My Z0MB1E Rig

HrutkayMods · January 27, 2016

So I would like to go into the background of my Z0MB1E build. My dad has been a professional photographer since 2006. He has had 3 essentially gaming PCs to edit photos and video since that time. This PC started out as his 1st in early 2007. He had our OEM builder friend build the system. In 2009, my dad had our friend gut the case and put a 790i Ultra board in it (which is now the PC my mom uses, my dad gave it to me and I gave it to her). The insides of this system were returned with the new build. Dad bought an Ultra Aluminus full tower case and a cheap off brand crap 600W PSU and he put these internals into the case, where they have been since. Dad now has an i7 Ivy Bridge System that he had a custom builder online build for him, it has 32GB ram and thats about all I can tell you about it because I really don't know the specs past that.

Anyway he put this system together for his then girlfriend to use, which she never did. Her son used it a very short time I believe but then it just sat for years and years from probably 2010 to when I found it in the summer of 2015. I decided then to turn it into a gaming rig because my desktop had died years before and my gaming laptop had aged horribly though the years.

When dad first had it, it had an 8800GTX in it, which wasn't what was in it when I found it. It had an HD 4870 in it. I could also see why it had sat so long when I plugged it in and it was dead. My quest to bring it back from the dead is why I decided to name it Z0MB1E. First power on, BIOS beep codes, figured out it was bad RAM, removed 1 by one until it booted. I went from 4GB of ram to 2GB but got it to post. Then the next problem, no SATA drives detected. I tested EVERYTHING, every port, every drive, even new drives. Nothing and after 2 days of troubleshooting, resetting the CMOS, and even installing a floppy drive to reflash the BIOS I was about to give up.

Last attempt: take it to a fellow techie friend's house. I brought it over, we plugged it in, he turned it on and did nothing basically but press the power button and it booted into Windows XP. I could've killed him

Original Specs when I got it:

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Motherboard - Intel D975XBX2 "BadAxe 2"
RAM - 4GB (became 2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400 (4x 1GB) Dual-Channel
GPU - XFX Radeon HD 4870 1GB
Case - Black ULTRA Aluminus Full ATX
Storage - 80GB 7200RPM (Nothing Special)
Optical - broken IDE DVDROM
PSU - Crap generic Aspire 600W
Cooling- (Air) ULTRA ChillTec Overclocking Cooler
Operating System - Windows XP Professional x32

I spent months buying parts and even frankensteining parts to upgrade it, I won't go into much detail but I will say that it went from the HD 4870 to a GTX 470, to a GTX 950, to a GTX 960, back to the original GTX 950, and then a new and better GTX 950. All in between mid June through early this January. The crap PSU also started going, first by not wanting to boot, then booting but seeming to run on less power, I eventually ordered a new one and took the old one apart when I installed the new one and wow, it was about to catch on fire. It had a popped cap, a bunch of singed caps and a wire melted mid way through. I took pictures and may do a post on the death trap some time.

Anyway this was my main gaming rig from late July though early December, and it has also been a 24/7 dedicated folding rig since early October. It can still play all AAA at 30FPS at 1080P, even GTA V, Star Wars Battlefront, and SOMA. Yes the going on 9 year old CPU currently in it can play games meant for 2nd - 6th gen i Cores. I still occasionally play on it, but my dad gave me money to build my new rig during Christmas and it's pretty sweet (http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/535262-my-gr1m-reapr-rig) But I've grown attached to this PC so it won't be going anywhere soon.

Anyway when my dad put it together there was no cable management, just a huge rats nest of wires, this case is crap, and there isn't much room for cable management, plus I didn't take the entire system apart when I upgraded it, so I did what I could to clean it up

Here are the new specs

CPU - Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 (OC @ 3.3GHz)
Motherboard - Intel D975XBX2 "BadAxe 2"
RAM - 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR2 PC2-6400 (4x 2GB) Dual-Channel
GPU - EVGA GTX 950 FTW 2GB (OC @ 1303MHz, Boost @ 1567MHz)
Case - Black ULTRA Aluminus Full ATX
Storage - 2TB 7200RPM
Optical SATA BDXL burner, SATA DVDRW
PSU - EVGA SUPERNOVA G2 750W
Cooling - (Air) ULTRA ChillTec Overclocking Cooler
WiFi - Intel Wireless-N 7260 in desktop adapter (pulled from my girlfriend's laptop when I was upgrading her to AC)
Add-On - Anker Uspeed PCI-E to USB 3.0 2 Port Express Card
Operating System - Windows 10 Pro x64

So what do you guys think of my old classic? it's still quite a PC for its age

Josephdalepi · January 27, 2016

destroy the mac logo and the case looks pretty nice

Vercii · January 27, 2016

*cough* apple sticker *cough*

HrutkayMods · January 27, 2016

destroy the mac logo and the case looks pretty nice

lol you're the 2nd guy to say that

*cough* apple sticker *cough*

and 3rd

January 27, 2016

just here to say something about that apple sticker

The_Stig · January 27, 2016

The Apple sticker doesn't bother me as much as the fact the you have not one, but 2 CD ROMs

HrutkayMods · January 27, 2016

The Apple sticker doesn't bother me as much as the fact the you have not one, but 2 CD ROMs

old habits die hard, I've had 2 in every one of my towers since 2000, and I've had a lot of towers, take a look at my other build, link in my sig (PC #1)