Post Your Computer Build

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

  1. Smitty

    Smitty Too good for bad vodka - Friend

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    Nice layout and cable management, the build looks great. If you're looking for a major update, this will probably be a great year to do it because of the New nVidia cards that are scheduled to be released.

    Also, nice user name, I love that ink.
     
  2. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    Alright, here's the build I'm currently contemplating:

    Case: Arc Midi R2 - already bought
    MB: Gigabyte GA-990FX-Gaming
    CPU: AMD FX-8320
    GPU: MSI GTX 950
    Memory: 2x4GB G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600
    HDD: 1 TB WD Blue
    SSD: 120 GB Samsung EVO
    PS: Seasonic SSR-650RM 650W Gold

    Mostly to be used for music, programming (wife's work), some light photo editing, and light gaming.
     
  3. Smitty

    Smitty Too good for bad vodka - Friend

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    That's a very nice build, good price/performance and doesn't break the bank. I can confirm that the EVO is a good OS drive, I've go the 250 GB version in my box.
     
  4. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    Cool @Smitty thank you.

    I haven't built a desktop in over 10 years so it took some research to get back in the game :p
     
  5. 3X0

    3X0 Friend

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    The pump noise got so bad I almost thought it was monitor buzz. Can't actually fit a NH-U14* so I went with a NH-C14. I'll probably throw the H100i in the garbage afterwards...

    *Things are pretty cramped in here (that's a 92mm fan behind the hoses):
    [​IMG]

    It'll be fun load-testing the C14 -- not sure how well it's going to cope with 8 cores at 4.4GHz. :eek:
     
  6. Kon Peki

    Kon Peki Friend

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    My H100i has always been quiet. Turned out to be a very nice upgrade from 212 Evo. Runs quieter and keeps things cooler.
     
  7. 3X0

    3X0 Friend

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    I could probably have made it quieter if the pump wasn't running full speed all the time. Unfortunately the narrow-ILM (server-style) socket meant a hacky mounting method and thus no Corsair Link for me.

    I was able to get my H80i to run quiet but it performed like garbage. The H100i cools suspiciously well and I'd keep it if not for the noise.
     
  8. Smitty

    Smitty Too good for bad vodka - Friend

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    I don't have enough usb headers for corsair link, the cases needed both usb2 headers for the front pannel. Seriously mobo guys, give us more headers! Having 10 usb slots on the rear panel is not optimal!
     
  9. therealjay

    therealjay New

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    I recently had a 750D build completely under water.

    Delidded 4770k
    Aquacomputer block
    Crossfire 290's with the Aquacomputer Palm tree blocks and the active backplates
    Then an EX 360 and RX 360 V3. All tied into the waterfall Aquacomputer res with a D5. The front was modded to accomodate the big RX 360 up front. I actually had all AP-15 and AP-14 fans at the time. Truth be told it was harder to get my hands on them then any other component. Such a shame they were discontinued. Haven't really been up with PC hardware recently so I don't know if there's a better option out now but at the time nothing touched Gentle Typhoons for noise to static pressure ratio. Pretty too.

    I could probably find some pictures on OCN if I went back and looked. The active backplates on the 290's were about the slickest piece of watercooling equipment I ever used. Always been a fan of Aquacomputer and Heatkiller. Not so much into the more plain EK blocks although the performance is certainly there with EK.

    Watercooling was my big hobby before I got more fully into audio and more then likely I'll get back into it eventually. I had to move out of a pretty big place to a fairly small place and I'm on a Macbook pro now though.

    I think the next foray will be into a mATX build. I always loved the little Caselabs case with the window on top.

    Edit: Here's a pic before I put the backplates on. Can't believe I don't have any pictures with them. I also ended up unfucking the tube routing as it was pretty bad here.

    [​IMG]

    Couldn't find pictures of the big build but this is a little 350D I did right before. 4770k + 780 TI classy. The rads were the one's that were real popular at the time. Thinner versions of the Monsta. Forget the name of them.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2016
  10. Smitty

    Smitty Too good for bad vodka - Friend

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    Nice builds! I'm thinking that I'm going to upgrade to some EK waterblocks after I upgrade the graphics card this summer. I've already upped my ram to 64GB after I started doing horrible, horrible things with VMs and suddenly needed the extra space.
     
  11. therealjay

    therealjay New

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    I don't know if you are under water already but it's such a fun hobby. Highly recomend it if you have the money. Will transform your PC into the quietest thing in the room and let you high really high clocks.

    But really it's the craftsmenship side of it that makes it so much fun.
     
  12. fishski13

    fishski13 Friend

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    i'm putting together a computer with a focus on silent operation for music and family/general purpose - no gaming. here's a list of my planned build.

    PS: EVGA Supernova G2 550W (already bought)
    mobo: Gigabyte Z97-HD3
    CPU: i3 4170
    RAM: 4G x2 Crucial Ballistix
    HD: HDDx2, SSD x2
    case: Corsair 400Q (and external optical drive)

    i'm moving away from Windows in favor of Linux but still want to dual boot with 'mainstream' OS. i'm going to give a Hackintosh a try. the Gigabyte above has reported good compatibility with both Linux and Hacks.

    does the above get 'not shit'/pirate approval?

    any other cases or non-stock fans i should be looking at for silent operation?

    i'm using a USB de-crapifier like the Wyrd, but are there any other USB considerations i could optimize?
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2016
  13. Smitty

    Smitty Too good for bad vodka - Friend

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    Nah, that looks fine. IF you're not going to be gaming with AA games and 4k monitors, you should be just fine.

    @therealjay - Yeah, I like to tinker with my builds and try to refine them, so custom loop design and building should be a lot of fun for me.
     
  14. therealjay

    therealjay New

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    Next build I'm definitely going to do hard tubing of some kind. Really cleans up the looks but it's a pain in the ass to bend.
     
  15. Stapsy

    Stapsy Friend

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    I am planning on doing something similar to you. Never built a computer before so this is super helpful!
     
  16. Smitty

    Smitty Too good for bad vodka - Friend

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    pcpartpicker.com is your friend, it does a pretty good job making sure everything will fit together, though if you're doing a very small build you need to do the geometry yourself to make sure the graphics card will fit.
     
  17. 3X0

    3X0 Friend

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    Caselabs stuff is firstrate but their smallest case is practically the volume of a normal ATX case.

    Now the Cerberus 18L mATX on the other hand... I sure hope that case meets its funding goals. I'd have gone in if it was aluminum.
     
  18. fishski13

    fishski13 Friend

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    this is my first build as well. i was hung up on a small form factor but realized that if i want to run two operating systems on separate dedicated hard drives and have file back-ups, i would end up with extra external hard drives which would have negated a smaller m-ITX case.
     
  19. 3X0

    3X0 Friend

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    You should be able to fulfill all of those goals inside an Ncase, especially if you're forgoing a discrete GPU.

    You can even have a slimline optical drive in there and forget about going external at all.
     
  20. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Please do keep your backups external! The internal ones won't do you much good if all your internal hdds get wiped out by a power spike, or a controller gone wrong. Do not even connect your backup drives except when actually using them.

    Keep two backup copies, and keep them in different places (eg, one at work, or at another house). Your are protecting yourself against theft, natural disaster, plumbing leaks, etc, as well as human error and the things that can go wrong inside a PC case.
     

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