Post Your Computer Build

Looks like Dino did.

 

The Specs https://pcpartpicker.com/b/WCt6Mp



In Short
i5 3550
AMD Sapphire R9 380X
8 Gbs Corsair Ram
Gigabyte GA-Z77X
Zowie Celeritas MX Brown Switches
Corsair m65
Samsung 24 Inch
Asus 22 Inch

I don't game much any more, but I enjoy the two screens for a very optimized Work Flow

 

I have a couple of fun builds.

Play:
Acer 1080p 144hz
Intel i5 4690k
2x GTX 970 SLI
32 GB RAM

Work:
Dell 1440p Ultrawide
2x Xeon E5-2670 V2
GTX 1080Ti
64 GB ECC RAM

The work machine is good for games too.

Doom @ 3440x1440

 

Audio PC. Then paint flames on it ala Guy Fieri

 

Gaming, then put your audio pc in PC-CK101 it it fits. The hype train must go on.

 

I'm a bit obsessed with building quieter and quieter PCs since about 15 years or so, here's my third attempt - built in 2014, CPU upgraded 2015. This is the first one however with no moving part, totally silent It's essentially a small, very dense and hot brick...

Spoiler: Large images

• Asrock Z97E-ITX/ac
• Intel 5775C (quad core Broadwell @3.3 GHz, Iris Pro graphics onboard)
• 2x4GB G.Skill Trident X DDR3 2400
• Case / cooling: HDPLEX H1.S
• HP 19V DC laptop / docking station PSU (external) + 150W HDPLEX DC-ATX converter (internal)
• Audio: onboard Realtek crap w/TOSLINK out to Yggdrasil
• Hard Drive: Crucial MX100 512 GB
• Monitor: Dell P2415Q, 3840x2160 @ 60Hz
• Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Tournament Edition (clicky!)

HDPLEX cases are super awesome. I recommend you geek out at the newer H5 series, then go take a lie down for a while.

I use this for video editing among other things. Useful tip: under full load for a long unattended render, I use Intel PerfTune to reduce the TDP. I found the thermal throttling seems too slow to kick in / too high a temperature threshold in order to prevent it overheating / crashing. I guess Intel tuned it with regular water / fan-based coolers which behave differently to heat pipes.

 

@bengo, there's a company called NoFan that makes a fanless heatsink. Works very well for what it is. Though you might not like the case size requirements.

SPCR test some other fanless cases and there were a few decent ones. We both came up with similar conclusions where big air could provide way better cooling even with fans at minimum speeds which are inaudible.

 

For me it's more about the challenge Plus it looks cool / interesting, and is small enough to fit on my desk at the office (which was a must-have)

 

Nice build! Expensive system to go watercooling for the first time though. Be careful is all i say. One leak can kill everything, cpu, mobo, mem, psu and gpu.

Don't know any good guides though...

 

Best thing to do is build the loop and test it.

Look up how to jumper your PSU to turn it on without the motherboard powered and let the loop run. Paper towels below any joints or connections to help find leaks. Let it run for awhile and tighten up anything that leaks.

 

My systemn leaked, and it was fine. Water sprayed everywhere, but I just left it to dry, and it worked great.

 

Here's my work setup, in my office upstairs. The desk is not ideal, but we already owned it, so it works well enough.

PC Specs:

Ryzen 1800X 3.6GHz
32GB RAM
480GB M.2 SSD - OS
6TB HGST Data Drives (Raid 1)
Asus GTX 1060
3 1440p displays

 

My current machine is the second I've built in the Corsair 760t, the last being an AMD FX-6350 machine with a MSI GTX 580 Lightning, which was previously in a NZXT Phantom case, and is now in individual parts distributed to friends.

Current home office PC specs:
Windows 10 64 Bit
i7-4790k @ 4.8Ghz
H100i w/ Noctua iPPC fans
Asus Z97 Sabertooth MK1
32GB Corsair Vengeance @ 2.4Ghz
EVGA 1080ti OC @ 2049Mhz
Samsung 850 pro 512GB
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB Boot (soon to be replaced)
Crucial MX300 525GB
Asus Blu-ray / DVDRW / CDRW "Silent Drive"
Asus PCE-AC56 WiFi card
2x Dell 2515Hx 1440p@60hz
Corsair K70 Rapidfire RGB
Corsair Scimitar Pro RGB

Spoiler

I've recently re-configured my fans for high internal pressure to keep out the dust. To do this I have only 1 exhaust fan, a Corsair Maglev 140mm in the back. The H100i intakes from the top. Using electrical tape I sealed off the top venting of the case except for the radiator to keep it from recirculating hot air. The top cover is offset by small .25"x.25" cylindrical neodymium magnets to allow airflow. The case is dust-filtered by a DEMCiflex filter kit. I made an acrylic psu cover wrapped in 3M 1080 Carbon Fiber vinyl to tidy up the wiring further.

 

You should check out youtube as well, lots of guides there from reputable sources. For these kinds of things video is often easier than text and foto's.

