Guru3D Rig of the Month - November 2008 - 1

The November 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 a Guru3D forums old-timer, MikeMK.

Mike has been around for a long time and demonstrated that with each new PC (which he modifies himself) is getting better and better. His latest build is just extremely impressive. Mike can 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 November 2008.

Way to go Mike ! 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 ?

First we'll show you the questionnaire and then talk you through the build.

MikeMK Rig of the Month

1.    What is your name / nickname /age / occupation

MikeMK, Age 28, I work for a well know English Company.

2.    What did you first come here for?

I stumbled across Guru3d about 5 1/2 yrs ago when looking for a review of an ATI 9700pro. About 6 months later I signed up to the forums, and have been present ever since.

3.    What do you mainly use the system for?

Overclocking, Benchmarking, Gaming, Music (I am a bit of an audiophile) and photography (another hobby of mine).

4.    How much money did you spend on the rig as it is right now?

Well, that's a difficult question, as the hardware changes so often... for example, I've been through 4 motherboards in the last year alone! LOL! The setup as it is now probably cost about £2000+ without any of the materials & tools I bought to do the modding.

5.    How often do you update/buy a new rig?

Too often! Seriously, whenever there is something new that I want to fiddle around with. I enjoy playing around with new technology more than anything else, which can get expensive.

6.    What components are used?

Rig components:

• Intel Core 2 Quad QX9650 Extreme Edition, overclocked to 4.1ghz for 24/7 use, but will bench quite happily up to 4.5ghz on water.
• 4gb Gskill Pi DDR3 1600mhz memory for everyday use, + 2gb Supertalent DDR3 2000mhz for benching, as its far more flexible when you start getting to higher FSB’s.
• Asus Rampage Extreme X48 Motherboard
• ATI 4870X2 GPU
• Creative X-Fi Platinum Pro
• 2x 500gb Seagate 7200.11 HDD’s
• Thermaltake Toughpower 1200watt PSU
• Dell 2407 24” Monitor
• Logitech Z680 5.1 surround speakers
• Matrix Orbital GX Typhoon Display

Modded Silverstone TJ07 case

• Cooling Hardware:

• Watercooling Loop 1:
• D-Tek Fusion CPU Block
• EK S-Max NB Block
• EK Multires 250 reservoir
• Thermochill 120.3 Triple Rad
• DDC Ultra 18watt Pump with Petra top
  
• Watercooling Loop 2:
• EK FC4870X2 full cover waterblock
• EK Multires 250 reservoir
• DDC Ultra 18watt Pump with Petra top
• Thermochill 120.2 Dual Rad

Air Cooling:

I have 8 120mm fans + 2 92mm fans either on the rads or as case intake/exhaust fans, as a result I grabbed myself an Mcubed BigNG, which is an extremely programmable fan controller, which does a great job of keeping everything nice and quite while cool at the same time.

Next page please, this article is 5 pages long ...