acidydragon

@rice guru
I figured out my issue. Apparently, somewhere in the chain of GO XLR > Headphone Amp > Headphones, my L/R split was being swapped. So everything on the right was in the left ear, and the other way as well.
I swapped the RCA's on the headphone amp to be backwards, and everything seems good now 😄

I Also I forgot to ask have you used the line out? cause running the amp off the headphone out could be considered double amping and that could cause issues with imaging. I would try to run it ogg the line out instead. 

monolith, I really wouldn't get an o2 it's old and outdated and flat out doesn't sound as good as other $100 amps. you can still buy it here but Im not sure about return policy. but according to their website if your not satisfied you are good to return it within 30 days https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=33304

I ordered mine after a few hours... Hopefully I'm in the first batch or two....

Purchased a 5930k from this (on the day it launched.) Nice upgrade from my 4670k... Now to get a motherboard and DDR4....
 
On other news "Please allow up to 6 weeks for shipping" - Ugh....

Just drives. Not intended for NAS use, but should be fine for a fairly normal workload.

Hello all!
Today I get the pleasure of bringing you something I'm very happy to be doing (more so, than my own rig even).
 
Background Story:
So, as the headline implies, this is not a build for me. This is a build for my girlfriend, and her family. Me and my girlfriend have been dating for just about 3 years now, and one of the things that really started our relationship was our common nerdy/geeky-ness. She has always been a gamer; however, she has never been in the situation to be able to join the PC master race, and has been stuck with one-two generation old consoles, which currently is a Wii and a PlayStation 2. Now, a few months ago, her parents allowed her to take the all-in-one eMachine, and use it as her own computer. The only problem with this, is it stutters and has problems with three tabs of internet. If we want to Skype, she can't open anything else, even the calculator, or the computer freezes, and crashes.
 
A few months ago, I gifted her one of my all time favorite games, and one she was very interested in playing, World of Warcraft. She loved the game, she loved taking the game slow and relaxing; however, even with her relaxed pace, and being in zones with at most 5 other people, she found that her computer was having issues on low, even just watching her walking alone. She got tired of the experience, and gave up all together.
I want to fix it this.
 
Their current situation of computers:
 
Their current situation is a little out dated, their computers are running some ancient hardware, ribbon cables, eMachines, and green PCBs. Their main tower is running at below 2 ghz, somewhere in the lower range of that too! It has 1gb of RAM, and has on board graphics. Their all in one eMachine, has 2gb of RAM (I upgraded it.), intel on board graphics, and a 200gb hard drive (not sure the size of the hard drive, or the speed of the CPU...)
 
I plan to check actual specs the next time I have a chance, and will edit this portion with real terrifying specs as soon as possible. -note- They're bad enough, that browsing the internet has issues.
 
New build:
Total spent so far: $50 USD
 
Parts List:
CPU: Intel Celeron G1610
GPU: TBA
MoBo: MSI Z77a-G41
PSU: Thermaltake Smart M 850w
Case: Dell Studio XPS 8100 
RAM: 2x2gb 1333mhz
Storage: TBA
 
Parts story, and reasoning:
So, as is mentioned in the title, this is a super budget build. My total budget for this build at the start, was $0.
However, I had a plan. I was getting an upgrade for my CPU to an i5, leaving me with an 8320, and a Sabertooth motherboard left over. I also had a PSU that was replaced, we'll get back to the PSU later.
Now, as some of you might now, WoW is a very Intel favoring game (I only got 10 FPS in some places), so this CPU wasn't going to work super well for my needs.
 
