Kenny477

*LONG THREAD WARNING*

So let me start of by saying, gosh darn has it taking me waaaay too long to finally join these forums! It's good to be here finally  Like many on here, I've been watching Linus from the very early days on NCIX and oh boy is it awesome to see him grow and form LMG. 

So a bit of background info. I started building PCs around 10 years ago, when those crappy IDE cables were the fastest connection and black case interiors weren't a thing. My first build was terrible... molex adaptors everywhere, cable management wasn't in my vocabulary and the case... my god. Even though it looked terrible by today's standards, I was really proud of it.


AMD Phenom X3 build circa 2009 (yeah.. I'm still not sure why I didn't get an X4 chip) It's amusing to look back and see the severe lack of effort by manufacturers to have complimenting colours schemes at the time. The modding scene from what I remember was pretty huge though! I even had a HD3450 in that system for quite a while, I still have it somewhere.. 

Over the years and a few PC builds later, I was still always having to just botch together systems as I could never afford a complete full new build. I'd always have to pull an old drive from my last PC or make do with my current case, skimp on a power supply and buy a dodgy '700W' one with ketchup and mustard cables  I'm sure many can relate to this, but I was still happy. 

My main system for around 7 years was my trusty AMD Phenom II 955 black edition and a HD4890 (upgraded to a HIS 6970 at a later point) This was built not long after owning the Phenom X3 system. However, Intel was about to hit AMD hard with their announcement of their soon to be game changing i7 line of CPUs. As soon as the i7s came out I wanted one. The 960. That was the CPU to have, however like today, they were really expensive and I could not afford one, nor the motherboards - heck I couldn't even afford a proper PSU! 


(above) A rather unsightly interior on one of those awful huge turbine cases with a piano gloss finish. Honestly the worst case ever made. I highly recommend to new builders to never ever go cheap on a case! 
(below) My efforts for a black interior in an Antec 300 case (legendary case!) 

For some reason, I decided to go crossfire...If only the PCI slots had that much clearance nowadays haha! I did love these reference coolers for the ATi cards around the 3000 - 4000 series cards.

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Over the years I flirted with upgrading my system to the i7 I really wanted. The 4th gen i7s was when I almost pulled the trigger initially, but never did. Then the 7th gen approached...

During a CSGO game my power supply blew up. My PC was out of action for around 8 months while I was in between work. I also use Mac for my work so a replacement PSU wasn't urgent (although I did completely drank to silver... *shudder*..) I ended up picking up a Corsair CX series PSU to replace my noname cheapo Chinese version.

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Thanks to the HTC Vive (and lots of video editing) I ended up picking myself up a Strix 1070 to make my system VR ready (still running the Phenom II amazingly and this was my first new card since the 6970) However, due to my own stupidity I thought GPUs wouldn't be bigger than the huge HIS 6970 cooler, but I was wrong. The Strix 1070 was literally about .5cm too long for my Antec 300 case ... sigh. So a quick trip online and a Corsair 450D later, I was up and running. I was rocking some 'baller' (as described by Luke in one of the scrapyard wars episodes) OCZ Gold RAM. Ah.. OCZ. I had all my 4 slots taken up with only 8GB of RAM and wanted MOAR!! So I ordered a 2X16GB kit of RAM from Corsair. ONLY TO REALISE MY BOARD WAS SO OLD IT COULD ONLY TAKE 4GB STICKS MAX.

*RAGEQUIT*

This was the point I just said f*ck it. This was the time to build a new system...

 I wanted this to be an accumulation of all the things I learnt over the years. The patience and desire to create some I've wanted to build. As a creative and artist, I wanted something that wasn't only a workhorse, but a piece of art in it's own right. 
 
and here it is. Progress -> Near Completion 








You can never have too many photos of these Dominator sticks. Man are they sexy. 






This was the 'completed' build. A system that worked but wasn't a finished build in terms of aesthetics.

Upgrades below included:
 
- Swapping out the CX series for the AX860i (I am and was aware of the problems people had with this model)
- Getting aftermarket / custom sleeved cables for the PSU
- Replacing all the fans with Maglev series ones








The updated build. Looking cleaner, however the cables weren't making me smile.. so I checked out CableMod for some cables. To my surprise they didn't float my boat for what I wanted, amazingly Corsair had pretty much the exact cables I wanted and at a lower price than what CableMod were offering. I went with the Metallic Graphite set, which was exactly the look I wanted 

I took quite some time picking out components that would compliment each other. I didn't just want to match up blacks and whites, but match metals, finishes and show a class of engineering. I absolutely love the turn companies have made this year with muted and monotone colours schemes. This allows the builder to be more creative in then filling out the build with whatever secondary colour they want. I love how there is only a splash of red from the AX860i. It was important for me on this build to not have anything in this system that would detract from this overall aesthetics when it was off *cough* mustard and ketchup cables haha!



The cables were looking a little crazy. I totally forgot to order cable combs with these which actually ended up being the best thing that happened. I discovered these gorgeous billet aluminium ones over at MNPCtech. It was so strange finally ordering something from Bill as it was him that first ignited the PC building passion in me 10 years ago. I remember watching all his crazy almost MTV mod videos, featuring PC cases with airbrushing effects... ahh.. Good times!



