The Last Outpost

A shoutbox conversation made me decide to post this out. Basically, share your current computer hardware and electronics.

Main Desktop:
AMD FX-6100 (6 cores @4ghz)
32gb ram
Radeon HD 5830
Radeon HD 5450
Radeon HD 6670
9.5 tb total storage, primary OS running on a 500gb SSD Raid 0 (Samsung 840 EVOs)

4x Dell 2407 WFPs (A1 revision) - 24" LCD
4x Dell 20" LCDs (not sure of the model)
Thats right, I have 8 monitors arranged in a 4x4,
(https://last-outpost.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FeWpOafr.jpg&hash=6c1661f8c5aa7f416f6dc7f4b1b22689be72c2bc)

Logitech G110 keyboard
Logitech M570 wireless trackball
Unicomp 103 buckling spring keyboard

Secondary Machine
Rasperry Pi running Raspbian, velcroed to the back of a monitor.

Tertiary Machine:
iMac 8,1 20" screen
Core 2 Duo @ 2.4ghz
2gb ram
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 128MB
250gb HD
OSX 10.9

Laptop 1:
Dell Latitude D630
T9500 Core2Duo (2 cores @ 2.6ghz)
8gb ram
GMA950 graphics
128gb Crucial M4 SSD

Laptop 2:
Lenovo X61 Convertible Tablet
Core2duo @1.8ghz (not sure which chip and the box is dead right now and the charger is all the way across the room....)
8gb ram
256gb Plextor SSD

Work Laptop
Macbook Pro
Core i7
16gb ram
512 GB SSD

Misc:
iPad 1 - used primarily by my SO as a Netflix device
Hisense Sero 7 Pro - 7" Android tab sold by windows. Actually a pretty good little device. Does double duty mounted in the dash of my car and as a tablet - Now own two of these bad boys.
Nexus 5
PS3 - acquired in exchange for work done, barely used but I have a weakness for Gran Turismo 5 and it makes a good Netflix player for the bedroom
XBox 360 - Star Wars Special Edition (looks like r2d2) - the girlfriend just HAD to have this. She paid for it, but it hasnt been turned on in months
Wii #1 - White, bought the christmas they first came out for an exorbitant cost (pretty sure i paid almost $700 for it on ebay). Currently in a box and not used
Wii #2 - Black and newer. Currently runs netflix, Smash Brothers, and Mario 64 in the living room

Well mine's not quite as impressive...

Only laptop:
Toshiba Satellite P870
Intel i7 Quad core 3rd gen
24gb ram
Hybrid graphics card:
    - Intel Ivybridge Mobile
    - Nvidia GeForce GT 630M
64GB SSD
1tb internal
1.5tb external
OS: Windows 8.1, Ubuntu 14.04 Beta

Oh yeah, and a dell something or other 19" 1440x900 monitor for a dual screen setup

Media/Backup Server:
Intel Celeron (Single core, 2.6ghz)
256mb ram
80GB hdd
1.5TB external hdd
OS: Debian 6

My laptop specs are pretty bad.

4 GB RAM
Intel i3 370-m processor
Intel HD Graphics (First Generation Intel HD - Not 2000, 3000, 4000 etc)
500 GB Harddrive

It was good in 2010, it could do anything but over the years it's not that good - Especially for video editing, graphics etc. Whatever, it works for the stuff. It can handle Photoshop, however I must sit with a fan next to La Radio's Laptop because Acer is terrible at building laptops and they have heating issues. Basic tasks make it overheat. (e.g using MS Word.)

Here is what I have

Desktop:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+
2GB RAM
320GB Hard drive
EVGA Nvidia GeForce GT 640 2GB
OS: Linux

Tablet:
Polaroid PMID701i X10 7" Android Tablet with a broken power button
Hisense Sero 7 Pro 7" Android Tablet

Game Consoles:
Wii newer black with Super Mario RPG, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Donkey Kong Country Returns
Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DS
GameCube
PlayStation
Atari 2600, 7800, and games(in the attic. They probably don't work anymore)
Atari Flashback 3

Desktop:

Asus P6X58D-E Motherboard.
Intel i7-920 @ 2.67 (currently OC'd to 3.4 GHz with a Coolermaster Evo 212, maintains a stable temperature of 40c at idling).
20 GB of DDR3-1600. (it should be 24, I may have a bad DIMM V_V)
GTX-770

Drives:

Primary:

240 GB SSD

Data:

1 TB HDD
750 GB HDD
500 GB HDD
320 GB HDD
250 GB HDD
160 GB HDD

Total storage:

2.93 TB

Optical: DVD+/-RW and Blu-Ray reader.
775w power supply.
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
450w UPS power system (in most situations, my system does not exceed 400 watts)


Desktop 2 (business PC):

CPU: i3-2100 @ 3.10 GHz
RAM: 12 GB DDR3 1333
Storage: 64 GB SSD, 500 GB HDD
OS: Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit
Misc: In a very, very small case.
450w UPS power system

Laptop:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
6 GB of DDR2 RAM
320 GB HDD
NVidia 8600M GT
OS: Mac OS X 10.9


Phone: LG G2
Phone 2: Droid Razr (bricked, sort of :P... experimenting with it using CyanogenMod!)
iPod Touch v3 64gb

_______________

Old computers:

Asus G53SW-A1

Desktop:

i7-4770K @ 4.4GHz
Asus Maximus VI Hero
Nvidia GTX 780 (EVGA Superclocked ACX)
16GB DDR3 2133MHz
120GB SSD / 1TB HDD
DVD+/-RW and Blu-Ray
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

[space for laptop]

Misc:

360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, Sony Xperia Z1

I currently have a 4 year old first gen i7 desktop with an old 4850 X2 Radeon card in it, still performs pretty decent but I'm going to get a new one after graduation.

AOh yeah ofc monitors and stuff, i can connect up to 4 but then i cant play games anymore so I'm satisfied with 2, couldnt work with 1 anymore though :P

Also several android devices, Nexus 7 2013 being the latest, really great device for the price, truly, beats all ipads at any front (im android-biases anyways so).

Add to that every console from say the past 15-20 years (starting with the psone/n64, but i also have bought a snes and nes on later dates) excluding some of the duplicate nintendo ones (i dont have the XL versions of the DS/3DS, though I recently got a 2DS cuz i didnt like the 3d effect anyway and my fingers are quite large so the 2DS is actually better to hold for me). I'm also a bit of a nintendo geek, not that much but i do have a lot of stuff from them.

Desktop at my house-
Intel Core Duo 2.4 GHZ
4 GB RAM
3 TB Hard Drive Space
GT 640 2 GB Overclocked 20%
Ubuntu/Windows XP/Windows 7 in triple boot, normally use Ubuntu/Windows XP

iPad Mini
iPad Air
iPod 5
iPhone 5S
My family is nuts for apple, as you can see.
I also have a Nexus 4 that I don't use much.
Xbox 360, mostly use it for Netflix and NBA 2k
Playstation 4, no games right now, all sold out, I'm lucky i got the console.
Playstation 3, this is where i do most of my gaming.
Gamecube, I solely have this for Super Mario 64 and Smash Bros.
Playstation 2, Star Wars Battlefront 2. That is all.
Wii, It has homebrew I think, haven't turned it on in years.
Nintendo 3DS, Let's not go here... don't play it very often.

Laptop:  8P

Customized ASUS Zenbook UX Series

- Intel Core i7 (8 CPUs)
- 8 GB RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce 650M, 2 GB
- 256 GB SSD
- 1 TB GB Hard Drive

It's not the world's fastest laptop, but it sure is sexeh. (http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ASUS-Zenbook-UX21E-DH71-angle-black.jpg)

Quote from: Minutias on November 20, 2013, 08:09:23 AM
Laptop:  8P

Customized ASUS Zenbook UX Series

- Intel Core i7 (8 CPUs)
- 8 GB RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce 650M, 2 GB
- 256 GB SSD
- 1 TB GB Hard Drive

It's not the world's fastest laptop, but it sure is sexeh. (http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ASUS-Zenbook-UX21E-DH71-angle-black.jpg)

I miss my Asus laptop :(

Quote from: Paracelsus on November 20, 2013, 09:42:07 AM

Quote from: Minutias on November 20, 2013, 08:09:23 AM
Laptop:  8P

Customized ASUS Zenbook UX Series

- Intel Core i7 (8 CPUs)
- 8 GB RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce 650M, 2 GB
- 256 GB SSD
- 1 TB GB Hard Drive

It's not the world's fastest laptop, but it sure is sexeh. (http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ASUS-Zenbook-UX21E-DH71-angle-black.jpg)

I miss my Asus laptop :(

*pat pat*

You still have: :P

Quote from: Paracelsus on November 15, 2013, 11:49:25 PM
Desktop:

Asus P6X58D-E Motherboard.
Intel i7-920 @ 2.67 (currently OC'd to 3.67 GHz with a Coolermaster Evo 212, maintains a stable temperature of 40 at idling).
24 GB of DDR3-1600.
NVidia GTX-570 (Tomorrow I will upgrade it to the GTX-770).
Drives: 1 TB main, 750 GB secondary drive, 64 GB SSD.
Optical: DVD+/-RW and Blu-Ray reader.
775w power supply.
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit


Laptop

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
6 GB of DDR2 RAM
320 GB HDD
NVidia 8600M GT
OS: Mac OS X 10.9


Phone: LG G2

Updated, SSD <3

Edited mine as well. Added in my kickass new work laptop and my second android tablet.

I may have too many devices. I need help...

Quote from: andrewthetechie on December 05, 2013, 04:47:54 PM
I may have too many devices. I need help...

I may be willing to... help you... with that problem. :nudgewink:

All of these specs make me feel sad (I saw AMD FX- and immediately craved a Veshira). I only have an i5 clocking in at 3.1GHz, with 8GB DDR3, with an ATI HD Radeon 5700 series (I cant remember the exact model) with 1024MB of GDDR5 (I think thats accurate). Also, no SSD. Just a (nearly full) 1TB HDD. I'm considering trying to get hold of a hybrid drive, but money isn't exactly something I have.

Edited again for the addition of the iMac now on my desk provided by work.

I'm going to get a pc upgrade very soon :D

I see many of us are boasting an i7 920 ATM. I still have mine clocked at the default 2.66 but might try my hand at OC when i get my new Haswell one as they tend to be pretty overclock able as compared to this one. Of course, it's a hit or miss on the die you get.

Edited mine to include my new tablet

My new laptop and my dad's desktop he sometimes lets me use

Laptop:
Toshiba somethingerother
2.5 GHz i3 somehing
4 GB RAM
HD 4000
and the worlds worst keyboard.

Desktop:
i7 Extreme Overclocked to about 4.2 GhZ
64 GB Ram
2x780s
10 TBs of HDD space on the server.

