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Username?Roger_D25

Age/Occupation/Location?
25/Full-Time Student (Mechanical Engineering/Boscawen New Hampshire.

How long have you been a member of Guru3D forums?
I have been a member since December of 2004.

What did you first come here for?
If I remember correctly I came to Guru3D for the first time to research how to voltmod my first high end graphics card (BFG 6800 GT OC). I had overclocked it as high as I could and still wanted more without having to upgrade to an Ultra. Once I became a member I was hooked. In just the first three weeks of being a member I had voltmodded my graphics card, learned how to overclock my CPU, got great suggestions for hardware for my next upgrade, learned about RAM timing, and much, much more!

What do you mainly use the system for?
I am a tweaker, which is I like to constantly change and optimise my system for increased performance whether that increase is in games or benchmarks. It is a great feeling when after hours and hours of tweaking you are able to finally break 6k in 3Dmark 05 or play Half-Life 2 with little or no frame rate slowdown!

How much did you spend on the rig?
All together I have spent a little over $2,000 dollars since this time last year. If I had bought all my hardware new I would have spent quite a bit more but I was lucky to have found many great deals.

How often do you update/buy a new rig?
I upgrade when I have pushed a piece of hardware as far as it will go or as money allows. As an example, I recently upgraded my CPU only after I had pushed and overclocked my old AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton to it max. Upgrading for me used to be about bragging rights, now it is about having the ability to push my system further and to learn about new technology.

What components are used?
Case: Coolermasters Praetorian w/Side Window Kit

Power Supply: Antec Neo Power 480w

Optical Drive(s): LiteOn Combo Drive (CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM)

Motherboard: Asus A8V-Deluxe rev 2.0

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester @ 2.5GHz

RAM (Memory): PQI Turbo Platinum PC-3200 (2 X512MB) @ FSB 250 Timings 2.5-3-3-7, TCCD ICs, Brainpower PCB)

Hard Drive(s): 2 X Maxtor DiamandMax Plus 9 SATA/150 (RAID 0)

Graphics Card: BFG 6800 Ultra (2D 425/1100, 3D 450/1200)

CPU Heatsink: Zalman 7700-Cu 120mm Fan (Huge)

Monitor: Microtek 19inch LCD.

Speakers: Logitech Z-680 5.1

Why ATI or NVIDIA, why Intel/AMD?
The age-old question, well I decided to go with both Nvidia and AMD. My first computer was a pre-build system that I knew nothing about. It wasnt until I build my first system piece by piece that I had any preference for one over the other. Every computer that I ever used growing up used an Intel CPU so when it came time to buy my first CPU I wanted to be different so I bought an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton. My computer buddies all laughed at me because the clock speed was so much lower than their Intel speeds; well I got the last laugh! The reason I decided to go with an Nvida GPU is a little different. The first graphics card I bought was actually an ATI 9600XT.  It was around that time that I first started to benchmark my system and also the first time I started reading benchmark results. Well I hate to say it but I went with Nvidia over ATI because of results. I wanted a faster system because I wanted to play games with no shuddering or major slowdowns so I sold the ATI and got a BFG 6800GT OC, enough said! 

Does the system work as expected?
Yes for the most part my system does work as expected. Of course there are certain aspects of my system I wished worked better but there are others that go above and beyond what I could have hoped for.  My CPU comes to mind here, because of the extreme temperatures, harsh chemicals, and atomic precision involved in the fabrication process two identical chips may perform totally different. That is why member X can overclock his AMD Athlon 3500+ Winchester 200MHz higher than me even though we have identical hardware.

What's the best part of your rig?
At first I was going to say I think the best part of my system was the graphics card (BFG 6800 Ultra). I had saved up for quite some time to finally get that card! It wasnt until after some considerable thought that I decided the best part of my system was the simplicity of it. When I set out to build my current system I wanted it to be fast, powerful, and look neat and professional. One of my favourite things to do when installing new hardware to try and make it look like it belongs there. As an example, when installing my new power supply many of the modular connectors were too long. Instead of just stuffing the extra wires in and around the drive bays I actually cut and soldered the wires to the correct length. As anyone who has done this knows, it is very time consuming and tedious. The finished product however not only looks great but also gives you a sense of accomplishment. It is this sense of accomplishment that continually drives me to improve my system.

What sucks and should not have been bought?
This is an easy one; I wish I had not purchased the LiteOn DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW optical drive. I only paid about $60 bucks for it; at the time I just needed a drive. After researching more about optical driver I learned that some are better than others. With that said I wish I would have spent a bit more and got a better drive. Other than that I am really happy with all of my hardware. 

Modified cases/video cards/other? Did you do it yourself? Walk us through it.
My Coolermasters Praetorian case is basically stock except for the optional side window kit and a small modification to the optical drive bay door. The optional side window kit was purchased at the local computer store but I did the modification to the drive bay door. I wanted to make it look like I didnt have any optical drives installed. To do that I fabricated one of the case drive bay covers to fit on the end of the optical drive mechanism. To open the optical drive I just have to push on the modified case bay cover that I attached to the optical drive mechanism. The cool part is, if you didnt know that I did the modification you wouldnt know how to open the optical drive mechanism. I was happy with the result; it came out much better than I thought.
The only other item that has been modified is my PSU. I had recently bought the Antec Neo Power 480w modular power supply. When I built this system one of the main things I wanted to accomplish was keeping the case neat and tidy. I didnt want loose wires all over the place getting in the way or slowing down airflow through the case. The Antec PSU comes with various connectors to suit different systems and different hardware set-ups. In the past I had just connected everything and tucked and pushed the extra length of cable here and there trying to hide it. This time around I decided to cut each cable to the correct length so there would be no extra wire to hide. I took my time and cut every cable to the correct length by cutting, soldering, and finishing it off in heat shrink. I still had a problem though, because I had upgraded to a 6800 Ultra graphics card I needed two molex connectors to attach to the card not just one like I had on my old 6800 GT. My main goal was to have to separate power lines connected directly to the card from the PSU without powering any other devices. Unfortunately there are only so many molex connectors, so I had to fabricate the remaining molex connectors to power all of my other hardware devices.  By cutting and splicing the remaining line I was able to use them to power my optical drive, two hard drives, floppy drive, and my four 80mm case fans. In the end it worked out great, I was able to have two separate lines from my PSU powering the 6800 Ultra, and the other two powering everything else. Because I do a lot of gaming and benchmarking I wanted to make sure my card got all the power it needed.  

3DMark Scores?

• 01 = 24035
• 03 = 13850
• 05 = <link given was not valid>

Future Upgrades?
Finally my favourite question, the future upgrades! The major upgrade I have planned for the near future is switching to water Cooling. I am still debating whether or not to buy a Water Cooling Kit or build my own cooling system from various parts. Mostly likely I will go with a pre-build kit from Asetek because this will be my first experience with water-cooling.  If I go with an H2O kit I will most likely get the Asetek KT12A-SL35, this is their high-end triple length radiator with the Antarctica CPU waterblock with additional GPU and chipset blocks.
The next upgrade I have planned is a new optical drive. I have my sites set on the Plextor PX-716A DVD-burner combo drive. From what I have read not all optical drives are created equal.
Like most computer geeks I could go on all night about future upgrades. At the moment though these are the two upgrades I am actually planning for. I have to admit though; if you asked me this question in two months I would have a totally different answer.