64 replies to this topic

[Merc14]

Just ordered some upgrades for my custom built desktop and was wondering d anyone else builds their own here.  My desktop has been evolving for a decade and I figured it was time to leave 775 and move on to 1155.  I don't actively compete in overclocking competitions any longer but these new Ivybridges at 22nm look like incredible chips.  I'll OC it a bit but nothing serious.  My present is a powerhouse Q66oo that I ran at 3.4 GHz forever on water.  It is on air now but still at 2.9GHz.

Any other builders on UM?

[WoIverine]

I built mine. I went 1366 LGA. Maxed out the memory a few months ago, but now my graphics card is out of date by one or two nvidia generations. Those cards come out so fast it seems. This will be my last rig for a long while though. Next time I will probably go the laptop route, but it's tough to decide. Also, almost all the available $$$ I have is going to living expenses and school now, so have to prioritize.

Edited by WoIverine, 12 March 2013 - 03:05 AM.

[Merc14]

WoIverine, on 12 March 2013 - 02:59 AM, said:

I built mine. I went 1366 LGA. Maxed out the memory a few months ago, but now my graphics card is out of date by one or two nvidia generations. Those cards come out so fast it seems. This will be my last rig for a long while though. Next time I will probably go the laptop route, but it's tough to decide. Also, almost all the available $$$ I have is going to living expenses and school now, so have to prioritize.

I hear ya and  Core 2 was so good that upgrading seemed superfluous.  The thing is the tech has gone far beyond 775 now.  USB 3, SATA 6 and SSD's, PCIe 3.  I installed a USB 3 card in my rig because I need the speed and it sucks. My old board can't handle it.   USB3 needs to be native.  The SSD I bought doesn't seem "comfiortable" on the 30's era chipset.  I depend on this rig for my side business and the tech is leaving it behind.

What CPU are you running in that socket?

[WoIverine]

I kind of cheaped out on the processor lol. It's the lowest of the low end I7's, one of the first to debut on the market about a year and a half ago.

Edited by WoIverine, 12 March 2013 - 03:35 AM.

[Merc14]

Low end i7 is awesome.  I;m going cheap as well but cheap nowadays is a pretty strong chip.   I ordered an i5 3470 and an H77 mobo.  Nothing awesome but  the damn CPU runs at 3.2 GHZ native.  8GB of Kingston Hyperx 1600 I got on sale and a Kingston SSD with Windows 8.  5750 a guy gave me for building his rig and  Lian Li case a customer gave me for work performed.  I use an old PC Power & Cooling 750 I bought used and some Raptors in RAID 0 i bought used.  I am a total believer in buying used stuff.  My Q6600 was a $100 dump it buy from a bud who couldn't get it to do anything.  I had her running at 4.1 GHZ for some benches and doing everyday at 3.2GHz.  This new CPU isn't bui;t for OCing but it is 3.2 already so what the hell.  Under $200!

Edited by Merc14, 12 March 2013 - 03:49 AM.

[and then]

I used to roll my own.... does that count?  

[Coffey]

I'm still running a Q6600 at 3.4 on air. (Titan Fenrir, probably the best air cooler ever)

Starting to upgrade now though, was going to get the i5 3570K and OC it to 4.0ghz I don't like spending over £200 on a cpu because they update so fast.

[Timonthy]

I'm running an i7-3820 on air, with Asus P9X79 Pro and just a GeForce GTX 570.
OCZ Vertex 2 SSD for OS. 8TB worth of other drives.
12GB (3x4GB) of Corsair Dominator RAM. (Plus 3 other 1GB sticks).

2 Asus full HD monitors & Philips 34" LCD through HDMI for bedtime movies

Just use it for some video/audio processing and single monitor gaming at full specs - Can't justify spending $$$$ for tri-monitor gaming.

Edit: I've never really OC'd because I don't know enough about it and don't want to risk damaging/voiding warranty.

Edited by Timonthy, 12 March 2013 - 10:20 AM.

[Merc14]

Coffey, on 12 March 2013 - 10:03 AM, said:

I'm still running a Q6600 at 3.4 on air. (Titan Fenrir, probably the best air cooler ever)

Starting to upgrade now though, was going to get the i5 3570K and OC it to 4.0ghz I don't like spending over £200 on a cpu because they update so fast.

Q6600 at 3.4 on air is amazing!  Well done.  That was a helluva chip in its day and served both of us well I guess.

[Merc14]

Timonthy, on 12 March 2013 - 10:18 AM, said:

I'm running an i7-3820 on air, with Asus P9X79 Pro and just a GeForce GTX 570.
OCZ Vertex 2 SSD for OS. 8TB worth of other drives.
12GB (3x4GB) of Corsair Dominator RAM. (Plus 3 other 1GB sticks).

2 Asus full HD monitors & Philips 34" LCD through HDMI for bedtime movies

Just use it for some video/audio processing and single monitor gaming at full specs - Can't justify spending $$$$ for tri-monitor gaming.

