Hello everyone!

I'm a big computer nerd, and I love my custom gaming PC that I've worked on upgrading and building over the last 5 years.

As it currently sits, it has the following:

- Asus Mobo
- AMD FX-6300 6-core CPU
- 12GB DDR3 RAM
- AMD XFX Radeon 7800 series "Ghost" GPU
- Semi-Modular 500W Power supply
- Cooler master watercooled CPU heatsink
- 40GB SSD (Player Unknown's Battlegrounds installed here)
- 120GB SSD (OS, apps, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive)
- 500GB HDD (User Profile, Documents)
- 1TB HDD (PLEX Media Server, Steam Games)
- 200GB HDD (OS Backup Drive)

I am running a dual-monitor setup, but have the ability to run 5 DVI/Display Port monitors

For Peripherals, I have:

- RAZER Blackwidow Ultimate 2014 mechanical keyboard, green LED
- Logitech G502 Proteus Core FPS gaming mouse
- Plantronics RIG500HD professional gaming 7.1 surround headset
- Logitech Z-5 USB speakers
- Logitech HD-9000 webcam

I also stream my gameplay on Twitch. Usually, it's 2 hours of CSGO practice with my friend/coach every weeknight, from 10PM to 12AM EST.

What kind of PC do you have? What's your go-to game?

ASUS Z97-A-USB31
Intel Core i7 4790k 4.00GHz (Core Speed 4397.4 MHz) Quad Core with HT
Memory Type: DDR3
Memory Size: 16 GBytes
Channels: Dual
Memory Frequency: 666.3 MHz (1:5)
SanDisk Ultra II 960GB SSD (OS, Steam Games, Plex Server, applications)
2 WD 2TB (mirrored) HDDs (movies store)
1 Seagate 3TB HDD (more movies)
1 Seagate 2TB HDD (junk)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
1 kW modular power supply
Logitech G700s mouse
Crappy Dell keyboard
Turtle Beach px21 headphones
1 Dell UltraSharp 24" monitor
Lian LI Full Tower Aluminum tool-less case - Black

I started playing CS in 1999 and still play CS:S (I do not like CS:GO).  I play just about any FPS game (either first person shooter or first person sword...lol).  Currently playing Fallout 4, Crisis 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, and Dishonored 2.  Half-life is my favorite series, and yes, I am still waiting for half-life 3...  :p

I'm currently building the MAME machine to end all MAME machine builds.  It'll have nice hardware, but it'll also have the craziest case you've ever seen.  I'm hoping to release it publicly on March at Arcade Expo.  I'll post here with picts when I do:)

Bari Jo

i5 4690k
MSI 970 GPU
MSI Z97 G5 Motherboard

When I built it a few years ago it was probably in the top percentage of performance but alas as the years go by the components become a little dated but before I used to buy cheapish laptops that would end up breaking after a year or so after heavy use but decided to go back to desktop and it was the best choice, still runs like new and expect to get many more years out of it....

I don't really play many games anymore but still handles well on some more intensive stuff.

It was fun putting it together too.

Quote from: sashapawz on January 08, 2018, 02:57:40 AM

What kind of PC do you have? What's your go-to game?

What's your fav operating system Sasha?? My son built a pretty cool machine with a friend who worked for Bill Gates, designer of Internet Explorer. I have stuck with Windows 7 Professional (32bit) because it's backward compatible with older software/hardware that I have using 9pin ports.

Play Toontown Rewritten 2 yr old gradbabies like the music 

Quote from: Bari Jo on January 08, 2018, 08:45:25 PM
I'm currently building the MAME machine to end all MAME machine builds.  It'll have nice hardware, but it'll also have the craziest case you've ever seen.  I'm hoping to release it publicly on March at Arcade Expo.  I'll post here with picts when I do:)

Bari Jo

I will be interested in seeing that.

