Guru3D Rig of the Month - September 2008

The September 2008 edition of the PC of the month.

Each month we here at Guru3D.com we choose a rig of the month. Guru3D's Rig of the Month - September 2008 are 'Flatline & Coma PCs' from 'Flatline aka Dave. Pretty normal PC (for Guru3D standards) nice pimping job. But obviously the semi-control room he created is pretty interesting to see by any standard. We also loved to see his nice wall collection of Sinclair ZX spectrum computers. There's a 16KB Sinclair ZX Spectrum version on that wall which actually was this editor's first computer ever owned. Aah, nostalgia.

Here's his story:

Dave's Flatline and Coma PC's

Well guys here's some pictures of my sanctuary.

The main computer is Flatline I've just fitted a 60 Gig OCZ v2 SSD for XP Pro/applications and it has 2 TB Samsung F1 for storage and a 500 Gb swap/cache disk, the CPU is a Amd FX-57 clocked at 3.2 and I'm running 2 ATI graphic cards to power the 92" of monitor real estate, the max memory that I can run is two gigs with my setup and it is plenty fast enough, this system is mainly used for photo editing with Cs3/PSPx2/Daz/Bryce and for designing software. Using 3 water loops (graphic/CPU/hard disks) I can run totally passive, although if I feel the need and it is a hot day I can run a combination of 6 fans to cool the 1.5 gallons of special coolant. It has also been featured in magazines.

Coma is my gaming rig and its also 1 of the Internet systems that I run networked around our house, CPU is dual core e 8600 running at 3.4 and 4 Gb OCZ memory the Ati 4870x2 hasn't been clocked yet and because it runs an external water cooler stays extra cool, It has only one 500 Gb hard drive and is a lot easier to work on than Flatline. Coma runs one 28" screen and the second monitor is set as a desktop extension that doubles up as Sky TV and camera security viewer.

If your wondering about the total cost of what's in the room, me to!!! Some facts:

• Dave (Flatline), age 44, retired, living in the UK. Graphic artist and radical car customizer.
• I have been visiting for a couple of years now and your site is always informative and sometimes makes me laugh.
• Flatline was built originally as the most upto date gaming system when I first put it together 4 years ago, I wanted it to run silent, be as fast as possible and as it is situated above the central heating system it also had to run cool , not an easy set of tasks. Now I have built Coma as a gaming rig Flatline is used solely for picture editing and coding.
• I'm lucky enough to have a girlfriend that dosent mind me spending money on the computers as she uses them probably more than me and so I haven't kept track of how much has been spent, at a quick calculation just the cooling systems of both Flatline and Coma cost about the same as a good gaming rig, in excess of £1100.
• I have just updated Flatline with a new SSD 60 Gig v2 from OCZ and 2 X 1 TB Samsung F1 Hard drives that will be it for a while now as it runs very well and bootup time + loading graphic applications has decreased from 1 3/4 minutes to 22 seconds.
  Coma has just had an update with an e8600 Cpu and an Ati 4870x2 water cooled Gpu, but I get the feeling that it is getting SSD envy so that may be on the next on the list.
• Flatline runs an Amd FX57 and it was supposedly the fastest chip available to the public at the time, It was so new it had to be imported from the USA at more than $1000 this is why I don't keep count on cost, I had clocked it to over 3.4 but now it coolly ticks over at just under 3.2, shes an old girl now and I don't want to fudge around repairing things amongst the tubes and wires. The main graphic card is a water cooled Ati 850xt pe again the best at the time that runs the two 24" Dells whereas the two sub monitors are controlled from a lowly passive Ati 700. Flatline runs 3 water loops, 1 zalmans tower for the graphics, 1 zalmans tower for the 2 x F1 drives and this also cools the 500 Gb cach/swap disk the third water loop lives on top of the case to cool the Cpu it also runs passively but this time through 2 x 360mm radiators and an external reservoir all enclosed with the pump in a modified home theater case. At the front of the case is a Spyder Pro monitor calibrator that continually reads the ambient light and sets the monitors to act accordingly. There is along with the logitech keyboard and mouse an A4 Wacom graphic tablet, pen+airbrush there is also an A3 Epson r2400 photo printer attached. I can turn on a combination of fans for extra cooling but I find now its not clocked so high I don't need to.
• Coma runs an over clocked dual core e8600 passively with a scythe ninja cooler, a passively cooled 500 Gig HDD and the graphic cards water cooler radiator, pump and reservoir live away from the system in a much cooler room, the Ati 4870x2 never gets over 38c, the main monitor is 28" and the secondary monitor is used as an extended desktop/TV/ security viewer this swings against the wall when not in use.

What sucks in my system now, nothing, but I will never buy Netgear products ever again and if you are buying expensive software from EBAY don't believe PayPal when they say we will protect you from fraud, it is only my opinion but they both SUK.
Hope you like the pictures: