A New Computer

When I got my job last July, I fully expected one of my first purchases to be a new computer.  I not only use my computer every single day, it's a hobby that I really do enjoy.   Building computers.

But I surprised myself when I sat down to think about it.  I came to the unlikely conclusion that I didn't need a new computer.  Even in my 'poor' days I always found ways to get updated computer parts.

Sure, mine was (at the time) a year and a half old and just jam packed full of compromises... and yes I COULD afford to get exactly what I wanted... but it just didn't make sense (or cents!).  Without looking at a single part, I knew my 'new' computer would cost me well over $1000 and frankly I had other things to spend money on.  Things that required an upgrade/new version or things that I had wanted for longer and had never been able to afford.  Fiona... a necessary upgrade from Lita.  The Galaxy S4... a much wanted upgrade over my LG Rumor Touch.  Traveling to Chicago and Dallas... something I couldn't afford to do before.  The Shotgun/Hunting Trip... something I didn't know that I really wanted.

So instead of spending money replacing something that was already eminently acceptable, I spent my extra cash in other ways.  I knew that it was only a matter of time before I would 'need' to upgrade.  A part would break down, or a new game would come out that my system couldn't handle.  At that time I would look at what money I had available and either do a major upgrade to my system, or do a new build.  Well... that time was yesterday.

(Updated:  It's built!)


Before I get into why I got a new computer or why I chose each component, let's look at what I currently have:

Processor:  AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (3.2 Ghz)
Motherboard:  ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870
RAM:  8GB DDR3 1600
Case:  Cooler Master (about 2 years old.. I don't know the model number, but it is/was nice!)
Hard Drives:  500GB Western Digital ATA 'Caviar Blue' 7200rpm
                       750GB Western Digital ATA 'Caviar Black'  7200rpm
Video Card:  EVGA GeForce 465 1GB
Power Supply:  Cooler Master Silent Pro M700 700w 80 Plus Bronze
Monitor:  Samsung 24" SyncMaster 2433BW
Speakers:  Bose Companion 2 Series I
Mouse:  Microsoft Sidwinder X5
Keyboard:  Logitech G710 Plus
Headset:  Razer Tiamat 2.2

Now I'll be using two different terms in this post.  Build and Upgrade.  Since I built my first Windows machine (WAY back in 1999/2000), I have never fully built another.  Some piece or part has always come from the previous version.   I have upgraded them many many times.  I mean, let's face it, any new hardware attached to the computer is an 'upgrade'.  

So when I say 'build' a computer, I mean that it has a new motherboard and processor.  That's the CORE of any system.  When I say 'upgrade' I mean that some or several other parts have been changed.  It might be simply adding another RAM chip, or as complicated as a new case/hard drive/videocard/soundcard/networking.... 

Build:  A system based on a new motherboard/processor and often several pieces from the previous system.
Upgrade:  New parts added to the last 'Build'

Got it?  Ok.. let's continue.

Overall, not a BAD system.   The main compromise in it was the processor (and therefore the motherboard).  I have had many good times with intel processors.  But God Damn are they expensive when compared to AMDs.  So when I built this system in February of 2011 (guessing at the time this was a 'tax refund' computer) I went with the best AMD processor I could afford.  The Phenom II X4 955 Black edition was actually brand new in 2009.

If the processor (and motherboard) was a compromise, then the 'splurge' was the video card.  The 465 was no where near 'top of the line'.  It was brand new in May of 2010, but it was slotted in as a 'mid range' video card.  The top of the line at the time was GeForce 500 series that had come out in September of 2010.  The 456 was $199, while the 'better' 400 series and 500 series cards were well over $400.

The speakers were a mini splurge and were purchased all on their own when my previous set blew up.  The mosue was a replacement for the same reason.  The keyboard and headset were upgrades after my new job.

As is, this computer can browse the internet, play my music and videos, and can utilize photoshop just fine.  It can play my main game of choice (Team Fortress 2) at it's highest settings, and up until yesterday could play any new game out.  Albeit with less than ideal settings.

So what was this game that spurred on the new computer?  Assassin's Creed Unity.  This game has been on my 'want' list for the past 6 months or so.  Ever since it was 'leaked'.  I have played through every major version of the Assassin's Creed series and just this year played through the last one:  Assassin's Creed Black Flag.  Yes... I enjoyed playing an Assassin/Pirate.