Quote from: Bari Jo on January 08, 2018, 08:45:25 PM
I'm currently building the MAME machine to end all MAME machine builds.  It'll have nice hardware, but it'll also have the craziest case you've ever seen.  I'm hoping to release it publicly on March at Arcade Expo.  I'll post here with picts when I do:)

Bari Jo

Oh that is SO COOL! You HAVE to share pics here when it's done! I want to build an arcade cabinet using a Raspberry Pi and Arduino boards for the control stick deck for my home when I finish building the lounge! (so it's likely going to take 6 years to get to that point hehe~)

Quote from: Kiera on January 09, 2018, 05:00:40 AM
What's your fav operating system Sasha?? My son built a pretty cool machine with a friend who worked for Bill Gates, designer of Internet Explorer. I have stuck with Windows 7 Professional (32bit) because it's backward compatible with older software/hardware that I have using 9pin ports.

Play Toontown Rewritten 2 yr old gradbabies like the music 

My favourite OS has to be Windows 10 64 Bit right now, only because of my work. I am in the medical technical field, and with the ability to sync my PC preferences between home, work and my laptop, it's just super convenient. I am also a big Xbox fan, so being able to just use my bluetooth enabled Xbox One controller on my PC, and play my Xbox One games from the comfort of my gaming desk is also super handy!

That said, I do love Linux Mint and other Linux distros, I started messing around with Linux about 15 years ago when I build my first "Scrapyard" PC out of parts I salvaged from the local landfill scrap pile.

Toontown Rewritten? I don't think I've heard of that one... I'll have to look it up!

I'm not terribly techy, and my PC was built for me by someone way more knowledgeable and awesome than I, so most of this comes from the system information, and I'm not exactly sure of all the acronyms, but:

ASUS Maximus IX Hero motherboard.
Intel Core i7-6700K CPU 4ghz. Overclocked to 4.6ghz
NZXT Kraken water cooler for the CPU
MSI Nvidia GTX 1080ti GPU
32gb Corsair... uh... something RAM.
1.8 TB of SSD, divided among 3 drives.

I also have an ASUS ROG Swift Curved PG348Q Gaming Monitor - 34" 21:9 Ultra-wide QHD with G-sync. And an Oculus Rift. Oh and a Corsair Gaming K70 LUX RGB mechanical keyboard + UtechSmart Venus MMO gaming mouse.

Plus probably other stuff I've missed.

Oh, I forgot to post this one too! My daughter (she's 8!) built this computer with the parts I had left over!

- ASUS Mobo
- AMD FX-6300 CPU 6-core
- NVidia GTX 1050 ti 3GB GPU
- 500GB HDD

And her peripherals are:

- Logitech G105 MW3 edition keybo
- Logitech z-5 speakers
- WiFi card
- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Adapter
- Generic Wireless Mouse
- Wacom Intuos Medium drawing tablet

I had to do the CPU and Heatsink for her, but she did the rest of the build herself mostly.

I built this to allow me to run multiple virtual machines for development. Lately I use it for VR development, and the extra power is nice. I'm a big fan of Windows 10, and think it's the best release to date. I also have a MacBook, and the integration with other iOS devices is great.

CPU - Intel Core i7 6700K
Memory - Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (4 x 16gb)
Video - ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
Hard Disk (OS) - Samsung 960 EVO Series - PCIe NVMe - M.2
Operating System - Windows 10 Pro
Other Hard Disk - Samsung 850 EVO, Western Digital Black Edition

Quote from: silliemunkie on January 09, 2018, 01:37:06 PM
I built this to allow me to run multiple virtual machines for development. Lately I use it for VR development, and the extra power is nice. I'm a big fan of Windows 10, and think it's the best release to date. I also have a MacBook, and the integration with other iOS devices is great.

