UPDATE: Black Widow (2nd Build) (Now with GPU!)

[falsedell]

Well everyone, the time has come to build another rig. Why? My current rig is to big. Physically too big. The Cosmos II is an absolute beast of a case. I originally went with that case because I thought I needed room for all of my hard drives. I've since discovered that I didn't need all of my hard drives in one case. After realizing that, I decided to build a gaming rig, and also transplant the rest of my current components into a smaller case in the future.

 

I know there are a couple of things about my new build that are a little played out. One being the black and red theme, the other being the 350D. First things first, I tried to keep the red in this build to a minimum. I'm from Lexington, and as a result I kind of hate the color red, but there was no way around it considering the parts I chose. Second, the 350D is an awesome little case. It was so much easier to build in than the Cosmos II.

 

On to the specs:

     Case: Corsair Obsidian 350D

     Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Gene

     CPU: Intel i5 4670K

     CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H110

     RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2x 8GB) 1866 MHz

     PSU: Corsair AX760

     Boot Drive: Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB

     Storage: 2x Seagate Barracude 1.5TB in RAID0

     Display: 3x Dell P2414H

     GPU: 2x Asus DirectCU II GTX 780

     Keyboard: Corsair K70 with Cherry MX Red switches and Max Keyboard front print translucent key caps

     Mouse: SteelSeries Diablo III

 

A couple of notes on the parts currently being used:

     The GPU was pulled from my main rig. It will be going back once I get my tax refund and purchase a 780Ti.

     The keyboard is only temporary until I can get one to replace the one on my main rig. Once that happens I will move my Corsair K70 Red over to my new rig.

     I also plan on getting a new mouse. Perhaps another Logitech G600, but I'll probably stay with Corsair. There is no other reason other than to stay consistent with manufacturer.

 

ON TO THE PICS!!!!!!!

 

The first pieces arrive...

 

 

Putting together the first pieces...

 

 

All of the new goodies arrive...

 

 

Out of the box...

 

 

Let's throw this mess together...

 

 

And a view from the back for your viewing (dis)pleasure...

 

 

Currently, I am pretty damn happy with this build. By far the most difficult part was fitting the H110 in the top. I had read to plug in the 8-pin connector to the motherboard before putting it in, this turned out to be the wrong thing to do. I had to install the H110 then plug in the 8-pin connector. Doing it in that order was butter.

 

I'll leave you with one more pic. This will make a lot of people squirm, but I took it as a comparison between the Cosmos II and the 350D.

 

 

UPDATE

 

Here's a nice shot of the "empty" chassis.

 

 

A shot of the goodies.

 

 

Installed

 

 

Semi-close-up

 

 

Now I'm just waiting on my windowed side panel to make it to Kentucky from California.

 

Total price: $3035.38

 

 

[SpaceSquid]

I thought you were gonna use a Razer Blackwidow lol.

[Bloodyvalley]

Why Blackwidow? Are you a black widow?

[TechSage]

I thought you were gonna use a Razer Blackwidow lol.

Same lol

[falsedell]

I thought you were gonna use a Razer Blackwidow lol.

Same lol

 

I never really understood why that keyboard was named what it was. Does it kill its partner when they are done? It should named the Praying Mantis if so. And that would work with the color scheme.

 

 

Why Blackwidow? Are you a black widow?

 

I like Marvel characters. And the build is mainly black with a little bit of red, just like a black widow spider.

 

 

I did get the solid side panel version of the 350D because it was $15 cheaper. But with a $20 MIR, I do plan on getting the windowed side panel in the future. I also plan on upgrading to sleeved cables in the future. They just weren't a priority in getting the build completed.

[Monty007]

looks good. are you running a 5 monitor surround in portrait mode? if so that is nuts. would love to see some pics

[falsedell]

looks good. are you running a 5 monitor surround in portrait mode? if so that is nuts. would love to see some pics

 

I'll give you a few photos walking through my most recent monitor setups.

