Computer Setup

I like the laptop. Haven't seen anything like that before.

Thanks! She's my baby.

How does that laptop sound during load?

Kind of like a jet turbine. I don't mind too much, reminds me just how much power she's bearing. It's comparable to a 1U rack mount server.

Oh, I actually like this a whole lot! When I was shopping for a gaming laptop, I looked at the X7200 a whole lot for myselfs. Ended up getting a p170hm instead.

Well, I had to have a portable solution. I needed a computer that would fit all of my wants and needs from white hat hacking, to autocad and music production, to a little gaming. A desktop would have had more power per dollar, but I cringed at the thought of lugging around a big desktop, mouse and keyboard, and monitor to recording studios or trying to run that in a car for white had hacking. I would have opted to build a gaming desktop barring my need for mobility. I'm running some decent temps considering it is a desktop chip and SLI in a laptop. Under 100% load I'm getting ~60C on the CPU and ~70 on the GPUs. In addition to the four case fans, I've got a massive 230mm Thermaltake laptop cooler, and when the going really gets tough, like running through my 800gig password dictionary, I lower the temperature in the room and put a three speed desk fan on the computer. I do realize that's a little extreme for cooling but I do what it takes. I do have an idea for faux water cooling for Big Bertha. I'm going to get a car radiator and some mini fridge or other sort of cooling apparatus. Then I plan to have some sort of water reservoir with the cooling apparatus in it, and then use an aquarium or similar pump to pump the ice cold water through the radiator. I'll probably mount ~4-6 ~80-120mm fans to get the freezing air pushed into the laptop, kind of like a cold air intake on a car.

Awesome, and quite creative setup. Curious as to why the obsession with laptops though?

Thanks. It's not really an obsession, one was free, one was my first college laptop, and Big Bertha is for hacking on the go, portable music production/recording, dabbling with video editing, AutoCAD work, and some games on the side.

Gotcha, makes sense. What's the battery life like on Ol' Bertha?

Battery? It's more like a UPS. In Windows, I'll get thirty minutes if I'm lucky, but in Linux, I'll get two hours on average.

I hate to say it, but as an owner of a gaming laptop (Clevo P370 EM) I can't help but disagree with you entirely. I am deeply dissatisfied with my laptop, despite the dual 670mxs (which only run in sli when I set it to maximize 3d performance).

I absolutely love Big Bertha! I'm so proud of her. This is in part due to the fact I built her from scratch. Bertha is incredibly heavy and bulky, but still more portable than a desktop. She's kind of like a desktop that has a built in folding monitor and keyboard. I find that even with a Sugo or similar case, trying to fit everything I'll need for ethical hacking, music production/recording, on rare occasion, a little autocad, or games, into a backpack or even a duffel bag can be cumbersome. Bertha and all things necessary for a lan party can nicely fit in my backpack. I'm not concerned with how much desk real estate the laptop(s) eat up, I always seem to have enough room to do whatever it may be that I need to do. Being a Computer Engineer/SysAdsd, most of my work is all code or I'm in my workshop building machines. And I've got a great 7.1 setup so I don't have to hear her fans roar if I don't want to. I agree with the limitations of gaming laptops being detrimental to gaming, but gaming isn't why I built this machine. If I had built this bad girl for gaming, I definitely wouldn't have spent the money I did to get the i7 990x. Hell, if I was building a gaming machine, it would be a desktop, 100%. I have put a lot of money into Bertha, but she's worth every penny to me. Hand built with my own love and care and purpose built for be

Can you go over how you put these serious upgrades into existing laptops/how to build a laptop from the ground up?

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