Uh Oh, getting ready for another storm?

Nope, getting ready to go really, really fast

Nice! No video card?

I am still trying to decide on what I need (er want) for a video controller. I figure I can get everything else configured and run-in on the on-board video controller while I ponder the matter.

Unless gaming, almost any video card crushes any task you can throw at it. For help making a decision go to www.techreport.com My handle has been active over there since long ago, and used to be a lot more active over there before I got a pond. Similarly excellent community on those forums as to these. Even have meet-up BBQs.

Nerds....













(I kid, I kid...)

Which RAID controller?

I used Tom's Hardware and Anandtech for info. Recently went to Mac, and it's been great. Parallels lets me run my legacy database stuff, so I'm good to go.

I do miss building my own though. Something cool about hitting that power switch for the first time on a clean install.

I have personally gotten tired of building my own machines. For whatever reason I have has some terrible luck with buggy motherboards, video cards, and memory. My build prior to the one I have now would pass any test I threw at it, but when it came time for actual work, it would freeze solid at very inconvenient times. It drove me up a wall!

I rebuilt it this spring, and now it is as stable as a rock. However I now have a tablet, and only have used the PC for gathering weather data and pulling pictures from my camera. Otherwise it just sits. The gaming I used to do I had to quit since I get a little worked up and use language not suitable for a house with kids.

The Asus Z87-Deluxe has 10 SATAIII 6.0GB/s ports. I am using 4 Kingston HyperX 3K 120 GB SATA III 2.5-Inch 6.0 Gb/s Solid State Drives in a RAID 10 (mirrored/striped) array. That is the OS/Apps drive. The data drive is Western Digital Caviar Black 2 TB SATA III 6.0 Gb/s 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Drive.
I will still have 5 open SATA ports if I want to do ballistic overkill. There is also the option of SAS on an add-in controller…..

I have been in the IT game since 1975 and have always built my own personal systems. I have had my share of live&learn scenarios with hardware issues, especially back in the early days.
For me the challenge of “my perfect system” continues even at my advanced age. You could say that I am performance oriented in most things; computers/cars/trucks/boats/bikes/fishing gear. One time I even modified a water pump to double it's output.......

Dwight when will you have the chip that goes in the Terminator ready ?

Yellow Jacket, they are nerds. All kidding aside.....

The correct terminology is "geek", not "nerd". I suppose that is excusable for someone from the seventies.

Same here. Hardly ever fire up the dinosaur since getting an iPad a couple years ago.

I have 2 Android tablets and a smart phone that I use a lot. I use a minimum of 4 large (27") displays for my business work. Each device has it's place.

Memory and CPU mounted, waiting for the new case to arrive via UPS.

Tomato Tomato

So when is the full wall video screen and remote controlled submersible camera so we can see what is going on in the pond coming?

Looks pretty cool Dwight!

I would love to hear the pump mod story.

I'm kinda stuck using the Affinity Laws here, which tells me that if I want to double the output, It'll take 8 times the HP with the same pump unit.

If there are any tricks, let us know! A common theme around here is water, and pumping it.

Nice!

Dwight, which coolant are you going to use?

With flash drives, do you really need RAID 10 any more?

Well Dwight,
Nerd's are the one's who made all the crap, that you, as a geek, are in process of assembling.

Clear as mud! Right?

Corsair Hydro Series H110 280 mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler is a closed system with some special coolant that I can't recall the name. I know for sure that is isn't Peroni.

SSDs theoretically won't fail, but in reality they will fail. We had a client server with mirrored SSDs for the operating system. One failed and the other saved the day. Striping value on SSDs is determined by the rest of the system's throughput. In this case it will improve performance though the word "need" does not apply.

Case with Blueray-etc/reader-writer installed



SSDs and 2TB data drive ready



Modular PS mounted in case



Drives caged



Back side

Cooling is important!

Front 200mm fan with filter and cover off

Front fan with filter and cover on

Radiator, pump and cooling fans

Power supply filter in place

Power supply filter removed

Radiator mounted

Radiator and fans top view

Powered up on first attempt

W7 Pro installed - drivers installing

Wiring dressed down

Front Panel 2-USB 3.0, 2-USB 2.0, audio ports, firewire port

Sata drive port

Window View

Done and testing

What, no Windows 8?
Hehe
Running a Haswell in there? I wish I waited for one as it would mean a quieter PC. When not loaded, they are as cool as a cucumber.

Sheesh, 3 SSDs? I haven't even sprung for one. I would love one though as it would speed up my engineering software a bit.

4 SSDs in a raid 10 config. Definite yes on Haswell. Not only is this the fastest system I have built, it is also the most quiet.

Currently running memory at 2400mhz (it's rated speed) and processor at 4.3mhz. CPU temp and motherboard temperature under load are both 35-36C degrees.

I ran the Windows Experience Index. All 7.9 with the exception of the VC which is 7.1. I will do some real testing later on.

I have a whopping 5.9 due to my older Barracuda. All other values are in the 7.1 or higher range. I have an i5 in the machine now, as I didn't want to spring for an i7 and then be tempted into Haswell heaven.

Geek, Nerd? I supple that applies to me, but I think I neutralize those labels by being outside all the time when not working. A true geek or nerd relaxes by the warm glow of a monitor in a darkened room. I relax with a cold beer and sunshine.

Microsoft's experience rating structure is way behind the curve on rating higher end gear since it stops at 7.9. My old system runs at 7.4 on everything but the video and it is nowhere near the speed of this new one.

Agreed, on geek/nerd generalizations. I am neither skinny nor pale.

Sunil looks a little nerdy/geeky to some people even though he is pretty tan and well versed in numerous subjects (if not CHR).

Note to Sunil: CHR is computer hot rodding.

Your talking about my brother there! He had it really, really bad!

Building puters all the time, custom stuff for gaming. Had some really cool chair type things he built with servo motors on them. Just freaky stuff!

He got turned onto motorcycles! Only has a laptop and a plain cell phone now, ya know, the ones that only make calls

I guess a VC of 7.1 is supposedly better than what I get with my VIC-20? Isn't it supposed to be a VC of 20 under normal circumstances? I seems that my Commodore 64 is even faster than the VIC-20 here on the forum.

I remember those old dogs. I guess they had to start somewhere (the early nerds).........

Good to go.

Finally decided on the video controller of choice.
ASUS DirectCU II 28nm Graphics Card HD7970-DC2-3GD5

Here I am replying to myself again.....

After installing the hot new graphics card the windows experience rating is 7.9 on everything with minimal overclocking on the CPU and no over clocking on the GPU.

I am ready!!