James’s rig was completed before Christmas, after investing a few thousand dollars and ordering numerous parts from various online suppliers across the US and Canada. James has finally built his dream machine and has developed an addiction to PC gaming. His rig features dual GeForce 8800 GTX GPUs, dual water-cooling systems, a 1 kW power supply, 4 GB of RAM, and…15 matching fans.

“In my opinion, what really makes this computer look like a monster is the Case. Those lovely Mountainmod cases are awesome…” – James Costan

What would you recommend a novice system builder to avoid when building their first computer from scratch?
I would simply recommend a novice system builder to avoid playing with water cooling for their first time. Water cooling is such a hell of a job especially if you are just like me (extremely meticulous!). Also, a good advice would be not to rush buying the hardware and to do some research first. You will get to know what to buy and what not with time and experience. Go ahead and start building! You will love it!

What was the toughest/biggest problem you had to overcome while building your rig?
My biggest problem for this build was with my EVGA 680i A1 motherboard. I've went through 2 of them before finding one that wouldn't die on me or would do what I want it to do. The first one I had bought from a friend, he had an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 running at 4GHz, worked perfectly fine but only for the first few boots. Then a PCI-Express slot died and I couldn't do SLI anymore. So I bought a new one but unfortunately it was dead-on-arrival. So I waited for my friend to RMA the first board I've had... My build was on hold for 2 weeks. When it arrived from the manufacturer I loaded the P31 Bios and everything has been working just fine! I also had another rather weird problem with the new motherboard. Sometimes when the screws that retain my Water-Blocks to the motherboard are too tight, the motherboard refuses to boot. I would get "- -" on the LEDs and that's it. Imagine all the time I spent on trying to figure out what was causing the motherboard not to boot...heh.

If you had to build a rig themed after a video game, what will it be and how would you do it?
If I had to build a computer and mod it based on a game I would probably choose a game that marked my gaming life; either Counter-Strike Source or Call of Duty: United Offensive. It’s a tough decision I really don't know which one I would choose. If I were to build a Counter-Strike Source system I would probably go with a slim black full-tower case (by Lian-Li or Silverstone), make my own side panels, maybe etch the left-side window panel (if any), paint some parts to reflect the Counter-Strike Source style, apply some "Pure Pwnage" stickers on the case (lol!) and I'd fill the case full of decent hardware to play the game with enough AA and AF to ensure the game will shine. Oh and I'd load it with a custom water cooling kit! Water cool or Die!

What game are you currently playing? Why?
I’ve been playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare a lot. I bought the game just a few days after it was released and I've been playing it during my free time ever since. The game has everything I like. I have been a die-hard fan of the Call of Duty series since its release. Call of Duty 4 combines great graphics, great game-play and an incredible multiplayer experience, a great combination that I personally love!

THE SPECS:

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