CPU - Intel Core i7 6700K
Memory - Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (4 x 16gb)
Video - ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
Hard Disk (OS) - Samsung 960 EVO Series - PCIe NVMe - M.2
Operating System - Windows 10 Pro
Other Hard Disk - Samsung 850 EVO, Western Digital Black Edition

#jealous

Surprisingly many people here have solid-state drive (SSD) in their PCs.
Yes. I am going to order one, too (Samsung 850 Evo 1Tb), as my old HP Z800 workstation is becoming slow.
My HP Z800 has 2 CPUs with 96 Gb RAM, with a total of ca. 30 Tb storage devices, which is mostly used for statistical analysis, numerical modelling and GIS. I do not play any computer game.

barbie~~

I love SSDs but you have to be careful about excessive writes to the drives as it ages them. In addition, it's best to have a good old fashion hard drive backing them up incase they should fail. Other than that, a SSD can greatly reduce you boot time to seconds and in my case, shut down can be just as fast.

Quote from: Dena on January 10, 2018, 04:19:45 PM
I love SSDs but you have to be careful about excessive writes to the drives as it ages them. In addition, it's best to have a good old fashion hard drive backing them up incase they should fail. Other than that, a SSD can greatly reduce you boot time to seconds and in my case, shut down can be just as fast.

Absolutely right. The technology is getting better, but they will still fail after x cycles. That's why I only use my one SSD for my OS, and install all my apps on a platter drive. The only exception is PUBG, which I can't get to run and load properly without it being on an SSD. Stupid un-optimized game that I love so much...

Finally I got and installed a SSD in my HP Z800 workstation. As Samsung Evo 850 SSD is out of stock, I purchased a little bit more expensive but more endurable one: Pro 850 SSD 1 Tb. As my Z800 is an old one, I had no choice but to order a SATA SSD and a PCIe card supporting SATA3 instead of NVME SSD. Samsung warranties 10 year for the Pro 850 SSD. A bench mark test showed a satisfactory result.



I have ordered additional two SATA SSDs for my graduate students, and one for my home PC.

For listening music, I also ordered "ASUS Xonar DGX PCI-E GX2.5 Audio Engine Sound Cards", which I do not know well, but I heard can be a nice match with my new headset, Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO, which my son has left at home.

https://www.amazon.com/Xonar-DGX-GX2-5-Audio-Engine/dp/B007TMZ1BK
https://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-770-PRO-250-ohms/dp/B0006NL5SM

barbie~~

You guys still build your own computers? These days that's more of a passion thing than a necessity. After a few decades of DIY computer evolution I decided to take the easy way out. In the late ohs I scored several used business Dell GX280s for peanuts in liquidation auctions. Then for years I just swapped parts between them to have one that suited me. When that finally pooped out I picked up a refurb HP 6200 tower at Micro Center for like $200 and it's still doing everything I want it to. It came with a half terra HD, but I added my old 250 Giger. I also have a few SanDisk 120 sticks I use for portable storage.

I've also got a little HP Stream 11 (in pink) I use mostly as a back up computer. The last time I used it was for watching TV when the power was out for three hours. With it (and SMPlayer) I can watch recorded TV from from the Sandisk stick I keep in my iView TV tuner.

March 21, 2014
ICEBERG

Windows 7 Pro x64 (and loved it)
Windows 10 Pro x64 (and LOATHE it).

CPU: AMD FX-8350 @4.0GHz
HSF: Noctua NH-D14
MB: ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0
RAM: 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3 1600
GPU: EVGA GTX 760 SC 2GB GDDR5
PSU: Corsair RM750
HDD: WD Black 1TB
ODD: ASUS DRW-24B1ST
CSE: Gigabyte Sumo Omega

2 power switched external HDD's (last many, many years longer than internal drives).
DIS: Samsung SyncMaster P2370HD
KB: Ducky One 2 DKON1808S-AUSPDAZB1 (Cherry MX Black)
MS: G.SKILL Ripjaws MX780
GP: SteelSeries 3GC
SPK: JVC MX-KB30 2x150W (Aux)