Just to make you all jealous :P

The Machine which I will be building over the next month is as follows:

Intel Core i7 4770k @ 3.5Ghz
16 GB of Ram, running at 1866 MHZ
On a MSI  Z87-G45 Motherboard
With a Cooler Master GX II 750 Watt Power supply
An AMD Radeon R9 290X
A 120GB SSD as my primary Hard Drive
A Western Digital Blue 2 TB Hard drive as a secondary.
A Bluray/DVD/CD RW drive
All in a Cooler Master Scout 2 Case

Quote from: Klaw on December 26, 2013, 01:50:45 PM
Just to make you all jealous :P

The Machine which I will be building over the next month is as follows:

Intel Core i7 4770k @ 3.5Ghz
16 GB of Ram, running at 1866 MHZ
On a MSI  Z87-G45 Motherboard
With a Cooler Master GX II 750 Watt Power supply
An AMD Radeon R9 290X
A 120GB SSD as my primary Hard Drive
A Western Digital Blue 2 TB Hard drive as a secondary.
A Bluray/DVD/CD RW drive
All in a Cooler Master Scout 2 Case

Thats looks a damn lot like mine XD

Same, CPU, same GPU, though I'll be shooting for the Sapphire Tri-X version since the stock cooler versions run hot as hell and are as noisy as an aircraft (for someone active in a noise-reduction company not really a good buy XD). I already have my SSD from my old rig and going to shoot for a WD Green @ 3 TB since it had the best gb/euro ratio in the webstore i want to get it. As for the main board, ASUS all the way, i've never had any problems with any of my ASUS main boards and I've had nothing but trouble with any other brand of mainboard I have ever owned or worked with at my work place (sorry to say, but I have especially bad experience when it comes to MSI). I also read a review about the new Z87 mainboards from ASUS and the (uefi) bios and bundled utilities are praised for their excellence. So should I ever try my hand at overclocking, it will hopefully be a breeze :)

Anyway Klaw, nice rig. Like i said, same idea as mine, great minds think alike XD.


EDIT: My dad was just watching German TV, and I learned that in German, RAM is "Arbeidsspeicher" XD that sounds so funny.

Quote from: Martin Thompson on December 26, 2013, 12:29:56 PM
I see many of us are boasting an i7 920 ATM. I still have mine clocked at the default 2.66 but might try my hand at OC when i get my new Haswell one as they tend to be pretty overclock able as compared to this one. Of course, it's a hit or miss on the die you get.

Nice to see that many Nehalem brothers and sisters out there! I too have an i7 920 @ 2.66, and to this day I can't believe how much bang for the buck I got.  :D
Here's my stuff:

Desktop PC
Acer 23" Touchscreen
Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.66 GHz
OCZ 12GB @1600MHz Triple Channel RAM
ASUS P6T-SE
Sapphire Radeon HD 6950
2x500GB HDD's in RAID 0
XFX 750W PSU
Neon tubes (!)

Microsoft Surface Pro
Intel Core i5 3317U @ 1.7GHz
4GB @ 1600MHz RAM
128GB SSD

BTW, Touchscreen+Windows 8+LCARS Interface == pure awesomeness.  :D*

Quote from: Surok on December 27, 2013, 08:37:43 AM
BTW, Touchscreen+Windows 8+LCARS Interface == pure awesomeness.  :D*

This LCARS interface you speak of, where did you find it? All I've been able to find is some pale imitations to true LCARS on the Windows Store, with unfortunately little funcitonality.  :(

http://www.lcars47.com/
That's a good one to mess around with, it's just a standalone program though.

Ah well here are mine:

Desktop
AMD FX-6100
16 GB RAM
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 Superclocked 2GB
256 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD
Duak-Boot: Windows 8.1 Professional N 64bit and Chakra Linux

Secondary Desktop
Pentium 4 3 Ghz
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon X800 256MB
Chakra Linux

Notebook
MacBook Pro 15,4'' 11,3
i7 2.5 GHz
16 GB RAM
GeForce GT750M 2GB VRAM
Dual-Boot: Mac OS X Yosemite and Windows 8.1 Professional N 64Bit

Misc
iPhone 5S 16GB
Raspberry Pi Model B

Quote from: John Adams on December 27, 2013, 05:21:43 PM
http://www.lcars47.com/
That's a good one to mess around with, it's just a standalone program though.

This is cool, very cool.

Yes, LCARS 47 is likely the coolest and most authentic one!

In the Store there's "LCARS Interface": http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/lcars-interface/cf3da302-e3bb-4dc1-a1ab-63cbcbed3662 (http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/lcars-interface/cf3da302-e3bb-4dc1-a1ab-63cbcbed3662)
It lets you use common starship systems like Helm, Tactical, Engineering and Transporter. The best part is probably the transporter console because it lets you do the three-finger transport swipe - now that's a good feeling! :)

It is not super-canon but it provides a fun LCARS experience because you can actually interact and "play" with it.

Just ordered my new one. Will post specs soon if your interested. Graphics cards where still on pre-order expected to ship mid-january so it will still be a while before i get it up and running for the full 100%.

I have completed my pc build, rejoice!

I'll start off by saying, I can run RPG-X with 2300 FPS now, and no, that is not a typo :). Actually when going above 200 fps (by setting com_maxfps to that value) the game isnt playable anymore due to server messages reaching maximum ammounts (youll get spammed by error messages), but fraps still runs and indicateds 2300 fps when setting maxfps to 9999 so yeah, thats quite awesome XD.

So, on to the specs then:

Case: Naxnoxia Deep Silence 5
CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k @ 3.5Ghz OC'ed to 4.4 Ghz running stable with a Scythe Mugen 4 PCGH cooler
RAM: 16 GB Kingston Hyper X, running at 1866 MHZ
Motherboard: Asus Z87-Deluxe
PSU: Corsair RM850 850 Watt
HDD:
-Kingston HyperX 256 Gb Sata 6 (so double the speed of regular SSD's. Though this is an oldy, I already had it from my old rig).
-Western Digintal Green 3 Tb
-Samsung 1Tb
DVD: Asus BC-12D2HT Blueray reader / DVD writer combo
Card Reader: Sharkoon Media REader II (because its nice and compact)
GPU (This is really where i went off-budget, but so worth it): 2x Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X (The one with the custom tri-x cooler, which is super quite and keeps the card 20 degrees cooler then the reference design. And yes, thats 2 of the second-fastest gpu's on the earth right now XD).

I also bought a new keyboard since my old one is about 12 years old and still running on a PS/2 connection which my new motherboard didn't have anymore. I got a Logitech G710+.

I think I'm settled for the forseeable future, and seeing I used my old rig for about 4 years now (with 1 motherboard replacement because the first one i had crapped out on me) I think i should be set for another 4 to 6 years with this.

Updated total storage! Nearly 3 TB

Updated to include my NAS box

Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.5 GHz
Memory: Corsair 4 GB DDR3 @ 1600 MHz
Graphics Card: EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 760 2 GB GDDR5 256-bit
Motherboard: MSi P67A-GD65

Quote from: Serris on February 21, 2014, 06:37:48 PM
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.5 GHz
Memory: Corsair 4 GB DDR3 @ 1600 MHz
Graphics Card: MSi nVidia GeForce GTX 660 2 GB GDDR5 192-bit
Motherboard: MSi P67A-GD65

4 GB? That's all? O_O

how i get mor mhz?

Quote from: Francis Underwood on February 21, 2014, 08:21:32 PM4 GB? That's all? O_O

I had a second 4 GB stick, but my old motherboard had a defective memory slot, so I misplaced it and haven't found it since.

Updated to show the newest specs on the beast (8 MONITORS!!!)

What do you do with all that? Why not sell those crappy GPUs and get one really good one? You could buy an r9-295X for like $1000.

Here's what I've got now. Just did some upgrades (mostly case mods and GPU; had to RMA a broken part too :/ ).

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4
CPU: Intel i7-2600 3.4 ghz quad-core
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-2133
GPU: Asus DirectCU II TOP R9 280X (3GB GDDR5)
SSD: 120B Samsung SanDisk
HDD: 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM
PSU: Cooler Master GX750 750watts
Case: NZXT Guardian 921 RB (modded to remove small drive bays)

Right now, nothing's overclocked - I haven't bothered to OC the new GPU yet and the i7 is a non-k version so I can't squeeze much more out of it. I run three monitors; two small Dell something-or-other panels (13'' and 15'') and a 24'' 1080p Samsung panel.

QuoteWhat do you do with all that? Why not sell those crappy GPUs and get one really good one? You could buy an r9-295X for like $1000.

I was suprised to see that one R9 295X was more expensive then 2xR9 290X TRI-X (Sapphire custom cooled) in Euros atleast (i think the 295 was rated at about 1200 euros whereas the two 290x's are a grand total of just under a 1000).

How do you like that RAM btw? I'm always a bit weary of buying non Kingston or Corsair RAM. I guess its just good experiences with those brands. I did read some reviews of the other RAM card brands having statistically more fallouts though. Don't have the link anymore. I suppose its just as good as any other brand tbh cuz its all silicon anyway :P

Well, as I work from home I do a lot with all 8 monitors. I'll have to take a screenshot next time I am working, I display lots of information that i need to process all at once. Multiple putty sessions, multiple browser windows with data. I've actually gotten to the point where I have to run chrome and firefox because trying to run all of my windows in a single browser causes it to crap out. As for them being "Crappy" gpus...they've run every game I've thrown at them at a perfectly acceptable FPS...so they stay. When they die, they'll get upgraded.

As for Gskill ram, I also have it in my main right, 32gb. Its worked just fine for me. :)

Quote from: Martin Thompson on May 17, 2014, 05:53:41 PM

QuoteWhat do you do with all that? Why not sell those crappy GPUs and get one really good one? You could buy an r9-295X for like $1000.

I was suprised to see that one R9 295X was more expensive then 2xR9 290X TRI-X (Sapphire custom cooled) in Euros atleast (i think the 295 was rated at about 1200 euros whereas the two 290x's are a grand total of just under a 1000).

How do you like that RAM btw? I'm always a bit weary of buying non Kingston or Corsair RAM. I guess its just good experiences with those brands. I did read some reviews of the other RAM card brands having statistically more fallouts though. Don't have the link anymore. I suppose its just as good as any other brand tbh cuz its all silicon anyway :P

Well, one R9 295X includes water cooling and essentially two R9 290Xes in Crossfire, but in one unit.

I like it fine - for a while, actually, I thought it might be slightly defective because I was having issues with the system hanging at the BIOS screen on boot until the restart button was pressed, but I recently determined that was caused by a different (faulty) component. If I remember right, though, I got a pretty good deal on it.

Stock pc- processor- amd a8-6500 apu- 3.5ghz quad core
                   Gpu- radeon hd 8570D
                  hard drive- 1tb with a hotswap bay for a second drive
                   ram- 6gb ddr3 no clockage
           
Its a gateway dx4380-er36. It is sold at the source canada.

How can you all afford these things  :what:

I can't even afford to get my...blown up memory cell thing fixed.

(Yup. STO destroyed half of the RAM in my laptop, which was bad to begin with. I also can't play Minecraft at all now without overheating.)

In canada we have the ability to get government student loans. And it covers the cost of your education, supplies, and other things you may need. You can live on the loan..kinda

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 18, 2014, 06:45:10 AM
How can you all afford these things  :what:

I can't even afford to get my...blown up memory cell thing fixed.

