what does a loser computer nerd do on a Saturday night?

...They build a computer, what else! Actually this is a box that I built in 2010 w/ a quad core AMD Phenom II X955 Black
which at the time was smoking and still is fast, but when editing videos, sometimes it stops and stutters. It would be better if I had
bought a cooler instead of using the stock fan, that would have helped a lot but that was 4 years ago.

Anyways, tah-dah! Now its has the AMD FX9590 8 Core, I had to buy a mobo, the AM3 socket isn't forward convertible to AM3+.
Its a MSI 990FXA-GD80, its the second gen 990FXA so now it has a bunch of USB3. I like the fact it has 4 PCi-e slots and can handle 220 watts for the processor. Bottom line this mobo and the 750w PSU wastes more electricity than 4 50" flat screen LED tv's.

I also updated the video card to a GeForce GTX750Ti a few months ago and the difference between a 1GB card and 2 is pretty visually better. You can go 4 GB---ca-ching! $500 for a video card?

I love Macs, but you can't do anything with them. I see it like Ferraris---leave 'em alone. 1968 Camaro? The skys the limit like a PC.
This box now has a radiator to cool down the 8 core and is overclocking whenever it needs it. MSI did a great job with the BIOS,
you can choose not to OC, use the OC Genie that is like a smart overclock system or you can do the full bore over clock with Turbo Core Technology setting.

This is to date the fastest desktop I have ever used, faster than my Mac Pros at work. Its also the programs that make a difference as well, which makes sense but my existing programs seem to go faster now, like Photoshop and Premiere Pro & I like the fact Windows 8 takes only 7 seconds to load up from dead cold start up.

 

Porno.

 

Nice. And all that to edit mtb go-pro videos............

 

im with you on windows 8.1 also- nobody giving it love but it works good for me also

 

Sweet.

 

I used to build my own PCs all the time. But laptops are the way to go for me now. I've got an Alienware 14 I use for work. Fast and powerful ( 16 gigs of RAM, 256 GB SSD, 1TB of regular HD space), why should I have to build a PC again?

I've got a brand new, unopened Koolance liquid cooler in my garage left over from my PC building days. Its just sitting in the garage collecting dust. Maybe I'll build another HTPC with it one of these days.

 

I just upgraded my pute a bit too. I was going the same you were, but realized that my 5 year old rig is still within current midlevel offerings. Quad Core 2.66ghx processors with 8 gb RAM. I solved the stuttering by simply upgrading my hard drive. Will wait for processor, mobo, and RAM upgrade for when I do a Win9 opsys upgrade too. I also didnt want to lose a Microsoft Office suite from the Take Office Home program. My current version is a freebie from my last employer. Reformat means 300 bucks on the Office repurchase alone.

 

I used to build computers too. I haven't built one in about ten years. I really enjoyed the hobby (cooling, modding, overclocking) but job changes and no money ended it real quick. I bought a computer about 4 years ago from a store, and I regret not building it almost everyday from a price/performance view.

Here is the last one I built in 2004. I wish I could tell you what's in it but I don't remember! The third picture was my old LAN party machine. I was playing and all of the sudden the graphics started going crazy, looked inside and saw the puddle.

 

i used to do the same back in 01-03 in Highschool. was a lot of fun tinkering and seeing pics like these make me wanna do it again... though my knowledge and time is way outdated and limited. it was a lot of fun! many a day at frys and trying to import water-cooled parts from germany haha.

 

[youtube]VdO4fOAGzsM[/youtube]

 

To boost performance in the quad, a $99 fix with the Corsair H80i liquid cooler will lower the CPU temps and it claims to cool it down 30-40% thus enabling it to work better. I have the 3.2 processor quad and had it over clocked to 3.5, your 2.6 could be OC to 2.8 which is decent.
Liquid Cooled:
The Corsair rep told me its the equivalent to having an office worker working in an air conditioned office opposed to one that has windows open with fans going, the AC office workers probably get more done. LOL.
Also IMO, get Windows 8 immediately! You will really enjoy it. I abandoned Windows 7 Professional last year because its so damn slow. My home desk top still has Windows 7 Pro on it because I did a dual boot up set up with the hdd partitioned (I'm a nerd) but I rarely boot up the 7 now. My Windows 8 boots up in 7 seconds using an accelerated boot up that came with the mobo bios, but Windows 8 boots up fast natively anyway. Try the Corsair H80i, you won't regret it.

 

dammit now I'm looking up cases and water-cooling kits!

 

Thanks for the tip. I do have an overclocker's mobo, and my cpu will overclock easily to 3.0ghz, however, my last overclocked rig died two years in back in the 90's. Ive since just let things be for reliability. Youve got my DYI curiosity piqued though. Never built a liquid cooled rig. A boost in performance from additional cooling sounds mighty appealing.

 

Quick question, since you upgraded for the same reason as I did, video editing, how long does it take you to convert 10 gigs of Gopro compressed video?

It takes me about 5 hours. Rendering a 3 minute video, about 10-15 minutes. Not too bad. But the conversion process is a PITA.

Will a SATA card reader make conversion faster vs. my USB 2.0 reader?

 

Bing, as much as I loved water cooling, it was for show. You should be able to get an air cooler that will give you close to the same results.

 

I use Pinnacle 17 Ultimate, like many NLE systems sold today, there is no need to convert mp3, mp4, quicktime or any codecs. Just import the files and place them on the timeline. (takes like 10 minutes) Older non linear editors such as Final Cut 7 and Avid Media Composer needs to be converted, which is a total waste of time. Adobe Premiere pro and Grass Valley Edius work the same way and very efficient.

The only part that takes time now is to upload the video. I have to disagree with DESTROYER about liquid cooling, the unit that I bought cools the CPU much better than a copper convection cooled heat sink. The temperature gauge proves it if you have that software on your system. The liquid cooler keeps my CPU around 93 degrees as when I had a conventional heatsink it was cooking at 105-120 degrees depending if I was over clocking or not.

If you dont want to buy a newer NLE software, you'll have to be patient. A faster processor may speed up the process faster but wont really solve the problem. Also a SATA reader wont really speed things up either, its the actual conversion that slows down your production. As for the rendering, the system I use at home, Pinnacle 17 Ultimate, has background rendering which quickens the edit. Good luck!

 

The data shows otherwise. You can get a Thermax Eclipse II which is quieter. cheaper, and cools better: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2745&page=4

In the end only a few degrees won't matter when looking for a stable OC. Also comparing stock air cooler to any aftermarket cooler is apples to oranges. But air cooling doesn't have that bling appeal to it (don't forget I've had over ten different water cooled systems, two TEC systems, and dry ice/liquid nitrogen bench system). I just like to point water cooling out for the right reasons.

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with spending weekend nights working on computers. I do it plenty! Tidy up the cabling a bit though ;P haha. I spent nearly and entire weekend troubleshooting then dialing in my Intel NUC media PC last month(turned out to be a bad mSATA drive)

Its been a while since I built any desktops. This was the last one for a buddy last year


My desktop hasnt changed in a few years




I did upgrade my simulator last week but only the seat, no computer changes.

 

Based on this thread, I just purchased Powerdirector, and am considering an after market CPU cooler.

It's really tempting to upgrade the CPU, mobo and RAM at this point, but I think my current rig still has a couple of years worth of middle of the road performance.

The upgrade will likely coincide with a successful launch of Win9. Thanks.