Building A Custom Desktop

[pm_hx29j]

Just finished my latest custom HTPC build


Some specs
Core i3-2100
2x2048 MB
Optiarc BC-5640H
SSD+2.0TB+2x640.0GB
ESI Juli@ audio card
Terratec DVB-S2
Hauppauge 1700 DVB-T

Just finished watching Indiana Jones with this thing

[binarymelon]

Originally Posted by pm_hx29j

Just finished my latest custom HTPC build


Some specs
Core i3-2100
2x2048 MB
Optiarc BC-5640H
SSD+2.0TB+2x640.0GB
ESI Juli@ audio card
Terratec DVB-S2
Hauppauge 1700 DVB-T

Just finished watching Indiana Jones with this thing

What case are you using?

[pm_hx29j]

It's not a PC case, it's an empty slim box made by a small industry here in Italy, fully customizable (steel or alu covers, full or no venting, black or silver front...). They make these in various sizes, they're rack-mountable 1 or 2U (I cut out the ears). My size is 415x40x280 mm inside, 428x44x287 outside excluding the Lianli feet.
I chose to put a MicroATX board inside instead of an ITX everything has been DIY made by me.

[madlost1]

Got everything in for my first build and put it all together. Pic's in the spoiler tag:
AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX Motherboard
Corsair H100 CPU Cooler
G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600 RAM
HIS Radeon HD 6850 IceQ X VGA
PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 750W PSU
Patriot Torqx 2 32 GB SSD
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB HDD
Asus DVD RW Drive
Corsair Obsidian 650D Case

[Show spoiler]

In the future I'll pick up a Blu ray burner and a second Ice Q X 6850 to run in crossfire. Went way over budget with the build as it is or else I would have already got them.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Cool! Is the CPU water cooled? That's what it looks like to me but I could be wrong.

I like the colored fans, I have a blue one and I want to get more but I need to sell my other ones first.

[madlost1]

Originally Posted by PS3-Playb3yond

Cool! Is the CPU water cooled? That's what it looks like to me but I could be wrong.

I like the colored fans, I have a blue one and I want to get more but I need to sell my other ones first.

Yeah it is. I'm using the Corsair H100 cooler. It's a closed loop cooler so no need for a reservoir.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by madlost1

Yeah it is. I'm using the Corsair H100 cooler. It's a closed loop cooler so no need for a reservoir.

Cool! I'm trying to save up for the H80 myself. The H100 is kind of out of my budget currently. And even with my Cooler Master HAF X case I don't know if it would fit.

[Offender_Mullet]

Originally Posted by pm_hx29j

Just finished my latest custom HTPC build


Some specs
Core i3-2100
2x2048 MB
Optiarc BC-5640H
SSD+2.0TB+2x640.0GB
ESI Juli@ audio card
Terratec DVB-S2
Hauppauge 1700 DVB-T

Just finished watching Indiana Jones with this thing

I'm a little late, but that son is PIMP! Talk about a custom build. My fav so far.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by pm_hx29j

It's not a PC case, it's an empty slim box made by a small industry here in Italy, fully customizable (steel or alu covers, full or no venting, black or silver front...). They make these in various sizes, they're rack-mountable 1 or 2U (I cut out the ears). My size is 415x40x280 mm inside, 428x44x287 outside excluding the Lianli feet.
I chose to put a MicroATX board inside instead of an ITX everything has been DIY made by me.

Looks great, but you're not worried about heat? Have you checked to measure the temperature? I only see 1 fan.

[Offender_Mullet]

New toy finally arrived.





The fans are dead silent. My 2 cpu fans are louder.

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

New toy finally arrived.





The fans are dead silent. My 2 cpu fans are louder.

yea for new toys, very nice

[Offender_Mullet]

Is no one else getting the upgrade bug again?

I'll be dumping my AMD A8-3870K apu, Gigabyte motherboard and 8GB G.Skill 1866MHz ram on eBay within a week or so. Should I try putting it in the trading section on here first? Not sure if anyone is looking to build a htpc.

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

Is no one else getting the upgrade bug again?

I'll be dumping my AMD A8-3870K apu, Gigabyte motherboard and 8GB G.Skill 1866MHz ram on eBay within a week or so. Should I try putting it in the trading section on here first? Not sure if anyone is looking to build a htpc.

upgrade to what though, im still rocking my 2700k at 5ghz and my 7970 at 1.2ghz lol

[JonD7]

I might upgrade around March/April when the new stuff is out.
I'm hoping Nvidia comes out with there 700 series cards in 2013.

I'm still using a i7 930 at stock(2.80GHz, I know, lame) and an ATI 5850.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

I could use an upgrade but my wallet won't allow it at the moment. I still need to get a graphics card, a CPU fan and some Cooler Master fans with LEDs for my case. Other than that, I'm set.

[Offender_Mullet]

Originally Posted by BLindsay

upgrade to what though, im still rocking my 2700k at 5ghz and my 7970 at 1.2ghz lol

lol Never mind.


More new toys. I'm not an ASRock fan, but the board was only $84 after their combo pricing so I went with that.

Nothing like blowing $400 (sticker prices weren't the actual price) at my local Micro Center store while being hungover from a wedding the night before. The clerk asked me "are you ok?" lol. I looked like death.

[i007spectre]

Its been way too long since my last PC build.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

lol Never mind.


More new toys. I'm not an ASRock fan, but the board was only $84 after their combo pricing so I went with that.

Nothing like blowing $400 (sticker prices weren't the actual price) at my local Micro Center store while being hungover from a wedding the night before. The clerk asked me "are you ok?" lol. I looked like death.

Nice! These processors must be new. I haven't exactly been keeping up with CPUs since I bought the 2600K but, when did the 3770K come out? Is that a Sandy or Ivy bridge?

[Offender_Mullet]

Originally Posted by PS3-Playb3yond

Nice! These processors must be new. I haven't exactly been keeping up with CPUs since I bought the 2600K but, when did the 3770K come out? Is that a Sandy or Ivy bridge?

It's an Ivy Bridge. I think they came out earlier this past Spring, so they're still recent. However, there's no real logical reason to upgrade from a Sandy Bridge to an Ivy. Main reason is - they don't overclock as well as Sandy Bridge does due to some heat issues (Intel used thermal paste inside the cpu instead of fluxless solder from what I've read). Even though they draw less power than Sandy Bridge cpu's Intel's little cost-cuting move has made a lot of overclockers upset. Mine is running fine at 4.2GHz but I haven't run any stress tests on it yet.

I love the motherboard. The bios layout is wonderful and a lot more user-friendly than my old Z68 Gigabyte was. My only gripe about it is: It has a 4-pin pwm fan connector for the cpu fan. However, in the bios there isn't an option to have it set to pwm mode. Wtf?

[Stridulent]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

Is no one else getting the upgrade bug again?

I'll be dumping my AMD A8-3870K apu, Gigabyte motherboard and 8GB G.Skill 1866MHz ram on eBay within a week or so. Should I try putting it in the trading section on here first? Not sure if anyone is looking to build a htpc.

I recently upgraded from a core 2 duo build to an i5-3570k OC'd at 4.3, a MSI GTX 670, and a new custom water cooling loop. Pretty pleased. Need to experiment more with the processor and cooling to try to get it lower. Works great though, just not use to idle temps being around 40C. Max stress temps only get to around 65-70C though, so all is still safe.