I present to you: Spare Parts

Hardware Hub Build a PC
1

Hi all,

I just finished my latest build. With all the high-end builds that have been happening lately, I think it's time for a throwback to 2011.

This build is a bit unique and it's been something I've wanted to do for a long time so I thought I'd share this with the forum.

Parts list:

  • i7-2600k
  • GTX 660ti
  • 32GB ddr3 1333
  • 128GB 850 pro
  • Z68 motherboard
  • shuttle SZ68R5 case
  • 500W shuttle form factor PSU

Images

2017-05-18 20.55.02__1495172107_72.197.234.11.jpg4640x2610 2.32 MB

660 Ti, 850 pro out of my old freenas machine (decided I didn't need the SSD caching) and the old proxmox node.
2017-05-18 20.58.20__1495172171_72.197.234.11.jpg4640x2610 2.15 MB

Fits like a glove!
2017-05-18 20.58.27__1495172204_72.197.234.11.jpg4640x2610 2.53 MB

Since the hard drive bracket blocks the PCIE power on the GPU, I had to get rid of it. That means i had to use double-sided tape to secure the SSD.
2017-05-18 22.29.39__1495172140_72.197.234.11.jpg2610x4640 2.63 MB

Temporary location until I can get something to put it on. Solus is chugging away happily on this and I'm so much more satisfied with the performance of this machine than the laptop I've been using lately.

Sorry about the potato quality photos, can't be arsed to take decent ones after my fifth beer.

I've been having the system build itch tempt me with Ryzen, but this has satisfied my cravings, for the time being. I'm going to see how this holds up. If it shows no signs of dying (it's quite old and has nearly 5 years of power-on time), I'm probably going to upgrade that silly heatsink that came with it to a SFF fan and case fan. While the heat-pipes are cool, there isn't enough airflow through the case for my liking, especially with a GPU in there now.

I also intend to get a larger SSD at some point. I'm eyeing the 500GB NVMe drives, but honestly, they feel a bit overkill for this build.

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2

As always, it depends what you plan to use it for. Fit the tool to the task at hand. Obviously you aren't going to be gaming in 4K with a 660Ti, but that is a nice PC. What do you plan to use it for? Can it run Crysis?

3

All 3, yes. Not on max though.

I'm using it as a portable workstation on the cheap. I'm volunteering with the local high school to help teach their robotics team about programming, web development and CAD. I needed a computer that has decent specs to do that on and this fits the bill. I'm going to be dual-booting windows and Linux on it and using it for general productivity things along the lines of Creo, Eclipse (for C++) and the various editors that are web-oriented. At this point, I'm probably going to settle on atom or the like, but my personal preference for that kind of work is intellij, but that's not free and I'm trying to give the students a free option because most of them don't have jobs to pay for expensive software.

So, that said, I need more storage space, but disk speed isn't critically important. Maybe I'll grab a cheap last-gen 500GB ssd...

Also, it feels funny that my "spare pc" has double the ram of my skylake build, I guess that's what happens when you repurpose a VM server.

2 Likes