My Sandbridge/Ivybridge rig. This project is my daily driver and game station.

When i started the build (2013) i want to keep things economical and budget friendly. I had kept a gtx560ti from a previous computer (which had a pair in SLI) that i was able to sell for my original cost! #awesome

So with a GPU in hand, i bought a cheap i3 gen2 CPU and the Zotac z68wifi itx motherboard and an equally cheap 8gb stick of 'rando' ram to bring the computer online. That cpu was never a longterm solution. About one year later i had saved up and grabbed an i5 3570, 16gb of Hyperx white ram, and i flashed the mobo BIOS to accept a gen3 cpu and - taadaa! - a decently balanced PC. Somewhere here the rig also had a corsair h80 aio cooler as well. The original pair of 120gb raided ssd also were recycled into other projects and a 250gb evo ssd became the primary OS drive.

The i5 configuration handled everything i requested very well up till the release date of Mass Effect Andromeda. That's when the gpu bottleneck really showed it's face and with a week or two before the game released i was able to pickup an brand new evga 1070ftw for $500cad (months before the crypto currency rush inflated gpu prices! #blessed). I believe the h80 aio was swapped out for a refurb h100igtx that newegg was selling for dirt cheap- turns out they were overstock units not refurb/return units!

Welcome to today, i have a pair of samsung ssds and a used i7 3770 cpu. The rig is showing it's age but still runs like a champ. Still boots up in 10 seconds and handles everything i need it to do. In the future i may source an ATX model motherboard and case to keep the rig looking fresh but till the system show signs of serious bottlenecks- i'll keep rocking the setup.

#diypc