Computers and Servers
Servers
Intel DH87RL
I have 1 of these in each server. Got a mad deal on them and have put them through there paces over the years for sure. I have had them a long time and recently turned them BOTH into servers. I added 2 SATA ports using a PCIE expander card. Tested speeds were more than adequate to saturate 2 HDD write speeds. I have 6-8 HDD plugged into each one with dual parity and NO raid. I will sacrifice speed for data security for now.
G Skill 16 GB Ripsaw
This is the RAM in each server. 16GB in each one to make them speedy enough to handle some VM’s and some heavy streaming for my CCTV system. Great value for the dollar.
Corasair SF450
Cheap and easy power supply for the servers. Modular so you only cable what you need. So far they have been deadly good and quiet.
Intel i7 4770
This chip has been great. Plugged an chugged calculations, games, and simulations for years without a hiccup. On my VM, I peeled off 1 cores for the server and 3 for the VM. Such a champ of a chip for years on end.
Seagate Ironwolf 4 TB
Tough drive with the “red” rating. Means it’s more vibration proof than the average drive as it sits in servers next to other spinning drives. As you add drives it adds a lot of vibrations so “red” is important for longevity for sure.
Seagate Ironwolf 3 TB
Tough drive with the “red” rating. Means it’s more vibration proof than the average drive as it sits in servers next to other spinning drives. As you add drives it adds a lot of vibrations so “red” is important for longevity for sure.
Seagate Ironwolf 1 TB
Tough drive with the “red” rating. Means it’s more vibration proof than the average drive as it sits in servers next to other spinning drives. As you add drives it adds a lot of vibrations so “red” is important for longevity for sure.
MSI Radeon HD 7790 OC 1GB
I have had this thing for years and it’s held up without issue. I prefer the Nividia interface over the AMD one so this is in the servers now. It works very well forwarded to the VM machine. No complaints.
Cooler Master N300 Tower Chassis
No messing no bells case. Has lots of fan mounts to keep the drives cool and can hold 8 drives with no mods. I’m sure I can get an easy 12 in there no problem.
Main Desktop
Msi Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
Lots of PCIE, lots of SATA, over clock capable. This beast has it all. This is my first mobo buy for my first build. So far I LOVE it. So easy to play with the OC settings for both RAM and CPU.
Intel i7 8700k @4.7 GHz
Suuuuch an upgrade from the 4770. It plows through Premiere like a knife through butter. So smooth so fast. Overclocked it to 5.0 GHz but it wasn’t super stable and it’s temps were getting to high for comfort so I currently keep it at 4.7 and its super stable. Zero hiccups and as always I push it hard.
32 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX ddr4 2666
After effects LOVES RAM….loves it. I would like to double this soon. I do not game anymore so I believe that 2666 MHz its fine…plus the datasheet for the 8700 says it wants 2666 so I’m a proponent of give it what it likes. I’m always doing data stuff or video stuff so my bottle neck is how fast I can write the data to storage not how fast the ram is. This more than gets the job done so I mos def want some more.
Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe 250 GB
Is it overkill for a scratch drive? For some maybe….but I have seen this thing writing from Adobe at 980 MB/s so far. That’s not even half its rated speed so I’m pretty sure my bottle neck is still CPU. These things are insanely fast. Bleeding edge tech. High recommend.
Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe 1 TB
This is my main drive. C drive if you will. So so so fast. On my similar scratch drive I have seen it writing at 980 MB/s so far. That’s not even half its rated speed so there is room to grow. Startup is insanely fast as you;d expect. Super high recommend.
Corasair RM850i
Modular and powerful with lots of fun apps to monitor things. The modular cabling alone is invaluable and save me so much time. Lots of power to grow as I need to as well.
Gigabyte GEFORCE 1050 Ti 4 GB OC
Since I don’t game this things is to run the quad monitors. I needed outputs and this delivered. I bought this a while ago so it only has 4 GB but as it turns out that is plenty for Adobe. Great bang for the buck.
Corsair H115i Pro
I got this to plug into my case’s 280mm bracket. This has been awesome. Dropped in and easy to plug in and even easier to mount to the CPU. Looks amazing, and the app for it is fun too.
Cooler MasterMasterCase Pro 5 Full Tower Case
The main thing I wanted was fan mounts and HDD mounts. This fit the list. So many mounts for fans and has a built in 280mm radiator bracket. I filled this thing with parts in under an hour. So fast and easy to setup and use. Max’d out the fans to keep everything cool which surprisingly is very quiet. Looks awesome with the rad on top and the glass side as well! Love love love this case.
Logitech G413 Carbon
This thing has a kind of raised button design which I LOVE! Easy to blow out my puppers hair or crumbs of food hahaah. The red backlight is easy on the eyes at night. The buttons are extremely satisfying to mash too. Such a nice keyboard.
Razer Tartarus v2
I watched a Linus vid on editing workflow and I saw how valuable having macro’s mapped is. The easiest and cheapest was this thing. It works GREAT and I love how easy it is to switch button maps based on what program I am using.
Wacom Pen and Touch Tablet
For Photoshop and Illustrator this thing is a must to save time. I’m all about saving a minute here is a minute I can use elsewhere. Mice are just not efficient as a pen for that type of work and a small pad is just perfect to sit in the corner of my desk till needed. Great value and such good precision.
Focusrite 2i2
To drive my headphones I spec’d out this thing. Simple, easy to use, and is so so good sounding.
Denon AH-D2000
The flattest response curve you can get. Right from 10Hz to 20KHz its flaaaaaaat all the way. To get great sound I need to hear great sound to edit it properly. Flat curve is paramount as it ensures that each of my videos sounds optimal no matter what you are listening to it on. Has a giant long cable too so I can get up and walk around my office. Had these for years with 1000’s of hrs and they still are crispy and low.
Travel Lappy
Msi ge62 Apache Pro
It has an Intel 6700 and a 960M GPU coupled with the NVMe drives and an SSD scratch drive makes this beast the perfect on the road edit station. High power, big screen, full number pad makes it super robust.
Smasung 850 EVO 250 GB
Is it overkill for a scratch drive? For some maybe….but I have seen this thing writing from Adobe at ~420 MB/s so far. That’s saturating its rated write speed so this is the bottle neck but in my travel lappy I’m not doing a lot of after effects related things so its a non issue. These things are insanely fast. Bleeding edge tech. High recommend.
Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe 500 GB
This is my main drive. C drive if you will. So so so fast. On my similar scratch drive I have seen it writing at 980 MB/s so far. That’s not even half its rated speed so there is room to grow. Startup is insanely fast as you;d expect. Super high recommend.