Build your Dream Rig

S

shantd

Gawd
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
665
You've got $5,000 at your disposal, no monitors/printers or vibrating butt warmers. Just your tower, hardware (including fans and/or watercooling), and if you've got cash leftover keyboard/mouse. List every component right down to the type of thermal paste you'd use. Please try to include links so we can see & read about them. Lastly, total up the final cost for us.

I'd start us off but honestly my dream build would be laughable next to most of our fellow members so for now I will proudly pass.

Lets see what you've got gentlemen. :cool:
 
If I wasn't on my phone, this could be fun. Love to dream about the ultimate. I don't think I would need anything close to that price for my dream pc. Probably if monitors were included... or I was getting an apple desktop. (16gb of 'apple' ram is like $1500)
 
Yeah, thought a thread like this could be a lot of fun. I wanted to see what some of our hardest members' imaginations could come up with. Preferably some of the mods too. I settled on 5k to make sure nobody was limited, didn't want to go beyond that because I want to entertain the fantasy that I could actually afford 5k in the not too distant future.
 
A little hard to design a dream rig when AMD's Bulldozer, AMD's HD 7xxx series GPUs, and Intel's Ivy Bridge CPUs all due out during the next 4 months;)


With that said, been kicking around this idea for the past few hours so:
$150 - IBM ServeRAID M1015 Controller Card flashed to IT Mode
$600 - 2 x HP SAS Expander (one in each case)
$860 - 2 x NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case
$98 - 14 x SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Multilane SAS Cable
$27 - SFF-8088 to SFF-8088 SAS Cable
$30 - SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 Adapter
$235 - Corsair 1050HX 1050W Modular PSU (For the main case)
$150 - Corsair 750HX 750W Modular PSU (For the second case)
-----
$2150 plus tax and shipping.

Still deciding on the motherboard, RAM, CPUs, and possibly GPUs. Though it looks like I might have to drop the costs of drives from that $5000 budget.

Anyway, I based my setup off this excellent Windows 2K8 w/Hyper-V setup and its many iterations:
http://www.servethehome.com/big-whs-update-60tb-edition/
http://www.servethehome.com/sas-expanders-diy-cheap-low-cost-jbod-enclosures-raid/
http://www.servethehome.com/sas-expanders-build-jbod-das-enclosure-save-iteration-2/
http://www.servethehome.com/big-whs-february-2011-update/

In any case, the above setup nets me a total of 48 hard drives. If I used nothing but 3TB drives, which that controller supports BTW, that's a total of 144TB of sheer storage! :D As you can no doubt tell, the above is basically a very expensive file server for me. However I'm planning on hosting multiple VMs for both testing and play as well as offload the occasional video rendering and such.

The above parts list is a tad confusing so here's a quick and dirty layout plan:
- One of the Norco 4224 cases will have the CPU, mobo, RAM, IBMController, HP SAS Expander, Corsair 1050W PSU, and SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 Adapter.

- The second Norco 4224 case will be just a simple DAS and so will only have the second HP SAS Expander, some method of powering said HP SAS Expander, and Corsair 750HX PSU.

- The IBM Controller has two SFF-8087 ports. So the controller will be connected to the first HP SAS Expander via a SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 cable. However, to connect the IBM controller to the second HP SAS Expander in the second case, the IBM controller will also be connected to the SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 adapter via another SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 connector. From there, we'll connect the SFF-8088 adapter to the second HP SAS Expander via the external SFF-8088 port on that card with a SFF-8088 to SFF-808 cable.

- Six SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 cables will be needed per case to connect all those HDD bays to the HP SAS expander.

And there we go: all 48 hard drives will now be ready to use and both cases are now connected to one another.
 
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Well, that was fun, and not fun since I realized that I will never be able to afford this ;)

179.99 Antec 1200V3 Case
749.99 5X WD Caviar Black 2 TB
1139.97 3X Asus EAH 6970
289.99 Corsair 1200AX
644.98 i7-2600K with a ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
1659.99 OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 series 480GB
119.99 Corsair H100
86.99 LG Black Super Blue ray Burner
+ Some raid controller, don't know them so won't pick one(pick whichever some one else picks)
Hum think I'm over 5000... 4871.89$ without raid controller, figure easily over it with it especial with shipping, frigging RevoDrive too expensive. Probably won't be as nice as some people here, but I wan't one... can you get me the money?
 
