[-NUT-case]

Set up this rig about 6 months back. As there are a few comp enthusiasts here , i thought of posting some pics and details.

Some information on the sysytem.

I had been using my pIII 500 for almost 6/7 years and it was getting long in the teeth and so i started getting familiar with the latest in all things computer all over again . After spending way too much time in front of the screen ,visiting many forums and browsing through dozens of online comp stores i finally decided on the configuration. As i had a relative coming in from the US of A i had the luxury of a wider choice of components than what was available here at that time (about a year ago) . Ordered most of the parts MID 2008 and got them in DEC 2008. Lost a bit of money as the price of some components fell by almost 40% in 6 months but still was little cheaper than in india as they were just coming into teh country.

It took another couple of months to get the rest of the parts from india and finally assembled The Rig.

Had a few problems in the mean time. My old comp gave up the ghost and turned belly up finally getting fed up with the abuse i was subjecting it to. (no ups / long hours of gaming ,browsing etc). So went and assembled an
el cheapo rig to tide me over.

It is always useful to have a working computer when you try and assemble one. Helps in solving problems and trouble shooting.

I had also got a few parts for a secong torrent /downloading / family comp which would be less power hungry and not give be electric shocks with the electric bills and so set it up first .

The config deatails of The Rig

• CPU -Q9450( Q9550 was 100 $ more. Fell 100$ 1 week after i bought this )

• Mobo-Giagabyte EP45-UD3P ( Awesome mother board with almost all features and it can do crossfire clap

• Ram-Gskill PI Black 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 ( wanted to get 4 GB more later , but now it is way too costly - 100$)
• Graphics - Saphire 4870 1 GB DDR5
• PSU - HIPER 880 watts
• CPU Cooler - Hyper 212
• Case - CM 690 with Transparent side panel
• Screen - BenQ G2412 HD Full HD with inbuilt speakers
• Speakers - Mercury 2.1 x 2 sets
• Mouse- Logitech G5 gaming mouse With Adjustable weights
• KB - Logitech G1 budjet gaming key board ( went for basic as i wouldn't need macro buttons and stuff since i play mostly racing and fps games )
• HDD - Seagate 500gb with 16 mb buffer ( will add more as and when i need it)
• Fan controller - Xion thermal sensor and fan controller with display( just for the cool factor and also to keep things quite as i have added 2 high cfm white led fans)
• Netgear Router
• Ice 1 KVA UPS.

Details of my General purpose comp

• AMD Athlon Dual core 4650e
• Asus M2A MX
• 2GB Trancend DDR2 800
• MSI HD 4670 512 MB DDR3
• AOC TFT 1780 17" Sqaure Monitor
• Mercury Case
• Maple KB from Old comp
• G1 logitech mouse
• 250 gb seagate
• Microsoft Lifecam VX 1000 Cam
• Altec Lansing 2521 2.1 ( I had got these for my main rig but was not satisfied with the sound quality)

Now for some Pictures

• First up the various components as i got them

• The Saphire 4870 - It rocks
  

• The Ram ( Looks beautiful , wish it was more visible from the side panel)

• The CPU Cooler - Its massive and weighs almost a kilo Pic with my phone to give an idea about its size.

• The G5 Mouse - Eat that " BANG " Headshot!!! And this is Minibot who was my assistant /mascot for the build.

• Motherboard - Its a beauty.

• And ... The Rig. I love the look of the speakers on either side of the screen.
  

Will attach more pics later. Thank you for visiting the thread. All comments are welcome.

[pranavt]

Hehe, wow. Love that big heatsink. Nice choice of the graphics card too, it's been kicking some serious Nvidia backside

[Jayabusa]

Cool setup & cute minibot there, but why such a wide screen?

[anekho]

awesome setup bro - looking forward to more pics soon!

how are the speakers?

[Spitfire]

Some pics of the internals of the "box" please.

Awesome setup.

[chevelle]

you got a very good RIG there. looks like you having fun.

Just a quick question.

why haven't you gone whole hog with the speaker setup? making it surround sound with help of towers and other speakers. i think you have 5.1 or 7.1 setup. will give you fantastic sound effects in gaming(racing and fps) and movies.

nevertheless, awesome setup, have fun

[StreetAddict]

Originally Posted by -NUT-case

The Saphire 4870 - It rocks

This is the card which provides VFM without compromising for the performance.

Originally Posted by -NUT-case

The CPU Cooler - Its massive and weighs almost a kilo Pic with my phone to give an idea about its size.

Why was this required. Do you plan to overclock the Q9450

Please post the price breakup component wise!

And, get some wire management done. Those are killing the appearance of the rig.

[_raVan_]

The setup is really good.

