Widowmaker | It will kill your components

[thekeemo]

Index

1. Preface
2. Specs
3. The Build
4. What is next
5. Conclusion
6. 21/01/2016 update
7. 18/02/2016 update
8. 23/06/2016 update

Preface

This machine has been a nightmare since day one back when it was mainly a rendering machine that was inside a generic gamma case using a generic PSU with an overpriced Gigabyte Assassin 2 and had an i7-3820 with a GTX 650, system cost approximately 1600 CAD (Egyptian pricing ammirite?). There are no pictures from that era since it was my preinternet years since I was in Egypt where if you had 2mbps you were lucky. Approximately 6 months after that I moved to Canada and left behind the case and PSU and moved to a Thermaltake Armour A60 and TR2 600w which I was recommended to me by the Memory Express reps, needless to say I never trust them now. You can see more details about that here http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/203925-the-idiot/. Everyone hates the desk for some reason.

 

About 3 months after that the system was moved upstairs to my room and was upgraded to a R9 290x which quickly lit on fire and melted right after I replaced the original motherboard with a Z97X-SOC because a pin was bent into an S shape when I was cleaning out the system.

 

The system stayed like this for a total of one week before the 290x died and I was forced to move back to the GTX 650. In march I won a 1300w G2 from EVGA and hoping that the PSU was the issue I plugged it into the 290x and a mosfet burst into flames with enough heat to deform the PCB in that area. You can see more details about that phase here http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/308231-build-log-the-idiot-v20-hp-shit-v21/. 

 

From there I eventually got sick of the GTX 650 performance and sold it to get a GTX 690. A few days later the onboard audio died and the memory controller was going berserk and the memory itself died as well. I purchased a Creative ZX for cheap (guy I bought it from is an awesome dude and we are still in touch) to keep me going while I dealt with Gigabyte support, I called this the RGB stage.

 

Soon after I got sick of the noise that the case was causing due to its bad mesh design and moved over to Cardboard Case V1 which was quickly replaced by V2. The power supply died one week after and the GTX 690 died about two weeks after this transition and was quite a nightmare to have replaced as it was used and out of warranty and EVGA wanted to replace it with a worse GPU but it happened. I also sold the replacement Z97X-SOC to a mod on the forum and replaced it with a MSI Z87-G45. During the PSU RMA time I borrowed a friends 750ti and used a HP PSU I had lying around.

 

The system was supposed to be watercooled with 2 EK 480mm rads I had found cheap and a custom made GPU block for the GTX 690 but those plans were cancelled for "reasons". Oh almost forgot the TR2 blew up in a friends system, I had traded it for moto G with cracked screen. On that note it is time to end the preface and go on to the specs.

[thekeemo]

Specs

CPU Intel i7-4790k

Motherboard MSI Z87-G45

RAM 2x 8gb Kingston HyperX blu (best support ever)  Corsair Dominator 1600mhz

GPU EVGA GTX 690 Sapphire ATI HD 4670 512mb

Case H440 Matte Black

Storage Toshiba 256GB

PSU EVGA 1300w G2 EVGA 850w G2

Displays Samsung S22B300B 21.5", Samsung SyncMaster 960BF and BenQ G2200W 22"

Cooling Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Keyboard HP SK-2960 Logitech G710+ (mx browns) 18/02/2016

Mouse Generic Logitech mouse Logitech M570 wireless trackball 18/02/2016

Sound Kingston HyperX clouds

Operating System MSX

[byalexandr]

 

Specs

CPU Intel i7-4790k

Motherboard MSI Z87-G45

RAM 2x 8gb Kingston HyperX blu (best support ever)

GPU EVGA GTX 690

Case H440 Matte Black

Storage Western Digital 1TB 7200rpm

PSU EVGA 1300w G2

Displays Samsung S22B300B 21.5", Samsung SyncMaster 960BF and BenQ G2200W 22"

Cooling Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Keyboard HP SK-2960

Mouse Generic Logitech mouse

Sound Kingston HyperX clouds

Operating System MSX

PC Part Picker URL http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/rqGzqs

 

So you got the new 690?

[thekeemo]

The Build

I moved the system over to a H440 Matte black and now it looks like this.

 

As the images are hosted on imgur there is mandatory cat tax

[W-L]

How does one manage to go through so many components in such a relatively short period of time.  :mellow:

 

The new build looks really nice 

[thekeemo]

Whats next?

Right now now I am in the process of trading the 1300w G2 for an 850w G2 so I can use eco mode but that is stalled until Friday because of hidden UPS fees.

Sometime during the cardboard case V2 era i developed tinnitus and the noise from the 690 makes it worse so I am trying to trade it with some cash for a 980ti.

For the same reason I want to get a Dark Rock Pro 3 NHD14 or X61 to reduce noise from the CPU cooler which has a ticking fan.

 

Benchmarks

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/10417116?

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10842647

This is with the GPU and CPU overclocked (I dont run them overclocked however) but the RAM with XMP off, though I have XMP on most of the time.

 

Conclusions

I am very proud of this build that despite it is probably a sociapath it is still going and for such a low cost (current components only) manages to compete with systems that have a GTX 980ti in them and a 5820k (both at stock).

 

For a full list of components this systems has killed click here

[thekeemo]

How does one manage to go through so many components in such a relatively short period of time.  :mellow:

 

The new build looks really nice 

Thank you

you can see the full list of dead components in the post below yours

[Kherm]

You're insane.

[thekeemo]

You're insane.

Probably

[Guest]

I'm getting a Dark Rock Pro 3 tomorrow...

[thekeemo]

I'm getting a Dark Rock Pro 3 tomorrow...

Dont you already have one?

 

So you got the new 690?

yes

[Guest]

Dont you already have one?

 

yes

I have had it for months but it's a birthday present so...

[thekeemo]

I have had it for months but it's a birthday present so...

So wait 

you have one

and you are going to buy one?

[Guest]

So wait 

you have one

and you are going to buy one?

No, I have one and I'm getting it tomorrow.

[thekeemo]

No, I have one and I'm getting it tomorrow.

So you got it as a birthday gift but it was shipped to you and you are just receiving it now?

[Guest]

So you got it as a birthday gift but it was shipped to you and you are just receiving it now?

No, I bought it months ago with my dad and he's giving it to me for my birthday.

[thekeemo]

No, I bought it months ago with my dad and he's giving it to me for my birthday.

Even though you bought it??

[Guest]

Even though you bought it??

He bought it

[thekeemo]

He bought it

 

 

I bought it months ago

??

also why buy it months ago if you are using it now?

[Guest]

??

also why buy it months ago if you are using it now?

Because it's for my birthday

[thekeemo]

Because it's for my birthday

I mean why not buy it last week?

[Guest]

I mean why not buy it last week?

Because it was $59

[Stefan1024]

@thekeemo

 

Sounds like bad luck. But it also looks to me like you have killed some parts by your own with ESD. Carpet all over, a carton case and the dry air of the winter. This makes the system very vulnerable to ESD.

Also we humands are bad in sensing ESD. You can kill the system without even noticeing you where charged.

[thekeemo]

@thekeemo

 

Sounds like bad luck. But it also looks to me like you have killed some parts by your own with ESD. Carpet all over, a carton case and the dry air of the winter. This makes the system very vulnerable to ESD.

Also we humands are bad in sensing ESD. You can kill the system without even noticeing you where charged.

stuff has been dying since the original case only thing that died during the carton era was the 690.. "Only"..

[Stefan1024]

stuff has been dying since the original case only thing that died during the carton era was the 690.. "Only"..

It's not only the case. everytime you toch the hardware without proper discharging you put the hardware at risk.