Computer Setup

I had actually planned on it, and even bought some material for the braces, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The steel of the case is surprisingly strong, and the washers do just fine.

Can confirm, I've got the exact same case. I accidentally knocked this case against my car when loading it in from a LAN, it dented the car and made exactly zero difference to the case. No dent, no chip in paint, nothing. This case is super sturdy which is one of the reasons I got it.

Just got this case. Can confirm it's solid as hell.

As if you need a third confirmation, its tight tight tight.

Just dented poster's car. Can confirm car dents easily.

Very cool! Minimalism at it's best.

'its' shows possession, 'it's' means 'it is'

I still resent my primary school teachers for teaching me 'apostrophes of possession'

It's the exception to the rule. <<That's how I remember.

"An apo'strophe mean's ''oh 'shit!' here come's an 's'." - Neil deGra's'se Ty'son

This is really nice, besides the obvious stuff in the build I noticed the trackball mouse, then I noticed the buffout, the mentats and holy shit is that.. SUNSET SARSAPARILLA?! Just awesome.

Yeah, I made those for my brother for Christmas, but figured that since I was using FNV for the demo pics I might as well include them. I used actual sasparilla bottles, too...turns out it tastes just like root beer.

What mods are you using for that pic cause that area looks nice.

I thought Sunset Sasparilla tasted like orange soda

I love this concept. I think I'm going to have to add VESA mounts to the next case I get. So what about sound and Network?

The monitor has built in speakers--though I'm thinking about integrating some little 1" speakers and a mini-amp into the case for higher-quality sound. As for network, I use a little USB dongle which works almost as well as a wireless card. Ethernet is also an option.

I would just keep the monitor speakers and use headphones when it matters

Amazing job man! What are the specs?

Does the i3 hold you back at all? and is it easy to upgrade?

An i3 won't hold you back in 95% of games. Only the ones that are really CPU intensive, AND can properly make use of 4+ cores will be limited by an i3. The i3's usually get better frame rates then the FX-6300, unless you over clock the 6300 to 4.5 ghz or so.

As someone that's just upgraded from a 650 ti to a 760, that performance comparison is illogical imo; there is a massive performance difference between those two cards, and i reckon you'd only get better results on a 650 ti if the 760 was running on something exceptionally shite like an old Pentium 4/Pentium D so that it bottlenecks unimaginably to shit.

I agree they are different classes. Reason I did the comparison is since the 2 combo's are roughly the same price.

The point is that the GPUs aren't comparable. Like, that's literally what he's saying. The CPUs aren't comparable either when doing CPU heavy work, but when you're gaming, you aren't. What you're limited by is generally going to be your GPU, so that's where you should be putting your money.

Wow that was awesomely informative

I don't think it does. From what I understand, most of my favorite games don't use multi-threading, so more cores wouldn't help too much. Also, upgrading to i-5 or i-7 would be as simple as swapping the chips.

I3's have strong single core performance just like the i5's and i7's, the i5/i7 series just have more cores/threads and other features like better overclocking potential.

An i3 3220 is more CPU you'll need for gaming for quite some time, and the shit they pass for a CPU in these next gen peasant systems won't change that for a while.

So what do higher processors allow you to do.

Well, like I said, more room for your GPU to breathe. An i3 will certainly bottleneck a 780 Ti SLI.

Any particular reason for having the GPU in the second slot? If it's an x16 slot that's fine, but you may want to check your motherboard manual if you aren't sure.

It's not an x16 slot, you can see it's only got half the connectors. Depending on the motherboard it might only be PCIe 2.0 as well.

Wow, I had no idea it was visible like that. You made my day.

Even if it was a PCIe 1.X slot it'd be roughly 2GB/s in each direction, and likely wouldn't be a bottleneck.

It honestly doesnt matter if he is running 8x or 16x

Nice to see something different. Wonder if you could do 2-3 monitors and still keep it one box.

It's already slightly front-heavy, and also pretty heavy in general. More monitors would be cool, but would cut down significantly on portability (even if you could find some way to keep it from falling over).

Maybe some kind of thin nylon rope and a simple clasp and or pulley system could be threaded lengthwise through the upper back corner of the case. Wouldn't be a matter of weight after that - just strain on the case and where you hook it up to for balance.

Hey I have the same case! Same color too. Good to see another c70 user on here. Good looking rig!

I went to Fry's looking for another case, saw this one and changed my mind. It's so cool!

I think the white is better looking BUT you aren't going to find a better built all metal case than this one. There's a reason it has 5 eggs on newegg. Worth every penny.

That place is awesome. (Although I recently went to buy a camera there and it was $100 more than on amazon.)

You know they do internet price match there?

Wait, seriously? FUCK. I'm going back tomorrow and getting my camera!

I'm interested in the wiring of the monitor to the power supply. you say it's in parallel? could you ms paint a step-by-step, or maybe just run through what you did?

I removed the computer's power supply and unscrewed its cover, which revealed a large amount of pretty stunningly beefy electronic components. I've never seen capacitors that large used outside of a Tesla coil. Anyway, I looked at the little circuit board to which the power plug was mounted and located the 3 big blobs of solder that integrated the plug into the rest of the unit.

This is fantastic. Thank you so very much for the very wonderful and thoroughly detailed description and directions.

Nice very clean, FYI the melting point difference in the solder is because all the manufacturers have to use lead free solder for environmental reasons iirc

I have that same mouse but have never been able to game with it. Are you a wizard?

