Considering a custom-built desktop.
Well, I've been thinking the last few days and I have gotten very fond of building a desktop computer myself. I've had such trouble with laptops -- and I've never owned a desktop. I mean, I spend most of my 'computer time' at home anyway, so why do I need a laptop so badly? I could work 1 or 2 months and sell my MacBook Pro and build a top of the line desktop for el-cheapo. I could make it look really cool, choose my own parts, feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment and learn something in the process. Why not? I think I trust myself more than a Chinese assembly line. I could really have a lot of fun with this. Picking out all my parts, getting everything I want ensuring Linux compatibility whilst being able to play the latest games -- best of all worlds.
It'd be mine too -- my parts, my combos my everything. I dunno. Just a neat idea.
I've been studying up on how to do it, and it looks downright easy. Ensure compatibility, plug a few things in here, screw a few screws there and Boom -- I got an awesome PC.
Laptops are cool but dang -- finding the exact one I want is so darn hard. And laptops are not near as upgradable and customizable and fun as desktops. I had it all misinterpreted -- I thought laptops were cool and desktops were boring. This is SO not the case, as I've been finding out.
Heck, I've already been nailing down some of the parts I'd want to put in there. By no means an exhaustive or final list -- but so far I really like these parts. Quite naturally, I would buy all my parts from trusty old Newegg. Anyway, here are some of the parts I've been looking at, and a short description of why I like them.
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition
Rationale: I like AMD. It has no hyperthreading and fancy schmancy stuff -- cheap, 4-cores, blazing stock clocks. I like physical cores. Intel is nice, probably a bit faster and cooler, but... I just like AMD. I like this processor. I like the 'Black Edition' title. They are the x64 pioneers in some respect, though I don't know exactly why -- hence AMD64. Perhaps I should look this up; would be a nice history lesson. I think I may be a developing AMD fanboy.
GPU: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) Black Ops Edition
Rationale: Really cool looking and very strong card. The fastest single-GPU on the market. I like it over multi-GPU solutions because it is better for legacy games. Also, NVIDIA has a nice driver for Linux. It seems to thoroughly outdo the 480 in heat and power consumption. I love the Black Ops emblem, and I love the speed. I like NVIDIA too -- I've generally had good experiences with them. Fast, fast, fast single-GPU card. I want this one. Manufacturer overclock is a nice benefit.
Case: Antec 900 ATX Mid-Tower
Rationale: Looks AWESOME. Love the blue LEDs. Has a lot of good cooling and space to work with which would probably help a newbie like me out. I LOVE the design, and it is THE CASE TO GET according to Newegg reviews.
PSU: Kingwin 1000W 80-Plus GOLD certified Modular
Rationale: Newegg said I needed 755W, so this gives me room to upgrade. Modular great for a newbie cable manager like me, and it's 80-PLUS GOLD certified, which is great. Blue LED fan matches case.
Haven't looked at the motherboard I want yet -- or much else really. Just getting an idea. Far from 'set in stone'.
It'd be mine too -- my parts, my combos my everything. I dunno. Just a neat idea.
I've been studying up on how to do it, and it looks downright easy. Ensure compatibility, plug a few things in here, screw a few screws there and Boom -- I got an awesome PC.
Laptops are cool but dang -- finding the exact one I want is so darn hard. And laptops are not near as upgradable and customizable and fun as desktops. I had it all misinterpreted -- I thought laptops were cool and desktops were boring. This is SO not the case, as I've been finding out.
Heck, I've already been nailing down some of the parts I'd want to put in there. By no means an exhaustive or final list -- but so far I really like these parts. Quite naturally, I would buy all my parts from trusty old Newegg. Anyway, here are some of the parts I've been looking at, and a short description of why I like them.
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition
Rationale: I like AMD. It has no hyperthreading and fancy schmancy stuff -- cheap, 4-cores, blazing stock clocks. I like physical cores. Intel is nice, probably a bit faster and cooler, but... I just like AMD. I like this processor. I like the 'Black Edition' title. They are the x64 pioneers in some respect, though I don't know exactly why -- hence AMD64. Perhaps I should look this up; would be a nice history lesson. I think I may be a developing AMD fanboy.
GPU: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) Black Ops Edition
Rationale: Really cool looking and very strong card. The fastest single-GPU on the market. I like it over multi-GPU solutions because it is better for legacy games. Also, NVIDIA has a nice driver for Linux. It seems to thoroughly outdo the 480 in heat and power consumption. I love the Black Ops emblem, and I love the speed. I like NVIDIA too -- I've generally had good experiences with them. Fast, fast, fast single-GPU card. I want this one. Manufacturer overclock is a nice benefit.
Case: Antec 900 ATX Mid-Tower
Rationale: Looks AWESOME. Love the blue LEDs. Has a lot of good cooling and space to work with which would probably help a newbie like me out. I LOVE the design, and it is THE CASE TO GET according to Newegg reviews.
PSU: Kingwin 1000W 80-Plus GOLD certified Modular
Rationale: Newegg said I needed 755W, so this gives me room to upgrade. Modular great for a newbie cable manager like me, and it's 80-PLUS GOLD certified, which is great. Blue LED fan matches case.
Haven't looked at the motherboard I want yet -- or much else really. Just getting an idea. Far from 'set in stone'.
Total Comments 1
Comments
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Just my comments on your parts choices
CPU: I dunno...never tried AMD. Then again, I've never built my own computer from off-the-shelf parts, either.
GPU:
Dayum! Just looking at the price makes me shudder. I guess the GPU (assuming you get a discrete card) is usually the most expensive component of any custom-built computer. Looks like an awesome card, though (512 CUDA cores, 797MHz clock (that's fast for a GPU), 1.5 GiB VRAM....*starts drooling*). Dwarfs the GeForce 7300 GT in my main desktop and the GeForce 310M in my lappy.
Case: I dunno, just looks kinda...busy. Honestly I don't know how else to describe it. Then again, everyone has their own tastes, so...
PSU: Yeah, it's usually a good idea to go a little higher than the recommended wattage, that way you're not pushing it too much and don't get random shutdowns from pushing the system too hard.
This is kinda inspiring me to want to build a new desktop of my own (); my ol' P4 is beginning to show its age. Although, a) I ain't got no money (or at least not enough to build a computer nearly that nice), and b) I've never custom-built a computer before, so I'm kinda afraid that I'd screw something up and end up damaging one of the components (I know, probably irrational fear). The most I've done is screwing around with my two desktop machines (which again are ancient by comparison to any modern machine), mostly just switching RAM around (they're virtually identical and so take the same type of RAM), and I took the GPU card out of my main desktop once to see if the on-board graphics worked (they do, but no X because of config problems/missing intel video driver).Posted 12-23-2010 at 06:56 AM by MrCode 
Updated 12-23-2010 at 06:59 AM by MrCode