(Yup. STO destroyed half of the RAM in my laptop, which was bad to begin with. I also can't play Minecraft at all now without overheating.)

Because I have a job which earns me money that I saved to get it. As far as educational facilities go, Dutch Universities costs you about 1800 euros tuition a year and you receive a loan from the government of 90 euros (if you live with parents) or 250 euros (if you live by yourself) a month for a period of 5 years. If you finish your study no more then 10 years after you started, your loan is remitted. Besides that there are also more money-loan facilities for students, but those are all loans you need to pay back in the end.

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 18, 2014, 06:45:10 AM
How can you all afford these things  :what:

I can't even afford to get my...blown up memory cell thing fixed.

(Yup. STO destroyed half of the RAM in my laptop, which was bad to begin with. I also can't play Minecraft at all now without overheating.)

How did STO destroy your RAM? How do you know it was STO?

Speaking personally, my system is a hodgepodge of components I've bought and upgraded over time. It started life as a Dell XPS 8300. I upgraded the PSU and graphics card a few years ago. A little later I got an SSD. Then, I transitioned to a fully custom build by getting a new case, RAM, and motherboard. The most recent upgrade was improving the GPU again, and modding the case so the new GPU fits.

I try to keep in mind the end-of-life for all my components. The way I'm going I'll be due for a total overhaul (new mobo, new processor, new GPU, maybe more RAM) in about 3-4 years. Before that I will probably upgrade the HDD/SSD.

Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 (DDR3,USB3.0, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX/Sli)
CPU:AMD FX-9590 Eight Core CPU (5.0GHz/16MB CACHE/AM3+)
RAM: 64GB Kingston Hyper-X Beast Dual DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (4x16GB)
GPU: 3x 6GB Nvidea GeForce GTX 780 - 2 DVI,HDMI,DP - 3D Vision Ready 
SSD: 1TB Crucial M550 SSD, SATA 6Gb/s 550MB/sR
HDD: 1st&2nd 4th 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 5900RPM 64MB CACHE (RAID)
3rd 4TB WD Caviar Black WD4003FZEX, SATA 6GB/s 64MB CACHE(7200RPM)
PSU: Corsair 1200W Pro Series Platinum AX1200i Digital Modular PSU
Case: Coolermaster Cosmos 2 Ultra Tower (Built in fan controller)
CD/DVD Drive: 1:16x Blu-Ray Writer Drive, 16x DVD ±R/±RW 2: 24x Dual Layer DVD writer ±R/±RW/RAM
Processor Cooling: Corsair H100i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster ZxR 5.1 PCI-E Soundcard
Firewire: 3 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI Card
USB: 2 Port USB 3.0 Internal PCI-E Card + Standard USB ports
OS: Windows 8.1 Professional

My laptop overheated playing STO - no idea why, it was properly ventilated, fans cleaned etc, but when I booted it, it kept beeping. When I took the back off, one of the memory sticks had a burn mark on it. When I finally got my laptop on (F8 a few times on the Acer screen, then boot windows normally, weird that it doesn't boot normally without beeping anymore), it said I only had 2GB RAM instead of 4GB.

Check your RAM chips to make sure one hasn't fried istelf, easy way is to test with a multimeter you or your dad would have on lying about I assume? If it reads current flowing through it it is fine if not then take your laptop down to a PC specialist and ask them to check it out, you may have cooling issues. STO is not a cause for something to overheat, not under normal conditions anyway.

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 18, 2014, 03:08:27 PM
My laptop overheated playing STO - no idea why, it was properly ventilated, fans cleaned etc, but when I booted it, it kept beeping. When I took the back off, one of the memory sticks had a burn mark on it. When I finally got my laptop on (F8 a few times on the Acer screen, then boot windows normally, weird that it doesn't boot normally without beeping anymore), it said I only had 2GB RAM instead of 4GB.

You should remove and RMA the dead RAM. Do not leave it in there. If you are running STO at max settings on a laptop that is poorly ventilated, it could overheat, but it's very unlikely it'd get to the point of physically damaging components without shutting down. You should have it returned to manufacturer immediately.

Kurt, we already know his RAM is dead - and you should not use a multimeter on RAM, that won't help or give you any useful information, and may even damage it.

Only issue now, is that if I move my laptop, the screen "breaks" - my laptop is pretty much held together by tape. Also, the warranty was void when I opened the laptop up. That's Acer for you. (I'm at my parents now so I can use their PC for STO haha)

Quote from: Veritas on May 18, 2014, 03:11:56 PM

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 18, 2014, 03:08:27 PM
My laptop overheated playing STO - no idea why, it was properly ventilated, fans cleaned etc, but when I booted it, it kept beeping. When I took the back off, one of the memory sticks had a burn mark on it. When I finally got my laptop on (F8 a few times on the Acer screen, then boot windows normally, weird that it doesn't boot normally without beeping anymore), it said I only had 2GB RAM instead of 4GB.

You should remove and RMA the dead RAM. Do not leave it in there. If you are running STO at max settings on a laptop that is poorly ventilated, it could overheat, but it's very unlikely it'd get to the point of physically damaging components without shutting down. You should have it returned to manufacturer immediately.

Kurt, we already know his RAM is dead - and you should not use a multimeter on RAM, that won't help or give you any useful information, and may even damage it.

I have done it before never been a problem, you use it to check the rail voltage is making it to the module via a decoupling capacitor. I learned that whilst finding what was wrong with some RAM chips in my class. (The person who taught me that has a Masters in Computer Engineering)

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 18, 2014, 03:16:10 PM
Only issue now, is that if I move my laptop, the screen "breaks" - my laptop is pretty much held together by tape. Also, the warranty was void when I opened the laptop up. That's Acer for you. (I'm at my parents now so I can use their PC for STO haha)

How much tape? This may be the source of your problem Radio.

That was a metaphor.

QuoteI have done it before never been a problem, you use it to check the rail voltage is making it to the module via a decoupling capacitor. I learned that whilst finding what was wrong with some RAM chips in my class. (The person who taught me that has a Masters in Computer Engineering)

Just knowing that current flows through the RAM, even specifically at the rail voltage, doesn't mean anything. Current will flow through anything that is a conductor. You need to know that the RAM is taking in and holding data correctly and is doing so in a valid way. The current is obviously a prerequisite for that, but if the memory blocks themselves aren't working, it doesn't matter whether the DIMM is receiving current or not. Radio said there was obvious physical damage to the DIMM, so there's no point in testing this.

Put another way: If your engine block is busted, it doesn't matter whether there's gas in the car. You're not going anywhere.

Affording has been done by building this system out over 5 + years. I'm also due for a total overhaul and replace like Veritas in the next 3-4 years.

My monitors...well, the first 3 were bought in 2007. So ya, its been a project.

I do have an old desktop - I believe I damaged the processor in that though. Perhaps you could help? It was a pretty old system, but hadn't been used for a few years. I cleaned all the dust etc, it worked. I had chrome open and was installing The Sims 2 (because TS2 is great :P). Then the system shut off, and wouldn't boot. If it helps, it never made that beep at startup. (Post Beep, I believe?). Old desktop was pretty good - now equal to my laptop on all but processor. Hell, the graphics card is way better than my laptop and it's 4 years older than my laptop xD.

Post the specs please, we might be able to help you improve your computer without replacing it, just adding/replacing a few more up-to-date but still compatible parts. (Please post the exact name of the Motherboard)

How can I know what the specs are? xD All I know is that it had 2GB RAM, although, it is shop bought. Part of the Packard Bell iMedia series - dating to around 2006. Inside it, there isn't any damage to the parts, but like I said, I think I bust the processor, or motherboard. I don't suppose there's a way to test if it is the processor that is bust? (I also don't exactly have a few processors lying around :P)

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 19, 2014, 08:30:31 AM
How can I know what the specs are? xD All I know is that it had 2GB RAM, although, it is shop bought. Part of the Packard Bell iMedia series - dating to around 2006. Inside it, there isn't any damage to the parts, but like I said, I think I bust the processor, or motherboard. I don't suppose there's a way to test if it is the processor that is bust? (I also don't exactly have a few processors lying around :P)

Typically the Motherboard will go before the cpu, easiest way to test is to try a boot and see what it does, it can quite often boot even if there is an issue as long as the BIOS is undamaged and is receiving power. It will then tell you problems, if there is an issue or it won't boot then you will need to replace the motherboard as it will be the damaged component, you can often save the likes of the CPU by simply getting the same motherboard or a slightly newer model that is compatible with your current components.
A few questions:-
1. How many RAM slots does it have?
2. How many PCI-E slots does it have? (they will be named on the motherboard)
3. What is your motherboards serial code and who makes it? (also on the motherboard, typically in large writing)
4. What is the Wattage of your PSU? (it will be on the bottom of your power supply normally)
5. If it does boot and does not label a CPU fault try and find out what CPU you have
6. HDD/SSD size and number of them?
7. What kind of budget would you have if you were to upgrade/replace the computer? (I might be able to either find you a full replacement or will hopefully be able to get your computer up and running with a better amount of RAM and GPU RAM)
8. What is your current GPU/GPC?
9. Any addon components? e.g. Soundcard, Card Reader, extra USB slots, cooling fan controller etc.
10. How many CD/DVD Drives?

Kurt, he has no way to know that stuff if it won't boot. The motherboard beep codes don't mean the processor itself is dead, necessarily (in fact they probably don't mean that at all since the processor is required to function to produce a beep code). More likely something else has gone bad - RAM, HDD or power.

It doesn't matter, though. A stock system from 2006 much of anything modern on anything approaching acceptable settings - definitely not STO. The motherboard will be an old model that won't support modern CPUs (if, indeed, it supports anything other than what's already in it). It may not even be DDR3 RAM, and may not be expandable. It almost certainly won't have the space and power requirements for a modern GPU; hell, it's probably AGP or some other non-PCI-Express component.

Quote from: Veritas on May 19, 2014, 11:05:11 AM
Kurt, he has no way to know that if it won't boot.

A stock system from 2006 isn't gonna play THe Sims 3, or much of anything modern, on anything approaching acceptable settings - especially not STO.

Dude if it won't boot the the motherboard isn't working, the cpu is not required for the initial boot just the motherboard and the bios.
And at 2gb of ram if he runs on low settings it could run sto just fine. Also if you notice one of my questions was in regard to him upgrading his pc.

I edited my post, but come on man...

Quotethe cpu is not required for the initial boot just the motherboard and the bios.

Quote the cpu is not required for the initial boot just the motherboard and the bios.

Kurt, I don't know how to say this nicely: You don't know nearly as much about computers as you think you do.

Try "booting" a computer that has no processor installed and see what happens (hint: it will be nothing. Impossible to process anything in order to send POST without anything to do the processing).

Quote from: Veritas on May 19, 2014, 11:14:44 AM
I edited my post, but come on man...

Quotethe cpu is not required for the initial boot just the motherboard and the bios.

Quote the cpu is not required for the initial boot just the motherboard and the bios.

