Looking to buy a new computer

The first component for my new computer has arrived: the dual-monitor stand direct from Dell. It's a fairly boring component, but an essential one nonetheless.

Why do you need a stand for just two monitors?  Why not just place the two monitors next to each other?

Why do you need a stand for just two monitors?  Why not just place the two monitors next to each other?

This will take up less desk room and will probably be easier to manage.

When you lay out all the coloured boxes just before you start the build, its knicker-wettingly exciting.

Fuck yeah, PC Case Gear is now listing Ivy Bridge CPUs on their website. Time to finalise my list of parts.

Newegg is listing Ivy Bridge processors as well. As expected, they're overpriced to infinity and beyond. Ivy bridge had no visible effect on the pricing of Sandy Bridge.

Draft final list of parts:

CPU: Intel Core i7 3770
Hell yeah, motherfucker.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H Motherboard
I don't want to spend much more than this, it'll be a waste of money for stuff I won't use.

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-1600C9D-16GXM 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3
A decent amount of headroom for running virtual machines, without going overboard.

Storage:
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD
Based on what I've read, this drive has higher random read/write performance but lower sustained read/write performance than other models. Since I plan to use this for my OS (and the OSes of virtual machines) and not general-purpose storage, this is a desirable trade-off.
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB WD2002FAEX
No change here. I'm happy with this selection.
Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARX
This is for making backups of my data. I won't need the performance of the more expensive Caviar Black for a backup drive.

Cooling: Arctic Cooling 120mm F12 TC Fan
Two of these for airflow. I'll try my luck with the stock CPU cooler.

Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha Mid Tower Case
Extensibility where it matters.

Optical drive: Sony BD5300SOB Blu-Ray 12x Writer Internal Drive

GPU: ASUS Radeon HD 6850 DirectCU V2
I might end up going with a 560 Ti, but if I do that, I'll need a fucking beast of a PSU, so it'll cost me at least $200 more for extra VRAM I may not benefit that much from, given how rarely I play games. I haven't made my final decision yet, however.

PSU: Antec EA-650 Platinum Power Supply
This will give me a bit of headroom for future expansion, and it's not much more expensive than a 550 W.

The above parts total $1720, which is pretty reasonable. If I upgrade to the 560 Ti it'll be close to $2000, and I'm as yet unconvinced of the value of doing so.

I'll probably wait a day or so to think this list over, and for people to provide suggestions. I intend to order either the above list of parts, or something very similar to it, tomorrow.

I should probably select a keyboard and mouse, too. This keyboard is falling apart, and my current mouse is too small. But I'm too hungry to think right now; I'll make those selections later.

I should probably select a keyboard and mouse, too. This keyboard is falling apart, and my current mouse is too small. But I'm too hungry to think right now; I'll make those selections later.

Interesting you should mention that because the keyboard I bought for my PC is a piece of shit. I ordered a new one a few days ago.

I wanted wired because this keyboard eats 4 batteries a month. That's annoying.

I'm going to get a cherry.
http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/keyboards/Office/G85-23100/index.htm

That should last me years and be reliable.

I've also gone for a trackerball. Moving a ball with my fingers just seems to make more sense than moving a mouse with my wrist. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Processor: Like owning a Ferrari when the speed limit is 60 mph. The only difference is people can see your Ferrari. Why not i5? Do you need your 4 cores to be hyperthreaded to act as 8? Run a lot of 8 core apps?

RAM: Still in dreamland? Why don't you fire up some vms on your current machine and see how much each one uses. You don't need more than 8Gb. I'm sure of that.

Storage: 2Tb drives? Is the internet about to be deleted and you're the only one who can store it for us? 128Gb for an os drive? Wow, linux is bloated.

Case: Dude its plastic looking. Its price does not hide its cheapness. Not my taste.

PSU: Are you cold in Australia? That 650W power supply will keep you warm. Now actually make a claculation of what you need. http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I will also tell you as a veteran builder, you can leave all the headroom you want, but by the time you want to upgrade because the PC doesn't meet your needs, yo want to replace tons of stuff on it. Not just add a better graphics card. You'll want a new processor that needs a new socket. You'll want sata 3 or sata 4 or whatever is out. USB 4. A x256 blu-ray hybrid something burner. You'll want 6400CL4 ram and not the painfully slow 1600CL9 slow crap you have. And mostly everything will look dusty and yellowed and crap.

Build a PC to do a job. Not to do jobs you haven't yet thought of.  You aren't a 14 year old gamer. You are a linux nerd. You will get far more joy from compiling a kernal than you ever will from shooting a digital Arab in the face at 80 fps.