Like many recent games, I expected to be able to play it just using less than ideal settings.  Hey.. I play it for the storyline and the escapism.. not necessarily for the top end graphics.  On Tuesday November 11th 2014, Unity was released.  I looked at it, decided I wanted to get it, and almost bought it.  Thankfully I looked at the specs.  Two stood out for me (realize.. these are MINIMUM requirements and not RECOMMENDED requirements).

AMD Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.0 GHz

OK... I have one chip level above this.  So while I will be able to play it, it will have to be a the minimum specs.  That is unless...

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680

Umm... yeah.  I CAN NOT play this game with my current video card. 

So for the first time since I built this system, it has failed to meet a minimum requirement.  And it's not for a game that I 'might' want to play... its for a game that I definitely want to play.  I don't care if I only get an hour of playtime in a week and it takes me six months to finish, I WANT to play this game.  

Now, I COULD just get a new video card.  An EVGA GTX 750Ti Superclocked card could play this game and only costs $159.  But whenever I look at buying new components for my computer upgrades or builds, I always try to think about future proofing.  I don't want to HAVE to upgrade soon after.  

So while a cheap video card purchase could let me play the game, I'd still be at the bare minimum when it comes to the processor (meaning playing at the lowest settings), and would probably have to upgrade soon for whatever 'next gen' videogame comes out next.  Plus the 750Ti is nice... but Nvidia has just releated the 900 series chips.  EVGA now sells several versions of both the 970 and 980 based video cards.  

Sticking one of those bad boys in my current system would have been like putting a supercharged V12 engine into Lita.  Nice... but it doesn't fix the brakes, seat, air conditioning, or any other thing required for good safe driving.  

So I looked at my bank account and happily saw that my saving for the past few months will pay off.  I had enough to drop $1500 on a new computer and not effect any Christmas or Vacation plans I have.  And seeing as how I compromised on my last two or three builds (and most upgrades in between), this would be the first chance I had in a LONG time to build the computer I want. 

Now when buying comptuer equipment I've always gone for a 'sweet spot' in pricing.  Yes, I want the best.  I want an Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition I7‑5960X 3 GHz 8 core beast, but at over $1000 that's WAY to much money.  A far lesser i7 or even a high end i5 should do just about as good for 1/5 the cost.  The same goes for every single component.  Yes, I can get a 1000 watt power supply... but why when a 650 or 700 watt one will do just as good?  

So here's the new system and how I selected key components:

Processor:  Intel Core i5 4690K Devil's Canyon
Motherboard:  ASRock Z97 Extreme6 LGA 1150 Intel Z97
RAM:  16 GB DDR3 1600
Case:  Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl
Hard Drive:  Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GBSolid State Drive
Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked 4GB
Power Supply:  SeaSonic 650W 80 Plus Gold

(Carried Over components)
Hard Drives:  500GB Western Digital ATA 'Caviar Blue' 7200rpm
                       750GB Western Digital ATA 'Caviar Black'  7200rpm
Monitor:  Samsung 24" SyncMaster 2433BW
Speakers:  Bose Companion 2 Series I
Mouse:  Microsoft Sidwinder X5
Keyboard:  Logitech G710 Plus
Headset:  Razer Tiamat 2.2


The Processor:
At first I figured I'd want to get a low to midlevel current generation Core i7.  I KNEW I was going back to Intel, so I never even looked at the AMDs.  So I did some quick research on what makes a Core i7 better than an i5.  It seems that the main difference is hyperthreading.  Both come with 4 cores.  You can get an i7 with six or even eight cores, but honestly unless you are doing massive video editing or server level processing, you won't notice the extra cores.  Even most games don't take full advantage of four cores.   And that's where hyperthreading comes in.... hyperthreading lets each core act as 2 cores.  So those 4 i7 cores can act like 8.  Those 8 cores can act like 16.

