Custom Computers

[akibawall95]

Have you built your own computer powerhouse? Have you upgraded and customized your PC? If so give a short overview of your specs. Personally I am running an average Dell Latitude nothing special but I want to hear about the Escapist's cool computers.

 

[SovietSecrets]

The computer I have right now was built only by me. Its a bit outdated, but still runs everything pretty nicely.

Specs

Processor: Intel E8400 @ 3.00 GHz
Motherboard: nForce 750i SLI
RAM: 4 GB
Sound card: Using on board sound. Sound card was too much trouble to keep in.
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX
HDD: 1 TB internal, 750 GB external


Again outdated, but still runs every game I have thrown at it so far.

 

[smearyllama]

I'm working on one, and I'll finish it once the RAM and disc drive get here (I for got to order those >_<)

If you're looking into building your own, this is the parts list I used:
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/budget-gaming-pc-q4-2010/
Got everything for about $600 (OS included), and I'm gonna finally be able to play 3-year-old PC games instead of 14-year-old ones.
Yeah, I'm a Daggerfall addict.
So what?

 

[Krantos]

Not yet, but I have upgraded mine considerably (Ram, HDD, gpu, etc.). Looking now to upgrade the MB and CPU to Dual core. Yeah, I'm still running a P4 :'(

 

[Wolfram23]

I built mine in the spring... I didn't mean for it to get so out of control but I kept adding stuff.

i5 750 (overclocked from 2.66 to 3.75ghz, turbo up to 4.2ghz)
Asus P7P55D Pro motherboard
Zalman CNPS10X Extreme heat sink
8gb Patriot Viper II Sector 5 RAM (1600 CL8)
Two Sapphire 5850 GPUs in crossfire (Overclocked from 700/1000 to 870/1200)
-I added custom cooling, Scyth Setsugen GPU coolers which are ultra quiet
Nvidia GT 240 GPU as dedicated PhysX (recently I put it in my gf's PC because I've played all the PhysX games)
Two Seagate 7200.12 500GB HDDs in RAID0
Intel X25M 80GB SSD
Corsair 750TX PSU
AuzenTech Bravura 7.1 sound card
Antec 902 case with a bunch of fans

I added some peripherals too
Samsung 2494SW 1920x1080 monitor (24")
Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers + Logitech X540 5.1 speakers for a 7 speaker surround sound
Sennheiser PC350 headset (mindblowingly good sound, btw)
Wireless mouse and keyboard
Logitech MOMO force feedback steering wheel

When I bought it: http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx103/Wolfram23/My%20PC/pcinside.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx103/Wolfram23/My%20PC/pcon.jpg
After a few months with added GPU and sound card (My Favorite Picture of it): http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx103/Wolfram23/My%20PC/NinjaPC.jpg
And now, after adding RAM and having to reverse my case flow from the normal front-to-back:
(top portion/CPU/RAM) http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx103/Wolfram23/My%20PC/IMG_0139.jpg
(GPUs/sound card) http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx103/Wolfram23/My%20PC/IMG_0140.jpg
(side fan/window) http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx103/Wolfram23/My%20PC/IMG_0142.jpg(front fans) http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx103/Wolfram23/My%20PC/IMG_0141.jpg

 

[Rednog]

Seagate 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2
EVGA NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI FTW ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GHz LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor
OCZ GameXStream 700W Power Supply
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ Superclocked Edition 512MB

Logitech G35 Surround sound headset.
Rat7 mouse also Alienware TactX mouse (terrible mouse, just use it when I'm not gaming)
Logitech slim keyboard for general use, MW2 keyboard for gaming.

Yes I built it, first PC I ever built, really wish I would've looked into the case ahead of time and gotten a roomier one. Ended up getting the Antec 900, terribly cramped, hard to work inside without taking everything out. Case panels just don't fit exactly right. Terrible screw choices/amounts for certain parts and the notorious 200mm fan that was a freaking disaster to replace because the stock one is garbage.

