****your big rig specs******

[Ekaros]

Anyways... back on topic.

What case do you use for your computer out of curiosity? 8GB of RAM can get fairly hot if I'm not mistaken. Even old EDO RAM lol (but those things suck a lot of voltage).

Antec P180B wanted a big case, but it's kinda too small anyway... Still decent cooling with two 120mm fans next to CPU which is cooled with Zalmans 9500cu, anyway they are heatsinked dimms...

[British]

anyway they are heatsinked dimms...

Which in the end is at best eye-candy, as it doesn't really help performance.
Can't remember where I read an extensive review about that.

[niplfsh]

Yeah, RAM heatspreaders haven't really been useful since DDR1.  They're purely for looks.  Modern RAM that runs at 1.6V or less doesn't really get very warm.  Hell, my RAM runs at 1.35V, it has no use at all for heatspreaders.

[gr1m]

I wouldn't call heatspreaders useless but anything above your typical simple aluminum plates is a waste.

[gr1m]

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/299/4/

Up to 4MHz gained in overclocking!!!!

[niplfsh]

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/299/4/

Up to 4MHz gained in overclocking!!!!

Yeah, and those were DDR1 at 3.4V.

[SidiMye]

Most higher default speed ram comes default with heat spreaders and don't cost much more then normal ram.. I don't see a point in not buying ram with heat spreaders.

Hardware:

GA-P55-UD4 - Intel Core I5 @ 3.9ghz 1.312v - Lapped TRUE120 + nexus PWM fan -  GeIL DDR3 2x2gigs cas 7 1600mhz @ 1488mhz T1 7-7-7-24-54 1.65v  - 260GTX 55nm 216 896mb @700mhz/1404/1200 SLI - Asus Xonar DX - CM HAF 922 - CM Real Power M700 - 2.5 TB hdd storage (3 hdd's non raid) -Zalman zm-mfc1 plus fan controller - SyncMaster 226CW (1680x1050) - Edifier S530D,G15V2,Steelseries 6GV2,G330,Hifi Headphones (some Panasonics, not that expensive though but sounds great) -
Razer Deathadder & Destructor.

You'd think the temps would be high with this system, well its pretty low actually , ( CPU idles at 39 degrees coretemp average with fans on medium ) the only real heat bringers are the GPU's but they exhaust at the back so its not really a problem except for room temp which of course in turn will increase overall system temp but when ventilated regularly its not a real biggie.

I must say that the Razer Destructor mouse pad has worn out in 8 months of time. though I play everyday for a few hours so thats why.. and the mouse feet of the mouse has been worn out plenty of times. And I have a few scratches on the side panel of my case because of 2 lan party's... its nothing major though.

Otherwise I'm pretty happy with my system, now you might ask me why am I running the ram on lower speeds? well I'm using command rate T1 which improves the speeds by allot, now I haven't tested it with say 1800mhz T2 speed wise but i think its fast enough ATM, haven't had any problems with it. and I'm in this state that I think its pointless to tweak any further with my current system. Prob just going to upgrade a bit in 2 years times with a new SSD and a new GPU, but thats it mostly. I doubt this i5 is going to be old in 4-5 years of time. If it will be well.. lets just say I can always just get another CPU like a 860-70 or its follow up then.

BTW the Edifier S530D rocks (2.1). really nice sound, its pretty HiFi.

Oh and I'm getting low fps in StarCraft 2 with this system, epic fail! ( Shattered Horizon runs on semi max )

[niplfsh]

Well, I'm not going out of my way to avoid heatspreaders, I'm just saying that they are useless.  Some of these guys put massive heatsinks on the things as if they actually do something and try to charge a price premium for it.

[SidiMye]

Hehe yeah, I forgot about those, like the corsair dominator series. or some Thermalright blocks that are connected via heatpipes too "cool" it down. xD

[bhtooefr]

So I've already put the specs of my big rigs here, now it's time for my "big" rig.

Apple IIGS ROM 3
RAM-GS with 4 megs of RAM (for 5.125 megs total)
Focus IDE controller with 2 gig CF card
SoundMeister stereo digitizer/4.0 output (the sound chip on the IIGS has support for mono digitizing, IIRC, and 4.0 output, but Apple didn't expose it except on a motherboard header that needs a card to use.)
Uther 10 Mbps ethernet card... without a CPU upgrade, it's slow, though. And, no, I can't overclock the CPU, have to get an accelerator with cache onboard.

Oh, and it has a 36.25 watt power supply.

Anyway, my most powerful PSU is under 500 W, IIRC (in a Sun workstation that I never use,) and my actual big rig has a 90 W PSU.

