The New Build

I’ve had my new desktop PC up and running for about two weeks now. And though I was furious that my too-expensive HP Pavilion (not the exact model) died after two years, I was also struck by the irony that I had purchased the laptop with the cash I received when I sold my ex-wife’s engagement ring after two years of marriage. All water under the bridge I suppose. There was some fault with the motherboard which, thankfully, left my data intact.

I have been out of the technology scene for about two years, however and wasn’t sure what I was going to do to replace the computer. But old habits die hard and after a few days mulling over my options I built out a desktop with only a few (if expensive) missteps that is seriously sweet and has tons of hobbyist options for the geek in me.

For what?
Clearly I was going to get something – so the question I always put to my friends seeking advice I applied to myself: What are you going to use it for? In my case I do only a few things on the computer. I’m no longer developing, running virtual servers or any of that. Mostly I watch movies (no TV here, thank you), play a few games but nothing amazing graphic intensive (Fallout 3, WoW, Civilization 4, Diablo, Chess), browse the web, listen to music and do homework. I may play around with a little code now and again and occasionally might do a presentation or some audio editing. Clearly I don’t need a high-end computer, but I am going to need decent graphics, expandability, and reasonable responsiveness. Also, since I have to buy a computer, I want something that will allow me to play around a little within the geek subculture.

Desktop versus Laptop
These days I don’t travel as much as I used to so the need for portability is greatly lessened. If I need to get email or check FB on the road, I’ll use my iPod touch and I have a small GPS in the car. Also, as was painfully obvious a broken out-of-warranty laptop is so extremely expensive to fix (HP wanted $500 to just look at it) that anything you can’t do yourself you might as well not do. Finally, upgrading laptops (with the exception of memory and disk) is just not possible. So, for me, it was soon clear that building a desktop PC was the best option.

The Case: Antec 300

I was immediately struck with my first problem. Where am I going to put all these parts? I was sure of a couple of things. I didn’t want one of those damn “riced out” computers with windows, flashing lights and plastic chrome that seem so popular today. I originally settled on a HSPC Top Deck 14×13 as a temporary solution that may have future applications but after discussions with my wife and friends decided that my house, home to four cats (don’t ask) and a large fuzzy dog I decided there was likely too much hair to make this practical as anything but a workbench. I have settled for the minimalistic Antec 300 as a temporary home for my computer. It’s simple, has good reviews and is cheap. It also allows room for plenty of expansion, requires no tools and quality construction. It also has several features that are must-have in any case: USB, power and audio accessible on the front top of the case. It’s so odd how many tower cases have most of their connectors on the back of the case or in other hard to reach places. I wish they had Firewire and eSata connectors on the front also, but USB is enough.

The Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD7
From the start I knew I wanted an ATX motherboard for expandability and longevity. My goal when selecting a motherboard was to buy one and not have to buy another for a very long time. When I saw the UD7 I fell in love. It had everything I wanted and it was extremely flexible. Additionally it supports water cooling right out of the box. So it was a clear win. Look over the specs, for they are delicious.

The CPU: Intel Core i7-960 3.2GHz
I made a bit of misstep with the CPU, one that any experienced techie shouldn’t make, but I have an excuse – besides being rusty. When I originally priced out my system I put together my dream system and then bought down to something I could afford. One of the things I bought down was the CPU but not the motherboard. This led me to buying the Intel Core i7-860 2.8GHz which is a socket 1156 though my motherboard supports only socket 1366. Factor this in with the “no returns on CPU policy” and I was in the hole a couple of hundred dollars. And though I read all my manuals obsessively while waiting for my case to be delivered, I didn’t seem to notice this fact until the day I went to install it. Talk about frustration! Well, that’s all past now and all I can say is the i7-960 3.2GHz processor is, um, doing what it’s supposed to do and doing it very fast. Word to the wise: double-check sockets between the motherboard and CPU!

The GPU: ASUS ENGT240 1GB DDR5
I desired a massive graphics card, but I certainly don’t need one. So, in the name of cost savings I picked up the ENGT240 and have to say that I’m more than happy with the choice. It was fairly inexpensive and is so much better than what I had been used to. I will eventually pick up something really hot, but that’s more for fun than need. What I needed was to be able to see the screen and watch some movies. This GPU does all that and so much more. Additionally, like the motherboard, it comes with a software package to assist with overclocking. Now I’m not interested in overclocking, myself, and don’t use these tools, but it’s nice to have that flexibility if that’s what you’re interested in. With this moderate card – often billed as a budget card – I can play any game in which I’m interested with all the effects turned fully up and there is no issue at all. I’m sure the motherboard and processor help in this regard, but so much the better. I am enormously pleased with the ENGT240.

The PSU: Antec Earthwatts 750W
Another misstep I made was in buying the PSU. In the past I have always purchased the PSU with the case (this was back in the day) and never really thought about power consumption as most components did not require the power of today’s devices. I picked up at 450W, buying down from my original build-out, and found out that the graphics card required a minimum of 500W (per the packaging). A few friends and online resources seemed to think I might be just fine – but I didn’t really want to be “maybe fine” and didn’t really want to have to worry about upgrading later. So, when I began to assemble the PC I picked up the Earthwatts 750 with 4 12v rails. The price wasn’t bad and though not fully modular will serve for a long time. This was another lesson to pay attention when assembling your computer. In another bit of news – if you need a 450W power supply, let me know.

