One of the most popular series of articles on this blog is the one where I detailed my DIY kneeling chair project. Other popular articles relate to some of the Computers & Tech posts – particularly ones which identify a problem or provide solutions. In fact, come to think about it the rest of the blog is most often found by people wanting answers to something.
I always build my own computers, and the one I’m using at the moment is a bit out of date. I built it back in 2009, and it was a fast machine then. However, I’m like every computer I have ever had, you start to notice that it isn’t as fast as the newer ones after a while. The old machine spec is as follows:
- Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU
- Intel D975XBX2 motherboard
- 4GB DDR2 RAM
- nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card
- 4 x Western Digital 500GB HDD
- 2 x Optiarc DVD RW SATA drives
- Sigmatel HD Audio 64-bit on motherboard
This is housed in a limited edition mirror-finish Japanese Steel Antec ATX case.
So, it’s time for a new one! And I’m going to detail the building of it on here.
First of all, there is nothing wrong with the case or the DVD units, so I am going to use those in my new one (as well as Windows 7). The spec for the new PC will be as follows (provisionally):
- Intel Core i7 3770K CPU
- ASUS P8Z77 motherboard
- 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz RAM
- nVidia Gigabyte GTX 570 Windforce 3X 1280MB graphics card
- 1 x OCZ 256GB Vertex 4 SATA III SSD
- 3 x Seagate or Samsung 1TB HDDs
- Realtek 8-channel HD Audio on motherboard
I say “provisionally” because the motherboard might yet change, as may the graphics card and specific SSD unit. But the core spec will remain the same.
The new machine will boot from a solid-state disk (SSD) and use standard HDDs for storage.
I will keep this thread updated as I put the device together. To be honest, once you have all the parts the actual construction only takes an hour or so – installing the OS and all your software is the hard part!