But if the current generation of games don't take advantage of more than 4... then why bother with hyperthreading at all?  The i5 I chose cost $239.  It's the newest generation (That's what the K and 'Devils Canyon' stand for), so it should stand up to the test of time.  The equivalent i7 (i7 4770K Devil's Canyon) goes for $100 more.  Benchmarked in equal systems, it give most games about 2 frames per second faster performance.   Sorry.... 2 frames per second is NOT worth $100.


The Motherboard:

I won't go into the motherboard.  I'm not enough into comptuers to really know the difference.  My brother was helping me make these selections and as he's far more up to date on MBs than I am, I just took his advice on that one.  He agrees and follows my 'bang for the buck' mentality, so I know it's not the best, but I also know I'm not over spending on it.


RAM:
Technically the RAM I purchased are a matched set of Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB chips.  They are 'plane jane' as opposed to most of the other RAM chips that have metal covers, shiny heat sinks, and come in all manner of colors.

I know a lot of people look at computers as a way to visually express themselves.   Cases withOUT a window are harder and harder to find.  So motherboards, heat sinks, RAM chips, and Fans all come in 'colors' so that you can mix and match your components.  Well... my comptuer sits inside the bottom of a desk near my feet.  When it's not turned on, it has a door in front of it.  Even if the door wasn't there, you can't see the sides.  In other words, I don't give a flying fuck what the inside of my computer looks like.  So there is just no WAY I was going to spend extra for RAM that 'looks' good.  I'm perfectly fine with these chips looking bare bones.

One thing that DID consern me was the speed.  I had 1600 in my last build, and they offer up to 3000.  And my MB supports that speed.  So I quickly looked into why my brother picked out another set of 1600... umm... WOW! The prices on faster RAM goes up VERY quickly.  A matched pair of 8GB chips at 2800 (they don't sell 16GB sets at 3000) goes for  $419 from a company I've never heard of.  It's $559 for a brand I know, and $639 for a brand I really trust.   Those chipsets come with their own fan powered cooler.  Why would they come with a cooler you might ask?  Well because you have to overclock chips to get that speed out of them.  They get HOT.  And burn out.  Oh... and to get your RAM to overclock, you have to overclock your processor.

By the by... to get 16GB of 3000 speed you have to currently use a 4 chip set.  Those go for over $1000.  In comparison, the 16GB 1600 Crucial Ballistix Sports I got were $159.  And what do you get for seven times the price?  Nothing.

Yeah... nothing.  At least nothing that I would be doing.  For the very high end server market, or the very high end video rendering boxes (think Hollywood... not your vacation videos), it might be worth it.  But gaming wise, you might.. MIGHT... get 1 frame per second extra for that speed.

Oh.. and as it's the same speed of my current RAM, I might (MIGHT) be able to use my current RAM in the new system taking me up to 24GB of RAM.   I say 'might' because DDR is quiet finicky.  If it doesn't match up quite right, you can still get the extra space but loose the 'Double' part of the DDR.  That means I'll have 8 more Gigs, but the RAM would all be half of the speed.  NOT a trade I'd be willing to work with.  Either way, I'll be happy with at least 16GB.  Only my most intensive Photoshop tasks require more.


Case:

At first, I wasn't even going to get a new case.  My last Cooler Master was about $49 and as I don't look at it, I'm perfectly happy with it.  Then I took a look at it.

EWWWW!!!!

It's my own fault, but still... it's covered with dust and dried up smoke.   In case you didin't know, smoke doesnt' just 'go away'.  It collects on things.  It's brown, it's sticky, and it's NASTY.  As my case is an air moving machine (to keep my hideously hot video card cool), it actually PULLS the smoke into it.

When I did my last build in 2011, I was able to clean it up nicely... but I just don't see that as an option this time.  Sure, it's still going to end up in the desk, but I'll KNOW that it's that nasty.  In addition to the 'nastiness' of the case, I also liked the idea of being able to build this computer whenever it came in, and worry about transferring over all my files at a later date (i.e. my next day off).  Without a case, I couldn't do that.  I'd have to wait until my day off, tear down my computer, scrub the case for a few hours, then drop in all the new parts.  So a new case was in order as well.

And as long as I'm getting a new case, I figured it was worth it to do some research.  Here's what I want; quiet, plenty of air moving around, easy to clean, a clean simple front, NO BLING, and maybe something to manage all the cables.  Doing a bit of research and I quickly landed with the Fractal Design.