The Memory: 3GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333
The motherboard I purchased supports up to 24G ofDDR3 2200 but while I desired all that, my wallet rebelled. During the buy-down process I went with 3G (with plans to move to 6G at some point) of 1333. This is 1G more than I had in my laptop and, really, the computer is blindingly fast. I can’t imagine I would really notice a difference with more memory. But don’t you just hate having empty slots on your motherboard? The 3G triple channel was really cheap and I am very pleased with the choice.

The NIC: Netgear WN311B
While I would rather be wired with the desktop, my current location doesn’t really offer a good solution, so wireless was the way to go when looking at network connectivity. It’s really quite a shame, actually, because the UD7 motherboard supports smart dual LAN. I opted instead for the WN311B because I wanted to conserve USB ports and couldn’t find another network card locally. I dislike the massive antenna on the card and have it hidden behind the box. My download speed has improved markedly but whether this is due to a generally much faster computer, the 802.11n, or to this massive antenna, I don’t know. It works, it’s fast and it’s kinda ugly. I suppose you can’t have everything. It was also cheap, so that’s a bonus.

The Optical Drive: Samsung 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW

I eventually will buy something with blue-ray compatibility, but while buying down my rig, I knew I only needed something that would read and write DVDs and CDs. The Samsung was a very cheap option – so cheap that it didn’t come with that cheap little cable that connects the CD to the motherboard so you can hear the sounds recorded on the DVD movie you are trying to watch. As luck would have it no one locally carries these things (Are you getting the sense I live in the backwoods?) and I had to drive 2 hours away to find one. I didn’t really want to pay $2 in shipping to have a $2 cable sent to me when getting out of town would also net me the opportunity to window shop at a large mall and have a nice lunch. I must give a big thanks to the little computer store in Troy, New York that I randomly stopped at in hopes of finding this cable. The technician there pulled one out of a box of cables and gave it to me free; very kind – one geek watching out for another like that. Thanks! (Note: I would have linked to the main site, but they are streaming ads there and I dislike auto-run ads, especially if they have sound.)

The Monitor: Asus VW193TR 19″ Widescreen
The monitor was a relatively easy choice – I wanted something reasonably priced and not so big as to upset my Luddite wife. I also wanted DVI and VESA compatibility so I choose to mount it to the wall if I desired. I ended up with the VW193TR because the price was great and 19″ is good enough. Later, when Eva isn’t watching so closely, I’ll upgrade to a 20 something or maybe a second, tiny, USB monitor. I’m not sure yet.

The Keyboard: SIIG Mini mini USB keyboard
If you look around there are a million mouse and keyboards and for some reason most of us stick with the standard Windows-keyed QWERTY keyboard. I don’t want to do that and plan on picking up something cool like the Luxeed LED Keyboard or the Optimus Tactus (if it doesn’t break the bank) or even weird ones like those found here. It especially annoys me that there are windows and extra media keys (email, browser, etc) on just about every mainstream keyboard you can by which, for me, translates to wasted space. The SIIG got me a tiny footprint for a keyboard which is nice because I like to use my desk to hold other things beside some huge surfboard, is cheap and is wired. I’ve a preference for wired keyboards – but that’s an argument for another day. Yes, this keyboard has media keys but at least the darn thing is so small I don’t even notice them. The feel of the keys is great – not as good as this but it’s not bad.

Well, that’s the build out and the computer is just sweet, I have to say. And while I could probably leave this well enough alone, my inner geek has woken and I’ve a few ideas for upgrades.

The Case
In my search to find a decent computer case I stumbled across a number of cool ideas – and I love the idea of milk-crate computers, cardboard box computers and all the other crazy ideas out there, but there is an excessive amount of dog and cat hair in my house (I might have mentioned this) so as much as I would like an open solution, I believe I’m going to drop my rig into an anvil case, the kind they use for hauling around music gear at shows, and outfit that bad boy with vents and acoustic foam. My plan is to set it up so that all needed ports are either on the front or preferably the top of the case. I plan on venting the entire bottom of the case (adding removable filters), adding a shelf for storage inside the case and having plenty of room to do pretty much whatever cable routing I desire. Biggest ideas include making all ports available without bending over or moving the box – so extending the ports and whatnot to the top is important. These cases come in so many varieties I’m not sure yet which is the best option – top opening, bottom opening, side openings – at the moment this particular style seems best but may require (for ease of use) ports only on the front or back of the unit.

Water Cooling
I’m not an over-clocker at all but I am into quiet computers and in addition water cooling just has that geek flavor to it. I plan on water cooling everything and eliminating all fans – maybe even the one on the radiator and set up some sort of external radiator on the outside of the case. I’m not buying this particular unit and will likely go with software versus hardware monitoring so I don’t have to keep looking at the case to assess the system.

Other Upgrades
I will be adding another 3G of memory, a bad-ass video card and a blue-ray compatible optical drive, but none of those are as exciting as building out the case and setting up the cooling system.

Clearly I’ve written too much, but if you’re interested in this project, stay tuned for photos.