Can't sleep due to computer dreams...
I'm still pondering how to blow half my profit-share bonus on a gaming rig... I think I'm still over the price point with my "dream" concept, but it's just too good a combo to miss and it's not so far out of reach that I can set it aside.
My parts list, let me show you it. Let me show you my parts.
Case: Cooler Master Sileo 500, designed for toolless installation, high air flow, and (what tipped it to them) vibration and sound absorption. I particularly like the high air-flow sound baffle panels for 4 of the 6 sides. It's also a fairly elegant and discreet design; looks good, but not flashy.
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M 700W. May be a bit of overkill, but I'd rather have more than I need than find myself coming up short. Added bonus, apparently it runs fanless when idling and the wide-diameter fan runs quietly even under peak load. (The emphasis on quiet comes from my current system, which I adore but it's so loud these days I have to raise my voice over it on the phone.)
CPU: Intel i7 920 quad-core running at 2.66GHz per core. This is a bang-for-buck selection, but there's an awful lot of bang here for not an extortionate amount of bucks. As cool as it would be to get either of its big brothers, the 950 or the 975, that'd double or quadruple the price for not that much additional horsepower.
Motherboard: MSI X58M; a bit of a cost-saving pick but still high performance and a good reliability track record. There are some cautions about temperature but the extra airflow from the case design should take care of that. I hope. Some also quibble about the overclocking ability, but I'd rather pick a 'board for robustness than for its ability to be fine tuned into a thoroughbred with all the skittishness that implies. The big draw for me on this card is that it has two PCI-E x16 slots pre-rigged for Crossfire.
Graphics: twin Sapphire ATI HD4850 cards for CrossfireX multiplexing. Third-party reviews say this is the biggest bang-for-buck set-up for computer graphics. Actually, I think that the pair costs less than any of the stand-alone graphics cards I've ever purchased and they do a heckuva lot more. I think the only down-side is the huge power draw, but that's why I got the big-and-beefy power supply up there. The amusing part is the HDMI output; if I get a 6m HDMI cable, I can output to my TV...
The rest of the picks are pretty dull; 1TB SATA-II HDD @7200rpm, DVD+/-RW drive, 3x2GB 1.33GHz DDR3 RAM (6GB total), keyboard, optical mouse... and then hauling over my 3.5" floppy drive and Audigy 2 soundcard from my old computer.
Operating system will be Windows 7 Home Premium; I don't think I'll need XP mode and I certainly don't need any of the other features available in Win7 Professional.
I'll wait on monitors until after Christmas (and hint around for gift cards/certificates for the holidays). I might add a Blu-ray drive later, but probably not.
-- Steve's finally getting a bit dozy, so perhaps he should retire.
PS: The whole smash listed above comes to under $2000CAD with taxes and labour... and I might be able to shave a few hundred off just by picking parts up at local retailers and doing some of the assembly myself.
My parts list, let me show you it. Let me show you my parts.
Case: Cooler Master Sileo 500, designed for toolless installation, high air flow, and (what tipped it to them) vibration and sound absorption. I particularly like the high air-flow sound baffle panels for 4 of the 6 sides. It's also a fairly elegant and discreet design; looks good, but not flashy.
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M 700W. May be a bit of overkill, but I'd rather have more than I need than find myself coming up short. Added bonus, apparently it runs fanless when idling and the wide-diameter fan runs quietly even under peak load. (The emphasis on quiet comes from my current system, which I adore but it's so loud these days I have to raise my voice over it on the phone.)
CPU: Intel i7 920 quad-core running at 2.66GHz per core. This is a bang-for-buck selection, but there's an awful lot of bang here for not an extortionate amount of bucks. As cool as it would be to get either of its big brothers, the 950 or the 975, that'd double or quadruple the price for not that much additional horsepower.
Motherboard: MSI X58M; a bit of a cost-saving pick but still high performance and a good reliability track record. There are some cautions about temperature but the extra airflow from the case design should take care of that. I hope. Some also quibble about the overclocking ability, but I'd rather pick a 'board for robustness than for its ability to be fine tuned into a thoroughbred with all the skittishness that implies. The big draw for me on this card is that it has two PCI-E x16 slots pre-rigged for Crossfire.
Graphics: twin Sapphire ATI HD4850 cards for CrossfireX multiplexing. Third-party reviews say this is the biggest bang-for-buck set-up for computer graphics. Actually, I think that the pair costs less than any of the stand-alone graphics cards I've ever purchased and they do a heckuva lot more. I think the only down-side is the huge power draw, but that's why I got the big-and-beefy power supply up there. The amusing part is the HDMI output; if I get a 6m HDMI cable, I can output to my TV...
The rest of the picks are pretty dull; 1TB SATA-II HDD @7200rpm, DVD+/-RW drive, 3x2GB 1.33GHz DDR3 RAM (6GB total), keyboard, optical mouse... and then hauling over my 3.5" floppy drive and Audigy 2 soundcard from my old computer.
Operating system will be Windows 7 Home Premium; I don't think I'll need XP mode and I certainly don't need any of the other features available in Win7 Professional.
I'll wait on monitors until after Christmas (and hint around for gift cards/certificates for the holidays). I might add a Blu-ray drive later, but probably not.
-- Steve's finally getting a bit dozy, so perhaps he should retire.
PS: The whole smash listed above comes to under $2000CAD with taxes and labour... and I might be able to shave a few hundred off just by picking parts up at local retailers and doing some of the assembly myself.