A little tidier... 




Added some Corsair RGB goodness - and yes, that really is the keyboard I still use. PS2 2001 baby *disclaimer the 24 pin is wonky because the back panel isn't on. Long story...*

(I did also check out the CableMod ones of these too, but got increasingly annoyed with not being able to find a video or photo showing the white. In nearly every shot the camera's white balance was set wrong and wasn't showing an accurate colour... sigh. I finally found a video featuring these Corsair ones showing it was a cool white which sealed the sale and ended up also being cheaper!) 

The monotone look of this build comes to life with a splash of colour from the RGB. It really changes the feel of the build.



Some colour experimentation. I have a whole colour pallet and ideas exploration on my Instagram for those who're interested. Being a photographer, aesthetics and colour are important to me. Have a look up of the colour wheel that has been around for literally centuries, it'll give you a basic breakdown of complimenting and contrasting colours. 

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SO

This was my 10 years in the making. I always wanted that core i7 and a rig that I could be proud of. I always wanted that neat system with tidy cables and overkill written on it. So here is my system, Purple Reign (albeit more magenta, but f*ck it) 


*DISCLAIMER*

The thing that I know people will love to point out and ask, is the strange GPU combination. I know, it's not the conventional setup, but from the initial VR upgrade I ended up having a 'spare' 1070. The matching aesthetics (disregarding the difference of cables) was too tempting not to try. The 1070 will probably go in a build for my other half for her own VR rig and I'll go SLI 1080Tis and a custom water loop HOWEVER, the current issues with SLI and VR put me off. This is also not just a gaming machine. I do heavy editing workloads in both Photoshop and various motion graphics and video editing suites. So, as much as this would be overkill for just gaming, I'm also a full time working professional ;-) 

Many thanks for checking out this super long post and reading through my journey <3 
 


 
 
 
 



Current Specs

- 7700K @ 5Ghz
- Corsair 450D case
- Corsair 32GB Dominator Platinum LE Chrome RAM
- Corsair H115i AIO cooler
- Corsair Maglev fans
- Corsair AX850i PSU
- Corsair Metallic Graphite cables
- Samsung 850 Pro 500GB SSD
- Asus Strix 270E motherboard
- Asus Strix 1070 
- Asus Strix 1080Ti
- MNPCtech billet aluminium cable combs
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That is not in USD right. CAD? Because everything seems overpriced if its in USD.
EDIT: Its Australian Dollar.

Yes, as others have said... 
1. Not specific enough
       a. What are you going to be doing (software, games, etc?)
2. Budget of $1305.40...
3. And occasional "cryptocurrency" mining
        a. You need multiple gpus and cheap electricity to actually maybe make up for the cost (Its not worth it)

Yep, a Raspberry Pi is cheap and small, but if that doesn't work, look for mobos on Craigslist or similar sites.

Oh god, the Razer Blade, when I first heard of it I thought it was a classic Razer gaming "thing"...But then you see the specs.

Nothing really needs upgrading, but if you really want to do so, then here is the list of upgrades you should do in order:
1. CPU (i7 or Ryzen 7)
2. RAM (16gb or more)
3. SSD (256gb or 500gb)
4. GPU (1080 ti)

Yep, and you will have to pay a lot more than the original $370 most likely.

For monitor go with the 144 HZ Asus ROG Swift, it's a bit more expensive but performs excellently.

I think most people would agree on the Ryzen 5 1600. However for graphics, just chose the best price for you between these (low to high end): 1050 Ti, 1060 6Gb, or 1070.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ds4p6X
Ran about $100 over budget, but should be a damn good computer all round and I squeezed in that 1070. Founder's Edition isn't the best but you didn't say anything about gaming so yeah. Also, I got it into a Mini-ITX case which is WAY smaller than that (not great) ATX mid tower. Just go with this PC. About the best ITX all-rounder you could build for $1100. If you wanted to, you could get some damn fine FPS in games too. You'll have to get Windows from Kinguin or something, but that shouldn't be a problem, seeing as Kinguin's above-board.

She wants a certain monitor, I just based my build off his original with some tweaks. The monitor is more expensive which cuts down on performance of other parts.
You cut down on monitor price and case, but you don't have overflow storage which she needs for content creation.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GGzPCy
850 EVO SSDs are nice, also 10 GB more
Ryzen 5 1600
B350 PC Mate Mobo
Everything else is the same

For content creation you should use a Ryzen. Maybe a Ryzen 5 1600 for 20 bucks more...I believe. Also for the overflow hard drive go with Seagate Barracuda 2TB. Cheaper by 20 bucks to make up for the money.

Yep, same thing, 400-500, on ebay maybe start 450???

Yeah, its compatible, PCPartPicker compatibility checker is pretty accurate most of the time. 7600k is ok, but I think Ryzens are now better value for price.

Ok, thx for the advice

That is what I thought.

i didnt even realise sorry. maybe its just that good of a build that 2 people are suggesting it???!!!