Hi Everyone,

My current setup is/was a custom pc I built back in 2001 AMD Barton X64 2Ghz (overclocked) system which I primarily used for rendering and music production, and also my 6 year old Compaq Persario for Gaming / E-Mail / Surfing etc.

My wife has/had an older Compaq Persario which is about 7 years old, and need for an upgrade.

Got a small bonus for completing some projects at work, and so I started doing some research on purchasing a new system.  So this is what I came up with

Case:  Coolermaster Centurion 5 II $67.77
Board: ASUS Sabertooth X58 $193.54
Memory: 12GB in Triple Channel configuration  $67.08 x 3 = $201.24
CPU: Core i7 950 -> Can o/c to 4.0 - 4.4 GHz $289.79
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470  $199.99
1st HDD: Corsair or OCZ 120GB SDD $189.99
2nd HDD: WD Caviar Black SATA3 2TB (this will be on a seperate SATA3 controller on the MB for less bottlenecking $154.99
Optical: Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM $21.99
Power Supply: Corsair Corsair TX750W 750W $106
Cooler: Scythe Ninja 3 $47.77

Total with Blu-ray writer: $1571.07 (Canadian)

Modifications:
With DVD-RW instead of Blu-ray: -$98
With WD Caviar Black 640GB as 1st HDD instead of SSD: -$130.20

But I started thinking about the price vs performance and If I could do with less.

So I went to my favourite local computer store and looked at some of the bargain priced pc's they build in house.

So I bought two of these:

Sale Price $379

Board: ASUS P5G41-M LE/CSM
Memory: 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR3 1333Mhz
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5Ghz
GPU: Intel GMA X4500 (Windows 7 Ready)
HDD: 500GB HDD,
Optical: 18X DVD-Writer

Power Supply: 450W

I bumped up the Power supply to 600W as well I added a PCI Express card ATI HD 5670.

Total price for both computers $1100.

One for me and one for the Wife.

I've got my wifes up and running right on on Windows 7 64-Bit and slowly migrating her work stuff onto it, she's happy.

I'll have to configure mine next. :)

So what do you guys think?

Good deal...to bad I didn't find similar when I was burgled...hadda drop $800.00 to get just one with similar specs last October.. ...

sweet! really sweet.. 12 gb memory? ouchie! 

once i get back from my summer trip will have to work out a desktop.. not looking forward to that...

Quote - sweet! really sweet.. 12 gb memory? ouchie! 

once i get back from my summer trip will have to work out a desktop.. not looking forward to that...

That was part of my original plan, for now the 4GB system will have to do, I can always upgrade it to 8GB later.

Great Deal!

Have you broken the news to your old comp yet? So sad...

Sounds cool! Have fun!

John

600 on the psu?

Good deal!  I love putting my own computers together.  I get a much better machine than buying a crappy Dell off the shelf.

Quote - Have you broken the news to your old comp yet? So sad...

The old Comp will be repurposed as a render node :)

Quote - 600 on the psu?

For the ATI HD 5670 a 400W power supply is recommended or 475W if running CrossfireX in Dual mode).

With 2 Hard Drives / DDR3 Ram / DVD Burner and possibly overclocking this sucker, I need the extra Juice.

I actually went concervative, its not uncommon for people to build systems with a 1200W Powersupply.

The Graphics cards these days and the GPU power is like having a 2nd computer inside your Computer.

I'm hoping the extra GPU will come in handy when transcoding or encoding video.

Quote - sweet! really sweet.. 12 gb memory? ouchie!  once i get back from my summer trip will have to work out a desktop.. not looking forward to that...

Dont fret Rosie, we have enough tech heads here that we can help you get the best bang for your buck as the saying goes.

Analog, I have nothing but problems with the ASUS and NVIDA motherboard... First the raid was giving me problems, then the sound went out... Yesterday I was playing Bejeweled Blitz PC version and that frozen up the system and couldn't or wouldn't give visual after having to do a brute re-boot ! My next computer will be ASUS-less and NVIDA-less... After having problems with their updates and then having to put up with their less than satsifactory service, NVIDA can kiss my A$$! No, wait! They are not worhty to even kiss my $**T!  Even the guy that put my computer together had problems with his computer and he used the same motherboard as the one he put in my computer. He sent it back and they sent him a new one but the new one was just as defective as the old one he sent them, so he got a new mb from a different company and put the ASUS mb up on e-Bay... (LOL)

Tell me what would be an ideal computer for Bryce and Poser together????

Then tell me what is the real world computer specs?

...keeps shoveling coal into the furnace of his steam-driven pc......