[ThirdLap]

Guess I'll add mine.

AMD Phenom II 720 BE (unlocked to four cores, overclocked from 2.8GHz to 3.7GHz, fully stable)
Corsair H50 with high speed Yate Loons in push pull, ext mount radiator
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT UD4P
4GB DDR3 1600 Corsair RAM
ATI Radeon 5770 OCed to 950/1250
2x 20" Acer X203H
1.5 TB total storage
MSI DVD-RW optical drive
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750watt PSU
Cooler Master HAF 932

Where the magic happens. Forgive the non-mechanical keyboard, this was from some time back.

[EverythingIBM]

Guess I'll add mine.

AMD Phenom II 720 BE (unlocked to four cores, overclocked from 2.8GHz to 3.7GHz, fully stable)
Corsair H50 with high speed Yate Loons in push pull, ext mount radiator
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT UD4P
4GB DDR3 1600 Corsair RAM
ATI Radeon 5770 OCed to 950/1250
2x 20" Acer X203H
1.5 TB total storage
MSI DVD-RW optical drive
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750watt PSU
Cooler Master HAF 932

Where the magic happens. Forgive the non-mechanical keyboard, this was from some time back.

Your RAM slots are weird... usually RAM is organized as 1,3,2,4 -- rather than 1,2,3,4.

EDIT: You could get four 1 GB sticks, probably would run faster.

[microsoft windows]

Speaking of big rigs...my hard disk sounds like a diesel engine.

[WhiteRice]

i7 930 @ 3.5Ghz
6GB DDR3 1600
Asus P6TSE
eVGA 470 GTX
Corsair Force 120GB SSD
WD Raptor 150GB
WD Blue 1TB
Corsair 620HX

[EverythingIBM]

Congrats!  You have the slowest rig.

So far I appear to have the fastest if you believe Geekbench.  Pretty sad, my build is ancient.

Have you guys tried picking up some tips  from OCN?  :biggrin1:

I think there are people here who have a faster computer (but they don't bother themselves with benchmarks). I bet my old intellistation could beat your PC-compatible.

Speaking of big rigs...my hard disk sounds like a diesel engine.

Listen to my SCSI drives, *those* things sound worse than a diesel truck, jet plane, tractor, and dinosaur combined.

[microsoft windows]

That's just the way old hard disks are. But the one in my Gateway2000 is particularily noisy as well. I can hear it across the basement in my workshop!

[noctua]

My (old) silent PC: (the keyboard is louder..)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.13 GHz/2048Kb)
2 x 1024MB DDR2 Corsair XMS2 CL 5
GeForce 9600GT (512MB/Passive)
Samsung HD080HJ - 80GB
Lian Li PC G50A

[Manbeardo]

Looks like WhiteRice and I can be nearly identical computer buddies!

My specs:
intel i7 930 @ 2.8GHz (Haven't bothered OCing yet)
Gigabyte GTX 470
Asus P6X58D-E
6GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
intel X25M 80GB SSD
Seagate 7200.12 1TB
hec XP1080 1080W

all inside of a beautiful CM Storm Sniper

Also, I have a Samsung 2233Rz and 3D Vision glasses to go with it.

[Co-Op]

Although I'd like to go quad core, I don't have a need at the moment:

Intel E8400 @ 4.05GHz
Abit IP35 Pro
6GB DDR2-1066
ATI HD5870
OCZ Vertex 2 SSD, 100GB (boot drive)
2x 150GB Velociraptors (old raid-0 now used for dumping data)
OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU

[WhiteRice]

Although I'd like to go quad core, I don't have a need at the moment:

Intel E8400 @ 4.05GHz
Abit IP35 Pro
6GB DDR2-1066
ATI HD5870
OCZ Vertex 2 SSD, 100GB (boot drive)
2x 150GB Velociraptors (old raid-0 now used for dumping data)
OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU

No body really needs more than one core. It's a gimmick that's wasted on most people. Unless you run virtual machines,  it's more of an epeen booster.

Looks like WhiteRice and I can be nearly identical computer buddies!

My specs:
intel i7 930 @ 2.8GHz (Haven't bothered OCing yet)
Gigabyte GTX 470
Asus P6X58D-E
6GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
intel X25M 80GB SSD
Seagate 7200.12 1TB
hec XP1080 1080W

all inside of a beautiful CM Storm Sniper

Also, I have a Samsung 2233Rz and 3D Vision glasses to go with it.

I like your style

[Co-Op]

Quad core helps with the benchmark numbers!