The front is a door.  You can't get more simple than that.  I haven't had a optical drive (CD/DVD/Blu-Ray) in my system for over a year.  I have't used any optical drive on a regular basis for many years (ever since I installed steam and started downloading the majority of my software).  So the door will stop the smoke from getting all over the front (at least when it's on the door it will be easy to wipe down!), and be a simple 'box' when I look inside of the desk.

It includes two 140mm fans (one in front, one in back), so it will move air better than my current 2x120mm setup.  There is about a half inch of space under the motherboard for the cables to run in and plenty of rubberized gromets to fish the cables through.  five of the 8 3.5 hard drive bays come out, leaving more space for air to circulate (as I'll only have three drives, that leaves just enough space!).

It also has foam on every surface to help deaden sound, and rubber feet/edges so that when components touch the case, they won't cause it to vibrate.  Supposedly with the fans on their highest speed, it will be quieter than my current rig.


Hard Drive:

I have lusted after an SSD drive ever since they got up over 100GB in size.  No moving parts means quiet.  They are FAST.  It's almost easier to think of them as RAM than hard drives (they obviously AREN'T ram, but they have more in common with RAM than with Hard Drives.  Their biggest draw back is size... you can get platter drives up over 6TB (yes... TERAbytes), but SSDs go from expensive to Eye Poppingly Expensive over 0.5TB.

I never took the leap as they were incredibly expensive when compared against standard platter based drives.  I've heard tales of computers booting in the 10 second range using an SSD and Windows 8.1 (which I am running).  Since my two current drives will be held over for mass storage (1.25 Terabytes Baby!), I should easily be able to pick and choose which programs get installed to the SSD and keep plenty of room available on it.  In fact, I currently have almost 90 Gigs available on my 500GB boot partition.  I currently do not pay any mind to where things are stored, so I should be able to do the same with my SSD.

In this build, this is strictly upgrade.  I don't need the extra space, but at $269 I'm going to be able to use my computer more or less as I do, just a lot faster.  It's the one major bottleneck that I hadn't ever taken on before.

Video Card:

I knew that for playing Video Games, there is no better way to spend money than dropping it onto a GPU or Video Card.  With Nvidia putting out their new line just this past September, it seemed like a good idea to 'future proof' the system as much as possible by getting into that line.

Thankfully, video cards are easy to compare.  Many sites exist solely for putting new video cards up in comparison to older ones.  Some use live games, some use graphic benchmarking utilities, some use pure mathmatical utilities.  The previous 'champion' was the EVGA 780Ti.  It currently goes for $449.  The new generation only has two cards; the EVGA 980 is slightly better than the 780Ti for $100 more.  The EVGA 970 is a slight step down for $100 less.  And when I say a slight step down, I mean it still ranks as third best out of available cards.  That makes this $350 card better than all the ATI Radeon cards.

It's really an easy decicion made even easier by NewEggs stock.  I was going to go with the EVGA GTX 970, for $329, but it was out of stock.  The Superclocked version at $349 was in stock.  Purchase made.

Power Supply:
When I was planning this system build, I didn't figure I'd get a powersupply.  I didn't at that time know exactly what I had, but assumed it was a nice 450 or 500 watt system.  Technically those would both work with this setup, but it'd be near it's peak.  If I ever wanted to get another video card, get more fans, or even more hard drives though, I might need a bigger one.  So my brother talked me into the SeaSonic.  He says they are a very good quality brand, and that 650 watt would give me a good 'future proof' scenario.

Getting the 80 Plus Gold certification was another deciding factor.  At it's core, 80 Plus certification means that a power supply spends it's energy on power instead of heat.  There is 80 Plus, 80 Plus Bronze, 80 Plus Silver, 80 Plus Gold, and now 80 Plus Platinum.  Going up to the Platinum meant a large price difference, so I stayed with the Gold.

To be honest, if I had known that I already had a 700 watt 80 Plus Bonze, I probably wouldn't have gone with a new power supply.  But then again, that's before I looked at my case and decided on a 'build it from scratch' mentality.  If I dropped the power supply and the case, I'd save just about $200.  But when my total is $1396.58, the $200 isn't a make or break expense.

