My Computer, Part I: Hardware
I offer the following material not to brag (though, ain't she purty?), but as a source of information. The computer I use is a perfect embodiment of the guiding principles of NextTech Magazine. This computer is strong, fast, durable and damn pretty.
When you build your own computers, you very quickly get a sense of what works for you and what doesn't. The rigs I build must be fast, stable and durable. I need a fairly good amount of power, not to mention a ton of storage space, because of the work I do developing websites, creating digital photography as well as other graphics and ripping all my CDs into mp3s for my vast music collection.
The computer has to be fast because, frankly, I get impatient. It has to be stable, because crashes cost me money in lost time and lost or corrupted work. And they have to durable because I totally abuse them, leaving them on 24/7/365.
I've added some limited comments to specific pieces of hardware below. There's a companion piece to this one, a feature on the installed software on this rig. You should also understand that this computer has the DNA of the first computer I built in 1995; I have never replaced or bought a completely new system since I started building them—there is no need.
I may replace the motherboard, RAM and CPU, but I'm putting it in the same case or using the same video and audio cards, the same floppy, CD-RW, DVD-ROM and hard drives, the same mouse, keyboard and LCD monitor. Replacing hardware items in such a piecemeal fashion allows me to keep up with technology without losing my shirt.
Note #1: Items on top are newer; items in red indicate hardware upgraded since this article was first written in June 2003.
Note #2: Sunday, April 10th, 2005—The computer initially described in this article finally succumbed to abuse, dying of acute motherboard failure after three years of constant (24/7/365) and heavy use. The replacement parts listed below were acquired in a hurry, so I didn't save as much as I would've ordering them online, but then again, I didn't have to wait a week or so for their delivery. Plus, this baby is faaaast!
Updated: November 18, 2005
| Part Category |
Part Description & Comments |
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Case:
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CompUSA Got this case at a real good price, but may replace it. The Athlon64 CPUs run very, very hot, but this case seems to have pretty good airflow. And she's even purtier than before (see photo above) This also resolved the problem below; turns out, I never needed 6 external bays—four of 'em (like this case) is completely adequate, plus, now I can fit the box under my desk. |
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| ATX 9-Bay Full Tower Case (beige) This is a huge case, with six 5¼" drive bays available. As you see below, four of these bays are filled (two hard drives, one DVD-ROM & one CD-RW). Because my original plans (read "needs") have changed, I'm ready to change this to a mid-tower case. |
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| Power Supply: |
Antec Brand Name Power supply, quiet fans (two of 'em—in and out). |
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Motherboard:
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MSI Because my business couldn't stay offline for more than a day or so, I couldn't wait for another ASUS board; I had to go with what was available on a quick trip to several local NYC retail outlets. CompUSA was selling this mobo for $99USD, which is a good price. There are newer boards out there that can run as high as $250USD. Still, this board has many features I wanted, including 64-bit chipset, USB 2.0 and ports for Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives, in a RAID configuration, no less, which will be the next upgrade for this system. |
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| ASUS ASUS makes the most stable motherboards I have ever used; they just won't break. I was gonna get the A7V266A—it'd been out for a while and it was in my price range. But then they released the A7V333—same basic structure (and only $25USD more) with a few key additions: USB 2.0, FireWire and a faster front side bus (FSB) speed. Buying add-in cards to duplicate the USB 2.0 & FireWire capabilities would've cost me $100-120; the A7V333 was only $25 more than the A7V266A. One of the best (spot) decisions I made in building this system. |
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CPU:
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AMD A Socket 754 chip, this is another example of a just-became-older technology that delivers real power without costing a fortune. |
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| AMD This is my first AMD computer; I may never go back to Intel. Lots of power, not a lot of money. |
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| CPU Heatsink: |
AMD-supplied The newer heatsinks included with modern Athlon chips are much quieter and more effecient at moving cool air around this hot CPU. |
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| AMD-supplied A little noisier than I'd like; soon to be replaced. |
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Memory:
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Kingston Using brand name RAM is always a good idea. The last thing you want to skimp on is a component as important as RAM in your rig. Unless you like seeing frequent blue screen and/or memory errors. Also has incredibly low latency, which means really fast. |
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| Samsung Fast RAM and plenty of it; gonna double this soon, just so I can say I got a gig in my rig. |
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Hard Drive 1:
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Western Digital Pretty much the same drive(s) as below, except twice as big. I had filled over half of the 120 GB drives and needed more space. The drives cost just under $100 USD each before the rebate, which I didn't even send in because I thought I already had a really good deal. |