[McLaren]

Stock but decent stuff a little over a year old:

AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0 Ghz w/stock cooler
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
GeForce 6900 GT 512mb Low Power (meh - but Linux runs on Nvidia better)

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive
SeaSonic SS-400ET 400W ATX12V V2.2

LIAN LI PC-A06FB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Acer X233H 23" 1080P display
Logitech MX1100 rodent
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard (sorry - reforming Philistine)

Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit

Dell Mini9 w/2GB aftermarket ram and 32GB ATA Runcore SSD
International vsn of Dell Mini9 keyboard with a little better layout
Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix
Logitech NX80 rodent
Siig Minitouch/Geek Hack Space Saver (GHSS) keyboard
(My portable writing computer)

  -- Bill

[d2v]

I know that it doesn't belong in this list, but following is the config of the workstation I will use at work in near future - serious hardware for serious purposes

[instantkamera]

I know that it doesn't belong in this list, but following is the config of the workstation I will use at work in near future - serious hardware for serious purposes

Show Image

now that's my kinda workstation. Not my choice of OS though ...

[timw4mail]

I upgraded recently:

AMD Phenom II x6 1090T overclocked to 4GHz
4GB Geil DDR3 1066 7-7-7-20
ATi Radeon HD 5870
750GB Hard Drive
2 x 160GB Hard Drive
Blu-ray Drive
Antec 650W PSU

[MissileMike]

Nothing special here:

ECS 780GM-A Ultra
Phenom II X4 940 Black at 3.4 ghz with Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer 120mm
8 GB PC6400
WD 640gig Blue
Nvidia 9800GT Low Power (doesn't use the extra pcie power)
Thermaltake 400w ps
Windows 7 64 bit
Two black viewsonic p220f 22" CRT Monitors (got them new a year ago)

Been running like a top for nearly two years now.

[instantkamera]

I upgraded recently:

AMD Phenom II x6 1090T overclocked to 4GHz
4GB Geil DDR3 1066 7-7-7-20
ATi Radeon HD 5870
750GB Hard Drive
2 x 160GB Hard Drive
Blu-ray Drive
Antec 650W PSU

im likely going for the same CPU, likely minus the oc.

[timw4mail]

im likely going for the same CPU, likely minus the oc.

What's the point of getting a Black Edition CPU if you aren't going to overclock it? Seems like a waste of money.

[microsoft windows]

What's the point of getting a Black Edition CPU if you aren't going to overclock it? Seems like a waste of money.

Black Edition CPU? I never knew Jim Crow got with the nineties.

[timw4mail]

Black Edition CPU? I never knew Jim Crow got with the nineties.

:crazy:

It's a processor with an unlocked multiplier.

[instantkamera]

What's the point of getting a Black Edition CPU if you aren't going to overclock it? Seems like a waste of money.

Im not so sure you understand economics, then. See, if I were to pay MORE for the same performance as another item, with the only benefit of the higher price being a feature I likely wont use (out of the box, anyway. perhaps I will down the road), then you might have a case.

In reality, it's clocked higher than the 1055T, is still way cheaper than anything similar from intel, and having kept my eye on a sale or two, Im confident I can get it for not too much more than the 1055T (ncix has sales all the time, and great bundle deals too).  "Black edition" is coincidental to the fact that it is their best/fastest proc out of the box. It also leave me room to OC when and IF Im ready.

[timw4mail]

Im not so sure you understand economics, then. See, if I were to pay MORE for the same performance as another item, with the only benefit of the higher price being a feature I likely wont use (out of the box, anyway. perhaps I will down the road), then you might have a case.

In reality, it's clocked higher than the 1055T, is still way cheaper than anything similar from intel, and having kept my eye on a sale or two, Im confident I can get it for not too much more than the 1055T (ncix has sales all the time, and great bundle deals too).  "Black edition" is coincidental to the fact that it is their best/fastest proc out of the box. It also leave me room to OC when and IF Im ready.

It also costs $100 more for what, .2GHz higher clock than the 1055T?
Performance difference is minimal.

[instantkamera]

It also costs $100 more for what, .2GHz higher clock than the 1055T?
Performance difference is minimal.

.4, actually.

and as I mentioned, I wont pay list price, I'll wait for a sale. For example, NCIX had a bundle sale on the 1090T +Asus M4A89GTD (even though Im not a HUGE fan of asus) for 399 the other day. that is ~6 bucks more than the 1055T + same mobo is selling for currently, also as a bundle.

[d2v]

Look at what Ryan Bliss of Digital Blasphemy fame is eyeing !

[lam47]

Mine is the same as it has been for a while.

