Moving away from Apple and starting from scratch

For probably the first time in a VERY long time, I have decided to choose my next “main” desktop computer as a Windows machine. While most people update their computers every few years, I usually have bought a new computer every year.

My last computer was a 3.02GHz Intel Dual Core iMac 27″ which was bought about 2 years ago. Although the computer is still running okay, I cannot stand lag. Although I am a programmer at heart, I also all types of media development and editing (motion graphics, sound editing, etc). So while waiting for a redesign and spec bump in the iMac lineup, I ran into a gaming case, the Thermaltake Level 10 GT. For some strange reason, it just looked really geeky and attractive to my eyes.

Although I really love the way Apple delivers its products, I felt that I really wanted a machine that would let me do all the things I ever wanted to do on a computer with no hassle. And I also felt that I should start building my own things and upgrade things rather than buying and replacing (which has costed me many $$$$ along the years). This is when the idea to build a PC from scratch came about. The last PC I built was probably about 10 years ago, so I knew that there was a lot to learn IF I was going to take this approach. I looked into many forums (particularly Tom’s Hardware forum and Hardforum.com) and was shocked at the builds that PC enthusiasts are using. Although I had an initial budget of $2000 (including a new monitor), after putting all the parts I wanted together the price for my dream PC was around $6000.

I became discouraged by the fact that I wanted a new PC, but just wanted something really, really good. This was because I still had the mindset of a normal consumer. Since most of these PC enthusiasts have continually been building PCs, which would mean replacement and upgrading parts one by one, rather than doing what I’m trying to do and buy everything at once.

So after much, much researching I landed on the final PC build and price:

Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Case ($250)
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K ($320)
GPU: Evga NVidia GTX 590 ($750)
Ram: G-Skill 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Ram ($100)
HD: Crucial 256GB SSD ($400)
MB: Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Z68 LGA 1155 ($330)
PSU: Cooler Master 1200W ($230)

Since I now knew that I would be ordering these parts, I decided to go with a brand new keyboard and mouse for just a icing on the cake feel. After much research on keyboards, I ended up on more gaming gear (which seems to be really good hardware for the most part):

Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Keyboard ($120)
Razer Imperator Mouse ($60)

The last part of the puzzle is of course the monitor. Coming from a 27″ iMac connected to a 22″ 90-degree pivoted monitor, I knew that I wanted a high-res screen. While researching, I found the Dell 30″ U3011 which has a screen resolution of 2550 x 1600. The monitor looks great and is everything I ever wanted in a monitor, except the price… $1300.

Being a gadget nerd, there has always been a saying that is stuck in my brain which is “you get what you pay for”.

Parts should be slowly coming in this week with the exception of the monitor (probably on hold until a month or two).

At the end, yes I do feel that I spent a ridiculously large amount of money for probably more speed and power that I need, and yes, most people will think I’m crazy. However, knowing that I have a PC that will have no lag and that will be faster than all my friends’ computers for years just feels good. =)