The Beast 2.0: Blackout (DONE 7/13!)

[Oseirus]

The name is an inside joke. Now with cliché all-black theme name!

 

I'm gonna drop the disclaimer up front that I am far from experienced in computer building. This is especially apparent in my first rig, which, despite the many good years I've had with it, is an amateuristic nightmare. I basically just bought parts with almost no research, slapped them together, and prayed nothing would go wrong. Thankfully (luckily, if that's even a word) it has never given me any issues. Beast 1.0 booted up first try on both initial build and after being shipped and stuck in storage for almost half a year while I went through Basic and Tech School and moved around.

 

Old 1.0 parts are as follows, everything is at stock speeds:

 

ASUS P5E3 Pro (LGA775)

BFGTech GeForce GTS 250 (1GB/256-bit GDDR3)

Antec True Power TP-650 (650w)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz

ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro Fan Cooler

6GB G.Skill DDR3 @1600 (3x 2GB)

Western Digital WD Black HDD 750GB

Running Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit), wrapped up in a Raidmax Smilodon Mid-Tower

 

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I won't be able to take any until I get home from deployment, when I'll be pulling it apart to clean and (hopefully) sell. (EDIT: Added pictures from the original build! See below! More coming soon after cleaning!)

 

After three years, I've decided it's a good time to upgrade and get with the times. Many, MANY hours of research and learning and parts shopping later, I've pretty much tacked down the guts for my next rig. Mostly. I keep changing my mind about a few specifics, but at least you can get the idea:

 

(EDIT: Decided to go for broke and get new-gen stuffs. Because why not?)

 

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-D3H (LGA1155) GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-D3H (LGA1150)

MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti (2GB/192-bit GDDR5) GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 770 (2GB/256-bit GDDR5)

Corsair HX Series HX650 (650w/80+ Gold) Seasonic X Series SS-660XP2 (660w/80+ Platinum)

Intel Core 2 i5-3570K @ 3.4Ghz Intel Haswell i5-4670K @ 3.4Ghz

Corsair Hydro Series H60 Water Cooler Xigmatek Dark Knight II Night Hawk Edition Fan Cooler

Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD

Western Digital WD Blue Black HDD 1TB

8GB G.Skill Ripjaws X Series DDR3 @1600 (2x 4GB) 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 @ 1600 (2x 4GB)

Running Windows 8 (64-bit)

 

I'm having a hell of a time picking a case. I've narrowed it down to a list of about 5-6 cases that look good, and I THINK I'm going to go with a Corsair Vengeance C70, but I have no idea for sure yet. Probably won't mess with overclocking too much initially, but I do plan to do so in the future. Corsair C70 on sale for $50 off after mail-in rebate? Sold me. Case is bought. Rest of the parts awaiting end of deployment. Which should be about... two weeks.

 

Likely won't have much in terms of updating for the time being, but in about a month I'll be able to start tearing into things. I'll toss up pictures and the like for anyone who's interested.

 

Smooches.

 

(EDIT 16 June: Completely revamped my parts list. Upgraded to Haswell and aiming for my original all-black idea. Also found and uploaded a few pictures from the original Beast, which can be found http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/17939-the-beast-20-planning-stages/?p=339844'>here.)

 

(EDIT 13 July: It's magic time! Parts are arrived, unboxed, installed, and up and running!

15 second boot and ultra quiet, I'd call it a rousing success. More pictures below!

[Hyydrah]

The name is an inside joke.

 

I'm gonna drop the disclaimer up front that I am far from experienced in computer building. This is especially apparent in my first rig, which, despite the many good years I've had with it, is an amateuristic nightmare. I basically just bought parts with almost no research, slapped them together, and prayed nothing would go wrong. Thankfully (luckily, if that's even a word) it has never given me any issues. Beast 1.0 booted up first try on both initial build and after being shipped and stuck in storage for almost half a year while I went through Basic and Tech School and moved around.

 

Original parts are as follows, everything is at stock speeds:

 

ASUS P5E3 Pro (LGA775)

BFGTech GeForce GTS 250 (1GB/256-bit GDDR3)

Antec True Power TP-650 (650w)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz

6GB G.Skill DDR3 @1600 (3x 2GB)

Western Digital WD Black HDD 750GB

Running Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit), wrapped up in a Raidmax Smilodon Mid-Tower

 

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I won't be able to take any until I get home from deployment, when I'll be pulling it apart to clean and (hopefully) sell.

 

After three years, I've decided it's a good time to upgrade and get with the times. Many, MANY hours of research and learning and parts shopping later, I've pretty much tacked down the guts for my next rig. Mostly. I keep changing my mind about a few specifics, but at least you can get the idea:

 

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-D3H (LGA1155)

MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti (2GB/192-bit GDDR5) 

Corsair HX Series HX650 (650w)

Intel Core 2 i5-3570K @ 3.4Ghz

Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD

Western Digital WD Blue HDD 1TB

8GB G.Skill Ripjaws X Series DDR3 @1600 (2x 4GB) 

Running Windows 8 (64-bit)

 

I'm having a hell of a time picking a case. I've narrowed it down to a list of about 5-6 cases that look good, and I THINK I'm going to go with a Corsair Vengeance C70, but I have no idea for sure yet. Probably won't mess with overclocking too much initially, but I do plan to do so in the future.