Phenom 955 black at 3.8
Asus ? I forgot which motherboard I'm using. GPU is in the way of the name.
5870.
4GB Aeon Xtune memory at 1500
Zalman 1000w PSU
Asus Xonar D1 sound card.
Other stuff.
Silverstone FT01 case.

Oh and I have a few different keyboards too.

[darkblader]

Core i7 920 D0
DFI LANparty JR X58-T3H6
ASUS ATi 4870 1Gb
3Gb Kingston 1333Mhz Ram
74Gb Velociraptor
1Tb Hitachi 7K1000.C
CM Storm Scout
Edifier C2 2.1

[NewbieOneKenobi]

e7200 Core2Duo that doesn't overclock much but isn't that bad after all, cooled by half again a pound of gold-plated copper that woks like an average box cooler except it doesn't cool the other devices
Asus P5Q-E that can't even hold its CMOS if it isn't getting electricity (let alone when you do any overclocking)
2 * 2 GB DDR2/800 memory of the A-DATA Vitesta kind that's kinda shaky and has trouble keeping nominal specs despite being marked as overclockable
Gigabyte ATI HD4850 that's a big joke with Accelero S1 rev. 2 cooling set that can't stay in place even with glue (cord helps to a limited extent)
Samsung F1 640 GB that actually works as intended
Some Asus combo drive that actually works
X-Fi Titanium that actually works but is an OEM chip, but at least provides EAX
Tagan 530 W PSU that wasn't a good deal after all
Coffin-like stiff black box from Chieftec that makes stuff louder than boxless

[microsoft windows]

Mine is the same as it has been for a while.

Phenom 955 black at 3.8
Asus ? I forgot which motherboard I'm using. GPU is in the way of the name.
5870.
4GB Aeon Xtune memory at 1500
Zalman 1000w PSU
Asus Xonar D1 sound card.
Other stuff.
Silverstone FT01 case.

Oh and I have a few different keyboards too.

Been a while since I've seen you here! How's things going?

[EverythingIBM]

Here's my big rig, oh yeahhh...


384 MB of EDO DIMMs, awesome super-fast pentium 1, 2 MB matrox MGA mystique, 10/100 ethernet, two USB, four audio ports, crystal audio etc...

Crystal FM Synthesis is so cool... lovin' the bobby prince on it. Now to find duke nukem II level 7 music...

I'm not crazy, just slightly insane and mildly nostalgic.

[Phaedrus2129]

I just put my system in a fugly Antec case with a 1200W 80+ Gold Antec HCP-1200 PSU engineering sample.

My system uses 325W at maximum load.

I like good PSUs.

[apex]

Here's my baby:
AMD Phenom II x4 965
ASRock M3A770DE
2X2gb Patriot DDR3 1333MHz
MSI 9800GT
Seagate 250gb
Hitachi 500gb
Corsair VX550W
Acer AL2216 22" LCD
Logitech K120 (membrane) Don't worry, when I have the extra cash I'll go mechanical
Microsoft WMO
FUNC Surface 1030

[Resaebiunne]

AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE @ 3.65 GHz
WD Velociratpor 300 GB
WD Black 1 TB
Seagate 320 GB
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 GB
Asus M4a79XTD Evo
G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600, 2x2 GB
Win 7 Ultimate 64bit
Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Rosewill Wind Knight case
EMU 0404 PCI
Rosewill Xtreme 850 watt PSU
IBM Model M Keyboard
Microsoft WMO 1.1a
Acer H233H Bmid 23" 1080P LCDx2

[timw4mail]

I just put my system in a fugly Antec case with a 1200W 80+ Gold Antec HCP-1200 PSU engineering sample.

My system uses 325W at maximum load.

I like good PSUs.

Using that little power out of such a high rated PSU, I bet your power efficiency isn't very good.

[Phaedrus2129]

Using that little power out of such a high rated PSU, I bet your power efficiency isn't very good.

Usually you'd be right. But on this power supply, according to the tests done at JonnyGURU, at 122W (slightly higher than my idle usage) it got 80.8% efficiency; at 243W (right around my gaming usage) it gets 88.8%.

I don't care about power usage anyway. What I care about is that between 122W (close to my idle) and 424W the +12V rail droops by 10mV... that is 0.01V. That's a voltage drop smaller than this power supply's maximum ripple readings, which is no easy feat considering the +12V ripple is under 20mV at all times, and around 5-10mV in the range I'll be running at.


In other words, this power supply is as stable as the Canadian shield (more so due to lack of Quebecois).

[d2v]

If I was running a datacenter with thousands of machines, I'd care for 5% efficiency.