The Rig That Rob Built

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
For those unaware, I've been chuggling along for a while with a rather old computer to help me get work done. The main PC I use for work is just that... for work, so demands have never been that high. However, earlier this year I felt that slowdown was beginning to become apparent, so I knew an upgrade would be in order. Here's the old computer specs:

AMD 2600+ Single-Core Venice overclocked to 2.7GHz, 2GB PC2-3500 Corsair RAM overclocked to DDR-520, eVGA 7800GT 256MB, Samsung 16x DVD, Chaintech AV-710, Seagate 750GB 7200.10, Corsair N500 water-cooling, Thermaltake 400W Truepower and NZXT Lexa

I built that machine in May 2004, and have to say that its lasted me quite well. Considering it had a 35% overclock on the CPU and RAM and ran 24/7 without a single hardware incident... it might be one of the most impressive computers I've owned. However, a Quad-Core was in the cards, so about six months after the original plans to upgrade (I am beyond lazy), I had these parts ready to go:


I chose the Antec P182 for obvious reasons... it's a kick-ass case. I fell in love with it when I reviewed it a few months ago, so I knew that my new PC had to have it. Here are the full system specs:

Intel X3210 Xeon Quad-Core OC'd to 2.66GHz
ASUS P5K Premium Black Pearl Edition
eVGA 8800GT 512MB
OCZ 2x2GB Platinum
2x 500GB Seagate 7200.11
2x Samsung 20x DVD-RW
OCZ 720W ModXStream
Thermalright eXtreme Ultra-120
Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM
Antec P182
Primary OS: Gentoo 64-Bit (With 2.6.23 Kernel)
Secondary OS: Windows XP Professional (For in-house MP gaming!)

The idea was to RAID the two hard-drives, but that fell through when I came to the realization that software RAID with Linux (at least the distro I use) is a complete pain in the ass - especially if you plan on having Windows on the same drive. So I scrapped that idea and decided to use the second drive for storage. I am considering using a hardware RAID card in the future (I believe that bypasses the need for a software driver, am I wrong?), but that's not important right now. Even if the computer crashes, I have nightly backups to two different locations.

While I'm in the typing mood here... does anyone else find something wrong with ASUS' packaging for their GPUs?


The 3850 has nothing to do with the build, but when I picked up the 8800GT box, I realized just how asinine ASUS is with their packaging. I'm no environmental nut, but damn that's needless! Kudos to eVGA for being modest with their packaging.

So how about the beast that this new computer will be replacing? Word of warning: After a while, this PC became a computer that I could just care less about. I've had so much stuff spill on it in the past and so much dust accumulate... I just didn't care anymore. But regardless, this is still embarrassing:


To further explain how ridiculous this computer is... here is another photo.


Really, it doesn't look too bad, but don't be fooled. This was a ridiculous mess to deal with. Sometime earlier this year, or it might have been late last, I picked up a fresh glass of soda and had the bottom fall right off. Yes... the bottom of the glass just fell off, as if it were just poorly glued there. That aside, what happened was that soda went EVERYWHERE, including inside the computer. When I say that, I am not kidding. It didn't help that the NZXT Lexa has a blow hole as well, and yes, a fair amount of soda went in while the machine was on.

How nothing died... I have no idea. The bottom of the case had a few pop stains... and even the GPU had stains ( I don't think directly on the PCB though... just the brace ). The only piece of hardware that died was my keyboard. Go figure.

Here is the final result. I didn't do a front view of the case because everyone already knows what this case is.


Thanks to the recommendations of folks on this forum, I picked up three Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM fans to use throughout the case. I threw one onto the CPU cooler, another to replace the fan underneath behind the PSU and another behind the mid-drive-bay to help keep both of those hard-drives cool (they never go above 31°C).

I had a fair amount of cable routing issues, but they were all my own fault. Right now, there is not much to block airflow, which is the obvious goal of this chassis. All of the hard-drives are S-ATA based, as are the DVD-RW drives, so that helps even further. As you can see in the picture, I included a hard-drive underneath which was not originally listed above... it's the 750GB from the previous machine. I also recycled the Chaintech AV-710 (I love this card!), so that I have a dedicated sound card to both the 2.1 Logitech speakers and 5.1 Turtle Beach headphones.

