Reader's Rigs - Xguy - Page 1

Username?
Xguy

Age/Occupation/Location?
47, real estate, Hollywood, Ca.

How long have you been a member of Guru3D forums?
Since 10-21-2003

What did you first come here for?
Came here looking for the best hardware/software support.

What do you mainly use the system for?
Mainly for gaming, also Cad, photoshop editing, video rendering and DVD/CD burning.

How much did you spend on the rig?
I'm out about 5k on this one, I spent about $800.00 on customizing the case alone.

How often do you update/buy a new rig?
I usually start from scratch rather then updating, seeing how fast technology moves you always come up short if you update and it becomes more costly, so I usually wait 2-3 years and just build a whole new system, yes you prolly guess I have 3 systems total :-) not a very good salesman, so I get stuck with them. :(

What components are used? (including any overclocks)

Well I'm not an overclock kinda guy I'd rather pay for the performance then squeeze it out and damage my parts and void warranties so here is what I've got in that baby:

• Lian Li PC-V1200 Plus (fully modded as you can see in the pics on the next page)
• PSU: PC Power and cooling 850 SSI
• DFI LanParty SLI DR
• Athlon X2 4400+
• 2X Evga 7800 GTX  (SLI)
• 2 GB OCZ PC3200 Platinum
• 2X WD Raptor 74GB Raid-0
• TT XP-90 with Panaflo
• MC-cubed T-balancer Fan Controller.
• PLextor PX-716A Dual Layer
• Mitsumi 8 in 1 floppy card reader.

Why ATI or NVIDIA, why Intel/AMD?
Hmm Why ATI? Well my debut in PC was with an ATI card and I had very little knowledge about trouble shooting and that thing was nothing but trouble, so when I started building my own, I went with Nvidia and never looked back.
Why AMD? When I built my first build AMD was your best bang for your buck back then, they were competing with Intel price wise, but then as we see today they're killing Intel in performance as well, so I guess I became an AMD kinda guy.

Does the system work as expected?
Flawless, system was stress tested through various utilities. Memtest ran flawlessly over night, so did Prime95. 3dmark05 scored 10671 and Aquamark 80767 which isn't bad for an all stock system. I play enemy territory every day, as well as Farcry and HL2.
Temps are awsome never seen CPU over 42C yet.

What's the best part of your rig?
The case of course I just love how it came out it was beyond my expectations :-)

What sucks and should not have been bought?
I would have to say that Sunbeam LED controller, I think those front LED's are way too bright.

Modified cases/video cards/other? Did you do it yourself? Walk us through it.
Well, as I mentioned before the only thing really modified is the case (pictures on next page) it took close to three months just to design the case on sketchup, there was many ideas and I finally decided on one design.
Then I ordered the case material and tools at first didn't worry about hardware as I expected it to be a lengthy project, I figured wait and see what's new when I'm done, and I'm so glad I did as the 7800GTX and the X2 were released the same week I was ready to order. :-) In fact, Monarch's sales rep told me I was the first one to order 7800GTX.
I first cut the aluminum sheets I got, just the exterior cut no windows yet. I made two of them (left and right) as I wanted the case to have that symetric look. Most cases windows have a different look when change sides.
After that I matched two pieces of Plexi 1/4 inch thick exact size of the aluminum, I may have went over board getting 1/4 inch, maybe I should've gotten 1/8 inch as they added a lots of weight to the case, but they look good.
I cut the windows designs then I clamped the cut material to the side of the case and I made sure they were flush by doing a lot of filing and sanding, then I proceeded in chopping the case.
As you can see the top was cut in 3 different places, one for the blow hole and two for the carrying handles. The sides were cut to match then to clear the way for the cut panels I'd built.
Acrilyc edges were sanded and polished to a perfect shine.
Holes were drilled into the custom panels and the acrylic for the machine screws, and the case panels were tapped for the screws, and voila.
On the interior I built a little piece of aluminum and made it a stand for the T-balancer. It also doubles as a a cover for all the major mobo wires.

3DMark scores?
3Dmark05= 10671 (all stock)
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1029918

Future upgrades?
Probably some more interior modding, lighting and such.

** On the next page you'll find images of Xguy's very impressive case mod **

Please be patient as there are a lot of good quality images and it may take a while to load. However, it's certainly worth the wait!