Kurt, I don't know how to say this nicely: You don't know nearly as much about computers as you think you do.

Try "booting" a computer that has no processor installed and see what happens (hint: it will be nothing. Impossible to process anything in order to send POST without anything to do the processing).

Dude the whole point of the BIOS is it does a pre-test before the computer actually boots, if you knew as much as you appear to claim you do you would know that, it is the first thing you are taught about computer hardware. The boot sequence goes, BIOS, CPU, OS That is why if your CPU has an issue such as the cooling fan is not working correctly it will state that your computer cannot complete the start-up process.

Quote from: Veritas on May 19, 2014, 11:14:44 AM
I edited my post, but come on man...

Quotethe cpu is not required for the initial boot just the motherboard and the bios.

Quote the cpu is not required for the initial boot just the motherboard and the bios.

Kurt, I don't know how to say this nicely: You don't know nearly as much about computers as you think you do.

Try "booting" a computer that has no processor installed and see what happens (hint: it will be nothing. Impossible to process anything in order to send POST without anything to do the processing).

btw in regards to your earlier posts all 2006 Motherboards had PCI-E slots. Source in my first block of year 1 we used motherboards from 2005/2006 to ensure we did not damage the newer and more expensive motherboards.

Quote from: Veritas on May 19, 2014, 11:05:11 AM
Kurt, he has no way to know that stuff if it won't boot. The motherboard beep codes don't mean the processor itself is dead, necessarily (in fact they probably don't mean that at all since the processor is required to function to produce a beep code). More likely something else has gone bad - RAM, HDD or power.

It doesn't matter, though. A stock system from 2006 much of anything modern on anything approaching acceptable settings - definitely not STO. The motherboard will be an old model that won't support modern CPUs (if, indeed, it supports anything other than what's already in it). It may not even be DDR3 RAM, and may not be expandable. It almost certainly won't have the space and power requirements for a modern GPU; hell, it's probably AGP or some other non-PCI-Express component.

Oh and btw if you actually read my post you will also see that I ask him to check the PSU's wattage to check to see what it would be able to handle, thus finding out if it would need replaced :) But thanks for the input.

Back onto the matter at hand Radio if you could kindly do that we can further progress your situation and inform you as to whether your desktop pc would need a major overhaul/replacement or whether it can simply be upgraded.

QuoteDude the whole point of the BIOS is it does a pre-test before the computer actually boots, if you knew as much as you appear to claim you do you would know that, it is the first thing you are taught about computer hardware. The boot sequence goes, BIOS, CPU, OS That is why if your CPU has an issue such as the cooling fan is not working correctly it will state that your computer cannot complete the start-up process.

You are completely wrong, and apparently so certain in your wrongness you won't bother to even check on it for yourself. I will not do your Googling for you, but feel free to search "boot without CPU" and see what happens. I won't argue with you further, but I would caution others in this thread not to take your advice, because I don't see it coming from any sort of actual knowledge. I won't appeal to my own authority (though I am computer science student and I do have knowledge of computer architecture), those reading this should definitely NOT do things like run multimeters through their RAM or try to boot without a CPU installed.

I will just say this, for others in this thread: BIOS is, essentially, a pared-down operating system used to "bootstrap" the rest of the system. It's stored on a ROM chip (read-only memory) on your motherboard. When you press the power button on the motherboard, your CPU looks to the BIOS for its first instructions, then starts loading all that stuff. Most BIOS will NOT stop the boot process for a bad fan; BIOS might know about the fans but won't be able to monitor that kind of "health" in them (only RPM and power consumption).

So the process goes like this, roughly:

1) Start button pressed
2) Power supply delivers power to motherboard, other components
3) CPU is powered up, reads BIOS to see first instructions
4) CPU loads initial instructions into RAM (memory)
5) CPU proceeds with execution according to BIOS instructions until told to look elsewhere
6) BIOS instructs the CPU on where further instructions (from the OS) are coming from
7) OS is loaded into memory; boot process continues with the OS "driving"

So, to start any system (even to the point of receiving a POST code!) you need the following:

1) Power supply
2) CPU (processor) with cooling
3) RAM (memory)

all installed in your motherboard and properly connected up. If you want to look at what your BIOS is doing visually, you will also need some kind of video out (HDMI, VGA, DVI, etc).

TL;DR: Don't take Kurt's advice. He doesn't know what he's talking about and refuses to bother to check his facts. Likely the only things worth salvaging from the 2006 system are the case and maybe the HDD, if it's of a decent size, but if you're serious about doing something new you should look into a totally new build.

Edit: Kurt, I have merged your quadruple (!!!!) post into one post. Use the edit button in the future.

Actually I did check so you may wish to try that little google again or here allow me https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110824202446AAdDPe6 your welcome in future do not question my knowledge unless you can back it up, also I can tell you, that you are wrong about what can be salvaged I just rebuilt my Grandma's computer not three days ago, it was a pentium 4 processor chip 4.00GHz with a 750W PSU (Which did surprise me) I managed to rebuild replacing only the CPU, modifying the motherboard to take more RAM chips so that it could also take Kingston Hyper-X Beast 2400 MHz 16Gb (2*8 ), upgraded to a more modern GPU and replaced the Hard Drives as well as brought it more up-to-date by installing Windows 7 64-bit Professional. The computer incase your wondering was a Dell Inspiron from 2006. I also did a test without the CPU to see what version the BIOS was to make sure it didn't need to be upgraded pre-installation. :)

EDIT: Forgot to mention I also upgraded the Cooling System.
EDIT 2: Radio if you would be so kind as to answer those questions so we could proceed thanks :)

A single Yahoo Answers post does not an authoritative argument make.

Try Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting), OpenBookProject (http://openbookproject.net/courses/intro2ict/hardware/booting.html), Cardinal Stritch University (http://faculty.stritch.edu/jmsklar/581/docs/Class%201/The%20PC%20Boot%20Process.pdf), University of Arizona (http://alamos.math.arizona.edu/~rychlik/CourseDir/481/resources/BaseBoot.pdf), or millions of others.

I will not address the other "points" in your post because I said I would stop arguing, but again, you are absolutely wrong and your certainty in wrongness is something you should think long and hard on.

Edit: Also, you made up your build specs. Here's how I know:

1) The graphics cards you claim to have haven't shipped yet (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/evga-gtx-780-6gb-nvidia,26377.html) (EVGA product page (http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=06G-P4-3785-KR)) and are made by EVGA, not Nvidia themselves
2) The CPU you list is not supported by the motherboard (http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/list.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=SABERTOOTH%20990FX) you claim to have.

So not only don't you know what you're talking about, you also lied to us in your build list.

Check out the Packard Bell iMedia range from 2006. Every system looks identical, with similar specs. It is impossible to find which system I have without booting into it. I'll remove stuff one by one and put it back to see what works and what doesn't. (Also, not planning on playing STO on that dinosaur haha, although it probably could run it)

Got a question though, if I replace the motherboard, will the old components work in it? I won't be able to afford everything, so I'll most likely start with PSU, CPU and Motherboard to start with. The system has a Nvidia card in it - which has rarely been used, which sounds insane at first, but its drivers were never installed, so my PC ran off integrated graphics. Oh my.

Quote from: Veritas on May 19, 2014, 12:18:32 PM
A single Yahoo Answers post does not an authoritative argument make.

Try Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting), OpenBookProject (http://openbookproject.net/courses/intro2ict/hardware/booting.html), Cardinal Stritch University (http://faculty.stritch.edu/jmsklar/581/docs/Class%201/The%20PC%20Boot%20Process.pdf), University of Arizona (http://alamos.math.arizona.edu/~rychlik/CourseDir/481/resources/BaseBoot.pdf), or millions of others.

I will not address the other "points" in your post because I said I would stop arguing, but again, you are absolutely wrong and your certainty in wrongness is something you should think long and hard on.

Why don't you try the fact that I have done 3 days ago.... I believe that the problem is on your side Veritas. But if you would like I could always check with someone who has a Masters in Computer Engineering. Oh guess what, he said almost exactly what is in that Yahoo answer which is with modern Motherboards they have to be forced into thinking the fan is running but with most older models of motherboard they will do that anyway as they always boot from BIOS. Try taking your BIOS chip out and doing a boot I think you will find it does nothing, then try it with no CPU I think it will say it cannot complete boot sequence due to a CPU error. :)

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 19, 2014, 12:23:06 PM
Check out the Packard Bell iMedia range from 2006. Every system looks identical, with similar specs. It is impossible to find which system I have without booting into it. I'll remove stuff one by one and put it back to see what works and what doesn't. (Also, not planning on playing STO on that dinosaur haha, although it probably could run it)

Got a question though, if I replace the motherboard, will the old components work in it? I won't be able to afford everything, so I'll most likely start with PSU, CPU and Motherboard to start with. The system has a Nvidia card in it - which has rarely been used, which sounds insane at first, but its drivers were never installed, so my PC ran off integrated graphics. Oh my.

Possibly providing they were all PCI-E's as the motherboard you had then wouldn't just have had PCI-E port's so double check that.

You can't "take out" a BIOS chip. It's usually soldered to the motherboard.

Also, your build specs are totally made up. Take a look at my edited post above.

QuoteGot a question though, if I replace the motherboard, will the old components work in it? I won't be able to afford everything, so I'll most likely start with PSU, CPU and Motherboard to start with. The system has a Nvidia card in it - which has rarely been used, which sounds insane at first, but its drivers were never installed, so my PC ran off integrated graphics. Oh my.

Some will, some will not. The graphics card may, depending whether it's a PCI-Express card or not (if you can tell us what model it is, or post a picture, I can tell you). The RAM may, if it's DDR3, but it might not be and 2GB is definitely not enough (you probably need 4GB minimum, preferably 8GB). The HDD likely will work, maybe with an IDE to SATA adapter. Optical drives and the like should definitely work.

Quote from: Veritas on May 19, 2014, 12:18:32 PM
A single Yahoo Answers post does not an authoritative argument make.

Try Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting), OpenBookProject (http://openbookproject.net/courses/intro2ict/hardware/booting.html), Cardinal Stritch University (http://faculty.stritch.edu/jmsklar/581/docs/Class%201/The%20PC%20Boot%20Process.pdf), University of Arizona (http://alamos.math.arizona.edu/~rychlik/CourseDir/481/resources/BaseBoot.pdf), or millions of others.

I will not address the other "points" in your post because I said I would stop arguing, but again, you are absolutely wrong and your certainty in wrongness is something you should think long and hard on.

Edit: Also, you made up your build specs. Here's how I know:

1) The graphics cards you claim to have haven't shipped yet (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/evga-gtx-780-6gb-nvidia,26377.html) (EVGA product page (http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=06G-P4-3785-KR)) and are made by EVGA, not Nvidia themselves
2) The CPU you list is not supported by the motherboard (http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/list.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=SABERTOOTH%20990FX) you claim to have.

So not only don't you know what you're talking about, you also lied to us in your build list.

I would check that mate as I know what is in my computer, you may wish to check your sources it has most definitely been shipped as for motherboard incompatibility how do you explain the fact my computer is on then... and have you never heard of de-soldering...

Quote from: Veritas on May 19, 2014, 11:05:11 AM
Kurt, he has no way to know that stuff if it won't boot. The motherboard beep codes don't mean the processor itself is dead, necessarily (in fact they probably don't mean that at all since the processor is required to function to produce a beep code). More likely something else has gone bad - RAM, HDD or power.

It doesn't matter, though. A stock system from 2006 much of anything modern on anything approaching acceptable settings - definitely not STO. The motherboard will be an old model that won't support modern CPUs (if, indeed, it supports anything other than what's already in it). It may not even be DDR3 RAM, and may not be expandable. It almost certainly won't have the space and power requirements for a modern GPU; hell, it's probably AGP or some other non-PCI-Express component.

1. upgrade the PSU this is the 3rd time I have mentioned that I asked him about that, 2. If it doesn't boot the BIOS doesn't work which is normally because the Motherboard died either protecting the CPU or as well as the CPU 3. I believe the model of GPU you are referring to above is the Jetstream version which is the most up-to-date model due for release on the 27th of this month ( I know as I was pondering upgrading to them, but the price is an offput for the extra's it delivers) 4. Yes it may not be expandable that is why my first question was what is the motherboards serial number so I could get the exact specs. Before trying to act know-it-all read someone's post and two check your information.

Throwing this out there, the power supply is fine. It's shown no damage of damage for the past 7 years, why would it be the broken thing? (Plus, the system turns on, just, doesn't load. Or make the POST beep.)

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 19, 2014, 12:46:44 PM
Throwing this out there, the power supply is fine. It's shown no damage of damage for the past 7 years, why would it be the broken thing? (Plus, the system turns on, just, doesn't load. Or make the POST beep.)

Does it state whether there is a component fault or not? (possibly the battery being low from lack of use?) what is the Wattage of the PSU? A photo uploaded to the likes of skydrive/dropbox or imgur could really help with this.

Sorry if I missed this information Radio but does the screen show anything at all?

@Kurt, I can see you are making double, triple, and quadruple posts in this thread. Please remember that the modify button is there should you decide you have more to say before somebody responds to you.

Does anyone know about the quality of AMD's R9 Gamer Series RAM (http://www.radeonmemory.com/gamer_series.php (http://www.radeonmemory.com/gamer_series.php))? AMD claims it is optimised for usage with their higher-end CPUs. I'm trying to work out if said optimisations are worth it, or if I should stick to something like Corsair or Kingston. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that I was using a relatively high-end FX-Series CPU (Which currently I'm not, but am aiming to do so soon enough).

Quote from: Telex Ferra on May 19, 2014, 02:16:54 PM
Sorry if I missed this information Radio but does the screen show anything at all?

@Kurt, I can see you are making double, triple, and quadruple posts in this thread. Please remember that the modify button is there should you decide you have more to say before somebody responds to you.

Telex that was already brought up.

Quote from: criminula on May 19, 2014, 03:36:51 PM
Does anyone know about the quality of AMD's R9 Gamer Series RAM (http://www.radeonmemory.com/gamer_series.php (http://www.radeonmemory.com/gamer_series.php))? AMD claims it is optimised for usage with their higher-end CPUs. I'm trying to work out if said optimisations are worth it, or if I should stick to something like Corsair or Kingston. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that I was using a relatively high-end FX-Series CPU (Which currently I'm not, but am aiming to do so soon enough).

Given the fact that it is for use with an FX series CPU it may well be better than the likes of Corsair or Kingston but I don't see it making a massive difference they appear to be similar in alot of ways

QuoteDoes anyone know about the quality of AMD's R9 Gamer Series RAM (http://www.radeonmemory.com/gamer_series.php)? AMD claims it is optimised for usage with their higher-end CPUs. I'm trying to work out if said optimisations are worth it, or if I should stick to something like Corsair or Kingston. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that I was using a relatively high-end FX-Series CPU (Which currently I'm not, but am aiming to do so soon enough).

It's relatively low-latency and relatively high-clock, so it is pretty good, but I'm sure you can get just as good for cheaper without the AMD branding. There's no such thing as RAM being more or less compatible with a given GPU; that's just silly.

Are you looking to buy 8GB or 16GB?

Quote from: Telex Ferra on May 19, 2014, 04:25:17 PM
Are you looking to buy 8GB or 16GB?

Almost definitely 16GB. I'm planning an overhaul, going to grab a high end FX processor and a 990FX motherboard (Probably a GIGABYTE one) and quite possibly a liquid cooler. The RAM is the main area I'm unsure of.

Quote from: criminula on May 19, 2014, 04:48:06 PM

Quote from: Telex Ferra on May 19, 2014, 04:25:17 PM
Are you looking to buy 8GB or 16GB?

Almost definitely 16GB. I'm planning an overhaul, going to grab a high end FX processor and a 990FX motherboard (Probably a GIGABYTE one) and quite possibly a liquid cooler. The RAM is the main area I'm unsure of.

If I could recommend any that I have had personnel delight with it would be the Kingston Hyper-X Beast 2400's they appear to run very smoothly don't seem to add any residual heat (or the cooling system just doesn't get bothered by it as it runs as quite as a mouse) and it works brilliantly with Nvidea Graphics Cards.

QuoteAlmost definitely 16GB. I'm planning an overhaul, going to grab a high end FX processor and a 990FX motherboard (Probably a GIGABYTE one) and quite possibly a liquid cooler. The RAM is the main area I'm unsure of.

You probably don't need 16GB, even with those advanced specs, unless you are doing serious processing/rendering work that would use up that much memory. 8GB is going to be more than enough.

With RAM, you want to worry first about clock speed, and second about latency. Your motherboard will have a certain maximum RAM clock speed, and you should try to get RAM approaching that speed, at relatively low latency (latency usually is in the format X-X-X-Y).

Also, you should strongly consider Intel instead of AMD for a processor. At the higher end, Intel blows AMD completely away.

I want to build a new machine, any suggestions? I'd mostly use it for graphic/video editing and games.

Quote from: RadioActivitii on May 20, 2014, 02:25:14 AM
I want to build a new machine, any suggestions? I'd mostly use it for graphic/video editing and games.

This (http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Nsrn). Ordinarily, I'd suggest an Intel Core i7 processor for video editing. as most modern video editing software takes advantage of Intel's hyperthreading to render videos faster than comparable AMD processors. However, I'm trying to keep the price-to-performance ratio in favor of price. In terms of gaming performance, this configuration here will easily beat the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

If you're getting an i5 or i7 (I would say i5, unless your work is pretty intense an i7 won't help much), you'll need a different motherboard as well.

There are some other modifications I'd make, will edit the build when I get to a PC.

Edit: OK, here (http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3NA8u) we go.

First, this is around $860-900, which is a couple hundred dollars more. I'll step through the reasons for that, but there are some optional parts you can pare down to keep it cheap.

I swapped the CPU from AMD to an Intel i5. No need for i7. You're doing video editing but I doubt you're doing Video Editing of the kind where it'd help you. I also had to change out the motherboard for one with the correct socket; I picked the equivalent of what Serris had chosen - same manufacturer and part series, just for Intel instead of AMD. The CPU is pretty expensive - i5-4670K at around $220 - but you can overclock it if you upgrade your cooling later, and it is the latest Haswell model. You could probably save by finding a 3XXX or even a 2XXX series i5 instead (the performance differences between the series are very slight), but that isn't available on PCPartsPicker anymore.

The motherboard I picked is relatively low-end, but it should work just fine. You could swap it out for something better if you were OK with paying the cost, but it should fit your needs and it had a great rebate option.

I added a (very well-priced!) 120GB solid state drive. This is totally optional, but it will be a huge boost in performance over just a single hard drive. SSDs are just unimaginably faster for pretty much everything. You could pare down to a 64GB SSD, but even so I'd highly recommend getting one (plus, you can pull your HDD from your laptop if it's large enough to offer you extra space). It does add to your cost but in my experience, it is definitely worth it.

I swapped out the Radeon 7950 for an R9 270X. This is slightly cheaper for identical performance (http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-270X-vs-Radeon-HD-7950); it has less dedicated GPU RAM (separate from your system RAM), but a higher core clock speed, and it is ready for overclocking.

Even if you keep the AMD processor/compatible motherboard (which will save you quite a bit), I think the SSD and GPU changes will probably be helpful. Unfortunately, I don't see a way around the high price of Intel processors - you're paying a definite premium for performance there. You could go used, or find a site that's selling older models, but I have no experience with either (I haven't upgraded my processor in years!).

I won't mind paying a bit more for a processor as it will most likely last me for a few years. So it's possible for me to use the harddrive from my laptop as another in my desktop? It would save me time from redownloading installers and stuff.

Yes, it is possible but would require disassembly of your laptop, and possibly buying a (relatively cheap) bay modification so the small laptop HDD fits somewhere in your case.

There's one other thing you can consider, and that's form-factor. This build is a midsized ATX case. There are smaller ones, particularly microATX, which would be about the same cost for potentially a physically smaller system - but you would lose out on expandability in the future. Is size important to you?

Well, I'd probably upgrade in the future as the specs got outdated.

On a new system, would this harddrive be C:\, cause if it isn't, there wouldn't be an issue with transferring data from it to the HDD in the computer, then wiping it, right?

Hard drive numbers are assigned by Windows. Whichever drive you install to is always C:. If you connect another drive that has a windows install on it, it'll still be a different letter unless you boot from it, in which case it will be C.

Quote from: Veritas on May 20, 2014, 10:17:42 AM
I swapped out the Radeon 7950 for an R9 270X. This is slightly cheaper for identical performance (http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-270X-vs-Radeon-HD-7950); it has less dedicated GPU RAM (separate from your system RAM), but a higher core clock speed, and it is ready for overclocking.

Just thought I'd share my experience. I currently use an R9 270X (Although I use the 4GB ASUS model), and it has been very good to me. I had some installation issues (I had to reflash the BIOS to an updates version), but after that the card has had good performance and reliability so far.

Updated Desktop specs.

the hard drive on my desktop is showing signs of failure and I'm looking to replace it with one or two SSDs. My motherboard has a total of four SATA-II connectors and I'm not totally against getting four drives. I know SATa-II doesn't support the high bitrates that SATA-III does, but I've read that there's little difference except during large bursts of activity or file transfers. (even then, the speed would exceed that of my current hard disc) Does anyone have any recommendations for high capacity, reliable SSDs?

Quote from: Telex Ferra on May 22, 2014, 05:04:31 PM
the hard drive on my desktop is showing signs of failure and I'm looking to replace it with one or two SSDs. My motherboard has a total of four SATA-II connectors and I'm not totally against getting four drives. I know SATa-II doesn't support the high bitrates that SATA-III does, but I've read that there's little difference except during large bursts of activity or file transfers. (even then, the speed would exceed that of my current hard disc) Does anyone have any recommendations for high capacity, reliable SSDs?

