Interested in finding out how to build a "killer pc" for less than 2k? I've built my own pcs for over 22 years now (!) and here's what I came up with, for current specs.

After doing over 16 hours of research (including on support forums etc to find out what to get vs what to avoid), here's the specs for the new system I ordered (all components from newegg.com):

+ASUS P5WDG2-WS PRO Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Server Motherboard
+Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600
+CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
+ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Heatsink
+ SILVERSTONE FM121 120mm Case Fan (2)
+Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives
+ LIAN LI PC-V2100APlus II Silver Aluminum Server Computer Case
+Antec Truepower Trio 650W psu
+ ATI 100-437807 Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
+ ASUS EN7600GS SILENT/HTD/512M GeForce 7600GS 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card

plus various extended SATA II cables, arctic silver cpu grease etc...

I think it'll blow my old P4 2.8 on asus P4C800 out of the water re video render times... plus it'll be great to have another pc as my main one, I haven't upgraded in several years, and now's the time..

It's amazing to think of all the work I spent putting into "figuring out the best possible system", and that it all boils down to that small paragraph above. I'm sharing that with you for those who would like to save time, figuring out "what to upgrade to" ... but hold off til after I assemble it and troubleshoot it, I ordered it all today, it'll be here by thursday, I'll have it running by friday nite.

This is just fyi, for those of you who also like to build your own pcs and know how. It's the very best configuration I can develop for price/performance points... it should be great for years, fwiw.


Ken

Great idea Ken. I've built my own PCs for years. As a brand new college grad, I quickly figured out it was a lot cheaper to build them or upgrade parts myself than pay someone else.

I usually check pricewatch.com for PC parts shopping and have gotten a lot of great deals over the years.

Mike

Ken,

What is 16 hours of your time worth? $3200? $8,000? And you STILL have to put it together.

Damn, just get a Delll, dude!

It's like back when I used to have to tinker with my car, it's something I like to do. Plus, getting a monster pc overclocked in a monster Lian Lee case (my cases alone cost $300), and putting it together myself, is at *least* half the fun...

now for my wife's pc, that's just an emachine off the shelf of course... though I couldn't resist swapping out the DDR RAM and throwing a silent cpu fan on the thing, and a couple other mods...

it's the 'last bastion of tinkering' for those of us who used to like living with 9/16" wrenches and working on our cars... now it's all the hardware (and the lighting gear for my video studio, and my audio home theatre stuff).

Rule #1: us guys gotta tinker... pride of workmanship and being in control, knowing how it all works, how to swap stuff out, that's important....

ken

Ok, when you put it that way, I agree and understand.

I have about $8k invested in my wood shop and that is where I escape and satisfy the need to work with my hands.

I'm barely sophisticated enough to buy a Mac!

But I've got a client who heads a $150 million dollar company and he can't resist jumping in and fixing his employees cars,watches, etc.

I've built my computers for years as well. But I like my macbook so well I'm considering buying a Mac desktop too.

I would recommend on addition to Ken's computer. Add a second harddrive and set them up as a raid array. I'm not real clear on which type of raid is best (my son would but he's at work this time of night plus he lives 5 hours away). I'll email him.

I would build a raid because once in a great while even brand new hard drives fail early in their life. With the right type of raid, you don't lose any data.

I like messing with computers, cars, etc myself. But I don't do it much anymore. Too busy.

Best for home use is Level 1 or Level 0+1. Basically, level 1 is a mirror and gets you full redundancy and 0+1 adds striping which gets you faster performance. Ken might use that since I know he does video editing. Most don't need it.

Speaking of computers I finally bit the bullet and am upgrading my laptop from an old IBM thinkpad that weighs almost as much as me to a nice shiney Macbook

I feel cooler already.