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So, after checking my previous build thread here:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1272877
it looks like I go about 4 years between builds of my main rig. In the meantime, I've built other boxes (an i3 build for my WHS, for example), but now my main rig is really due for replacement (it will continue to exist, but as yet another capable machine for my kids to play on...)
So, onto the 10 questions:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Light gaming, but extensive photo/video work, as well as music production. I'm thinking i7 IB in a few weeks.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Pretty much unlimited, but I don't want to pay any more than I actually have to for what I need. I *do* live near a MicroCenter, so I'm hoping that they run a special on i7 IB cpu/motherboard combos next month...
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, suburb of Philly.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, Cpu, Ram, GPU, SSD, DVD, Keyboard/mouse (so, in a nutshell, "everything"
)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I already have monitors, that I will be reusing, and I have plenty of "storage" hard drives around, so I'll only need the SSD boot drive for this rig. I *require* an SSD on the order of 250GB.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes. I've never done a water cooling rig before, but the prebuilt corsair units really seem simple enough that I'd happily consider it. Which also means the case will need a place to mount the radiator...
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
2 monitors, both 1920x1200. One landscape, one portrait, but I can't see why that would matter...
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As soon as IB is available, but can start buying parts immediately.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support?
USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
RAID, not really, but hard to escape it being available nowadays.
Firewire, yes.
No Crossfire, or SLI is required...I'm a single GPU kind of guy.
USB 3.0, yes.
SATA 6Gb/s, yes.
eSata, yes.
No need for onboard video.
Would like a metric shit-ton of rear USB ports (I currently use about 8 on the rear of my current rig)
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7/64 bit (I'm an MSDN subscriber)
-------------
In general, I've always gone with full tower cases, for lots of room, and lots of hard drive space. But, nowadays, I live almost entirely off of my WHS server for storage...So, a single SSD and a single HDD will probably cover me. So, I'm thinking a mid-tower would suffice.
I've learned to like my current Gigabyte MB, so I do have something of a slight inclination toward their products.
I'd like a TON of memory, mostly because it's certainly cheap enough nowadays. 24 or 32gigs.
Oh, here's another question. It's common knowledge that having multiple spindles (HDDs) is beneficial. Is there any reason that the same is true of SSDs? In other words, Is there any benefit to having 2 SDDs instead of one, if they total the same amount of storage (I'm not talking about RAIDing here, at all).
Thanks!
-Kevin
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1272877
it looks like I go about 4 years between builds of my main rig. In the meantime, I've built other boxes (an i3 build for my WHS, for example), but now my main rig is really due for replacement (it will continue to exist, but as yet another capable machine for my kids to play on...)
So, onto the 10 questions:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Light gaming, but extensive photo/video work, as well as music production. I'm thinking i7 IB in a few weeks.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Pretty much unlimited, but I don't want to pay any more than I actually have to for what I need. I *do* live near a MicroCenter, so I'm hoping that they run a special on i7 IB cpu/motherboard combos next month...
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, suburb of Philly.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, Cpu, Ram, GPU, SSD, DVD, Keyboard/mouse (so, in a nutshell, "everything"
)5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I already have monitors, that I will be reusing, and I have plenty of "storage" hard drives around, so I'll only need the SSD boot drive for this rig. I *require* an SSD on the order of 250GB.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes. I've never done a water cooling rig before, but the prebuilt corsair units really seem simple enough that I'd happily consider it. Which also means the case will need a place to mount the radiator...
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
2 monitors, both 1920x1200. One landscape, one portrait, but I can't see why that would matter...
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As soon as IB is available, but can start buying parts immediately.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support?
USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
RAID, not really, but hard to escape it being available nowadays.
Firewire, yes.
No Crossfire, or SLI is required...I'm a single GPU kind of guy.
USB 3.0, yes.
SATA 6Gb/s, yes.
eSata, yes.
No need for onboard video.
Would like a metric shit-ton of rear USB ports (I currently use about 8 on the rear of my current rig)
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7/64 bit (I'm an MSDN subscriber)
-------------
In general, I've always gone with full tower cases, for lots of room, and lots of hard drive space. But, nowadays, I live almost entirely off of my WHS server for storage...So, a single SSD and a single HDD will probably cover me. So, I'm thinking a mid-tower would suffice.
I've learned to like my current Gigabyte MB, so I do have something of a slight inclination toward their products.
I'd like a TON of memory, mostly because it's certainly cheap enough nowadays. 24 or 32gigs.
Oh, here's another question. It's common knowledge that having multiple spindles (HDDs) is beneficial. Is there any reason that the same is true of SSDs? In other words, Is there any benefit to having 2 SDDs instead of one, if they total the same amount of storage (I'm not talking about RAIDing here, at all).
Thanks!
-Kevin
