Well, that's just changed; I've got it in writing from my wife ( ::winces at the whipcrack sounds:: ) that I'm allowed to blow my bonus on whatever I want--- and what I want is the best of all worlds: a rig that is Stable, Silent, and Speedy (SSS for short.)
Here's what I have planned, complete with links for those items I can link: Please feel free to add suggestions!
Hardware:
Case: Antec Performance-One P-180
That is, if it should it become available in the next thirty days--- Elsewise likely a 3700 from the recommendations I've seen.
Power Supply: Antec Phantom 500
See Case--- otherwise, taking recommendations for a quiet 400w+ P/S.
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
nForce 4 Ultra, since SLI won't work with the ATI video card; Couldn't find a vendor for the Gigabyte K8NXP-9 (Neil, where'd you get yours?)
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3500+ S-939 Winchester
Not an AMD fanboy--- The A64 simply runs cooler than the equivalent-priced 3.4Ghz P4. I'm not going to wait for dual-core at this point as much as I'd like to have it.... because she might change her mind.
Memory: Corsair TWINX1024-3200XLPT
Two 512MB super-low-latency (2-2-2-5) DDR400 RAM sticks for dual-channel operation.
Storage: 2x Seagate ST3200826AS
200GB 7200rpm SATA/NCQ drives, for a RAID-1 array. I've heard recommendations for the Samsungs, but couldn't find them in this size.
Optical: Looking for recommendations
Quiet is a must, speed much less so: looking for a good DVD-ROM and a dual-layer DVD +/- R/W.
Audio: Creative Labs Audigy4 Pro... Maybe.
I may use the money on an M-Audio Delta 66 instead, depending on the embedded audio on the motherboard.
Video: Sapphire ATI Radeon X850XT PCIe 256MB
Single most expensive part of the rig, whose warranty will be immediately voided as I rip the fan off it for the installation of...
Cooling: Zalman Reserator 1
Won't be the first time I've installed a watercooling solution. I plan on watercooling the CPU and the video card (and perhaps the northbridge) with the Reserator, and air-cooling the rest of the box with the 120mm fan mount in the top of the P-180.
I'm a fair hand with a Dremel and jigsaw, so some minor tweaks to the case will be forthcoming. I've got some ideas for possibly ducting the (admittedly warmer than ambient) 120mm exhaust over the Reserator for airflow without an additional fan.
I'm hoping the resilient mounts for the hard drives will keep them relatively quiet, though I may instead have to hang them inside the 5 1/4" bays underneath the DVD drives.
I will not be overclocking. Yes, I could probably eke some more performance out of the box, but I'm trying to keep the thing quiet so I can record acoustic/classical guitar in the room.
This case will also not be traveling. It's going to be set up and stay there.
Begin flam^H^H^H^Hconstructive criticism.
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