# Your machine



## Extraverted Delusion (Oct 23, 2011)

Seeing that there isn't a specialized forum for computing and tecchies outside the fusion of "Science and Technology", I think its more than overdue to begin a Post Your Rig, or in this case, Your Machine thread.

Simply put, what parts make up your rig? If you don't know, which computer model do you own? (Dell, Gateway etc). Pictures would be great, too!

I have a custom-built PC comprised of the following parts:

Corsair Carbide 300R Case
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU overclock @ 3.7 GHz
Corsair H80 pseudo-liquid CPU cooler
8 GB (2x4) G.Skill Ripjawz Z 1666mhz RAM (downclocked to 10xx for OC)
AMD Sapphire 7950 OC GPU
Corsair HX850 PSU
Crucial M4 64GB SSD
Toshiba "something" 1TB HDD
Western Digital Caviar 320 GB HDD

Wiring is in between clean and messy, I don't really have patience to sit for an hour rerouting my wiring purely for aesthetics, although I will one day when I'm bored.


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

Coolermaster Storm Sniper case- Form follows function. Super easy to use and enough fans to cool the entire room.
Corsair TX750 psu- A bit overkill, but it was on sale.
Gigabyte ATX mobo- For durability and secure flashing.
Phenom II 940 @ 3.5 ghz - Still plenty fast for gaming.
Coolermaster V8 cooler- Cheaper and easier than water and overkill for my modest overclock.
8gb ddr 2 1066 ram - cheap these days.
(2) radeon 5850s in crossfire- Will max out any game except Metro 2033 and it comes close enough for me with that game.
180gb OCZ Vertex 2 SSD- Fewer problems with stuttering in games as well as great load times.
(2) 640gb WD caviar blue HDs- storage.
27" Samsung LCD monitor- Size does matter, but so does speed and Samsung has both cheap. Got mine for $250.oo on black Friday.

At this point I have no plans for any upgrades except to hold out as long as I can. Next year HP intends to start selling memristors and has already made a standing offer to slap 2gb on top of any chip. A year after that both Intel and AMD plan to finally unify their gpu and cpu architectures with hardware accelerated transactional memory. After that the PC will never be the same again and we'll just have to play it by ear for awhile.


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## Mux (May 30, 2012)

I've felt like kicking mine quite a lot today. I overclocked it to 4.5GHz in September and made sure it was absolutely stable, then since May it's been freezing up a little and I worked out last night that it's a CPU stability issue, after that many months stable 

I don't have the time to tweak the settings properly like I did before, so instead my specs are as follows:

Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.0 GHz
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU cooler
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P
2x4 GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1600 MHz
ASUS GeForce GTX 460 1 GB (usually overclocked, due to recent issues it's at stock speeds)
Crucial m4 64 GB and three other drives totalling 3 TB
Cooler Master 690 II Lite case
XFX 650W XXX Edition
Dell S2409W
Filco Majestouch 2
Logitech G500 with SteelSeries QcK

That's all folks. Not gonna list my audio equipment as well


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## Extraverted Delusion (Oct 23, 2011)

Mux said:


> I've felt like kicking mine quite a lot today. I overclocked it to 4.5GHz in September and made sure it was absolutely stable, then since May it's been freezing up a little and I worked out last night that it's a CPU stability issue, after that many months stable
> 
> I don't have the time to tweak the settings properly like I did before, so instead my specs are as follows:
> 
> ...


Is that common on 2500ks? I've read nothing but reviews praising it for practically everything it's got to offer. Are you suffering from vdroop and/or a lazy IMC?


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## Mux (May 30, 2012)

Extraverted Delusion said:


> Is that common on 2500ks? I've read nothing but reviews praising it for practically everything it's got to offer. Are you suffering from vdroop and/or a lazy IMC?


I don't think it's that common, but I think the issue was that when I originally overclocked it (the same day I bought it ) I spent a good while making sure that I was using the lowest possible voltage (Vcore, PLL and QPI/VTT) that I could in order to keep it stable, and tested it for at least 18 hours in Prime95. From September through May it was absolutely stable - when idle, when playing games, when doing anything. So I think what happened was that it burned in or degraded just very slightly, but because it was only just stable, it was enough to cause instability issues. That's my guess anyway.

It's at 4 GHz now though - I tested it for 24 hours (went out and got back later than I intended xD) in Prime95 and there have been no other issues. At some point I might try getting 4.5 GHz stable again but in reality I'm going to notice no difference between the two besides lower temperatures and power draw.

As for Vdroop or a lazy IMC, no and I don't know respectively. How would I know if I had a lazy IMC?

