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Views: 8,818  ·  Replies: 10 
> Outlaw02's PC Build Logs, My pc, my dad's, and my mom's.
outlaw-2
  Posted: May 7 2011, 11:51 PM


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Well, over the years I kept saying that I would get myself a new cpu and talk about it for a bit, and then disappear, not buying it at all. This time round, however, I got round to actually purchase and build my custom pc. The current build isn't complete yet, as I'm waiting for my next pay coming in a few days time to finish up the build. List below are the specs of my current build.

- AMD Athlon II X4-640 3.0ghz
- Biostar A780L3G motherboard
- Kingston 2GB DDR3 1333Mhz Ram
- 500GB Hitachi HDD (forgot what the model was)
- LG DVD-RW writer
- Headway casing 500W PSU
- Currently relying on its ATi Raedon HD3000 IGP as graphics.
- Running on Windows XP Home Edition SP2

As for now, the plans I have left on the build are as follows;
- Additional 2GB DDR3 1333Mhz Ram
- Creative X-Fi Sound Card
- Nvidia GTS450 1Gb Graphics Card

The only thing I would need some advise is the GPU part, where I'm looking for something that has good performance, but not extravagant in price. Something of a mid-range price will do for me. Do you guys think the GTS450 would do just fine? Preference would be of Nvidia GPUs unless the ATi ones outdo them.

Pics below is the CPU and the overall mess it has caused on the table...
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This post has been edited by outlaw-2 on Jun 25 2012, 02:52 AM
Lebon14
Posted: May 8 2011, 12:45 PM


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I Disagree with Creative X-Fi. See this :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16829271001
I have the Claro of this brand, and it's amazing. Don't get Creative because they have awful technical service and driver support. HT|Omega have like, the opposite.

For the grahic card, I suggest you get the GTX 550 Ti. Good capabilities, some makers overclocks it in factory and DirectX 11. I suggest nVidia over AMD.

This post has been edited by Lebon14 on May 8 2011, 12:46 PM
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outlaw-2
  Posted: May 8 2011, 09:35 PM


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QUOTE (Lebon14 @ 8 hours, 49 minutes ago)
I Disagree with Creative X-Fi. See this :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16829271001
I have the Claro of this brand, and it's amazing. Don't get Creative because they have awful technical service and driver support. HT|Omega have like, the opposite.

For the grahic card, I suggest you get the GTX 550 Ti. Good capabilities, some makers overclocks it in factory and DirectX 11. I suggest nVidia over AMD.

Thanks for the graphics card suggestion, seems reviews online about it fare favourably well. I might consider getting it. As for the sound card, unfortunately, HT|Omega doesn't sell their sound cards here locally, and I'm very much limited to eiher Creative, or AsusTek ones. Maybe I should try AsusTeK ones?
s13
Posted: May 9 2011, 10:05 AM


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Depends on what you'll do with it, if you play lots of EAX games then go with a Creative(do not get the xtreme audio, it's just an audigy 2 with a different name), otherwise the Asus cards are apparently better sounding and will do software acceleration EAX.
outlaw-2
  Posted: May 12 2011, 10:12 AM


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Well, I went round and bought the 2GB ram, and a graphics card. I decided to rummage around the house and found a good old Creative Audigy Value sound card lying around, so might as well use that for now.

But my God when I opened the box of the graphics card, it's freaking huge o.O

Yep, I bought meself an Asus GTX550 Ti Direct CU instead of the Palit variant.
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outlaw-2
  Posted: Jun 3 2011, 12:52 AM


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Well, it's been a few weeks, and already I'm planning on having a second computer build, though this time for my dad to replace his dinky Lenovo Net-top. Considering that I'm getting a Phenom II X6 1100T, the Athlon II X4-640 would be for my dad's system.

And since my dad only uses his computer mainly for watching youtube videos on high definition, emails, simple photoshopping, and facebook activities, here's what I propose to making his custom computer, though his main criteria would be a slim casing, and black in colour to blend in with the other electrical devices. The white Lenovo Net-top hasn't gone well blending with the black 42 inch Samsung LED TV.

Motherboard - Biostar A880G+ (Priority was the HDMI output that my father would be using)
Processor - AMD Athlon II X4-640
RAM - 1 x 2GB 1333MHz Kingston
HDD - 500GB Seagate (16mb cache, 7200rpm)
Optical Drive - Samsung 22x DVD+/-RW Writer
Graphics - ATi Raedon HD4250 Integrated Graphics 512MB max shared memory (Mobo's game boost feature pumps the GPU clock from 500MHz to 700MHz)
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium

One thing while I was planning for my dad's system was the concern of cost, hence I was unsure if I should get my dad a dedicated GPU instead of relying on the mobo's GPU.

So what would be your recommendations for my dad's planned system? As far as I know, he is willing to fork out half of the total sum.
outlaw-2
  Posted: Jan 1 2012, 12:57 AM


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QUOTE (outlaw-2 @ Jun 3 2011, 04:52 PM)
Well, it's been a few weeks, and already I'm planning on having a second computer build, though this time for my dad to replace his dinky Lenovo Net-top. Considering that I'm getting a Phenom II X6 1100T, the Athlon II X4-640 would be for my dad's system.

