i just got a call from the alaska dividend office, and i once again am eligable for what i like to call "this state sucks anti-tax". so im gonna take my chunk of the state's oil revenue and allocate $800 of it to a new rig (not including shipping).
$800 isnt much so im not going to try to outperform my current system (which i believe is entering its death throws) by a large margin. in fact im not even putting performance at the top of my list. so this computer must:
be compact, i want a computer which doesnt break every time i try to move it. and something that i can fit on my desk (my floor bound rig has evolved hyper intelligent dust bunnies).
be quiet, my a380 fans annoy the **** out of me
be power efficient, not so much for the environment, but to reduce tdp and heat and therefore use smaller fans (see 2), and to make it so i can run it off the battery arrays we use in the sticks
equal or better performance than my current c2q rig
i intend to recycle some parts from my main rig. due to the hard drive price hike, it is likely i will use the same hard drive i am using now. i also cannot justify buying another optical drive, and i might reuse the card reader, though neither of these drives are all that expensive. i am also willing to forgo getting a better graphics card, and use the gtx260 i currently run (but buy a lesser card for my old rig for starcraft 2 non-lan parties). i will however try to get these things if budget allows.
i favor intel and nvidia. under no circumstances will i insert an asus product into my rig. msi is my perfered mobo brand right now. i used to also like dfi, but until i am certain the problems with my rig are not motherboard related this is off the radar. id be willing to consider other brands though. so i will need:
parts i definately need:
case, something with a micro atx or smaller form factor. small case preferred.
mobo, micro atx or smaller (this ultimately determines case selection)
psu, need a parts list to even consider wattage. might just use what comes with the case and adjust part selection to stay within its output
cpu, im thinking i5 or i7. i looked awhile back and a lynnfield caught my eye, it had lower tdp from other i7s, didnt have hyperthreading though, but surely new cpu lines have come into existence since then.
ram, likely 8gb ddr3
wifi card, must be compatable with my b/g router, though will try to something that also works with n
parts i might get if cashflow allows (in order of priority):
video card, likely geforce 500 series
hd, 640gb to 1tb
flash reader, cheap doesnt matter
optical drive, regular dvd burner, none of that blue ray crap
probable accessories:
high quality, high cfm, low noise fans
non-stock cpu cooler (ive never used one before)
sata hot swap bay (for backup)
nothing is decided yet, starting reserch now.
