where my computer geeks at?

[Br0tz34]

anyone have a nice gaming rig or just a monster to surf your favorite dirty websites? haha Ive built mine to the max and want to do more to it but i need ideas? anyone one got any pics or ideas?

 

[Woodster]

Build in my sig. Use it for everything. Gaming, NAS, server, movies...whatever...

 

[SmokeShow]

Try the Protein Folding area... plenty of computer nerd chatter in there. :thumb:

 

[DAVe3283]

anyone have a nice gaming rig or just a monster to surf your favorite dirty websites? haha Ive built mine to the max and want to do more to it but i need ideas? anyone one got any pics or ideas?

Don't just tease us, give us some specs!

As to you wanting to do more, I will start with my peripherals of choice. Bear with me, this will make sense in a second.

Dell U3011 monitor (2560x1600 resolution, 2.0x Full HD, 16:10 aspect ratio)
Corsair Vengeance K95 all-mechanical keyboard (at home)
Corsair Vengeance K90 mechanical keyboard (at work)
Logitech MX1000 10-button laser mouse (at home)
Cyborg M.M.O. 7 14-button laser mouse (at work)
Logitech 5.1 THX surround speakers (I forget what model)
​

Why the $2000+ list of peripherals? If you want the most out of your PC(s), you need good peripherals. When you use your computer, you are actually just using your keyboard, mouse, monitor, and speakers. The computer behind them can (and probably will) change over the years. But peripherals are a good investment.

A good monitor can make a HUGE difference. Yes, I spent over $1,500 on my monitor. And it was worth every penny. When I build computers for people, I tell them to budget AT LEAST $600 for monitors ($300 each x2, or a very nice single $600+ monitor). A good monitor will last you 10 years, maybe more. A cheap monitor will barely last 5, and you will hate all 5 of those years. I recommend two screens to everyone as well. If you have never used 2+ monitors, you don't know how useful this is. If you have, you know what I am talking about.

The keyboards I prefer are mechanical. They make a bit more noise when typing, but they feel great. This is important (probably more for me than most, as I program for a living). You need to enjoy the feel of using your keyboard. A $3,000 PC is still annoying if your crappy wireless keyboard sucks to use. Most sane people wouldn't spend the $150 on a keyboard I did (twice), but you can get some nice mechanical keyboards in the $100 range. Again, worth it. A mechanical keyboard will last a decade.

Finally, get a mouse that is comfortable. I get mice with lots of buttons because I like binding keyboard shortcuts to my mouse so I don't have to take my hand off as often; but for most people (especially gaming and web surfing), you only care about comfort. I would recommend getting a mouse that at least has dedicated forward and back buttons, though, as they are super useful. So go out, try lots of mice, see how they fit, and pick the most comfortable.

Finally, get a decent set of speakers or headphones. Something that sounds good to you. Audio discussions quickly get out of hand, so I will stop here.


So, now on to (more) shameless listing of specs of my computers!

Until a couple months ago, I was using a gaming laptop as my primary system, a Dell XPS M1730:

Intel Core2 Extreme X9000 overclocked to 3.0 GHz
8GB RAM (max it supported)
2x 256GB SSDs in RAID0 (engineering samples, basically these)
2x nVidia GeForce 9800M GTX in SLI
1920x1200 resolution display (1.1x Full HD, 16:10 aspect ratio)
SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook (5.1 surround + optical out)
​

There is a trick to this: buy used gaming laptops. The kind of person who buys a gaming laptop replaces it frequently. Mine has a sticker price of $5,000; I picked it up less than 2 years old for $1,100 with a year of warranty left. Yes, my screen cost more than my laptop. I stand by that decision.

Sadly, without warning (and ~7 days out of warranty), the laptop motherboard died. Since I use my PC for my side business, I needed to get a new one sooner than later. I was planning on building a new desktop this winter (waiting for Ivy Bridge-E), but this changed the plan.

So, in somewhat a rush, I ordered and built my current PC, a desktop this time:

Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (full tower, cable management, sound deadening, etc, etc.)
Power Supply: Seasonic PLATINUM-1000
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-GD65 (has TPM support, so I can encrypt my SSDs while keeping TRIM; USB 3, SATA 3, etc, etc.)
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K (not overclocked... yet)
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D14
RAM: 32GB DDR3-1866 (4x 8GB engineering sample modules, basically these)
Video card: MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC (nVidia GeForce 670 based)
Hard drives: 2x 256GB SSDs in RAID 0 (the ones from the laptop); Seagate Barracude ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM drive (bulk storage for movies, music, games, etc.)
Optical: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray burner (no riplock, so I can rip movies at warp speed)
​

Since I was previously using the 1920x1200 screen of my laptop as a 2nd display, and I blew my budget on the desktop, I am currently relegated to a ancient 1280x1024 LCD as my secondary screen. I am trying to decide if I want to pick up a second Dell U3011 (they are now cheaper, only $1100), or grab a small 4k TV to use as a monitor, and make my current U3011 secondary. Decisions, decisions.

I have an old desktop box I use as a server.

Intel Core2 Quad (Q6700 IIRC)
Various hard drives totaling > 5 TB, and in need of more.
6 GB of RAM (and very much in need of more)
Dual Gigabit Ethernet
nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card, for no reason at all
​

This holds backups of various PCs, my movie & TV show collection, SVN repositories, a copy of GM's Techline eSI system from 2005 (a SUPER USEFUL thing to have), several virtual machines, and tons of random stuff. Plus, since it is always on, I can stream a random movie or TV show to my phone if I so desire. I keep meaning to replace it with a better server, but it keeps working, and I'd rather save the money for my Duramax, so it will remain outdated for a while longer.

I'll skip the work-provided PCs, as they are fairly run of the mill, except maxed out on RAM and SSDs (we do make computer memory, after all).