What I'm running right now is this beast and it's almost dead. I've ran that shit into the ground. There's no CPU fan, and the poor CPU is degrading to the point where I can barely play YouTube videos anymore. I figure it's a matter of time before all hell breaks loose and my old P4 gives up the ghost.

So, here's what I've decided to go with. I'm going for a DIY build, to keep costs low and to get exactly what I want.

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core $340
This is an Ivy Bridge (3rd Gen) Core i7. I really like the lower power consumption with this processor as well as the speed and notoriety of this line. I'll be doing things that most definitely require the processing power, such as Photoshop and rendering various things like video and emulation.

CPU Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H100 = $108
Seemed to me that if I was going to go with a high(er) end Intel processor (which has been unlocked and can be OC'd) I'd need to go with at least a decent cooler. Dunno about liquid cooling, this will be my first one. I'll figure out installation when it arrives. I read the charts though, this thing really keeps the heat under control.

Motherboard: Asus Momentus V Gene = $195
I really liked this mobo. It's a small form factor, but doesn't really lack in features or compromise on quality. It supports WiDi (Wireless display up to 1080p) and has slots for an mSATA (SSD) and a miniPCIe slot, which I will be getting a dual-band wireless b/g/n bluetooth combo card for. It's got a great sound package on-board, but designed it in such a way that it's completely isolated from the rest of the board. Uses socket LGA1155 and has the Intel Z77 chipset.

Storage: Mushkin 120GB SSD = $140
This uses the mSATA interface, which is supported on the motherboard I am using. I am going to forego a hard drive for now, using my USB3.0 external laptop drive as supplemental storage until I get another hard drive to go in there.

Graphics: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 = $170
Not really sure about this purchase. Seems OK, but I feel like I could be getting something more powerful and not have to upgrade this again in like a year. I'd ideally like to run my two monitors (1280x1024 DVI and 1920x1080 DVI or HDMI) at the same time.

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB = $75
Two sticks of 4GB. I figured not many people would use more than this, and if I do, I'll have 2 extra slots. The price seemed good for what it was, timing is 9-9-9-24 and speed is 1866MHz.

Power: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 = $80
Nothing really to say about this, seems to meet my needs, looks nice, great reviews, well known brand.

Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer = $72
Seems like a great case to put everything in, and it's RED, too. I really like it not being yet ANOTHER BLUE LED out in the wild. On top of that, it supports the extra large radiator (240mm) that the cooling solution uses. It'll be one quiet machine.


You may also notice that I don't have a DVD drive on there, because I already have an external one. I'm not really bothered by having the thing on the outside of my case. If it really gets to me, I'll just take it out of the enclosure and slap it in.

Another thing is, should I really bother with buying an OS from a retailer? Or can I get a reliable one elsewhere?

Also, feel free to point out any weaknesses in this setup and contribute substitutions and/or better prices if you know of any.

Going with Windows 7. I'll probably want to dick around with some distribution of Linux, too.

I've made some changes to that hardware setup. I've changed the motherboard to an Asus Sabertooth at $240. This changes my ability to have mSATA and mini PCIe devices. That means I'll have to get a hard drive and wireless card. I went with a 500GB HDD and a PCIe wireless NIC. Also got a bluetooth dongle since I'll probably want to emulate some Wii.

I know my PSU is overkill for what I have, but I'll want plenty of room for upgrades in the future. Especially since I'll eventually get two new (better) video cards down the road.

Orders have been placed, shipping will occur soon.

It'll be used mostly for pleasure. I'll want to play Minecraft on it, as well as do some Photoshop work. I can do hacking on the computer I'm on, I just have to be a little patient with it. I'm really excited about being able to play system-taxing 3D games that I haven't been able to before, such as TrackMania, Skyrim, and others. Also, I'm going to absolutely love being able to stream gameplay and race games with others. I'm also excited about emulating Wii games.

The first shipment will arrive on or around the 27th. I'll have to wait around for the second shipment which won't be until as late as August 4th when it arrives.

Anticipation is going to fucking kill the shit out of me.

Yeah, that's what I'm referring to. Can't run shit on this computer... I tried Wii Play and it ran, but at 0.01 FPS.

What resolution do you run Dolphin at? I can't wait to see what games look like at these resolutions.

Also, got my first shipment and my next shipment's delivery estimate is between Tuesday July 31 and Saturday August 4.

Anticipation is doing a good job eating my brain.

So I just got an email from Amazon informing me of their shipment of my items. The estimated date UPS is giving me is Friday, August 3. Man, I need to clean my room.

My desk setup.

It will probably be a little more tidy by the time my computer actually arrives, but that's because it's a method for me to deal with anticipation that is now eating at the back of my brain.

Yeah, not sure what I'll do though with my old computer. Probably just toss it or something. I just hate tossing shit away, but it's for the better. It really is.

I dunno. I have a lot of shit on this computer that I don't even know what to do with. I'm looking for just an easy way to copy over the contents of this drive to my external HDD and just go through it later. What's the best way to do that?

Alright, got some new cabling to go along with the new machine.

Click for Pic

Got a parallel/serial PCI Express card in there because I have a SNES controller that hooks into a parallel port. I also have a touch screen monitor that interfaces with DVI and Serial connections. So that and the serial cable will come in handy.

I'm getting new power cables for the monitors, as well as new HDMI and DVI cabling for them. The DVI cable on there is an extension cable because I already have a shorter DVI cable, but I need it longer, obviously. Also got some cable management stuff, and a 75ft ethernet cable. I also grabbed a simple mono RCA to 3.5mm adapter for connecting MP3 players to my workplace's speaker system.