My Shiny New Rig

Computer Help and Discussions The Lounge
1

In case anyone was curious, I thought I'd post the specs for the new computer I built for myself last week. All parts were purchased from Newegg.com .

Case: COOLER MASTER Stacker

Specs: ATX/BTX full-tower, aluminum, silver, side panels, 1 x 120 mm fan, 25.2" D x 9.8" W, 21.1" H

PSU: PC Power & Cooling TURBO-COOL 850

Specs: 850W continuous, 950W peak, dual PCI-E, 6 SATA, 24-pin main connector, NVIDIA SLI Certified, 85% efficiency, MTBF > 100000 hours

Motherboard: ASUS A8R32-MVP

Specs: ATX, dual PCI-E x16, socket 939, ATI XPRESS 3200 North Bridge, 6 SATA 3 GB/s, 4 GB mem. max, dual Gigabit ethernet

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

Specs: 2.2 GHz clock, 2 GHz HT, 64-bit, 2x128k L1, 2x512k L2, socket 939, 90nm, 3-year warranty

RAM: Corsair XMS

Specs: 4 GB (4 x 1 GB), 184-pin DDR SDRAM @ 400Mhz, 2-3-3-6 timing, heat spreaders, lifetime warranty

Video Adapter: ATI Radeon X1900XT

Specs: 625 MHz core clock, 1450 MHz memory clock, 512 MB 256-bit GDDR3, 16 pixel pipelines, 48 pixel shader processors, VIVO, 2560 x 1600 max res., Shader Model 3, AvivoTM, CrossFireTM, DirectX 9, OpenGL 2, PCI-E x16

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10

Specs: 640 GB (2 x 320 GB), 16 MB cache, 7200 rpm, SATA 3 GB/s, NCQ, Perpendicular Recording Technology, 5-year warranty

Optical Drive: SAMSUNG DVD Burner

Specs: DVD+R/-R 16x, DVD+RW/-RW 8x/6x, DVD+R DL/-R DL 8x/4x, DVD-RAM 5x, CD-R/-RW 48x/32x, ATA/ATAPI, 2 MB cache, LightScribe, black

LCD: BenQ FP202W

Specs: 20.1" widescreen, 1680 x 1050 max res., WSXGA+, 24-bit color, 300 cd/m2, 60W, 0.258 mm pixel pitch

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 OEM

EDIT:

Mouse: Logitech G5 Laser

Specs: Right-handed, 2000 dpi laser, 6.4 megapixels / second, 500 reports / second, 6 buttons, 1x wheel scrolling, 38 grams of weight

Keyboard: Microsoft B2M-00015

Specs: Ergonomic keyboard w/ integrated palm rest, 103 normal keys, 17 function keys, wired, USB, black

Case Fans: ASPIRE CF12SL-UGN

Specs: 4 x 120mm fans, 25 mm deep, 1800-2200 rpm, 77.26 cfm, 35.48 dBA, 4 pin power, clear green plastic, green LEDs

CPU Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5

Specs: 3.5 grams, conductance: >350000 W / m2 ?C, resistance: <0.0045 ?C in2 / W, 3-12 ?C temperature reduction

CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER RR-UMR-P9U1

Specs: 92mm fan, 25mm deep, copper heatsink, 1800-3200 rpm, 26-36 dBA, rifle bearings, socket A / 370 / 462 / 478 / 754 / 939 / 940 / LGA775, 3-4 pin power

Video Adapter Cooler: ARCTIC COOLING Accelero X2

Specs: 2000 rpm, 9.82 cfm, 0.4 Sone, fluid dynamic bearings, aluminum heatsink, 6 copper heatpipes, 6-year warranty

2

w0w, how much did that one cost ya?

3
w0w, how much did that one cost ya?

Um... a lot.

4

around how much?

$2000?

$12000?

$100000?

5
around how much?

$2000?

$12000?

$100000?

Heh, a little more than the first one, and a whole lot less than the last two. :D

6

Including rebates:

Case: COOLER MASTER Stacker $209.99

PSU: PC Power & Cooling TURBO-COOL 850 $449.99

Motherboard: ASUS A8R32-MVP $139.99

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ $358.99

RAM: Corsair XMS $134.99 (2 ea)

Video Adapter: ATI Radeon X1900XT $379.99

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 $409.99 (couldn't find a 7200.10 640GB - priced the 720GB)

Optical Drive: SAMSUNG DVD Burner $37.99

LCD: BenQ FP202W $294.99

Total: $2551.90..........or $2361.89 if hard drive is 7200.10 320GB (2 ea)

7

why not just buy a laptop with that kind of money?

8

how u can throiw away so much money on a pc is beyon

9

3K to 5K. I always seem to end up spending that much because I max out a system.

My new toy that I got last week:

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/760A.htm

10
My new toy that I got last week:

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/760A.htm

pretty cool! now if i only had 4K...

11
why not just buy a laptop with that kind of money?

lol, I've already got 2! Plus, when you buy a notebook, you spend more money for less power, and you can't do much about upgrading it in the future. My case will easily last me 10 years, because it supports both ATX and BTX motherboards. My PSU, assuming it doesn't die, will last me a long time as well, because it is 850 watts and supports up to 6 SATA hard drives and 2 video adapters. My hard drives both have 5 year warranties, the RAM has a lifetime warranty, the CPU is dual core, the video adapter has a fast core and half a gig of GDDR3... this was made with the future in mind. I don't plan on spending too much more on it for many years to come.

