» A Custom PC Specification from 2005 - notes «
Custom PC - Building the perfect system (2005): Notes
Build spec for 2005: page 3, Notes
* The Zalman case is particular about which motherboards and videocards it will work with. All ATi X800XT are fine, the XT850's aren't an option. Nvidia cards have similar restrictions. Motherboards are even more particular. To save tears check up on their compatibility pages before committing yourself.
** As the transistor count, power requirements and cost increase so too does the need for adequate protection against voltage fluctuations. I will write a detailed article on this shortly, but for now trust me when I advice you to allow for surge protectors and UPS's when budgeting for your system. Personally, I advice getting them for all the high ticket items in your house, but that's your call.
When we replace our aging 14" television with a £2,000 36" HDTV in the the future I face a dilema. Do we go mad and blow another £20 or £30 on Belkin/APC 4 way socket, or take a chance that the daily changes won't harm it. Oooops, lights flickered again there…
You know what REALLY staggers me - you can buy a decent enough surge protector in the likes of Argos and Woolworths, yet computer dealers - who should know better - rarely seem to offer them or push them, go figure! Also, despite the good margins, the high street stores trying to con you into extented warranties don't either, but you expect ignorance from those clowns, eh!
Final though for y'all - I live in 'an industrial town.' Notwithstanding the fact the power companies keep digging up the cables around here, you don't actually need a watch to tell the time in some parts of town…
Flicker - Ah that's first shift change.
Flicker, dim, flicker - Ah day shifts started
Flicker, Dazzle, PiNGGGG - another bulbs blown1, that's the day shift over…
All you townies out there, tell me I'm wrong, eh!
And every one of those flickers and bursts can wreck your stuff, if only through cumulative stresses.
1Yes, I know they only really tend to blow when you turn the light 'on' but that spoils my point - or not. Having a bulb on day after day doesn't bother lights, it's the current initially hitting the delicate filament that's the problem. You might want to think on that and the fact mission critical servers in banks and businesses run 24/7.
Extra's
For the printer, while Colour lasers are very nice, I'd plump for the Epson R800 Photo, though the new A3 one sounds nice too.
The scanner has to be an Epson Perfection 4990 Photo
Digital camera wise, for the keen amateur or as a cheap backup for pro's, the Nikon D70, beyond any doubt, depending on the lenses bundle. As an extra, the SB800 flash is gorgeous, if you are into photography, it's almost worth the price… Professionals can drool and queue up for the D2X.
On an partially unrelated note, I wanted some cheap 2.1 speakers to tide the kids over until I sorted them something decent. The assistant in the computer store I was in offered us some 800 Watt speakers with a subwoofer. Fair do, he was straight up about being ignorant on speaker technology and genuinely pleased to be set straight, but it got me thinking all the same. Having speakers and a sub-woofer don't exactly make surround sound - and there's a whole world of difference between 800 Watts PMPO of noise and a 'mere' 80 Watts RMS of sound…
I'm not musically minded, but I know some of you are itching for Google about now, so - if you even managed to get the 800 Watts for more than a few seconds the speakers would be ruined. Depending on a few variables like the fuse, the true (RMS) value is often a tenth, or even a twentieth the figure quoted. In short, PMPO is a marketing con for the gullible. *Cough*
HiFi electronics experts may want to pull me up on why RMS is wrong etc. Pttt. I'm trying to keep the level to that of an interested layman, eh. Differentiating over the hoax of PMPO is good enough for me.
And yes, I will be adding an articles on this, and on RAID (for my dentist) in the next few days!
On price...
Even without the extra's this will set you back over £3,000, over £4,000 if 4ms 23" TFT's are an option. That said, this isn't a machine for mere mortals. Tinkering with RAID and graphics options to suit, this is a serious, rock solid server or graphics workstation with the speed of a race horse but the rugged build of a plough horse!
I never kept a handy note of prices prior to 2002, but going back to the mid 90's copies of my price lists still put a high end system over £3,000. In fact, the very first 486 server I saw - complete with a [ 200Mb drive and 16Mb ] of memory was about $24,000...
(I'll dig up the article sometime.)
- In 2002 £2,800 got you a Pentium 4 2.26GHz 533MHz FSB based set up.
- In 2003 this jumped to £3,166 for Pentium 4c 3.06GHz 800MHz FSB, though memory, HD etc also doubled.
- 2004 saw it go up again to around £3,500, though a lesser case would have dropped that to well under the £2,999 mark
- 2005 - this year - it will pass 2004 peak, although the case and monitor options will be responsible for most of this and, I think, worth the hike! With the 24" Dell and the added upgrade to 1,000Va an online UPS like my favourite, the Powerware 9120 or the Liebert UPStation GXT2 you are looking at a hefty £4,200.
Now...
Justifying - Personally I don't have too, I spend a seriously unhealthy amount of time in front of my main computer and it's just not worth it to have cheap, slow or poor quality parts. Regardless of what /you/ need and choose, here's some good solid advice:
Buy the very, very best monitor you can afford. Your eyes will thank you!
Buy the best memory you can, you are less likely to have crashes - but buy at least 1Gb
Buy a decent UPS, it's worth it, if only for the piece of mind!
Buy… well, the rest simply does not matter. There will always be a faster videocard, a faster chip just around the corner... !
In summary… if you already have a decent computer, try and wait until the latest moment before thinking of replacing it. If, like me, you upgrade piecemeal all year round then, as you were, soldier. 
