Progression in the PC building hobby

[For Science!]

For those that enjoy the actual building of PCs, where are you at now, and where do see yourself progressing into in the future?

 

I think there are many paths that people take (sometime multiple paths) and I myself kind of want to do something new from another path, but haven't found something for myself yet.

 

Advanced paths in the PC building hobby examples:

• Custom loop cooling
• Extreme overclocking / Competitive overclocking
• Custom case modifications
• Small form factor (performance per litre)
• Home network / Server / Dedicated NAS PC
• Unconventional cooling (e.g. Passive, whole room cooling, etc)
• DIY Custom peripherals

[venomtail]

I need the extra money but one day I'll definitely want to try out modifying cases, making custom ones. Got some ideas but I need to do a ton of research first.

[For Science!]

1 minute ago, venomtail said:

I need the extra money but one day I'll definitely want to try out modifying cases, making custom ones. Got some ideas but I need to do a ton of research first.

I once also tried to come up with a design, and then shelved it away. Now that I've learned how to operate a 3D printer, it might see the day of light one day. Having said that its difficult to come up with a good aesthetic design, which isn't my strong point

[jaslion]

19 minutes ago, For Science! said:

For those that enjoy the actual building of PCs, where are you at now, and where do see yourself progressing into in the future?

 

I think there are many paths that people take (sometime multiple paths) and I myself kind of want to do something new from another path, but haven't found something for myself yet.

 

Advanced paths in the PC building hobby examples:

• Custom loop cooling
• Extreme overclocking / Competitive overclocking
• Custom case modifications
• Small form factor (performance per litre)
• Home network / Server / Dedicated NAS PC
• Unconventional cooling (e.g. Passive, whole room cooling, etc)
• DIY Custom peripherals

Its fun how for me most of these just kinda happened out of neccesity or annoyance :p.

 

-Looped a pc for cheap because the gpu came with an aio watercooler and I was so annoyed by the noise of teh machine

-Accidentally ran my 8320 at 5ghz stable by misinputting data

-Cables didn't fit so I hacksawed it

-New desk didn't allow for the case to be tucked behind it so got a small case

-I wanted a cheap nas and game server as a poor teenager so that happened

-I found a external heating radiator for another cooling purpose and used that for a while worked nicely

-My mouse broke and it wasn't avaiable unless for a stupid high price so I just added different buttons that wouldnt break again

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

I've done custom loop and SFF. Might try combining the two at some point in the future.

 

I have a Synology NAS. My next goal is to setup a custom one. Just waiting for the existing NAS to fill up more so it doesn't feel wasteful/unnecessary.

 

When I own a house I'd like to have wired networking everywhere. I've also thought a bit about making a custom loop that sends the heated water into the basement where a heat pump water heater could use the heat for the house hot water.

 

My next small project is to replace the TIM in my HTPC's 3080 with LM and replace the thermal pads on the memory. It still has a thermal constraint even after some case modding and other efforts, and I'd like it to be power constrained instead. Will probably do that this weekend.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Hairless Monkey Boy said:

I've done custom loop and SFF. Might try combining the two at some point in the future.

 

I have a Synology NAS. My next goal is to setup a custom one. Just waiting for the existing NAS to fill up more so it doesn't feel wasteful/unnecessary.

 

When I own a house I'd like to have wired networking everywhere. I've also thought a bit about making a custom loop that sends the heated water into the basement where a heat pump water heater could use the heat for the house hot water.

 

My next small project is to replace the TIM in my HTPC's 3080 with LM and replace the thermal pads on the memory. It still has a thermal constraint even after some case modding and other efforts, and I'd like it to be power constrained instead. Will probably do that this weekend.

Put an eiswolf or eisbear loop on it

[For Science!]

5 minutes ago, Hairless Monkey Boy said:

I've done custom loop and SFF. Might try combining the two at some point in the future.

 

I have a Synology NAS. My next goal is to setup a custom one. Just waiting for the existing NAS to fill up more so it doesn't feel wasteful/unnecessary.

 

When I own a house I'd like to have wired networking everywhere. I've also thought a bit about making a custom loop that sends the heated water into the basement where a heat pump water heater could use the heat for the house hot water.

 

My next small project is to replace the TIM in my HTPC's 3080 with LM and replace the thermal pads on the memory. It still has a thermal constraint even after some case modding and other efforts, and I'd like it to be power constrained instead. Will probably do that this weekend.

"Honey, I need to take a shower, can you start mining on your GPUs again?"

 

SFF custom loop cooling is a whole next level challenge, I just finished doing maintenance on a Ncase M1 custom loop which I think I min-maxed in terms of cooling potential. I also have a ThorZone Mjolnir sitting on my desk, but I think it can only do a CPU loop as the space usage is not as great.