However, since you are primarily going into gaming, I would have suggested you to wait for a couple of months too, and go ahead with the below config:

Core i7 920 (the prices will fall as 930 is being released)
Radeon HD 5870 (the prices will fall as 5890 is already being rumoured. Also the 5870 offers pretty higher performance than the 4870)
6GB 1066 DDR3 (as i7 is getting famous, the prices for the triple channel DDR3 RAM is falling. Though it wont help much in performance, the extra 2GB is always good and will help in future resource hungry games)

As windows 7 has been released, it will be used in almost all new desktops, thus giving DX11 developers a boost.

[-NUT-case]

Originally Posted by pranavt

Hehe, wow. Love that big heatsink. Nice choice of the graphics card too, it's been kicking some serious Nvidia backside

Lol. So true. I was ecstatic when the card was first released and it shocked the Green camp with its performance and price. Nvidia must have reduced the prices of its then leading cards by almost 60% to compete with this card and its sibling the 4850. But these things happen in cycles and it'll be ati's turn soon to show its backside and grit it's teeh for the kick to follow.

Originally Posted by Jayabusa

Cool setup & cute minibot there, but why such a wide screen?

Thank you Jayabusa , unfortunately all the major monitor manufacturers have taken a fancy to the 16:9 format . It is probably because they can market a screen as 24 '' diagonal and give a product with overall smaller surface area compared to a 24'' 16:10 or the older 4:3 format. All 24'' monitors of 16:10 format are either costlier by a good margin or dont come with full HD. My other rig has a 17'' square monitor which i had a tough time finding . The height is almost the same for the 2 monitors, one 17'' and the other 24''.

Originally Posted by anekho

awesome setup bro - looking forward to more pics soon!

how are the speakers?

Thanks Anekho , the speakers are very good for 1500 rs each set. I find these much better than the 3000 rs altec lansing speakers i originally bought. Much clearer and adequate bass. Will try and post a video if possible.

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Some pics of the internals of the "box" please.

Awesome setup.

Thank you and Will do .

Originally Posted by chevelle

you got a very good RIG there. looks like you having fun.

Just a quick question.

why haven't you gone whole hog with the speaker setup? making it surround sound with help of towers and other speakers. i think you have 5.1 or 7.1 setup. will give you fantastic sound effects in gaming(racing and fps) and movies.

nevertheless, awesome setup, have fun

Thank you. I am spending far too much time playing when i should be working and earning moolah lol.
I dint want 5.1 or 7.1 because,
1. it is cumbersome to set up with wires all over the place.
2. I already have a good Home Theater setup for movies and stuff.
3. With a good set of headphones you get much better surround sound compared to all these budget 5.1 ,7.1 systems available for between 3000 to 6000 rs.

Have posted some pics of my Home theater setup here. Take a look.

• http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...d-etc-209.html

Originally Posted by StreetAddict

[/b]

This is the card which provides VFM without compromising for the performance.




Why was this required. Do you plan to overclock the Q9450

Please post the price breakup component wise!

And, get some wire management done. Those are killing the appearance of the rig.

Yes, i plan to get another 4870 and put it in crossfire and then overclock the Quad to do 3 gh so as not to bottle neck the Graphics cards.

I did do wire management on the inside of this one and the outside of the other rig whose pic i will post. Just laziness i guess. Will do some Zip tie soon lol.

As regards the price , most of these were bought 1 yer ago in the US and it would be pointless now as prices have changed considerably since then.

Originally Posted by _raVan_

The setup is really good.

However, since you are primarily going into gaming, I would have suggested you to wait for a couple of months too, and go ahead with the below config:

Core i7 920 (the prices will fall as 930 is being released)
Radeon HD 5870 (the prices will fall as 5890 is already being rumoured. Also the 5870 offers pretty higher performance than the 4870)
6GB 1066 DDR3 (as i7 is getting famous, the prices for the triple channel DDR3 RAM is falling. Though it wont help much in performance, the extra 2GB is always good and will help in future resource hungry games)

As windows 7 has been released, it will be used in almost all new desktops, thus giving DX11 developers a boost.

As i was saying i finalised the various parts in teh middle of 2008 when the core i series were not even released. I did consider waiting and getting X58 based board and ddr3 ram with i7 . But this waiting game as far as upgrade is concerned is neverending . There are newer products coming out all teh time and you will never take the plunge.

Dx 11 .. lol most games are just now being optimised for dx10. Maybe i will get a 5890 or maybe a 6890 if one comes out in another year instead of getting a second 4870.
Im still using xp . never went to vista .

• Pics of my second rig, all neatly cable managed . I have this in Lan with my main rig and also with Remote desktop enabled so i can control this comp from my main comp.

• My main rig controlling the second rig by remote desktop.

• This is the thermal panel and fan controller.

• The thermal probe fixed onto the heatsink pipe close to the heatsink block of the VGA card.

• The front intake fan. Comes with the case.

• All Bays and Pci slots are with screwless installation brackets and clips.

[-NUT-case]

HI guys ,
Thought i would add some more pics i have.

• Looks beautiful from the side . Case is to my left so the light doesn't bother me .

