Custom Computer Build

[The Serpent Merchant]

One of my many hobbies is building custom computers. Personally I'm more into building and overclocking systems than I am into gaming or anything like that, but most of my friends are hardcore gamers. One of said friends was looking to upgrade their system and came to me to build it. So to all the other BP.net members that are into computers enjoy and let me know what you think.

System Specs:

Case: Antec 902

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V (intel socket LGA 1155, SATA III, USB 3.0 intel Z77 chipset)

Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K (Intel Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz-3.8GHz 77 Watt Quad Core)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB kit (dual channel 2x 4GB sticks 1600MHz)

Graphics Card: Gigabyte Windforce AMD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB GDDR5 vRAM (PCIe 3.0)

Power supply: Corsair GS-800 (800 Watt PSU)

Data Storage: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM drives in RAID 0 (SATA III 64MB Cache)

Optical Drive: ASUS DVD burner

Case Fans: 2x 120mm LED intake fans on the front (Antec TriCool) 1x 120mm LED rear exhaust fan (Antec TriCool) 1x 200mm LED top exhaust fan (Antec TriCool)

CPU Cooler: Enermax ETS T40-VD (4 copper heat-pipes that are in direct contact with the CPU, 1x Enermax TB Vegas PWM 120mm LED fan)

Monitor: ASUS PA248Q IPS 24" Professional Monitor (1920 x 1200 LED Backlit IPS panel, 178 degrees viewable, 300 cd/m2, 80,000,000:1 contrast, 6ms response) Note: My friend also does a lot of work in photoshop so a monitor with 100% sRGB was important

I would consider this a mid-range system. It can handle pretty much any game you through at it with mostly maxed out if not maxed out settings. I was able to get a stable overclock of 4.8 GHz when the CPU is running on a single core (48 multiplier x 100 clock) if the CPU is running 2 or 3 cores it will run at 4.6 GHz (46 multiplier x 100 clock) and if it is running all 4 cores it will only run at 4.5GHz (45 multiplier x 100 clock) The GPU is also slightly overclocked.

Onto the pictures:

















Not the best cable job I've ever done, but nobody will open the back of this build ever again so it really didn't matter.

[Wes]

Nice wire management. Pretty nice build as well.

[Kodieh]

How do you like your 7870? I've got the ASUS HD 7750, and can max out most standard games with my AMD A8 quad core.

I built my new one on about $350, and I think I got really good performance over all. Blue LED all the way! The one I built for my wife has a huge green LED fan on the side and spaces for an additional 6 fans. o_o

[Valley]

Not a big fan of AMD, but nicely done!

[Valley]

Also not a big fan of over clocking. Can dramatically shorten the lifespan, but if its stable its stable.

[The Serpent Merchant]

How do you like your 7870? I've got the ASUS HD 7750, and can max out most standard games with my AMD A8 quad core.

I built my new one on about $350, and I think I got really good performance over all. Blue LED all the way! The one I built for my wife has a huge green LED fan on the side and spaces for an additional 6 fans. o_o

I couldn't complain. It does its job very well for the price. The gigabyte windforce cooler is amazing. In my personal system I use NVIDIA Quadro cards & Tesla cards but that is a workstation. My girlfriends system has 2x GTX 680's and man do those things scream.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Also not a big fan of over clocking. Can dramatically shorten the lifespan, but if its stable its stable.

Overclocking will only shorten the life of a CPU if you let it get/stay really hot, (like 70-80 c) or increase the volts to idiotic levels (which will make it run really hot)

The CPU in this system stays around 45-50 C during heavy gaming, and considerably less at idle. I only slightly increased the volts so this CPU shouldn't see any significant shortening of lifespan. It only really has to last 2-3 years anyway before it will need to be replaced due to being ancient technology.

[xdeus]

That looks nice. I have a very similar build. I would change a couple things, though. I'm not a big fan of bright lights or fan noise and that thing looks noisy. I went with a quiet, basic case which I really like. Also, storage is cheap so I would go with 2 TB drives in RAID1 and a SSD for the OS.

[The Serpent Merchant]

That looks nice. I have a very similar build. I would change a couple things, though. I'm not a big fan of bright lights or fan noise and that thing looks noisy. I went with a quiet, basic case which I really like. Also, storage is cheap so I would go with 2 TB drives in RAID1 and a SSD for the OS.

All of the fans are low RPM, it is actually nearly silent.

This was a build with a very strict budget, and we decided to put more money into the CPU, monitor, and GPU than storage since as you said it's cheap, and will be easier to upgrade later.

On a side note I very rarely use RAID 1 as it only protects you from a single drive failure. I much prefer to have an external with backup software as that protects you from a single drive failure and the user being stupid and deleting a needed file.

In my workstation I have a RAID 10 (or 1 + 0 however you want to think of it) simply to have some fault protection on what would be a RAID 0 array. This build didn't have budget for that and I don't think the motherboard supported that RAID level.

[xdeus]

On a side note I very rarely use RAID 1 as it only protects you from a single drive failure. I much prefer to have an external with backup software as that protects you from a single drive failure and the user being stupid and deleting a needed file.

I've never had a problem with more than one drive fail in a RAID 1 array, especially with today's drives and S.M.A.R.T. keeping an eye on things. I would be much more worried with RAID 0 as you are then twice as likely to have a failure and destroy all of your data. A RAID 0 with an external drive is pretty much a RAID 1, only more delayed and prone to failure due to operator error. RAID 10 or 6 is nice in a work environment, but kind of a waste in a home environment. Also, backups are great, but not really needed for deleted files if you're using Windows. Shadow copy is pretty standard now.

As far as cost, the difference between 1TB and 2TB drive is about $35. You're going to spend more than that with two 1TB drives and an external 2TB drive for your backup.