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Danny Bui said:
As you can no doubt tell, the above is basically a very expensive file server for me. However I'm planning on hosting multiple VMs for both testing and play as well as offload the occasional video rendering and such.
Click to expand...

Wow...144 TB! 5 years ago the thought that you could squeeze 144tb onto 2 reasonably compact cases for 5k would've floored me. Although, looks like you're way over budget with the hard drives.

On your PSUs, do you not care about gold certification? I saw that very PSU (the 750) at Fryes yesterday for around $200 and thought 'for that price they're not even gonna give me gold? HA!' (right there on the showroom floor I went 'HA!').

Still looking forward to the mobo/ram/GPU selections. Oh, what about cooling?

Thanks for contributing mate. :cool:
 
Soulhunter -

- Really love that case. How's the cable management?

- Those 6970s are cadillacs with up to 6 monitor outs. I like the dual 100mm fans which they claim increases airflow 600% over reference. But will 3 of these fit on your mobo? Each card uses up 3 slots. If not, the MSI lightning also has a dual fan solution with nice copper sinks and it's only dual slot.

- That revo's nice but while it supports SMART it's got no sensor for temperature. For that kind of money give me a damn sensor. Just curious, assuming you're using this to install Windows onto, why pay all that money for 480GB? Will you be using it for storage as well?

Thanks for posting your build, I think mine would look very similar to this actually. Not sure about the H100 though, I hear they can get louder than some of the best air coolers.
 
I'd probably make/have someone make a nice mahogony or exotic hardwood case for me (maybe leopardwood might be kind of unique.) Maybe have it look like a side table or otherwise blend into the surrounding furniture. Ideally I could do that for under $1500, leaving the other $3500 for a high end gaming rig with a lot of noise reduction features. The gaming rig would probably consist of 2TB file storage, two 256GB SSDs in RAID-0, and a Crossfire or SLI setup. I'd also probably invest quite a bit into noise reduction as well (sound dampening, quiet fans, etc.)

~$800 for 2 256GB Crucial M4s
~$460 for a Core i7-2600k and Motherboard
~$100 for 16GB RAM
~$80 for a Blu-ray burner
~$80 for a 2TB hard drive
~$100 for a Windows 7 license
~$680 for 2 Radeon 6970s (by the way, Newegg only has 2 models in stock, out of 9 total. I bet the 7000 series must be right around the corner...)
~$230 for a Corsair HX-1050 or equivalent
Total: ~$2530

I suspect sound dampening materials/fans/possible water cooling and the custom case costs will be about another $2500.

If I could get monitors and upgrade my exisiting system though, I'd pick up three 30" IPS 2560x1600 displays and Eyefinity them. I'd also get the two GPUs and the PSU from the above system as well. And then probably a new case (a Fractal R3 or something like that) with a mechanical keyboard.
 
6029741828_d25fde8216_o.jpg
 
tonytnnt said:
I'd also probably invest quite a bit into noise reduction as well (sound dampening, quiet fans, etc.)
Click to expand...

Ditto. If I get to build my dream rig, it's going to be cool as hell and absolutely silent...whatever it takes to achieve that.
 
SkyeHack - I love the way you put that list together and gave us a screenshot. What site did you use to create that list?

Also, given that you're only up to around $3200 - $3300, why not grab another card? You could actually afford two 590s.

Also, if you're gonna go with a gtx 580, why not take this version? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130665

It's got built in watercooling! What a fantastic idea, really hope AMD follows suit. Their cards are getting too damn hot and they seem helpless to control it via air cooling solutions.
 
shantd said:
SkyeHack - I love the way you put that list together and gave us a screenshot. What site did you use to create that list?

Also, given that you're only up to around $3200 - $3300, why not grab another card? You could actually afford two 590s.

Also, if you're gonna go with a gtx 580, why not take this version? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130665

It's got built in watercooling! What a fantastic idea, really hope AMD follows suit. Their cards are getting too damn hot and they seem helpless to control it via air cooling solutions.
Click to expand...

I think that's just a Newegg wish list. I'm not sure how he got the screenshot given that it's so tall (actually he probably just has a higher resolution monitor than I do.)

