THE PURPOSE;
I need a powerful, snappy, responsive computer. Not because web design is a particularly demanding business (infact its very low on the scale of system requirements), but because, lets face it, who wants a slow PC?
I am not going to talk about how to spec and how to choose a PC, I do that here.
What do I use my computer for? Web design/development obviously, then a storage/viewing of a large quantity of High Definition Movies/TV Shows (all legally aquired of course), also the almost constant, daily playback of high quality audio from a large, extensively managed music library. The music playback is always a background tast to either web development or web browsing, research, self-education. This is peppered with the odd gaming session (usually F1 2011 or Dirt 3) a couple of times a week.
So whats required of my hardware? As we can deduce from the above paragraph, the handing of large files is a key part of my daily PC usage. This leads me onto why I chose the motherboard.
THE MOTHERBOARD
I knew I needed an i7 cpu, so that (at the time) limited to me an X58 chipset board (of which the UD3R is). Bit-tech's review of the Gigabyte X58A-UD3R was outstanding. The final decision for me was between this and the Asus Sabertooth.
I chose the Gigabyte UD3R for two, nonchalant reasons. A) I had an Asus board 5 years ago. It was a high-end model, and it lasted 3 months. When I sent it back for servicing I forgot to include the backplate. They returned it unrepaired and billed me for the courier fee, simply because the lack of backplate meant it was "incomplete". B) I prefer Gigabyte's blue & white colour scheme on the board, the Asus grey, olive & brown scheme comes across quite drab.
The array of 10 SATA Ports (x2 6Gbps & x8 3Gbps), Two USB3 Ports on the rear plate and a total of 12 USB2 ports gives me substantial options for future storage expansion. Yes, the board has FOUR 16x PCI-E slots, only one of which is currently in use (graphics) but you never know what I might decide to run in a few months time.
THE CPU
Up until this point, I had never owned an Intel powered machine. Put off Intel from the days of 3Ghz Pentium 4's with no guts, expensive but mandatory RAMBUS, I have always swore by AMD. However in the last three years or so, Intel have changed their game. And AMD have dropped in my estimations. Don't get me wrong, they make superb desktop CPU's, mostly ideal for low-end users and office systems. Their laptop CPU's leave a lot to be desired, which I talk about here. That right there is what put me off. It is clear that AMD struggle to design processors that run as cool as Intel's. You only have to go into a computer shop and feel the temperature of a laptop on an AMD platform and a laptop on an Intel platform to confirm that.So that was it, I decided to go for Intel. The Core series (i3, i5 & i7) was making a lot of buzz at the time I started looking. This was pre-32nm (& Sandy Bridge) release so the Core processors I was considering for the build were 45nm (which is what I ended up with). I couldn't decide too easily between an i5 or an i7. However, the influence of a well informed friend guided me to the i7. There was around £100 price difference between the i5 I was considering and the i7-930 that ended up making the final spec. Worth the money? Every penny. My advice? Never cut corners on the CPU & the Motherboard.
Hard Storage
Clearly my need for hard drives is ever increasing. That is a plain example of why you should plan ahead when building a PC. If you were to choose a Motherboard with only 4 SATA ports, that would severly limit your options for storage expansion in the future, and might lead to use of slower & more expensive external drives.
My monthly PC Hardware magazine always seem to recommend the Samsung Spinpoint hard drives. They offer the best trade between storage, price per GB, and build quality/reliability. Initally I purchased and installed two idential drives in an AHCI setup, both 500GB Samsung HD502's which at the time were around £35 each. A month after the build was complete, I expanded storage with a Samsung HD103 1TB drive, which is primarily used for storing HD movies.
The obvious step on the storage upgrade path is swapping the primary drive for an SSD.
Graphics Hardware
This is where I almost made a big mistake. When speccing this system, I considered the cheapest, nastiest graphics card, as I was not planning on any gaming of any kind, whatsoever. When in the ebuyer.com basket, I had a last minute change of heart, deciding to invest a little more budget in the graphics department.
I ended up with a £80-odd XFX ATi HD5670. I never planned to use it for gaming, the reasoning behind this choice lay with the cards outputs. DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. I planned to run a long HDMI cable round from my desk to my TV behind me, for desktop extension and playback of HD movies. I am yet to find a use for the DisplayPort. Infact, can anyone tell me what advantage there is over HDMI or DVI with DP?
About a month after the build was complete, a brainwave lead me to request a high end forcefeedback steering wheel (& pedals) from my partner for Christmas. This was provided (awesome present) and I dipped into the world of PC racing games, something I had not done for almost a decade. I was very concerned that I had made the wrong decision on the graphics front, and it would be a Christmas Day of disappointment. The HD5670 did not let me down. F1 2010 runs very smooth @ 1440x900 on ultra detail. DiRT2 runs just as well on the same settings. If I had jumped through the ebuyer.com basket and ended up with a £25 Geforce, there would have been an increased outlay at Christmas to run the aforementioned games. Something no one needs that time of year.
Memory Requirements
Another pit that many consumers fall into is getting hooked-up on RAM. There seems to be an obsession with having the "most" RAM in your PC/Laptop. I witness too many confused buyers sacrifice processing power for an extra gig of memory.
Lets get something straight, right now. Memory requirements are not what they used to be. The need to vast quantities of RAM is no longer. We have Windows Vista to thank for putting consumers in the "more is better" mind set regarding RAM. Windows Vista hogged memory (and other resources). It would keep taking RAM by the Mb and not giving it back into the "pool" for other applications to use.
Windows 7 fixed that. Plain and simple - with Windows 7 you do not need the same amounts of memory as you did to perform the same tasks in Windows Vista. So why focus your cash on a laptop with more RAM and less CPU power? As I said above, always invest in the CPU. Memory can be upgraded very easily and at low cost.
Anyway I will get to the point. I chose Corsair XMS3 DDR3 RAM modules, 4GB, (thats two sticks). Why Corsair? Because they are a reputable brand. There are dramatically increased chances of having bad sectors with no-name /O.E.M brands. Why DDR3? Because that is the current speed and that is what my motherboard supports. Why only 4GB!? I weighed up the options..dedicate budget to vast quantities of RAM e.g 8GB, and never need more than about 3GB in actual use, or put that money towards something else i.e the processor. I did the latter.
The Case
The gorgeous Define R3 from Fractal Design speaks for itself. It was tough to find a case I really liked, until I saw this. When the case fans are on low, using the included fan controller, you would not know the system was running. The walls have sound dampening material, the fans have tool-less removable filters, there is superb cable management. The door even has a magnetic catch so it closes itself from a certain angle. I cannot recommend this case enough. It is a bargain at £90.