• The white L.E.D side intake fan. Looks like a giant eye . Love the look.

• Second white L.E.D fan as the top intake fan.

• Side intake fan viewed from the inside.

• The 120 Blue L.E.D fan on the CPU heatsink.

• Shows the toolless Clips for teh PCI slots , the HD 4870 in its dock and the Hiper 880 psu

Hope you guys like the pics.

[Nikhilb2008]

It sure is a nice rig, but not over the top! Over the top would have meant a couple of 4870s in Crossfire, a 5.1 surround setup, water cooling, etc....

My suggestion is to get a good sound system as and when your wallet allows it. At least an Auzentech/X-fi Titanium/Asus Xonar and either an amp+bookshelves or a good pair of headphones. I have the X-fi Titanium + Grado SR325i and am loving it! Am just waiting to buy a proper headphone amp when my bank account has a sufficient balance!

Glad to see you havent gone overboard with the hard disks. But once you start downloading H D movies, you will clamour for more space. I had just 2x250GB when I got my comp(july 2008).

Right now, I have 2xWD640 AAKS, 2 x250GB Seagate 3250310AS(when they came out, they were the fastest 250 GB hard disks. Almost as fast as the Raptors) and one 500GB Verbatim external hard disk.

I'm running an overclocked E8400 on a P5Q deluxe and 4GB of RAM. ATI 4970 512 MB graphics card does duty as well.

All powered by a Corsair HX 620 and housed in a CM690 identical to yours. However, I've avoided the bling and gone in for more efficient cooling. Got some extra CFM fans and they dont make too much noise. A couple of them are Papst and two of them are Delta. I also have a Sunbeam CCF as the CPU cooler. Works beautifully.

I also have a Creative Megaworks 5.1 550 system, but it is currently not working so, I'm restricted to the Grados! . Not that I'm complaining

[Torqueguru]

Wow, some nice rig shots there! YOu must be having a lot of fun there huh! Its a good config.

Posting a few pics of my rig. I use it primarily for rendering Vfx, photo and video editing and of course gaming.

Motherboard:
EVGA X58 SLI

Processor:
INTEL Core i7-920 D0 stepping @ 4.66 GHz

CPU Cooler:
HEATKILLER CPU Rev.3 CPU BLock
CoolerMaster R4 series fan x 3
Swiftech MCP655 pump
Xspc RX360 Radiator
EK-BAY SPIN Reservoir
Clamps and tubing.

Memory:
Corsair Dominator DHX 12 GB DDR3 1600MHz

Video Cards :
BFG NVIDIA GTX 295

Hard Drive:
Seagate Baracuda 1.5 TB x3 7200 rpm

Tower Case :
COOLER MASTER, Cosmos S

Power Supply:
BFG EX-1200 Power Supply, 1200W

Drives:
Lite On IHES206-08 Bluray reader/ DVD writer












A couple of videos I captured while gaming

YouTube - NFS Shift on Core i7 920 @4.44 GHz + GTX 295

YouTube - Gears of War on GTX 295 + 4GHz Core i7 920 D0

Regards,
TG.

[Nikhilb2008]

Now that's a killer rig!

[-NUT-case]

@ Nikhilb
not over the top, but was over the top of my budget at the time i bought it lol. I got the parts about a year back when the 4870 was just released . Paid more for it than what the 4890 1 gb is selling now for :( . Idea was to go for crossfire later on . As of now 1 is doing great in almost all games. Comp parts become obsolete faster than bollywood heroins.

The reason i didn't go for a higher spec speaker set up is ( Pasting from previous post)
"I dint want 5.1 or 7.1 because,
1. it is cumbersome to set up with wires all over the place.
2. I already have a good Home Theater setup for movies and stuff.
3. With a good set of headphones you get much better surround sound compared to all these budget 5.1 ,7.1 systems available for between 3000 to 6000 rs." and headphones hurt my ear.

The present speaker setup is more for fun than anything else. It serves my purpose. I crank up the volume and the table becomes a "force feedback" type cause of all the vibrations coming through lol

Will add more storage as and when i need it. As of now 80% of hdd is free.

Btw you got a nice setup.

@ Torque,
is all i got to say . Awesome looking case and setup. Over the top - say what ! 1.5 TB x 3 haha. But why waterblock when you are running it at stock speeds.
Looks cool though like the innards of a mothership \V/ lol.

SHIFTT! i love the game . presently just have the demo. Will be getting full game soon. Love the cockpit view in it.
Not a big fan of GOW ( dont like 3rd person view). Playing COD WAW now. Maybe getting COD MW2 soon.

[Torqueguru]

@NUTcase
Stock speeds? Go through my post again . Core i7 920 is 2.6 GHz. I am running it at 4.66 GHz. Is that stock speed?

GOW is in my opinion, the all time best PC game. Crysis comes in next. HL2 third. I like Call of duty too...but kinda tired of conventional war :P

Regards,
TG.