[zookzor]

For me when I first got into building PC's back in 2014, I envisioned myself getting into custom loops, 8 years later and I still haven't done it. 

I realized it's a ton of work and money, and with how fast hardware becomes outdated I just cant justify doing a loop. I could have unlimited funds, and I still wouldn't do it! It's just way too much work, and I'm the kind of person that likes updating my PC yearly, so the thought of redoing my custom loops so frequently would be a nightmare lol. 

 

[cmndr]

Custom loop cooling - didn't bother, AIOs are cheap enough, overclocking mostly stopped mattering too.

Extreme overclocking / Competitive overclocking - no practical point.

Custom case modifications - did a little not much

Small form factor (performance per litre) - currently using a pretty small case (cerberus-X)

Home network / Server / Dedicated NAS PC - set up NAS, wifi access points, etc. set up multiple Rpis, set up multiple home security and camera systems for myself and others

Unconventional cooling (e.g. Passive, whole room cooling, etc) - did semi passive in the past (only case fans), wasn't worth it.

DIY Custom peripherals - no point

Other adjacent things I've done - small home theaterS/audio, software and data engineering
 

[Arika]

At some point i want to make a dedicated AI PC, to both train and run models more efficiently all locally. i dislike having to rely on someone else's service for some of the bigger models that i can't fit on my 2 current GPUs.

 

 

[jones177]

On 7/1/2022 at 9:22 AM, For Science! said:

Custom loop cooling

I like to switch out parts a lot since I have several computes.

On 7/1/2022 at 9:22 AM, For Science! said:

• Extreme overclocking / Competitive overclocking

I only overclock when needed like in games.

My 8th and 9th gen Intel CPUs were overclocked 24/7.  My 10th get Intel was tested at 5.3ghz all cores but it rans at stock now.

My 2080 tis had 24/7 overclocks as well. 

With my 30 series cards I fine it is not needed and at 4k my CPUs do not need it either.

On 7/1/2022 at 9:22 AM, For Science! said:

• Custom case modifications

My cases are stock but I have 7 of them.  

On 7/1/2022 at 9:22 AM, For Science! said:

• Small form factor (performance per litre)

Never

On 7/1/2022 at 9:22 AM, For Science! said:

• Home network / Server / Dedicated NAS PC

I only have a game severs now. In the past when I was working I used file severs.

On 7/1/2022 at 9:22 AM, For Science! said:

• Unconventional cooling (e.g. Passive, whole room cooling, etc)
• DIY Custom peripherals

Never.

 

 

My hobby is also about having more then one computer. 

 

My i9 9900k computer is in my test bench area. It came up with a strange issue so it was replaced with my Ryzen build as a daily driver.

 

My 5900x build is my dally driver and # 2 test rig. It originally had a 5800x in it and may get a 3D CPU if they make one with more than 8 cores.

 

My i9 10900kf and i9 11900k rigs are for gaming only. One is in a bedroom and one in the living room. Both use OLED TVs. 

 

My i7 8086k rig is my games server. Right now it is running Space Engineers(modded).

 

 

[thrasher_565]

hmm were to start...

well i do case mods never built a case from scratch thow and probly never will.

projects...i have ALOT of them.. lets see

 

my 4 loop build 4 years plus in the making... so far a 6600k, gtx 1080, but i was going for a X299 AORUS Gaming 7, i7-7740X, c14 ram, 2 ram wbs , 3 m.2 wbs and a mono bloack but the mb is stuck on c1 error so i got my moeny back for the mb at least. 

 

windows 98se pc attempt want ddr3, x5470, ATI Radeon X850 XT, hard time getting usb driver installed but i did get an ultra new sealed pci usb1.0 card...

 

also have a 98se, 5200+, 6800 ultra build just need to get 98se stable... i do have a wb for the 6800 ultra...

 

have a windows xp build with x79 and gtx evga 960 but killed the mb by putting the cpu in backwards... case is a tt tower 900 with 2x 480mm so far thing on cutting holes for fans at the bottom.

 

have a storage off line build in a tt Core X71 that also has a sound card in it. plan is to swap in a storage dive and cope files to it to keep a back up.

 

other pcs i have t5500, x58 one on air atm but i do have a full wc mb but its at my dads right now its the tv pc in a lian li 011 air. just put my dads sabertooth, 3540, in an lian li 011 evo for now think ill try and install my 6600k stuff to that soon as the might be my w7 build atm but dont no.

 

still need to cut a hole in a server rack and hook all mu consoles up. i was going to add keystone jacks to it but i dont no.

