM, 2x NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM


    First off, I will acknowledge that some of this is overkill, particularly the amount of ram, the case, and number of fans. However, my renderer was traumatized by the Dell experience and wanted to “futureproof” the computer. At any rate, the case is ridonkulously large and heavy. Steel frame, glass everywhere, etc. It was designed for elaborate watercooling and a second(!) micro-ATX system. Bonkers. That said, it was a dream to work with due to the build quality and the crazy amount of space it had for everything.

    The CPU was super easy to install due to a pretty cool loading mechanism (new to me as I am an Intel guy). The cooler was super easy as well since it could only fit one socket – I didn’t have to fuss with a backplate or extra adapter/bracket.

    The dual RTX A6000s were interesting as they were single fan designs, nearly fully sealed otherwise (and surprisingly small for how capable they are). We used an Nvidia dual link adapter which apparently has way more bandwidth than traditional SLI setups. I was worried about airflow, as when connected, there are only about a mm between the two cards. But, I suppose this was by design and they effectively become a single A12000 card with a fan column. At any rate, there are no alternate designs so we rolled with it.

    [​IMG]

    The rest of the build was standard with the exception of possibly too many fans. Had to get some splitters and a separate fan controller due to the motherboard only having 4 fan connections.

    At any rate, it was certainly fun to build something over the top, but there was double the stress, too. Not only was it unfamiliar and expensive, but my firm was depending on it running well due to the Dell being a piece of poop. I probably would have broken down crying if it hadn’t turned on. We still need to stress test it, but Windows loaded and everything is running pretty cool. We will see how it does once all 64(!) cores fire up using 3DS Max (always worry about the right amount of thermal paste).

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. m.i.c.k.e.y

    m.i.c.k.e.y Facebook Friend

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    There's a 3 slot NVlink. If its me will move the second A6000 on the next slot for better cooling. Awesome rig b/w.
     

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