Sorry to be such a downer but I honestly don't think these are sensible buying decisions based on your computer habits.

What I'd go for.

i5 still overkill but I'd never talk you down to an i3. I will say though my 3.3hz i3 is unbelievable. I don't run anything requiring 4 cores and I've never had the processor at 100% so it would never have used the turboboost 2.0. A 3.3Ghz i5 would not do anything any faster for me.

60gb ssd. You'll only use half of that. If it is a mistake, get a second 60 gb one down the road. It will be half as much by then. but you'll never need to.

I don't now how much other storage you need but 2Tb is just crazy. You have a server don't you? Shouldn't that have all the bulk on it? And you want to back it up with a further 2tb? This is digital insanity.

Ram: Get 8gb. And if you have to get the best, get low latency. You will fire everything up and be staggered how much 16gb of ram really is.

PSU: I'd use the calculator but there is no way you need more than 400W. Your processor will only use 77W. gone are the days when 125W was normal. same with other components. As I said I have a 150W pico psu. My processor is 65W, I have an ssd, peripherals, a wireless internet attached with usb, a dvd burner, 4gb of ram ... you don't have 500W of stuff more than me. You just don't. You may even be fine with 300W if you do the calc - headroom and all. 650W ... think of the dolphins, starving African children, the Amazon rainforest and the plight of the peaceful pygmies in Indonesia. Your selfish act is killing them all. I don't live on a mountain, don't flood my house parsifal.

Interesting you should mention that because the keyboard I bought for my PC is a piece of shit. I ordered a new one a few days ago.

I wanted wired because this keyboard eats 4 batteries a month. That's annoying.

I'm definitely getting a wired keyboard. I tried a wireless one once; never again.

Processor: Like owning a Ferrari when the speed limit is 60 mph. The only difference is people can see your Ferrari. Why not i5? Do you need your 4 cores to be hyperthreaded to act as 8? Run a lot of 8 core apps?

The running of what you probably mean by "8 core [sic] apps" is irrelevant. The cores don't all need to be running the same process. That said, Ardour 3 will likely make full use of all eight threads, as it will have support for multithreaded signal processing.

I don't understand what you mean by "the speed limit is 60 mph". I don't plan to impose any artificial limits on what my CPU can do.

RAM: Still in dreamland? Why don't you fire up some vms on your current machine and see how much each one uses. You don't need more than 8Gb. I'm sure of that.

I'm fully aware of how much RAM a virtual machine will use. What I'm not aware of is how many VMs I will end up wanting to run.

Besides, RAM isn't that expensive, so I don't really care if I end up only using half of this. All the more for file system caching to facilitate faster access to my data.

Storage: 2Tb drives? Is the internet about to be deleted and you're the only one who can store it for us?

I ran out of space on my 500 GB external hard drive before I accidentally corrupted all 500 GB of it. I will undoubtedly run out of space on a 2 TB drive also. That is the way of the Force.

128Gb for an os drive? Wow, linux is bloated.

Once again, you don't seem to be reading and/or comprehending my posts. There won't be a single OS on that drive; it will contain the operating systems of all the virtual machines I plan to run. Furthermore, I will be symlinking some stuff on that SSD from my home directory that I want fast access to.

Also, the Vertex 4 isn't available in capacities below 128 GB. I want the Vertex 4. Therefore, I am buying a 128 GB drive.

Case: Dude its plastic looking. Its price does not hide its cheapness. Not my taste.

You've already mentioned this. I consider myself lucky that I do not share your taste.

PSU: Are you cold in Australia? That 650W power supply will keep you warm. Now actually make a claculation of what you need. http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I did. I will need at least 500 W, give or take a little. That 650 W PSU is only about $15 more than a 550 W PSU. There's really not much to be saved by going lower.

I will also tell you as a veteran builder, you can leave all the headroom you want, but by the time you want to upgrade because the PC doesn't meet your needs, yo want to replace tons of stuff on it. Not just add a better graphics card. You'll want a new processor that needs a new socket. You'll want sata 3 or sata 4 or whatever is out. USB 4. A x256 blu-ray hybrid something burner. You'll want 6400CL4 ram and not the painfully slow 1600CL9 slow crap you have. And mostly everything will look dusty and yellowed and crap.

Build a PC to do a job. Not to do jobs you haven't yet thought of.  You aren't a 14 year old gamer. You are a linux nerd. You will get far more joy from compiling a kernal than you ever will from shooting a digital Arab in the face at 80 fps.

Actually, compiling kernels gets pretty boring after a while. It's fairly repetitive. Anyway, headroom that costs $15 is a bargain, whether or not I'll ever need it.