 

Here is the first shipment of 3 Dell P2414H's. You can see some of my old monitors sitting on the right hand side of the desk.

 

 

Here is the setup after the second shipment of 3 Dell P2414H's, making 6 total. The right hand monitor was in landscape for viewing certain pages more easily.

 

 

Here's a quick shot after I rotated the right hand display to be in portrait also. It simply made for a much cleaner look.

 

 

And now on to my current setup. It took me 4 hours to rearrange everything into 2 separate setups and to do a LOT of cable cleanup.

 

[falsedell]

I love the man cave.

 

Man cave? Nah, that is just my bedroom.

[Monty007]

Wow that is pretty nuts! So are the two different systems tasked for different things? Workstation/gaming?

[flibberdipper]

Jeez dude. That is crazy.

[falsedell]

Wow that is pretty nuts! So are the two different systems tasked for different things? Workstation/gaming?

 

Absolutely. The system on the left is my main rig. The one I use for everything except gaming/streaming. The system on the right is to be used for gaming/streaming. I decided last night that I wanted to start streaming my gameplay, mainly as a reason to force myself to play the games I've purchased.

 

So I want to stream using ShadowPlay. It seems a lot easier to me than setting up the right scenes/screens and all that mess. I ran into a bit of a problem that took me quite a while to figure out. I could stream to Twitch using ShadowPlay on my main rig, but not my gaming rig. Come to find out ShadowPlay won't stream at resolutions higher than 1920x1080. Thus I was forced to rotate my gaming displays to landscape. It sucks because it takes up a TON more room on the desktop. Three 24-inch monitors in landscape stretches a little over 5 feet. I now have TWO of those set up.

 

Bask in the glow that keeps me awake at night...

 

[Monty007]

That's totally nuts. 10 ft of monitor space. Talk about desktop real estate!!! SICK!

[shouldervalley]

holy fu**ing sh*t that's awesome. how can you sleep at all with those next ti you?

[falsedell]

holy fu**ing sh*t that's awesome. how can you sleep at all with those next ti you?

 

It is very difficult. The day I completed this build, and thus the first night with this setup, I didn't go to sleep until 6am. 

 

I've come a long way since I fried the integrated GPU in my laptop by constantly hooking up a 2nd monitor.

[iceberg]

That is an awesome overall setup!

[falsedell]

UPDATE: The GPUs finally arrived yesterday!

 

Here's a nice shot of the "empty" chassis.

 

 

A shot of the goodies.

 

 

Installed

 

 

Semi-close-up

 

 

Now I'm just waiting on my windowed side panel to make it to Kentucky from California.

 

Total price: $3035.38

[Hikaru12]

What resolution are you running those monitors at? I can't imagine you'd be running 1440 or 1660P across 6 monitors on two 780's?

[flibberdipper]

Damn dude. This is sweet.

[falsedell]

What resolution are you running those monitors at? I can't imagine you'd be running 1440 or 1660P across 6 monitors on two 780's?

 

I'm actually running 2 systems. The one in this thread is my gaming rig. The "other one" is my main rig. My main rig is running with the help of 2 EVGA ACX 760s.

 

Both systems are running at 5760x1080.

 

Damn dude. This is sweet.

 

Thank you. If the weather stays clear, and I don't have to work on Saturday, I'll be making a run to Ikea to get another shelf for my desk. I will promptly attached said shelf and raise both of my towers up to show them off.

 

Don't worry, I've measured/weighed everything. I should have no problems making sure everything is safe.

[Antistatic12]

oh nice. me likes.

[adriel604]

dude, you are just ballin out of control with that setup.  Jaw dropping.

 

curious, why can't your main rig be a gaming rig as well? lol

[groww4441]

Wow Bro.. R.I.P Penelec.. haha.. Really diggin' it.

 

What desk are you using? I like it.

