# I got the waiting for a new computer blues. (techies out there?)



## Aczdreign (Jun 15, 2010)

Okay, so I've decided to use some (the majority of) my student aid funding to build myself a new workstation PC. My laptop is starting to show its age, faltering on render processes due to the intense strain that my present work in Maya 2010 is putting on the system. Since I graduate in December, I've decided to take this last crack at student loans and build myself a system that will not only help me graduate but also last me a few years, professionally.

So I'm waiting around for my deposit to go through on Monday so I can place the order (which has made render times on my laptop about 10x longer in my mind), and it should be delivered on Wednesday or Thursday.

Here's what I've got planned, and keep in mind that this is NOT a gaming station. I am aware that there are gaming cards out there that have higher 'numbers' than the (amazingly expensive) video card I intend to order, but the (Nvidia) Quadro line of cards are made for the work that I am doing (Maya, CS5, 3ds, etc).

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Silent Pro RS850-AMBAJ3-US 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Newegg.com - OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601930
Newegg.com - Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - Scythe Kaze Master Pro 5.25 Fan Controller
Newegg.com - Optical Quantum 4.7GB 16X DVD-R Color LightScribe 200 Packs (2 x 100 Packs) Disc with FREE Sony Optiarc AD-7241S 24X SATA LightScribe DVD Burner
Newegg.com - PNY VCQFX1800-PCIE-PB Quadro FX 1800 768MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Workstation Video Card

Thoughts/suggestions welcome, again, please keep in mind that this is not a gaming rig.

...

<checks watch>


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## Mcleod15 (Jul 17, 2009)

If it was up to me I would just buy one allready built from a company like dell, gateway etc... with the parts you have listed your looking at spending 1715 dollars not including a monitor, or operating system, or ms office for school work. Another downside to building your machine you will need to keep up with all reciepts, computer parts break quite often(and are sent broke sometimes) and working with warranty parts claims can be a hassle. I don't know if you have ever built a machine from scratch before but sometimes(not all the time) once everything is put together and it works correctly getting the drivers installed for the rest of your hardware can sometimes be aggrevating. 

So for 1715 you can a machine allready built with out alot of the hassle, that includes a monitor, and operating system, that also equals the specs you have selected with this machine(except for the power supply most companies put 450-525 watt psu in there machines, don't really need alot of watts unless your gaming).

I was going to build me a machine but then decided to go with a Studio XPS 9100 instead and its turned out good. Came with 6gbs tri channel memmory, 750gb hd(they come with 1tb now i think), i7 core, dvd/cd burner, etc..


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## American_Pit13 (Apr 23, 2007)

I suggest building yourself if you can, you will get a much better rig.. However have you checked prices on Tigerdirect? My husband builds ours from there at wicked good prices.


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## Aczdreign (Jun 15, 2010)

@Mcleod: Yes, I've built plenty of machines from the ground up, not only for myself but also as a form of employment for a period of time. The problem with buying a prebuilt rig is I can't build it to do exactly what I need it to do, and even if I could, I'm paying extra for labor when I can (and will very much enjoy) doing that myself. The actual cost that I'm looking at here, including shipping and one year newegg warranty on everything is 1,729.73; The case, motherboard, cpu, cpu cooler, power supply, RAM and HD are all sold as a 'combo' with a total of 209.92 discount from their individual price. Were I to buy this same system from a company, I would be paying upwards of 2k, and I would have to deal with THEIR service department and whatnot as opposed to just getting the parts and doing repairs myself, QUICKLY. 
Also, I've already got all the software I need, as well as a 36" 1080p LCD monitor. I'm just building a new box to run my animations through. Large-scale use of programs like Maya, 3ds Max, and the Adobe CS5 Master Suite need serious processing and video power. Some of the scenes that I will be rendering for my graduation exhibit will take ~24hrs per layer, with 5-6 render layers.

@american_pit13: I am familiar with tigerdirect, I actually had a look there as well, there seems to be ~$5 difference between most of the parts, with newegg coming in cheaper. I also price-checked with Fry's Electronics and a few other places. What I'm looking at now, with the combo discount, puts me far ahead price-wise than I would be anywhere else that I've found.

EDIT: And it's still only four o'clock. Vodka in the freezer sounds like a good way to kill a day's waiting...But what am I gonna do tomorrow??


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