The standard of my custom builds has become more complex with time, as has my infatuation with performance, coupled with pleasing aesthetics. Below are some of which I can find photos of.

i7 7700K [Kaby Lake]

img

: [Intel i7] 7700K configured in a spacious Bitfenix case.

  SPECS:

          

| Intel Core i7 7700K CPU + NZXT Kraken x42 AIO Water Cooler

| ASUS Strix H270F + 16GB G. Skill Trident Z RGB RAM

| NVIDIA GTX 1080 8GB FE

| Super Flower Leadex III 550W 80 PLUS Gold Modular PSU

| Bitfenix Nova Mesh TG Midi White Tower

This chip is beastly for gaming despite only being a quad core, though it has quite the TDP chiming in at 91W. Definitely needs to be water-cooled. I had decent temps with this one and great performance.

img

: [Intel i7] 7700K setup with a Ducky One 2, running Quake Champions.

I was testing the card at the bottom PCIE slot - not the optimal location for performance and heat dissipation.

i7 6700K [Skylake]

  SPECS:

          

| Intel Core i7 6700K CPU + Corsair H100i v2 AIO liquid cooler

| ASUS ROG Z170 Deluxe + Corsair Vengeance 3200MHz RAM

| EVGA GTX  1080 FTW2 8GB 

| Corsair HX1200i PLUS Gold Modular PSU

| Thermaltake Core P5 Black Edition 

img

: The open-case Thermaltake P5. Dell Ultrasharp perched on M-Audios.

img

: Cheap card used during initial build. Drevo keyboard, M-Audio DAC.

img

: Streaming Watching some...golf.

I had the EVGA GTX1080 FTW2 card in this build, what a card that was. Exceptional performance and it was the best performaning and looking of any 1080 imo. Still trying to find my pics of it other than initial setup sans-EVGA card.

img

: This was around the time RDR2 came out. I know, console peasant.

Ryzen 2400G [Raven Ridge]

img

: [AMD Ryzen] 2400G Quite a large chip, as is the Noctua heatsink.

SPEC:

| Ryzen 2400G CPU + Noctua AM4 cooler

| Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz RAM

| CoolerMaster Q300L Micro-ATX Case + Cryorig QF120 Balance LED PWM

|be quiet! Pure Power 10 400W CM 80 Plus Silver Modular PSU

img

:[AMD Ryzen] 2400G with a stock cooler + M-Audio headphones thrown around.

The Ryzen 2400G was part of AMDs first foray into decent integrated gaming graphics. Of course, I was an early adopter, being a huge fan of competition in the market. Likewise, I was one of the first to purchase an 1800X when it came out, back when AMD sat about destroying Intel's monopoly on powerful consumer chips.

But anyway, the 2400G offered quite pleasing gaming performance, at an affordable price and great power point (TDP-down of 45 W).

i7 4790K [Haswell]

img

: [i7 4790K] my custom weighted British Shorthair oversaw this project.

An ASUS ROG card was choice in this build. Back at this time I was a huge 'Be Quiet!' fanboy, I tried out the coolers, PSU and fans they had on offer. [I also switched from a Thermaltake cooler during this project.] Be Quiet! make great-looking and nice quality hardware (of course being a typically high German standard), I have since however moved on to Noctua fanboyism, as hipster as it gets.

img

: [i7 4790K] with an ASUS ROG mouse [have since switched to Logitech].

The i74790K needs no introduction. One of the best i7 CPUs of all time. Absolutely beastly at performance, and it still holds its own today, with what must be at least 5 years on (yes, it was June 2014) from its release.

Pictured from left is a small ZyXel switch and Pine64 board on the wall running PiHole. The studio monitors were M-Audio BX8's, with a custom mechanical keyboard from 'TinyMech' which I picked up in Korea, complete with Hangul lettering.

What computer am I using right now?

There will be an upcoming post dedicated to my current ULTRA SFF PC + also a separate post for my upcoming 2020 build.

back