FiOS G1100 <patch> Netgear WNDR37AV

And all was well, until Win10 barged itself into my environs without so much as a by your leave. Now not only is my HDD being slammed at 100% utilization from 20-120 minutes after POST (which set in from day one of Win10), but I am now also experiencing a phantom freeze (as in there is absolutely no error or log to be seen. I have absolutely not even a hint of where and why this is occurring) existent since January 13, 2018 (when deferred Fall Creators Update and Meltdown and Spectre patch also installed themselves). I've looked at and run every diagnostic I could think of and everything claims to check out fine, it is obviously software in origin but that's all I can discern without any real error or log to go on. So that is why I do not only just hate, but I absolutely LOATHE, Win10. The fact that it has utterly binned legitimate Administrative controls (feel like I'm on a public system, not my own). Problematic updates (I am feel sure that's what the freeze is about) will always find you because you CAN'T permanently opt out of updates.

Only thing I regret about my build is 8GB RAM, I really should have got 16GB. Especially with a GPU (they do tandem-map with System RAM). I have maxed out several times. Not often, granted, but it should ideally never happen.

Don't regret giving SSD's a miss. There is absolutely 0% performance increase in gaming. And I'm patient, 1 minute boots don't bother me (and allow me to actually get into BIOS/safe boot when necessary lmao).

Anyway, I am not planning to upgrade/rebuild until 2020 or later. This here is still plenty. And I shall NEVER spend more than $300 on any GPU, I don't give a fig what the hyperbole is. Mainly waiting for that cryptocurrency insanity to stop inflating them 2-3 times over MSRP to snag a 1060.

When I do, though, it shall be a Ryzen (1600X?) and it's mummy an ASUS (B350-F Gaming? *Wolf-whistle*).

Quote from: Lyric on March 01, 2018, 12:39:59 PM
You guys still build your own computers? These days that's more of a passion thing than a necessity. After a few decades of DIY computer evolution I decided to take the easy way out. In the late ohs I scored several used business Dell GX280s for peanuts in liquidation auctions. Then for years I just swapped parts between them to have one that suited me. When that finally pooped out I picked up a refurb HP 6200 tower at Micro Center for like $200 and it's still doing everything I want it to. It came with a half terra HD, but I added my old 250 Giger. I also have a few SanDisk 120 sticks I use for portable storage.

Au contraire! It is very necessary, even now more than ever before, when you want the thing to work beyond 1-2 years. And not get absolutely reamed hundreds of dollars over parts MSRP. In my, albeit limited experience, with OEM's they pick bottom of the barrel components (such as PSU's and HDD's, what most don't bother to ask what they are) and they really make their money by up-selling you on their "protection plans" (Dell's I believe is $100 per year). Too, they also employ the underhanded tactic of custom motherboards and cases that CAN'T be upgraded or expanded upon. So you're spending at least twice as much for an inferior system than a self-built. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. The hassle alone of replacing them every couple years... and never, ever quite getting what you actually need/want as well. Nah, I'll stick to my DIY's. I prefer to keep a system for at least 6 years (I toss into them the best CPU I can afford; and I find it works out rather well. By the time I'm feeling it's starting to need some TLC, 4-6 years have passed).

For a lark, I actually did check Dell's offerings before building my current system. They wanted $2,000 for one that didn't surpass my specification's performance (and fell far shorter of the component quality also). I paid $1,100 for my parts. And it's TWICE as good as the Dell I looked at. For HALF the price.

Quote from: Magnus on April 21, 2018, 11:16:20 PM
Au contraire! It is very necessary, even now more than ever before, when you want the thing to work beyond 1-2 years.

Well, it's good to know there are still dedicated DIY hardware builders like you around. I was one for a good quarter century. My manufactured machines of late may not have the most choice parts, but they've lasted me way over 1-2  years and are so inexpensive it wouldn't matter much if they did. I've enough hardware expertise I can keep a budget business machine humming to it's last gasp, I guess.

We're now into an age in which the computer industry considers desktops the old jalopies of high tech. They'd rather just sell us new smart phones or an app every few months. Microsoft has been trying to get out of the desktop OS business for awhile and probably will soon enough. I keep meaning to throw together a Linux machine, but haven't bothered yet.