Digital Foundry Will - MANTAMACHINE

  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Builds
  4. /
  5. Build
Will Judd
Will Judd
Member since
Senior Staff Writer, Digital Foundry
Bristol, United Kingdom
Build Views
59
Build Approvals
2
Fistbumps
2
Followers
0
Posts
2

Digital Foundry Will - MANTAMACHINE

Purpose

To run games for work and pleasure, record footage from a test rig and allow all manner of peripherals to be tested for Digital Foundry / Eurogamer. I've spent a lot of time working on this PC, upgrading it steadily over the years, so I'm happy to share what it's become three years after its initial construction!

Build history

The ever-evolving MANTAMACHINE was so named because it was originally constructed to test an NZXT MANTA Mini-ITX case.

Since then, I've shifted to a larger Thermaltake View 31 RGB case, allowing a full-size MSI Gaming M3 Z270 board. This in turn means that an HDMI capture card and a second NVMe SSD can be fitted, which is handy for my work. The original EVGA GTX 1080 FTW has been replaced with a newer RTX 2080 and 16GB of Crucial 2400MHz RAM has been upgraded to 32GB of Crucial 3200MHz RAM. That means the bottleneck is most often the CPU, an Intel Core i5 6600K that has become the longest-serving component in the case. This has been overclocked to 4.7GHz to boost performance in CPU-heavy titles like CS:GO.

I'm currently running the computer with the 4K 144Hz Acer Predator X27 monitor I have on loan, but this will be replaced with my Acer Predator XB271HU 1440p 144Hz daily driver after the review period is up.
Color(s): Black Light Blue
RGB Lighting? Yes
Theme: none
Cooling: AIO Cooling
Size: ATX
Type: General Build

Contests

This build participated in 1 contest.

Hardware

CPU
$ 130.00
Intel - Core i5-6600K
Socket: LGA 1151
Cores: 4
Motherboard
$ 500.00
MSI - Gaming m3
Chipset: Z270
CPU Socket: LGA 1151
Size: ATX
Memory
Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT (2400MHz) (Grey)
Type: DDR4
Capacity: 32 GB
Graphics
$ 849.00
MSI - Gaming X Trio
Chip Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip: RTX 2080
Interface: PCIe x16
Storage
$ 149.98
Samsung - 960 EVO
Form Factor: M.2
Interface: M.2 (M)
Capacity: 1 TB
Storage
$ 116.99
Seagate - Barracuda
Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
Capacity: 8 TB
Storage
$ 161.00
Western Digital - WD Black
Form Factor: M.2
Interface: M.2 (M)
Capacity: 1 TB
PSU
$ 145.06
EVGA - SuperNOVA 650 G3
Wattage: 650
Form Factor: ATX
Efficiency: 80+ Gold
Case
$ 126.89
Thermaltake - View 31 RGB
Type: Mid-Tower
Side Panel: Tempered Glass
Case Fan
$ 156.95
NZXT - AER RGB 2 - Twin Pack
Size: 140 mm
Cooling
NZXT - Kraken X61
Type: AIO
Accessories
$ 107.06
Monitor
$ 2,099.47
Acer - Predator X27
Size: 27 Inch
Panel: IPS
Refresh Rate: 144 Hz
Monitor
$ 449.99
Acer - Predator XB271HU
Size: 27 Inch
Panel: TN
Refresh Rate: 144 Hz
Keyboard
$ 199.99
Razer - Huntsman Elite (Black)
Interface: Wired
Key Switch Type: Razer Opto-Mechanical
Type: Full Size
Mouse
$ 101.04
Logitech - G Pro
Interface: Wireless
59
2
Approved by: