The desk setup - excuse the untidy wiring everywhere! Audio Engine A5+ speakers, Acer Predator X27 monitor, Blue Yeti mic w/ Blue Compass mount, iKBC F87 mechanical keyboard with pudding caps and MX Brown switches, Logitech G Pro wireless mouse, Xbox Elite controller and Sennheiser HD 598 SE headphones all atop a SteelSeries Prism XL mousepad.
Insides: Kraken X61 AiO radiator with two Aer RGB 2 fans across the top, two Thermaltake Riing fans in the front and one in the back. MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio card with support, 32GB of new Ballistix Sport 3200MB/s, Core i5 6600K at 4.7GHz and an MSI Gaming M3 motherboard. Two M.2 SSD drives on the motherboard, but the lower one doesn't work when the lower PCIe slot is filled so it's just for games storage and testing. Again, excuse the wiring and random SSD for macOS, I am terrible.
Top shot.
Various knick-knacks and the PC in situ. It would sit on the right side of the desk, but it needs to be in range of another PC which is behind and to the left of me, so this is where it ended up.
Setup once again, a little closer up.
Original phone shot of the build from my phone camera.
Picture of the machine in another life, with GTX 1080, fewer drives, older RAM and the MSI Z170I Mini ITX motherboard.
The OG Mantamachine, built into an NZXT Manta case.
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.
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.
| Rank | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| #1948 | The builds.gg 10K Challenge | ended |
Hardware
CPU
$ 121.88
Memory
Graphics
$ 389.22
Storage
$ 178.68
PSU
$ 145.06
Case
$ 149.99
Case Fan
$ 156.95
Cooling
Accessories
$ 99.99
Accessories
$ 105.98
Accessories
Monitor
$ 2,099.47
Monitor
$ 449.99
Keyboard
$ 186.99
Razer - Huntsman Elite (Black)
Interface: Wired
Key Switch Type: Razer Opto-Mechanical
Type: Full Size
Approved by: