In October, when my Laptop turned 5, and started getting a little fritzy, I started thinking about what my next machine should be. I considered getting another laptop, perhaps a MacBook. I really wanted a machine that would not complain if I worked it too hard. Laptops are great for portability, but I don’t really do that much travelling, and when I do, I have my work laptop.

My option B was to buy a pre-built desktop. The retail market has brought the cost of buying a new machine tremendously (I love the Gateway Media Center PC I bought a few years ago), but there are a few things I don’t like about buying from the retail market.

1. You get a package deal, which often gives you things you don’t really want or need
2. You are most often tied to a specific Operating System
3. You have limited customization

So, I settled on option C, building my own box. This would satisfy my desire to customize the machine components to my liking, pick my own OS, and select only what I really want. I needed to do a bit of research to see what is the best stuff out there. I found some good articles on what and what not to do and got advice from some friends. At the end-of-the-day, this is what I settled on.

Microprocessor

First things first, I needed to pick a CPU. Intel has been the front-runner in developing chips, so I looked in to their line. Honestly, I didn’t really even know what was out there. I settled on the Intel Core i7 920 processor.

The i7 920 is a 64-bit architecture, so you can add a lot more memory. The clock runs at 2.66 GHz, and has 4 cores (and is able to run 8 threads). That’s like putting 8 processors on one chip. My laptop has 1 core and 1.6 GHz, so this was multiplying my processing power by 16 (Moore’s Law in action).

The processor also comes with a larger-than-life heat sink (the size of a CD spindle) and fan (which sits on top of the heat sink to keep it cool).

Motherboard

Once I decided on the processor, I by default had picked the Intel X58 Express Chipset that I would need to use. I decided to go with the ASUS P6T Motherboard, which supports the Intel LGA1366 Platform. It has plenty of ports (built in Ethernet and sound), and plenty of room to grow (6 memory slots).

Memory

The memory modules needed to be DDR3 and under 1.65V. I wasn’t sure how much memory to get, so I picked a number greater than my current 1GB. So, I made like a linebacker and picked 6. I picked Corsair XMS3.

Hard Drive(s)

I wanted to set up a redundant RAID drive set, so I picked a set of 1TB Seagate Barracuda drives. They have a 32MB cache and run at 7200RPM and the best part was they were under $100 a piece.

Graphics Card

This was a tough one, because there are so many NVidia cards out there from different brands, with different model numbers. It’s a mostly intangible market. The two figures that actually meant something to me were the price tag, and the amount of memory on the card. I lucked out and found a great associate when I went to pick up my order at MicroCenter. He directed me to an EVGA NVidia card that has 1GB of memory for $70. I about crapped my pants when I saw that. A good graphics card makes the world of difference.

Case, Power Supply, and Additional Fan

When I went to the store, I found the Antec Three Hundred ATX Case, and the Antec Basiq 500 Watt power supply. The case has two built in fans, and three spaces for additional fans. I picked up an additional fan for the front for $20.

DVD-RW Drive

The DVD drive I bought was a $20 Samsung OEM Super-WriteMaster Dual/Double Layer 22x DVD±RW Burner.

Keyboard

I picked up a $15 Microsoft Curve keyboard as well. This one is quite ergonomic. Strike one up for M$.

Dual 17″ Monitors & Mouse

I already owned two 17″ LCD Monitors and a Logitech V450 Nano, so I didn’t need to add any additional cost for that.

Operating System

After using Ubuntu Linux at work for the last year, it was not a difficult choice to make Ubuntu Linux 64bit my core Operating System (I also run a Virtual Box VM of Windows XP inside of Ubuntu).

The Total Package

My shopping trip to MicroCenter was well worth it. The sales associates were very helpful, and it was nice to have the piece of mind to touch and see your product and take it home immediately. The total cost for the trip was $1000.

The time has gone by so fast. Before I knew it, my baby James has grown up to be a 3-year-old. He is such a sweet little kid. It’s fun to see James all grown up (no longer a baby). I still can’t imagine Joey at this age.
Kelly and I both think that he’s cautious like me, whereas Joey is free-spirited like his mom.

Last night, I made James a little parking lot on the dining room table with his ‘Cars Movie’ cars (the lines were made out of mini-marshmallows). When he got up this morning and saw the table, he unparked each car carefully, and then clustered the mini-marshmallows in a heap from which he shot them rapid fire in to his mouth like a semi-automatic machine gun. Five-seconds later, 40 mini-marshmallows had been cleared from the table and found a happy home deep down in the belly of a 3-year old.

James’ birthday party was a bit of a bust, We took a trip to the Orange Township park, but the weather decided to be a bit cold. We stayed for about an hour and then head home, meanwhile thinking about the Costco sirloin that was thawing on our kitchen counter. As I thawed myself at home, I was very thankful for the blessings of being able to have a family.