What is a good cracking crime rig setup in Torn?

No single official best rig exists. Community layouts from 2024 range from a cheap low-heat build (PSU x1, CPU x2, eCPU x22, Computer Fan x1, 29 uses) to costly HPCPU-heavy one-shot rigs. They are opinion and predate the 2025-08 wiki mechanics.

No source names one official best rig. TornLife's research gives the wiki's rig mechanics (2025-08 capture) and community layouts by Emforus from January to February 2024, which trade cost against heat and number of uses. The layouts are opinion and predate the 2025-08 wiki state. The source documents for these findings were not in this pack, so the figures below carry no source ids.

How a rig works

• Cracking was released on 2023-12-19 as Torn's 10th crime, with two education courses on overclocking rigs.^[1][2]
• Components per the wiki: CPU (70W, 30,000 MIPS, high heat), eCPU (30W, 25,000 MIPS, low heat, limited overclocking), HPCPU (150W, 50,000 MIPS, very high heat, enhanced overclocking), Computer Fan (5W, broad cooling), Water Block (moderate cooling in a confined area), Heat Sink (cools directly adjacent parts), PSU (750W, moderate heat).
• Chassis unlock at Cracking skill 25 (a 5x5 array), 50 and 75. Every component takes one slot except the PSU, which takes two and can be rotated.
• Components work across the whole rig, but heat stays within its own chassis.
• A rig comes online only with a power supply and at least 100,000 MIPS. More MIPS raise brute-forcing strength logarithmically, with diminishing returns.
• Heat rises after each brute-force attempt. Heat Sinks and Water Blocks cannot overheat. A component at 100% stops until it falls below 100%. Components cannot be removed above 50% heat. Heat decays 1% per 60 seconds and can reach 150%, which takes 2hrs 30min to decay.
• Removed components leave their heat in the slot, and it carries over to the next component placed there.
• A button removes all components from the chassis at once, useful for testing layouts.^[3]

Nerve, education and enhancer

• Brute-forcing costs seven nerve and reveals one character or breaks one encryption layer. Cracking costs five nerve, needs all characters revealed, and pays money. A critical failure when cracking loses the job and may mean jail of 3 hours 16 minutes to 6 hours 23 minutes.
• CMT2570 Fundamentals Of Computer Architecture cuts rig heat by 25%. CMT2128 Overclocking allows overclocking up to 30%, and CMT2129 Advanced Overclocking up to 50%. Overclocking raises CPU power use and heat proportionally, not fan power or PSU heat. A 2024-01-09 fix made the education heat modifier apply to all components.^[4]
• The cracking enhancer is the Office Chair, per the wiki. Crime 1.0 enhancers do not work in Crimes 2.0.^[5]

Suggested setups (Emforus, opinion, 2024)

The one-shot idea relies on a rig that overheats but still works for that attempt, which was described as not a bug. Players built rigs with no cooling, PSUs and the strongest CPU at maximum overclocking, usable once every 50 minutes. This was a community-tested result.

Layout tips (community-tested)

• Put hotter parts (HPCPU, CPU) in corners, then sides. Put cooler parts (eCPU, PSU) in the middle.
• One HPCPU plus 2 eCPU is close to 3 CPU: the same power, but the 3 CPU are cheaper and cooler with slightly lower MIPS.
• Rotate PSU blocks so the cooler long side faces hot spots.
• Without heat sinks or water blocks, use as many fans as needed to reach the target heat. No cooling is acceptable for light cracking or eCPU-filled rigs.

Currency caveat: the layouts date from January to February 2024. Emforus reported on 2024-01-01 that heat gains for CPUs and PSUs were lowered slightly and fan and water block cooling boosted slightly. The layouts were not re-verified against the 2025-08 rules. A 2026-05 forum thread shows players still swapping rig designs, but its excerpt gives no layout.

Not established

• Current component prices and where each part is obtained.
• Advice tied to cracking skill level beyond the chassis unlocks at 25, 50 and 75.