 

test bench i wanted an external rad with pump and a good compatible wb was the plan some day.

 

cases i own have no plans for yet are xps dell xps 730 wanted to mount an atx mb in it. tt mozart xt, corsair obsidian 850, antec lan boy air wanted to mount the gpu up front and have a bequiet dark rock tf2 so far... dont no what air build ill do thow might end up being my tv pc or something. want to make a am3 build so far wc gtx 480 for heat testing in cases with 9370 fx waiting for a wc asus mb.

 

other projects... taking apart 140 n64 controllers and replace the joystick... and 300 sfc controllers and replacing the rubber pads and moded 10 of the 30 sfc systems for us game carts to fit same with all 30 jn64. to one day sell and make moeny... but its really boring taking apart controllers... i have 12 gc waivebirds that i wanted to shell swap to different color but the parts wb went up in price...

 

 

 

[For Science!]

PCs obviously start (or at least should) as functional pieces of equipment. You build one to do something with it.

For some people like me though, after you've built a piece of equipment that works, my mind moved onto the direction of:

 

I'd like this PC to be more quiet --> Custom loop

If I'm going to do a custom loop, I'd like it to look nice --> Hardline custom loop

 

So at that point the PC went beyond a functional piece of equipment and turned into a semi-art piece. 

 

Right now I'm trying to design some custom parts and 3D print them so that I can bring some life back into the hobby for me which stagnated a little bit as there is a strong sensation of "Well, I've already done that" when it comes to "regular" custom water cooling.

[jones177]

4 hours ago, For Science! said:

PCs obviously start (or at least should) as functional pieces of equipment. You build one to do something with it.

For some people like me though, after you've built a piece of equipment that works, my mind moved onto the direction of:

 

I'd like this PC to be more quiet --> Custom loop

If I'm going to do a custom loop, I'd like it to look nice --> Hardline custom loop

 

So at that point the PC went beyond a functional piece of equipment and turned into a semi-art piece. 

 

Right now I'm trying to design some custom parts and 3D print them so that I can bring some life back into the hobby for me which stagnated a little bit as there is a strong sensation of "Well, I've already done that" when it comes to "regular" custom water cooling.

For me there is no stagnation since high end GPUs and CPUs are getting much harder to cool.

 

Before the Nvidia 20 series came out I used cases with the fans they came with. They were all Cooler Maser Haf series with 2 of them being Haf X.

With their 200mm fans they were both cool and quiet. 

 

With the 20 series 2080 tis they became hot since they replaced GTX 1080 tis at 250 watts and they used about 330 watts. Maxing out the fans using existing no populated fan locations is all it took to get them back to being cool again. 

 

With the 30 series 3080 ti/3090s in these already maxed out cases were very hot since they used up to 70 watts more.

I decided to replace my cases.  

 

I bought cases that did well in the Gamers Nexus charts to replace the old CMs but GN does not test with 3080 tis and cases like most parts work well until they don't. 

So I had new hot cases that replaced the old hot cases. 

In the end I got some of the cases working and replaced those that I did not.

I leaned a lot in the process.

 

For CPUs I used big air coolers like the Noctua D-15 since 2016 but in 2020 I had to go 360mm AIOs so my Intel 10 cores could use TVB(run below 70c) since it works well for productivity and most games.

I have already had to replace 2 so I am not that happy with them and still on the fence on how to use them. 

I have one setup to react to water temperature in a silent rig with the rest reacting to CPU temperatures. 

 

The reason I don't do custom loops is most of my builds are for productivity with zero maintenance unless they go down. If any part fails they have to be up and running again in a few hours so even the 3090 I am using in one of my gaming rigs is a spare to one in a productivity rig.

 

I only have plans to get one Nvidia 40 series card with at least 24gbs vram and from what I read so far it may be more of a challenge to cool.  

[For Science!]

49 minutes ago, jones177 said:

 

Yes, understandable. My production machines are custom looped too, and I just build them with enough failsafes that they are reliable, and so do not suffer from any heat issues. As AIOs are almost designed to fail, I think using them in a production machine is probably the least sensible out of the three options. 

 

I recently changed all the fans on my loop, but you know, it was more of a chore than an "exciting next step". Its not that I had to learn or do something particularly exciting in order to choose better fans, and install them on pre-decided locations on a PC case. This is what I mean by stagnation, ordering a new GPU or CPU, and installing it and whacking a waterblock on it and having a reliable, cool machine for the next 5 years is great from a functionality perspective, but once you do one, its all very similar.

 

To "spice it up" a little bit, I try to come up with new ways to route my hardline tubing every few years, but my imagination is a bit drying up in recent years, and have not been able to come up with an exciting design that I want to implement or thinks it looks nicer than what I have.

