» A Custom PC Specification from 2005 - Build specification «

Custom PC - Building the perfect system (2005) : ~ Build specification

Build spec for 2005: page 2, chosen components

• Case - Zalmon TNN-500AF - £695 ex vat
  On a budget, the Antec Sonata are nice and almost a tenth the price
  
  
• Processor - AMD 64 Dual core 'Toledo'
  I was under the impression it would be FX based, but, apparently there won't be a dual-core FX5x, just dual-core Opterons and AMD 64's, the latter you should be able to buy early July. Intel have a similar date in mind, with Dell offering advance order for systems based on it.
  ( AMD roadmap )
  
  
• Motherboard - To be decided*
  Minimum requirements include SATA-300 support. DDR2 would be nice, but that's not likely to happen for AMD until 2006.
  
  
• Video - Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 XT - PCI Express (or XT800's replacement)*
  Rumours have it that the next chipset, R520, will have up to 24 pipelines! This will, I believe, be available from July 21st
  
  
• Memory - Corsair 1024MB TwinX XMS DDR Memory Kit (2 x 512MB)
  (Else DDR2 equivalent. We can dream.). On reflection, I'm going with 2Gb instead
  
  
• HDD - Seagate Barracuda7200.9 500Gb SATA300 16Mb cache, NCQ 7200rpm
  This isn't to be released until Autumn, but I can wait.
  (Yes, I was right, they called it the 7200.9!)
  I expected a news release in December 2004! Most annoyed at the delay!
  
  
• DVD-ROM - Plextor PX-716/AL
  I'm STILL trying to find a SATA DVD-ROM. This is ridiculous!!!
  
  ALSO:
  Don't know about Blu-ray devices, but I have it on good authority that NEC will have HD-DVD devices to market in mass for summer. Backwards compatible with existing DVD's, of course.
  
  
• DVD-Writer - Plextor PX-716SA dual layer 16x drive - SATA
  
  
• Floppy drive - Sony, Panasonic, other.
  Yes, I know, no-one uses these anymore…
  Until everything goes pear shaped and support on the end of a phoneline asks "Have you got a system boot disk?", or a techie needs to run low level diagnostics with something like Microscope. For the negligible cost, it's worth the piece of mind.
  
  
• Mouse - Microsoft Optical Mouse USB (Don't like wireless, myself)
  
  
• Keyboard. Three options here, according to taste and usage:
  - Microsoft Multimedia keyboard,
  - Creative Lab's ProdiKeys DM
  - CVT's Avant Prime:
  This is the modern replacement for the solid IBM XT, PS2 keyboard some of you may remember and love!
  
  • Weight = 5 lb
  • Solid steel base construction
  • Mechanical click/tactile key switches
  
  
• Monitor - Mitsubishi 2070SB (CRT)
  Flat panel TFT's are coming down to as fast as 4ms refresh by summer.
  As such, I for one will be looking out for a 4-6ms 23" version from Mitsubishi and/or Sony.
  
  Another option I've recently read a lot about and am likely to buy is Dell's monster 24" LCD, the Widescreen UltraSharp 2405FPW. At just USD $1,199 (£624.74 at today's rate)) or in the UK, £729 ex vat (£856.58) it really is a bargain. Stats are impressive too, though I'd like to see a better refresh myself:
  
  
  • Default resolution: 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA+)
  • Response time: 16ms
  • Brightness: 500cd/m²
  • Contrast Ratio: 1000:1
  • Includes USB 2.0 hub and 9-in-1 card reader
  
  
  
• Soundcard - Creative Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS 7.1 Sound Card Retail
  BUT watch out for news of Creative Labs upcoming next generation X-FI soundcard. By all accounts it's as far ahead of the current Audigy's as the Dual-cores are to PIII's.
  More on this as soon as I've finished my annual update
  
  
• Speakers - Creative Lab's Gigaworks S750 7.1 THX
  My only reservation is all the cabling snaking everywhere. I really would like to see a wireless version of these!
  
  
• Surge Protection**
  Something like Belkin's 7-Socket SurgeMaster GOLD Series
  Personally, being overly cautious (one bitten, twice shy), I recommend plugging the UPS into a surge protector…
  My reasoning is this, the UPS is there to protect my computer system(s). The surge protector is there to protect my UPS! Also, surge protection devices are good for protecting items like inkjet printers, scanners, your shiny new HDTV.
  Check the specs for your individual needs to be sure
  
  
• Primary UPS - Line interative APC Smart-UPS 1500VA USB & Serial
  Consider also: the 'Belkin Network UPS 1400VA' (It's noisy though, in my opinion)
  Other benefits aside, both of these offer a pure sine wave output voltage for clean and consistent electricity.
  The primary UPS is for your main computer and monitor.
  If you want the best pay the extra for an 'online UPS' like APC's Smart-UPS RT, Liebert's GXT or the Powerware 9120 (which I'm looking to replace my current UPS with).
  
  Note: Never, ever plug high voltage, high drain items like printers and copiers into your UPS, at best you'll kill your UPS.
  
  
• Secondary UPS - Belkin 1200VA Universal UPS w/AVR
  Consider also: APC Back-UPS ES 500
  A good surge protector can stand it for this too, it all depends of the value you put on your equipment, and just how volatile the power is where you live.
  
  This should be OK for peripheral devices using standard plugs for transformers etc and low output items - less drain on the important UPS that way.
  CAVEAT - check what you can plug into the UPS before you try, hmmm! See my notes on surge protection above.
  
  
• Operating System - Microsoft XP, with a view to waiting on Longhorn.
  ( Linux works too )
  I am still undecided about the XP 64 version.
  
  
• Additional essential software (Windows):
  - Norton Internet Suite 2005
  - Lavasoft's Ad-Aware (free for the personal edition)