 

@A1Gear

SLI used to be a lot more beneficial a couple of years ago. These days it's usually better to trade your two gpu's for one really good card. Most developers aren't focusing on SLI development anymore and a single good card such as the 1070, 1080 and 1080ti are typically powerful enough to drive your monitor to high enough refresh rates.

What cards are you trying to SLI anyway? I'm a bit of a computer and hardware geek so I might be able to offer some advice. Tell me a bit more about your cards, cpu, monitor etc.

 

2x1080Ti & i9 cpu... that's one hell of setup you've got cooking there... wowser.

Well, on most motherboards you have two slots that are going to be dedicated for SLI and those are the ones you'll want to use. Typically there will be one slot of space in between the GPU's and as you already know that's a good thing for air circulation. So you don't want to block that space unless you're doing some serious custom loop water cooling. Also - if you're using those two SLI graphic card slots there will typically be a SLI bridge included in the package from your motherboard supplier that fits and the spacing won't be a problem. Is there a problem? It shoudn't be... the SLI bridge from your motherboard manufacturer should fit.

Then the Lynx card is only 1x so that can be placed either above or below the graphics cards, but I'm betting above might be your best option.

The 4x SSD card is the tricky one. Have you looked in your motherboard manual to check how many lanes are available when using both SLI spots? Cause that is the deal breaker. You need to find some option where you have 2x8 lanes for you gpu cards and also 4x for your SSD card. It varies a bit from motherboard to motherboard, is that in your manual somewhere?

There are also PCI extension kits: https://www.google.se/search?client...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.2.83...0i30k1.0.X42FGaAb6Y0

That can be an option if you're really tight on space and want to improve air circulation.

The two SLI cards shouldn't be problem. The problem might be how to retain PCI lanes and air circulation while installing both an audio card and an SSD card.

 

Yep, cooling is also about having a large volume of fresh air in and out, with a good flow internally. Take a look inside a 1U server, if you get the chance. So, for example intelligent/tidy cable management, not very sexy but can make a difference. Did you think about putting the Lynx card in an external chassis? (or simply build the PC without it initially, which costs nothing)

Maybe there are also custom heatsink / fan available for your GPUs, if not now then as a future improvement.

At least you have a nice big case.

 

@A1Gear

Ah, you've got one of those boards with even spaced PCI-E slots. Now I see your predicament. However - if you have an included SLI bridge from your motherboard manufacturer that fits I would just use that one. The difference in performance between regular and "high-bandwith" SLI should be marginal. Here's a guy I found on youtube:

If you really want a high-bandwidth one I think this 2-slot spaced one is what you need? https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Bridge-Slot-Spacing-100-2W-0027-LR/dp/B01HIS30VC

So what I would do would be to fit the GPU's in grey slots 1 & 3 for air flow. Then I'd probably put the Intel Optane 900P in the black 4x slot in the middle. Then to preserve air flow to the bottom GPU card I'd look into getting a powered riser and mount the audio card somewhere else in the chassi. Maybe there is space below or on the side. Something like this perhaps: https://www.amazon.com/6-Pin-Powere...9662&sr=1-2&keywords=pci+powered+riser+single

Since you're going to have quite a lot of equipment in a tight space it might also not be a bad idea to check your fans in that area. If you computer case allows for the installation of a side fan I'd go for that. You want air flowing on your Optane drive, over the top of the graphics cards and ideally also over the motherboard behind the graphics cards. This can be a tricky area to cool but your motherboard and components will thank you for it in the long run. There are some options like this and they aren't a bad idea: https://mnpctech.com/chassis-coolin...uthbridge-card-cooling-fan-mount-bracket.html

Not critical to get such a fan right away but it's a good idea for the long run. I wouldn't bother with water cooling unless you want the looks. Air cooling done right is really good these days and basically maintenance free and quieter than most water setups when the pump is running. My own rig is all Noctua 140mm PWM fans and a DH15 cpu cooler. It's damn quiet and damn cool running and no need to worry about water leaks, pump failure or changing the water or anything like that. Water is cool and all if you want to go for the looks, or break bench records, but for everyday practical use good air cooling is far and away my preference.

Of course your i9 cpu is a real beast so I can see why you're running water on that one, especially if you want to OC it a bit.

Hope that helps?

 

@A1Gear

Sure that sounds good too. The optane drive is probably small enough that it won't be blocking much airflow from your bottom card and it should get some cooling from the gpu fan so that's good. Sometimes it's easier to setup an optane card like that when it's connected to the controller but you'll just have to try it and see how it goes. They can be a little tricky to get going as boot OS drives sometimes but I'm sure there's a guide somewhere you can follow. If you're lucky it will work without much trouble.

Top choice of GPU brands by the way. EVGA has by far and away the best warranty, be sure to register them for the best warranty terms. About airflow... it certainly sounds like you have enough fans... but other than that really hard to comment on without seeing pictures etc. But trying to tuck away cables is a good idea, they block some air.

Would love to see a pic or two of the rig later when it's all done, sounds like a monster.