 

[thrasher_565]

3 hours ago, jones177 said:

For CPUs I used big air coolers like the Noctua D-15 since 2016 but in 2020 I had to go 360mm AIOs so my Intel 10 cores could use TVB(run below 70c) since

at first my main build was function over everything els. it had no rgb b leave it or not. i wanted easy access to the pumps to change the speed if needed and i wanted everything seprit so no resavor pump combo. i also went soft tube because i can remove the cpu block or gpu block with out opting the loop and get the mb out of the way first so i dont drip water on it and kill it. qdc were to expensive i could use bale vales but w/e. i should have went with compression fittings as the make it look nice and easier but i counted like 70+ fittings and that would have cost a bit even if i got cheap ones... i also dont mind tubes everywhere i think it looks cool imo

2 hours ago, For Science! said:

Yes, understandable. My production machines are custom looped too, and I just build them with enough failsafes that they are reliable, and so do not suffer from any heat issues. As AIOs are almost designed to fail, I think using them in a production machine is probably the least sensible out of the three options. 

 

I recently changed all the fans on my loop, but you know, it was more of a chore than an "exciting next step". Its not that I had to learn or do something particularly exciting in order to choose better fans, and install them on pre-decided locations on a PC case. This is what I mean by stagnation, ordering a new GPU or CPU, and installing it and whacking a waterblock on it and having a reliable, cool machine for the next 5 years is great from a functionality perspective, but once you do one, its all very similar.

 

To "spice it up" a little bit, I try to come up with new ways to route my hardline tubing every few years, but my imagination is a bit drying up in recent years, and have not been able to come up with an exciting design that I want to implement or thinks it looks nicer than what I have.

 

ya if i could 3d print i would make a tone of different things funny i dont see much if any even thow 3d printing should be cheap theses days i guess pc parts are too sexy out the box to want to make anything custom witch is sad in a way. but with the 30xx and now the 40xx gpus we are hitting a limit on air cooling to keep things at 75c not that spending $2000 on a gpu is a good idea anyways ill probably get a 3080/90 only because i like the duel sided water block cuzz im weird like that. i really dont need anything better then my 6600k and 1080 as i only play mindcraft and diablo 2...

Edited July 4, 2022 by thrasher_565

[Erioch]

I have no talent for case modding (or any kind of modding) so I'd like to eventually build a custom loop system.  I built one way back in 2004 and things have definitely changed for the better.  I had no idea what I was doing back then, though. 

[jones177]

4 hours ago, For Science! said:

To "spice it up" a little bit, I try to come up with new ways to route my hardline tubing every few years, but my imagination is a bit drying up in recent years, and have not been able to come up with an exciting design that I want to implement or thinks it looks nicer than what I have.

 

I can understand that.

I m a retired 3D designer and I had to come up with new and exiting with the same old stuff year after year. I was happy to stop even though my job was like playing with LEGO.

 

Designing for other people is a lot easier since their imagination may not have dried up yet and your know-how can make their dreams a reality. 

So I would build for others or walk away.

[For Science!]

Finally got a half decent print of a GPU vertical bracket that I designed and 3D printed. I couldnt make it stiff enough to counteract the sag, so I just tilted the whole thing so that after it sags its more or less straight. Not a great solution, but it looks okay.

 

Designing and 3D printing seems to open new windows into keeping the hobby fresh.

 

[Donut417]

On 7/1/2022 at 9:22 AM, For Science! said:

Advanced paths in the PC building hobby examples:

• Custom loop cooling
• Extreme overclocking / Competitive overclocking
• Custom case modifications
• Small form factor (performance per litre)
• Home network / Server / Dedicated NAS PC
• Unconventional cooling (e.g. Passive, whole room cooling, etc)
• DIY Custom peripherals

My current gaming rig is Mini ITX in one of the smaller Fractal Design cases. I like the form factor I just wish I choose a B450 board that had multiple M.2 slots, because Id like to have maybe a cleaner look. If I gamed more Id probably consider an upgrade, only because my machine struggles to drive my 1440p ultrawide. But I dont game enough to really want to spend the money. 

 

My former gaming machine because my Plex server. We use Plex as a whole home DVR for OTA TV, my ISP has data caps so this helps with keeping data usage in line to an extent. I also ripped a few DVD's to the server. Id kinda like to build a smaller form factor machine (current machine is in a Fractal Design R4) purpose built for Plex. I currently have to do transcoding because the Roku sticks the folks use dont support OTA video format. Id also like to move the storage for the Plex server internal to the server, currently its on my NAS. I want to move it internal so I utilize the NAS for other things.