my new build scratch pad thread

[Caliga]

Ok, so Princesca and I made a deal that when I want to buy new toys for myself, I can use my investment account as long as I am making profits on it.... and I just made a huge profit on sale of Accenture stock (bought @ like 24, sold at 44 this morning), well over what I need to do a new system build.

So right now I am leaning toward an AMD build.  I believe their hexacore CPUs are coming out shortly so I may wait to see how they're priced... I'm in no rush.  My current system is still pretty decent, but I'm a giant performance nerd, and I want a system that can keep up with my HD 5770 video card (I do *not* spend more than $250 on a video card, no matter how OSSUM it may be).

Aside from leaning AMD, the only other definite is that it must have an SSD.  Probably don't want to spend too much on one of those, so I will be looking to put the OS and maybe 1-2 demanding apps on it, and the rest and all music and... uhhhhh.... videos  on a 1-2 TB HDD.

[Grey Fox]

Share.
the.
money.
with.
meh.
please.

I'm still rocking an Athlon 64ffs.

[Barrister]

I dunno what kind of advice you want, other than to show off.  You already have a strong system from what I remember.

Research your SSD purchase very, very carefully.  Their real world performance can avry quite a bit depending on the firmware.  There are a ton of articles on anandtech on the topic.

If you're really just looking to burn money, invest in your monitor.  The bigger the better.  If you have a 5770, consider going the triple-monitor route (I forget what they call that system).

Invest in your case as well.

[Caliga]

"Showing off" goes without saying in any sort of thread of this manner.

But I do genuinely want advice, especially from people who have done relatively recent builds themselves (IIRC Berkut did an i7 build not too long ago).  My current CPU is an Intel Core 2 Conroe @ 2.16 Ghz, so while it's decent by no means is it UBER 733t.

The last build I did was this past fall for one of the directors at work and I gave him a decent system, but as he does not game there were a whole host of different considerations (e.g. stability, longevity).

I kind of want to focus on three things this time around: performance, energy efficency, and noise.  I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit on performance to gain efficiency on the other two, but not too much.

[Barrister]

Thankfully efficiency and noise are closely related - performance though not so much.

Like I said - invest in a good case.  One with good airflow, lots of rubber bushings and padding (to dampen vibration), and hopefully with room for custom fans.  Large, slow-moving fans will give you more cooling with less noise than a smaller, faster fan.

Also consider looking at custom heatsinks, even for the graphics card.  A bunch out there to promote better cooling with less noise.

[Grey Fox]

Yeah, what's your current case?

My usual recommendation is of course : HAF 932 from Coolermaster.

But if you have the room I'd look into a Cosmos 1000

[Caliga]

GF, I plan on doing an entirely new build, including case, so what I currently have is not relevant.  But just for reference's sake, I have a CoolerMaster Cavalier right now.

As far as my current PS goes, I think I'm going to do something I've been talking about for a while but never actually done: install Linux on it and mess around with it that way.

[Caliga]

Yeah, what's your current case?

My usual recommendation is of course : HAF 932 from Coolermaster.

Wow, why is this case so expensive? 

[Grey Fox]

Yeah, what's your current case?

My usual recommendation is of course : HAF 932 from Coolermaster.

Wow, why is this case so expensive? 

Because it is awesome.

But it's only 140$ on Newegg, that's not expensive.

a Cosmos 1000 is 170$.

[Caliga]

I'm used to paying a hell of a lot less than that for cases.  I think the Cavalier cost me like $45.

[Barrister]

Spend the money on a quality case Cal.

Not that you can purchase it, but my Mac Pro case is just miles better designed than any Dell or Compaq I ever owned.  I would definitely get a high-quality case if I was building from scratch.

[Caliga]

Yeah, I know Beebs, and I always thought of my Cavalier as a quality case.... that's why I asked the question. 

[Grey Fox]

I'm used to paying a hell of a lot less than that for cases.  I think the Cavalier cost me like $45.

I don't know how flimsy a Cavalier is but the HAF 932 is very well design case.

HAF stands for High Air Flow & it does exactly that.
It's also toolless. No screws.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/HAF_932

Ups
•Great looks with a few very nice details
•Solid materials and well constructed
•Plenty of space
•Water cooling ready - with Fillport
•Pushes lots of air - 2x 230 mm
•Large fans can be replaced by 120 mm units
•Screw-less system for optical drives
•Simple but well constructed hard drive trays
•Front covers can easily be removed
•Complete front I/O connectivity


Downs
•Fairly heavy
•Fans are quite loud
•Screw-less system for optical drives does not hold perfectly.

Altho, I think the "fans are quite loud" comment is totally bogus.

It's well worth the investment.

[Caliga]

The Cavalier is also toolless, but yes I will look into this model GF.

For the PC I built for that guy in the fall, I used a CoolerMaster Centurion.  I think the Cavalier has been discontinued.

[derspiess]

Cal, I think you need to build a 2nd identical rig and store it offsite for disaster recovery purposes.  I'd be happy to keep it in my office at home