Ok, so I wanted to officially "build" my first real PC. Being into video and audio as well as just software development I wanted something with some power. I also wanted to be able to have a system that I could play a couple of games on. Of course my 360 is near and dear to my heart but they just don't make Flight Simulator for the Xbox.

Anyway… my process was stopped about a year ago when my current PC/Server died from too much dust and overheating. The short story is this… I have actually gotten to see a Pentium 4 Chip Melted past the protective coating. Pretty cool how the sucker just started to melt away. I ended up replacing a whole bunch of components. To save on cash I used parts I intended to use for the new PC on the old one. So I only now have a Chassis and Motherboard remaining.

So to show off how big of a dork I am I wanted to post my suggested configuration for the new PC. I really just want to keep a running list of sites and parts so I don't forget them. I would welcome any comments on the parts if you have used them before or have any questions regarding my selections. Of course as I save up the cash I will buy the parts as I can. Hard Drives and Optical Drives are usually first! J

So here is the Config List:

1. ThermalTake Tsunami Chassis – Acquired
2. ThermalTake ToughPower 850W Modular PSU
   1. $239.99
   2. Priced from ZipZoomFly - http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=371371
   3. I think 850W will be enough for the entire system. I may look at 1000W units when the time comes to see what the price difference is. Currently they are $100 more
3. NVIDIA 680i SLI Motherboard - Acquired
4. Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core 3.0GHz CPU
   1. $1,059.99
   2. Priced it From NewEgg - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115034
   3. Want the Retail Version for the Manufacturer's Fan and Ducts
5. Corsair 1GB Dominator RAM - Acquired
6. Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB HDD x3
   1. $284.97 ($94.99 Individually)
   2. Priced it From NewEgg - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136004
   3. The 680i Motherboard has a built in SATA RAID Controller. I want RAID-5 so Three Drive Minimum
   4. I will probably create a 20GB OS Partition and Remaining Data Partition. Of course I would have over 1TB so maybe a large OS and Program Files partition.
7. NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 GPU
   1. $2,499.99
   2. Priced it from TigerDirect - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3501279&CatId=320
   3. The mack-daddy of video cards. It is really made for 3D Modeling and Animation and outperforms the normal enthusiast and gamer GPUs. On-board GPU memory is 1.5GB. Most expensive part of the system but will keep me in business for many years to come!
8. LiteOn CD/DVD Burner Optical Drive - Acquired

Total System Cost is a little over 5K. I currently have over 4K of stuff to get. Not planning on finishing for a while.

Some people might be asking what about monitors? I currently have two 19" Acer LCDs. They are on an Ergotron Arm Mount. When the new system is finished the old PC will become just a server for File Sharing, Domain Controller, DNS, DHCP, and all that other networking stuff. I will probably post images of the build as it comes along. Currently the motherboard is installed in the chassis. Fairly painless install except for when I broke the top cover off of the chassis. ThermalTake replaced it for free… cool deal!

The only thing I have yet to figure out is which OS I plan to install. I have copied of everything through my MSDN subscription for development work and Action Pack subscriptions. I do not plan to install a Server OS as the compatibility gets to be a pain. Right now it looks like I might stick with Windows XP SP2, but it depends on where Microsoft is with Vista when I finish. I think Vista has a lot of possibilities, but there are also a lot of things that Microsoft needs to address before I really recommend or use Vista. Obviously with the system above performance will not be an issue, but just overall OS speed is a problem.

Ok there are some lingering things to look into as well. I did not price out an Audio Card… first because the Motherboard has onboard 24-Bit HD Audio support as well as Digital Audio Support. Also, because I probably would not install a conventional Audio Card like SoundBlaster's Audigy. I would probably look more into Industrial Sound Cards that have MIDI interface support for software programs like Adobe Audition, or Avid's ProTools. I also have to price out all of the additional editing and production tools like ProTools and decide on which video production system to go with. Adobe made lots of changes to their entire product lineup but then again so did Avid.

Ok, well that's enough for now. Hopefully I should have more soon. I will probably place the order for the optical drive and maybe even a hard drive soon.