And since my dad only uses his computer mainly for watching youtube videos on high definition, emails, simple photoshopping, and facebook activities, here's what I propose to making his custom computer, though his main criteria would be a slim casing, and black in colour to blend in with the other electrical devices. The white Lenovo Net-top hasn't gone well blending with the black 42 inch Samsung LED TV.

Motherboard - Biostar A880G+ (Priority was the HDMI output that my father would be using)
Processor - AMD Athlon II X4-640
RAM - 1 x 2GB 1333MHz Kingston
HDD - 500GB Seagate (16mb cache, 7200rpm)
Optical Drive - Samsung 22x DVD+/-RW Writer
Graphics - ATi Raedon HD4250 Integrated Graphics 512MB max shared memory (Mobo's game boost feature pumps the GPU clock from 500MHz to 700MHz)
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium

One thing while I was planning for my dad's system was the concern of cost, hence I was unsure if I should get my dad a dedicated GPU instead of relying on the mobo's GPU.

So what would be your recommendations for my dad's planned system? As far as I know, he is willing to fork out half of the total sum.

Into the year and I realised that I've been doing a lot of updates on my current pc system build. Because of this, here are some pictures to show where my pc has gone, well, performance wise.

If one was aware in the recent purchase thread, I've bought several parts, and well, deviated away from what I had intended to buy in the first place.

Indeed, I went ahead and bought the X6 1100T, as well as an aftermarket cpu cooler, the Coolermaster Hyper TX-3. I could have gotten the Hyper 212+, but the casing size made it a very tight squeeze.
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How the system was back then, and very messy as well.
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From there, I went on buying more stuff, biggest key point would be a better casing, the Ikonik SOHO1. The Zalman 92mm fan was bolted to the cpu cooler, hence now it is a push-pull config. That Headway PSU was the biggest mistake of my life, especially when I was not aware about the 80+ efficiency thing on PSUs back then.
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Much more sleek than the cheapy bling old casing
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From there, I decided to change the monitor, reason being that it looked out of place for a square monitor... I bought myself an Acer G205HV
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By then, I was starting to get into the overclocking side of things, and the cheapass PSU started to give me problems, shutting down every time I do something heavy to the CPU/GPU. Frustrations made me underclock and undervolt my system until I bought a new PSU. Around the same time, I decided to update myself and got an AM3+ mobo as well

PSU - Aerocool Strike-X 800W 80+ Silver Modular
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-970A-D3
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How my system currently looks on the inside. Still messy, and yes, I can't turn the HDD around. For some reason it can only lock in place as it is. And yes, I ditched the Creative Sound Card altogether.
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As of 1st Jan 2012
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And my overclocked GTX550Ti specs based on GPU-Z
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And since now I'm being more realistic in getting stuff, (Yeah, I'm such a daydreamer when it comes to planning on buying stuff at times.). Here's the low-down on the further updates to my system, based on the monthly allowance I've been getting from the army.
January - Ducky DK9008 Cherry MX Brown Keyboard
February till April - Palit GTX580 3GB

My side done, now about my dad's HTPC side, there has been progress. Since he wanted to reuse the parts I have in storage, I've pretty much scratched my planned parts for my dad. And now since he's fully forking out the money for the parts, I'm aiming to spend as little as possible.

Parts that I have so far...
Processor - AMD Athlon II X4-640
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 320GB (IDE)
Mobo - Biostar A780L3G
CPU Cooler - Stock AMD Phenom II cooler
Casing - That red, bling, cheapass casing I had.

Purchasing ram, OS, and optical drive are pretty much handled by my dad. The only things that he needed help is choosing the right PSU, and GPU. Take note, he still insists on a HDMI output. And as far as I know, here's my suggestions as of now...

PSU - Superflower Amazon 550W 80+ Bronze - SGD$78 - http://www.super-flower.com.tw/products_de...0&ID=11&lang=en
GPU - Powercolor HD6670 2GB DDR3 - SGD$129 - http://www.powercolor.com/global/products_...ures.asp?id=370

What are your opinions on this, and could this be improved?

This post has been edited by outlaw-2 on Jan 1 2012, 01:00 AM
buusap
Posted: Jan 12 2012, 03:06 AM


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wow man why is your desk so messy :L

btw its a nice build and its cool how you keep upgrading it all the time, i really wouldnt be bothered on constantly upgrading my computer unless i really needed to.

tbh id stick to your old GPU, unless you were doing some hardcore stuff with it and you really desperately needed the upgrade, i mean, im using a 9800GT and i can still run bf3 decently smile.gif
outlaw-2
  Posted: Jan 12 2012, 10:46 PM


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QUOTE (buusap @ Yesterday, 7:06 PM)
wow man why is your desk so messy :L

btw its a nice build and its cool how you keep upgrading it all the time, i really wouldnt be bothered on constantly upgrading my computer unless i really needed to.

tbh id stick to your old GPU, unless you were doing some hardcore stuff with it and you really desperately needed the upgrade, i mean, im using a 9800GT and i can still run bf3 decently smile.gif

Haha, you're kind of right that I should stay on with my current GPU, and just overclock it further. The impulse of myself having the urge to upgrade my gpu was the fact that all of my friends that has custom PCs have upgraded or bought new systems, and all of them have a minimum of a GTX560Ti or an AMD equivalent. That pretty much makes me in the dust in some way.

