Going overboard building my new PC?
 

Well, about every three years I get a new PC that I use as my daily personal system. The one I currently use, and I am about to replace with a new system I am building now, is a Compaq 1 Ghz Athlon. It's really loaded up, and still actually does the job for the most part, but I just couldn't resist I guess as I've had it for at least three years now. I was just itching for something new. And, like my Mustang, I just had to build a hot rod from hell.

Here's what I am building, do you think it's bad enough?. HA HA HA :p

• Gigabyte 8SQ800 Ultra2 Motherboard (AGP 8x, Serial ATA, IDE RAID, IEEE 1394, USB2.0, 6-channel 5.1 digital audio, and DualBIOS technology, and Dual Channel DDR 400+ ram support)
• 3.06 Ghz Hyper Threading P4 (Overclocked to 3.6 Ghz)
• 1 GB of ultra low latency dual channel DDR400 RAM (two matched 512 MB modules with aluminum heat shielding)
• ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 128 MB 9700 Pro video card
• Customized PC2-601BW Koolance liquid cooling case system with four extra 80mm internal cooling fans, fan speed control switches custom mounted, blue neon lighting, etc. Provides heat exchangers for CPU, motherboard chipset, and video card chipset. Also it is outfitted with a 550W power supply.
• Three Maxtor 120 GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache ATA133 hard drives. They will be run in a RAID configuration as drive C.
• One Western Digital 100 GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache ATA133 hard drive. Drive D, for digital video storage.
• Lite-On 16/48x DVD-ROM drive
• Sony DRU-500AX DVD-RW drive
• Mitsumi floppy drive
• Auravision EluminX Illuminated (blue) Keyboard
• Logitech optical, cordless mouse
• Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Personal Audio System

Don't mean to be bragg'n, I'm just excited about getting it all together now... ;)

Ballpark?
 

Hey Dan, give us a ballpark cost to duplicate something like that. Can one just order it from Dell or some other retailer?

Rev

yeah, you should be able to take over for NASA if their systems go down, with that system. 4 hard drives? must do alot of downloading... lol

:eek: Well, honestly I'm spending way too much on building something this extreme, but isn't that the way it goes when you want to build a hot rod? :p

I don't think there's anywhere that you can just buy a system along these lines pre-built. Not with the liquid cooling set-up AND customizations this will have. TigerDirect was doing some Ultra gaming systems at one time with the Koolance liquid cooling set-up, but even those weren't this cutting-edge or extreme. If anyone knows of a company you can buy something this bad pre-built, post away. Although, I'll bet it's way more expensive than this.

I scoured the Web for deals when I ordered everything. Here's what I basically got everything for (with shipping):

Motherboard: EXPENSIVE because it's cutting edge, and somewhat hard to find --- $275.00

CPU: $600

Memory: $350

Hard Drives: $400

Video Card: $375

Customized FrozenCPU Koolance system: $540

DVD-Rom: $45

Floppy: $15

Illuminated Keyboard: $99

Four Quad Blue LED 80mm Fans: $40

DVD-RW: $300

Mouse: $50

Klipsch ProMedia Speaker system: $350

Grand Total: ~$3500

Actually, I put this kind of power to use for other things besides mega frame rates in 3D gaming. I like to play some 3D shooters, but that's not the whole point for me to build something like this. I will actually make use of it for serious digital video editing. Because of Mustang Works, I do a lot of work with digital video that we shoot at the events. Furthermore, I do lots of work with large PhotoShop files and other development programs. The faster the better for me.

As for storage space. This thing will have 360 GB on the RAID array and 100 GB off the other drive (pulling it from my existing system that has a 40 GB drive and the 100 GB drive). For example, right now I have over 100 GB in digital video files on my system. So, I wanted TONS of storage capacity for all the video stuff I play with and work on. Among everything else.

Thanks Dan
 

Thanks for the info Dan. That's alot less than I had imagined. I can see you shopped a good bit. What a killer sysem.

Rev

i like your setup. How much will it cost for a MAc to be equivilant as that?:D :D

Dan, i do most of my shopping at NewEgg. They seem to have the best overall price and value. They get my stuff delivered quickly without any problems. Are you still running windows 2000? I cant remember what exactly you are running.

James

ahaha, like a fortune dude.

No, I am running Windows XP Professional as will be the new PC. Yeah, I've been on NewEgg a few times too.

Dan is now know as "Nick Burns" The company's computer guy.


Nick Burns

Sorry, I couldn't resist.:D

NICE rig dan, I would toss in a fast plextor cdr/rw and some cold cathodes too (since you seem to be going for the cool factor as well as speed.

I really hope you use that thing to play a few games on it, looks perfect for that chore!

what case are you going to use by the way?

All that hardcore computer stuff, and your still funning a floppy drive?!?

Hey, if u wouldn't mind, but if u could donnate your old comp to the nedy, say, ME!!! I still don't have one yet, and right now I'm drooling over your new one.

I'd probly own one by now if I'd sop buying project cars, like the '84 I just bought.

When u get it all done, I want to see pics of it when it's light, and dark, for the lights.

Nice rig Dan, great video card and CPU.....

one question....why did you opt out of using a motherboard that supports RDRAM @1066MHZ instead of DDR400(mhz)? It only costs about $344 for 1,024MB. Just wondering.... you know it's all about memory! Do you run pagefile.sys on a seperate drive?

I really don't want to sound like I'm bashing your system....I couldn't afford to build one like it for home use! You'll have to post some pics!

oh yeah....mustangman.....floppydrives can still be utilized in many ways that regular users wouldn't bother to know about, or perhaps even need to.

I understand that, I was just kinda a joke, he has all the mordern computer stuff, but is still putting in a floppy drive. I would do the same.

Re: Going overboard building my new PC?
 

It seems in your list, you overlooked the lead apron for your lap ??? lol :eek:

Sounds like a awsome system ;)

If ya got the money,I say go for it :D

It will have a Sony DVD-RW drive it that does DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, CD-RW, CD-R, etc... The case is a Koolance case with liquid cooling (see link above) and is customized. It has dual blue cold cathode lighting, plus all the 80mm case fans are quad blue lit too.

I'll play some games on it... Ohhh yeah, but the really killer thing for me with it will be the processing power for digital video and other development stuff I do.

Oooppss, it's already sold to my best friend once the new systems going... :p I'll definitely post pictures of the new system though! ;)

Very sweet! So sweet in fact that I would be happy, no HONERED ;) to frag ya in Spearhead or BF1942 regardless of how cool it looks ;)

*note to self: order a 9700 pro...

Hey, when I get back, my friend and I always play BF1942. He has two comps in his room, so we always team up with each other with tanks, and kill everyone else. It's funny, when we play seriously, we always win. But half the time, we just fool around ans steal planes and go on bombing raids. On the Ohmaha Beach map, I single-handedly turned the game around when I was a sniper, and put myself below the boat, next to the ammo bunk. I had about 30+ kills before I died. It was too much fun!

I think my friend built something like that a little while ago...yeah...I think it came to life and secretly switched places with him. What became of him no one knows... but his girlfriend didn't seem to mind:D Be careful!;)



*In Memory of Rich, who once built a computer so beautiful he could no longer separate himself from it*:p