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starter benching rig, what would you build?

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tcar

tcar

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Dec 16, 2013
Location
South Texas
Hi all I've been doing a ton of reading here on OCF and I'm interested in getting my feet wet with benching I have always OC'd my systems some but never really tried to push it to the limits so to speak. I don't want to use my main rig for benching as I use it to much and just don't want the headache, however I have quite a few spare parts laying around and with just a few purchases could have another system up and going. I've always been an AMD guy, no particular reason that's just what I started with years ago and have stuck with them but I'm open to amd or intel. so if you'll humor me here if you were just starting out and had a moderate budget what would you build keeping in mind it would be purely a benching rig and water cooled like I said "just starting out" I have no desire to jump straight into Ln2 Lol.
 
I'm just getting into it myself so I'm interested in seeing some of the replies.

Might be helpful if you listed what you currently will be using (from the old parts box) and what your budget is.
 
Blaylock said:
I'm just getting into it myself so I'm interested in seeing some of the replies.

Might be helpful if you listed what you currently will be using (from the old parts box) and what your budget is.
Click to expand...

I would be buying CPU,M.B., and probably GPU and of coarse the water cooling
basically I have cases,drives,psu's key boards etc.

I have some extra ram but would probably buy better.

as far as budget I'm really not sure that's part of my question actually to see what others with experience would consider a moderate budget for getting into it then I'll have an idea of what I need to spend. Generally speaking I spend what I need to to get good quality components, but as relates to benching??? I mean I don't want to spend 250.00+ on a motherboard if 150.00 will get the same results as far as benching goes.
 
You can get some decent boints from just air, save the money there for other hardware.

I would get a benching station (open air stand for the computer parts), you'll thank yourself later.

You can go one of two routes with the hardware. 2D or 3D, if you want to go 2D get a decent 1155 board and a bunch of cheap CPUs. If you want to go 3D, get one good mobo/CPU combo and a bunch of cheap GPUs.
 
ATMINSIDE said:
You can get some decent boints from just air, save the money there for other hardware.

I would get a benching station (open air stand for the computer parts), you'll thank yourself later.

You can go one of two routes with the hardware. 2D or 3D, if you want to go 2D get a decent 1155 board and a bunch of cheap CPUs. If you want to go 3D, get one good mobo/CPU combo and a bunch of cheap GPUs.
Click to expand...

in that case I am getting ready to switch around the systems in my sig. going from crossfire to single card set-ups would 7800 series cards be viable for benching?? I was planning to sell them but hey if they would be good for benching purposes:shrug:

likely I will just butcher one of my extra cases and make my own benching station I've been reading up on the do's and don'ts of it already.

is it possible to get good 2d and 3d bench marks on the same rig??
 
If you're going to upgrade your system already, I would get a bunch of cheap CPUs for your current motherboard.
Any hardware can be good for benching, as HWBot splits everything into individual hardware.
 
something like 1156 i3/i5 and P55/H55 mobo is good set to start ... easy to oc , some similar settings to newer hardware, hard to kill , is almost not degrading ( if you won't try to use 1.9V on air ;) ) and is cheap on auctions ... so can learn something , maybe add some points to rankings and generally have some fun
 
For starting out you can get get whatever interests you. Intel, amd there are even benchmarks that can be run on android and Raspberry pi. I would start out with a good air cooler then go outside when it is colder if you want to push it. There are overclocking stats at hwbot for almost everything.
Try working with your current rig in our monthly overclocktagon contests to get your feet wet.
 
I have some really good Intel 775 parts Ive been THINKING of letting go:D
I'm sure you could some fun with that,just a thought
 
ATMINSIDE said:
If you're going to upgrade your system already, I would get a bunch of cheap CPUs for your current motherboard.
Any hardware can be good for benching, as HWBot splits everything into individual hardware.
Click to expand...

I don't want to use my main rig, I use it to much for work\games and whatever, that's why I was thinking of a rig just for benching.

xsuperbgx said:
For starting out you can get get whatever interests you. Intel, amd there are even benchmarks that can be run on android and Raspberry pi. I would start out with a good air cooler then go outside when it is colder if you want to push it. There are overclocking stats at hwbot for almost everything.
Try working with your current rig in our monthly overclocktagon contests to get your feet wet.
Click to expand...

well if that's the case I have an old amd 7750 dual core in a asus m4a78-e mobo but it's a ddr2 board, although it has 4gigs of good for the time ocz ram in it. that board isn't exactly an overclockers dream though. it would keep me from actually buying anything Hmm might be interesting just to see what it could do??
 
See what it can do! You can compare your results with many different benchmarks. Select your type of cooling and compare results. It is a big challenge to try and beat other's clock speeds or you can try to beat people's effiiency by beating their score at the same clock speed. Some benchmarks use only one core or thread and others use all cores.

http://hwbot.org/hardware/processor/athlon_x2_7750_be/

It looks like there are very few team scores with that cpu, so you could even earn our team some points. Post in the benchmarking team area if you want to dive in a bit deeper.
 
bench with what you got, it's fun, over in the overclocktagon i bring up the rear but I learn a lot every month and as long as I keep station with the rigs like mine, I am a happy camper.....
 
tcar said:
I don't want to use my main rig, I use it to much for work\games and whatever, that's why I was thinking of a rig just for benching.
Click to expand...

What I'm saying is if you're looking for an upgrade for your main system go ahead and do that then keep your current board and buy a bunch of cheap CPUs for it. Lots of 2D points without a lot of money spent.
 
In my opinion: if you want to do 3D benching you need the latest and greatest processor to not be a bottleneck to the videocard (and many old benchmarks are CPU limited). I think 3D is harder as well as you already have to be very familiar with getting the CPU/ram overclocked then you throw in another variable with GPU settings.

For 2D (which I would recommend to anyone starting out). Use whatever you have lying around. Learn how to push the limits. A platform that has a ton of potential and options for a good used price is socket 775 (core2duos and core2quads)
 
caddi daddi said:
bench with what you got, it's fun, over in the overclocktagon i bring up the rear but I learn a lot every month and as long as I keep station with the rigs like mine, I am a happy camper.....
Click to expand...

I think your 965 has taken me out the last couple of months, but I'm learning. Once I get this thing down I'm hoping to give you a challenge.
 
ATMINSIDE said:
You can get some decent boints from just air, save the money there for other hardware.

I would get a benching station (open air stand for the computer parts), you'll thank yourself later.

You can go one of two routes with the hardware. 2D or 3D, if you want to go 2D get a decent 1155 board and a bunch of cheap CPUs. If you want to go 3D, get one good mobo/CPU combo and a bunch of cheap GPUs.
Click to expand...

well I was digging around in the garage looking for an old case I had and I came across an old printer stand (at least I think that's what it was) and it gave me an idea. I cut the back panel, hard drive cages and 5.25 drive bay out of the old case mounted some stand off's for the mother board, put a 120 fan in the bottom to blow air under the cpu socket and I cut and bent the rear exhaust fan mount so it now blows on the vrm and socket. anyway I thought it made a decent benching station and the best part is I don't even have any money in it.
098.jpg
 
Blaylock said:
Very noice! Though I think I'd add a coat or two of jet black.
Click to expand...

Lol, yea I would have preferred black myself but red was what I had so red it is:D
now just to get some hardware mounted on it and start playin.

edit: I just realized it looks pink in the picture ?? oh well it's actually fire engine red.
 
Last edited:
Awesome looking station there! Should serve you quite well.
 
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