Orca Revival

The Hardware Behind Orca

2012 was a different time for OC3D, as evidenced from the blue walls and worn desks that sat within TTL towers. As we mentioned before, ASUS’ ROG Rampage IV Extreme sat the core of the system alongside twin HD 7970 graphics cards. 

Back then, six-core/twelve-thread processors were uncommon, AMD’s Bulldozer processors were new on the scene, and 3GB graphics cards were considered excessive. A lot has changed since then, but even today Orca is a capable gaming machine. 

To water cool our ROG Rampage IV Extreme their reference-style HD 7970 GPUs, Tom utilised Koolance water blocks, Bitspower fittings and Alphacool radiators. Corsair provided the Dominator Platinum memory and Force GT SSDs used in the system, alongside a collection of SP120 fans for cooling. 

With an ROG motherboard and ASUS graphics cards sitting at the heart of Orca, you should see why now seemed like the perfect time for system cleanup and refitting. It only seemed appropriate that the story of Orca be retold during ASUS’ “30 Years Together” campaign, the system which powered OC3D’s video production efforts for five years while maintaining 5GHz clock speeds. 

  

Some aspects of Orca were updated over time, with the system’s original 2133MHz Dominator Platinum DIMMs being replaced with faster 2666MHz models while the black fittings below were eventually replaced with white versions. 

When the Orca project was in its infancy, Bitspower didn’t manufacture white fittings, but eventually, Tom’s patients rewarded him with white barbs and angled fittings. These parts were fitting for the build’s black/white Orca theme. 

 

  

Orca – Today’s Specs

Here are the core specifications of Orca as they stand today, with almost all of its hardware remaining unchanged since the system’s construction. Orca wasn’t created to be gutted and replaced with each new hardware generation, contributing to the PC’s longstanding spirit. Now it stands as a monument to a time that’s now passed, and a person who will never be forgotten. 

 

ASUS ROG X79 Rampage IV Extreme Motherboard  
Intel i7 3930K Processor
ASUS HD 7970 Graphics Cards in Crossfire
Cooler Master Storm Stryker Chassis
32GB of Corsair Dominator Platinum 2666MHz memory
2x Corsair Force GT 480GB in RAID-0
Corsair AX760i Power Supply