EDIT: I meant to say, this CPU is still great and I'd recommend anyone to get one if it's the sort of thing they're after, though there is Ivy Bridge to consider. I'd probably recommend a 3570K if the price different isn't too great but the 2500K could probably be a great deal if you're buying used.


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## Extraverted Delusion (Oct 23, 2011)

Mux said:


> I don't think it's that common, but I think the issue was that when I originally overclocked it (the same day I bought it ) I spent a good while making sure that I was using the lowest possible voltage (Vcore, PLL and QPI/VTT) that I could in order to keep it stable, and tested it for at least 18 hours in Prime95. From September through May it was absolutely stable - when idle, when playing games, when doing anything. So I think what happened was that it burned in or degraded just very slightly, but because it was only just stable, it was enough to cause instability issues. That's my guess anyway.
> 
> It's at 4 GHz now though - I tested it for 24 hours (went out and got back later than I intended xD) in Prime95 and there have been no other issues. At some point I might try getting 4.5 GHz stable again but in reality I'm going to notice no difference between the two besides lower temperatures and power draw.
> 
> ...


You might want to bump up your voltages, particularly vCore, DRAM, and IMC (if you have the option in your BIOS). Generally, RAM runs at 1.5 stock volts. Judging by overclock guides for a number of AMD CPUs, 1.65 max is not uncommon, although I'm not sure as to the recommendations with Intel. Gigabyte boards have a tendency to maintain "soft" overclocks, in which the slightest vdroop (voltage drop) will start giving you issues, whereas Asus boards are not so finicky. Do you have LLC (Load Line Calibration) enabled? I tend to run mine at the Medium setting at the very highest since I find too low or too high causes instability.

Have you been monitoring your CPU temps? A Hyper 212 is sufficient for small overclocks, but 4 is quite a push. If you're running Win7, download the CPU Meter thru gagdets and pair it with CoreTemp so you have an instant temp monitor. I believe your max temp is somewhere in the 70s for that CPU, but a little research will help if the on-die sensor is in fact a few degrees off. (Mine is by about 7-9 celsius -- applicable to all X6's).

I'm with you on the 3570k, at only a reasonable 10 dollars more than the 2500k!


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## Mux (May 30, 2012)

Extraverted Delusion said:


> You might want to bump up your voltages, particularly vCore, DRAM, and IMC (if you have the option in your BIOS). Generally, RAM runs at 1.5 stock volts. Judging by overclock guides for a number of AMD CPUs, 1.65 max is not uncommon, although I'm not sure as to the recommendations with Intel. Gigabyte boards have a tendency to maintain "soft" overclocks, in which the slightest vdroop (voltage drop) will start giving you issues, whereas Asus boards are not so finicky. Do you have LLC (Load Line Calibration) enabled? I tend to run mine at the Medium setting at the very highest since I find too low or too high causes instability.
> 
> Have you been monitoring your CPU temps? A Hyper 212 is sufficient for small overclocks, but 4 is quite a push. If you're running Win7, download the CPU Meter thru gagdets and pair it with CoreTemp so you have an instant temp monitor. I believe your max temp is somewhere in the 70s for that CPU, but a little research will help if the on-die sensor is in fact a few degrees off. (Mine is by about 7-9 celsius -- applicable to all X6's).
> 
> I'm with you on the 3570k, at only a reasonable 10 dollars more than the 2500k!


QPI/VTT is (or perhaps is equivalent to) the IMC voltage. I think some people have said RAM needs to be overvolted but only when pushing high overclocks of maybe 4.8 GHz or more. I doubt I would see any difference increasing it since my RAM is at stock. I never quite understood what really is safe or unsafe with the RAM - some people say that anything above 1.5V isn't good, some people say that 1.65V is perfectly fine but not to go higher, some people seem to run theirs at 1.75V or something  

Mine runs at 1.5V according to its spec which is JEDEC standard and what the Z68 officially supports so I'm absolutely fine there. I don't know if I'd want to run 1.65V RAM on here. Luckily I don't have any reason to change RAM at the moment so I don't have to worry.

I don't believe I have a significant amount of Vdroop, and LLC is not enabled since I'm using offset voltage (which Gigabyte for some reason call "normal" voltage mode) and you can't use both at the same time. All my monitoring has shown that the voltage is stable under load though, and I don't want to use a manual voltage mode because then the voltage won't decrease when the processor is idle.

My CPU temps at 4.5GHz tended to be around 70C under Prime95 load, peaking at ~75C at the very highest. In real world applications like games, I don't remember seeing it go above 65C. at 4GHz, it peaks at ~65C in Prime95 and the general load temps are around 60-63C (can't quite remember). 4GHz is a walk in the park for a 2500K - you could literally just set the multiplier in the BIOS and leave everything else auto, but you'd end up using about 0.1V of core voltage more than you actually need to, so I'd far rather do it properly. I'm currently running 1.26V under load and I'm sure I can get that down closer to 1.2V, but I need to find the time to stress test it.

