The final piece in this series is the workhorse of it all, my rig. I bought my computer in 2011, replacing a system that I bought in 2008. This one is almost three years old now and it’s standing the test of time nicely. Once upon a time I built my own systems, but my wife made me get out of that business. I can’t say that I miss it, and I’ll likely continue to buy ready made computers from here on out. I purchased my system from Ibuypower.
The system is very reliable, although I do get the occasional blue screen. My overall experience with them was good, and I’d have no problem buying from the again. Here are the basic specifications.
The hard disk information in the image above is misleading. I actually have three hard drives in my system. My C: drive is 120GB SSD. I use this for the OS and most of my software. I have a little data stored on here, but not much. For my data I have 1TB IDE 7200 RPM HDD.
When I first bought the system I had plenty of room for both World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic, but as those games have grown over time, I needed more space. I added at 476GB SSD which I use for WoW, SWTOR and a couple of other games.
Despite being almost three years old, this system still runs very fast. I’m able to play WoW and SWTOR with all of the graphic set to max, and I don’t spend too much time on loading screens, and I rarely suffer from lag in raids and operations. Even though LFRs are seldom smooth, my system’s performance usually is.
I haven’t kept up on the latest improvements in PC hardware, but I’m sure things have gotten better in the last three years. That said, I don’t see any need to upgrade my system, something my wife is happy to hear me say.
What are you guys running on?
Custom-built gaming/entertainment system with components of varying ages…
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core i7-2600k (3.4GHz)
8.00GB RAM
nVidia GeForce GTX 470
60GB SSD – OS
74GB 10K rpm – WoW and couple other games
2x3TB 7200rpm drives for storage
Display 1: 24″ 1920×1200
Display 2: 47″ 1920×1080
System works great even though I haven’t upgrade the CPU or Graphics in a while. I just haven’t felt the need. I still get 30-60 fps or more in every game I’ve played. WoW only gets a little slow during world boss encounters.
This system was an amazing improvement over the one I bought in 2008. After three years that one felt old and slow. I suspect I’ll get another two good years out of this one.
Yeah, hardware tends to last longer now.