As far as I know AMD card manufacturers are free to make a card with a water block from the factory, but I haven't heard of one.
 
shantd said:
Wow...144 TB! 5 years ago the thought that you could squeeze 144tb onto 2 reasonably compact cases for 5k would've floored me. Although, looks like you're way over budget with the hard drives.
Click to expand...
That I am. Close to $5K on hard drives alone.
shantd said:
On your PSUs, do you not care about gold certification? I saw that very PSU (the 750) at Fryes yesterday for around $200 and thought 'for that price they're not even gonna give me gold? HA!' (right there on the showroom floor I went 'HA!').
Click to expand...
Nope. The difference between Gold and Silver certification is so small, it's hardly worth caring about unless your electrical rates is really high and if you plan on living in that area for years.
shantd said:
Still looking forward to the mobo/ram/GPU selections. Oh, what about cooling?
Click to expand...

Still working on that
 
Should have prefaced my build by saying a would do A LOT more research before buying anything.

-About the case I think/assume that it is good, would probably check before actually buying it.

-For the GPU, I was originally looking for 6990's but couldn't find any in stock, so either a bigger board or the MSI lightning would also be good.

-You said the budget was 5000$ so I decided to fill it up;) That's why the RevoDrive is so huge, would just try to put any and everything I can on it, games, programs, what ever I can find. Smaller one would work too:p

Again, I would probably look more into every component if I was actually going to spend all that money, but just did it a bit on the quick side. Glad that you liked it:)
 
It's not a dream rig with a budget :)

GTX 590 x3
U2711 27IN Monitor x3
Thermaltake Level 10 GT (check this thing out)
63138_l.jpg

H100
DAS Keyboard
Deathadder
Full Bose Home theater Surround (running it on the TV atm, godly sound)
Core i7 990x Gulfy
ASUS Rampage III Black Edition Mobo
Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 Vengeance 16GB
Raid Corsair Performance 3 Series 128GB x5
With a WD Black 2TB for storage
Some 1200W PSU for the lulz
Some random dvd drive

I probably forgot something, but I don't care, I feel sad thinking about how I'll never have this stuff. :p
 
I love the way that Level 10 looks. Probably the best looking case I've ever seen. Awesome cable management too, which is really important for me. Unfortunately the function is not equal to its form. The hard drives aren't 'true' hot-swappable. Also, if your video card's hdmi port sits at the far end on the card, you won't have access to it because an unbelievable design oversight. Still, this would probably be the case I'd choose for my dream rig.

I've got a 7:1 Bose surround sound setup in my den. Sounds awesome and once you've watched a movie with surround sound on these, there's no going back. Only problem here is it needs professional installation. It took 10 hours and cost me exactly $1000 (basically all labor). Also have to factor in a surround sound tuner, which cost me another $800 (though you can get a good Yamaha for close to half that). Oh, can't forget the touch screen universal remote, $250.
 
My dream build is balancing performance and economically. Of course I could get an 990X, 4x 590X, 32GB RAM...but I don't need that much :p

CPU: i7 2700k at 4.5ghz
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100 Cooler
RAM: Corsair Dominator 4x 4GB DDR3 2000mhz
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 480GB SSD, Western Digital 2TB green 64MB cache as storage
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z LGA 1155 Intel Z68
Graphic: SLi GTX 590
Case: Corsair 600T White [I'm sorry I love the looks and size of this. Next time Lian...]
Power Supply: CORSAIR Professional Series HX850
Sound Card: HT | OMEGA CLARO Plus+ 7.1
Optical Drive: 2x Sony Black Blu-Ray player BWU-500S
Fans: Lots of Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm

Sigh. Ah wells...
What I'm running right now:

CPU: i5 2500K 4.0Ghz
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50
Chassis: NZXT Phantom black [Prefer white. Wouldn't get this case again]
RAM: Corsair DDR3 2000Mhz 2x 2GB and one Kingston 2GB DDR3 1600mhz
Hard Drive: Intel 510 250GB SDD and Hitachi 1.5TB 7200RPM 64MB
Motherboard: Biostar TP67B+
Optical Drive: Some simple dvd/cd burner
Sound Card: Creative Xtremegamer (too bad it died)
Graphic Card: Zotac GTX 560 t.i O.C edition
Fans: Two ultra-kaze on h50, nzxt oem, and china led fans :eek:
Kind of getting there... Total cost for my build: $800 (Craigslist :cool:)
 
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