I figure I'm better off spending a lot on a computer that will last me a long time than spending $800 on some piece of junk and then having to buy a new one 2 years later.

@ oli: I will easily get $3k worth of utility out of it. How much you use it and what you use it for determines how much you spend on it. This computer isn't just my gamer; it is my multimedia powerhouse. I will use it for watching, storing, and editing video, music, images, documents, and anything else. It serves as my television, my stereo (and eventually my surround sound), my DVD player, my number cruncher, my video game console, my typerwriter, all in one box. What some people might spend on a motorcycle or landscaping, I spend on a new computer. Everyone has their passion, and this is mine. Sorry if you consider that a waste.

@ Andavari: Nice optical drive! I was gonna go with Plextor, but at the last minute I cheaped out and got a solid, but slightly slower Samsung.

12

What some people might spend on a motorcycle or landscaping, I spend on a new computer.

Maybe not this motorbike a Ducati 999R, start drooling!

13

Hi lokoike,

Really like your setup and will be upgrading to something similar in a year or two.

Couple of things I would change though.I would have DDR2 ram and a couple of 10,000 rpm raptors.

But a couple of years is a long time in pc tech.

At the moment this p4,3ghz,1gig ddr is holding up just fine. :)

14

At the moment this p4,3ghz,1gig ddr is holding up just fine. :)

That config should hold up well for sometime, until someone releases something (OS, software, etc.) that requires a stupid amount of processing power and ram.

15

I figure I'm better off spending a lot on a computer that will last me a long time than spending $800 on some piece of junk and then having to buy a new one 2 years later.

@ oli: I will easily get $3k worth of utility out of it. How much you use it and what you use it for determines how much you spend on it. This computer isn't just my gamer; it is my multimedia powerhouse. I will use it for watching, storing, and editing video, music, images, documents, and anything else. It serves as my television, my stereo (and eventually my surround sound), my DVD player, my number cruncher, my video game console, my typerwriter, all in one box. What some people might spend on a motorcycle or landscaping, I spend on a new computer. Everyone has their passion, and this is mine. Sorry if you consider that a waste.

EXACTLY! Ive been using this argument with my wife, but she aint buying it.................

16
Hi lokoike,

Really like your setup and will be upgrading to something similar in a year or two.

Couple of things I would change though.I would have DDR2 ram and a couple of 10,000 rpm raptors.

But a couple of years is a long time in pc tech.

At the moment this p4,3ghz,1gig ddr is holding up just fine. :)

Yeah, I was thinking about going the DDR2 route, but my processor and motherboard are both socket 939, which doesn't support DDR2. I could've gone with socket AM2 (which supports DDR2), but at the time I bought the parts, the AM2 socket had only been on the market for about 2 weeks, so there wasn't much variety in motherboards. That's the only problem with AMD: they took so long to adopt the DDR2 standard. Intel has been supporting it for many months now. I probably won't upgrade my RAM/CPU/mobo until DDR3 rolls around in desktops. I'll just skip over DDR2 so that I don't have to make two upgrade cycles.

As far as hard drives go, I'm not all that big of a fan of 10,000 and 15,000 rpm drives in general, because of storage constraints. See, I plan on filling my 2 320 GB drives up in a matter of months, so obviously the smaller Raptors wouldn't work out too well for me. But for people who do mostly gaming, they offer plenty of speed!

Out of curiousity (and slightly off topic), do you plan on using Intel or AMD? You'll have to post and/or email me your specs when you get them picked out. :D

Oh, and I have a few more little parts (fans, CPU and GPU cooler, etc.) that I got for my computer too, so I'll add them to the original list when I get the chance.

17

The X1900XT =DDD

A little loud, though, didn't want to go a little bit higher and go for the 7900GTX?

18
The X1900XT =DDD

A little loud, though, didn't want to go a little bit higher and go for the 7900GTX?

The sound wasn't really an issue for me, because I replaced the stock VGA cooler with an Accelero X2 (see edited list). It runs very quiet, and cools better at 2k rpm than the stock fan. Kinda bulky, though!

I was planning on going with NVIDIA for this rig, but I chose ATI for 2 reasons:

1. At the time I purchased my CPU, Newegg was offering a combo deal that knocked $80 off the x1900XT if you buy them together! Couldn't really pass that up...

&

2. Maximum PC ran both cards against each other, and while the NVIDIA won most of the game tests, the ATI beat the living hell out of NVIDIA in the video tests. And since I plan on watching and editing a lot of video with this machine, I figured I could afford to give up a couple FPS in Obilvion...

19

oooo i just loved dishing out money for my computer, today i finally fixed up my lockup problem ive been having forever with my sli, becuz i was stupid and forgot about cleaning them out and reinstalling the drivers. Which i did after.... reinstalling windows, but at least i didnt lose my music, cuz i hadd it on a partition. Oh and I realized how awesome foobar2000 is, makes my music sound awesome with my mega speaker system. YAY flaming lips and queen. ive been enjoying their music the most.

yeah laptops suck, the only time I might buy one is for college.

20

Out of curiousity (and slightly off topic), do you plan on using Intel or AMD?

Although this question wasn't asked to me I think I'll go with a powerful AMD next time (maybe top of the line, or 1 step down from the top processor) due to my Intel P4 @ 3.2Ghz taking so much juice, and when doing something which I consider simple like encoding music and then having to hear the processor heat buildup start making the fans go into a hyper-fast speed that's pretty noisy for my individual tastes.