 

Likely won't have much in terms of updating for the time being, but in about a month I'll be able to start tearing into things. I'll toss up pictures and the like for anyone who's interested.

 

Smooches.

How about the Define R4 or 900D? I'd recommend the 350D in a heartbeat if you were using an mATX board.

[joelthezombie15]

Are you getting a after market cooler? and i always LOVE the 600t if that is along the lines of what you want to it to look like.

[Oseirus]

The Doctor: Thanks for mentioning the aftermarket cooler. I do have one picked, a Corsair H60, I just forgot to put it in. Edited original post.

 

Dave Zember: For cases I'm trying to aim for something with a handle on top, so it's easier for me to move around as career dictates. I'll take a look at your suggestions though.

[Shrubpig]

Nice specs ;P pretty much the same as my system, just not any aftermarket coolers.

[WoodenMarker]

Looks good so far. You could do with a cheaper motherboard like the z77a-g45 and a weaker psu like the cx600. 

Also, getting an aftermarket cooler could be nice. I recommend the Noctua NH-D14 if you can pick a case that fits it. It's a great air cooler that's very quiet and beats out the H60.

 

Edit: Are you getting the blue or red memory sticks?

[Oseirus]

I recommend the Noctua NH-D14 if you can pick a case that fits it. It's a great air cooler that's very quiet and beats out the H60.

 

Edit: Are you getting the blue or red memory sticks?

Jebus, that thing is a monster... I'm trying to avoid fan cooling primarily for aesthetics-sake. I don't like the look of a giant metal block jutting out of the middle of my mobo. At least with the H60 the rad is up out of the way, somewhat.

 

I'm going with the blue memory sticks. Ultimately I want to go with an all-black theme, but that's WAY down the road, and probably not even on this particular rig. Until then black and blue will have to work.

[WoodenMarker]

Jebus, that thing is a monster... I'm trying to avoid fan cooling primarily for aesthetics-sake. I don't like the look of a giant metal block jutting out of the middle of my mobo. At least with the H60 the rad is up out of the way, somewhat.

 

I'm going with the blue memory sticks. Ultimately I want to go with an all-black theme, but that's WAY down the road, and probably not even on this particular rig. Until then black and blue will have to work.

It's gonna look very clean. I love the look of clean black and blues.

[Oseirus]

Small update today, just adding some build shots from when I first build my original rig back in 2010. Sorry for the crap quality... all pictures were taken on some old LG cell phone.

[Oseirus]

Sorry for the lack of updates, but between coming home from deployment, building the new computer, cleaning the old one, and the myriad of errands to run and people to do and things to see since then, I unfortunately didn't have time for a play-by-play. But, the new rig is done, running, and butter-smooth! For the time being everything is sitting at stock speeds, but once I'm sure there aren't any delayed problems I'll be diving in and seeing how much juice I can rip out of this thing. It's still not 100% finished, there are some cable management issues to tackle and a fan that still needs to be plugged in, but that all will come with time and money. Below is everything I took of the initial build, but if you have anything specific you would like to see, let me know and I'll get it up soon. Later on I'll also post a few pictures I took from cleaning out the predecessor.

 

Enjoy!

 

Memory, CPU, and Stock Cooler

Getting ready for the first test boot.

Success! First try, no POST errors.

Gently now... Removed the upper drive cage for airflow.

Speeding ahead, attached the PSU and most of the cables. Decided to move the drive cage to the upper position for easier SATA cable routing.

Work station is a bit of a mess. Also not shown is the pile of part and shipping boxes.

 

A few glamour shots:

I really need to paint my drive or something... Looks horrible against the rest of the rig.

Pulled the stock cooler to mount the aftermarket.

A note for anyone thinking about buying the Dark Knight II... Make sure your rubber pins "Big Mac" the cooler fins like so. It's possible to bend your fins if you aren't careful.

Good to go! Slight pain to mount, but it looks absolutely fantastic.

LEDs are pretty classy, too. Just the right amount of shine.

Lighting contrast with my Razer Naga and Nostromo. Wasn't too sure about it at first, but it's grown on me. Nostromo is starting to crap out though so I might have to think about upgrading...

 

Thanks for checking it out! I do apologize for the crap quality on the pictures... I've only got some cheap Sony point-and-shoot to work with.  -_-

[Exotath]

Congrats on the new build! How are the temps with the HSF?

[Oseirus]

thanks! So far so good for temps. No overclock yet but I think the highest I've seen was a couple degrees under 60 during a burn in test. I don't have the results available at the moment but I'm very happy with it. GPU is phenomenal too. 80 steady during Furmark's most intense test with highest settings. Both coolers are silent at idle, and never really get noticeable during gaming.