WOW, sounds like a great deal, AnalogX.

Aw, poor theBryster.

Corrie

lol, at Chris... and are you still putting candles inside the CRT monitor to brighten it?

@Thunderstone: without knowing which models/components were used for the PC, one suspect could be overheating.  Its no secret that AMD processors run much hotter than Intel processors, so cooling is more important on an AMD Processor, was well the thermal paste used between the CPU & HeatSink can make a big difference.  The cheap white pastes are infirior to the Arctic Silver type of pastes.  I may have been lucky thus far, but I've lost count all the computers I've built with Asus motherboard using AMD and Intel processors without ever having to RMA a board.  But it does happen.

@TheBryster: Can you not divert the methane gas from the lambs in the filed towards powering the PC? Would probably be safer than coal.

Analog, where do you get your parts from? Maybe I can order it online and have my computer guy put it together. With your recommendations I can get it done the way I want it done reasonably priced.

@Thunderstone:  What is your budget? We can start from there.  I live in Canada, so Either I purchase parts from a local supplier or from ncix.com or tigerdirect.ca

If I lived in the U.S.A I would purchase parts from newegg.com, tigerdirect.com or ebay.com there are some good legit part sellers on ebay with warranty.

You can also PM me if you'd rather go private on this topic.

ok, expect a pm from me now....

Willi? Yes.

Analogue? The lambs aren't around long enough to supply what I need.

Analog..thanks a million.. 

Chris.. wop! wop!! what happens to the sheep? the lambs grow into sheep... 

We eat them, Rosie, we eat them. With mint sauce, some roast potatoes and vegetables.

rflmao. My tummy is aching from all that laughing.. Aren't sheep and lambs so adorable that you just can't stop talking of them and have to have them hopping all over every post?? hmmm?? nudge..nudge... 

talking of eating lamb.. come to think of it..i hardly get lamb here...very few butchers have them. get mostly goat.. goat steak, minced goat, goat curry, goat biryani, baked goat, goat burgers........  :woot: :tongue1:  or you can stick to boring chicken. 

now..can we get back to creating a computer or analog's computer?? My dream computer.. one that will render a dollhouse in 5 mins flat..and that too..render to disc with premium anti alaising, a gazillion lights, lots of glass, mirror and extreme complex mats and objs/obps. hdri,  and not a single crash ever.. 

and to be able to skype, read my news, the forum, fb and others,, and ... 

the icing on the cake..or the cherry? 

iron man 2's computer..see thru, motion based, air based, voice activated, and brilliantly smarter than me..  

sigh....

UV Dan.. Lol!! he's safe with me.. got him curled up under my chair.. munching a bale of grass! :-p 

Quote - We eat them, Rosie, we eat them. With mint sauce, some roast potatoes and vegetables.

Do you use any worcester sauce with that?

Getting back on Topic :)

I havent tried it yet, but I wonder if I'm going to run into problems,  rendering with a 64-Bit machine and 32-Bit render nodes.

Attached Link: http://comics.com/rose_is_rose/2011-04-13/

ahem.. and if you go read the last two previous days..that was me.. 

ROTFLMAO!   Yup! That's our Rosie! :lol:

Pretty much me as well except it's always modern ones giving me the grief...My Amiga never caused me any grief,,,,just a lot of waiting for renders for days, heh heh heh

Quote - Pretty much me as well except it's always modern ones giving me the grief...My Amiga never caused me any grief,,,,just a lot of waiting for renders for days, heh heh heh

On the rare ocassion when the Amiga crashed, you would get a nice "Guru Meditation" message.   Didnt understand what the numbers meant, unless you worked for Commodore but it was nice. :)

LOL...ah yes much more calming than a BSOD.. ...

Stereo Sound, Multi Tasking and 4096 Colors all that with 512K of Ram.

You could print something and work on something else at the same time.  Never heard of before, that time.

A Guru meditation is like Windows Blue Screen of Death but nicer and more calmer looking.

I have a 2500 I'm putting on craig's list.  Anyone here want it.  I really hate parting with it.

It was way ahead of everything.  When some "Big Blue" dummy would poke fun I'd ask them if they could listen to music and format a disk at the same time.  They shut up quickly.

Quote - I have a 2500 I'm putting on craig's list.  Anyone here want it.  I really hate parting with it.

It was way ahead of everything.  When some "Big Blue" dummy would poke fun I'd ask them if they could listen to music and format a disk at the same time.  They shut up quickly.

If those things didnt weigh like a tank I would consider it.. but I could imagine shipping to Canada would be very expensive. :)