Say hello to my little friend!

[Cybernikes]

So I see a few threads on PC builds, so I thought I'd post mine.

Hermann was built about a year ago from Computer LX\ all PC zone.

Originally it was built with three 690 GTXs and one DVD Blue Ray writer, however the final build has two 690s and two Blu Rays after  it  was damaged by the FEDEX delivery driver who flexed the mother board by hurling the massive box onto my porch like the 'American Tourister Gorilla hurling a piece of test luggage.

It was subsequently rebuilt and matched with a new monitor and peripherals for a total of about 16k all in.

Intel I7 Hexacore processor, 64GB Ram, 4-480gb Corsair SSDs, with twin WD hard drive backup subsystem, and twin GTX 690s in quad SLI
 
Full system specs are here,
https://www.facebook.com/AllPCZone/media_set?set=a.10151020903258635.428548.708208634&type=3



A 30 inch NEC PA 301 Multi-Sync professional monitor, 3D 'Connexion' Space Pilot 3d mouse, Graphics Tablet, Logitech G19  Keyboard, G9 precision laser mouse, G-19 7+1 Surround sound headset, and Z906 5+1 500 watt sound system , and a backup 1500 watt power supply hard wired into a dedicated 20 amp circuit completes the rig.

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/album/478-hermann/

 

Edited May 5, 2014 by Cybernikes

[donnato]

[grond]

You should have written that number out. $16,000? I despise you and also I burn with jealousy.

[Cybernikes]

  Yeah my wife wasn't real thrilled about the numbers either,   the tower alone was 10.5 before the rebuild and a little over 11 thousand final.

[donnato]

I don`t use facebook Cyber. What`s your cpu cooling solution?

[Cybernikes]

Sorry Don, I guess I thought everyone used Facebook.

The specs on facebook where the original build anyway and were posted by the builder. Prior to my build they had done a machine used for quantum theory that came in about 3 grand less than mine and was until 'Hermann' the baddest rig they had ever built. So the head builder originally posted the specs to boast a little about their work. Pictures of the 'quantum rig' are on their FB page as well.


Anyway here are the specs of the final build,

(OVERCLOCKED to 4.4GHz) Intel Core i7 Processor EXTREME EDITION i7-3960X 15MB SIX CORE processor
Corsair HYDRO H100 ENCLOSED COOLING SYSTEM
ZEROtherm Advanced ZT100 Thermal Grease
PROFESSIONAL WIRING
Asus RAMPAGE IV EXTREME LGA2011 Intel X79 ATX MB
64GB (8 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600MHz (PC3 12800) Quad Channel
(8X) MEMORY HEAT SPREADERS
(4X) CORSAIR 480GB Solid State Drive SATA III
(2X) WD BLACK 2TB 7200RPM 64MB - RAID1
(2X) SCHYTHE HDD FAN
(2x)14X BLU-RAY DISK BURNER DVD-RW COMBO DRIVE w/3D Feature
(2X) nVidia GeForce GTX690 4GB DDR5 PCI-E VC
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional PCI-E
REALTEK Gigabit LAN
Wireless-N External USB Adapter
Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW ATX Full Tower Case
GOLD COOLING PACKAGE
(2X) VANTEC DELUXE CASE COOLING SYSTEM
Antec 1200 Watt HIGH PERFORMANCE PSU
INTERNAL ALL IN ONE DIGITAL CARD READER

In addition after removing the third 690 I had space to mount two smaller duel fans which they sent me gratis because of the FEDEX incident and which I mounted later. These extra rear adjustable speed Vantec fans are not visible in the first photos and are mounted above the back side of each 690 GPU.


The hardest I have pushed the system so far cooling has not been a problem.

I generally have several programs in the Adobe CS6 Master Suite open, (photoshop, illustrator, fireworks, etc) the Creation kit and other graphics manipulation windows like DXT, and can leave those windows open with Webroot security scanning in the background and several browser windows open and still fire up a max tweaked copy of skyrim for some up to date real world mod testing with absolutley ZERO performance loss.

Skyrim at 60 FPM (vanalla, untweaked skyrim is about 100FPm) and enhanced draw distances barely uses a third of my GPU abilities and with all those programs open and more ( I have several 3d applications as well) and have never used more than 20 % of cpu with about 68 degrees headroom to max operating temp.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I realize this seems like a ton of cash and bit of overkill but let's compare my backup machine which I now use to access the interenet socially, do any text or document work and upload completed projects to the web. ( It's on a credenza immediatly behind me.)

That machine (Siegfried) is an HP 190 Elite, a 3,500.00 tower that is obsolete four years after I bought it. It's got a quad core version of the same processor, 24 GB of ram, one 10k hard drive and one 7,200 rpm hard drive with a single 260 GTX. Siegfried is running my old 30 inch HP monitor which is crap compared to the NEC, and even though the processor was more than enough the GPU was way underpowered, and together with the conventional hard drive, was causing a performance bottle neck.

Now Nvidia says it will no longer support the 260, and because there is no space to upgrade the puny power supply I can't upgrade ( believe me  it had crossed my mind that the third 690 would look great in there)  the GPU...EVER! So basically I have a 3.5 K tower to do paperwork on!

Windows Experince score was to say the least disapointing on a tower of that price, scoring something like an overall 5.8, where as Hermann scores 7.8 overall!(7.9 on everything but the processor which scores 7.8) Of course the ratings could be a bit off as both processors scored 7.8, the hexacore and the quad versions which makes no sense.

So anyway that my was last pre-built machine. I didn't want to spend a ton of cash only to have it be obsolete in a few years, hence why I spent so much on this rig. Right now video technology needs another ten years to catch up according to NVIDIA engineers before the 690s are even seriously testing their capabilities.

Hope that answered your question.











 

Edited May 6, 2014 by Cybernikes

[donnato]

Thanks ... I`m running the H100i cpu juice cooler. I am a big fan of Corsair. Even on a budget I popped for a Corsair PSU. Everything pointed to that as the safest bet.

[HeyYou]

Ouch. That's some serious cash..... I could never even consider spending that on a computer..... I haven't spent that much on my last five cars COMBINED. Gonna guess you have a significantly better income than I do.

 

Awesome machine though. Yes, I am suitably jealous.

[Cybernikes]

Well don't be jealous, I'm sure you'll make up for it one day and build one that will make Hermann look like a toy!

[Arion]

I know what my life would be like if I spent that kind of cash on a comptuer... I'd be in divorce court and the words coming from the judge would be ALIMONY !!!!

 

Glad you are enjoying your system though .. and welcome to TESA

[Cybernikes]

Well, it's a business expense, I'm sure your significant other would understand that. If not I found the trick is to spend far more on the things that they like than on the things you like.

What's 11k on a tower when I've spent many times that on her furniture? Or what's 2,500.00 on a monitor after a two week cruise in the Caribbean where they bring anything she could want right to our suite?

If buying myself something  nice is spoiling myself, trust me, I spoil her far more. And no I am not rich, I'm just an old pirate that knows what real gold looks like.

Yes I have a nice pc, and am fortunate enough to be able to afford it, but ultimately it's just a tool, a means to an end which admittedly can and has been used for my amusement. The real treasure, however, is the tiny brunette upstairs, and no computer\gadget\trinket  could ever replace her.

Thanks for the welcome.

Cheers!

[grond]

Well said.