Edit: I've never really OC'd because I don't know enough about it and don't want to risk damaging/voiding warranty.

That's a monster rig.  I'll be running a Asus P8H77V-LE with i5-3470 and 8 GB of 1600 Kingston HyperX with a Kingston 120GB SSD for the OS, two 1550GB Raptors in RAID 0 and a 600GB stoarge drive.  Radeon 5750 card, PC Power and Cooling 750 Watt PSU in a LIan Li case with a 23" monitor.

[alibongo]

I've just built 2 pcs for the first time.It is very easy.I used Zalman 9 and 11 cases, one has core2 duo the other amd black edition.The first i transferred all hardware from an old case.From what I understand gamers do not need more than 4 gig ram,not ssd, nor more than 2 cores.I can also do free activation of win 7 32 (message me).

[Timonthy]

alibongo, on 12 March 2013 - 11:28 AM, said:

I've just built 2 pcs for the first time.It is very easy.I used Zalman 9 and 11 cases, one has core2 duo the other amd black edition.The first i transferred all hardware from an old case.From what I understand gamers do not need more than 4 gig ram,not ssd, nor more than 2 cores.I can also do free activation of win 7 32 (message me).

If you want to play new games on low-medium settings then you don't need much. But if you want all of the eye candy and post-processing effects at high resolutions that setup would be unplayable.

Take Metro 2033 for example, it takes a lot of grunt to maintain 30fps near max settings...

Edit: Haha and Nvidia optimum requirements: 'As much RAM as possible (8GB+)'. People have argued the game is optimized poorly but they got past a lot of the initial issues and it's definitely not an Nvidia driven conspiracy.

Merc14, on 12 March 2013 - 11:21 AM, said:

That's a monster rig.  I'll be running a Asus P8H77V-LE with i5-3470 and 8 GB of 1600 Kingston HyperX with a Kingston 120GB SSD for the OS, two 1550GB Raptors in RAID 0 and a 600GB stoarge drive.  Radeon 5750 card, PC Power and Cooling 750 Watt PSU in a LIan Li case with a 23" monitor.

I always had issues with Radeon cards for some reason, the X1950 pro was the last I used. The 5750's are good value though! Since my X1950 I moved to GTX260 sp216 and now the 570. Nvidia likes me for some reason.

Edited by Timonthy, 12 March 2013 - 11:53 AM.

[Merc14]

alibongo, on 12 March 2013 - 11:28 AM, said:

I've just built 2 pcs for the first time.It is very easy.I used Zalman 9 and 11 cases, one has core2 duo the other amd black edition.The first i transferred all hardware from an old case.From what I understand gamers do not need more than 4 gig ram,not ssd, nor more than 2 cores.I can also do free activation of win 7 32 (message me).

COngrats on your first build!  It's a great feeling isn't it and now you can keep the peripherals and replace just the core parts for tegh latest tech.  I'll have a new generation computer for just $300 but I really never stop upgrading.  If I see something on sale for a ridiculous price I grab it for later upgrades.  My 8GB of Kingston HyperX RAM was on sale for around $25 a year ago so I bought it and now get to use it.  Don't pass up quality used stuff either.  A high end, lightly used PSU is always a great investment, same with a quality case.

Timonthy, on 12 March 2013 - 11:45 AM, said:

I always had issues with Radeon cards for some reason, the X1950 pro was the last I used. The 5750's are good value though! Since my X1950 I moved to GTX260 sp216 and now the 570. Nvidia likes me for some reason.

This is my first Radeon but the price was right.  A buddy was tryimg to upscale a Dell to play some game and I said his rig could handle that card but it may not be enough to do what he wanted.  He tried it and it wasn't enough so I built him a new rig and he gave me the 5750.  I replaced my old wartercooled 8800GTX with it since I was going back to air only and the GTX was not recoverable.

Edited by Merc14, 12 March 2013 - 12:23 PM.

[G Donnelly]

To be perfectly blunt.No.However my cousin does actually build them.His bedroom is like a trial run for RadioShack.He was the guy who advised me to swap my PC for a laptop.In the early days of my Internet experience he was constantly mollycuddling me by staying hours at a time.He even told me off when I couldn't exactly grasp the technical terms.However more is less is aesthema to him.He's quite happy with a large amount of components.Don't ask me how he actually accomplishes building computers.I suppose it involves getting a monitor from one computer and a modem and tower from an other.Despite all this he can't actually do anything with an I- Pad yet.

Maybe for once I should be the one teaching him...

Edited by Medium Brown, 12 March 2013 - 12:40 PM.

[Coffey]

Merc14, on 12 March 2013 - 11:16 AM, said:

Q6600 at 3.4 on air is amazing!  Well done.  That was a helluva chip in its day and served both of us well I guess.

Yeah definitely, was a brilliant chip for being one of the first Quad cores. It's only downside was heat and bad energy efficiency.

Edited by Coffey, 12 March 2013 - 12:50 PM.