New PC Build

[Stylez 160]

I just figured I'd start a thread to show off my new PC build since the tech section is lacking in the nerd porn department! I wanted a faster CPU as my "older" i7 920 wasn't rendering videos fast enough and was eating up a lot of my time. Since time is money I figured I'd invest in a hulk of a CPU and try and lower that time down to a more manageable level.

 

I'll start with listing the specs of my previous PC (I don't have all the details so I'm just going off memory):

 

Intel Core i7 920 (4 core) 2.66GHz overclocked to 4.0GHz

Some sort of Cooler Master CPU cooler

12GB (6 x 2GB sticks) DDR3 - G.Skill Ripjaws

Asus P6T motherboard

Geforce GTX 680

SoundBlaster X-fi Xtreme Gamer

Avermedia Live Gamer HD

Corsair Force 120GB SSD (OS drive)

1 x Seagate 2TB HDD

2 x WD 500GB HDD

850w Cooler Master Silent Pro power supply

Cooler Master Stacker 830 full tower case

 

Now for the new PC:

Intel Core i7 3930k Sandy Bridge-E (6 core) 3.2GHz overclocked to 4.4GHz

Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU cooler

32GB (4 x 8GB sticks) DDR3 1866 - G.Skill Ripjaws X

Asus P9X79 Pro motherboard

Geforce GTX 680

Asus Xonar Phoebus sound card

Avermedia Live Gamer HD

Corsair Force 120GB SSD (Cache drive)

1 x Seagate 2TB HDD (OS drive)

2 x WD 500GB HDD

850w Cooler Master Silent Pro power supply

Cooler Master HAF X full tower case

 

As you can tell I've recycled as much as I could but I'm still left with a nearly complete old PC. I could slap a spare video card in it, a power supply and a hard drive and it's about ready to go. Question is, what do I do with it?

 

So let's move on to a couple benchmark results! I've only done a couple at 4.4GHz as I'm more concerned with CPU intensive tasks. In games I see almost no improvement from my last CPU as it was more than enough for most games.

 

Cinebench:

Old: 5.43pts

New: 12.71pts

 

Test render of a 5 minute video from Adobe Premiere (8mbps VBR 2 pass h.264)

Old: 18:00

New: 8:26

 

As you can see there's a HUGE improvement in render times for the new CPU! One thing that's odd is that video encoding is only using about 60% of my CPU and seems to be a common problem and no one has an answer to it. I thought at first it was a hard drive bottleneck but at stocks speeds the render took 10 minutes. As I overclocked the render speed increased along with the overclock which tells me it's not a hard drive bottleneck. I even tried a test encode with Handbrake and got the same mid-range CPU usage.

 

Now I'll round this post out with some pictures I took while I was putting it together! If anyone wants I can take some better pictures with my real camera I was just snapping pics with my phone while I was building. Some are strange resolution and some are massive haha

[Gizmo 11]

Home server upgrade?

[Gr8ful 55]

I tell ya what ya do with the old PC...donate to the poor.. j/k ...that's a very nice new setup you got there, be a ssssssshame if sssssomething happened to it..sssssssss couldn't resist.

[Stylez 160]

Home server upgrade?

 

I thought about it but it would be overkill and a pain in the ass to transfer everything.

 

I tell ya what ya do with the old PC...donate to the poor.. j/k ...that's a very nice new setup you got there, be a ssssssshame if sssssomething happened to it..sssssssss couldn't resist.

 

Finding a way to ship it would be such a pain in the ass! I spent way too much money on my new PC to give the old one away I'd have to sell it if I got rid of it. lol

[Gr8ful 55]

Hook it up to your network for maybe free VOIP hosting and MC test server.

[Gizmo 11]

Transfer everything?

 

Step 1.) Take Hard Drive out of current computer

Step 2.) Put Hard Drive in new computer

Step 3.) You're bill gates.

[Stylez 160]

I guess you're not familiar with Windows Home Server so I made you this diagram: http://qkme.me/3r55lc