1TB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/S (upto540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
480GB Kingston V300 SSD SATA 6Gb/S (450MB/R | 450MB/W)
Or there are the Seagate Hybrid Drives, I have not personally used them but they may be worth a look, they go up to 4TB

Also another Kingston worth a look is this one http://www.kingston.com/en/ssd/hyperx
It is Kingstons top of the range gaming standard SSD.

With this it primarily depends whether you want to go full SSD or not, one thing to consider maybe 1 or 2 SDD's + 2 more HDD's set as either RAID or Mirror Volumes (the latter will allow you to have a back up of your data, I would note, although in theory it should be fine regardless of Memory size, I would limit the volume of your mirror)

I've seen decent reviews about the 1TB Samsung Evo SSD. 1TB seems to be the largest size that is easily available (I've heard stories of 4TB ones selling for several thousand dollars - not sure how accurate they were). The hybrid drives seem to get more mixed reviews - the concept seems like a good idea, but from what I can tell it often seems better to get a small SSD to house some of the more core elements, and have a large HDD to cover the rest.

Quote from: Telex Ferra on May 22, 2014, 05:04:31 PM
the hard drive on my desktop is showing signs of failure and I'm looking to replace it with one or two SSDs. My motherboard has a total of four SATA-II connectors and I'm not totally against getting four drives. I know SATa-II doesn't support the high bitrates that SATA-III does, but I've read that there's little difference except during large bursts of activity or file transfers. (even then, the speed would exceed that of my current hard disc) Does anyone have any recommendations for high capacity, reliable SSDs?

What's your budget like? Size requirements?

It would be worth it to upgrade to SATA-III when you get an SSD; SATA-II's max effective speed is 375 megabytes/sec (3 gigabits/sec) and SATA-III's is 6 gigabits/sec, so roughly double that. SSDs frequently run at 500MB/sec for both reading/writing. You won't be taking full advantage of that performance unless you upgrade to SATA-III.

You could get two large SSDs and put them in RAID, that'd be the best option if you can afford it, but that'll run you quite a bit of money that's probably better spent elsewhere. My recommendation is to get an SSD for operating system/frequently used programs (240GB can be had for $100 and would be more than enough), and a larger (2-3TB) HDD for storage. You probably don't need RAID unless data loss is a serious concern and offsite backups (Dropbox, SkyDrive, etc) are not an option.

I've read that the actual transfer rate between the computer and a hard drive very seldom exceeds the 3Gbps offered by SATA-II, and I don't think I'm looking to replace my whole motherboard.

I definitely see the logic in buying a smaller SSD to serve as the boot drive and to hold programs I use frequently. Honestly, I don't really have enough media that isn't backed up (e.g. itunes, steam) to justify using more than 240 GB.

Can you provide some links to 240GB SSDs for $100? I've been looking around online and most SSDs with that capacity are in the high 100s range.

QuoteCan you provide some links to 240GB SSDs for $100? I've been looking around online and most SSDs with that capacity are in the high 100s range.

I actually was just doing this for someone else. Here you go:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7768769
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A1ZTZNM/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1400798806&sr=1-10
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BQ4F9ZA/?tag=pcpapi-20 (Select the 240GB model)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171741

The very last one is a larger version of what I have, and I'm very happy with mine.

QuoteI've read that the actual transfer rate between the computer and a hard drive very seldom exceeds the 3Gbps offered by SATA-II, and I don't think I'm looking to replace my whole motherboard.

It will have an effect, but it won't prevent you from noticing massive increases in speed.

Thanks Veritas!

Yeah, I found yet another article that pretty much said the SSDs do much better on SATA-III when they run the benchmark tests, but those tests are not very accurate representations of how a user will actually access a HDD; they eventually concluded that the user experience will hardly be different when using 2 instead of 3 for most circumstances.

Also, I read you can get a PCI-E card for SATA-III support, but I'm not looking to break the bank here.

QuoteAlso, I read you can get a PCI-E card for SATA-III support, but I'm not looking to break the bank here.

Yeah, but I wouldn't bother. I'd just add it to the list of things to persuade you to eventually upgrade your motherboard when you have time/money :P

and I'm  dubious as to whether you can connect your boot drive that way

EDIT: I chose to go with Pie's recommended SSD and an additional 1TB HDD

Its possible to boot off of a SATAIII controller connected via PCI-E, but usually unnecessarily complicated. I am very much in agreeance that while a SSD is faster on SATAIII, you probably won't see that much difference of it over a SATAII bus. They are so much ridiculously faster that even on the SataII bus a SSD will make you feel on the top of the world.

I have two "mid-range" SSDs in my older (sata II) laptops and they rock.

Yup, I'm loving the SSD right now. I've also upgraded my graphics card(s) from 2x 5670s to 1x R9 270 and I'm having a blast.

The only issue I've had was installing some more memory. I bought 3x4GB memory sticks and was constantly getting MEMORY_MANAGEMENT blue screens. I did the windows memory test, PSA, and even ran memtest++ and found no problems. I eventually just took one of them out and I'm running stable with 8GB.

I'm confident my board can handle that much; the manufacturer says it can handle up to 24GB of physical memory. Since virtual memory is supposed to adjust based on how much physical memory is present, I'm hesitant to say that the problem lies in the virtual memory settings....it could just be a bad stick, but why didn't it throw any errors in any of the tests?

QuoteThe only issue I've had was installing some more memory. I bought 3x4GB memory sticks and was constantly getting MEMORY_MANAGEMENT blue screens. I did the windows memory test, PSA, and even ran memtest++ and found no problems. I eventually just took one of them out and I'm running stable with 8GB.

I'm confident my board can handle that much; the manufacturer says it can handle up to 24GB of physical memory. Since virtual memory is supposed to adjust based on how much physical memory is present, I'm hesitant to say that the problem lies in the virtual memory settings....it could just be a bad stick, but why didn't it throw any errors in any of the tests?

Resurrecting an old thread to answer this: RAM likes to be in increments of powers of 2, so 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, etc. 12GB of RAM is not always going to be very stable, depending on your motherboard configuration and the RAM involved. Your best bet would be to stick with 8 or go up to 16, but you probably don't need more than 8.

In this day and age you'd think they'd have hammered out the kinks in the virtual memory system

You'd think right?

Added secondary desktop to list of computers.

Cheeky update.

[spoiler]Desktop:

i7-4770K @ 4.4GHz
Asus Maximus VI Hero
Nvidia GTX 980ti (EVGA FTW ACX 2.0)
16GB DDR3 2133MHz
500GB SSD / 1TB HDD
DVD+/-RW and Blu-Ray
Windows 10

Asus PG278Q ROG Swift 27"

Laptop:

Dell XPS 15

Misc:

360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, Sony Xperia Z1[/spoiler]

This is getting built as a replacement for ol' eunice sometime in the next few weeks:


http://pcpartpicker.com/user/andrewthetechie/saved/YPYRsY


For those not feeling a link:


Intel Xeon E5-2680 - 10 cores @ 2.8ghz
64gb ram
256gb SSD
Dual 760 GTX cards (will still run all 8 monitors)

Why 64 Gb Ram and watercooling? Are you going to run VM's on it and oc?

Quote from: Martin Thompson on January 04, 2015, 01:39:52 PM
Why 64 Gb Ram and watercooling? Are you going to run VM's on it and oc?

This is my work machine. I spend 8-10 hours a day at it. I decided to go over what my "wildest dreams" are because I can.


I do run quite a few VMs, so the memory is really there to support that and the fact that when you have 8 monitors...you have a lot of open applications. I routinely use 8-10gb of ram, before any VMs.


The watercooling is just because that xeon chip is hot and that closed loop cooler will make it easier to keep it cool.

Quote from: andrewthetechie on January 04, 2015, 05:22:16 PM

Quote from: Martin Thompson on January 04, 2015, 01:39:52 PM
Why 64 Gb Ram and watercooling? Are you going to run VM's on it and oc?

This is my work machine. I spend 8-10 hours a day at it. I decided to go over what my "wildest dreams" are because I can.


I do run quite a few VMs, so the memory is really there to support that and the fact that when you have 8 monitors...you have a lot of open applications. I routinely use 8-10gb of ram, before any VMs.


The watercooling is just because that xeon chip is hot and that closed loop cooler will make it easier to keep it cool.

Why Xeon and not i7?

LinusTechTips video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ59vHSFfZA)

linus is love, linus is life.

get an x99 i7

From what I've read, Xeons are much better for the stuff Andrew is throwing at it.

Quote from: John Adams on January 05, 2015, 02:16:27 PM

Why Xeon and not i7?

LinusTechTips video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ59vHSFfZA)

linus is love, linus is life.

get an x99 i7

Compare your x99 i7 to 10 cores at 3ghz.


Keep in mind, i'm not a "For the lulz gamer". I'm running hardcore processing, doing data manipulation, running multiple VMs, etc. I am much more of a "datacenter" then I am a consumer. I want a chip that is going to run 24/7 for the next 5-10 years.

Quote from: andrewthetechie on January 05, 2015, 06:12:41 PM

Quote from: John Adams on January 05, 2015, 02:16:27 PM

Why Xeon and not i7?

LinusTechTips video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ59vHSFfZA)

linus is love, linus is life.

get an x99 i7

Compare your x99 i7 to 10 cores at 3ghz.


Keep in mind, i'm not a "For the lulz gamer". I'm running hardcore processing, doing data manipulation, running multiple VMs, etc. I am much more of a "datacenter" then I am a consumer. I want a chip that is going to run 24/7 for the next 5-10 years.

I see.

2 HP ProBooks.
Lenovo Tablet.
Samsung syncmaster Full HD TV.
Fujitsu Win xp, it works hahaha.
Dell Keyboard.
eMachines Keyboard.


Misc:

Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus
PS3
Wii

I've upgraded to an i5 4690k, with my 7950.

On another note, I'm selling a g3258 I've aquired, it is unused, just open box.

LINK (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Pentium-G3258-3-2-GHz-Dual-Core-BX80646G3258-Processor-/281646115612?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41936aab1c) (serris approved)

Quote from: Shoot on March 24, 2015, 05:09:19 PM
2 HP ProBooks.
Lenovo Tablet.
Samsung syncmaster Full HD TV.
Fujitsu Win xp, it works hahaha.
Dell Keyboard.
eMachines Keyboard.


Misc:

Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus
PS3
Wii

My cheeky update


Lenovo IdeaCentre H50-50


Specs:
Intel Core i5-4460 Processor
RAM 8.00GT
Windows 8.1 x64bit
Nvidia GT 720
Hard Drive 1TB
Lenovo Keyboard
Lenovo Mouse
http://www.speedtest.net/result/4354775147.png (http://www.speedtest.net/result/4354775147.png)


HP ProBook 2x

Samsung Syncmaster HDTV Monitor

Misc:

Lenovo Tablet
PS3
Wii
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus
Samsung Galaxy Ace (Currently Broken)

Current System Status:

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930k @ 4.0GHz (Overclocked)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage V Extreme
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB(8x4GB) DDR4 2666MHz C15
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G
PSU: Corsair CX750M
Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper
SSD: Samsung 950 Pro 512GB
HDD: Western Digital Black 4TB

Also has a Blu-ray drive of some description.

