Building a "dream machine"

[AriRashkae]

On a lark, I was going to different manufacturer's sites and customizing rigs, with the assumption that $$ is no object (gotta love fantasies, right? ). At one point, I had a beast that ended up almost as much as my husband's car. Of course, part of it might have been the brand.

Anyway, while I am passingly familiar enough with my box to know not to let out the magic smoke, I was wondering what the tech gods here would build, assuming supply was not a problem. (I would eventually like to build a beast of a gaming rig, so I'm fishing for ideas for components here. ) Anyone care to share their dream machines?

[MrSmiley]

"Price is no object" mwa ha ha ha

Generally when I build a new system, I start by putting together a list of the most 1337 awes0me parts... and then start reducing each component on the list in order to save $, down to a level that I'm comfortable living with. Then take a deep breath and see about buying it.

At least that's what I *think* I do.... I'm supposed to be doing it right now to buy a new computer, but have been procrastinating over the last few weeks. I get distracted easy by videogames and hockey.

Most techs seem to have a general vague grasp of what different parts/components cost, and don't have to look it up until they need this. In some ways I think vendors take advantage of this, because the markup/retail price of anything electronic seems to vary wildly...

[AriRashkae]

"Price is no object" mwa ha ha ha

Generally when I build a new system, I start by putting together a list of the most 1337 awes0me parts... and then start reducing each component on the list in order to save $, down to a level that I'm comfortable living with. Then take a deep breath and see about buying it.

At least that's what I *think* I do.... I'm supposed to be doing it right now to buy a new computer, but have been procrastinating over the last few weeks. I get distracted easy by videogames and hockey.

-hockey and +knitting and you have every day I'm supposed to be doing something.

I want to make a list, but don't know enough about the parts to know what will perform. I know I want fast, lots of RAM, DVD RW burner, and at least 1 huge drive (1 TB, preferably). It's when we get down to which is the best that I get lost.

[lordlundar]

In my case, it's not so much the money as the connections. You see, the products released are usually a step down from what they just finished developing, and if you get your hands on one of them, it's usually less than the current bleeding edge.

Now, on to specifics:

Processor: Quad core, most likely intel, As much speed as possible.
RAM: 4x 4GB DDR3, once again, as fast as possible
Video Card: 3x Nvidia GeForce GTX series, highest available in the 200 series, tri-SLi linked
Sound card: SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion PCI Express with controller.
Network card: Killer NIC from Bigfoot.
Hard drives: 2x 1TB drive and 1x 256GB Solid state drive
Optical Drives: 2x Blue Ray recording drive
Media reader: 5 1/4" media bay
Cooling: Ammonia cooling system for CPU, Vid cards, HDDs, and RAM, with refrigeration system for heat dispersion.
Power supply: Dual channel 1000X modular power supply
Case and motherboard to accomodate.

As far as the externals:

Monitor: 46" LCD TV with DVI hookup.
Sound: Logitech THX Z-5500 Digital.
Keyboard: Logitech G19 With Steelseries Razor sub keyboard.
Mouse: Logitech G9
Printer: HP Photosmart C7200
Net connection T1 Line.

That oughta do it.

[Blade_Raver]

I built a pretty hawt machine a few months ago..

CPU: Intel i7 2.66 GHZ Nehalem (low end i7 proc)
Motherboard: ASUS P6T6 Revolution WS ATX
Case: Cooler Master CM 960 Midtower
RAM: 6 GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 RAM PC16000
Video cards: 2x NVIdia GeForce 9600 GT PCIe 2.0 x16 (SLI)
Hard Drives: 2x 500GB SATA hard drives
Optical: Basic CD/DVD R/RW drive
OS: Windows XP (I will get Windows 7 when it comes out. I refuse to get Vista.)

Sound/network ports are on the motherboard.

With this build you'll need to purchase an extra long (6 inch?) SLI bridge cable from ASUS, it costs an extra $20 but both video cards working in tandem gives you a sweet frame rate. The flexible cable in the box is too short.. and the SLI bridge "card" that they provide doesn't have the connectors in the right positions to connect them.

The intel i7 is faster than the Intel Core2Quad processor, btw.

If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a priv message.