Though, I may look my sights down a little and get a GTX560Ti if there's a need. The flight simulator lags at times when the gameplay get chaotic on my GTX550Ti.

My dad's HTPC build is on hold at the moment until his bonus comes in coming February. As for my PC, it is now a prime target in my younger sister's point of view. Ever since her laptop can't handle Bioshock 2, her favourite game, she's been eying on my desktop, especially when I play Skyrim on it...
outlaw-2
  Posted: Jun 25 2012, 02:48 AM


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Hello mates, it's been a while since my last update, and well... a lot of things have deviated from my initial plans.

For my PC, I've managed to get hold of a second hand ATi Radeon HD5870 Reference Card for SGD$160 (About USD$124), and well, had a tough squeeze into the casing. A sign that it's time for me to change my casing it seems. Maybe the Fractal Design Midi Arc would suit fine. Also, I've bumped up my ram size to the optimal 8GB. Bought a G.Skill RipJaws 1600MHz 4GB x 2 Kit.

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And... cable tied the arse out of it.
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*yes, that's an Aerocool Shark 120mm case fan.*

The journey of graphics cards are as it is...
1: Nvidia Riva TNT2 32mb (Custom PC, P3)
2: Nvidia Riva TNT2 Pro 32mb (Same custom PC as above)
3: Nvidia GeForce MX4000 128mb (Same custom PC as above)
4: Intel GMA X3100 (Laptop)
5: ATi Radeon HD3000 Integrated Graphics (Custom PC, current build)
6: Asus GTX550Ti DirectCU 1GB GDDR5 (This began my overclocking stint, overclocked it to 1016MHz no problem, now part of my mom's PC build)
7: Gigabyte GTX460SE 1GB GDDR5 (Overclocked to 835MHz from the factory overclock 750MHz)
8: ATi Radeon HD5870 Reference Card 1GB GDDR5 (Not overclocked, will do so after getting a 3rd party VGA cooler. Looking into getting a Xigmatek BiFrost.)

As for my dad's HTPC, well, the Gigabyte GTX460SE ended up in there, replacing the Palit GT440, and my God it goes on full assault on HD videos and 1080p gaming. Maxed out on Fable 3 on 1080p no problem, NFS: Hot Pursuit 2010 as well. 8GB of ram is boosted to 12GB 1333MHz, from both Kingston and G.Skill.

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The issue would be my mom's NEC Powermate PC. As it is, here's the specs on her system
CPU - Intel Pentium 4 HT 524
Motherboard - NEC OEM Intel LGA775 motherboard
RAM - 1.5GB worth of RAM, all Kingston. (2 x 256mb, 1 x 1GB)
HDD: Western Digital 320GB SATA (this one died)
ODD - Samsung 24x DVD-RW
GPU: Asus GTX550Ti DirectCU 1GB GDDR5 (At stock speed, will underclock and undervolt if the PSU can't handle it at any point of time.)
PSU: CoolerMaster eXtreme 500W
Case: NEC Powermate case

As of now, since the HDD died, and the fact I found a discarded CoolerMaster case with a fully functional CoolerMaster eXtreme 460W PSU, I've ported it over into the Coolermaster casing

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*I know, cable management is still bad, will cable tie all up when the system is up and running.*

As said, the remaining spare items I have at the moment...
- G.Skill RipJaws 1600MHz 2GB x 2 Kit
- Palit GT440 1GB GDDR5
- CoolerMaster eXtreme 460W PSU
- FSP 315-60PNA-I (PF) 315W PSU

The possibility of changing my mom's pc from Intel to AMD is high, but a matter of when.

This post has been edited by outlaw-2 on Jun 25 2012, 02:48 AM
outlaw-2
  Posted: Oct 12 2013, 02:04 AM


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Well, time for a huge update after such a long long long time.

I was never satisfied with my main PC's build, as the case was just too cramped, leaving a big mess of wires all over the place in the Ikonik case. Because of that, I bought a bigger case, though still labelled as MATX case, when it doesn't to me.

The Antec Eleven Hundred.
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And my god the space, now I can upgrade anytime when needed.
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Also, the second PC build took a turn for the worse as the PC case I found had faulty front IOs, and being the lazy arse, I went forth purchasing a new case and ditched the old one. As well as new motherboard and processor. Well, "New" isn't the correct word here, considering that it's an AMD Llano FM1...
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However, another change, as of 1st October 2013, the 2nd PC gets another cosmetic change. Another case, smaller this time round. And I've ditched the GTX550Ti in favour for the integrated graphics. Since it's only just a work/media/facebook PC, why need the extra wattage for a dedicated GPU when the integrated one is just as good?
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Nevertheless, the PC progress continues on. The next upgrade is not even the PCs themselves. That table has to go.