Peripherals:
Mouse: Corsair Scimitar (With a Cooler Master Storm Skorpion for the cable)
Keyboard: Corsair K95 RGB (Cherry MX Browns, UK Layout)
Joystick: Saitek X-55 Rhino HOTAS
Headset: SteelSeries H Wireless
Speakers: Logitech Z906 5.1 Surround Speakers
Primary Monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q (2560x1440@144Hz TN Panel)
Secondary Monitor: ASUS VC239H (1920x1080@60Hz IPS Panel) - Currently orientated portrait


Laptop 1:
CPU: Intel Core i7-4710MQ @ 2.5GHz
RAM: 16GB (2x8) DDR3 1600MHz (Not sure of manufacturer)
SSD: 120GB MSATA SSD
HDD: Samsung M8 1TB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M
Display: 15.6" 1920x1080

Laptop 2: Dell XPS 15 (9550)
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 2.6GHz
RAM: 16GB
SSD: 512GB PCIe based SSD
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M
Display: 15.6" 3840x2160 (4K InfinityEdge)

Laptop Peripherals:
Monitor: ASUS PB287Q (3840x2160 (4K)@60Hz)
Mouse: Logitech MX Master
Speakers: Creative Gigaworks T20 Series II
Headset: ASUS ROG Orion
Printer: Canon PIXMA MX475

Updated late 2016

I didn't even know DDR4 existed... I'm still running on integrated graphics

I think DDR4 has been more of a thing in servers until this point. The X99 Chipset is the first consumer platform for DDR4, AFAIK. Generally has better power efficiency and higher frequencies.

Yeah DDR4 is just being released now for consumers. I don't know how it compares to DDR 3 performance wise. I'm on not relaly high clocked DDR 3 (i think its 1866) but the timings are lower (instead of CL15 CL8 or 9) so i dont know if you gain anything there. DDR4 is less power consuming since it runs on lower voltages, so thats a plus.

Its hard to tell which bits of my performance improvements are due to what, but everything seems faster (other than initial bootup) by quite some margin in comparison to my old i5. Apparently hit 600FPS in a loading screen in Arma3, although not sure how useful FPS is in a loading screen :) . When I get some free time, I'll be looking to do some overclocking, since a lot of gaming loads do better with fast cores as opposed to more cores. From what reading I've done regarding this CPU, I should probably be able to hit 4GHz fairly easily, with some chips having clocked up to 4.8GHz (although I imagine that would need a more elaborate cooling setup than I have.)

I have a Nexus 7 2013 32GB mint condition for salesale. Contact me of you are interested, it is rooted and I can install any ROM,

I upgraded my desktop with an EVGA GeForce 760GTX Superclocked 2GB end of last year. Also I added a 256GB SSD and switched from 8 to 16 GB RAM. I decided to make an clean install with the new SSD so I'm now dual booting with Windows 8.1 Pro N and Chakra Linux.

And I just baught a MacBook Pro 15.4" with an i7 2.5 GHz, 512 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM, and GeForce GT 750M 2GB.

I just purchased a low-end gaming laptop for travel and general laziness around the house in places that aren't my bedroom. It actually runs demanding applications like the Dolphin Emulator exceptionally well, so I'm looking forward to seeing what else I can throw at it.

Intel Core i5-5200U @ 2.2 GHz
8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz
nVidia GeForce GT 940M
1 TB hybrid SSD/HDD

Quote from: Shoot on June 01, 2015, 04:45:21 AM
Primary Desktop


Lenovo IdeaCentre H50-50


Specs:

Intel i5 4460 3.20 GHz
RAM 8GB
Windows 8.1 x64bit
GPU: Nvidia GT 720
Hard Drive 1TB
Lenovo Keyboard
Lenovo Mouse
http://www.speedtest.net/result/4354775147.png (http://www.speedtest.net/result/4354775147.png)
Samsung Syncmaster HDTV Monitor


Secondary Desktop

Lenovo Erazer X310 Gaming Desktop


Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 750
Motherboard: Intel B85
Lenovo Keyboard
Logitech M545 Gaming Mouse
Logitech Z333 Speakers
8GB RAM
1TB HDD
8GB Flash Cache
Philips 244E5QHSD IPS LED 23.8"


Misc:


HP ProBook 2x
Lenovo Tablet
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
PS3
WII
Samsung Galaxy Trend+
Samsung Galaxy Ace (Broken)

Quote from: Serris on July 23, 2015, 12:44:16 PM
I just purchased a low-end gaming laptop for travel and general laziness around the house in places that aren't my bedroom. It actually runs demanding applications like the Dolphin Emulator exceptionally well, so I'm looking forward to seeing what else I can throw at it.

Intel Core i5-5200U @ 2.2 GHz
8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz
nVidia GeForce GT 940M
1 TB hybrid SSD/HDD

"low-end"

Quote from: RadioActivitii on July 23, 2015, 02:19:46 PM

Quote from: Serris on July 23, 2015, 12:44:16 PM
I just purchased a low-end gaming laptop for travel and general laziness around the house in places that aren't my bedroom. It actually runs demanding applications like the Dolphin Emulator exceptionally well, so I'm looking forward to seeing what else I can throw at it.

Intel Core i5-5200U @ 2.2 GHz
8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz
nVidia GeForce GT 940M
1 TB hybrid SSD/HDD

"low-end"

Extremely, lol, a 940m is definitely better integrated but still bad, lol.

Quote from: Brent on July 23, 2015, 02:51:02 PM
Extremely, lol, a 940m is definitely better integrated but still bad, lol.

"low-end" (http://i.imgur.com/E4n2as0.png)

Quote from: Shoot on July 23, 2015, 12:53:26 PM

Quote from: Shoot on June 01, 2015, 04:45:21 AM
Primary Desktop


Lenovo IdeaCentre H50-50


Specs:

CPU: Intel i5 4460 3.20 GHz
RAM: 8GB
Windows 8.1 x64bit
GPU: Nvidia GT 720
Hard Drive 1TB
Lenovo Keyboard
Lenovo Mouse
http://www.speedtest.net/result/4354775147.png (http://www.speedtest.net/result/4354775147.png)
Samsung Syncmaster HDTV Monitor


Secondary Desktop

Lenovo Erazer X310 Gaming Desktop


Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 750
Motherboard: Intel B85
Lenovo Keyboard
Logitech M545 Gaming Mouse
Logitech Z333 Speakers
8GB RAM
1TB HDD
8GB Flash Cache
Philips 244E5QHSD IPS LED 23.8"


Misc:


HP ProBook 2x
Lenovo Tablet
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
PS3
WII
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini
Samsung Galaxy Trend+
Samsung Galaxy Ace (Broken)

Built up a new PC for myself:



Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4
Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor cooled with Corsair H100i
64gb DDR4-2133
Samsung 850 Pro 256gb x2 (raid 00
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB x2
all in a Fractal Design Define R4 Blackout case


Still running 8x monitors

System Specs:


GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 760 SC
CPU: Intel-Core i-7 4790k @ 4.0GHz
Hard Drive: WD 1 TB
SSD: Samsung EVO 840 250GB
MOBO: Sabertooth Z-97 Mk 1
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

PC Dell Inspiron 530
OS: Windows Vista SP2 (plus a virtual machine with a Debian server set up)

CPU: Intel Pentium Dual E2180 @2.00GHz
GPU: Asus ATI HD 6670 (1GB-DDR5 RAM)
RAM: 4GB DDR2
HDD: 250gb
HDD 2 (ordered but not yet installed): WD Blue 1tb
E HDD: WD Blue 1tb
Keyboard: Generic Dell
Mouse: Technet Raptor
Monitor 1: Generic Dell
Monitor 2: Hanns-G





Mac Late '06 model
OS: Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6. 8)

CPU: 1.83 GHZ Intel Core Duo
GPU: Intel GMA 950 (64mb)
RAM: 2.25Gb DDR2
HDD: Intel ICH7-M AHCI (150GB)[/size]
E HDD: WD 320gb[/size]
Keyboard: Texet
Mouse: Generic Dell
Monitor: N/A




Raspberry Pi Model B
OS: Wheezy Rasbrian

CPU:
GPU:
RAM: 512mb
HDD: Sandisk class 10 8GB SD card
Keyboard: Texet (Shared with Mac)
Mouse: Generic Dell
Monitor: Generic Dell (shared with PC)




Netbook Samsung N150+
OS: Linux Mint 17.1

CPU: 1.6GHZ Intel Core Atom
GPU: Integrated
RAM: 1GB DDR3
HDD: 150gb




80s Macintosh (no idea which model, but it's black and white)

RAM: 1mb
HDD: 500mb
Keyboard: generic apple
Mouse: Generic apple
Monitor: generic apple


Misc:
iPhone 5C
iPad 3
Samsung Galaxy Mini
ZTE San Fransisco




Coming soon!
Pine 64+

Getting a second job has its perks, like more recreational spending money. Of course, selling your old stuff helps, too. Here's all my new computer hardware that I use in the free time I don't have.

Desktop:

Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750M
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLi Krait Edition
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 4 GB GDDR5 (3.5 GB effective)
Storage: 480 GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, 2 TB Western Digital Black 7200 RPM HDD, 2 TB Western Digital Red 7200 RPM HDD


Laptop:

Model: ASUS Republic of Gamers G751JY-WH71(WX)
Size: 17.3"
CPU: Intel Core i7-4720HQ
RAM: Generic 16 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 4 GB GDDR5
Storage: Generic 128 GB SSD, Generic 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD

Did some slight upgrading since my last post.




Desktop:

Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750M
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLi Krait Edition
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 16 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GD5T OC 6 GB GDDR5
Storage: 480 GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, 2 TB Western Digital Black 7200 RPM HDD, 2 TB Western Digital Red 7200 RPM HDD
Peripherals: HTC Vive


Laptop:

Model: ASUS Republic of Gamers G751JY-WH71(WX)
Size: 17.3"
CPU: Intel Core i7-4720HQ
RAM: Generic 16 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 4 GB GDDR5
Storage: Generic 128 GB SSD, Generic 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD

Vive? That's that virtual reality thing. I first heard of it today when I read about it on BBC News this morning.

Quote from: Klaw on December 26, 2013, 01:50:45 PM
Just to make you all jealous :P

The Machine which I will be building over the next month is as follows:

Intel Core i7 4770k @ 3.5Ghz
16 GB of Ram, running at 1866 MHZ
On a MSI  Z87-G45 Motherboard
With a Cooler Master GX II 750 Watt Power supply
An AMD Radeon R9 290X
A 120GB SSD as my primary Hard Drive
A Western Digital Blue 2 TB Hard drive as a secondary.
A Bluray/DVD/CD RW drive
All in a Cooler Master Scout 2 Case

3 Years later, she's still running strong - but I'm slowly pricing out my upgrade.... It will be interesting to see what's out there, and reasonably affordable in the next year or so.

When it comes to CPUs, skip Skylake and AMD's Zen for now. It's only a 10% improvement in single-threaded performance over your Haswell i7. Wait for Kabylake or Cannonlake and their AMD counterparts.