And I'm not sure if the on-die sensor is off (well, I'm sure all are to some extent) as I have no means of measuring myself. Realistically I probably only needed a bump in core voltage and nothing else to get 4.5GHz stable but since those temperatures were already as high as I wanted to go I didn't really want to go any higher.


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## ibage (May 5, 2012)

I'd love to post a picture of mine but my case gives me nothing when it comes to cable management. Plus, with two GPUs and a sound card, it gets cramped either way. However, these are my specs:

Cooler Mater CM690 (original iteration)
Core i5-750 running at 4.2GHz (trying to push 5GHz but I've hit the roof at 4.4GHz)
ASUS P7P55 WS Supercomputer Motherboard
Corsair H50 
2x GTX470's (One EVGA and one Zotac @ 823/1828 1.062v) and in the winter, they double as a space heater
ASUS Xonar Essence STX
8GB G-Skill 1600 (haven't toiled with overclocking yet)
1TB Hitachi HDD 
320GB WD HDD
24 inch ASUS Monitor 
17 inch Dell monitor running as auxiliary

I built this sucker about two years ago but he's provided me with more than enough power thus far for gaming and other home media purposes, I don't think I'll be upgrading for a while. Besides, Bulldozer would have been my upgrade but AMD broke my heart there...


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## timeless (Mar 20, 2010)

AMD Phenom II X4 960T @ 3.0ghz
16GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 671Mhz
Geforce GTS 250 1GB
180GB Intel SSD
1TB Western Digital HDD
1TB Samsung HDD
500GB Seagate HDD
24" Dell monitor
22" Hanns-G monitor


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

Mux said:


> I don't think it's that common, but I think the issue was that when I originally overclocked it (the same day I bought it ) I spent a good while making sure that I was using the lowest possible voltage (Vcore, PLL and QPI/VTT) that I could in order to keep it stable, and tested it for at least 18 hours in Prime95. From September through May it was absolutely stable - when idle, when playing games, when doing anything. So I think what happened was that it burned in or degraded just very slightly, but because it was only just stable, it was enough to cause instability issues. That's my guess anyway.


It's best to not overclock for the first week or so. Like a new engine all the working parts need to be broken in gradually for so many miles before being pushed to extremes or you risk damaging them. That includes the thermal grease as well as the chip itself. Both rely to some extent on all the molecules being the right place and it takes time for the heat to move them into relatively stable positions.


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## Mux (May 30, 2012)

wuliheron said:


> It's best to not overclock for the first week or so. Like a new engine all the working parts need to be broken in gradually for so many miles before being pushed to extremes or you risk damaging them. That includes the thermal grease as well as the chip itself. Both rely to some extent on all the molecules being the right place and it takes time for the heat to move them into relatively stable positions.


That probably wasn't an amazing idea then. It might have been longer than that in reality and I didn't jump straight into a 4.5GHz overclock but I didn't wait a week at stock. I'll keep that in mind next time I get a new CPU though, thanks. :happy:


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## RememberWhenItRained (Jun 8, 2010)

Dell Inspiron 1440
Intel Pentium Dual Core processor
500GB HDD
4GB DDR2 Memory
Triple booting with 2 linux distros & Win7

*******

Processor2x Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU T4500 @ 2.30GHzMemory4011MB (1592MB used)Operating SystemUbuntu 12.04 LTS


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## DarwinsBastard (Apr 27, 2012)

HP p6741 (tinkered with)

AMD phenom X4 955 (3.2GHz)
8GB RAM DDR3
750W power supply
MSI 6950 TwinfrozrII 2GB gpu
1TB 7200 HDD

dual-booted with Linux/Windows 7
Logitech G510/Z623 speakers/Razer Death Adder

it's kind of a half-assed job on my part, I had a planned build but it never happened, this machine will get me through most modern games completely without issue though, the 6950 is a decent card for now.


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## ruth2ten (Jun 25, 2011)

This thread is way over my head...as is "my machine" 
I bought it because of the speaker reviews I read. Great speakers!
Dell xps 15 with JBL speakers.
Dell XPS 15 Laptop Details | Dell

Really wish I could find a techie dude who could tutor! *sigh*


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## Mux (May 30, 2012)

ruth2ten said:


> This thread is way over my head...as is "my machine"
> I bought it because of the speaker reviews I read. Great speakers!
> Dell xps 15 with JBL speakers.
> Dell XPS 15 Laptop Details | Dell
> ...


I can give t'internets tech advice, but I'm not going to do house visits. Lol


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