Guru3D Rig of the Month - October 2008

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The October 2008 edition of the PC of the month

The October 2008 edition of the PC of the month

Each month here at Guru3D.com we feature one of you guys, your PC, your DIY project. It is quite honestly amazing how much detail and dedication you put into an PC, and every now and then it really shows. Today Logan's PC. As you can tell he's proud of what he made, as he actually had his PC and himself photographed at a professional studio. The end results is a combination of a really rare and nice DIY PC in combo with perfect photography. Logan should be very proud of what he achieved and here at Guru3D we certainly like to respect that build by granting him .. Guru3D's PC of the Month October 2008.

Nice job Logan ! Here's his story ...

  1. What is your name / nickname /age / occupation?
  2. What did you first come here for?
  3. What do you mainly use the system for?
  4. How much money did you spend on the rig as it is right now?
  5. How often do you update/buy a new rig?
  6. What components are used?
  7. Why ATI or NVIDIA, why Intel/AMD?
  8. Does your PC life up to you expectation ?
  9. What's the best part of your rig?
  10. What sucks and should not have been bought?
  11. Did you modify anything ?  cases/video cards/other? Did you do it yourself? Walk us through it.
  12. Your 3DMark06 / 3DMark Vantage score (P+GPU)
  13. Do you have any Future updates planned ?

My name is Logan Doan, I am 17 years old and I am a high school student in the United States. I am an IT intern at my school and I build computers for a 'living.'   I came to guru3d.com looking for a  technology news site that could keep me up to date with the latest hardware and software. (I found it) It has been an endless source of news for me.  Half of the time my computer is a glorified typewriter. (most of the time I browse the net when I'm supposed to do homework) The other half, I'm busy overclocking and playing games like Team Fortress 2, Battlefield 2, Bioshock, and Trackmania. I'm waiting for Far Cry 2 to come out.   I have spent $1200 on its current configuration, which made me really happy. I wasn't expecting to get 4.75ghz out of $1200. I'm trying to not exceed $1500 before I got to college.  I update it as much as I can, especially when I find a great deal on parts. I started out with a Q9450, a 780i SLi, and a BFG 8800GTS 512. It's gone through 9 different configurations since then. I'm happier with this version, but I'm sure not as happy as I could be. I used an Asus Maximus II Forumula (MIIF), an Intel e8600, a Thermaltake 750w modular power supply, and 2 x 2gb DDR2 1066 Corsair Dominator memory for the backbone of the computer. I recently got my HD4870 512mb and I have been very pleased with its performance. It's definitely in the top 10 of my favorite parts. Also, I used a RAID0 array of 2 Western Digital 250gb Caviars. Scythe fans all around the case keep the system cool. I also used 2  70mm fans in the front of the case for some added ventilation. Last but not least, Coolit Systems provided me with a Freezone Elite to cool the E8600. They have worked with me every step of the way and have been very patient with me. Their customer support is number one in my book. I decided to use a Lian Li PC-A05B as my case. (Performance-PCs added the window and the top blowhole) It's the smallest full ATX case one can buy.  Jumping to Intel last year was a 'big' step for me. I used AMD up until the Core2 revolution. (I messed up when I bought a $200 2.2ghz AMD proc the day before Core2 was released) Intel has pretty much been my top pic since then. I've used Nvidia since I built my first computer 5 years ago. I've only used ati for customers who have requested it, until now. I decided to take a chance and try the HD4870. It has the latest memory technology and responds great to overclocking. I couldn't resist it for $230.00. It completely blew my expectations out of the water. Both companies (NVD and ATI) are great companies, and I think only the end-user can benifit from their competition. My PC has completely lived up to my expectations. I didn't have any expectations to begin with however, only a budget. I'm surprised at what I got out of spending only 4/5ths of it. I didn't expect to get a rig that looked this good.  I think the best part of the rig is my motherboard.  It hasn't failed me yet. I reached the physical overclocking limit of my processor before I reached the MIIF's limit. I've gone all the way up to 600 fsb (2400QDR)!!! The onboard power and reset switch are also very convieniently placed. The included sound card sounds great too. I'm actually dissappointed that I bought chrome PCI brackets. (I know it sounds stupid) The finish on them were really bad, and they looked more matte than they did shiny. I ended up painting my old antec brackets flat black and I used those instead. I had to mod the 3.5" drive to fit the Coolit System. In some of the pictures you can spot where there is an angle cut. It had to be removed so that the peltier plates would fit. (It wasn't Coolit's fault, it was my odd case) I have already broken 18,000 in 3dmark06. I am shooting for 18,500. Cpu score is 4400, total graphics score was 15,900. I have not run 3DM Vantage yet. My next update to this system is to buy a 4870X2 or wait for the next generation X2 card. I'm also looking for ways to make it quieter. I want a chip in the future that can break 5.5ghz. I might only be able to get that by going right to Intel.  Props: Thanks to Coolit Systems for all of your support. You guys really are the best! Special thanks to EA Photo graphics out of Hershey, PA for doing a fantastic job. Also, thanks to Performance-PCs for their awesome work on the case and the sleeved cold cathodes.   Logan's Photo's are continued on the next page.

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