[falsedell]

dude, you are just ballin out of control with that setup.  Jaw dropping.

 

curious, why can't your main rig be a gaming rig as well? lol

 

It definitely could be. But I bottleneck the network adapter on it almost 24/7, so gaming, and especially gaming online would be near impossible.

 

Maybe it will be when I can save up enough funds to build an HTPC, but thanks to Student Loans, that won't be happening for quite a while.

 

Wow Bro.. R.I.P Penelec.. haha.. Really diggin' it.

 

What desk are you using? I like it.

 

I'm using an Ikea Galant Left Corner desk with an extension on the left, a quarter round extension on the right, and two Galant shelves to put my towers on display.

 

Heck, I haven't even updated this thread with a current picture of my setup. I've cleaned it up a bit. I'll do that when I get home from work.

[adriel604]

It definitely could be. But I bottleneck the network adapter on it almost 24/7, so gaming, and especially gaming online would be near impossible.

 

Maybe it will be when I can save up enough funds to build an HTPC, but thanks to Student Loans, that won't be happening for quite a while.

 

 

I'm using an Ikea Galant Left Corner desk with an extension on the left, a quarter round extension on the right, and two Galant shelves to put my towers on display.

 

Heck, I haven't even updated this thread with a current picture of my setup. I've cleaned it up a bit. I'll do that when I get home from work.

Please tag me when you update I want to see current set up

[falsedell]

Please tag me when you update I want to see current set up

 

Will a quote work? Here are a bunch of pics...

 

The Main Rig

 

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 in Arctic White with Window

Motherboard: Asus Z87-Deluxe/Dual (purchased when I had an Apple Thunderbolt Cinema Display, would definitely go with a different board now since I'm not using the features that make this board unique)

CPU: Intel i7-4770K @ 4.5GHz

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M

RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro @ 2133MHz

Boot Drive: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB

Storage: Total of 17TB on various HDDs

GPU: 2x EVGA GTX 760 with ACX cooling

PSU: OCZ ZX850W

Speakers: Logitech Z323

Mouse: Logitech G600

Mouse Mat: Corsair MM200 Extended Edition Gaming Mouse Mat

Keyboard: Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2013 (LOVE these Blue switches)

Monitors: 3x Dell P2414H

Additional Display: Samsung 43" 720p Plasma TV

 

 

 

 

The Gaming Rig

 

Case: Corsair 350D with Window

Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Gene

CPU: Intel i5-4670K @ 4.6GHz

CPU Cooler: Corsair H110

RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro @ 1866MHz

Boot Drive: Cosair Neutron GTX 240GB

Storage: 2x Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB in Raid 0

GPU: 2x Asus DirectCU II OC GTX 780

PSU: Corsair AX760 

Headset: SteelSeries Siberia V2

Mouse: Corsair M95

Mouse Mat: Some free mouse mat I got at a NASCAR race a couple of years ago

Keyboard: Corsair K70 (Red switches) with front pint key caps from Max Keyboard.

Game Controller: Xbox 360 controller for Windows

Mic: Blue Yeti with pop filter

 

 

 

 

Desk and Accessories

 

Desk: Ikea Galant (left corner) with Extension on the left, and Quarter Round Extension on the right.

Shelves: 2x Ikea Galant shelves to raise cases up for display

Lighting: Bankers Lamp with LED Daylight Bulb from Wal*Mart/Lowes

Comfort Pieces: Small storage ottoman from Wal*mart, Double storage ottoman from Target (for when I want to lay back and relax). Also a small space heater that trips my breaker every time I turn it on.

Chair: I forget the name, but some chair from Office Depot that is starting to crack. Might be time for another upgrade.

Smell Neutralizer: Scentsy Black Zebra Element Warmer with Watermelon Mint Scentsy Bar

 

Additional Toys

Tablet: iPad Mini with Retina Display (wifi only 16GB)

Phone: iPhone 5 (AT&T 16GB)