So my plan, was to sell the CPU, and Motherboard in order to create an entire computer for my girlfriend. Now, the problem is, an issue has arisen with that plan...
It hasn't sold. So my budget was cut down to $0 again... So as I waited, slowly scraping in money where I could, I found a sale on the Classifieds for the CPU/Motherboard by @TheSLSAMG. I offered him $50, and he accepted.
Two days later, the bundle arrived and was quickly tested by taking some RAM out of my rig, and using the Thermaltake PSU. Finding it powered right, and looked good enough, I was satisfied.
A few days past, and I headed to my old house (we're in the process of moving), and picked up my brick of an old computer. The computer had a dead motherboard (and maybe CPU), so I thought nothing of it.
I opened it up, just to see what was inside, and if I might be able to use the case for the computer, and thought about the RAM inside. I quickly pulled out a stick, and read the little sticker attached. Delighted to find it was DDR3!
I took out two of the 2gb sticks, and put them in the MSI board and used my trusty dinner fork to jump start the computer. Success! The RAM worked! On top of that, the only stand offs that were out of place, were beyond the end of the board, or were easily removed.
-note: The PSU was left over from an upgrade to my rig, and rather than being sold, is now being used.
 
My scavenging has left me with the CPU, Motherboard, PSU, Case, and RAM.
 
Pictures of my struggles:
Some pictures are with my phone, some with my T3i. They're all taken fast, and better pictures will come with the finished process.
 
Hardware from the ol' XPS that's now taking up space.
 
Pictures of the scavenged parts.
 
 
 
 
Technical difficulties, and Modding plans!
 
 

Damn and we all spent so much on it.  
 
They could have gotten allot of unexpected request for some reason. 
I really doubt they expected to get this many people wanting a free sample. the samples are for people who are possibly going to bulk order them.

Depends on the game, and most games have a fix for less stretch

I have this monitor, it's beautiful.
The stand is very well made, very robust, and it has every option you could want.
 
Included cables are a tad short, sitting around 4 feet long.

Purchased this monitor... Reviews looked good, and I presume it's similar to the Acer XB monitor that Linus reviewed (the one he checked out had G-sync, but I think thats the major difference).
 
4-7 day free shipping, and no tax was a pleasant surprise. 

Do you even OC?

Maybe we can see another review involving Slingshots

Maybe we can see another review involving Slingshots

I could be mistaken, but I think this one is TN, also it's a referb.

I'm not an audiophile, meaning I don't keep up on what the best headphones are, manufacturers and such, but I am very picky about the actual sound that I get.
The headphones I use now are on their way out, and I figured this was a good time to switch to wireless.

Those GPU's are made to run warm, so seeingt emperatures in that area are normal.
 
Is the fan for the GPU spinning up fast, or is it staying pretty quiet?
If it's getting very fast and loud, you might have an issue, but as long as it's not ramping up crazy high, then you'll be fine.
 
They're made to be fine sitting around 90C, and the CPU won't throttle until like 90 as well.

On the default auto curve, it will only ramp up to 100% to keep the GPU at/under 90.

I'm not sure if you play WoW or not, but let me explain a bit more, why it's not "As casual as it gets"
That's 9 hours, PLUS THE TIME NOT RAIDING
I play at least 35 hours a week, with going to school for 14 credit hours, and working 30 hours a week. I spend most of my time not at work or school, on the game.
Maybe not something to brag about, but something that I'm getting a tad annoyed having to explain.
 
On a more related note, if they can get the usage over to more GPU's, that would be amazing.

Do you even OC?

Amazing. Maybe some cable combs for those wires, instead of zip ties though...
Still beautiful.

The temps will be higher, but as long as you have decent air flow in your case, you'll be alright.
 
mATX exists, so that you can have a smaller computer, and still get two GPU's in there.

Knowledge, information, and resources.
 
You can use the forum for asking questions for things you don't know, and you can use the reputation you've built to get more and more knowledgeable people to answer you.

Knowledge, information, and resources.
 
You can use the forum for asking questions for things you don't know, and you can use the reputation you've built to get more and more knowledgeable people to answer you.

Use a separate PSU for the bleeding...
I know that's easier said than done, but if you can attach the pump to a different PSU, you can cycle the power without causing issues with the motherboard.
 
And no, turning the motherboard on and off won't really do much to it, but to be on the safe side, if you can use a separate PSU, you could avoid any thoughts of issues.