 

[Monshroud]

I have built every PC I have owned with the exception of my first PC which was an Tandy 1000 HX. These are the specs of my current rig:

Processor: Intel i7 920
Motherboard: Asus P6T
Memory: OCZ 6GB Triple Channel
Video Card: PNY 260GTX w/ 1GB
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty
HDD: Some 500GB SATA2. (don't remember the brand)
Optical: Samsung Multi-Writer (No Blu-Ray yet)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred w/ Additional Lighting
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts 650w
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500
Keyboard: Saitek Eclipse III
Mouse: Logitech MX 518

 

[Sneeze]

My was custom build a while back, tis fairly old now but still runs most games on full. They only game to give it trouble thus far is Civ V on larger games.

As for specs:

ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
Intel Q6600 2.4GHz Quad-Core
4GB Ram
1TB HDD (recently upgraded from 500GB)
Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit (Recently upgraded from XP)

Tis a nice rig, it's done me well.

 

[Killermud]

Built my computer about a year ago, still working perfectly :

NZXT Tempest EVO case
Intel Core I5 750 (Not overclocked yet, but I plan to)
PNY Geforce 465 GTX (Slighty over-clocked)
XFX Geforce 8600 GT (dedicated to PHYX processing)
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Mobo
4GB Corsair DDR3 1333Mhz 9-9-9-24
OCZ Stealth XStream 600W

Peripherals
Roccat Kone+
Logitech G15 Keyboard
Sennheiser HD 558
NZXT sleeved LED kit Blue

I plan to get some better cooling for my CPU to do some over-clocking or I'll just waiting until I have enough money to do some significant upgrading (E.G new Mobo, new CPU, more RAM etc.)

 

[Krantos]

I'm still running a P4 :'(

Don't be sad, you can still play WoW, Tf2 and Mass Effect 1!

And Dragon age, just not that well. :/

 

[akibawall95]

I am hoping to make my own computer soon and I am planning to use TigerDirect to get the parts. How are the prices as compared to other websites? Thanks.

 

[Patrick Dare]

I am hoping to make my own computer soon and I am planning to use TigerDirect to get the parts. How are the prices as compared to other websites? Thanks.

They have good prices, fast shipping and have a lot of rebates and special deals. I order almost all of my computer components from them, the only time I go elsewhere (usually newegg) is if I can't find what I'm looking for on tigerdirect, which is almost never.

I recently bought an MSI GeForce GTX 470 from them for $60 off.

Spoiler: snip

Built my computer about a year ago, still working perfectly :

NZXT Tempest EVO case
Intel Core I5 750 (Not overclocked yet, but I plan to)
PNY Geforce 465 GTX (Slighty over-clocked)
XFX Geforce 8600 GT (dedicated to PHYX processing)
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Mobo
4GB Corsair DDR3 1333Mhz 9-9-9-24
OCZ Stealth XStream 600W

Peripherals
Roccat Kone+
Logitech G15 Keyboard
Sennheiser HD 558
NZXT sleeved LED kit Blue

I plan to get some better cooling for my CPU to do some over-clocking or I'll just waiting until I have enough money to do some significant upgrading (E.G new Mobo, new CPU, more RAM etc.)

hahah we have almost the same video card setup, I have the 470 I mentioned and have the same exact video card as you for dedicated physx (literally, even the same manufacturer, xfx)

 

[Railgun88]

I love mine.

Here are the specs:
Mobo: Asus M4A88TD-M/USB 3.0
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 560 (unlocked to an X4, and overclocked to make it a 970)
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline DDR3 1333MHz 4GB(2x2GB)
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6850
ODD: Asus Blu-Ray DVD/CD-RW
HDD: Samsung F3 500GB 7200RPM, hoping to upgrade to a SATA 6 Corsair 128GB SSD
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W Modular PSU
Case: NZXT Vulcan Micro ATX Gaming Case
CPU Fan/Heatsink: Corsair H70
Fans: 3 120MM Red LED fans(2 on the top, one on the front), and a 200MM Cooler Master Red LED Fan on the side.

Monitor: 32" Vizio LCD HDTV connected via HDMI, with a Asus 19" LCD monitor laying flat in front of the Vizio via DVI.