The ability to get my package (sent via 3 day Air of course), get it all put together, get the OS installed and updated, and have it ready for my day off to pull my data drives and install those makes it well worth $200.  I won't have to worry about tearing down my current computer to scavenge any parts and possibly be without a computer for several days.



In Conclusion:

I don't recall every single build or upgrade I've done with my computers.  But I believe this may be the most extensive build since my first Pentium II system built in 1999/2000.  Obviously, all of my external pieces are remaining.  The only internal piece, however, that's staying are my data drives.  One is even being re-tasked from a boot drive, to just a second data drive.

While I may not know if this is my most extensive build or not, I DO know this is the first build that I didn't have to compromise on (or at least compromise any more than I wanted too).  Even that first system was full of compromises.  I know that I wanted a faster Pentium II processor, and while it had a video card, I also wanted to add a Monster Video Accelerator for playing games.  When specing it out though, I just bumped into my price ceiling.

This time, I made my selections before even adding up the prices.  If it would have exceeded the price ceiling (the amount I had in my account, minus money for Christmas and Vacation), I could have easily cut back.  Power Supply and Case gone.  Less processor, far less video card.  Keep my 8GB of ram instead of buying new 16GB.  No SSD.  But I didn't have to.  My price ceiling was $1500.

As you can tell by the length of this post, I'm VERY excited about this.  My computer is something that I use in almost all aspects of my life.  Something that I touch and interact with more often than my phone or car.  Something that helps me relax, work, and interact with others.

If I go completely into 'Dream Land', I can see areas to upgrade.

My monitor is a little long in the tooth.  It only goes up to 1920x1200 resolution.  With this processor and video card I can conceivably play games well over that resolution.  But then again, I haven't even WANTED to do that in the past, and most games don't go much above that Res.  I could also get a touch screen monitor as Windows 8 is fully able to utlize it... but then again I don't know how much I'd want to be touching my screen.  It's a pain to clean now when I DON'T touch it.

My Speakers/Headset.  I splurged on both of these purchases so they are both very high quality (Freaking BOSE!).  But technically they are both only 2.1.  I have no surround sound.  Then again, I have no space for speakers behind me.  I don't see me changing my room set up anytime soon, and that means my rear speakers would have to be wireless, about 3 feet behind me, and about 3 feet above my seated head (my 'front' speakers are 6 inches below my seated head and one foot in front of me).  To get the experience out of them, I'd have to have the volume up quite a bit, and I do like having it relatively quiet.   My room is just off the main room of the house so if I have the speakers up loud enough to take advantage of the 5.1, I'd have them loud enough to hear in that room.  The headset... well if I"m only going to have 2.1 in my regular speakers, then it would be a pain to have them in the headset.  Anytime I'd plug the headset in I'd have to alter the sound settings of the computer.  Not. Worth. It.

I could of course get the 'better but far pricer' versions of my recently purchased hardware.  An i7 for for between $100 and $1000 more.  An EVGA 980 for $200 more.  A Samsung Pro 850 1TB for $1000 more.  16GB of 3000 RAM for $1000 more.  A Platinum power supply for around $100 more.  And at the end of the day I would get minimal performance out of that. So again... I'm fully happy with my purchase and will hopefully be just as happy once it's all put together and put to use!

OH... BTW; I wanted to get this setup for many reasons, but obviously I wanted to get it for Assassin's Creed Unity.  Well guess what?  Unity is included with the purchase of the Video Card!

YAY!!

And one more BTW:  As I am publishing this, New Egg just sent me a 'shipped' email.  It's just the case for now, but hey... I could actually have this by Monday, my next day off!

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Update 11/18/14

My parts got delivered yesterday.  YAY!

As I mentioned in the post, one of the reasons I got the case and power supply was so that I could build the system on my work days and only focus on transfering all my data over and fully setting the new beast up as my daily computer on my next full day off.  Well yesterday was my day off, so I did both.  I'm writing this update on my new beast.

Seeing all those pretty boxes was great, but I quickly realized that it has been a long LONG time since I put together a system from scratch alone.  For my last few upgrades I've utlized my brother R's experience.  He must build three machines to my one.  When I was working as a computer tech I could look him in the eye as an equal, but those are years past.  But R was working today so that was my feat to accomplish.

