The latest high end computer dream

Daks current dream machine, tempered with reality.

ASUS P6T DELUXE V2 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 (2.66GHz) Quad Core Processor
Corsair 3GB RAM Triple Channel 1333MHz DDR3

Bundle cost $923.95.

3 x 64GB Kingston SATA II 2.5" Solid State drives. (2.5" are cheaper than 3.5". go figure.)
These will be installed with the operating systems, XP Pro, Vista, and 7.

I'd have all 3, because in order to offer help to people regarding PC problems, I need access to all 3. You could save a hard drive and a copy of Vista by only having XP and 7 though, its a combination that covers just about everything. The drives are $203.30 each.

For my 3 drives, that would add $609.90.

Now I need a data drive. This doesn't need the speed of an SSD drive, but it needs lots of space, because all 3 of the operating systems will be sharing it. All files will be accessible by all 3 operating systems. For this, I am going with a Hitachi 2000GB (2TB) 7200rpm SATA II Deskstar with 32MB cache for $320.65.

So far, with the Board, CPU and RAM, and 4 hard drives, I'm up to $1854.50.

Now I will need Video cards. Nothing too fancy, as I want a pair of them. I can hook them up in SLI or Crossfire, this board supports both, so I should have some pretty powerful graphics available whatever I get.

I'll choose a pair of excellent EVGA GeForce GTS250's. They have twin DVI connectors and a HDTV connector, and 1G of DDR3 memory. They would perform about 80% as well as the most expensive cards on the market, and they can be linked in SLI mode. This will give me 4 DVI outlets for 4 monitors too. At $189.75 each, a pair of these will bring my total up to $2234.00.

Add a couple of DVD burners for $22.00 each, stick it all in a $200.00 case, and for the bargain price of $2478.00, you have an awesome computer!

I'll just have to assume that like me, you have copies of XP, Vista and 7 that you can install or that would add some serious extra dollars. You have outlets for 4 very nice DVI screens if you have them, or of course you can just use the single or dual screens that you already have....

If you want new copies of XP, Vista and 7, and you want 4 new 24" LCD monitors and decent peripherals like mouse, keyboard and speakers, then add $1522 or so (that makes the whole system cost a cool 4 grand exactly).

Sound like a lot of money? Take a look at whats advertised in your local catalogs for 4 grand. Check out EBay if you like. Compare what you see there with whats listed here.. and see for yourself that learning to build a computer and where and what to shop for can save you a lot of cash!

A better, faster, more extreme computer could be built by spending a bunch of extra cash. At this level though, performance is measured by benchmarking scores, not noticable differences to the user. You could spend an extra $2000.00 here and get better scores in benchmarking tests, but you would be unable to notice the performance gains in the real world.

This is a corei7 920 quadcore, with 3GB triple channel DDR3 running at 1333MHz. It has 3 operating systems, all on their own 64GB SSD drive, and a 2TB shared storage drive.
It has twin upper level graphics cards, with 4 24" widescreen LCD screens.

You wont buy one of these on EBay for 4 grand ! But you can build one for that, and love it even more because its all yours....

All prices quoted are from Techbuy.com.au

You can save even more by shopping around, buying some parts here and some parts there. Sometimes it cost more in shipping by buying from several different places though, check your options.