Custom PC Builds

[James Hodge]

After being interested in computers for about the last 20 years of my life...I finally built my own from the ground up. I used to just buy pre-built machines from Best Buy (and Circuit City when I worked there before they went under) but due to having a ton of time on my hands and the need to save some money I built my own. I had wanted to do it for the longest time anyway and am glad I did, as not only did I have 100% control over my part selection but I have the sense of pride and accomplishment knowing I did it all myself. It's truly *my* computer and not something built in a factory. I also saved some money as a comparable machine from a system builder would have been significantly more expensive. Anyway, here's my build and its specs. And yes, I'm also a huge Star Trek fan in case it wasn't obvious. Let's see what everyone is running.

Specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
be quiet! Dark Rock Slim CPU cooler
Asus Prime X570-P Motherboard
G.Skill TridentZ RGB 16GB 3600MHz RAM
EVGA Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060 KO Ultra
Samsung 860 Evo 1TB SSD (Boot Drive)
PNY CS1311 960GB SSD (Storage)
EVGA 650W B5 PSU
be quiet! Pure Base 500DX Case

 

[mtblillie]

I'm also a huge trek fan and gotta say, the E-D lighting up on top is extra cool!

 

[RacerXero84]

Nice work, a very clean build.

Been building my own for the better part of 2 decades now, and you are 100% right in your assessment of that vs buying a pre built rig.

Congrats on your first build!

 

[MattyO]

Nice and clean. Well done!

 

[Harry Nurpplez]

Damn, that is a really awesome build. How much did it cost altogether? Nice little touch with the comm badge there. Also, that E-D on top is just glorious.

 

[James Hodge]

Damn, that is a really awesome build. How much did it cost altogether? Nice little touch with the comm badge there. Also, that E-D on top is just glorious.

Thanks! It was just about $1,100 exactly. Here's my PC Part Picker list for the full breakdown. Since I posted this I've upgraded the RAM to fill up all 4 slots for a total of 32GB.

And yes, I love my Diamond Select Enterprise-D. A lot of people put little figures inside their cases. I put a big one on top. I have more Trek-themed details in the works.

 

[Harry Nurpplez]

Nice. About $1K would of been my guess. My next build is gonna be self built as well.

 

[DaleJrFan62]

I'm planning a similar build. Started my first job (Courtesy Clerk at my local Kroger) today and I plan to save my paychecks to put together a machine with a 3600 and a 2060 for iRacing, NR, other games, GIMP, and maybe even Twitch.

 

[Skyline]

I recently built my PC, as pictured here,

my specs are
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9600K CPU @ 3.70GHz, 3696 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s)
RAM: 16 GB DDR4 3600
Motherboard: MSI Z390-A PRO (MS-7B98)
Hard drive: Seagate BarraCuda ST2000DM008 2TB 7200 RPM 256MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
SSD: Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 500GB
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Cooler: Antec CPU Cooler, C400 120mm Blue LED CPU Cooler Fan
Power Supply: EVGA 650 BQ, 80+ Bronse 650W
Case: an old Antec my dad had, it has like 6 fans, its a damn wind tunnel..

 

[Harry Nurpplez]

Nice!

 

[Skyline]

Nice!

Thanks!

 

[BlindDog]

I wanted performance as the priority, but with an age-appropriate sense of edgy style.

It had to slay 'ULTRA' settings & crush fps! Take no prisoners ...

... and fart rainbows.

I have a delightfully-whimsical, je ne sais quoi.

Nice builds James & Skyline. Congrat's.

 

[Janitor Dave]

How much of a headache has that 5700 XT been? Bought one back in April and it was almost two weeks of tweaking before I ever got the thing working right.

 

[BlindDog]

Popped 'that' in, updated bios & driver, went racing, steady as a rock with crazy frame rates.

Epic hardcore folding.

Death B4 bsod.

I couldn't be a happier clam.

My brah, "Healey", thinks it's baddazz.

No tweaking required. Except to push everything to "ULTRA!"

Devil's in the details.

 

[Janitor Dave]

Oh yeah once it's working, it's a solid card that can pump out some impressive graphics. Think I lost the silicon lottery as I have to downclock the card almost 10% just to get it to quit crashing on me.

 

[BlindDog]

Hey NukaColaV13.

I saw a hint of stutter, once--about an hour into an rF2 race.

I had forgotten to turn off the client, and was folding at competitive fah settings--while I raced.

Oops ...

I've managed, so far, not to make the same mistake twice. I'm running stock, and haven't found the time/need to oc anything--yet.

MSI 240mm AIO's in transit tho.

MAG CORELIQUID 240R

Take cooling underwater with the MAG CORELIQUID Series from MSI. Stay cool under pressure with a liquid cooler design constructed from high quality materials that remain durable and deliver unstoppable cooling performance even under extreme operating cond

www.msi.com

They were 'on sale' for $40 off, and free shipping @ newegg, last week.

 

[Janitor Dave]

Hey NukaColaV13.

I saw a hint of stutter, once--about an hour into an rF2 race.

I had forgotten to turn off the client, and was folding at competitive fah settings--while I raced.

Oops ...

I've managed, so far, not to make the same mistake twice. I'm running stock, and haven't found the time/need to oc anything--yet.

MSI 240mm AIO's in transit tho.

MAG CORELIQUID 240R

Take cooling underwater with the MAG CORELIQUID Series from MSI. Stay cool under pressure with a liquid cooler design constructed from high quality materials that remain durable and deliver unstoppable cooling performance even under extreme operating cond

www.msi.com

They were 'on sale' for $40 off, and free shipping @ newegg, last week.

Not bad at all! I've got one of these bad boys on my Ryzen 5 3600: Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition

Probably a bit overkill for a 3600 but hey ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[BlindDog]

I ordered a https://www.asus.com/Cooling/TUF-Gaming-LC-120-RGB/

for my 1055T.

I think it was about time.

I was going to buy the Ryzen 7 3600, but they were sold out, vendor gave me the 3800X for same price. The 3600 imo is a great cpu.

The old rig, except for the obvious neglect, held up really well. Went to a GTX 680, and now it sports an MSI RX-480. It's just for Netflix, and a spare. (When I can't keep my fingers out of the new rig ; )

I liked the concept of running a PhyX card (9800) but developers never seemed to exploit it.

 

[Janitor Dave]

I ordered a https://www.asus.com/Cooling/TUF-Gaming-LC-120-RGB/

for my 1055T.

-snip-

I think it was about time.

I was going to buy the Ryzen 7 3600, but they were sold out, vendor gave me the 3800X for same price. The 3600 imo is a great cpu.

Smoker, I'm guessing? Used to see computers come in like that a bunch when I still had my repair business. A can of compressed air goes a long way!

 

[BlindDog]

Nobody is allowed to smoke in my house--I have critters. (Made the rule 30 years ago.) I enjoy edibles.

We did a reno, time was short, temp's were fine, usage was lite. I knew I was going to do an assessment/potential upgrade/bin it, once the dust settled.

Turned out, if I kept the Thuban alive, my grandson-type could afford to get bit by the building bug.

He did it all, I just watched. Posted perfect. Runs like a champ. We taught him upgrading with a GTX 680. He's got a RX-580 for his first solo upgrade.
View attachment 140277
We had a ball. Well I know I did.

I don't use compressed air on pc or audio kit--but I considered a power washer for the Corsair/Thuban rig.

Edit: Thanks for the resource.

I leave you with a little pc porn.

amf