I started by moving my desk around.  I pushed my monitor/keyboard/speakers/mouse over to one side so that the majority of my desk was availble to work on.  And then while continuing to listen to my tunes I grabbed up a couple helpful websites to guide me in the process.

It took me nearly 2 hours to get everything in place.  I was being extra careful as if it didn't boot I'd have to almost completely start over as I wouldn't be sure if it was a bad component, a bad job of putting it together, or a simple wire or connection issue.  Finally with it all together I pressed the button....

Nothing.

No fans, no hard drive, no lights.  Nothing.

I confirmed each cconnectionbetween the motherboard/powersupply/processor/ram... and still nothing.  I took a quick break to get my thoughts back in order and that's when R got home from work.  He was as giddy as me to see the new system and looked over my work.  I explained how I put it together and even my troubleshooting up to that point.   He fiddled with it a bit, but didn't change anything.  Our next step was to ensure that the powersupply was good.  Thankfully he has an older 500w poersupply to give it a go.  As he was turning to leave I gave a frustrated sigh and said something like "I just hate it when you go through all this effort and nothing happens when you hit the power button".  I hit the button as emphasis to my point and....

It turned on.

Fans started wiring, lights started flickering... it was booting!  Well at least t he bios was... the hard drive was empty.

I guess my computer just needed to know that there was a 'real' tech in the house before it decided to continue.  As R left chuckling, I got my USB stick with Windows 8 on it and went to work.

• Install Windows 8.
• Upgrade Windows 8 (I only purchased an upgrade so I have to 'upgrade' the clean install of Windows 8 to Windows 8 in order for the activation to work)
• Install Windows Media Center.
• Upgrade to Windows 8.1
• Download and install dozens (hundreds?) of windows patches.
• Install all the drivers (video card, printer, sound, motherboard chipsets, more motherboard chipsets, LAN)
• Download and install more windows patches.
• Install programs
• iTunes
• Office 13 (and more windows patches)
• Steam
• Pin Steam
• Photoshop
• Chrome
• Firefox
• Evernote
• OblyTile
• More Windows patches
• Install all my hundreds of fonts
• Set up preferences on some of the programs
• Migrate Data
• Documents
• Desktop
• Images (Pictures)
• Music

That took me to the end of the day.  I'd say I'm 98% done.   I have a few other less used programs to install and update (and undoubtedly more Windows patches).  I have to re-organize my data as my old boot drive no longer needs to have all those 'installed' programs taking up hundreds of gigabytes.   The new system showed that both of my old drives have system reserved partitions, as well as some unused space... all of which got assigned drive letters.  So I'll  have to 'backup' the data and re-partition my drives to get them nice and clean.   I want drives C, D, and E.  Not C, D, E, F, G, and H (which I currently have).  

I did install Assassin's Creed Unit this morning and gave it a good 10 minutes of playtime.  My God it looks good! 

I've only had it for a few hours, but there are already MASSIVE differences.  First, it boots faster than anything I've ever seen.  From a cold 'Off' state to up and fully booted (able to run programs, not just 'into' windows), takes a mere 16 seconds.  

16 SECONDS!

It could probably go faster, but it gives me boot options for about 5 seconds.  

It's whisper quiet.  Seriously, I can't hear any of the fans.  Even after playing AC Unity which should push the card quite a bit, it was still incredibly quiet.  We'll see when I push it harder if the fans build up.  

The case is big.  I measured it's width to ensure that it could fit into the space inside my desk.  I never thought that I'd have to measure it's length.  It sits so deeply into my desk that it's rear sticks out.  I had to move my desk several inches away from the wall just to ensure that it had space for the components (monitor, keyboard, mouse, sound, LAN) to hook up in back.  

I imagine this computer will suit me for quite some time.  Intel will undoubtedly come out with a new motherboard/chip combination in a few months, and Nvidia will undoubtedly come out with a bigger/better/faster GPU in short order, but for now this system runs the game with the highest system specs and does it without breaking a sweat.  My old system lasted over 2 years.  I expect this one will last at LEAST as long without changing any of the major components.