The build took place on Wednesday, Thursday was spent installing both Windows and Linux, Friday and Saturday were spent installing all applications and syncing folders from the previous PC (all my documents/music/etc) and Sunday was spent wrapping things up and placing the machine in the precise spot where the NZXT Lexa once sat. For such a long build, For as long as the build took in planning and execution, I probably could have created an actual mod, but since I lack ambition and have no modding skills whatsoever, I will stick to replacing case fans so that I can rightfully post in this forum. :rolleyes:


Ok... back to work I go now that the build is done wasting my time.
 

b1lk1

Tech Monkey
NICE!!! Congrats on the new PC. If anyone deserves or actually needs a Quad PC, I'd say you qualify.
 

madstork91

The One, The Only...
My 2 cents...

Upgrade to the "next gen" in OS: Get Vista!

[/endjoke]

But seriously... that /wg/ needs to go.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Thanks guys! I am loving the machine so far... it's much smoother than the previous one. I won't get into specifics, but a lot of processes I run on a regular basis have obvious speed-boosts, so I am glad all the effort was worth it.

"But seriously... that /wg/ needs to go."

Hah, on my life. I normally have a BMW up there, but I've already exhausted most of the latest models I'm interested in. Although I haven't put a 6-series up there yet...

Oh and kudos for being one of "those guys" who thinks it's cool to talk in 4Chan. I had to go to the site to figure out what the hell you were talking about!
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
"Do the reading on the story behind the car, it is quite interesting how it actually came into being!"

Haha, are you sure you weren't the one responsible for the blue flames? ;-)

That car looks amazing, despite the fact I'm not a massive fan of Sedans (have no need for them, so coupe all the way). I am really curious what that will retail for given the extreme specs. I'd assume you wouldn't walk away with it for under $70, but I might be off.

As for other cars, the Nissan GT-R is a looker as well. You gotta love the fact that these reasonable "supercars" cost far less than an exotic and can kick their asses in some regards.
 

Greg King

I just kinda show up...
Staff member
Getting back on track, thats a nice PC. Looks good and should be plenty powerful for what you need. Kudos!
 

Naish

E.M.I.
Decent rig, pretty similar to mine actually...

Except I didn't get Opposing Fronts with my video card. HOOK UP ROB, HOOK UP!
 

b1lk1

Tech Monkey
Funny thing is that I am now running the CPU he used in this build in my personal PC, LOL!!!!
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Geez, it is amazing how much time has flown by since I built this thing. For the most part, it's almost identical to the original configuration, except I replaced the CPU (because it ran way, way too hot), upgraded to 8GB of RAM, took out one of the 500GB hard drives and put in the 750GB I had before and also a 1TB (and wouldn't mind expanding that even further). I also had to replace the ODD a couple of times (I am due again, my top ODD just died the other day).

Oh, I also downgraded from the 8800 GT to the 9600 GT because it runs far cooler. I am not sure what was up with the 8800 GT card, but it would idle at 80C, which is completely unnecessary. The 9600 GT is a downgrade, but really, I don't game on this PC anyway. It idles at 60C, which is still freaking high, but it's better.

I'd like to soon upgrade to a larger chassis, because the heat in the P182 isn't doing much to please me. I'd like a case with better airflow and then probably upgrade both the storage and the graphics card (having a faster card that runs cooler wouldn't be a bad deal).

Sadly, that PC isn't clean as it once was (dust!), but it's still pretty good. I'd love to "upgrade" though... this PC runs far too hot even when it's not doing much of anything. That's what you get with an ATX chassis, I guess.
 

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
A good chasis IMO is the Colermaster HAF, I'm going to get another one for the 9450 quad system, it just runs cooler than any other case I have seen.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
I'm cheap, so I'll just wait for a full-tower to fall into my lap. I'm still incredibly fussy though, and really don't care at all for the HAF. I like clean-looking cases, and aside from SilverStone and Lian Li, it's hard to find that.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Well, I ended up acquiring a CM Storm Sniper, and I couldn't be happier. It has a far better layout than the Antec, although I believe it's also a little bit larger. Can now fit a bigger GPU in though, and temps are great, so I'm pleased.
 
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