Sorry to be such a downer but I honestly don't think these are sensible buying decisions based on your computer habits.

I disagree.

Ok, just one last question. How long do you intend to use this new PC before you replace it?

Ok, just one last question. How long do you intend to use this new PC before you replace it?

Indefinitely.

Well, personally I tend to build a computer to last about 3 years. And in 18 months the pc you build will only cost half as much to build. I've been there with the high end rigs. In 18 months you'll think I spent all that money and bloody Dell are selling the same thing for just $600. It makes more sense to spend $900 now and another $900 again in 2 years than to blow $1800 on a PC to last 4 years.

Have one last think before you commit. And then enjoy it. Most of it is fun. The only bits that are nerve racking is getting the processor locked into the motherboard (If its your first time then yes, you really do have to put that much force into it), and the moment you press the power button for the first time. When I did that for this machine nothing happened. That was a heart stopping moment. But I mixed up the on button and on led jumpers (They were identical and both emerged from behind a board already affixed to the case so there was no way to know.). Swapped em over and she ran perfectly.

Well, personally I tend to build a computer to last about 3 years. And in 18 months the pc you build will only cost half as much to build. I've been there with the high end rigs. In 18 months you'll think I spent all that money and bloody Dell are selling the same thing for just $600. It makes more sense to spend $900 now and another $900 again in 2 years than to blow $1800 on a PC to last 4 years.

I could do that. But I have the money and I feel like spending it to get something really awesome, even if it is a bit overkill.

Have one last think before you commit. And then enjoy it. Most of it is fun.

I am having one last think before I commit. That's why I'm not ordering until tomorrow.

The only bits that are nerve racking is getting the processor locked into the motherboard (If its your first time then yes, you really do have to put that much force into it), and the moment you press the power button for the first time. When I did that for this machine nothing happened. That was a heart stopping moment. But I mixed up the on button and on led jumpers (They were identical and both emerged from behind a board already affixed to the case so there was no way to know.). Swapped em over and she ran perfectly.

Pressing the power button for the first time will be the start of a whole new adventure. I'll actually get to start with a clean Debian GNU/Linux system, which is much needed as this one has a lot of horribleness from when I was still learning about Linux and was trying to do things I had no idea how to do. I'll actually get to use LVM on the new rig, whereas converting to LVM on this machine is out of the question as I simply don't have enough disk space to start shuffling partitions around.

Then of course comes the moment when I get to install Windows 7 on a virtual machine and see what all you kids are making noise about. But the lead-up to that should be just as exciting. Here's to Intel and Linux -- an invigorating combination!

Ok, but if you are going to do awesome get an awesome case. Its the only bit you see. I'm gonna post some. I know I can find something better than you have if the budget is no constraint.

Similar to your choice but better finished

But I have the money and I feel like spending it to get something really awesome, even if it is a bit overkill.

Overkill and pretty awesome

A whole page of cases
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product_case.php?tno=0&case=c_tower&area=en

Ok, but if you are going to do awesome get an awesome case. Its the only bit you see. I'm gonna post some. I know I can find something better than you have if the budget is no constraint.

I like the case I have selected.

Similar to your choice but better finished

That one's nice, but I don't see that it's any better than what I've selected. It also has half the number of drive bays.

Overkill and pretty awesome

That's not awesome, it's wanky.

This has a touchscreen on the front.


How many drive bays do you think you need?

Need cooling?

Also that one you said was "wanky" was designed by bmw.

This has a touchscreen on the front.

Why in the name of Bill Joy would I want that?

How many drive bays do you think you need?

Three, upfront. However, I will undoubtedly be adding more capacity as I exhaust my initial 2 TB in the future.

Need cooling?

Yes, and I've already selected the cooling I need.

Also that one you said was "wanky" was designed by bmw.

Irrelevant. Please stop spamming this thread with pictures of cases. It's the least interesting part of the computer.

^ Your components would all fit in that. Looks awesome I think.

Irrelevant. Please stop spamming this thread with pictures of cases. It's the least interesting part of the computer.

That's cos you picked a $50 plastic box. Get something that you really like.

Tons of drive bays and a little window so you can see all those expensive bits you bought.

Or its smaller brother

^ Your components would all fit in that. Looks awesome I think.

No.

That's cos you picked a $50 plastic box. Get something that you really like.

Something that I really like? It's a fucking container to hold all the pieces together. If it has a power LED, it's overqualified.

Tons of drive bays and a little window so you can see all those expensive bits you bought.

I don't think so.

This is how it's done

This is how it's done

In Soviet Russia, computer uses you.