Time to builid a new mid-tower pc
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:29 pm
I’ve got a tower PC that’s rather long in the tooth. It runs Windows and is used for everything from the typical email/web browsing to software development and graphic design and desktop publishing. I also boot Ubuntu Desktop from a separate partition. I’d been hoping to put off replacing it for a while longer, but I’ve discovered that it does not meet the minimum hardware requirements for Visual Studio 2010, so now it’s time.
My budget is about $700, which eliminates any of the EndPCNoise prebuilt systems. My current system includes a full tower Antec case and power supply. The only thing in the case that has not been replaced over the past 9 years is the Antec power supply. As such, I have no fears of building a new quiet system.
I’m looking to build a mid-tower system. I will reuse my monitor, keyboard, mouse, wired and wireless PCI NICs. I have a preference for AMD processors and my current Antec case has served me well so I’m leaning in that direction, but am open to other options.
When it comes to CPUs, so much has changed in the past 9 years; multi processors, multi cores, L3 cache, etc. I know what those terms mean, but with so many possible combinations of clock speed, multi cores/processors, and cache, I’m pretty much lost.
My wish list looks something like this:
Mid-tower case with 2+ front USB connectors, 1 eSata, audio optional.
Motherboard – no preference but must support 8GB+ RAM.
CPU – Must have hardware support for virtualization – AMD preferred.
Video card – must be Windows Aero capable and Linux supported.
Memory – min 6GB, prefer 8GB.
Hard Drive – will start with one, add another later. I currently have 120GB and 160GB IDE drives and a 300GB external USB drive.
Audio - I'd prefer something better than onboard AC97, but not required.
I'm looking to build something that is reasonably quiet, but can't afford absolutely silent. Considering that my current system sits about 2 feet from my head and has 2 intake fans on the front, 2 output on the back, and the power supply fan, no sound deadening, and no padding on the feet, building something significantly quieter shouldn't be too difficult.
I appreciate any and all suggestions.
My budget is about $700, which eliminates any of the EndPCNoise prebuilt systems. My current system includes a full tower Antec case and power supply. The only thing in the case that has not been replaced over the past 9 years is the Antec power supply. As such, I have no fears of building a new quiet system.
I’m looking to build a mid-tower system. I will reuse my monitor, keyboard, mouse, wired and wireless PCI NICs. I have a preference for AMD processors and my current Antec case has served me well so I’m leaning in that direction, but am open to other options.
When it comes to CPUs, so much has changed in the past 9 years; multi processors, multi cores, L3 cache, etc. I know what those terms mean, but with so many possible combinations of clock speed, multi cores/processors, and cache, I’m pretty much lost.
My wish list looks something like this:
Mid-tower case with 2+ front USB connectors, 1 eSata, audio optional.
Motherboard – no preference but must support 8GB+ RAM.
CPU – Must have hardware support for virtualization – AMD preferred.
Video card – must be Windows Aero capable and Linux supported.
Memory – min 6GB, prefer 8GB.
Hard Drive – will start with one, add another later. I currently have 120GB and 160GB IDE drives and a 300GB external USB drive.
Audio - I'd prefer something better than onboard AC97, but not required.
I'm looking to build something that is reasonably quiet, but can't afford absolutely silent. Considering that my current system sits about 2 feet from my head and has 2 intake fans on the front, 2 output on the back, and the power supply fan, no sound deadening, and no padding on the feet, building something significantly quieter shouldn't be too difficult.
I appreciate any and all suggestions.