I've never really gotten the hang of mice. I've been using trackballs since I was playing Reader Rabbit on MSdos. I don't know that I'm actually good at gaming with one, but I'm better than with a mouse.

I have a friend that used to compete in national level UT99 tournaments and regularly came back with prizes on a trackball.

You should post specs! really interested in the monitor you used or modified.

The monitor is a 21.5 inch Asus VE228H. I didn't modify it in any way, just took off the stand and bolted the case back panel onto the stock VESA mounts. I really like it; it's got very nice color depth.

This is almost exactly how I've been thinking of building mine. I'm gonna use a smaller case though and try to put in a battery so I can use it without plugging in if I need to. Thanks for the inspiration.

Good luck. Despite having built a few PCs i'm no electrical engineer, yet I know that would need some big ass motherfucker of a battery.

Sounds like you need a laptop

Otherwise, just try to integrate a UPS into it. If it includes multiple outlets you can even avoid the PSU soldering.

I'm really curious as to why the FN keys on your keyboard are yellow and mine are blue...

I have an old budget wireless keyboard and it has blue keys. I have the same keyboard as the pic (Logitech Solar k750) and it has yellow keys. Also the play/pause key and the last track key are switched on them. Really annoying.

Mine is a solar k750 though, it's exactly the same as yours apart from the colour of the keys.

That totally looks like a mini rear projection television set.

IMO should have used a smaller case, I built a real beast of a gaming system in a Micro ATX case recently, the COOLER MASTER N200 Advanced, full size ATX cases are a waste these days especially with only one graphics card and stock cooling.

No GPU made today will be bottlenecked by a x8 slot

Nice build, loved the concept and that case, i just ordered a 300R :D

With a name like that, you should give the whole set-up an aged look and maybe some spikes.

I had seen monitors built into cases before, but the idea of ONE CABLE hadn't really struck me yet before this moment. It goes without saying this is really cool.. Has it been on any adventures with you yet? If so, what kind?

This is awesome. But how do you wire the monitor power cable like you did?

I removed the computer's power supply and unscrewed its cover, which revealed a large amount of pretty stunningly beefy electronic components. I've never seen capacitors that large used outside of a Tesla coil. Anyway, I looked at the little circuit board to which the power plug was mounted and located the 3 big blobs of solder that integrated the plug into the rest of the unit.

Awesome. A little handy work goes a long way. This is a pretty sweet mobile computer setup I must say. Props! I'm making it a goal to try this some day!

What monitor is that? It looks very similar to mine (Asus VE228)

Very cool! Have you considered incorporating keyboard and mouse snap-in holsters on the side of the case? That would help with travel even more

I've thought about it, but couldn't come up with a way to do it that wouldn't look tacky.

Awesome build. I've thought about doing the exact same thing before, I just never got around to it, or needed it. I'm glad to see that it can be done though.

I'd considered mounting the LCD inside but...man it sounds difficult. I'd need better saws than I have to cut a clean hole that steel sheet. It would undoubtedly be awesome, but I'm not the man for the job.

Now I really want to do this. The biggest problem is I have no use for it, nor the money/components. Maybe it's time to convert my old, extra case from BTX to ATX, and to get a cheap monitor off of Craigs List.

Bad ass, man. Bravo.

You replace that CPU cooler RIGHT NOW!

Huh? I use one of those for my i7 and have had zero problems. What's the issue with that cooler?

If you're worried about the steel side of the case, you can buy a new one directly from corsair for about $20. Love the build btw, I have the same case and it's great.

Seriously? Wow. That'd be cool. I might just order one to have a backup.

Your memory is not in dual channel configuration. Any reason why?

I'm pretty sure it is? I've got 2 black slots and two blue slots. the RAM is in the two black slots, which I'm pretty sure is what the manual told me to do. I'm no wizard at this, so bear with me if I'm missing something.

Usually, dual channel configuration requires the ram be in slots 1-3 and 2-4. The coloring makes me think you are right, but you might want to check that out just to be sure

Maybe some flat, swing out, steel feet, would solve the top heavyness of your rig... You can bolt them to the existing screw points for the case feet, monitor side...

I thought about that just for a little extra stability, but really, it's got enough ballast in the case that it's not too much of an issue. As long as I put it on a solid surface it's in no real danger of tipping.

I have that monitor and that case, maybe i should attach them.

I have the black Corsair c70 vengeance case! It's so amazing. Vents heat like a beast and those handles are truly a godsend!

When I first read the title "Yeah hand built like every other gaming setup here" After picture one "...nevermind"

I love the fallout props!

Sweet setup! Time for a gaming mouse/keyboard to enhance the experience!

I don't really like mice--I've used friends' gaming mice, but I like that trackball better. I do have a Logitech G13, not pictured.

Logitech Trackball M570 my current Trackman. I had both red ball before and you take my current blue ball from my cold dead hand.

Every desktop computer is "hand-built." (insofar as someone puts the right parts into the right slots, like you did.)

I don't know if you know this but there are monitors that connect via usb and are powered over usb...and they aren't that expensive

Needs banana for scale, good job btw!

No. He's still doing it.

It's a Corsair C70, just a standard mid tower case.

Looks neat but seems very pointless. My 2 year old laptops probably more powerful than this thing.

Link your laptop specs, let's find out.

Not sure what they are off the top of my head, but its a 2011 macbook pro with 8 gigs of ram + 1g graphics card that runs BF3 at nearly max settings no problem. Don't know why you'd want anything more (especially if it's just a portable rig for lan parties, etc.) I'm always surprised how close my real PC rig compares to my Macbook in terms of graphics power.

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