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Western Digital The Maxtors died, prematurely in my view, and were replaced with these two Western Digital drives; one of the biggest differences between the two has nothing to do with the hardware, but the warranty. The Maxtor's warranty lasted a year, the Western Digital, three years. Big difference. |
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| Maxtor Very Fast Hard Drive/in removable tray |
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Hard Drive 2: |
Western Digital This second hard drive's primary function is to hold the Norton Ghost image, the daily backup of my C: drive. |
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Western Digital (See above) |
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| Maxtor Fast Hard Drive/in removable tray |
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Floppy Drive: |
Generic (black) Hey, the beige one looked stoopid in the black case. |
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| Generic (beige) This is one of the few computer parts that are so reliable, it's just not worth looking for a brand name; they just work. |
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| Sound Card: |
Creative I didn't get this until after I ripped all my CDs into mp3s; then I wanted a better sound experience than I was getting with the integrated sound card on the mobo. |
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Video Card:
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Nvidia While the old All-in-Wonder below was good during the Windows 98 days, with the advent of Windows XP, giving me the ability to keep about four times as many windows open simultaneously, the old card just couldn't keep up. Plus, I wanted to try an Nvidia card; it is, thus far, most impressive. See a review of this video card . |
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| ATI Actually got this so I could play realMYST, a real-time 3D version of the classic MYST. It was worth it. Cable TV in, used to watch baseball games in a small window set in the lower right-hand corner of my screen while working on databases and other projects (just wanted to try it—I've since unhooked it from the TV cable). This card works quite well—still thinking of a new NVIDIA, though…but that's just 'cause I'm a geek. |
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DVD±RW/Dual-Layer |
Samsung Those drives below were several years old; the technology has changed (faster, bigger, cheaper). I was able to pick up this name brand drive for $80USD, so, pretty much a no-brainer. |
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| Toshiba I've had DVD players in my computers since 1996; just the idea you could have a disk containing 6 GB of data was irresistible. And they're so cheap—think I paid maybe $40 USD for this one. |
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DVD/CD-RW |
LiteOn Yeah, it's faster than the old ones I used below, but also, they had to be black, y'know what I mean? |
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Lite ON Got this in 2002; it's my first CD-RW and I love it. Also quite cheap, about $58 USD |
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Keyboard/Mouse
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Microsoft I was never impressed by wireless keyboards and mice I'd seen in the past; they always seemed to be a lag between when you hit a key and the character appeared on-screen. Apparently, those problems have been resolved, so, I picked this set up. One good reason for buying a set like this is that you only need one infra-red receiver on your desk for both units, instead of one for each. Still gotta watch out for the Diet Coke spills, though. |
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| Keyboard: |
P/S 2 Compatible A no-name keyboard I picked up after I spilled Diet Coke on the other two keyboards I had lying around. Cost about $20 USD |
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| Mouse: |
Microsoft This was a little more money than I'd ordinarily spend on a mouse, but these optical mice don't have to be cleaned every couple of months like the older ones. |
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Monitor:
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Samsung After 7 or 8 years of pretty continuous use, the IBM DFP finally died and had to be replaced <supresses whoops of joy>. Digital monitors have come a long way in that time; for this Samsung monitor ($379USD), I spent less than a third of the IBM's price and got a full 19" screen. How cool is that? |
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IBM 9519 DW0 18.1" Digital Flat Panel *Digital Video In |
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| ATX Fans: |
3-Antec 3" fans These are very quiet fans; not the quietest, but more than manageable. With all the heat generated by the components in this box, I'll trade a little noise for cooling power. Keeping your hardware cool helps prolong it's life. |
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| Speakers: |
Creative 2.1 After I got the sound card, I just had to have new speakers; I'm sure you understand. |
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Network Interface: |
VIA Rhine Ethernet Integrated on mobo The only problem I had with the wireless network below was not the fault of the network itself, but of the city in which we live. Yes, NYC is essentially the electromagnetic interference capital of the world, causing frequent dropouts and loss of signal, even though the router was only four feet away from the computer. Plus, a wired network is always gonna be faster than wireless. |
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Linksys Wireless, 802.11g Yeah, we broke down and installed Roadrunner, which we now share by way of a nifty little wireless network. See a review of the Linksys wireless network hardware. (Hardware Removed) |
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| Modem: |
Zoom 56K PCI Dual-mode Modem Yeah, it's a dial-up modem, but I get on line at about 52 K, so I only notice it during large downloads. |