*updated

PC Dell Inspiron 530
*OS: Windows 7 Pro


*CPU: Intel Wolfdale Core 2 duo E8400 @3GHz (dual core, 64 bit)
GPU: Asus ATI HD 6670 (1GB-DDR5 RAM)
RAM: 4GB DDR2
HDD: 250gb
HDD 2: WD Blue 1tb
E HDD: WD Blue 1tb
Keyboard: Generic Dell
Mouse: Technet Raptor
Monitor 1: Generic Dell (1440x900)
Monitor 2: Hanns-G (1366x768)







Mac Late '06 model
OS: Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6.8 )


CPU: 1.83 GHZ Intel Core Duo
GPU: Intel GMA 950 (64mb)
RAM: 2.25Gb DDR2
*HDD: Toshiba (500gb)
E HDD: WD 320gb
Keyboard: Texet
Mouse: Generic Dell
Monitor: Internal (1440x900)







Raspberry Pi Model B
OS: Wheezy Rasbrian


CPU:
GPU:
RAM: 512mb
HDD: Sandisk class 10 8GB SD card
Keyboard: Texet (Shared with Mac)
Mouse: Generic Dell
Monitor: Generic Dell (shared with PC)








Netbook Samsung N150+
OS: Linux Mint 17.1


CPU: 1.6GHZ Intel Core Atom
GPU: Integrated
RAM: 1GB DDR3
HDD: 150gb






Pine 64+ (2gb model)
OS: Remix OS


Specs: pine64.com
(not currently in use)


80s Macintosh (no idea which model, but it's black and white)


RAM: 1mb
HDD: 500mb
Keyboard: generic apple
Mouse: Generic apple
Monitor: generic apple




Misc:
iPhone 5C (current phone)
iPad 3
iPod Nano 7th gen
Samsung Galaxy Mini
ZTE San Fransisco

Had some cash to spare and found a good price, so I upgraded my graphics card again.




Desktop:

Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750M
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLi Krait Edition
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 16 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 ARMOR 8G OC 8GB GDDR5X
Storage: 480 GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, 2 TB Western Digital Black 7200 RPM HDD, 2 TB Western Digital Red 7200 RPM HDD
Peripherals: HTC Vive


Laptop:

Model: ASUS Republic of Gamers G751JY-WH71(WX)
Size: 17.3"
CPU: Intel Core i7-4720HQ
RAM: Generic 16 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 4 GB GDDR5
Storage: Generic 128 GB SSD, Generic 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD

Ok, new PC specs:

OS: Windows 7 Pro (will dual boot with a version of Linux at some point)

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (quad core @3.4ghz 8mb Cache)
GPU: NVidia Geforce GTX 960
RAM: 8GB DDR3
HDD: 500gb
HDD 2: WD Blue 1tb
HDD 3: Apple Branded Toshiba 160gb
E HDD: WD Blue 1tb
Keyboard: Generic Dell
Mouse: Technet Raptor
Monitor 1: Hanns-G (1920x1080)
Monitor 2: Hanns-G (1366x768)

My new PC specs!

Primary:


OS: Windows 10 Home
CPU: Intel i5 6600K @3.5GHz, got steady overclock @4.3GHz.
GPU: nVidia GTX 1070 8GB
MB: ASUS Z170PRO
PSU: 450W
RAM: 16GB DDR4
HDD: 1TB @7200RPM
SSD: 128GB
Keyboard: Corsair K55 RGB
Mouse: Corsair Harpoon RGB
Speakers: Logitech Z625
Monitor: AOC C24G2AE/BK 23,8", Philips 244E ISP 23,8", Samsung 23,8"


Misc:

OnePlus Nord CE2 Lite
OnePlus 7Pro
Blue Snowball ICE Microphone
Xbox One controller for PC
Steelseries Arctis 7 2019 Edition
Steelseries Arctis 3 Bluetooth 2019 Edition

Quote from: criminula on April 25, 2015, 01:11:35 PM
Current System Status:

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930k @ 4.0GHz (Overclocked)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage V Extreme
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB(8x4GB) DDR4 2666MHz C15
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G
PSU: Corsair CX750M
Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper
SSD: Samsung 950 Pro 512GB
HDD: Western Digital Black 4TB

Also has a Blu-ray drive of some description.

Peripherals:
Mouse: Corsair Scimitar (With a Cooler Master Storm Skorpion for the cable)
Keyboard: Corsair K95 RGB (Cherry MX Browns, UK Layout)
Joystick: Saitek X-55 Rhino HOTAS
Headset: SteelSeries H Wireless
Speakers: Logitech Z906 5.1 Surround Speakers
Primary Monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q (2560x1440@144Hz TN Panel)
Secondary Monitor: ASUS VC239H (1920x1080@60Hz IPS Panel) - Currently orientated portrait


Laptop 1:
CPU: Intel Core i7-4710MQ @ 2.5GHz
RAM: 16GB (2x8) DDR3 1600MHz (Not sure of manufacturer)
SSD: 120GB MSATA SSD
HDD: Samsung M8 1TB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M
Display: 15.6" 1920x1080

Laptop 2: Dell XPS 15 (9550)
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 2.6GHz
RAM: 16GB
SSD: 512GB PCIe based SSD
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M
Display: 15.6" 3840x2160 (4K InfinityEdge)

Laptop Peripherals:
Monitor: ASUS PB287Q (3840x2160 (4K)@60Hz)
Mouse: Logitech MX Master
Speakers: Creative Gigaworks T20 Series II
Headset: ASUS ROG Orion
Printer: Canon PIXMA MX475

Updated late 2016

Updated to cover my current specs. Most of this I've had for a while (and forgotten to post) - XPS15 is new though, as is the PB287Q and MX475.

PC Custom:
PC Dell Inspiron 530
OS: Windows 10 Pro

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (8 cores, 16 threads @ 3.3Ghz - oc'd to 3.8ghz
GPU: NVIDIA GTX-960 (2GB-DDR5 RAM)
RAM: 16GB DDR4
SSD: WD Blue 250gb (nvme)
HDD: hitachi 500gb
HDD 2: WD Blue 1tb
E HDD: WD Blue 1tb
Keyboard: Generic Dell
Mouse: Technet Raptor
Monitor 1: Hanss-G HL207 (1920x1080)
Monitor 2: Hanns-G (1366x768)


Monitor 3: Acer AL1715 (1366x768)


PC 2: Dell Inspiron 530
OS: Debian 9/Windows 7 Home
CPU: Intel Wolfdale Core 2 duo E8400 @3GHz (dual core, 64 bit)
GPU: Asus ATI HD 6670 (1GB-DDR5 RAM)
RAM: 4GB DDR2
HDD: 250gb (Debian)
HDD 2: 500gb
HDD 3: 160gb (Windows 7)
[size=78%]Keyboard: Generic Dell[/size]
Mouse: Generic
Monitor 1: Generic Dell (1440x900


Netbook Samsung N150+
OS: Linux Mint 17
CPU: 1.6GHZ Intel Core Atom
GPU: Integrated
RAM: 2GB DDR3
HDD: 150gb


80s Macintosh (no idea which model, but it's black and white)
RAM: 1mb
HDD: 500mb
Keyboard: generic apple
Mouse: Generic apple
Monitor: generic apple


Misc:
WileyFox Swift 2 plus (current phone)
iPhone 5C
iPad Pro 9.7" (first gen)
iPod Nano 7th gen
Samsung Galaxy Mini
ZTE San Fransisco

Might be a time to revive this thread!

2023 and onwards setup:

Case: Phanteks Evolv Enthoo X, White
CPU: Intel i7-13700K
CPU Cooler: EKWB Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-RGB - White, 360mm
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790-G AERO
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 4070Ti AERO OC V2
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5 5200MHz White
PSU: ASUS ROG Strix 850W White Edition, 80 Plus Gold
OS: Windows 11 Home
SSD 1: 1TB Samsung 980PRO M.2
SSD 2: 2TB Samsung 980PRO M.2
SSD 3: 2TB Kingston NV2 M.2
HDD: 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM

Peripherals:

Xbox One Controller for PC
Mic: Blue Snowball ICE
Headphones: SteelSeries Arctis 7
Speakers: Logitech Z625
Keyboard: Corsair K55
Mouse: Corsair Harpoon RGB
Monitor 1: AOC 23.8 24g2spu/bk VA Panel
Monitor 2: Philips 23.8 IPS Panel
Monitor 3: Samsung 23.8 LED Panel


Laptop: ASUS TUF A15
CPU: AMD Ryzen 4600H
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1650
RAM: 16GB DDR4
Display: 15,6" 144Hz IPS
SSD: 1TB M.2

Misc:
OnePlus 11
OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite
OnePlus Buds Pro 2
Ultimate Ears Megaboom

Custom PC:
Case: Lian-Li LANCOOL 215 Midi-Tower
OS: Windows 11 Pro
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700x (8 cores, 16 threads @ 3.6Ghz
GPU: NVIDIA GTX-1080
RAM: 32GB DDR4-3200
SSD: Sabrent Rocket Gen 3 1tb
SSD: Crucial MX500 1tb
HDD: WD Blue 1tb
HDD 2: WD Blue 4tb
E HDD: WD Blue 1tb
E HDD 2: WD Elements 5tb
E HDD 3: WD Elements 5tb
E SSD: Sandisk Extreme 1tb
E SSD 2: Sandisk Extreme 1tb
E SSD 3: Samsung T7 1tb
NIC: ASUS XG-C100C 10gbe

Keyboard: Razer Ultimate
Mouse: Logitech MX Master
Audio interface: AverMedia Livestreamer Nexus
Mic: AKG C214
Capture Card: Camlink 4K
Camera: Panasonic Lumix S5iix
Elgato Stream deck
Monitor 1: ASUS Pro-art (2560x1440@75hz)
Monitor 2: Dell Ultra sharp (2460x1440)
Monitor 3: Dell Ultra sharp (2460x1440)

NAS Server:
Case: Fractal Design Focus Mini G
CPU: Ryzen 1700
RAM: 16gb DDR4-2400
NIC: Intel X540-T2 10gbe
SSD: 500gb WD Blue
NAS SSD: MX500 2tb (x4)


Laptop 1: Lenovo Legion 15"
CPU: Ryzen 5 5600H
GPU:RTX-3060 mobile
RAM: 32gb DDR4
SSD 1 - Sabrent rocket 500gb
SSD 2 - Sabrent Rocket 1tb

Laptop 2: HP Envy x360
CPU: Ryzen 5 4500u
RAM: 8gb
SSD: Crucial 1tb

Misc:
Oneplus 8 Pro
iPad Air

QuoteCase: Lian-Li LANCOOL 215 Midi-Tower

I'm glad my advice regarding this case caught on. It's way too good for the money.

QuoteI'm glad my advice regarding this case caught on. It's way too good for the money.

Yeah, I think I bought it about the same day you recommended it after reading some more reviews and making sure it had all the mount points I needed (although it had one less hard-drive bay than I needed and 1 more 2.5" SSD mount, so I just cloned my HDD onto an SSD I already had lol.) Really nice case, I have been very happy with it!