Sound: Pioneer 5.1 Receiver connected via Optical with 2 12" Fisher speakers in the front, 2 6" Pioneers in the back, and a Sony center speaker.

This thing is just completely full of AWESOME!! I actually just repaired it cause my mother dumped hot cocoa on the front of the case and didnt shut it down.

 

[Sneeze]

-snip-

How much did that computer cost? And when did you get it?

Cost me ~£700, about 3 years ago, I think. That's not including case, monitor, peripherals etc though, already had them.

 

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

So I bought a pre-built and have been slowly upgrading it piece by piece myself, so I can learn how to put everything together. Anything I need help with, I'll google guides or ask my computer-savvy friend. I'll be building my next PC myself, hopefully.

My current PC (purchased 1 year ago, upgraded over time):
-ASUS M4A78 Plus MoBo
-550W PSU (ePower? Whatever brand that is lol, but it hasn't shown signs of being inadequate so whatever).
-AMD Phenom II x4 970 BE @ 3.5GHz
-4GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 RAM @ 800MHz
-ATI Radeon 4870 1GB
-500GB internal HDD; 250GB external HDD; 160GB internal HDD for FRAPS.

Performance: It runs Mafia II in 1080p, Max settings, AA Off, AF x16, V-Sync On, PhysX off: @ 46 avg, ~21 min FPS in benchmark, but feels like 50-60FPS when I actually play it.

Price: $550 (pre-built). Upgrades: $290. You can build better PCs for $840 I imagine, but I'm new at this I did not include my monitor, external HDD or OS in the price, b/c they carried over from my last PC.
Once I learn how to and then actually do build my own computer myself, I'll start learning how to overclock.

 

[shado_temple]

Built a custom rig nearly a year ago, and still runs pretty well, along with a few upgrades along the way.

-Intel DX58SO Mobo
-650W PSU (Antec, I do believe)
-Intel i7 920 (a lovely CPU, even if they made the 930 almost immediately after I got the 920), cooled by a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ (That thing preforms miracles!)
-6 GB DDR3 Corsair RAM
-EVGA GTX 580 (picked that up mid december; used to have an XFX GTX 285, which was a piece of work on it's own)
-1 TB Western Digital 7200 rpm internal HDD
All sitting inside the Cooler Master ATCS 840 Full Tower, a truly massive piece of metal.
I'm typing on a Razer Lycosa keyboard, wearing a Razer Caracharias headset and using a Razer Orochi mouse, both of which suit my needs perfectly.

original price (last march): $2,100

Upgrades: $650 (added wifi and USB 3.0 PCI cards for good measure)

For the time being, I have yet to find a game I can't run highest resolution on one of the 1920 x 1080 monitors I have.

 

[BE4T]

Where do you all go to build your custom PCs?

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

I'm going to build a new pc as soon as I have the money, but right now I'm running...

Acer OEM,
Added Nvidia 9800 GT
Replaced power supply with 550 watt
Added a 1TB drive with the preexisting 500GB
3Gb DDR2 RAM
Dual core 2.2 ghz cpu

Yeah, not great but it runs a fair amount of stuff pretty well. Lately my cpu's been lagging behind a lot though. Sometime soon I'm going to upgrade to...

Full Tower ATX AMD AM3 socket motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 2.9 Ghz(six cores ftw!)
Nvidia GTX 450 or so(or ATi equivalent)
4 or 6 GB DDR3 RAM
600 or 750 Watt Power
still 1.5TB storage

 

[shado_temple]

Where do you all go to build your custom PCs?

Do you mean sites for ordering parts?
I'm partial to Tiger Direct [http://www.tigerdirect.com] and New Egg [http://www.newegg.com], though Amazon works in a pinch.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Built this one:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 630 Processor (4 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Hard Drive: 1 TB internal
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470
Monitor: Envision 22" Wide Screen
Speakers/Headphones: Logitech X-540 5.1 Sound System
Keyboard: Razer Lycosa
Mouse: Razer Naga
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Spoiler: Computer Case