How long ago did you last assemble a computer?
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Re:so, I'm in the more than 8 yrs ago camp (Score:4, Informative)
Re:so, I'm in the more than 8 yrs ago camp (Score:4, Informative)
Re:so, I'm in the more than 8 yrs ago camp (Score:5, Informative)
Ah, okay. Well I'll share with you my current build:
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Intel i7-4790K CPU: $340 (I was gonna go for the i7-4770, but MicroCenter had the 4790K on sale for $280, and I jumped at it)
Gigabyte Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H: $165 (make sure you upgrade your BIOS to version F8--with F6 it was rebooting every couple of minutes)
Corsair Hydro H60 cooler: $60
SeaSonic 650-Watt G-Series power supply: $100 (WAAAY overkill for my system, but whatever. I chose it based on Tom's Hardware PSU tiering guide [tomshardware.com]--wanted something close to the top with 600+ watts at less than $100)
G.SKILL Trident X Series RAM: 2x8GB for $165
SSDs and HDDs are kind of a personal choice in my opinion. I only buy Samsung SSDs and only buy WD HDDs, but other people will swear by different brands. SSDs are at about $0.50/GB
My case is the Cooler Master HAF-932, which has a metric ton of fans, great access ports and a large footprint. I think they've been discontinued in favor of the HAF-X: $170.
You might not need a dedicated GPU with that CPU/mobo combo--I only use it to run Direct3D on a Windows VM and run my displays off the IGFX. Depends on whether you're a gamer, in which case, consult your games for the recommended specs. I can tell you nVidia cards usually work decently well, but you have to futz with getting the correct drivers (proprietary vs. nouveau) and getting everything to play nice in your xorg.conf.
Any optical drive will do. I think mine cost $20. Make sure none of the online reviews complain of bloatware.
Keyboard, mouse, monitor--anything should be fine.
I think that's it! Total cost comes out to ~$1200. But it has top-notch performance regarding stuff like video editing and scientific computing. Linux compatibility is fine, though you'll need to use the alsa-daily PPA to get audio working, and a dedicated video card can, as previously stated, take some work to set up.
Re:"assemble" or "reassmeble" (Score:4, Informative)
I am in the same boat so to speak. I built a custom computer a few years ago and have upgraded component by component and saved all my old parts. Eventually I replaced everything including the case, power supply hard drives, and recently I got a new CPU and motherboard. Then I took all my old parts and reinstalled them in the original case and duplicated the exact same setup I had 3 years ago before the upgrades.
Re:Please don't take my nerd card (Score:3, Informative)
You can do computer science just with paper and pen. That is entirely feasible and totally common in any computer science curriculum at any halfway decent university. Oh, you thought that computer science = programming. Well, yeah, no... it isn't and technically you can program without a computer too. You just can't run your programs.
Re:so, I'm in the more than 8 yrs ago camp (Score:4, Informative)
$30 - IO Crest SATA III 4 Port PCI-e 2.0 x1 Card with Low ProfileBracket (SI-PEX40064) - motherboard only has 2 onboard sata ports
$50 - AMD Athlon 5350 APU, 2.05Ghz, AD5350JAHMBOX
$85 - HyperX 8GB Kit (2x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 PC3-12800
$35 - GIGABYTE GA-AM1M-S2H AM1 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$60 - Antec EarthWatts EA-380D Green 380 Watt 80 PLUS BRONZE Power Supply
$125 - 120G SSD Samsung 840
$250 - 2x 3T WD Red
$80 - Silverstone Tek SG02B-F-USB3.0 ABS/SECC Steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case
Ubuntu 14.04 server. ZFS for storage.
Its not the fastest rig, but quad core, plenty of RAM for a minecraft server, owncloud, gitlab, and plex. Still working on mythtv setup, but might scrap that soon.
With the all 3 drives spun up and server idle, it pulls 39W. With 2 3T drives spun down, its only 19W. I'm very happy with this as my home server.
Re:so, I'm in the more than 8 yrs ago camp (Score:4, Informative)
I just built mine last week. That was a first for me in ~7 years. The box it just replaced was around 4 years old (needless to say, I'm not a gamer either). I went back and forth with TomsHardware, Newegg, etc. reviews narrowing it down. Ended up with a fairly cheap system ($500'ish) that does me fine. All items with a cost came from Microcenter:
Case: Gutted system but reused my previous Asus microATX case.
PSU: Reused same PSU. Little 400w thing seems to be okay. It's not powering much.
RAM: 4x4GB sticks, bought within the last year when I upgraded from 8GB. Reused those also.
Mainboard: H97M-Plus ($114)
CPU: Intel i5-4590, quad-core@3.2Ghz up from my previous i5-650 dual core. ($200).
Video: Integrated CPU video card. I'm fine with it.
SDD: Samsung 250GB EVO840 ($139)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda, 2TB ($78. I don't need much space. Coupled with my old 1TB drive, I'm good for awhile)